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INDUSTRY EVENTS NORTHEAST FALL TRADE SHOWS AND CONFERENCES Over the past two weeks, SAM went on the road to attend two great conferences: The Northeast Winter Sports Summit at Bretton Woods, N.H.; and The SANY/PSAA Fall Trade Show and Seminars in Windham, N.Y. Both meetings were jam-packed with great information, from NSAA’s Fall Workshop Series to sessions covering everything from NDT to websites. At The Northeast show, 386 ski area attendees from 67 ski areas and associations browsed through the booths of 121 companies. Throw in 55 speakers, and the grand total came to 647—the best show yet. SANY boasted 332 ski area personnel and 112 vendors for its three-day program. Both shows capped off with banquet dinners and dazzling fireworks displays. Following are recaps of some of the sessions, as well as pictures.Northeast Winter Sports Summit NSAA Fall workshop: “Collision Accidents and the Impact on Guest and Your Resort.” Research says there are actually more collisions with skiers than snowboarders which is a common misperception with our customers (they think it's the reverse). Still, collisions are not increasing, so why do we care? Because there have been 4.7 million incidents in the last 10 years with 3.7 million in the last 6 and we are combating a fear factor feeding frenzy in the press. NSAA’s Tim White says, “Media calls have increased even though incidents have not.” Some things we deal with are a form of road rage on the slopes—the medical term for this is “Intermittent Explosive behavior.” Once a collision has taken place, the experts on the panel advised, “Gather facts and don’t determine fault.” • defuse anger • separate parties • treat as a red flag • take names and info When asked whether attendees had a reckless skier policy in place, only seven did: The advice of the panelists was to get one in place. One source is NSAA’s website, which has 10 ten safety questions. NSAA is also working on a campaign similar to the Smokey the Bear Campaign along the lines of “Only you can prevent a collision.” “Energy and Operational Efficiencies of Fan Technology Snowmaking Systems” Peter Geise of Areco and Joe VanderKelen of SMI focused on the benefits of automated systems, pointing out the different levels of automation and the cost and quality benefits of each. “The trend is toward efficiency in snowmaking, and that means automation,” VanderKelen said. The simplest level is automation of pumps and compressors; the most sophisticated level involves automating snowguns with multiple valves and speeds, with weather stations regulating the guns and cameras used to monitor them remotely. For a quick look at the future, get ahold of SMI’s Wisp case study video—the control room will call up visions of Captain Kirk and Spock. “Snowmaking Automation: A Case Study” Actually, two case studies. Rod Kessler of Stowe and Jay Roberts of Wintergreen each described the benefits of their automated systems, particularly the advantages of maximizing both early-season and in-season recovery snowmaking ops. Roberts showed a detailed cost-benefit analysis that showed snowmaking automation led to increased skier days over a longer season. In a nutshell: automation produced 48 percent more snow with 15 percent less energy (“we were greedy,” Roberts admits), with a 15 percent increase in skier visits and a 68 percent reduction in labor costs. Better snow quality and the comfort of knowing that the area could recover rapidly from a thaw are additional hard-to-quantify benefits. Kessler also noted that Stowe’s system makes more snow with the same energy use, and with less manpower. Both reported that they experienced far fewer problems with automation than they had anticipated. “Tubing Parks—What’s New and the Risks Associated with Tubing” Maynard Russell of Acordia began by noting that his company’s claim experience has improved greatly over the past several years. Average settlements were just $450 in 2004, compared to $38,000 in 1999, and the number of claims has dropped considerably. Still, he cautioned operators about the need to remain vigilant in making their facilities as safe as possible, since they control the entire experience. Aspects of operations that still require attention are runouts, avoiding collisions in the stopping area, and the new tow regulations in the latest ANSI B77 standard. Attendees pointed out that several products exist for slowing tubers in the runout area. But the most important step may be to empower employees so that they accept responsibility for regulating the flow of tubers, directing traffic, and generally following detailed tubing operations guide, examples of which are available from MSAA and NSAA. “Usability of your website: What to look for and how to do it” The expert in this session advised: Answer these questions to test the usability of your site: 1) Do you design for the outsider or insider? 2) What site is this? 3) What page am I on? 4) What are the major sections of this site? 5) What are my options at this level? 6) Where am I in the scheme of things? 7) How can I search? Quick tips: Make your site: easy, efficient, fun, quick, less is more, keep copy short, and don’t make the user think
SANY “Employee Safety” • Get top-down support on safety initiatives • Greatest safety concern is from the employees that are on skis • Do a job hazard analysis for each job. • Write safety programs • Write training programs • Detail how to check or test features in the terrain park • Take the time to conduct orientation, have regular meetings and have incentive programs for employees. Also, remember to follow through with accountability for actions when necessary. • Remember that your decisions, such as letting staff stay after work to have a drink in the bar, can leave you exposed. Have a written policy in place about what your policy is and make sure they know it. “Crisis Management” This standing-room only session divided the room into two groups and laid out two different crisis scenarios and asked attendees what should be done. In the first example, there is a power failure at night, an accident in the parking lot, the lifts are down, it’s 8 degrees and there are 800 people on the hill. As attendees gave the order of go for procedures, it became evident that a crisis management plan for every area is crucial. In it, there should be contacts, resources, agencies, insurance information and a chain of command. The panelists recommend that all areas review the plan at the start of each season to make sure everything is up-to-date. “Trial Court and the Court of Public Opinion” Skip King from Reputation Strategies conducted this informative seminar on dealing with the media during a crisis or bad situation. Just like with crisis management, it is crucial for areas to have a plan in place for dealing with the media. In addition, an area should have at least 2 people that are trained to deal with media. Other tips included: • Only give the media information you know--do not speculate. • Don’t assume that if it didn’t happen at your area, you are out of the media mix. For example, the Sonny Bono death was everyone’s problem. • And this quote: “PR is about telling pretty lies. Damage control is about telling ugly truths.”
A staff report.
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EVENTS WRAPUP 
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