The 2022 Outdoors Project Franchise Pow-Wow Review

At the end of February, we hosted our first Outdoors Project Franchise Pow-Wow, in the beautiful setting of Parkwood Scout Camp. We decided that it would be fantastic to bring together all of our existing and new franchises together for a two day POW-WOW! We wanted to get all the Outdoors Project heads to talk, share experiences and learn, while creating positive vibes amongst the group. It was inspiring being surrounded by the Outdoors Project family, where everyone is hugely passionate about what they do.

The Brighton HQ team arrived on the Sunday night to unload and set up kit for the following day, with our Northern franchises from Lincoln, Nottingham and Havering (London is the north to Brighton!) arriving in the evening on the Sunday to get a good nights rest after a long travel stint!

We all rose on the Monday to a hubbub of activity with all remaining franchises arriving before 9am for a cooked breakfast and a morning run through of the agenda for the following couple of days. After breakfast we ventured into the outdoors for a run through of games and activities with Joel and Connor. Our franchises received a pack with all of the session plans for the year so they can confidently plan their year and we took this as an opportunity to run through some of the new activities and give a refresh on older ones, allowing for opportunities to discuss the different approach or little tips our franchises approach their sessions with.

After an active morning we all gathered back at the scout camp base for lunch where we invited Kev, who designed and maintains our unique booking system to introduce himself to the tribe. He put a face to a name and got a real insight throughout the day of what our business involves outside of the booking system. We invited Mark Rasche, a guest speaker from Sport & Activity Professionals. Mark works with organizations in the sport/fitness/fun/play sector helping them to grow and improve their marketing and their businesses and has worked with The Outdoors Project for 4 years., to give a fantastic presentation on the business side of running a franchise in the context of the children's activity sector where he has years of experience. From the Pow-Wow feedback, this presentation was one of the highlights for our franchises and it provided a huge amount of practical takeaways. The presentation, as well as snippets from the whole couple of days, where filmed - we took the time to talk with each of our franchises asking them about their experience of owning an Outdoors Project franchise. 

After a business talk, everyone needed to get back outside for an afternoon run through of activities and games before we rounded off the day with a presentation on the science of sleep, which provided a change of context for everyone, allowing them to wind down. We all enjoyed a lovely meal in the evening before taking our leave in the scout bunks for the evening - each franchise having their own room!

The smell of bacon and eggs lured the franchises from the bunkhouse as Tuesday begun with a  talk from Brighton HQ about our updated systems which involved opening up a discussion to the floor, which gave everyone the opportunity to feedback. We also discussed the presentation from Mark the day before as well as how everyone was feeling looking ahead to the year. After a morning of talking we finished off the Pow-Wow with a final block of activities training where we trialed making our own spears, which is something that may feature soon!

Following the Pow-Wow the feedback was fantastic from all who attended. Everyone was hugely positive about spending some structured time with each other. Our franchisees are now hugely excited about their 2022 and all the fun they are going to have!