Organizations in the education and afterschool space are needed today more than ever. With parents working from home, kids sheltering in place until the next school year – both groups will benefit from these organizations (albeit in very different ways!). The demand for educational programs and materials has not slowed down – in fact, they may have increased as parents are looking for ways to keep their kids stimulated and learning.
We sat down with Mike Cavanaugh from Engineering for Kids to talk shop and see how they’ve adapted their offerings to keep the educational activities coming. And how they’ve been working closely with their franchisees to keep their services going. Hearing about their experience (both good and bad), making sense of the pandemic and changing up their business model may be helpful for other organizations looking to support their students and their families in these times.
The process hasn’t been entirely smooth and pain-free, but each day gets easier and more streamlined (complete with a silver lining here and there!).
With their worldwide franchise locations, Engineering for Kids is all about helping elementary and middle school kids have fun in an educational way. By customizing scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematical activities that complement what kids are already learning in school.
Mike has been working with EFK for 10 years, utilizing his marketing background to amplify the company brand and reach the community. Today, he works closely with franchisees to ensure their success in an operational capacity and beyond.
This discussion was moderated by our Marketing Manager, Caitlin Benn, in charge of all things go-to-market. Currently working from her apartment in Montreal and watching The Last Dance, the Michael Jordan mini-series on Netflix for a shelter-in-place sanctioned binge!
MC: We take the livelihood of our franchisees very seriously, so we’re churning virtual programs out to help support them in these times. It’s been a learning curve for all of us, but the whole team has been working hard to effectively re-structure the business model -- from what we offer, to how we offer it, and to whom (e.g. shifting focus to a higher age bracket, because younger kids need more hands-on support or parental guidance).
MC: We’ve certainly put a lot thought into different revenue streams over the years, from subscription boxes, to competitions, etc. This also included virtual classes, but the pandemic hitting really accelerated the process. The classes include a combination of pre-recorded and live -- at this point we have about 24 weeks of content that is fully virtual right now. There is value in both. Of course, live is closer to our traditional programs, but we’re allowing for some flexibility.
For live, we use video conferencing tools with Zoom, Join.me, and Hangouts. For pre-recording, some instructors have video cameras, but iPhones have been working great, too!
The franchisees in the network that use Amilia are still using the platform to manage registrations for both the recorded and live action classes. And Facebook is being used actively to advertise them! We've seen a huge uptick with people at home and spending more time online, consuming ads.
MC: It’s been an interesting transition to say the least, but all the schools across North America started jumping online immediately, so parents and kids were already used to the technological set up as we onboarded them.
We’ve also made sure to educate parents on the process overall – with scripted emails and resources to explain how the program works, what they can expect, where they need to login, and what to do to ask questions.
MC: We were surprised at the level of outcry that we experienced for our classes. Of course, figuring out how to push the classes online quickly was an all-in effort – and it continues to be!
One of our locations in California was already halfway through a 6-week electrical engineering course when the lockdown happened. It was a huge effort, but we were able to build out the rest of the course and put it online in a few weeks.
We’ve seen parents willing to go as far as cutting extension cords to tinker with the electrical components and get wires, so kids can do the projects.
There are some of our programs that require hands-on materials, so we’re looking at distribution strategies for supplying – like producing and shipping out kits (of the necessary materials) and/or leasing out equipment. Sanitized, of course! Stay tuned...
MC: We were pleased to see that, right away, we had a lot of early adopters getting onboard with the programs immediately. Now, there’s a new wave of parents that are realizing how long the pandemic will impact their kids’ activities, so they’re looking at options like EFK’s offerings.
Parents are hungry for the material, and definitely want to keep their kids stimulated. They also want to free up some of their time too!
MC: When schools start opening back up and kids are attending, we will be able to fall back into our normal operations, i.e. afterschool hands-on programs. Perhaps class sizes will be smaller if there is a requirement, but we’ll be able to adapt. We are keeping a close eye on what regulations are being put forth for schools, because we’ll follow a similar trajectory.
As an organization, I hope that the future is a hybrid of what we are doing now and what we did before. By broadening our offering to also include online classes, I think there is a real opportunity to reach even more kids down the line when things do go back to ‘normal’.
Recommended Reading: After School Organization Goes Virtual: Young Rembrandts Roundtable Chat
MC: We’re exploring the opportunity to do 1:1 tutoring sessions for kids. We can use the payment processing and the private lessons module in Amilia for that!
Like most organizations, we’re also looking at the process for providing credits for cancelations for a future time.
MC: Our whole team is remote right now. To stay connected, we make sure to meet frequently and keep communications open by disseminating information as quickly as we can.
We need to be mindful that, if we have kids at home during this time, that the experience is different for our coworkers with and without family. But, overall, the increased face time with the kids has been really good. We’ll look back on this with them like; “Remember that time we had to stay at home for an entire month?”. It’s one for the history books!
MC: Knowing what I know now about the status of lockdown, I’d start earlier by sending out sanitized supplies and educational materials.
But I think that it’s tough to respond to this question – because things change day-to-day right now. I would probably try to keep our class subject matter more general, so it can be used more cross-platform.
MC: I know I’m not alone in the day-to-day shift in my feelings about the situation. Some days are better than others. Some States are more optimistic than others, which has been interesting to see, too.
To keep busy, we’re gardening and doing projects around the house. I built my kids a brand-new jungle gym, which was a big project! We also bought new bikes to make sure we get some outside time.
MC: Our Founder and CEO, Dori Roberts, is very connected with the community and she’s been openly communicating with people from all over: jumping on webinars, and making sure people are socializing and learning from each other. That’s been an effective way to keep our mental state healthy and feel unified with others.
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