It’s August which means administrators and students are heading back to school. In a few weeks our daytime traffic in the center will slow down and we will be looking for ways to fill the center mid-week.
Have you already created a plan to reach out to your schools and organizations? That’s a great way to help fill your mid-week slump. This week I wanted to give you four ideas about who you should be reaching out to and the events to book with them.
Educational Field Trips
Kids love field trips! I don’t know about your school district but for ours, it has become harder and harder to schedule field trips. The key thing they are looking for is an educational piece for their field trip.
Take a look at your center and see how you can provide that for them. Get creative! Use bowling as a fun way for them to do math problems, use an attraction to teach them about science, the kitchen is a great way to use math and nutrition.
Ask team members in your center their ideas of how your center can be an educational field trip destination.
End of Season Banquets
If you have an event space for a banquet, be sure and reach out to all the sports teams at your local high school and area sports leagues. Your high school teams are all looking for spaces that can hold a crowd, doesn’t kill their budget, and is family friendly. Get in now before the season over.
For your local sports teams, talk to the director and inquire about having the price of their banquet included in the registration costs. All teams have to do is schedule a time and purchase additional tickets for parents and siblings.
Teacher and Administrator Team Building and Meeting Space
We know that team building is such an important part of bringing a team together. Team building helps new team members integrate easier, everyone can better understand other’s strengths and weaknesses, it improves collaboration, and helps foster innovation and creativity. A lot of what our teachers teach our students, right?
Talk to principals and administrators about your team building activities and how you provide a unique team building experience. If you need help, get our Corporate Party Playbook – Play Therapy program that can help you get on track.
Don’t forget to let them know you have the space for meetings and events for their teams, too!
Fundraising
Schools and clubs are always looking for ways to fundraise for their school. Budgets are getting cut and money is tight, so they depend on fundraisers to help their organizations work. Talk with PTO/PTA presidents, booster clubs, student organizations, and other similar groups about hosting a fundraiser.
It doesn’t have to be hard. Let the organization select a date Monday – Thursday and for a two or three-hour window and donate a percentage of the sales to that organization. They will be grateful that you are a partner with them and will look to you the next time they want to plan an event.
We hope these tips help you organize your school outreach efforts. Don’t wait to call them. Start making appointments now for the school year.
