Often the largest employer of students on campus, the recreation department can provide experiential learning opportunities and career readiness to its staff Crafting a training and development plan for those student employees can transform the experience and lead to more prepared young professionals. Campus Recreation Essentials: Student Staff Training & Development leads supervisors through the process of creating an intentional, effective training strategy grounded in student development theory. Written with examples of application in the field, guidance of good assessment practices, and suggested learning competencies, there are takeaways for any campus recreation professional. NIRSA’s Campus Recreation Essentials series focus on the building blocks needed to create a recreation program from the ground up, or to prepare a new staff member to take over or improve an existing program. Written by experts in their fields, the Essentials series is an invaluable resource to small programs, new programs, or professionals who are new to campus rec.

Written by four experts with over 63 combined years of experience, Campus Recreation Essentials: Intramural Sports provides a framework to design and create an effective intramurals program that meets the needs of campus and community participants. From budgeting to policymaking to designing play structures to assessment, this resource is a valuable addition to any rec department library. NIRSA’s Campus Recreation Essentials series focus on the building blocks needed to create a recreation program from the ground up, or to prepare a new staff member to take over or improve an existing program. Written by experts in their fields, the Essentials series is an invaluable resource to small programs, new programs, or professionals who are new to campus rec. NIRSA’s Campus Recreation Essentials series focus on the building blocks needed to create a recreation program from the ground up, or to prepare a new staff member to take over or improve an existing program. Written by experts in their fields, the Essentials series is an invaluable resource to small programs, new programs, or professionals who are new to campus rec.

Reimagine your recreation spaces. This webinar dives into the trends and challenges of managing recreational spaces, showcasing how RecRe's technology optimizes utilization and engagement across different recreation settings. Explore streamlined inventory management for traditional gyms, dedicated esports arenas, and even remote outpost sporting fields. Learn how RecRe tackles real-world issues like equipment loss and student accountability, boosting efficiency and user satisfaction in both established and emerging recreational domains. Get ready for an interactive session packed with expert insights and practical tips to transform your own space into a dynamic recreation hub.

This package of webinars features four sessions that will help you get up to speed on your business and leadership practices!

Higher education has been deeply and fundamentally impacted by the global pandemic. This creates both opportunities and threats to the system of post-secondary education and campus recreation. As higher education professionals, senior recreation leaders need to understand the new context as it emerges and find ways to fund and deliver the programs and services that contribute to student success. This will only be done well with new and different thinking and approaches. This panel of senior leaders believe this can be accomplished by cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset. As defined by the Oxford dictionary, an entrepreneurial mindset is a set of skills that enable people to identify and make the most of opportunities, overcome and learn from setbacks, and succeed in a variety of settings. An entrepreneurial mindset will orient a person towards entrepreneurial thinking, such as seeking opportunities, innovations, and new value creations. Research demonstrates: An entrepreneurial mindset is valued by employers, boosts educational attainment and performance, and is crucial for creating new business. As leaders we will be called on to recreate recreation. Join this panel discussion to learn more about what an entrepreneurial mindset is and why it’s a critical pathway to success as we recover from the pandemic and create a new, and better, normal.

Regardless of whether you are opening a new or renovated building or dealing with the aftermath of a global pandemic, an up-to-date business plan is critical for any successful campus recreation program. Constantly shifting market forces and changes in enrollment are just a few things that reinforce the need for a management strategy with a solid risk mitigation plan. This session will focus on the best usage of market data, financial targets, and performance metrics for an overall approach to managing programs and recreational facilities that aligns with strategic objectives.

The days of slogging through building a massive strategic plan and having it collect dust on the shelf are gone (or they should be!). Especially in this time of rapid change, remote work, and the need to keep your planning nimble and lucid, it is even more imperative that the systems and tools are flexible and easy to update and access. We'll discuss and illustrate examples for bringing a contemporary strategic planning process and its components to life.  We must keep it alive and current for daily decision-making, shared understanding, consistent engagement, and long term accountability to the plan and each other.  We'll share our experiences and learning, and then there'll be an opportunity to teach each other about promising practices to keep our strategic plans pumping out optimal outcomes.