Your WORDS Say Recreation Is a Profession...What Do Your ACTIONS Say?

This session will be a quick-hitting "self assessment" for recreation professionals individually and from a leadership perspective. The old adage "you never get a second chance to make a first impression" is absolutely true. Current and potential participants, staff, funders and partners hear us long before we say a word. Often we have created obstacles that are almost impossible to overcome because we don't even know they exist. More importantly, good will can be created the same way. There are so many aspects to this that we can't cover them all. But there are a top three that we will address: communication (verbal and non), attitude (staff and participant) and appearance (staff and facility).

Learning Objectives:
1. Attendees will be able to return home with the ability to relate actual experiences in their departments to the examples that were discussed. There will be apples-to-apples comparisons; participants will be able to identify and recognize which ones are applicable to their situations.
2. Attendees will be able to give concrete examples as they discuss and explain what is acceptable and what is not. Being able to use real-life examples from peers can make the implementation more palatable and show why modifications are necessary to distinguish between what is said vs. what is seen.
3. Attendees will be able to emphasize and show that recreation IS a profession. We all believe it, but do we live it? Attendees will leave with the ability to apply what they have learned almost immediately. One of the major objectives will be to leave with a strategy of "compare and contrast" as opposed to criticize. One approach will be a series of "if, then" scenarios they can employ to engage their teams in addressing the situations and being actively involved in making positive change.