Every year, the E. Urner Goodman Camping Award is often overlooked by many a lodge that could easily be recognized for its camping promotion efforts. The hiccup is failing to submit a completed petition.
The requirements are simple in that requirement #13 of the Lodge Journey to Excellence must be met with 75% or better unit contacts for camping promotion plus a current Where to Go Camping publication within the last three years. With two awards to be made from less than ten petitions received in each region, realize the chance of recognition is pretty good.
So, don’t overlook the opportunity! Fill out this form, write up your best promotion accomplishment and submit with your lodge recharter by December 31st, 2014.
If your lodge is among those which most likely struggle with the Where to Go Camping publication, realize technology has greatly eased and enhanced the means of communication. Printed guides, while still valued, have been superseded by DVD’s, CD’s and websites over the years.
These days, many lodges have found the best and easiest form of communication is web-based information sharing. Promoting camping should not be limited to something you can hand out; that costs money and takes a team of people to produce and distribute. The fastest way to update information is through the web. Use of Google Maps and links to camping site information – council camps, state parks and other venues – makes locations visible at a glance and keeps site information current.
Promotion doesn't only have to be on a lodge website; it can encompass use of social media services, as well as photo and video sharing services. Lodges that struggle with camping promotions need to consider the easiest medium access that unit members have and target it in the most comprehensive and simple way. There's no need to rebuild the wheel here; the majority of the information related to camping in a lodge's area has probably already been written. It simply needs to be exploited.
Building credibility as a lodge that promotes camping is not that hard. It means doing some simple research, and then sharing it in the best, easiest, and most of all, technology-relevant manner.
Then, after a year of promoting, determine if it worked and submit an application for the prestigious E. Urner Goodman Camping Award. It's pretty simple; promote well and get awarded!