The public calls for camp: we must answer.

For 10 out of 18 days in February and March, I traveled the complete breadth of this continent, from the American Camping Association National Conference in Orlando to the Children's Defense Fund National Conference in Seattle. That's 11 general sessions and 201 educational opportunities from which to gain new information!

In Orlando...

John Elkins reaffirmed the tight economy is driving changes in lifestyle that affect our market. People have less leisure time, and it's going to stay that way.

While people will feel a need for symbolic high-touch experiences (e.g., camping), their lifestyle decisions will cluster them into predominantly convenient, functional, low-touch experiences (e.g., family dinners at the fast food burger palace). The dilemma is that high-touch experiences are labor intensive, and therefore expensive, relative to low-touch experiences. These trends, of economic necessity, will cluster people into services and experiences that require low interaction for nominal cost. Whether the customer or the donor pays for it, camp is a high-cost, high-touch experience.

Elkins reports that when we talk about only one in 12 children having a camp experience, we are wearing our Pre-NAFTA hats. When we consider markets north and south of the United States, the number is more like one in 17 to 20.

Recent surveys show camp enrollments at 91 percent occupancy. There are fewer ACA camps. The percentage of children attending camp has not increased significantly. That means instead of growth in market share, the 91 percent occupancy comes from some of us picking up the business of camps that have closed.

At the ACA national conference, there were three general sessions and about 125 interest sessions. By my rudimentary calculation, about 85 percent of the sessions focused on how to improve camp operations in the areas of child care, safety, activities, and personnel and business issues. We focused about 7 percent of the time on selling techniques and 6 percent of the time on marketing. The content of our general sessions, 2 percent, was one-third marketing and two-thirds operations.

The undercurrent of the conference was highly charged and political. The debates raged on what and who the association is about. Are we a professional association devoted to providing educational opportunities and promoting fellowship among members? Are we a trade association devoted to improving best practices and market share? Do we organize around members' needs (sections) or around marketplaces (core services model)? Do we spend our money on ourselves (education, standards, governmental lobbying), or do we spend our money on creating market share (public awareness)?

Do these polar extremes have to exist? Can we capture a long view of the association that has more market share, more members, and more money that can deliver much more value to all interested?

Where should we spend our money now to assure such a future? On ourselves? On market expansion?

In Seattle...

A January 1995 public poll by Lake Research of Washington, D.C., showed the following:

The general public feels that their own children's needs and their personal fears and inadequacies as parents are being lost in the debate on welfare.

The general public supports efforts that encourage children to be successful and self-sufficient.

In the United States today, "middle class" is a state of values, not a measure of income. Eighty-nine percent of all Americans, which includes people below the poverty line as well as the affluent, see themselves as "middle class."

Voters like the "unbundling" of Washington, D.C., and believe that locally-based services are most efficient and responsive to family and neighborhood needs.

The American public perceives the language (jargon) of children and youth professionals to be foreign. However,programs, activities, and services are not meaningless words. The strongest public perception of the word program (ever use that word to sell camp?) is something the government does that does not work. (Never use that word to sell camp!)

Philip Kravitz, senior director of radio and television, National Wildlife Federation, reports, "People want America to work! This is the single most prevalent underlying mood in America today. They want a reform that returns to basic moral principles and values." He goes on to say, "People working with youth need to provide proof and anecdotes that make our slogans ('CAMP gives kids a world of good') become a visual image to the public."

At the CDF national conference, there were eight general sessions and 68 interest sessions. Again, by my rudimentary calculation, about 50 percent of the sessions focused on improving the operational quality of children's experiences across a range of services. Thirty percent of the sessions focused on improving the market perception of all child- and youth-work efforts; 20 percent of the sessions, including all eight general sessions, focused on building a common vision of support for all children. "Leave no child behind"; "No more business as usual"; and "There is opportunity only for those willing to change and grow" rang the cries.

The people at the conference represented the political left to the progressive right of our nation's partisan landscape. Every session and presentation had bipartisan representation. While ideological debates raged in the halls over method and apportionment, there was clearly a common cause and a pervasive mood that what we are all about is externally focused - the work of making the world worthy of its children.

From what I saw and felt in Seattle, the public mood is calling for all we teach and foster at camp! Individually, some camps in this nation are highly visible to the public in their local markets. Collectively, as a movement, we are invisible to all but our current customers.

I learned about dozens of the best practices from among every kind of youth work and youth initiative from around the nation, as extolled at the CDF conference. I came away confirmed that the youth work, as practiced in our ACA camps, is second to none of them and better than many of them. That's the dividend of all the work we've done on quality, safety, and best practices. We have, within our means, a most powerful tool for responding to current public sentiment and for making the world worthy of its children.

Do we have the will to do what needs to be done to take it to the market and to position camping as a vital youth development initiative in the nation?

Are we willing to invest in the public awareness campaign, even if it's at the expense of legislation, education, standards, or section initiatives?

It could lead to more and better camping for all.

David A. Hilliard is president and CEO of the Wyman Center, which operates two resident camps and outdoor, experiential programming in 23 different locations in the region and throughout the U.S. national park and national forest systems. Send inquiries regarding camp marketing issues to: David A. Hilliard, Wyman Center, 600 Kiwanis Drive, Eureka, MO 63025.