Last Call: Seeking YOU Nominations

This is the last call for “YOU” nominations, at least from me in the Week-Ender. 

August 15 is the deadline to support this initiative started to support my keynote address at the “2nd Annual Fall Festival” on September 29 at the Shisler Conference Center in Wooster, Ohio.

This is a one-day conference for professionals in the parks and rec, children’s camp and landscape fields and the vendors and contractors who support them with products and services.

As I began to think about what I would say to this diverse group of people, I realized that the message had to be about “The Importance of YOU!”

In other words, this event is all about YOU! To support that theme, I am looking for nominations from the field, from the leaders who are readers. I will be talking about some of the nominees who will be in attendance at the conference.

So far, the nominations are mostly from parks and rec staffs and from camps. Noticeably absent are nominations from landscape professionals and vendors/contractors. So I am especially talking to that demographic now because I would like to pre-arrange one example from each of the four functional areas: parks and rec; camps; landscape; and vendors/contractors. There is a very simple and brief nomination form on the PRB and Camp Business websites. 

Of course, you can’t nominate yourself.  But you can nominate anyone in your organization, up or down the chain, so long as they will be at the conference on September 29 and in the audience for the keynote address.  I need them there to serve as shining examples to show that somebody, somewhere, thought they were deserving of recognition.

We will have a closing date of August 15 for nominations; after that the PRB staff and I will decide who best represents each field and will be mentioned in the keynote address—and asked to stand up and take a bow, thus the need for them to be in attendance.

The good news, though, is that everyone who is sent in will be recognized, on the conference website, in the magazine and no doubt in other ways we haven’t come up with yet.

The point is, YOU will be recognized, whether the YOU is the person who submitted the nomination or the person/people nominated.  Just doing either of those things deserves credit.               

So, the “YOU” nomination form is on the PRB website and Camp Business websites. To access it, click here.

Nominations can be for someone who consistently does their job well from day-to-day; or it can be for someone who did exceptionally well on a special project; or someone who went above and beyond in some way. Get the picture?  We’re all in this together, so let’s give some credit where credit is due.

If you have questions, feel free to call the magazine staff or contact me at the email or phone shown below.

Randy Gaddo, a retired Marine who also served for 15 years in municipal parks and recreation, is now a full-time photojournalist who lives in Bay Minette, Ala. Reach him at (678) 350-8642 or email cwo4usmc@comcast.net.