Take Your Camps Online with Camp Software

YOU HAVE A MISSIONWE HAVE TECHNOLOGYSAVING TIME TO BUILD YOUR CAMP’S BOTTOM LINE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Camp MarketingAre You Investing Your Marketing Budget Wisely?

Choosing A Software Partner8 Key Features

SpotlightFerncliff Camp

Strategic Camps ChecklistSimple Changes To Impact Your Bottom Line

Camp Management3 Ways The Right Software Can Grow Your Camp

Online MarketingDoes Your Camp Website Pass The Test?

SpotlightHeadfirst Camps

3 Ways To Build Loyalty, Referrals And Revenue

Top Reasons Camps Spend Marketing Dollars

Online Registration5 Software Features For Online Success

SpotlightCherokee Retreat Center

Services for Parents: Photo, Video, News and Email

Streamline. Automate. Leverage Limited Resources.

www.CampRegister.com

1. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Not what do “you” think per se, but have you posed the question to your camp families? If your camp does not conduct a post-camp survey with your camp families and staff—the simple answer is YOU don’t know! A well-worded survey is a powerful tool to better understand what your camp families think—and more importantly—are likely to say to others about your programs, staff and facilities. Additionally, a post-camp survey can help uncover areas of potential weakness, as well as identify areas for potential growth. Whether building on strengths or overcoming weakness, awareness is the first crucial step a camp can take before investing wisely to position their camp folong-term success.

Your camp management system should allow you to easily create and automatically send a professional HTML to every camp family with a link to your survey shortly after each camp program ends.

MARKETINGARE YOU INVESTING YOUR MARKETING BUDGET WISELY?

As a camp administrator, you probably wear a multitude of hats from fearless leader and guidance counselor to savvy marketer. As your camp’s Chief Marketing Officer, ask yourself these 3 questions to determine if your camp is spending the budget wisely:

2. HOW DID YOU LEARN ABOUT OUR CAMP? Ok, so you ask your new camp families this question, but are you tracking the answers? Perhaps they are discovering your camp through your Web site, a camp directory, flyer, newspaper or through a referral from another camp family or staff member. Successful camps are committed to asking and tracking the source of how families and campers are learning about their programs. In order to have the greatest impact, your camp must know the answer to decide where to investnext year. Your camp management system should help you not only track prospects and send automated reminders, but it should help you identify and track referral sources to analyze your return on investment (ROI) for each marketing dollar spent.

3. ARE WE INVESTING OUR MARKETING DOLLARS IN THE RIGHT PLACE? Now we arrive at the all-important question at the heart of the matter. Remember, all marketing tactics employed by your camp should be assigned a cost value. This is the easiest, most straightforward way for you to quickly calculate your camp’s ROI for each marketing dollar spent. What many camp administrators ultimately discover, despite their years of experience, is that their camp is not allocating their marketing budget or staff resources in the areas that will yield the greatest results to grow and competitively position their camp programs for long-term growth. ACTIVE Network has been a camp technology leader for the past 12 years, serving more than 2,000 camps with online registration and camp management solutions. Get more campers. Manage operations efficiently. Build an engaged community.

Visit www.ACTIVEcamps.com

CAMP

Questions your post-camp survey can help you discover:

f Why do your repeat campers return each season? Or, why are you losing repeat campers?

f How many friends do they tell or invite to camp? Who would they invite to camp next year?

f What were the favorite/least favorite activities and experiences?

f What do parents think about their child’s experience? Would they recommend your camp to their friends and colleagues?

f What changes could your camp make to improve the camp experience next year?

CHOOSING A CAMP SOFTWARE PARTNER: 8 KEY FEATURES

1. Online Camp Registration and Payment Options The ability to provide parents and campers with the convenience of registering when and where they want, 24 hours a day, has become an expected convenience. Additionally, features like automated email confirmation receipts and auto-bill reminders provide timely communications that your camp families will certainly appreciate. The ideal camp software offers simple editing tools for use by non-technical staff so you can easily create customizable Web registration forms that match the look and feel and your Web site.

