Lowering the entry barrier into officiating

 Like many sports, Swimming - no, like most sports there continues to be a decline in the availability of officials for competition. 2020 and 2021 were tough years, losing so many sporting events a good number of existing officials simply stepped away from the activity for one reason or another. Three years later, I've seen a small increase in swimming - across both state, WIAA swimming & diving officials as well as Wisconsin Swimming (LSC) for clubs across the state. 

This increase is no where near what we need. I enjoy working 12-15 high school girl and 10-12 high school boy meets along with 8-10 club meets a year. But there is a constant ask for coverage - someone is sick, working, or another personal reason causes them to have to backout. Unfortunately it's really hard to get another official to help.

Enough on that challenge of availability - one of the reasons I hear about from parents and other officials is the effort it takes to get trained, certified and recertified. In the past it was a 2-3 hour meeting in some location that you had to drive to. Covid changed this - those meetings became virtual meaning now you just sit down at your home or local coffee shop and jump on zoom and listen. 

Both of these were awkward to most folks. They didn't know the people hosting the training. They lacked experience and felt uncomfortable talking, let alone turning on their camera. These meetings usually dragged on with someone talking endlessly. Topics were not always spot on the training material and sometimes didn't provide enough content to make the person feel more confident. Worse is training from one state to another would be taught differently so you may learn things differently or not learn at all in some situations. 

This made the entry for new officials very challenging to overcome. I personally saw the difference between Florida and Wisconsin. It wasn't night and day - but there were very obvious differences that I had to accept and at times tactfully try to influence change in. More on this later. 

Enter 2024 and the new online training videos from USA Swimming. It's a welcome change from those in person and virtual meetings. You do have to create a free account but after that you can access the online videos, for Foundations of Swimming, Concussion Protocol, Athlete Protection and the meet of the trainings, Stroke & Turn, Starter, Referee, Administrative Official. These videos now provide a clear, consistent standard for all officials across the entirety of USA Swimming. I applaud USA Swimming for this monumental shift it is something that other organizations have done for years and will now set the state LSC on a common path to not force different trainings or requirements on individuals. 

USA Swimming Officials Training Dashboard

My hope is that parents, guardians and young adults will jump in and watch the videos for two reasons. The first, to understand the role of the officials and to better understand how rules are enforced and how to help talk with their children when they are disqualified from an event. Second, I'm hoping it gives these folks the desire to step up and complete their deck apprenticeships and complete the open book test. This could drastically increase the number of officials available. Reducing the burden on myself and other long term officials from having to officiate most weekends and many evenings during high schools easons.

I also hope that it changes the mindset of the LSC leadership. These boards are designed to take the rules, policies and direction of the USA Swimming board and apply them at the state level. But lessening the possibility of setting their own variations of the rules and interpretations of the same rules. It'll also give our swimmers a more fair "playing field" when the officials at any level and any location are trained to the same standards.

To get deeper into the discussion of declining officials numbers and the differences I have personally seen between two different state LSCs follow me on my podcast, feel free to comment here or on X or on my podcast. 

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/betweenthelanelines

See you on pool deck. 

Getting Back to the Basics

Finally getting some time to do real development work. NewRelic and Azure Monitoring. Followed by Azure DevOps Certification later this year.

Priority is Shopify Plus integration with GTM not playing nicely. Look for some updates on getting Single Page App triggers working and cross domain tracking based on good documentation from GTM experts.

Oh and check out this deal...$500 for Jimmy Johns, now that's awesome.

https://www.quikly.com/jimmyjohns/s/jJMVOwvW?utm_content=blogger

Todays Online Convservation Challenges and Success Stories

In light of today's stay at home, work from home, quarantine mind sets has given rise to more than just text and email communications now to full video chats and group meetings. We have always been a people who thrive off face to face discussions given the growth of apps and other technologies. There is so much more we express through our body language and facial expressions. Not to mention the loss of social iteration when we just talk over a voice based system.

