b'2021 CONVENTION PREVIEWnBY BEN QUIGGLEKOAs Baton Rouge Conference Preparations are Underway and Registrations are on a Good PaceKampgrounds of America Inc. (KOA) is excited about hosting an in-person convention in 2021 after going virtual in 2020 due to the COVID crisis. KOAs International Convention typically draws hundreds of KOA owners from across North America for a few days of edu-cation, franchise updates, networking events and entertain-ment. This year the conference is being held at the RaisingKOAs conference is known for the data and future-driven ideas it highlights to KOA franchisees. Canes River Center in Baton Rouge, La., Nov. 15-18. Kama Humphrey, KOAs director of trainingdoing a session on campstore layouts and how to maximize profits. and events, told Woodalls Campground Magazine (WCM) that theJudi Holler, a speaker who uses improv to relate her message, will provide the con-area was impacted some by Hurricane Ida, but would still be readyferences keynote address. to go by November. Hespeechesarealwaysinteractive,andshebringspeopleonstage,said Its not going to impact the convention, she said. The conven- Humphrey. She has a new bestselling book, Fear is my Homeboy, tion center itself actually didnt even lose power or suffer any signifi- and she will be incorporating the idea behind our conferences theme cant damage. Theres a lot of damage in the area due to downed trees,in her speech. power lines and such, but theres no significant damage that will im- KOAs convention is also known for the variety of stats and data that pact the convention for us at all.KOA officials talk about throughout the week. Toby ORourke, KOAs Kama Humphrey KOAs theme for this convention is All In, All Out.president and CEO, is expected to give her annual address to fran-What that means is, were all in on a lot of the big projects that weve been workingchisees, along with other company executives who will give updates on, explained Humphrey. For example, our brand positioning and our K2 software.that will be focused on where the company is heading. Were finally to the point where they are all wrapped up. Were all in, right? Now its timeHumphrey said that KOAs Idea Xchange will focus on the ideas to go all out and celebrate. As we work together in a challenging time in our industry,centered around preparing parks to become the campgrounds of theToby ORourkeits how do we take that all-in mindset and go all-out and cement why KOA is the bestfuture. in camping?Were going to be discussing electric vehicles, building design, solar tents, water With that theme resonating throughout the conference, KOA is planning to havereclamation and more ideas like that, she highlighted. around 30 educational sessions this year on a variety of topics.On the expo side, Humphrey said the convention expects to welcome around 125 We will have sessions on electric vehicles and making sure that our owners arevendors, including several new vendors who have never attended a KOA convention ready for the electric vehicles that we know are coming, Humphrey noted. One ses- in the past. sion will focus on our Campfire Service, which is our new guest service training pro- During the expo, there will be an ice cream social that is sponsored by Care Camps, gram for staff. We just launched it earlier this year and well have a session on how tothe industry charity that works to send kids suffering from cancer to special oncology use that program for customer service training. There is a company that will also beKOA Conference continued on page 24WOODALLSCM.comNovember 2021 19'