2. Program Management Easily manage program dates, capacities and locations; administer cabins, bunks, groups and activities; and add new programs quickly and easily to your custom online registration form. Your software solution should provide comprehensive program management, as well as custom reports, rosters, and statistics to streamline administration, and allow for seamless integration with online registration, forms, donations and payments.

3. Staff and Prospect Application Management Easily manage staff and prospective information through a centralized database. Choose a camp software solution that allows prospective staff to apply online in a customizable application, tracks applicants and hiring statuses, schedules interview dates and times, and records interview notes and applicant history. Additionally, look for a system that recognizes when a new prospect registers and alerts staff to follow-up promptly.

4. Online Camper Accounts Enhance customer service capabilities by enabling your camp families to securely process payments, view balances, and print statements and invoices online from the convenience of their home or office. Look for a camp management system that can readily accept credit cards, debit cards and electronic checks, as well as one that can apply discounts and coupon/promotion codes automatically without a lot of fuss.

When selecting a software partner for your camp, it’s important to consider your options carefully as the camp management software you choose will become a cornerstone to your camp’s operational efficiency. So what features should you look for to determine the ‘right’ software for your camp?

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5. Merchandise and Camp Store Sell products and equipment during online registration and collect camp store deposits. To capitalize on additional revenue streams, look for a camp software system that accepts stand-alone sales, as well as sales during online registration. This will allow your camp to sell excess merchandise year-round. The software should also allow parents to put money toward a camp store account and record camp store purchase history, accessible through the online camper accounts.

6. Photo and Email Services Value-added services like photos and emails connect parents and campers. Look for a software solution that allows your camp to easily upload photos to share with your campers and their family and friends. Next, look for an email service that streamlines the sending and receiving of letters between campers and their families without the need for additional staff resources.

7. Marketing Solutions Increase registrations through targeted email offers, increased communications, effective online advertising, and participant rewards and incentives. Your camp software partner should be a marketing partner that will assist you in maximizing the success of your online registration to drive participation, retention and referrals.

8. Additional Bonus Features Look for a camp software partner that does more than just registrations; look for a technology partner that can offer a wide variety of solutions to grow as your camp needs grow, from online donations and conference center registrations to custom Web site design and Web content management tools.

Ideally, you should select a comprehensive solution partner that streamlines all aspects of your administration, offers you the ability to view and analyze participant and revenue data, delivers real-time reports for efficient accounting, and increases camper sign-ups and retention through effective marketing and increased communication. When it comes to taking care of your campers and best serving their needs, don’t settle for anything less.

Choosing the right camp software partner will increase camp efficiencies. For more information about ACTIVE Network camp management technology, visit www.ACTIVEcamps.com.

5www.CampRegister.com

Ferncliff Camp

Ferncliff's Advice for Using Technology to Build Camp Programs:

1. Offer online registration Build the registration cost into the total cost of camp so that nothing is taken from your bottom line. Parents will pay the extra fee just for the convenience of knowing their payment was received, their children are accepted into a camp, and they can pay with a credit card.

2. Consider a hosted software option to alleviate any vulnerability of your online systems. You’ll rest easier knowing your data is safe and secure with a trusted vendor that is required to meet protocols that guarantee the protection of private data.

3. Take advantage of technology It just makes sense to let ACTIVE Network automate the processes, so we can focus on programs rather than spreadsheets and databases. Most camp directors come into this line of work not to enter data, but to roast marshmallows, work with our campers, and make decisions more quickly in the best interest of the kids.

4. Don't be intimidated Learn the basics of your new software, get it going, and use more features over time. You don’t have to dive in all at once. Once you start, there’s a good chance you won’t ever go back to manual, paper-based registrations.

Little Rock, A

rkansas

Founded in 199

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Annual Partici

pation: 700+

Web site: www.

ferncliff.org

“We’ve seen double-digit growth over the last couple

of years since implementing the online registration

system. Our parents are pleased by the convenience

and we’re able to focus on what’s most important: our

campers and their families.”

