A marriage of recreation and technology: husband and wife head for the high-tech future

Parks & Recreation, June, 2003 by John McColl

These days, staff members at Pennsylvania's West Shore Recreation Commission spend their time planning promotions and creating new programs to increase participation. Administration is automated, and registration days are no longer spent racing from phone to counter, or reaching for files. Within seconds, the West Shore staff can tell customers how much space is left in a class, access notes about class descriptions, take registrations and payments, and issue professionally-printed receipts.

Director Carmen Williams, a park and recreation veteran, has driven West Shore's technology strategy since 1990. Carmen was the central force behind the agency's purchase of RecWare recreation management software in 1999-, and later, West Shore's move to Internet registration.

"When we started using technology in our daily operations, we found more time to focus on customer service, program quality, marketing and overall efficiency ... things that would drive revenue for our agency. At the same time, we gained professionalism, efficiency and accountability," explains Carmen.

In Maryland's Howard County, the Department of Recreation & Parks has also gone high-tech. With access to new software, the staff is abandoning postage and envelopes for the efficiency of electronic marketing, sending e-mail reminders and program updates instantly to customers. Registration is automated and online--the lobby no longer overflows with impatient customers on the first day of registration. Additional staff isn't needed on weekends to manually input registration data.

Says Jeff Williams, manager of Howard County's Community Services Division, "We found we weren't able to offer a consistent level of customer service. When you have excellent customer service all year round and then one day out of the year you have people standing in your lobby waiting to register, it's time for a change."

While facing technology's challenges is not unusual in the park and recreation field--most agencies make the decision to either fully automate or upgrade technology at some point during their growth--Carmen's and Jeff's story is unique.

That's because Carmen and Jeff are husband and wife, working at different agencies on the same coast, both driving the use of new technologies and sharing their experiences with each other and peers.

Sharing a Passion For Recreation

Married seven years, Carmen and Jeff live in Gettysburg, Pa., a central commute for both, with their two pugs, Afrin and Bailey. Jeff has been involved in park and recreation for nearly three decades; Carmen is approaching 21 years in the field. Both share a passion for the profession.

Both are certified park and recreation professionals and take active roles in their state associations. Jeff is past chair of NRPA's Mid-Atlantic Regional Council and currently vice president of the Maryland Recreation and Park Association. Carmen was previously president of her state association in Pennsylvania.

"We met at a NRPA programming forum and stayed in touch through networking and mutual acquaintances. It's nice to work in the same field and environment," says Carmen. "If one of us has an exhilarating or negative experience, the other person can listen and truly appreciate it."

Jeff agrees, saying, "We bounce things off each other and it makes a big difference. We've volunteered at each other's agencies, we've shared program brochures and brainstormed changes and improvements."

Carmen and Jeff also share programming ideas, from bus trips to marketing tips. Carmen explains, "We always share our final printed brochure with each other and pass it around to our staff to see if there are programs we'd like to start or ideas we can bring away. The county offered a 'Mini Monets' class, and my staff loved the name and the idea around it. It got us thinking about other marketing concepts we could create. Howard County has also started to put a few of their classes online so people can participate from home using only their computers. We are looking at that now."

For Jeff, the networking aspect has been rewarding. "Through Carmen, I've really expanded my networking contacts. Carmen has introduced me to professionals and volunteers throughout Pennsylvania, and she has made some strong contacts in Maryland."

Through their networking, Carmen and Jeff have shared advice on technology--from what's working and what's not--to organizing discussions on technology challenges. "There are so many great people in the park and recreation field, we never get tired of sharing our experiences," says Carmen. "We find that people in parks and recreation are very open to discussing their business. There isn't a feeling of competition, just a willingness to share and learn from peers."

Early Technology Adoption is Key

Serving a community that stretches across seven townships and boroughs, the West Shore staff depends on technology. "In contrast to Jeff's agency, we're a small department without internal IT support," says Carmen. "That's why choosing the best software solution was so critical. We chose RecWare because it offered specific features, was easy to install and use, and met our budget needs," says Carmen. West Shore upgraded to RecWare's hosted Internet registration solution a few years ago.