A Good One

Had a good day in Boston. Kate Williams, NOLS board member; Drew Leemon, NOLS risk management director and I met with staff from Phillips Academy, Concord Academy and Brookline High School. We had a very productive meeting discussing opportunities for NOLS to provide training for staff and consulting. NOLS has much to offer schools that have outdoor or travel programs.

I spent the afternoon with the good folks at BzzAgent, a word of mouth marketing company. They are doing a pro-bono campaign for NOLS as part of their GoodBzz program. NOLS is the second GoodBzz campaign. The March of Dimes was the first.

80% of the people who do a NOLS course are recommended to the school by a grad, parent or outdoor retailer. We are very much a word of mouth organization. We are learning a lot from BzzAgent that will help us do an even better job of harnessing the incredible power of our proponents. In addition to that people are being introduced to our programs and we are getting marvelous feedback that is allowing us to find better ways to deliver our unique brand of education. Very cool opportunity. Thanks, BzzAgent!

I hear from Matthew Copeland that we had a good day at the NOLS bus today at Emory. About 70 folks braved the cool weather to visit Ashley, Winter, Matthew and Jared.

Jeanne O’Brien says things are hoppin’ back in the office as well. NOLS grad Britton Keeshan, the youngest person to achieve the highest summits on all seven continents will be joining the NOLS bus for a program in Greenwich, CT in March. Cara, a candidate for NOLS publications assistant is visiting Lander now through Sunday. We are very excited to have her join the NOLS marketing team. Keep your fingers crossed.

Is there anybody out there? Webmaster, Brad Christensen, launched this new What’s the Buzz blog about a week ago. Is anybody reading? Just curious if I’m just talkin’ to myself here.

Time to deal with a few emails. Later,

Bruce Palmer, NOLS marketing director