Technology Makes for Most Productive Swim Meet of Season!
Ok, so if you have kids and have ever been a part of a community swim team for the summer you know the excitement of swim meets. Actually, they are very exciting, especially with our four kids all competing plus our good friends and four of their kids going at it, too. Eight different competitors changing the history of swimming in Lakeway, TX, every Saturday morning for 3-4 hours.
The organized chaos of these meets is a work of genius from the community swimming founders, whomever they are. A couple hundred kids, parents, and siblings moving like clockwork in and out of 80+ events in a three-hour period. It’s just cool. Although the first time we came to this last year I must admit I was a bit freaked out… its kind of cultish in a way. I digress.
Point of this quick little post is I don’t know why I 
didn’t discover the Wi-Fi connection at our pool a long time ago. You see, swim meets are fun to see your kids progress and compete… but after the 30-45 seconds of seeing them in their heat for an event, you’ve got 32 heats to wait until your next 34-second glimpse of your next kid! Lots of downtime…
But now, enter a decent Wi-Fi connection, my laptop and iPhone, and I’m set. Oops… gotta go watch my 5-yr-old try to swim 25 yards and make it to the end of the pool.
He did it!
Ok, so sitting here from this vantage point I can see the pool, finish line, give high-fives to the kids as they head to the starting line, and hop up to cheer on during the exciting spurts of swimming energy.
That’s cool!
Beyond that, it points to the type of solutions that marketers/businesses/brands need to offer the people with whom they seek to connect. Understanding how people live their lives and what is important to them… and then match that to the various settings in which we live our lives… well, that insight can lead to solutions that solve problems or enhance experiences for people.
That’s a people centric approach. That is the thinking innovative marketers today use to genuinely connect with their audiences.
Oh, and by the way, my 5-year-old actually swam half-way down the pool before taking a break and then finishing the race. And my 12-year-old just took 6 seconds off her 100-meter individual medley race.
Time to go watch my oldest show her stuff. But now, during the 23-minute breaks of nothing to watch I’ll catch up online!
And… I’ll get back to playing with the family… just thought it’d be cool to quickly post these thoughts!
