I attended a "Green Trades Conference", which is for the Saskatchewan Greenhouse Growers Association, in November of 2018.  One of the speakers had an interesting slide, about how much time we spend indoors now.  I guess I'm not the average, as most of my career has been spent outside (at least in the summer in Canada).  Days scouting fields, looking at agricultural issues and at the paintball field all weekend.  The slide is summarized below:

• 90% of people spend 22 hours per day indoors.
• Children spend less than 1 hour per day outside.
• Humans have migrated indoors and in front of screens.
• Problems from being indoors: Obesity, cholesterol, depression, anxiety and insomnia.

I just read great Facebook post from a fellow Paintball Field owner, Reiner Schafer (TNT Paintball near Victoria, British Columbia), I've never met Reiner in person but chat online once in a while.  He is a little older than myself, but he grew up in the 60's and 70's.  He had lots of freedom and played outdoors while he grew up, sometimes miles from home with his friends at every chance he got, might have missed a few meals even.  Mom and Dad didn't know where they were, but to be home by supper.  Reiner's children of the 80's and 90's, were watched by Mom (with Dad's consent) and didn't venture far, like he used to growing up.  Today's children are never bored, as they always have a handheld device to play with.  These children don't play with each other at the playground, but they play online with their friends.  The playgrounds are empty  No new forts are build in the woods.  We as paintball field operators are seeing less regular players, like the 80's and 90's every week, the old guys are quitting due to age, and there is no new young generation to fill in.  The paintball fields do okay with a fun and safe Birthday Parties for kids and 20 year olds, and bachelor parties (that the brides know their grooms can't get into too much trouble), but these are almost bucket list events, to do once in a life time, rather than every weekend.

The Hunting industry has the R3 Program.  "RECRUITMENT, RETENTION AND REACTIVATION, “R3” is an important issue for anyone concerned about wildlife management, conservation and the future of our hunting traditions."  They have noticed the same thing as the Reiner.

If you do want to get outdoors more often, the following list might help.

Here are some great reasons to spend more time outdoors.

• Generally, the outside air is cleaner inside (maybe a problem outside air issue in Los Angeles and China), but here on the prairies (unless there is a forest fire) the air is great.
  
• It's better for your eyes - Computer screens are hard on your eyes.
• Outside will reduce stress levels - relax around the fire pit and enjoy the day and evening.
• You absorb Vitamin D from the sun (15 minutes of direct sun does wonders).
  
• Being outside, gets you moving - exercise.
  
• More energy after a walk?  You bet.
  
• Helps you sleep.
• If you feel better, you'll be happier too.

Remember, outdoor Paintball, Laser Tag, Haunted Corn Maze, Haunted House, Pumpkin Music Festival, Fairy Tale Trail are all available during the summer (April - October) at Paintball Paradise Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada.

 I like our FEC Music service, which provides great music, and playlists.  These playlists can be "Mom" friendly or "Mom Approved".
http://www.fecmusic.com/mom-approved From our FEC Music website
"How Mom Approved Works. Our team of playlist specialists analyzes every second of every piece of content in our system, then assigns it a rating. If it's tagged "Mom Approved," you can be sure that it doesn't contain alcohol, smoking, drug use, profanity, coarse language, or sexual or violent themes.
Better yet: When you're playing a Mom Approved program, our system makes it impossible to play PG or Adult content. With FEC Music, you can't go wrong!"

Teenagers and young adults playing their loud music in their vehicles, with quite inappropriate lyrics, for a young crowd, and they don't realize what they are listening too, might offend anyone, so our Music Service avoids this.

We like to follow the rules and the law.  Personal Use vs. Commercial Use is important to us. Personal music at home or in your car is for personal use only, this is where Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube service is used. But when you stream music publicly (Commercial at Paintball Paradise Prince Albert over the P.A. system), it isn’t legal to stream from those Personal Use services, because these services don't , 1. Allow Commercial Use 2.Recognize or accurately compensate artists, songwriters or other rights holders when their music is being played in a business setting.  It does cost more, but it's all legal.  We like artists to be fairly compensated for their work.

Plus if you download the FEC Music App, you can request or bump songs to the top of the play list.  The Playlist is picked every day, and it is randomly created each day.  The playlist can be top hits, 80's rock, alternative, 70's, 60's, country, oldies, and many times a play list for current events like Canada Day, Halloween or in memory of an artist who just passed away, like Prince or Michael Jackson.
FEC Music is from Canada in Ontario, so we get great Canadian content too.

Advertising
We also can advertise our up coming events.  We generally have 5,000 players or customers come through every year, plus parents and rides.  If you would like more information on advertising on our video and sound system, give us a call 306-764-9444 or email [email protected] .

I've been helping a number of local and rural businesses improve their online and social media presence, over the last few years.  We now are doing consulting, to help improve your online and social media presence. Just understanding how some things work or don't, have helped these clients.  Usually the first thing, is to create a Google Business Listing or claiming an existing one.  Do some improvements there, as 64% of all searches are from Google, with Bing having 21%.  We also grab the Bing Places listing too.  With rural businesses, the map pin is difficult to get in the right spot, so we help with that too.
Metatags, within your webpage coding, are still important in delivering your message in searches.  Sitemaps are great to get your business trusted and displaying correctly too.
I could do a whole class on Facebook, but it's a super Return on Investment (ROI).  And make sure your site is mobile friendly, as 60-70% of searches are from a mobile device.  When was the last time you used a phone book?  Do you have a "Call me" button on your website?  Social media is great for developing close bonds with your customers.
My personal pet peeves? Put your phone number at the top of your page, and put your location at the top of your page.
So if you need some advice, help, give us a call 306-764-9444 or email [email protected]

We have just posted our 2019 Calendar of events on our Events page, check it out.  Below is a summary.
Events (Field Paintballs Only)

• Mar. 31 (Sun) 1 pm - 5 pm - Spring Open Day
• May 20 (Mon) 1 pm - 5 pm - Victoria Day Open Day
• June 16 (Sun) 1 pm - 5 pm - Father's Day Open Day.
  
• July 1 (Mon) 1 pm - 5 pm - Canada Day Open Day
• Aug. 17-18 (Sat. - Sun.) - 25th Anniversary Weekend of Paintball Paradise Prince Albert
  
• Sept. 2 (Mon) 1 pm - 5 pm - Labour Day Open Day
• Oct. 14 (Mon) 1 pm - 5 pm - Thanksgiving Open Day
• Pump, Pistol or Magfed evenings will continue (usually near Open Days)
  

We have a few other events beside paintball at our field.

• July 30-Aug. 3 (Tues-Sat) - Laser Tag at the PA EX in the Armouries (OptiMart) Daily from 2-10 pm
  
• Aug. 25 (Sun) - Big Game at Paintball Action Games Asquith.  We are on General George Lewko's Team from Prince Albert vs. Chris's Team from Saskatoon.  Just let me know, and I can get you on our team.
• (Sept). - TBA Zombie Hunt  Come for a ride on a wagon and blast the Zombies with glow paintballs
• Sept. 28-29 (Sat-Sun) 1-7 pm - Family Fall Pumpkin Music Festival
• Oct. 11-12 (Fri-Sat), Oct. 18-19 (Fri-Sat), Oct. 25-26 (Fri-Sat) -Haunted Corn Maze and Haunted House Event