When the 75th Anniversary Promotions and Publicity Committee came up with the idea for a contest between our parks we thought it was a great way to get all the staff energized about our Anniversary. It's not that we all weren't excited, it's just that the parks are really busy in mid-June anyway and day to day operations take over.
The plan was for every park to develop their own video highlighting staff, volunteers and their park in celebration of our 75th anniversary. We weren't expecting professional videos – the whole idea was to have fun. The Committee provided a couple of examples of staff created videos from other organizations and we even purchased a Premium account for Animoto (for those who might prefer a slide show video).
In the last month I think park staff may have been sticking pins in voodoo dolls (I have this annoying shoulder pain …) in the likenesses of the committee members but most confessed they had fun making the videos. They turned out even better than I expected and while the videos served the purpose of boosting morale and getting staff excited about our birthday/anniversary, they also do a wonderful job of highlighting the unique features of all of our Virginia State Parks.
The winning park will earn a Pizza Party for staff but bragging rights will last longer than the pizza!
The video below will play all of the videos as a Playlist: