Here’s a glimpse into the activities of SDOA (we’ll add new months at the top.)
SEPTEMBER
We launched our Hub, the new platform through which we’ll share with our members. If you’d like to join us there, please contact us.
AUGUST
Finished launching the membership drive for all membership categories. If you don’t have the email, please contact us.
Sturgis Rally and Sturgis RV Park … in the news in a good way … it’s that time of year again!
Belle Fourche is in the news with enforcing length of stay for full-timers. It touches upon some voter rights, as well.
Since this has to do with SD RVers, you might want to be aware of this newsletter article (it was published while you were in the throes of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally).
More news on the topic of what is an ADA compliant website (between the asterisks):
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UPDATE: Justice Department Publishes Proposed Title II Rule to Strengthen Web and Mobile App Access for People with Disabilities ((via 8/4 email from usdoj@public.govdelivery.com).
On August 3, 2023, the Department of Justice published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to update the regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to better ensure web and mobile app accessibility for people with disabilities. The Department is seeking public feedback on its proposal, which aims to clarify how State and local governments can meet their existing ADA obligations as their activities increasingly shift online.
For a high-level summary of the NPRM, read the fact sheet. The Department has also published a press release. Members of the public can submit comments on the NPRM online by October 3, 2023. Comments may also be mailed to the Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, P.O. Box 440528, Somerville, MA 02144.
To find out more about the ADA, visit ada.gov or call the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA information line at 1-800-514-0301 (voice) or 1-833-610-1264 (TTY).
https://www.ada.gov/notices/2023/07/20/web-nprm/
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Assisted with several members on a variety of issues, including but not limited to feelings of exhaustion, unusually high tension, ARVC benefits, and questions about upcoming events.
Daily: Continuing to pound away at the new membership management tool that’s also going to be a cool portal through which our members can access considerable content (in due time) without needing to first meet with staff.
Daily: Organizing the incoming membership renewals for 2023-2024 Industry Suppliers and for 2024 Outdoor Hospitality membership categories.
Daily: Lining up more details for our Autumn Gathering and still trying to line up others.
Sometimes it’s more about your relationships with others. SDCOA joined forces with an east coast promoter to spread the idea that easterners should consider camping in SD. Participating in The Great New York State Fair was NOT on our radar (or in our contract; we focus more on outdoors or RV-related events), yet in late August I spotted SDCOA’s material in this photo taken at that fair.
Reminded members of the upcoming event we hope they will appreciate this fall, including our very own online gathering.
JULY
As of 7/7, thus far our work has been a continuation of June.
Created our listing for The Glamping Show Americas! Members can save on the registration price, so request the coupon code from Mary in our office. Please stop by BOOTH 325!
FYI: Aside from creating our listing, we added a show special for newcomers to SDCOA (visible online under that tab that reads “Show Specials.”
We contributed a bit to this ARVC post (click here).
The Roost Resort, in Custer, is now in a member of SDCOA. It’s a pleasure to welcome Tom Bleichroth & Shela Vavrina, the owner/operators.
Updated our Upcoming Events & Key Dates page, as well as many others as they relate to the upcoming membership drives and meetings.
As of 7/25, we’ve decided we need to offer two options to our prospective Industry Supplier, Associate and Outdoor Hospitality Members: the means to join now and the means to inform us of your intention to join when you can sign up and pay online (as soon as the program is ready). Stay tuned to an email on the matter.
On 7/25, the US Department of Justice advanced a proposed rule to strengthen web and mobile app access for people with disabilities. Click to read it.
JUNE
June was more than just a continuation of the normal workload. It started with expanding member publicity through influencers. Next up, we gained a much more stable office situation. Your executive director is not exactly settled in, but it’s great to have everything under one roof again.
Still, most of June was dedicated to the set up of our new association management program that will launch with the 2024 dues collection process in a few weeks. To establish this program requires a seemingly infinite strategic planning process for our future benefit packages and for every huge and miniscule detail of data that will make SDCOA more effective and efficient to manage and more beneficial to its members.
The deeper we go into the project, the greater the scope of possibilities! The program will be “bare bones” functional in a few weeks, yet it will evolve into a more powerful tool far into the future.
We liken the process to building a house, from which land to buy and what floorplan is desired, leading up to every detail like which door knobs go on the kitchen cabinets. Of course, we liken it to your office getting a new front office and online reservation program. None of this is fully defined overnight, or even in the first year.
Since this project is being done by each of the three state associations Mary, our executive director, manages (CCLOA, KPOA, & SDCOA), every detail is being evaluated at least three times. So far she’s had several 48-hour days, and numerous times the evaluation of options has caused the brick wall to force a pause. In the end, it will all be worth it!
MAY
For the parks, we posted on https://www.facebook.com/sdcoassociation 17 times, and in our private FB group 7 times.
