Wednesday 25 March 2009

The play inspector calls.....part 3

Inspection calls are rather like buses; you can wait for ages for one to come along and then suddenly many arrive in quick succession! It was so quiet from November through to February. Just fifteen jobs over a four-month period. I really thought the credit crunch was beginning to hit the UK indoor play industry big time. And then March! Eleven jobs done as I write this piece with three more to do before the end of the month. The types of inspections are very evenly split with seven post-installations and seven annuals. Good to have some variety it keeps the mind sharp. Last week it was four on the South Coast; this week has started with two in the North East. Today it’s the East Midlands, tomorrow the West Midlands. It’s a wonder my car doesn’t get dizzy!

Back to last week. I thought it was going to start with an inspection on the Wednesday but suddenly the call came through that this was postponed. Not to worry. A very welcome extra 24 hours to get over the Bangkok jetlag!

Thursday: Driving almost due south from my home in Stafford to a play centre that has become something of a regular for me over the years. I first inspected it way back in July 1994. Little did I realize then that I would still be climbing its frames and trudging my way through its ball pools in March 2009! In fact the number of past reports in my bulging file shows this one to be the 28th. It must hold the national record for the highest number of my inspection visits. Still, the fact that it continues to give good service in a busy seaside resort and against competition from a growing number of more modern play centres in the area must say something. It does. It is always well staffed with a well-led highly motivated team backed by very good management. Vital ingredients if a play centre is going to survive and prosper. Others take note.

On to the next job and this time not far to motor. An interesting and impressively large Play Centre designed, manufactured and installed by a Chinese company. Having carried out its post-installation inspection last year I was keen to see how it was getting on. A very positive first year of trading was reported and the play frame and equipment was standing up well to the rigours of many tiny feet. Again it soon became clear that its success was due in no small measure to the drive, energy and sheer commitment of its General Manager. Staff selection working well.

Forty miles down the coast and I was able to get job number three in on the same day. I’ll sleep well tonight! Another Play Centre of the same chain as the last one and again of Chinese origin. This time built in 2007. Very similar story. The fabric of the facility looking good and the Centre being very ably led. Another successful year of business reported.

Finally I need a bed. But have you ever tried to park your car in Brighton? I lost count of the number of circuits I made of the sea front before opting to stay overnight in a hotel with its own underground car park. A very hot Indian curry was eagerly sought. I felt I had earned it.

Friday: A shortish journey to the last job of the week. A play centre built by a British company in 2006. Some wear and tear found and there was a need to tighten up on a few operational procedures but no big safety issues. Three hours later I am heading home via the M25 and through Friday afternoon traffic! No need for speed cameras – portrait painters can do the job! A weekend of Report writing looms. Must keep on top.

Nick Balmforth is an inspector of Soft Play areas and is renowned for his expertise and knowledge of creating and operating safe Indoor Play areas. This blog is an excerpt of his diary which he shares with the Shareandcompareplay.com community in the hope that regular communication and insight will benefit the industry and raise standards.

Monday 23 March 2009

Seeing Soft Play from both sides of the fence

If you’re a budding entrepreneur about to embark on running your very own Soft Play Centre, I know exactly how you feel, and there’s no job in the world that will prepare you for running a Children’s Indoor Play Centre!

In 2002, my wife to be and I decided our business in Ireland needed a base to expand and so we began to search for premises from which to grow our modest partnership. 12 months later, and with one building lost due to planning refusals, we were only 1 day away from opening our Soft Play Centre. In truth we were both woefully unprepared but also intoxicated by the excitement of it all.

The trials and tribulations of those first 12 months will not be forgotten in a hurry. Learning how to manage staff who are more interested in last nights nightclub gossip, pacifying over demanding parents convinced their little darling is not the cause of another child’s pain and juggling the bank account to make sure the bank manager or main supplier doesn’t come knocking on your door; a steep but important learning curve for challenges to come!

Little did I know that within 12 months of opening our Play Centre I would be sitting on the other side of the fence, becoming Managing Director and part owner of Indoor Play Equipment supplier, SuccessPlay Ireland. My previous experiences put me in good stead to understand the mindset of potential operators, and helped me to work with over 25 Play Centre owners in developing their own unique offering for the Irish market.

