Resuming In-Person Training? Follow These Steps to Manage Class Size & Physical Distancing Protocol

Most Martial Arts schools are in the early stages of creating and refining their plan to head back into their physical businesses. And part of that plan is establishing how their staff and members will adhere to physical distancing requirements in classes when they re-open.

To help with your own plan regarding physical distancing protocol, follow these preliminary steps to assess whether your class structure needs to change, and how to go about making those changes:

1. Pay close attention to your local, state, and federal guidelines to know exactly what physical distancing requirements need to be followed.

2. Once you know the actual physical distancing requirements: 

• Review the square footage of each of your classrooms
• With your state’s specific physical distancing requirements in mind, determine the maximum capacity the classroom can hold to allow for adequate physical distance
• Knowing the maximum capacity each room can hold, determine whether you’ll need to add more classes to our school’s schedule to give all members the chance to train

3. Create your new class schedule. Note that you may want to create gaps between classes to limit the number of people gathering outside each classroom before the next class begins.

4. Add the new class schedule to your website. If you use Member Manager software by Member Solutions, you can easily add classes and set class sizes. Once the classes have been added to the software, publish the schedule using the software’s scheduling widget.

5. Communicate the new class schedule and physical distancing protocol to your members. Use the mass email functionality in Member Manager software to send the communication to your entire member base.

Not using Member Manager software? Many of our clients use our Event Manager software to take online registrations for classes quickly and easily. The software gives you controls to set a maximum capacity for each class. You can also take payments online through the same forms for virtual belt testing, recurring payments, new memberships, bootcamps and other events — without having to set up a new merchant account.

Some other key considerations for managing your class sizes:

• Limit parents or spectators to one adult per child
• Request drop-off for teens if parents feel comfortable
• Encourage members to exit promptly after class

We’re here for you

If you have questions regarding managing class size and/or communicating your physical distancing protocol to members, feel free to reach out to your Client Success Manager at any time.

Need 1:1 guidance? Book a 30-minute session with your Client Success Manager to get new ideas and help developing a solid business strategy.

For more tools, templates, strategy guides, and resources to drive member engagement and business growth amid COVID-19, visit our Business Resource Page. Be sure to bookmark the page, too; we’ll continue adding resources as they become available.