As many of us have jumped on the bandwagon of using Zoom, WebEx, Teams and dozens more of video conferencing systems we have moved to an unstructured method of interacting. And most importantly have not paid attention to the risks and challenges that come with these tools. They are not necessarily a dangerous technology, however our lack of understanding how to deploy and use them is what can be dangerous.

How do you find the right tool for your audience? Do you need just audio. Do you need group or individual chat? Do you need to share file? Do you need "broadcast" video for a single person to a group? Do you need full group discussion for 5, 10 or 500 people? And do you mind if the information becomes publicly available through Google, Yahoo or Facebook?

Some services may take your meeting discussion, notes, documents and make them publicly available. Your meeting may be publicly available by default for others to join. Read about the story this week from California this week where several schools were #zoombombing interrupted the education experience with profane and disgusting content.

Be smart. Talk to your IT expert. Take time to read through all of the "Settings" in the application. If you don't know what something means like "Chime on Entry" then ask on Twitter or another platform or to other users. Do a dry run of the meeting between your phone & computer or someone else and see the experience from a "host" and a "participant". Learn what it means to use a password with your meeting or a waiting room?

If you are going to hand over the meeting to another host then practice that so you know what to expect in terms of delay on the screen and experience on the screen. Be cautious when you start using a new technology, especially when it comes to work.

Reaching the Audience at the Right Time through the Right Channel

My endeavor this year is not much different than most marketers. Find a marketing automation tool that will improve my overall campaign effectiveness, be easy to use and finally complete the mapping of the customers' journey, through that elusive term Omnichannel Marketing. Easy, right?

Well the market place is full. Check out anyone's Marketing Automation Landscape infographic and you'll become dizzy with the enormous number of toolsets available. And that's not the complete list, there are dozens more that didn't make the landscape graphic...maybe we start building it in a panoramic view.

The challenges I face are similar if not exactly the same as everyone else. And the market has too many tools that are nice, look good but can they do the job. That's the problem. I read case studies, watch Vimeo and YouTube videos showing a specific use case for a specific vertical. Of course it's not a one-stop shop, you plug it in, turn it on, and campaigns start flowing. There's integration, workflows and strategies to build & monitor. But, we all have the same underlying needs. Be able to easily build our own templates, drag & drop the features and modules, segment the universe and send to tens of thousands at once.

What we need is to find the partner, that understands the in's & out's of the marketing automation landscape and determine who can satisfy our specific quarks and meet our goals & requirements. The sales talks are all the same, products do basically the same, or have easy enough integrations. What I need is that partner who will bring to forefront the toolset & vendor that will do it and do it to my liking & grow with me as my business changes.

What about you? How are you working to complete the omnichannel? Do you have a data plan? Do you have a content marketing plan? Do you know what channels are important to your customers?

Where have all of the volunteer leaders gone?

Volunteer groups like the Boy Scouts of America function and exist because there are adult leaders. At its core they are the reason the boys keep coming back, especially in cubs scouts. The adults brainstorm and commit program activities like camping, community service, fundraising and education to name a few. Without them the boys would be unable to function.

Sitting at a recent district commissioner meeting I was singled out as one of those 'young' parents, though I don't consider that true as I'm nearly 40. But looking around the room everyone was 50, 60, 65 years old or older. I was the young guy. But wait, my sons are in third & fifth grade. Where are the new Tiger parents, those young 30ish adults??? Aren't they also planning and running cub events? Why am I the sole adult in their 30's taking part in planning the years program for our 800+ scouts?


I read recently the young parents are now called the Connected generation. They thrive on Instagram and Facebook. Opting for a text rather than a call. They don't do paper newsletters, phone trees and old fashion calendars. But something else is happening, they are not driving the planning and execution of the bigger events. Are they intimidated or scared to step up? I will be honest, I only have 5 years of Scouting knowledge, not 40 or 50 years like some of my peers. And I was quiet and reserved my first few months as a commissioner. But I was learning, who the thought leaders were, who was the performer and who posed a challenge to work with...let's not forget these adults have decades of experience so they tend to push their agenda.