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Ferncliff Camp

Strategic Camps Ch

ecklist:

Simple Changes to

Impact Your Bottom

Line

Regardless of yo

ur camp size, yo

ur camp manageme

nt software

can be instrumen

tal in improving

operational effi

ciencies and

profitability in

four strategic a

reas:

1. Improved Cash

Flow

� Open and promote

registration ea

rlier

� Offer flexible pa

yment options an

d discounts for

early

registration

� Seek online dona

tions during reg

istration

� Utilize auto-bil

l feature to col

lect account bal

ances

2. Cut Unnecessa

ry Expenses

� Use online regis

tration to cut d

ata entry hours

and related

expenses associa

ted with mail-in

registration fo

rms

� Increase your ma

rketing efficienc

y by tracking re

ferral

sources and inve

sting your marke

ting dollars acc

ordingly

� Send automated e

mail confirmation

s and welcome pa

ckets

(PDF files) onlin

e to eliminate h

efty printing an

d

postage costs

3. Build Retenti

on

� Use your camp ma

nagement system

to create an aut

omated

prospecting proc

ess to drive nex

t season’s enrol

lment

� Include a link t

o your Prospect/

Inquiry Form on

all outbound

communications t

o campers, alumn

i and prospects

� Nurture relation

ships by using t

he auto-birthday

email

feature to send

personalized mes

sages throughout

the year

� Encourage referr

als with Invite

a Friend technol

ogy

4. Identify New

Revenue Opportun

ities

� Consider commiss

ioned-based Phot

o, Video, and Em

ail services

� Build an integra

ted online/offlin

e donation progr

am

� Extend day camp

offerings with P

re-Care and Afte

r-Care options

� Transition to a no

n-refundable or sl

iding fee for canc

ellations


Camp Management:3 Ways the Right Software Can Grow Your Camp1. A Dollar Saved Is A Dollar Earned However, if you invest that same dollar and it yields a greater return—then you have spent your dollar wisely. A Web-based camp management solution will save on the costs associated with printing and mailing brochures, including design services, paper, ink, envelopes and postage. Your system should allow you to use built-in email tools to send electronic flyers and brochures to targeted audiences with personalized messages. Replacing traditional post-and-mail methods with a Web-based solution will ALWAYS yield a higher return. Bonus--no more late-night envelope-stuffing parties.

2. Time is Money—Stop Wasting It The adage that your employees are your greatest resource cannot be overstated. Many camps continue to spend countless hours mailing registration packets and reminder cards, processing mail and faxed–in registration forms, and entering data into spreadsheets or other legacy systems. Consider the hours your camp spends managing your current registration process. Consider the savings a Web-based camp registration and management solution can offer by allowing camp families to securely submit their registration and payment data real-time into a centralized database. Remember whether a dollar or an hour—invest your resources where they can yield the greatest return for your camp.

3. The Name of the Game—Convenience Imagine you are a busy parent balancing your job, family, household and, oh yes, budget. You are comparing two camps offering similar activities, facilities, and overall cost. One camp offers online registration and credit card payments—the other does not. Which camp do you think this busy parent is likely to choose? Successful camps understand the value a robust online registration and camp management system offers busy camp families, from the secure 24/7 online registration and automatic email registration confirmations to the auto-bill payment reminders and online family account access.

“...we can now email a PDF file instead of relying on a paper form”

“Our promotions are done through targeted emails. It’s far less costly for an email to bounce back than for a stack of letters to be returned. Plus, our parents like knowing immediately if their children are in our camps.”

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1. Easy Navigation Usability and overall organization of your site is paramount to creating a positive first impression, rather than one of frustration. Most importantly, make it easy for camp families to register online. Don’t force them to search your site or even to send an email or make a phone call. Highlight updated session dates, rates and descriptions, and prominently feature a Register Online or Register Now button to encourage action.

2. Relevant Content Your site should offer content on your overall camp experience in addition to program costs and dates. Have a newsletter, photos or video? Post them online. If not, post notes submitted by happy campers and parents. To gather prospect details, add a “Request Brochure” button. This allows visitors to easily request additional information and provides your camp the ability to follow up with the prospective family in the future.

