Welcome to the June RecLine newsletter! Inside, you'll discover an ePACT spotlight, new product releases, educational and training opportunities, news and updates, and valuable tips for providing your patrons with unforgettable experiences that feel like summer all year round.
To meet patron expectations, facility managers should focus on clean facilities, friendly staff, and various activities. However, in this day and age, that's not enough. It's time to maximize their experiences! What can your facility do to increase satisfaction? What is it that they expect? Keep reading to see what we discovered!
Quick Links:
- 12 Tips for Maximizing Patron Experiences
- Featured Flashback Customer Spotlight
- The ePACT Spotlight
- Meet The Team at Our Next Event
- Early Bird Pricing: Vermont Systems Symposium
- Sign Up For VS Connect
- Have you met CampBrain?
- Upcoming Education and Training Available
- Monthly Maple Syrup Winner
- All Current Product Releases
- The WebTrac Virtual Waiting Room
- News and Updates from Services and Support
- Is Cloud Hosting Right for You?
12 TIPS FOR MAXIMIZING PATRON EXPERIENCES
We looked around the parks and recreation space to see what creates a top-notch experience for everyone, what reasonable expectations are, and what municipalities and departments can do to increase satisfaction for everyone.
"We found many great examples. The best-in-class examples ranged in size and geography, proving that leadership and initiative were the prime differentiators. Below are twelve areas where these forward-thinking organizations focus on delivering the most value for their communities. How do you compare? Take a quiz to find out!
FEATURED FLASHBACK CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT
The City of Asheville Parks and Recreation, a Vermont Systems customer since 2005, has found that the most recent additions of a WebTrac online portal, Vermont Systems Cloud, and PayTrac have enabled them to keep pace with their community, offering dramatic time savings and an enhanced patron experience. Hear what Mr. Cherry has to say in his own words about each.
“There was a night and day improvement when we went to hosted (Vermont Systems Cloud). Our online popularity rose so much that when we did in-house, it crashed our server. Those who were first in line ended up being last in line. Now we went to fully hosted, not a single peep. The only phone call received was, is this true? You guys already have a waitlist? And the answer was yes!"
The ePACT Spotlight — Make Play Safe
ePACT Network's communication capabilities can build upon those in RecTrac by adding two-way text messaging and bulk voice calling, making it the ultimate solution for organizations like YMCAs, parks and recreation, schools, and independent camps. With its custom emergency alerts, real-time responses, vital information access, privacy, security, and paperwork simplification, ePACT Network can help these organizations be emergency-ready and communication-savvy. Partner with Vermont Systems, to provide a new level of communication systems, and take your emergency preparedness and communication efforts to the next level!
Book some time with ePACT to learn more about how we can make play safe.
Meet The Team
We’re looking forward to meeting with many of you this year at the 2023 General Assembly of YMCA’s in Atlanta, July 19 – 20th. Stop by and say hello to the teams from Vermont Systems at Booth #311 and ePACT at Booth #419 and learn about our integrated solutions for your community!
Vermont Systems Symposium
You've all heard the phrase "the early bird gets the worm" — it's true! Registration is limited, and seats are filling up fast! Don't miss out on our biggest and most looked forward to event of the year – the 2023 Symposium. If you act quickly, you can save as well early bird registration ends July 14th.
We’re proud to say that the Vermont 2023 Symposium is sure to set a new bar for an already great event. In addition to three great days of content, we’ve added THREE EDUCATIONAL sessions per time block, for more learning options! We would love to see you there!
Remember to register by July 14, 2023, to receive the early bird registration discount!
Check out session topics, event plans, and a sneak peek when you download the quick fact sheet!
VS Connect
Not getting VS Connect? Don't worry! Contact [email protected], and we'll get you signed up so you can stay connected with VS Connect!
VS Connect offers notifications of Vermont Systems product news, critical bug fixes, product release dates, "Did You Knows," and much more! This self-subscribed email service is designed to give you quick links to Vermont Systems product information that you need to know.
CampBrain
"I am thrilled not only about our ability to add a premier technology for camp management to our recreation management offerings, but one whose customers are raving fans of their software and service.” Patrick Hayden, President of Vermont Systems
Upcoming Education and Training Available
The Vermont Systems Education team offers the most efficient way to become proficient and productive with the software as well as the fastest way to onboard new employees, with options to fit any time and budget. If one of your goals is productivity — learning from and with others is a proven path.
- Education & Training: Every other Thursday at 2:00 pm Eastern, RecChat offers conversations about new features, hot topics, and upcoming events that are included in your plan with Vermont Systems. Sign up for the latest and to view archived sessions. Sign up here.