Out of 30 active cub units I have one or two adults in this age bracket who help. That is help with a project or event. Not at the strategy and planning level with the district. Why?

Over the next four months I M going to try something different at Roundtable. I'm going to challenge the cub adults who attend to take on chairman ship of an event like pinewood derby or On Target or Friends Of Scouting. Not as a direct assignment. But more as a challenge to keep scouting fun and make it fun and interesting for the young adults. This includes opening up our private Facebook page to encourage them to post events and videos, not just photos and training reminders. Utilize snapchap and Instagram to drive home the reason why we are here. To make the program safe and fun.

Home Away from Home

It is interesting to hear what families do when they go on a vacation. Being in the heart of tourist central...Orlando we have done the parks. Not in the typical 4 day flash where most families are pressed to get into and experience each and every ride and experience. Leaving the fourth evening excited and exhausted. But rather quick and targeted trips, visiting the critical rides. If we find one is too busy or shut down we know we can hit it the next trip.

In my experience I'm taking a step back. In my childhood we did those items but we also did something else. We got out away from it all. Experiencing the "Real Florida" TM. This  year we have already experienced five trips. Two were not your run of the mill woods adventures. They were a night on the outfield for the Daytona Tortugas (Reds minor league) field. Scout day as it's known has become a tradition. Hot, long games, popcorn & movie and a experience under the stars. This year it got exciting at 3AM when the sprinklers kicked on for about 5 minutes. The other was a traditional camp out at Daytona International Speedway for Scout Days during the Roar Before the 24. Hundreds of scouts and families from all over the area converge on the infield for a three day camp out. There's something awesome about hearing the roar of the engines as cars test and prepare for the endurance race in late January. And seeing hundreds of boys learning skills, taking part in adventures and making new friends.

Now I see that Vantage Hotels is doing a promotion to get families out and help with road trips. I'm getting ready to do one of these later this month as the family drives north to Maryland. For a 5 day experience of seeing the DC area museums, baseball and hiking trails. Let's see maybe I can help some extra spending money...

Go ahead and enter, maybe you can too #homeawayfromhome http://virl.io/vokDRaTr

Cub Scout Year Round Recruitment

What is a leader to do when they are asked to focus on year round recruitment? We have heard the news, overall declining numbers of new youth joining Scouting. Why? In my opinion it's due to our ever changing loves. Sports, academics, friends, parental jobs, I am sure you can provide me with at least five more.

Well as the round table commissioner for Three Rivers District in Central Florida I'm dealing with the same challenge as everyone else. My own pack has had dwindling enrollment, we lose scouts throughout the year. But how do we keep going?

Year round activities, including Summer Time activities. Well I have two ideas, one is to provide an incentive to scouts for bringing friends to scouting. And a second is to promote inter pack activities.

The first is simple, tell your scouts, if you bring in at least one friend who joins you automatically earn the Recruitment patch, but you also get to enjoy a pizza or ice cream party with your fellow scouts. Bring in at least three friends and you get free admission to a special scouting event. In my district its the On Target for Scouting event, a full day of all shooting and action events. Bring five or more friends into scouting and earn a free camping weekend at our local scout ranch.

The district net members and other pack leaders like the idea, I just need to get it approved at the council.


The other activity is one of my wood badge tickets, setup a inter pack sports event. Just one time, have the boys get together and earn a loop, have fun, get to know each other and enjoy friendship. In my case I've expanded it to include all packs. But instead of managing it all push the leaders to talk with other leaders and setup their own events. Nothing like this is happening today.

If you are doing either of these at your local district or council let me know. I want to help not only my own pack but also my district expand its reach into the community and provide a great program to the youth.