3. Kid-Friendly/Family-Focused Given that youth are growing up with computers in the classroom and at home, they are likely viewing your camp Web site and ultimately influencing their family’s decision about your camp. Consider posting survey or poll questions, fun facts, and of course, videos of campers in action to entice and excite your most important visitors—your prospective campers!

4. Professional, Fun and Competent Poor grammar, typos or lack of content and photos may portray your camp as amateurish or second-rate. Your Web site is your camp’s resume and the first step towards “getting the interview”. Make it count.

ONLINE MARKETING: DOES YOUR CAMP WEBSITE PASS THE TEST?

5. Welcoming and Engaging Your Web site must be informative, and ideally, interactive. Take advantage of Web content management tools that allow you and your staff to easily post videos, photo galleries, surveys, message boards, calendars and contests that will engage new prospects, referrals and returning campers alike!

With the proliferation of the Internet, the importance of your camp Web site cannot be emphasized enough.

More than ever, camps administrators are beginning to recognize the advantages of using technology, along with marketing best practices, to create an engaging online presence to excite soon-to-be campers.

ACTIVE Network offers custom Web design and hosting services to ensure your camp Web site attracts prospects and showcases your camp to drive interest and registrations. Our intuitive “point and click” content editing tools allow your staff to expertly update your Web site without technical expertise or an experienced Web master. For more information, visit www.ACTIVEcamps.com

Today, with easy access to the Internet, and the popularity of search tools like Google and online communities like Facebook, your camp prospects are likely “tuning in” to the Web to checkout your camp, your competitors and what others are saying about you online.

Your camp Web site is the one of the most powerful online tools for marketing your camp to families. If your camp Web site is not updated with relevant content, call to actions (CTAs), and engaging information about your camp programs, it may be costing you more than you know—future campers! Below are 5 best practices to ensure your camp’s Web site is geared to impress first time visitors, prospects and returning camp families:


Headfirst Summer Camp

s

Headfirst's Advantages to Taking Camps Online

• We use online camp registration for all of our programs and about 99% of our parents use this to sign up their kids. Registration integrates with our website, making it convenient and easy on campers and staff. I can’t imagine using anything else—it’s easy and really cuts down on our paper-work.

• We can collect online donations, which has been great. Electronically we are able to collect more money because it’s easy for parents to add a donation to their “cart” as they check out for registration.

• We also sell merchandise online, so again, parents can just add a t-shirt or hat to their carts at checkout.

• Parents and campers can log in to the system whenever they want to update personal information or make changes. The online camper accounts really save the staff time.

• Our seasonal employees apply for the counselor positions through an online staff management module, which helps us manage our hiring process.

• The email communication center is probably the favorite feature of our staff. We use it to send occasional newsletters and updates to our campers. Plus, when campers register, they receive an automatic confirmation email. We use it constantly.

Washington, DC

.

Bethesda, MD.

McLean, VA.

Summer Campers

: 7,000+

Web site: www.

headfirstcamps.

com

“We were previously using a custom-made database that was

just not functioning the way we needed it to. With thousands

of campers to get signed up, we didn’t want our counselors

to have to worry about paperwork. We wanted something that

would automatically process registrations and make it easy for

us to manage the administrative workload."

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WAYS YOUR CAMP CAN BUILDLOYALTY, REFERRALS AND REVENUE3

1. Offer Payment Plans Offer parents the ability to pay for your camp programs over an extended period of time.This will make it easier for families to register earlier, while allowing sufficient timeto budget appropriately.

2. Offer Special Discounts Provide your veteran camp families with early bird, multi-sibling or “bring a friend”discounts. Rewarding your repeat campers with a discount, in addition to providinga great camp experience, is a sure-fire way to build loyalty and referrals for yourcamp programs.

