Our 4th Youth Sports Digital Summit ran this past weekend and I am writing this at the halfway point and must confess I am truly humbled from all the feedback, comments, shares and overall numbers that visited our site, signed up and watched one or more session.
I plan to do a Facebook live version of this prior to scheduling out our newsletter but I know I will miss someone so I felt best to share in a blog as well.
As the youth sports community is in limbo as the world continues to practice physical distancing, what amazed me the most the weeks going into the summit was the fact that so many amazing organizations and sports leaders reached out either directly or by sharing out via their social media platforms to make it our best Summit to date.
It was when we were having our weekly 2-4-1 Sports Zoom call and Steve Boyle said he would jump on Facebook live with myself and team member Geoff Lenahan was a wow moment for me.
Then I spent the better part of Thursday afternoon, less than 12 hours before the summit was going “live” to figure out how we could do a joint Facebook Live Call and thanks to my best friends Google and Youtube we were able to figure it out. After a hour of testing with our co-op students we ready to do so at 9AM Friday morning on day 1, Steve and I went “live” (albeit not without glitches as the first time).
The number of people reached, engagements and views of our first and second Facebook live posts was tenfold what we normally see on our social media.
I would be remiss if my first thank you was not for Steve and Geoff for jumping on the Facebook live this weekend, THANKS GUYS!
I also want to take the opportunity to thank all of the amazing speakers who shared their insight for this and all of our past summits going back to Summer 2018. Each time a speaker accepts our invitation or reaches out to me directly to participate I am truly humbled they do so.
Thanks to all of our team members, Geoff, John, current Adriel, and Isabel and all prior co-op students who have put in the work to make the digital summits, podcasts and other digital resources we have built available in the last couple of years.
Thanks to the Federal and Provincial Grant Programs to provide funding to us as a small not for profit organization so we can sponsor students to provide them valuable work experience and help us continue to grow as an organization.
Just like it is when I have attended conferences either as a speaker or as attendee I know that it will take a few weeks to reflect on this weekend and the last few weeks that lead up to what was our 4th Digital Summit.
Kudos to every single person who visited our site, signed up for the summits, and watched one or more of the interviews to add to their tool basket and hone their crafts during this time of hiatus. Special thanks to all of you that signed up for monthly or yearly membership passes to help us continue providing all grassroots sports stakeholders resources, especially now, when everyone is tightening their wallets due to the impact COVID-19 has had on so many industries, not just sports.
Ironically, the platform that we have been utilizing for over 3 years is one that is being ok … in December they had 10 million users, 4 months later, Zoom has over 200 Million users like schools, workplaces are shifting to digital vs. face to face meetings.
Thanks for everything that you do in the youth sports space, whether it as a coach, parent, official, volunteer board member volunteering for why we all do this, the kids.
The very same kids that are cooped up at home during this hiatus and when health authorities do ease up on physical distancing restrictions permitting kids to return to play at parks, fields beaches or organized sports the big unknown is what is that going to look like post-COVID-19.
I know after coaching for over 25 years how it can be a thankless gig in a sense and those of you that understand the importance of lifelong learning and are doing so to get ready for the time we can return to play …. THANK YOU!!!!
To all of our allies across the globe, thanks for locking arms with us in recent years so we can all work together to bring the game back to the kids … where it belongs.
Last, but not least, I would be totally remiss if I did not thank my amazing family, my wife Melissa for 25 years, daughter Erin and Son Liam for their unwavering support to permit me to do what I am truly passionate about, Kids and Sports.
Just like it is when I have attended conferences either as a speaker or as an attendee I know that it will take a few weeks to reflect on the last few days and weeks that lead up to our 4th Digital Summit.
With the uncertainty of when youth sports programming will ramp up again, I to add a live webinar (or some facsimile thereof) in the coming weeks to augment our podcast and building other digital resources.
In the event I forgot anyone, I apologize for doing so, I will ensure that I amend this blog and update if so as all of those that have supported me I want you to know
I am truly humbled and gracious for your support.
#WeApplaud #OnApplaudit
Please say thank you to all medical and front line workers you know for their selfless dedication to fight this fight.
We are all in this together.
Be Safe.