2024 brought many incredible opportunities for our team to connect with our customers and communities in deeper and more meaningful ways than ever before. From a brand-new podcast celebrating parks and rec professionals from across the continent to the many conferences we attended, there was no shortage of inspiring conversations and connection this year. Not to mention some of the exciting innovations our team launched over the past 12 months!

Continue reading to find out more about the different ways we were able to share with and learn from each other in 2024.

If you prefer to skip ahead, here’s a breakdown of what you’ll find further down in the article:

Notes from Xplor Recreation Leadership

"As 2024 comes to a close, I want to thank everyone for an incredible year. Our team had the opportunity to attend many conferences and always came away from those events feeling energized and excited about helping our customers serve their communities even better. As we continue to build strong partnerships with agencies across North America, I look forward to seeing what we can achieve together in the year ahead!”

 

- Nima Jazbi, VP of Operations

“Looking back at this year, it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint just a few highlights because there have been so many. From the incredible strides we made in advancing our product to the powerful customer stories I had the privilege of sharing, to launching the Parks and Recognize podcast and attending countless tradeshows—it’s been a whirlwind (in the best possible way). But what stands out most is how my colleagues and I truly took every opportunity we could to embody our core value of 'building lasting communities'. We deepened existing relationships and formed new ones at every turn, all while supporting the unsung heroes who dedicate their lives to improving others. To every parks and recreation professional out there: thank you for everything you do to make our communities stronger, happier, and healthier. It's an honor to work with you.”

 

- Datis Mohsenipour, VP of Marketing

“I want to thank everyone for a wonderful 2024. We spent a lot of time talking to our customers and working as partners to move forward into 2025. Highlights include our engaging and insightful discussions at conferences and user groups, as well as the valuable connections we made during our quarterly municipal calls. We’ll continue to be there for you in 2025 and look forward to achieving even greater success together!”

 

- Mandeep Jhutee, Senior Account Manager

“This year, we truly built for people by embracing a casual and iterative approach to learning and making several impactful improvements. We also helped our team move with purpose by consolidating our internal knowledge bases, making information more accessible than ever. 2024 was a year of relentless iteration, change and growth. As we look to 2025, I expect more of the same as we continue our pursuit of excellence, iterating on tools, processes, and ideas to keep bettering ourselves for our colleagues and our customers.”

 

- Eric Naassan, Director of Customer Service

The Latest Innovations from Xplor Recreation

Throughout 2024, our Product Team was hard at work continuing to innovate and evolve our software technology. At the heart of everything we do is making sure our platform makes life simpler for your agency. We’re driven to provide you with a recreation management software that aligns with modern-day consumer expectations, keeping the sandbox open for new ideas, new products and new partnerships.

Below are some of our innovation highlights from the past year.

Xplor Recreation’s Mobile App

Our fully native Mobile App launched this year with several of our customers, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the results. (Stay tuned for future case studies!)

We are incredibly proud to be the only recreation management software company to offer a fully native mobile app. Key benefits of the Xplor Recreation Mobile App include:

⚙️ A custom, native application without the need to develop, maintain, and troubleshoot your own

💨 Faster speeds, heightened responsiveness and improved accessibility, when compared to hybrid apps

📱 Integration with features like push notifications, dark mode, text sizes adjustment, camera and mic access, and GPS

⭐️ A consistent end-to-end experience, where everything from browsing to booking, and payment unfolds within the app

Find out more about the Xplor Recreation Mobile App.

Our Self-Serve Kiosk

Our team also launched our future-proof Self-Serve Kiosk platform this year! This is our physical kiosk that we’ve designed to empower your community members to self-serve their needs while at your centers, eliminating unnecessary bottlenecks at your front desk.

Long-term, our vision is to continue to evolve the platform to meet the needs of our customers by integrating more apps and features.

To date, our Self-Serve Kiosk gives your customers the ability to do the following on their own time, with just the touch of a button:

✅ Single booking check-in

✅ POS admission sales

✅ Membership sales

Watch our on-demand webinar to learn more!

A Partnership with 4GLOBAL

As data accessibility becomes more crucial for agencies to better serve their communities, our team decided to partner with the experts at 4GLOBAL. This partnership gives our customers the option to leverage powerful, actionable data that’s readily available to them through pre-set dashboards in 4GLOBAL’s citihub software solution.