3. Offer Registration Earlier Provide your camp families the opportunity to sign up for next summer’s programs whentheir child’s excitement is at its peak, Not only are you able to generate/distribute your revenueover the off-season, you are also collecting data earlier for your own budgeting/forecasting purposes,allowing you to make timely strategic investments and business decisions. With ACTIVE Network, Camps, you can easily automate your payment plans to offer parents up to 12 months to pay in full, as well as easily process discount codes to recognize returning camp families and build referrals. For more information on ACTIVE’s powerful features, visit www.ACTIVEcamps.com

Top Reasons Camps Spend Marketing DollarsWhether your camp is large or small, effective marketing is key for any camp to successfully grow and prosper over the long run. The top four tactical reasons camps spend dollars on marketing and promo-tion is to:

f Raise awareness about the camp’s mission, programs, and availability

f Create interest and desire to experience its programs

f Drive desired actions, such as requesting additional information, registering or making a donation

f Build lasting relationships and referrals

“[ACTIVE's camp technology] has absolutely translated to additional revenues for Ferncliff. I’m much more involved in registrations now than ever before. We used to fly by the seat of our pants when it came to marketing. Since I can now monitor registrations daily, I can beef up marketing efforts for a specific camp if needed, understand which programs are the most popular, and even make fast and informed decisions about adding another camp session at the last minute.”


If you’re still using paper mail-in registration forms, it may be time to reconsider given the convenience and overall efficiencies online registration provides both your camp families and your staff.

First, online camp registration empowers your camp families to complete the process when and where it’s most convenient for them. Second, your registrants receive an automatic confirmation email as an electronic record of their transaction. Third, you receive a confirmation of the registration in your database and all without any data entry required by your staff. Here are five key software features to look for in your online registration solution:

ONLINE REGISTRATION:

5 SOFTWARE FEATURES FOR ONLINE SUCCESS

1. “Invite a Friend” Marketing Tools Peer-to-Peer marketing is cheap and extremely effective—others may call it Word-of-Mouth (WOM) advertising. No matter what you call it, make sure your online registration solution has the ability to allow your registrants to “Invite a Friend” during the registration process. The tool should automatically send a personalized email to the invitee notifying him or her that the inviter has registered for your camp programs and is sending this personal invite to join in on the fun. The email invite should always include a link directly to the registration form to make it easy and compelling for the invitee to sign-up right then and there.

2. Customizable Camp Registration Forms Look for a solution that offers customizable registration forms to match the look and feel of your camp’s Web site. Your camp registration form should be readily available on your site, so consistent branding is important. Also look for a provider with an unlimited number of online camp forms for everything from camp registrations and staff applications, to volunteer background checks, surveys, and more. Collect and manage each of your customized forms in a single camp management system to streamline administration.

3. Automatic Confirmation Emails. Provide customers a sense of security and reliability with automatic confirmation email receipts customized by your camp. Once a camper is registered, your registration software should automatically and immediately generate a confirmation receipt to be sent to the registrant, including all of the registration and bring-list information that you would normally include in a confirmation

packet. This allows registrants to feel comfortable that their registration was successfully processed, while saving you time and money on typing, printing and mailing confirmations.

4. Centralized Database Integration. Expect seamless integration of your online registration data with your camp management software. Once a camper is registered via your customized online form, the data should automatically update your centralized database to reflect the new registration and to record the payment in real-time.

5. Email Communication Tools. Look for an online registration solution that offers built-in HTML and text email tools that allow you to create and schedule professional emails, including reminders and birthday wishes, as well as one that offers filtering tools to easily segment your database and send targeted messages by age group, programs, participation levels, etc.

Choosing the right online camp registration solution will increase camp efficiencies, reduce heavy staff workloads, increase registrations and improve your customer service capabilities. For more information on ACTIVE Network’s powerful features, visit www.ACTIVEcamps.com

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Cherokee Retreat Cen

ter

Cherokee Retreat Center's Tips for Camps Evaluating Online Registration:

1. Consider It Most parents already do their shopping online. An online registration system opens the doors to a lot of new approaches to get people signed up and in your camps, in addition to improving the effectiveness and consistency of your communication with families.

2. Capitalize on the Extras An online registration system can offer a lot of value. There are great tools available, including mail merge and email notices, to help you do more than just process online transactions.

“We changed everything, including our registration process, and we’ve

been increasing our attendance by double-digits ever since.”

Services for Parents: Photo, Video, News and EmailWith camp serving as such an influential time in every child’s life, invite parents to feel like they’re part of the camp experience, even when they’re hundreds of miles away.

