The Business Center: Operations

As a reminder, everybody's school is different and everybody's situation concerning layout and square footage and what is available to their use is different. This article is meant to give you an idea of what you can do with your school.

These are your goals while you are designing and planning the layout of your school.

1. Provide space for student / parent traffic.
2. Give as much space as possible to the classroom without taking away traffic space, etc.
3. Create an inviting and smooth flow for greeting arriving appointments and walk-bys. Don't make them wind through a maze to get to you.
4. Minimize liability.
5. Maximize use of space in the areas that count.

Your Sign

It only makes sense to invest in a good, well lit exterior sign. This sign should state, in very clear text, either the name of your school or simply "Karate School." I would shy away from using your style as your sign's name. Most styles will tell the public (your prospective students) nothing about what the school offers.

Instead, send a message with your sign or your school name. For example, compare "Sembakai" or "Tae Kwon Do" to "Family Martial Arts" or "Martial Arts Fitness." Never assume that the public understands anything about what we do. We have to spell it out for them.

Window Display

Window advertising is an art. Major department stores hire artists who are experts in this area. Try to find an associate or student who may have some artistic talent. The window display should:

• Capture the viewers attention immediately
• Promote the benefits and specials at your school
• Invite people to come in and see what you are about
• List the phone number and hours of the school so they can quickly jot it down if they are in a hurry.
• Stay within local ordinance restrictions and lease restrictions.

The window is not designed to list your resume or the history of your style. Consider your window like a big Yellow Pages ad, except you can change it every month-and you should.

For people who do window design, there are fellow Kenpoists who do this as well. The first one to come to mind would be WarriorSage Graphics.

Interior Design

Upon entering the school, you should try to get the traffic to flow past a reception area and then move towards the changing rooms. The reception area is where your student manager is positioned to greet appointments and students. This is also in the the general area where your retail items are probably displayed. Retail should be professionally displayed and rotated on a weekly basis. Most equipment companies now sell attractive displays to help you maximize retail sales.

Check out other areas in the Business Center for information regarding displaying retail items.

Dressing Rooms

In the ideal world, it is probably better to have individual changing rooms like the fitting rooms found in department stores. This eliminates having any concerns about children and adults in various stages of undress in a dressing room. If not possible, at least make sure the rooms you have are large enough to change and able to be locked if needed.

Mirrors

Mirrors are an excellent teaching tool. You can face the same direction as your students and still catch and fix mistakes. This helps them follow along more easily. Try to find mirrors that are six feet high and as wide as you can get them, to minimize the seams. The mirrors should be placed in a tray and glued to the wall; not just mounted in a tray. If it is not glued and the mirror gets broken, it will shatter. The glue holds the pieces in place.

Flooring

If you can afford to purchase mats like Swain Mats, then you pretty much can't go wrong. These mats are safe, easy to clean and portable. If you move the school or have a big demo, you can take the mats with you. You can also get certain colors to create a pattern on the floor if you wish.

Hardwood floors, while traditional, are not very practical for a barefoot student. Most hardwood floors are on top of cement and the students are barefoot. Not only does this lend itself to injury, but hardwood floors tend to puddle, which can be a liability. I don't think most students would want to learn how to fall on a hardwood floor.

If you can't afford the mats I described, another option is to use a high-grade carpet with the thickest, most dense padding underneath it. Padding tends to soak up sweat, which leads to that special
stench we all know-and dislike-too well. You should definitely contract with a carpet cleaner to fight the odor problem every month.

Walls

You have at least four of these, hopfully more. Your walls should be used for:

• Motivation: place some nice posters with themes to inspire the students. Let them see them as they walk in. Some will disagree on putting these in a kids class as any student with ADD may get distracted.
• Student recognition: New Students; Students of the Month, pictures with seminar instructors, etc.
• Community recognition from fundraisers and copies of any other news articles that have featured you or your school
• Information, curriculum and scheduling for the students to refer to. Place the next event right inside the door so they can plan for it.
• Photos of school events. The students in these photos should be diverse in age, physical condition, race, gender and rank.
• Wall of Fame: When you go to seminars and camps, get photos with the various seniors there. This way when a student asks you who that is, you tell them who it is and how you met them.
• Other: Of the other things that I have seen hung on walls or painted on walls were various school crests and insignias. If you choose to do this then you must have someone do an excellent job. You are more than likely proud of displaying this object and need to convey this to the students. Don't do a sub-standard job on it.

Works Consulted

• Martial Arts Professional. National Association of Professional Martial Artists- NAPMA