With citihub, you can effortlessly:

📉 Review publicly available data across the nation in easy-to-digest dashboards

🚀 Cross-reference the above data with your own data points in Xplor Recreation

📊 Access auto-created visual datasets to highlight areas of need

The preconfigured, plug-and-play reporting alleviates the heavy lifting of data analysis, empowering your agency to focus on how you can best:

🙌 Drive participation and community engagement within your area

♻️ Improve the overall operational efficiency of your department

💸 Ensure correct investment across your agency

📊 Increase your impact with fixed KPIs and measurable metrics

💵 Support financial requests for budget allocation, sponsorship, and donations

To learn more about our partnership with 4GLOBAL, get in touch with your Account Manager. If you’re not a customer yet, reach out to our team and book an Xplor Recreation demo.

The Launch of the Parks and Recognize Podcast

Xplor Recreation's Parks and Recognize Podcast shares the stories and accomplishments of hard-working parks and rec professionals across North America. Hosted by VP of Marketing, Datis Mohsenipour, we created our podcast series to help shine a light on all the amazing work so many of you do behind-the-scenes—often without thanks.

Throughout 2024, we were proud to advocate for the incredible work that our interviewees have accomplished. With eight episodes under our belt, we can’t wait to continue to connect with other parks and rec professionals in 2025.

If you have yet to check out Parks and Recognize or you’d like to listen in again, below is a roundup of our currently available episodes!

EP 1: Sydney Elliot

City of DeSoto, Texas

In our first episode, we sat down with Sydney Elliot, Youth and Business Supervisor at the City of DeSoto.

Sydney is a recipient of the National Recreation and Park Ethnic Minority Society's Young Professionals Award, Chair of the Texas Recreation and Park Society's Minorities in Leisure Services (MILS) group, 2023 Woman of the Year by the DeSoto Chamber of Commerce, and the 2024 Rising Star of TRAPS.

Listen in to Episode 1 to learn more about her incredible journey in parks and rec!

EP 2: Nick Shattuck

City of Hermosa Beach, California

Our second episode of Parks and Recognize features Nick Shattuck, Recreation Coordinator for the City of Hermosa Beach, California.

As President of the California Parks and Recreation Society's District 9, he leads a network of individuals and organizations committed to advancing the industry through education, advocacy, and community.

Tune in to Episode 2 to learn more about Nick's inspiring journey in the industry.

EP 3: Miranda Maloy

City of Lewisville, Texas

In our third podcast episode, we had the pleasure of speaking to Miranda Maloy, Recreation Program Supervisor at the City of Lewisville, Texas.

Miranda has been recognized with the prestigious 30 Under 30 Award from the NRPA Young Professional Network and Parks & Recreation Magazine, as well as the NRPA Young Professional Fellowship.

Check out Episode 3 to learn more about her extraordinary career path, and the positive change she aims to bring to parks and recreation.

EP 4: John Dunn III

City of Tukwila, Washington

Our fourth episode gave us the opportunity to speak to John Dunn III, Recreation Superintendent at the City of Tukwila, Washington.

For over 25 years, John has been committed to serving his community through parks and recreation. Join us as we dive into John’s inspiring story, hear about the moments he's most proud of, and learn about his experiences in empowering communities.

Listen in to Episode 4 now!

EP 5: Cort Jones

National Recreation and Park Association

For our fifth episode, we were treated to a special guest, Cort Jones, Senior Manager of Digital Content at National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA).

Many of you likely already know Cort—whether by name or by voice—from his work on NRPA’s Open Space Radio Podcast. For over seven years, he’s been a trusted source of news and storytelling for parks and rec professionals across the country.

Listen in to Episode 5 as Cort shares a behind-the-scenes look at his journey in the parks and recreation world.

EP 6: Tyler Agee

City of Duncanville, Texas

In our sixth episode, we had the opportunity to speak with Tyler Agee, Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Duncanville, Texas.

Growing up with a father who was a recreation center supervisor, Tyler was immersed in the world of programming and events from an early age. He shares how this unique upbringing shaped his passion for the field, offering insights that only someone with his background could provide.

Check out Episode 6 now!

EP 7: AJ McCage

Henrico County, Virginia

The seventh episode of our podcast gave us the chance to sit down with AJ McCage, Therapeutic Recreation Coordinator for Henrico County, Virginia.

A recently appointed Board Member of VRPS, AJ has also earned her Master’s in Youth Development and Leadership from Clemson University and is an active member of the Virginia Recreation and Park Society.

Tune in to Episode 7 to learn more about her journey.

EP 8: Johnathan O. Skinner

City of Lake Elsinore, California

In episode eight, Johnathan O. Skinner, Director of Community Services for the City of Lake Elsinore shared his background in parks and recreation with us.