Naturally, the consumer-driven marketing continues. This includes responding queries from consumers.
For the next membership year, SDCOA is stepping into the 21st century by launching a membership portal! That means you will be able to pay online for your dues, registration fees, auction wins, chat with one another without going through SDCOA’s office, list things for sale that others might want, do committee work in one central spot, access resource documents of various types, and so forth! You will no longer need someone to answer a phone to take your credit card info, and you will no longer need to mail checks. With a whole lot of hard work and lots of luck, the system will be live for our supplier membership drive in mid-to-late July. Hopefully we can work out any kinks before we launch the park owner membership drive in early August. (This project consumed many hours of research, demos, analysis, and consideration across quite a few weeks; actually, the process started years ago and has been reconsidered every couple of years.)
Mary, Stephen Saint, & Elaine Zobel (three of the Legislative Affairs Committee members) met with Rep. Ladner (District 30) in preparation of a new legislative bill for 2024. We appreciate her efforts!
Mary met with Rep. Mortenson (District 24 / House Majority Leader) regarding SDCOA’s position on voter registration laws, given the number of such bills that were heard during the 2023 legislative session. According to him, it’s his desire to not see such bills again, especially this upcoming session since it’s an election year (that isn’t a good time to be changing voting laws). That’s good news! We also received his assurance that SDCOA will be included in discussions of possible voting law bills that impact either campgrounds or RVers.
Hosted a well-attended in-person and Zoom customer service training session for the front-line workers of our member parks. Honestly, it was wonderful to teach in front of an in-person audience again. It’s been many years, and the energy was rejuvenating!
Visited several member parks and added more photos to our large library. We’ll use these in social media posts and other marketing projects.
Our office remains mobile, as does Mary’s (my) “home” (and I don’t mean an RV). Trials and delays with her (my) housing situation have been extremely taxing over the past 20 months. This was all supposed to be settled long before beginning the online portal project, so please tuck an extra ounce of tolerance and patience up your sleeve when you’re needing her attention on any matters. The current landing pad is for only two more nights and then ????? (the next landing pad hasn’t been found yet).
Continued to work with more requests for park membership information.
Visited with several industry suppliers who are hoping to join us for our next membership cycle (their benefits run from Sept. through Aug.).
Assisted some parks with a few hiccups with industry suppliers (not any in our supplier membership).
APRIL
For the parks, we posted on https://www.facebook.com/sdcoassociation 17 times, and in our private FB group 4 times.
Marketing continued to be in the forefront, adding some enhancements to our webpage and the listings, as well as creating and monitoring our social media posts. We post nearly daily (if not multiple times daily) on our consumer-driven social media pages. We happily updated some listings on our website. We prefer your listings be accurate and complete so our audience is pleased with their findings ~~ otherwise they won’t return to our site!
Enjoyed committee and board meetings with our in-state partners.
Responded to a number requests for membership information.
Provided this update which was published in Woodall’s Campground Magazine: “The past few months within SDCOA have been a whirlwind of activity for SD campground owners. Most of the members leave the state other than when they’re parks are in full demand of their time, so we provided a number of online networking and educational sessions. We also began working closely with the Secretary of State and the Deputy Secretary of State regarding this year’s barrage of election-related bills. We’ll continue our efforts to protect business owners from other irrational voter disenfranchising bills. The camping season looks very encouraging!”
Updated
MARCH
For the parks, we posted on https://www.facebook.com/sdcoassociation 23 times, and in our private FB group 10 times.
The legislative session is winding down and that means it’s time to pick up the pace on education and networking. We hosted an online discussion on pricing and revenue centers. Next up will be another online networking session to introduce our members to influencers / content creators.
We announced our annual business meeting plans.
As the session was winding down, we had the honor of meeting with Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck. He was instrumental in guiding us toward solutions for a few issues we spotted during this session. It is always better to ask, learn, and prepare rather than be blindsided, so we appreciate the guidance he offered to us.
Welcomed Sacoro Station Campground into membership!
Lined up another online networking session: Connecting with Influencers.
Reviewed our upcoming insurance policy renewal.
Orchestrated a Board meeting and dove further into our upcoming annual business meeting.
Visited with the Secretary of State and the Deputy Secretary of State regarding this year’s barrage of election-related bills. Starting now and leading up to the 2024 session, we will be working with key players to further protect business owners from other irrational disenfranchising bills.
On 3/29, we held our annual meeting via Zoom. The members re-elected Bruce Aljets and Carla Jacobsen to each serve another 2-year term on our Board of Directors. The Board later elected their officers (our Executive Committee) and chose to maintain the titles each held last year. This is good for two reasons and not good for one:
GOOD:
- We have a very heavy legislative session planned for 2024, so it’s great to have this stability!
- It indicates everyone is rather pleased serving and how those who are serving are doing their jobs.
