| Youth
Camps
The
Situation:
For years, the famous Texas
hill country youth camp, Laity
Lodge Youth Camp, has been
swamped with applications
for its summer camps. Trying
to make it fair for all applicants,
the camp set a date for beginning
to accept applications and
found itself besieged on that
day. Parents would travel
hundreds of miles just to
be at their doorstep when
they opened on that day and
FedEX would deliver thousands
of applications, marked for
delivery on the starting day.
Of course, with a "first-come-first-served"
rule, the camp staff would
spend the next month or so
sorting out the applications,
trying to figure out a fair
way to put them in order…top
of the box, bottom of the
box, dump 'em out and see
who's on top…While no
one ever doubted the staff's
integrity, parents were understandably
upset when little Johnny or
Suzie didn't make the cut.
The
Solution:
To be completely honest, it
took us two tries to get it
right. The first attempt,
for 2002, mirrored the old
way: applications would only
be accepted on-line beginning
at noon (CST) on a certain
day. On that day, at noon,
thousands of parents logged
in and began filling out the
application and, the moment
it was completed, submit it.
Well, it worked pretty well.
At the end of the day all
the slots and waiting lists
were filled…at the expense
of the parents' nerves. It
was like the Oklahoma land
rush, parents whose computers
had crashed, parents who had
not picked the right camps,
parents who had several kids
to register all felt disadvantaged
and picked up the phone…You
get the idea. Other than that,
registration worked great,
the new system saved months
of wading through stacks of
handwritten applications,
determining who got what and
manually entering the names
and addresses into the camp
computer.
But, there had to be a better
way. There was. The camp sent
out letters giving each family
their own personal registration
number. Then we put up the
2003 application weeks in
advance so parents could take
their time and make sure everything
was correct before registration
day. When they logged in with
the number, everything was
already pre-filled, all they
had to do was check to see
if everything was still correct.
Then, at noon on the day,
all parents had to do was
watch the countdown clock
and click the Register Now
button. Seventy percent of
the kids were successfully
registered within the first
60 seconds! Ninety percent
had registered within the
first hour and all camp assignments
and waiting lists had been
impartially filled. And, best
of all, only two phone calls
out of thousands of registrations.
Once we got everyone registered
last year, we added a new,
protected access site for
the camps. Prior to camp starting,
camper families were sent
a personal login ID which
took them into their personalized
portal for viewing the latest
camp photos; sending messages
to their campers and purchasing
"Care Packages"
from the camp store for their
camper. In addition, the parents'
portals allowed the camp administrator
to post schedules, alerts,
messages and news specific
to each camp or cabin so parents
with children in that camp
or cabin are notified when
they log in.
The parent-to-camper messaging
service and camp store sales
were so well received by the
parents that additional services
for parents and alumni, and
an expanded camp store are
already in the works for 2003. |
"nuMedia can be counted
on to develop a site that
functions exactly as you need
it to, and then take you two
more giant leaps forward into
the unexpected. They worked
closely with us through the
whole process of building
a website that met our needs
and budget, and then continue
developing and maintaining
it. NuMedia is always available
to their customer.
For our site, nuMedia developed
a "Parent Portal"
for the parents of kids attending
our summer Laity Lodge Youth
Camp where parents could send
care packages or emails to
their campers, or take a look
at photos of their campers,
and read daily messages from
the camp director. They developed
an on-line registration system
for us which was very user
friendly and provided staff
with extensive data and administration
capabilities. In addition,
it saved staff time.When you
love the people coming to
your website and want the
best possible user experience
for them, count on nuMedia
to help you make it possible."
Keith
Mirrer
Director of Communications
H. E. Butt Foundation, Kerrville,
Texas
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