February 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 61

National Aquatic Conference
and Exposition &
National Aquatic Management School
San Diego, February 16 -19, 2011

As the premier education opportunity in the
aquatic industry, the National Aquatic Conference and Exposition (NAC) and National
Aquatic Management School (NAMS) cover
a wide range of topics including facility management, aquatic programming, operations,
safety, and leadership. The NAC conference
is internationally recognized for the quality
of its peer-reviewed education sessions, developed by leading experts in the aquatic
field.
Bookending the conference will be speeches
by Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones (Opening General Session) and Paralympic gold medalist Erin Popovich (Closing Luncheon).
This year's NAC and NAMS will be a shorter event (taking place over four days); however,
there are even more professional development
opportunities, including the chance to earn
more CEUs than in 2010.
Conference attendees will have the

cost, but also at how to increase revenue to help the
bottom line. Griffiths says that managers need to
prioritize and streamline. " One of things I did wrong
on a college campus was to offer everything for everybody, " he says. " Aquatics managers can no longer afford the luxury of providing warm and fuzzy
programs that aren't making money. "
He gives the example of an aquatics exercise program that was very popular at Penn State.
Griffiths scheduled classes morning, noon, and
night, looking to please any patron who wanted to
attend. Instead, he says, he should have been " taking a closer look " and only offering those classes
when they were full of attendees.
Mendioroz says that he sees how it can be hard
for an aquatics manager to say no to programming.
He says competitive swimmers and their families
are very adamant about securing practice times.
" The problem is, " he says, " only about 3 percent of
your revenue will come from competitive meets. An
average of 55 percent will come from fees associated with open rec swim, and that number gets even
better when you add rivers, waterslides, or spray
features. "
Swim lessons can be a revenue generator (Mendioroz says on average they provide 28 percent of

opportunity to attend more than 10 hours of education sessions and workshops, and earn 1.3
CEUs for the conference, in the following aquatic
categories:
■■ Staff Training and Management
■■ Programming, Special Events, and Marketing
■■ Technical, Maintenance, Operations, and
Design
■■ Beaches, Waterparks, Liability, and Safety
■■ Professional Development and Leadership Skills
NRPA is excited to announce that the
school curriculum is being reviewed and
enhanced in an effort to distinguish the
school as a national certificate program, the
Certificate of Aquatic Management. New in
2011, NAMS is being rep-conceptualized as
a blended learning program, with 4 hours
of study online and 12 hours of in-person
training.
For more information on NAC and NAMS,
see www.nrpa.org/media/nac/nac2011/.

revenue) but many aquatics managers aren't programming to their pool's potential.
" I hear all the time that people have these great
learn-to-swim programs where they have to turn kids
away, " says Griffiths. " I say sign up more instructors! "
He adds that aquatics facilities need to find their
own mission for their community and do it well.
" Stop trying to be everything to everybody, " he
explains. " What we have to do is, when faced with
difficult financial times, do what we do well. Instead
of cutting back people and running programs with
skeleton staff, cut back on hours and in those hours
let your full staff do a great job. "

All in how you say it
But perhaps cost can't be defined in staff, utilities, or
labor. How can you measure cost without measuring
the value of aquatics facilities to a community? The
City of Salem Recreation Department in Illinois had
a pool that was 78 years old and in need of replacing. The community voted on a tax referendum to
pay for construction costs, and the new Salem Family Aquatic Center was finished in time to open for
the 2010 summer season.
With a waterslide, two diving boards, zero-depth
entry pool, and tot pool, it far exceeded Director Sherry

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FEBRUARY 2011

Parks & Recreation 59

February 2011 - Parks & Recreation

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