NOT GOOD
- We don’t want to burn out any of our members!
Nominated Ed Miller of Rush No More RV Resort (Sturgis) to run for the ARVC Board of Directors. The election is later this year. Stay tuned for ARVC emails about voting.
JANUARY & FEBRUARY (since the legislative session rather blurs these two months into one)
Launched the 2023 benefits for our outdoor hospitality members.
Hosted an online event in which introductions were made, connecting outdoor hospitality business owners to influencers, writer, and content creators.
Your Board of Directors reviewed last year’s activity, our books, and prioritized our projects for 2023 and authorized the budget.
Dove into Legislative Affairs Committee (LAC) meetings to determine our position and prioritize the 2023 bills for the legislative session. During these legislative weeks, things fly around and swerve significantly.
- We’ll email members if we need testimonies and public support.
- If you see something that you believe SDCOA should support or oppose, please contact us.
Took delivery of 100,000 rack cards that promote our website, CampInSouthDakota.com. Began distribution.
Participated in the Dept. of Tourism’s TOURISM DAY AT THE CAPITOL. This document (click here) provides a synopsis of the impact of tourism.
Attended the 2023 Governor’s Conference on Tourism. Several members were in attendance but the only picture we captured contained only three parks:
A powerful presentation at the 2023 Governor’s Conference on Tourism was a Q&A panel from the Visitor Industry Alliance (VIA) (continued below pic).
We encourage every SDCOA member to support the VIA! Not sure what it is? Well, we will do a Zoom session on it this fall. Meanwhile, here’s some info that’s easy to share with you (click here).
Tuesday, 1/31/23, is National Plan for Vacation Day, and the US Travel Association has put together a toolkit you can use to create social media attention. Click here to learn more and click here to see the toolkit. If you aren’t interested in following their guidelines, then at least consider adding #PlanForVacation to your social media posts.
We moved! Our corporate and mailing address is now 313 S Pierre St., Pierre SD 57501. The PO Box will remain in place for a few months until everyone’s been notified. The address is more for storage of our projects and printed marketing materials, and a place for our mail to wait for us, so you’ll be disappointed to not find us there if you were to just stop by to say hi.
Legislatively
Members are very busy on the Legislative Affairs Committee. We took proponent action on SB 31 (UTV licensing for out-of-state visitors) and that bill has made it nearly all the way to law (going to the House floor on Monday; if it passes it goes to the Governor’s desk).
We took opponent action on SB 157, and the senators chose to not send it forward to the Senate floor. We also asked the private sector campground owners to reach out to their legislators or to attend the hearing. If you took action, thank you.
We tried to ignite two bills into existence; both were tabled. We will work on them for months, starting in April, to submit for the 2023 session.
Overall, we’ve looked at over 400 bills and genuinely dove into 16 to one degree or another.
We’ve also spent several days at the Capitol, and we’ve listened to several events with the legislators in their local communities (Facebook LIVE, or coffee with the legislators, and other such opportunities).
As of 2/11, we’re still monitoring six (6) bills that address voting / residency issues. Why do we care about this topic? Primarily because some actually exclude the campground owners and staff who reside at a campground or business! UPDATE: The voting bills that concerned us died in committee!
Back to our other projects
Completed our annual insurance application. Yes, even SDCOA needs be insured.
By 2/7, we had distributed nearly 46,000 copies of our CampInSouthDakota.com rack card to a network of wonderful distribution centers including some destination organizations, six businesses who are taking us to outdoors/camping/hunting trade shows, and a few campgrounds. TOGETHER we are stronger! TOGETHER we can do more! (More orders are being filled in between our other marketing projects and legislative monitoring.)
We’re partial to this pic since it shows someone with our Camp In South Dakota rack card.
Began evaluating some snowbird-focused 2023 RV shows (thinking a “come to South Dakota” booth could be in our future).
Added the county and the tourism region to each listing on our B2C website.
We’re 6 weeks into 2023’s social media posts.
As for our CampInSouthDakota.com traffic (as of Wed., 2/8), it’s similar to the crazy-good numbers what we saw in 2021.
- Today alone, most of the traffic was from the USA, but 15 hits were from Germany.
- Sunday, 1/29, gave us 986 visitors
- Google is our #1 driver of traffic, Facebook was #2, followed by Bing, www.blackhillsbadlands.com, and then #5 is Pinterest (Pinterest is normally #3 but those posts require my branding time; time I lost in dealing with a flood & moves, so I’ve actually not ramped up our Pinterest posts; it’s our old posts that are still working).
- Today’s visitors were from IL, PA, OK, IA, SD, MN, TX, MN, CO, ND, NY, CA, NE, AZ, N, VA, and FL, as well as Quebec, and 27 overseas countries. Many of those states were showing multiple times.