With extensive experience with organizations like NRPA, the NRPA Conference Program Committee, CPRS, and NRPS, Johnathan has helped shape parks and recreation on both state and federal levels.

Listen in to Episode 8 to find out how he continues to support both his community and his team all these years into his distinguished career.

Parks and Recognize is now available on multiple streaming platforms:

🍏 Apple Podcasts

🎧 Spotify

📺 YouTube Music

Subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts and never miss an episode!

New Xplor Recreation Customer Case Studies

2024 also gave our team the opportunity to connect with many of our customers. Throughout the year, we were able to sit down and chat with eight different agencies from across North America and learn about their partnerships with Xplor Recreation.

You can find the results from each of these conversations below!

City of Pearland, Texas

In 2021, after facing growing frustrations with their recreation software vendor, the City of Pearland had had enough and decided to look for a new software partner to support its organization's primary goal of providing better service to its customers. This decision led them to their partnership with Xplor Recreation.

👥 Community Size: 126,000+

🚀 Client Since: June 2021

“Before [switching], we used to spend a lot of time guiding people on how to use our online experience. If anyone has issues, I’m the one who deals with their complaints and help them – and I used to get a lot of complaints with [our previous software]. I don’t get those complaints anymore.”

 

- Andre Walker, City of Pearland

Read the full case study: How Xplor Recreation Reshaped the City of Pearland’s Parks & Recreation Department

City of Brampton, Ontario

In 2020, it became clear to the City of Brampton that their current recreation management software solution wasn’t going to be able to service their growing needs—and population. Discover the City of Brampton’s key challenges, why they selected Xplor Recreation as their solution, and the results they’ve experienced since transitioning to our software in 2020.

👥 Community Size: 700,000+

🚀 Client Since: September 2020

“One of the key benefits we've experienced since switching to Xplor Recreation is the online adoption rate. We've had 95% of people switch to online. Previously it was predominantly in-person registration.”

 

- Anand Patel, City of Brampton

Read the full case study: Helping the City of Brampton Achieve a 95% Online Registration Adoption Rate

Roanoke County, Virginia

In 2020, County of Roanoke, Virginia, Roanoke County Parks, Recreation and Tourism began searching for a new recreation management technology partner due to their previous software reaching end-of-life. Discover the story of Roanoke County’s transition to Xplor Recreation and the benefits they’ve experienced since switching.

👥 Community Size: 96,000+

🚀 Client Since: October 2021

"I really have to shout out the support team! What we love most about partnering with Xplor Recreation is that someone’s always there to support us morning, afternoon, or night, 24/7, 365. It’s a total 180 from what we experienced with our previous providers.”

 

- Alex North, Roanoke County

Read the full case study: Empowering Roanoke County's Recreation Services through Xplor Recreation

Calvert County, Maryland

Despite having used their previous rec management software for over 20 years, Calvert County reached a tipping point in 2021 as challenges with their vendor stacked up, impacting their staff and the level of service they could provide to their community members. After evaluating several platforms, they found exactly what they were looking for in our recreation management software.

👥 Community Size: 94,000+

🚀 Client Since: October 2023

“[With our previous vendor], I’d reach out for help, and I would actually end up teaching their support agents how to do things. So, it was pretty clear we weren’t going to get anywhere with support tickets. One of the main things I love about partnering with Xplor Recreation is the support. I can always get a hold of someone when I need something, and I know it’ll get answered and addressed immediately!”

 

- Ken Guyers, Calvert County

Read the full case study: How Calvert County Revolutionized Recreation Management with Xplor Recreation

James City County, Virginia

In this case study, we share James City County’s key challenges before partnering with us, why they selected Xplor Recreation as their solution, and the results they’ve experienced since transitioning to our software in 2018.

👥 Community Size: 80,000+

🚀 Client Since: December 2018

"Y'all are always keeping the sandbox open for new ideas. One version comes out and you don’t take any breathers before working on the next version. There's always stuff up coming, and I feel like y'all listen to your clients. If we need something or we're looking for something, you always show that you're listening. Xplor Pay is a perfect example of that.”

 

- Robbie Belch, James City County

Read the full case study: How James City County Brought Innovation to their Parks & Rec Department with Xplor Recreation

Versailles-Woodford, Kentucky

Fed up with their challenges and driven by a commitment to deliver the best possible experience to their patrons, the Versailles-Woodford team decided to start their search for a new recreation management software partner in 2023. Learn about the software challenges this team faced and why they chose Xplor Recreation as their new partner.