Those 4 years turned into a wonderful mix of; weekdays spent travelling across the Emerald Isle meeting like minded individuals about to embark upon a journey and experience the same emotions I had been feeling for the past 2 years; weekends spent making cappuccinos and paninis at our Play Centre, with my ear drums ringing for 8 hours at a time!

Having sat on both sides of the fence I have seen first hand how difficult and frustrating it can be to set up and run a Play Centre. The industry has grown substantially in the past 10 years but it has remained extremely fragmented and lacks innovation to this day. There are individuals out there trying to make a difference; New suppliers entering the market with unique and cost effective services and products; Health and safety standards continually rising to new levels due to diligent work in this area. However, operators are still not able to access the right type of independent and corroborated information and advice they need to assist them in their quest to operate a safe, fun and profitable Indoor Play Centre, and they receive very little support after they open their doors to the public. My desire to try and make a difference to the industry has taken me to where I am today, in my role with Share and Compare Play, and I look forward to sharing my experiences with you as I try to have a positive impact on suppliers and operators alike along the way.

Wednesday 18 March 2009

The play inpector calls...part 2

As heralded in last week’s blog, the last 7 days have been extraordinary! They started in London with the latest scheduled Standardisation Review meeting and then on to Bangkok to inspect Thailand’s first indoor play and party centre for children and their families. I get something of a glimpse of what it must be like to be an international business tycoon and quite a contrast in temperature after this long cold winter in the UK.

Monday: British Rail to London and then the familiar tube journey to Gunnersbury, home of the British Standards Institution. The publication of the European Standard for indoor play last year gave rise to an assumption in the industry that our own BS8409:2002 Soft Indoor Play Areas – Code of Practice would be rendered obsolete. It is normal for a British Standard to be removed when superseded by a European Norm. I for one was not prepared to accept that. Yes any conflicting data with the European Standard would need to be surgically removed but there would remain much sound operational advice within the British Standard that I believed deserved to remain on the table. I therefore applied to BSI for a revision of BS8409 and my proposal was accepted last autumn. I selected a Committee to assist in that redrafting purpose and offered representation to: The Register of Play Inspectors International (RPII), the Play Providers Association (PPA), RoSPA, the Association of Play Industries Indoor Play Section (API) and The Play Inspection Company (TPIC). So far we have had three very hard-working and positive meetings and are well on schedule for completing the project this year. Watch this space!

Tuesday: Final preparations for Thailand then off to Manchester for the long-haul flight broken only by a change of plane in Abu Dhabi. I know a good supplier of sand!

Wednesday: The longest immigration procedure I have ever endured at Bangkok airport. The queuing seemed to last for hours - everyone on the plane had to be photographed. Finally made it to my hotel and established client contact. There was he said “good news and bad news”. The good news was that I had arrived to help and advise him; the bad news was that the installation was taking longer than expected and the job therefore was unfinished. Not to worry. I reassured him that much useful work could and would be done.

Thursday/Friday: On site. Met the installation team - three from UK supported by Thai labour. The locals had clearly picked up what for them were new skills very quickly and all seemed to be working very well together on this British supplied product. Established priorities and objectives for my work. To my surprise a cable TV crew arrived with other free-lance journalists all wanting video footage and interviews. This was after all the first project of its kind in the country and to them very newsworthy. Worked and sweated hard carrying out both inspection and consultancy tasks broken only by much eating of Thai food, drinking litres of bottled water and much needed showers and sleep.

Saturday: Mission accomplished. A very good play centre in prospect and they might be interested in a twinning arrangement with a UK play centre. Any offers? Hopefully the jet lag will not last too long since I have 4 South Coast inspections to carry out next week. A more usual long-haul for this much travelled play inspector!

Nick Balmforth is an inspector of Soft Play areas and is renowned for his expertise and knowledge of creating and operating safe Indoor Play areas. This blog is an excerpt of his diary which he shares with the Shareandcompareplay.com community in the hope that regular communication and insight will benefit the industry and raise standards.

Seth Godin...Demonization, opening up & an offer to suppliers

The Soft Play industry is traditional to the extent that even the founder of the industry http://shareandcompareplay.blogspot.com/2009/02/inspirational-rupert-in-fine-form.html is frustrated with the lack of creativity and innovation in the last fifteen years.

