Recreation Online Update

During lockdown there were many groups and organisations who adapted their way of working and their way of delivering recreation by going online. We hosted an excellent webinar which covered this topic (view the full webinar here) and we had a fantastic panel of speakers who gave us insight into how they were delivering their programmes in the online space and what that meant for their customers. Now that we have emerged from lockdown, we touched base with some of the panelists to find out the impact of their online journey and what they are doing now, post-lockdown.

Sophie Harland, Girl Guiding NZ

What they did...

In response to COVID-19 Girl Guiding NZ (GGNZ) launched their Explore Brownies programme early. Explore offers 90-day programmes of digitally delivered activities to girls aged 5-6, and 7-10. It's aim is to help girls grow their confidence, abilities, and sense of adventure using any device, from any place, at any time.

What they learned...

The programme provided the participants with a sense of normalcy and exciting innovation, and as a result GGNZ welcomed 200 girls into the programme. GGNZ reported a rise in the number of people wanting to volunteer with them and learned that it's okay to pivot as things progress.

"Revisiting decisions to ensure that you are still positioned to add the best value for your customer base is okay - these were strange and fast paced times that required a different model of operating to usual as information was ever evolving."

What they are doing now...

GGNZ made the decision to continue offering the Explore programme for free throughout 2020 and the Classic programme at reduced rate for term three. They are looking at developing Explore to suit older age groups and are working to further align themselves with organisations that share a similar set of values.





Sam Dickie, Hutt City Council

What they did...

The HCC Active team turned to social media to offer online fitness competitions, challenges, classes, and Kapa Haka lessons.

What they learned...

People were hungry for online recreation opportunities and as a result HCC found themselves adding classes to their programmes and extending their community reach. They were thrilled to see strong engagement from the older community and that people were revisiting the online classes after they went live. Previously HCC struggled to connect with the older community in the online space but during the lockdown period they found that they were starting to embrace technology because of their desire to keep up their fitness.

"As much as seniors were not comfortable going on-line before Covid-19, they really made use of our on-line offerings and continue to want to have both the on-line and face-to-face options every week. This time has helped them make the change and find it valuable."

What they are doing now...

HCC intend on continuing with a combination of online and face-to-face fitness offerings every week.

"Our instructors are ready and our community want it."


Jacquelyn Collins, Auckland Council

What they did...

Out and About Auckland developed the #WeGotThisNZ Lockdown Challenge, a scavenger hunt app which people could download for free and play with people in their bubble, in their own backyard.

What they learned...

One of the key things they learned was that being playful and active doesn't require accessing facilities and play assets and people responded well to this new method of active recreation/play. The challenge was how best to promote game beyond social media.

"The lockdown gave us an unexpected opportunity to socialise this idea with a broad group of users… this kind of app-based activation can have broad appeal and keep people engaged on an ongoing basis."

What they are doing now...

The Lockdown Challenge ended in Level 2 but the council plans to run a similar game in the upcoming school holidays with a view to continue every school holidays. They hope to connect the game with the wider Auckland Council family (libraries, holiday programmes, festivals) to showcase the awesome things families can do in Auckland to be playful and active.





Stu Larsen, Kanuka Yoga

What they did...

After the had to close their studio doors for lockdown Kanuka Studios swiftly moved into the online space with Kanuka Home Practice. People who held Kanuka passes were able to attend regular Kanuka classes (meditation, yoga) through a private Facebook group livestream.

What they learned...

Their swift transition to online classes meant they maintained many of their existing customers. There was a split between customers who wanted to do a class in real time and those that wanted to save it for later. Kanuka realised quickly, after noticing a spike in those saving the videos for later, they needed to ensure their videos were of high quality particularly in market that was currently saturated with online recreation classes.

"We had fantastic feedback from members who really appreciated being able to stay connected with us, with each other and what a blessing it was to have yoga over these months."

What they are doing now...

Kanuka moved back to face-to-face classes as soon as they could, due to real-life connection being integral in yoa practices. However, they were impressed with the online experience and plane to evolve online options for the future.

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