Our Services for Parents will benefit your camper community in the following ways:

1. Enhance and extend the camp experience.

2. Build referrals within your community.

3. Generate additional value and revenue.

As an additional revenue stream, look for a camp photo service provider that shares revenues with your campfor all photo merchandise purchased.

For more information on Services for Parents, visit www.ACTIVEcamps.com

Cartersville,

Georgia

Annual Partici

pation: 350

Web site:

www.cherokeere

treatcenter.or

g


Whether large or small, day or overnight, no camp escapes the challenge to stretch budgets to yield the greatest overall impact towards your camps mission. To this end, camps rely on the talent and resourcefulness of their staff—as they should—and strive to perfect tried-and-true processes season after season.

The biggest challenge your camp may face is overlooking how best to introduce and leverage technology. If your camp is committed to investing in long term growth, camp management technology is a key area that can affect your level of service, responsiveness, competitive position and ability to grown your camp programs successfully year after year. Change is hard but it usually pays off! Break down and address each of the four steps:

1. Awareness/Acknowledgement: First, your camp staff and board have to be willing to entertain an open mind and you may have to be ready to refute the old adage “if it’s not broken don’t fix it.” The question to ask is not “what’s broken” but rather “where can we improve.”

2. Information/Review: How much did you spend last year on marketing and promotion? What was the cost per new camper? Where was the most money invested and did it yield the greatest results? Where could your camp reallocate funds to yield even better results and impact to the bottom line?

These are powerful yet simple questions—however, even if your camp management system provides you with the data, your camp must be willing to review and analyze the information to glean where and how even small changes could add up to make a big impact.

3. Setting Goals: A word to the wise: “a goal not written down is merely a wish.” Not sure how best to get started? If you don’t have a mission statement, start there first as a unified vision is important for any organization. Next, create or update your camp’s SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. Ideally, involve your board, staff, and others stakeholders in the process. Next, you’re ready to define the top 3-10 SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic and Timely).

4. Action Plan: “Planning without action is futile; action without planning is fatal.” Your action plan is your roadmap to success and where you break each goal down into manageable projects. This is literally where you define the “who, what, when and how” for each project. Your action plan defines expectations, accountability, required resources and allows you to monitor your progress an ultimate success towards each define goal.

These are powerful yet simple questions—however, even with the data, your camp must be willing to review and analyze the information to glean where and how even small changes could add up to a big difference.

PROMOTIONAL/PRINTING COSTS - Hard CostsHow many:_______ Program catalogs or full color brochures are printed annually? _______ Brochures/flyers mailed annually?_______ Registration and confirmation packets mailed annually?_______ Waiver /medial release forms and follow up mailings sent each season?_______ Stationary/forms/printing supplies (e.g. registration forms, ink cartridges, mailing supplies)?

REGISTRATION/STAFF COSTS - Soft CostsIndicate the hours spent weekly handling:______ Fielding inbound calls, questions and registration follow up?______ Manually entering registration data into a spreadsheet or software program?______ Deposit/account reconciliation?______ Pay reminders and collection follow up?______ Spent tracking down balance due

Each dollar spent here can not be spent there—and every hour spent doing this can not be spent doing another task. Bottom line—finding ways to streamline, automate and better leverage your limited resources allows you to save time and money on administrative tasks so that you can spend that time where it can make a better impact toward your camp mission.

Schedule a demo with ACTIVE Network today!Send email to [email protected]

Streamline. Automate. Leverage Limited Resources.

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SERVING OVER 2,000 CAMPS AND COUNTING!

www.CampRegister.com | toll-free: 877.996.2267 x1 | [email protected]

Camp Management Software

Online Registration

Services for Parents: Photo, Video, News & Email

Online Customer Accounts

Payment Processing

Website Design

CAMP MANAGEMENTSOFTWARE

ONLINE CUSTOMERACCOUNTS

ONLINEREGISTRATION

PAYMENTPROCESSING

ECAMP PHOTOSAND EMAILING

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ONLINEREGISTRATION

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Take Your Camps Online with Camp Software

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