However, there is hope because the next generation of suppliers and operators are beginning to open up and engage in discussions about the future.

Unfortunately, for the most part we still have to look outside of our industry for inspiration and innovative practice utilising the adoption of new technologies but we will share our findings so that you can consider if your organisation can utilise them.

We will be saying a whole lot more about the next generation of suppliers and operators in the next few weeks but for now, I recommend this very short article by Seth Godin, a leading business blogger on how to respond to the era of transparency.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/03/demonization.html

PS. We are offering to consult with all suppliers without charge or obligation to outline how our services are / will change the industry and how they can benefit; we will report back as we go.

Thursday 12 March 2009

Monty Python on ShareandComparePlay.com...

After only a few weeks, Shareandcompareplay.com is becoming known as an organisation dedicated to revolutionising the indoor play market (we have some really exciting news on this in the next few days).

However, we also want to spread the word regarding how traditional markets, companies and customers can benefit by the introduction of tools that enable 'transparency', an 'open source' approach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source and 'freedom for information'.

I am often asked about the reaction of people in the soft play industry to these ideas and particularly the notion of giving information away for free. I recently saw this Monty Python video on http://www.youtube.com/; the reaction of traditionalists is best summed up by watching this video, take particular notice around the 1m 30secs mark.



http://www.shareandcompareplay.com/ is the Indoor Soft Play Comparison and Information website.

The Inspector Calls...

After months of relative winter inactivity the phone begins to ring. Five inspections in six days! Greater Manchester, Essex, Greater London, The Lake District and the west coast of Ireland. North, South, East and West! My latest workhorse of a car is certainly being run-in!

The inspections have their own variations. Each from a different supplier - four UK companies and one from across the big pond. Different design, manufacturing and installation techniques, but generally the quality is there. There have been huge improvements in the product over the last 16 years. I like to believe all the work I have put into helping create independent safety guidelines and British and European Standards for the industry has paid off.

Then there are the types of inspections - two Post-Installations, two Annuals and one that is a bit of both. What a difference inspecting empty play frames and those teeming with kids! “Can you give me a lift down mister?” Under no circumstances!

Friday: A five year old Play Centre still giving good service in a downtown location. Discussed issues of fire safety both in the design and in the need for fire safety systems. The need to be able to get everyone out inside 2½ minutes is very real for all Centres. It’s the smoke that kills.

Monday:
Spanking new Centre and with a vintage United States Fire Engine in pristine condition set to transport children to the Play Centre for Parties. How cool is that!

Second job:
Arrived to find installation work continuing – never easy but able to pick up on some safety issues with the installation team on site to address them so useful work done.

Wednesday:
One year old Play Centre having its first Annual. Immaculate condition. Gave some training on indoor play to a work colleague grounded in outdoor playgrounds. Big differences found – like you get a hot drink on arrival!

Thursday:
Short flight to the peat bogs of Ireland. Very impressive new build in a brand new leisure complex – once we had dredged our way through the mud to get inside among the hard hats!

Next week will be very different. An important BSI revising committee for British Standard BS8409 to Chair and just one post-installation inspection. Not much travelling? Wrong! The job is 6,000 miles away in Bangkok. It’s a hard life!

Nick Balmforth is an inspector of Soft Play areas and is renowned for his expertise and knowledge of creating and operating safe Indoor Play areas. This blog is an excerpt of his diary which he shares with the Shareandcompareplay.com community in the hope that regular communication and insight will benefit the industry and raise standards.

Monday 9 March 2009

New comparison category; 'must have' for Soft Play centres (according to operators)


In the last ten years, traditional Indoor Play Centres have evolved to offer a better quality café / coffee bar and maybe some peripheral items but Soft Play equipment remains very much at the core of the popular proposition.

However, the forecasted trend is such that Indoor Play Centres will more accurately be described as Family Entertainment Centres (FEC’s) with a variety of offerings that create a more holistic experience for children and parents.

Shareandcompareplay.com aims to provide the most comprehensive information relating to Soft Play Centres/FEC’s and we can now reveal our plans to expand the categories of suppliers on a weekly basis until every significant supplier to the soft play industry is listed and available for review.

