Anyone for a ride? And other convention reminders……….

This Thursday morning, November 2nd, the big blue Kindermusik high-top van pictured below will be pulling out of Decatur, its first stop: Norcross, Georgia to pick up Daneille Grimes who will be chief navigator for our trip.  Destination Greensboro and the “Simply the Best” convention of Kindermusik educators ever is our final stop.  We’ve got extra seats (captain’s chairs), a nice ride, and wonderful conversation to share.  Anyone else care to join us on our ride? 

And all you Georgia folks that will be there at convention, try to look up the message board for a meeting time and place for us to get together.  Possibly lunch Saturday?

And if you’re on the KMLoop, don’t forget to take your purple ribbon for your name tag so folks will know how to recognize you.  As for me, I found myself a *marvelous* purple shirt today as well.   

See you there!

Educator Profiles: Part Tres – Compassion in Action

I know that I’m a perennial softy.  My nickname here at home is “Softy Mom”. (At least, until I threaten to kill Allegra the kitten for yet *another* mess to clean up.)   But, honestly, if you can view this latest video from Molly McGinn without tears coming to your eyes, you’ve got a harder heart than Scrooge himself.  

 

Kudos to Molly McGinn for doing such a magnificent job of getting right to the hearts of these Kindermusik educators.  Thanks, Molly, and I can’t wait to meet you in person next week!

Exciting News at Convention

 

I just got off the phone with Mary Cox at Kindermusik International.  I needed to check on some things about my ABC Music & Me materials with her.  In the course of conversation, she shared a little bit of some of the exciting news about ABC Music & Me that will be announced at convention next week.  Now, I’m not going to say exactly what it was that she said, but I will tell you this – it’s all good news for Kindermusik educators as far as I’m concerned.  If you’ve ever had any interest in teaching ABC Music & Me, but didn’t, due to concerns about requirements and restrictions, you need to be sure to check out one of their break-out sessions.  That’s as much as I’m going to say and you have no idea how hard it is for me to keep my mouth shut!  (Well, some of you do!)

What’s the point?

A number of years back, I heard a radio broadcast of Cynthia Tobias on Focus on the Family about children and their learning styles.  It was specifically geared to parents of children who were having trouble learning, but it gave me a lot of food for thought with one simple phrase that she used over and over again: “What’s the point?”  In other words, why do we do what we do?  What is the reason for what we are doing and what do we want to accomplish from it?

There has been discussion from time to time on the KMLoop about Free Preview Coupons and how and why we should honor them in our programs.  This morning as I signed into my email, I found a note from Theresa Case about a post on the PKE blog about these same coupons.   After reading her well-presented post, I thought I’d save y’all some time and effort locating the PKE blog and just copy it here.  It is well worth your time and consideration.

Thank you, Theresa!

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Kindermusik’s FREE Preview Class Coupon
by Theresa Case

 Why a “Free Preview Class Coupon”?

“Free” is always appealing! So the coupon is a great way to get parents to take a closer look at Kindermusik.

“Ain’t nothin’ like the real thing…” If we can get a parent to experience a Kindermusik class for themselves, we know that there’s an extremely high likelihood that they’ll enroll.

If you build it, they will come. This coupon helps develop the Kindermusik brand. The more recognizable and familiar the brand “Kindermusik” becomes, the more all educators – and families! – benefit.

What happens when a parent clicks on the “Free Coupon” on KI’s website?

They are asked to provide their first and last name, their phone number, email address, and zip code. When they hit “enter”, this is the message that appears:

Thank you. To access your free coupon click here.
If no coupon is displayed, make sure you aren’t blocking popups on this page.
To find a class near you click here
Preparing your child for success in school and life means including your child’s first and most important educator – you. As you participate in every step of the learning process, you’ll see firsthand just how essential Kindermusik is to your child’s growth.

If a parent clicks on “To access your free coupon…” this is what they get:

How does the educator get the Preview Coupon leads?
Every business day, KI distributes those leads to the nearest educator based on the ZIP code that the parent supplied. Watch your in-box for emails from KI with a subject line reading “Kindermusik Preview Coupon Leads”, and contact these prospective families right away.

How can I honor the coupon?

1. Invite the family to come visit a class (for free) during an ongoing semester. If they do enroll part way through the semester, simply pro-rate for the remaining classes plus the cost of materials.

2. Set up a specific “demo day” or “Kindermusik Music & Movement Story Time” where you invite families to redeem their coupon and attend the event for free.

