We are currently working on our WE Play! 2008 schedule... and guess what?  We need YOU!  Whether you've attended a training before or not, I'd love to know how we can help you plan, fundraise, and build great playgrounds next year.  I'm looking for...

1.  Great session ideas.   Fundraising specifics, playground design, going green?  What would be most helpful as you plan your own community-build playground?  Give us your ideas!

2.  Location, location, location.   We like to hold our trainings throughout the country.  Any great places we should go?  Let us know where and why!

3.  Guest speakers.   We usually invite one to four guest speakers to come to our trainings.  Know anyone who would be a great speaker with on-the-ground playground planning experience?  Let us know!

Thanks in advance for your ideas and suggestions.  Reply to this forum thread OR send me an email at tcarney@kaboom.org.  I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Tiffiney Carney, KaBOOM! Manager of Training & Education

Tiff,

Thanks for the question. I would like to get input from the professional installers as well. When the conference visited L.A., I would have liked hearing from an expert when it comes to footings, ground prep, how to build flooring barriers, etc. A guest speaker who has experience installing playgrounds would be helpful to novice enthusiasts willing to run an installation project.

Thank you.

Dan Sprague
Pacific Camps
Camarillo, CA

I  thought the Build Day was the best part of the experience.  It helped us visualize and organize our own build. The  build experience could not be captured in the manual as other parts of the conference. I wish I would have been able to learn the build prep work too. I liked the part of the Conference when we broke into groups by where we were in our planning stages.WE PLAY PITTSBURGH.

I had a great time at the Milwaukee WE Play! in September! I think that you guys did a great job, and thanks to Jason for the comedy relief (no offense intended). I personally really liked that guest speakers - it is wonderful to hear from people who have actually been where you are going to be, learning how they overcame obstacles, dealt with problems, etc. Maybe splitting them up, a couple during the morning and then one or two more in the afternoon, would be a thought. I learned a lot, and felt a bit more confident about what was happening after talking to others at the conference.

If you are ever looking for a place in Ontario to hold a WE! Play, may I suggest Brantford? We are known as the Tournament Capital of Ontario, I believe mostly for one reason - we are central to most of the cities in southwestern Ontario. We are about an hour from Toronto, Guelph and London, about an hour and a half from teh Niagara area, and about 45 minutes to Kitchener/Waterloo. It is an easy location to reach by road, and depending on airlines, there are international airports in Toronto, Hamilton, and London. We also have a Best Western, a Holiday Inn, both with wonderful conference facilities. Just a thought.

The We play in Millwaukee was great, attending the build day was extremely important in the learning process.  Hearing about it is one thing, seeing a build in action not only answers questions, it can also be a great place to have more questions for actual event circumstances.  We just completed a build on the 27th, I would highly recommend more emphasis on the prep days.  Those were by far the most important part of the build.  Without a good prep job the build will suffer greatly, from placement of the holes for the equipment, setting the equipment out in a logical order,  to ensuring there is sufficeint room for the activities to take place without jamming up a process.   Our build went well, if I hadn't attended the IL, boys and Girls club build it would have suffered many setbacks. The prep days were hectic but well worth the time, I just would have liked to have known the extensive labor involved and possibly would have had a volunteer day or 2 for just prep.  Thanks for the opportunity to share.

 Jeff Smith    (check out kidz playstation in Pascagoula Ms. in the playspace section)

jeffnrhonda@cableone.net

Tiffany,

The build experience was the most valuable part of the training for me.  I would love to see a portion of the classroom training devoted to strategies for recycling and reusing the surplus tools, equipment & supplies that are part of every build.  We experimented with this in Lebanon with things like compostable dinnerware, recycling pallets, giving tools & paint supplies to Habitat For Humanity.  With a little more time we could have had imprinted lexan water bottles donated as give-aways to avoid even recycling the water bottles!  Could this be something KaBoom! might consider in its projects?

It was great to hear about experiences from around the country as well.  Thanks for all your effort - KaBoom! is a great organization.

Tiffany,

My two suggestions for speakers may or may not have on-the-ground playground planning experience, however I believe that they will prove to be valuable resources in teaching about children and organizing.

I would like to suggest Marian Wright Edelman as a guest speaker for UPLAY 2008.  Founder of the Children's Defense Fund, she is a committed advocate who works to give every child a healthy and fair start in life.I would also like to suggest Howard Zinn as a guest speaker for UPLAY 2008. Zinn is a noteable author and communicator who is an expert at developing effective organizing campaigns and  creating social movements. 

When you think about it..... Kaboom! is a social movement! It is re-shaping our culture.  Kaboom! is awakening people to see PLAY in a new light, one that stresses the importance of play in a child's life.

Peace,

deeedeee

Any news on where U Play or We Play will be and/or when? I'm looking foward to attending!