Campground Coalition Meets at RVs Move America Week

WASHINGTON D.C. – The second day of RVs Move America Week featured another handful of committee meetings, a luncheon highlighted by two political presentations, and an evening reception that celebrated the tenure of RVIA Past Chairman Kevin McArt of Forest River Inc. Hosted by the RV Industry Association (RVIA) at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C., RVs Move America Week is the annual conference in which industry volunteers help set RVIA’s agenda going forward. The event concludes today with Advocacy Day, in which participants will meet with members of Congress and their staffs to discuss issues of importance to the RV industry. RVs Move America Week is also an opportunity for the industry to gather for camaraderie and – from a rooftop venue with a view of the dome of the Capitol Building – to thank McArt for his two-year stint as the RVIA chair. McArt, a general manager for Forest River Inc., was lauded by RVIA President Craig Kirby and Board Chair Mary Pouliot of Thetford, who also presented him with several gifts, including a letterman’s jacket. For his part, McArt thanked his wife, Heidi, and their family for their support, before addressing everyone in the room. “Not too many people can say that they love what they do and who they do it with in their professional careers, but I can. I’m truly honored to work alongside each one of you here this evening. Our industry unity is amazing and it’s something to be proud of,” he said. “I know most of you here ever heard me say this before,” he continued, “but when I joined the board in 2017, I thought the RV Industry Association was just a seal that we put on the side of a unit and a Louisville show. Well, today I know it’s much more than just that. During my tenure on the board, I got to really know the team at RVIA and they are a talented group who are passionate about our industry and definitely put members first. “I will cherish the memories that were built along the way and lasting friendships that were formed,” McArt said. “If there are any words of advice that I can share with you this evening, I would say, get involved if you’re not already – whether it’s on a committee, whether it’s the Emerging Leaders Coalition, whether it’s participating in an Advocacy Day or even becoming a board member. For me, it was so rewarding to give back to an industry that has taken care of me and my family.” The first of the two political presentations during the luncheon was a “fireside chat” with U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, the chair of the House Ways & Means Committee, who answered several questions from RVIA Vice President of Government Affairs Jason Rano and Chad Reece, Winnebago Industries’ Vice President of Government and Industry Relations. (See related coverage at RVBusiness.com) The second presentation was from Scott Jennings, a senior conservative commentator on CNN and the author of “A Revolution of Common Sense: How Donald Trump Stormed Washington and Fought for Western Civilization”, who offered his perspective on the national political climate in a highly partisan address. Jennings – who began his presentation by saying he and his father had restored a vintage motorhome, which led to him investing in a Florida RV park – said that America needs and wants authentic debates of differing opinions. Always consuming information on the same political viewpoint leads to “ideological bubbles,” he said, adding that the United States was formed by dissenting opinions. “I wouldn’t hold my breath on politicians being comfortable with being handled or debated, especially Presidents. They tend not to like be challenged,” he said. “But for the rest of us, I think we should embrace our country’s foundations. We’re debaters. We’re arguers. But then we vote and that’s how we settle our differences. The problem is when we get beyond voting with violence and other activities. That’s when we have a problem.” What follows are reports from a couple of Tuesday’s committee meetings. Campground Coalition Chairman Trevor Kropf, General Manager at Kropf Industries Chris Bornemann, Senior Director, Government Affairs at RV Industry Association Kropf: I was just telling Chris here, we’ve done a lot in two years. It started off just trying to bring everyone to the table as far as state associations, campgrounds, suppliers, manufacturers – just bringing everyone to unify them together to get them on the same page. So, we kind of started with all that a couple years ago, and I think we’ve come a long way. Really, we’re just bringing everyone as far as updates within the industry. Big thing today was the ground monitoring interrupter (GMI). That was important. If it weren’t for this coalition, I don’t think we’d have everyone in the same room to get on the same page as what’s going to happen with that in the next probably 18 months. So that’s important. The economic update video was important, too. It’s $140 billion industry. So, again, that’s available for everyone within the industry to go onto the website and check out. But it’s good for the campgrounds to use, good for all the industry people to use as well. Bornemann: We wanted to put together a video that could be useful to really show the breadth of what camping is, to show the economic impact, to show the spend, to show that camping is a net positive for communities. It brings in economic impact for businesses, and a lot of great things for the community that we’re excited to be part of, and to get that education and that positive message of camping and RVing out there. (Officials also introduced Placer.ai to the Campground Coalition via a livestream video conference with Jimmy Jower, who serves as a customer success manager for the high tech company that provides location-based analytics of staggering levels of detail.) One of the goals of the coalition is to bring industry data together and to continue to provide more data and research to help campgrounds, dealers, manufacturer suppliers make good business decisions. So, part of that through Placer.ai is to create research from RVIA, powered by Placer.ai data and powered by our Go RVing data. Pulling that all together – our economic impact data, as well as Placer.ai, insights around foot traffic, market area, demographics – and really put together a comprehensive package so people can really understand who the RVer is, where they’re going, what they’re looking for, and just create a robust research initiative to help continue to advance all segments of the industry. And whether you’re a small campground or whether you’re a large campground, there’ll be insights and data in there that’ll be really applicable to you. We’re just starting just launching this initiative now. We’re excited to get it out there, get the information in the campground owners’ and operators’ hands, and hear back from them on how they’re utilizing this data and ways that we can continue to build off that and create more insights to continue to grow the RV campground industry and ensure that consumers have an amazing experience. Kropf: I think the Placer.ai is going to be great for the whole industry. Again, like you said, we’re just kind of dipping our toes in right now and starting small, and we’re starting with the campgrounds. But I think the dealers, the manufacturers, suppliers, they could all use this data. I think it’s going to be huge for the industry if everyone buys into it. Bornemann: And from the advocacy perspective, it was great to have everybody in the room together – we had manufacturers, suppliers, dealers, campgrounds together – talking about industry issues that impacting all of us. It was great to come together and to be able to unify as an industry around some of these important advocacy efforts, which is only going to make our industry stronger and more robust going forward. Kropf: You had state people coming in and they were sharing their different state issues that were going on. They know they have the support from RVIA. You had, again, people speaking up, coming together with some resolutions. So, it’s just great to see everyone unified and together. Membership & Supplier Committee Chairman Anthony Wollschlager President of Airxcel Inc. A large part of meeting was about sharing information, for the most part. There were a few things that we needed to go through in terms of information regarding surveys that had been shared to the membership. We talked about really looking at how RVIA can support decisions in the marketplace for suppliers and OEMs, and information that RVIA can get on our behalf. For example, there was a survey completed on interior designs, essentially from consumers or would soon-to-be consumers of an RV, that shed some light to us on what they’re looking for in products – what’s important to them, what’s not important to them, so to speak – based on different features in the RV. So, that was great information to see. There were some tactical things that we needed to go through but outside of that, but it was also just a good time to network and catch up with folks and building for tomorrow for Advocacy Day.