On May 9-10, Lori, Carrie, and Carla traveled to Lake Pontchartain RV in New Orleans, Louisiana for the Campground Association Management Professionals (CAMP) Spring Meeting. CAMP was formed for association executives to get together and share “information about issues within their state, and programs offered within other states”. The meetings helped association executives run a better association for their RV park and campground members.
The CAMP Spring Meeting had an agenda filled with accounting, RVIA info, website reviews, legislative strategies, Google Analytics, and more!
Kent Perkins, Senior Director of Standards at RVIA, shared a study done by Nielsen for Go RVing. The Executive Summary goes on to state “The research was conducted via an online survey February 3rd and March 10th, 2016 among 2,523 owners and prospects:
1,005 Owners
1,518 Prospects – 1,304 of whom would consider an RV purchase”
An item to note for campgrounds is the profile of RV usage by Current RV Owners. The graph described from the study is shown right. The study goes on to say that RV owners “take an average of 5 trips per year in their RV, averaging 14 days and 3,000 miles. They typically use their RV for occasional camping trips, staying at a variety of destinations rather than just one. Three-fourths of owners say that they would use their RV more often if they had more time.” To view the full study, head to the WACO Campground Members Facebook page or to the Members section on the website.
Another topic largely discussed at CAMP’s Spring Meeting was Legislative Representatives and Grassroots involvement. The idea of politics can be a scary thought for some, but the truth is you may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you. To start, know who your legislators are. A great tool is to use Zip Sticker. Do your homework and research about him or her and schedule a visit. Using the Grassroots strategy, growing relationships with like-minded business owners on local level is important. As we were informed at the meeting, grassroots support is a very effective way to manage how local and state government officials respond to your needs. Grassroots organizing reminds elected officials that they are the ones who voted them on office and you are the one’s that can un-elect them as well. It’s note a war, but it is a reminder that voters and elected officials can and should work together for the betterment of the community and state.
To see more of what was discussed at CAMP, visit the Facebook group or the Members section on the website!