In the last week we have added Coin-operated machines, the item most described as the ‘must have’ play item during our interviews with successful play operators.

In the coming weeks, the following are just some of the categories that will be added:

- Ceramics
- Interactive equipment
- Party packs and accessories
- Financing
- Insurance
- Consultants
- Health and Safety organisations
- Industry associations

The launch of each category will be confirmed via Twitter, http://twitter.com/Shareandcompare and you can find the full listings under ‘Compare’ on the navigation bar at http://www.shareandcompareplay.com/

If you are a supplier to the play industry and want to guarantee being listed from the day your category is launched, please e-mail us at contact@shareandcompareplay.com and we will confirm the application process.

Shareandcompareplay.com is the Indoor Soft Play Comparison and Information website. You can subscribe and unsubscribe to e-mails with special offers and information releases by e-mailing us at contact@shareandcompareplay.com

Friday 6 March 2009

Seth Godin. Customer feedback direct to your door? What's next, the world?

Shareandcompareplay.com are advocates of transparency and freedom of information in the Soft Play market.

This is a must read blog for all Managers and Business owners about the power of the customer and information to transform industries. It is written by Seth Godin http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/03/direct-from-consumer-marketing.html

Thursday 5 March 2009

"Entrepreneurs in Play" filming @ Fun 4 All





Last week, we were recording another session for our series entitled “Entrepreneurs in Play”; this is a series of interviews with successful soft play operators.

This time it was the turn of Russell Gardner of Fun 4 All in Macclesfield and Chester, http://www.fun4all.co.uk/default.aspx again we much appreciated the willingness of a play operator to share their experience with our community.

Russell owns Fun 4 All with his wife Debbie and together, not only have they successfully launched their own play centre, in the last twelve months they have also expanded with the acquisition of a site that was under-performing site in Chester.

Our interview with Russell was particularly informative for future and current operators because of his willingness to share his experience of the following:

- How he used his previous experience as a Senior Purchasing Manger with GE http://www.ge.com/ to evaluate and select suppliers for each play centre

- The value of research during the business planning process and the things that people must know before they start an indoor play centre

- The importance of allowing for seasonality in your financial planning and how consultants can be used to help ensure your planning is accurate

- The future of Play and how the Play Providers Association http://www.playproviders.org.uk/ shares the passion of Share and Compare Play to create the best possible play experience for children; we discuss what this means for suppliers and operators alike

We are taking a short break in filming during March so that we can focus on the editing process for a number of our recordings but more interviews and productions are already scheduled for April.

We are interested from hearing from anyone that has a story to share, if you are interested in being considered for interview, please get in touch http://www.shareandcompareplay.com/


Shareandcompareplay.com is the Indoor Soft Play Comparison and Information website.

You can subscribe and unsubscribe, by e-mailing us at contact@shareandcompareplay.com

Wednesday 4 March 2009

Google, Brilliant and our charity policy

In November 2009, I was in San Francisco to hear Larry Brilliant of http://www.google.org/ (the charitable foundation of Google.com) present a heart wrenching and inspirational speech regarding the role of business beyond making a profit and employing people.

The role of business as a social force for good is perhaps difficult to fathom in times like these when survival seems to be the main focus but we want it to be a core value of our business. After listening to the presentation, I returned determined that our new company would be different, not only in terms of its technology and helping to grow a market; we would also be structured to reflect broader goals and purpose.

In the last week, we have began to speak with Lawyers and Accountants regarding how to do the following, all ideas inspired by Larry Brilliant, Google and http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/

- Give one per cent of equity to charitable organisations
- Give one per cent of profits to charitable organisations
- Enable all employees to spend one per cent of time on charitable projects
- Establish our own charitable foundation to work on projects that reflect the purpose and goals of our team and customers

We continue to explore this approach and whether it would result in the positive contribution we wish to make. In the next few weeks, we will share a questionnaire with our community and invite feedback / votes regarding the approach we should take and the causes / charities we should support.

In the meantime, if you or your organisation has also tried to / does operate with a similar philosophy, please share your experience so that we can learn from it and benefit the selected causes as quickly as possible

Please see this latest posting from Larry Brilliant / http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/next-chapter-for-googleorg.html for more information.