- The RecTrac Lab: Our free online series of micro-learning courses covers topics for everyone from new to advanced users. Contact us to find the right RecTrac Lab courses for you.
Questions? Contact us!
Sign Up for Education and Training
Maple Syrup Winner of the Month
Who doesn’t like Maple Syrup from Vermont?! If If you want to enter next month's drawing, complete the Customer Service Survey that you receive once your support case is resolved.
All Current Product Releases
RecTrac Elevate
Ready to Elevate your RecTrac solution? RecTrac Elevate was created to ensure that our customers can take full advantage of all that their class-leading system has to offer. Get all of the details HERE.
RecTrac 3.1.10.19.00 is Ready for Download
We're happy to announce that RecTrac Version 3.1.10.19.00 has been released! There are many important updates in this release. If you have not taken action yet, we urge all departments to update as soon as possible.
The WebTrac Virtual Waiting Room
This a reminder for our hosted customers that we are still using the Virtual Waiting room for large online registrations. Please contact support several weeks prior to your scheduled event, and we will have the system setup and ready for you and your patrons if the event exceeds 900 plus households at the start of the registration for an Activity event and more than 300 for other events (campsites, tickets, reservations).
The virtual waiting room allows Vermont Systems to meter traffic destined for your WebTrac site at the onset of registration launches. This allows us to pull all patrons into a randomly assigned queue just prior to the start of the registration and then release them to your WebTrac site in a manner that promotes a positive and predictable customer experience. We have successfully deployed the virtual waiting room for many recent high-volume registrations and are now positioned to use this as a tool if we determine the demand may exceed the ability of your WebTrac site to sustain a positive user experience.
For events that are known to Vermont Systems, we can monitor traffic leading up to the event and determine if the virtual waiting room will be needed to support the demand. Please continue to inform our Support or Hosted Services teams of high-volume upcoming registrations.
News and Updates from Services and Support
HelpDesk Team: We have strengthened our Helpdesk shifts to prepare for the higher case volume that ramps up for the outdoor facility openings around the country near the Memorial Day weekend. We are here to help! Use the real-time chat for quick questions and answers via the Support portal. Check out the self-help guides with specific help on hardware setup and testing. RecChat: Pool Season Prep - 04/06/2023 - Vermont Systems Next Gen (helpjuice.com)
Implementation Team: Do you have new staff members that have never been trained on RecTrac 3.1? Are you new to your organization and ever wondered, “Why was the setup in RecTrac done a certain way, and could it be improved?” Would you like to streamline the online services and ensure your patrons are getting a good experience online with WebTrac using their mobile device? If you said yes to any of these questions, we are here to help! Please check out the new “Elevate” option for training bundles: [email protected] or email Brian Hatch (Implementation Manager) [email protected] with specific training questions or to set up discovery calls.
Education Team: The Education team (EDU) led by Zach Malloch has moved all of our Field level help and Topic Documents to the new Vermont Systems Next Gen Knowledge Base. This change from having content within our RecTrac database now points to this new platform with the 3.1.10.19.00 release. Our Support Portal Knowledge Base and videos have also moved to this location. It’s pretty exciting and has taken more than a year to complete. We encourage you to check out hundreds of new articles, videos, and other self-help resources. Here is the direct link for our customers to access: Vermont Systems Next Gen Knowledge Base (helpjuice.com). Don’t forget to check out the bi-weekly free RecChats with Zach and the team on software and industry topics. Look for the invite via the VS Connect email.
Reminders: We encourage all customers and IT departments to keep the RecTrac version up to date to ensure you have all the latest updates and features. On-premises customers should plan to update 5 times per year. Fully hosted customers are all set and get each update loaded automatically.
Support Portal and Knowledge Base: Access the support portal to chat with an expert, view the system education documents, and find FAQs. Be on the lookout for the new knowledge platform mentioned above, and look forward to an improved experience in the knowledge base.
Visit the Support Portal
VS Assist: Our team of RecTrac experts can ensure that you hit the ground running with a database and solution that’s move-in ready. Whatever your needs, VS Assist will help you reduce training requirements, accelerate your implementation timeline, and enable you to start better serving your patrons and community faster.
See all the ways that Vermont Systems can assist you.
Is Cloud Hosting Right for You?
It’s hard not to miss the trend: the vast majority of organizations are moving to cloud-hosted solutions. The reasons are clear, Cloud Hosting simply delivers far more advantages and allows your team to focus on serving your community. But is it right for you?
Take a look around your organization and see how you would answer the questions.