👥 Community Size: 28,000+

🚀 Client Since: October 2024

“When I first started my job years ago, I half-jokingly said that I wanted to bring our department into the 21st century. Well, things basically got to a point where we either needed to switch software or get left behind. Now here we are making that happen with Xplor Recreation.”

 

- Aaron Stover, Versailles-Woodford

Read the full case study: Customer-Centric Evolution: Why Versailles-Woodford Chose to Partner With Xplor Recreation

City of Ocala, Florida

With the goal of streamlining their Parks & Rec operations and providing better service to their community members, the City of Ocala knew they needed to upgrade their rec management software. Find out how they went from their long-standing software to a more modern, robust solution—Xplor Recreation!

👥 Community Size: 64,000+

🚀 Client Since: November 2022

“It’s like going from an old Nokia Brick Phone to a Smart Phone. The Nokia still does the basic things you need it to do, but the quality and user experience isn’t there. The world has evolved and so have people’s expectations. We were stuck in the past when it came to serving our staff and patrons. So, we decided it was time to ditch the 90s Nokia Phone and get ourselves onto something more modern, fluid, and innovative.”

 

- John N. Spencer, City of Ocala

Read the full case study: The City of Ocala’s Transition to a More Modern, Easy-To-Use Recreation Management Platform

City of Tukwila, Washington

In 2017, the discontinuation of their previous recreation management software and poor customer service pushed the City of Tukwila to seek a new solution. The team at Tukwila chose Xplor Recreation given its commitment to continuous improvements, exceptional customer service, and intuitive functionality.

👥 Community Size: 22,000+

🚀 Client Since: August 2017

“I actually laugh at how quickly your team responds to tickets. I’ll submit it, move on to another task and get a response so quickly that I’m caught up in something else. It's rare for me to create support tickets, but I know they’ll be dealt with immediately if I do.”

 

- John Dunn III, City of Tukwila

Read the full case study: Xplor Recreation's Transformational Effect in The City of Tukwila

Our Time at Parks and Rec Conferences in 2024

Our team was also fortunate to connect with many parks and rec professionals in person this year at many of the annual events put on by various associations in the industry. We’re grateful to have had the opportunity to speak to so many passionate industry pros about what’s most important to them in a recreation management software solution.

From the 2024 IAPD/IPRA Annual Conference at the beginning of the year to the 2024 VRPS Annual Conference in the fall, we traveled the country and came away with some incredible insights. At 2024 FRPA Annual Conference, our team got to return the favor, as VP of Marketing, Datis Mohsenipour, gave a presentation on the potential pitfalls of online registration (webinar on this topic coming soon!). We then got to cap off the year with what can only be described as an amazing time at the 2024 NRPA Annual Conference.

We’re extremely excited to share that we’ll be at many more events in 2025! In the first quarter of the year alone, you’ll be able to find our team at:

🚀 IAPD/IPRA Annual Conference, January 23 to 25, 2025

🚀 CPRS Region 5 Mini-Conference, February 13, 2025

🚀 TRAPS Institute & Expo, February 24 to 28, 2025

🚀 mParks Conference & Trade Show, March 3 to 6, 2025

🚀 CPRS Conference & Expo, March 18 to 21, 2025

Stay tuned for more details on how to connect with us at these events. We can’t wait to see you there!

Free Resources Shared with Our Community

Throughout 2024, our team was also hard at work on creating resources for you and your agency. Each and every piece of content that we create, we do to help you serve your community even better.

Check out our roundup of some of our most popular free resources from the past year!

Downloadable Guides

📊 5 (Really) Important Parks & Recreation Trends for 2024

✅ Mastering Parks & Rec Surveys: The Comprehensive Guide to Better Community Engagement

🚩 7 Red Flags to Avoid When Buying Recreation Management Software

On-Demand Webinars

📲 The Latest Mobile App + Kiosk Launch from Xplor Recreation

Insight Articles

🤖 How Xplor Recreation Mitigates Your IT Risks

📱 Why Your Parks and Recreation Agency Needs a Mobile App

⚙️  Are Native Mobile Apps Better than Hybrid Apps?

Looking Forward to 2025

With such an incredible year in the books, we can’t wait to kick off 2025! Our team looks forward to many more opportunities to connect with you and your community, while advocating for all that you do and offering valuable resources to help you do it.

Thank you for a fantastic 2024!

Want to Learn More About Xplor Recreation?

Book a free demo with a member of our team to learn more about how Xplor Recreation can support your organization now and into the future.