3. Treat the coupon as “xx” dollars off their tuition (whatever the cost for one class in your program is).

4. Invite them to attend a demo class that you already have scheduled at the library, Babies R Us, community center, etc.

Why honor the coupon?

A parent interested enough to want to act on the coupon is highly likely to enroll.
You have no other costs associated with honoring the coupon other than the value of one class.

Honoring the coupon is a small investment that could reap four or more semesters of future enrollment from that same family, not to mention the word-of-mouth referrals that family could generate.

Without a preview, parents are being asked to pay for a product/experience sight unseen. So a preview is especially important for a parent lead that is not a referral. A good preview experience with you will allay any concerns that a parent might have about their child fitting in or participating in class.

Because Kindermusik competitors like Little Gym, Gymboree, and Music Together offer free previews, Kindermusik Preview Coupons keep your Kindermusik business competitive.

All the way from California…………………

I ran across this video on my subscription list on Youtube.com and realized it came from Lee Arvinger, a California educator who is also on the KMLoop.  This is one cool,  rocking class! I wanted to jump into the dance myself!  Way to go, Lee! 

Any Georgia educators out there with video?  I’d love to put it up here on our blog!

Educator Profiles Part Deux

The next installment from Molly McGinn for convention – these are some awesome ladies – including our Kindermusik educators!

Can’t wait to see the rest!

A Peek at Convention Offerings

In case you missed it on Molly McGinn’s blog, here’s a peek at one of the six educator profiles planned for convention.  Alyssa Preddie-Allen is one awesome educator!

Hurricane Update from Ginger Bennett

Hurricane Katrina Relief Update

Happy Fall Everyone! We are slowly settling in to life in Biloxi.

We spent Saturday, September 30^th, in Pearlington, Mississippi with Mission Love Seeds and the Red Cross. This is a town about 40 miles west of Biloxi. The last Saturday of each month, we set up a distribution center on what used to be the Jr. High School football field. You can see my pictures by clicking:  http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EasWLdszcvWg 
 

Here’s the problem: the work is plentiful, the workers are few. This letter appeals you to not forget the tremendous need to help many thousands rebuild their homes. Thirteen months after the hurricane only a small percentage of the houses have been rebuilt. Pearlington was a small community with about 900 homes. Since Katrina, only 3 homes managed to remain “livable”.  All others were washed away, or deemed uninhabitable. The first comment most volunteers make when they come is, “It looks as if nothing has been done in the way of rebuilding”. A lot has been done, but there is sooooo much more to be done.

The stories here are heart breaking. Most of the thousands of displaced people have no money to repair or replace their houses. They have not been well treated by their insurance companies (as I’m hoping you’ve heard on the news) and are waiting on promised rebuilding grants. These grants were to be distributed in August, but, I’ve only met three families who have received this grant money. Many people share a common story.  What little money people collected from insurance was used to hire contractors. These contractors have since disappeared. Finding an honest contractor is not only difficult, but expensive. Since the need is tremendous, so is the price. Prices have gone up so much that people just can’t pay for all the necessary rebuilding.

Let’s review some facts about hurricane Katrina:

*The size of the damaged area is difficult to comprehend even for those who have seen most of it. The damage runs for about 71 miles along the coast of Mississippi. Try to picture this distance.  Where could you travel to in 71 miles? Think of all the homes and businesses within this 71 miles.

*The towns of Long Beach, Pass Christian, Bay St. Louis, Pearlington and Waveland are so heavily damaged that they are struggling to survive.

*Most of the United States is aware that New Orleans was damaged by Katrina, but to put things in proper perspective, consider that New Orleans lost about 6,200 homes while Mississippi lost almost 70,000.

What can you do to help?  There are three main things you can do:

1. Prayer; keep the Mississippi coast in your daily prayer.  

2. Send gift cards from Lowe’s, Home Depot or Wal-Mart. You can send these to my attention.

3. Send yourselves. We need workers.

Since school started up in August, volunteers have been almost non-existent.  There are two local Biloxi churches that have space specifically designated space for volunteers. (the First United Methodist Church and the First Presbyterian Church). Both have cots or bunk beds, air conditioned rooms, showers and kitchens. The need is re building. You do not need to be a professional contractor to help. They will match up job orders with your gifts. The Presbyterian Church does welcome children. 

We’d also love to see you!  So – please come visit and help.  Expect to be changed by your experience here,

Ginger Bennett

–
Ginger Bennett, NMT, MT-BC
Allegrow Music, Inc.
www.allegrowmusic.com
cell: (770) 789-3493
home: (228)435-0187