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INDUSTRY EVENTS SANY CONFERENCE 2009 From September 14 to 16, the Ski Areas of New York and Pennsylvania Ski Areas Association hosted 135 members from 32 NY resorts, 12 Pennsylvania resorts, and 3 from elsewhere. Fifty-five exhibitors filled the sold-out trade show hall. As with last year, one full day was devoted to industry sessions, some of which we recap below, and the final day featured a Disney Leadership program, which was filled with resort managers and supervisors seeking to improve their leadership skills. Also, check out photos from the show, as well as some video interviews. Running Your Resort With Expensive Energy—Ways to Cut Costs Led by Phil Jones from EMS Environmental, this session touched on the many ways that resorts can tackle energy costs. First, Jones recommended finding out exactly where an area is expending energy by using sensors or having an audit done. This should be done before any automation is installed to make sure you are automating the right items. He also recommended throwing out all of those fully-depreciated, still-operating antiques that eat up energy and stick to energy-saving equipment. On a final note, he said that companies need to walk the walk and talk the talk. For example, a hotel that asks it customers to reuse towels, but still has incandescent bulbs everywhere, isn’t sending the right message. Employee Free Choice Act…Neither Free nor a Real Choice. Led by Jill Lashay, Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney PC This eye-opening session covered the implications of the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, a union-friendly piece of federal legislation considered one of President Obama’s three priorities. Under this act, a new card check rule would allow employees to unionize through a card-signing process, eliminating secret ballot elections, which would also prevent employers from campaigning against unionization. Also under this act would be a new “first contract mediation and arbitration” rule which states that if an employer and a union are unable to reach an agreement within 120 days, an arbitrator will render a decision that will be binding for two years. For these and other reasons, the presenter argued that ski areas should get involved now and be prepared. Conduct opinion surveys among your employees, educate managers and supervisors and educate employees. Snow Sports Conversion Efforts: Success Stories that Truly Grow the Sport. Moderated by Scott Brandi, Ski Areas of New York As the urgency for improving conversion rates and building our base grows, this session offered up some great ideas that have worked well around the region. These "grass roots" programs included the new BFit4winter game designed by Skillastic and the Winter Feels Good /SIA organization. For more details visit www.learnasnowsports.org. Another successful program profiled was the SANY-driven 4th grade ski and ride passport program: www.44free.com. Greek Peak Mountain Resort talked about their very successful program now in its 25th year: www.greekpeak.net/programslessons/mountains-of-fun.aspx How Do We Succeed With Summer Operations. Moderated by Eric Flynn, President of Liberty Mountain Resort. Mark Schroetel from Bear Creek, Pa., opened the session with an overview of how their summer operations affect their bottom line. He covered what resort guests are looking for during the summer season, as well as the activities and programs that lend themselves to maximum profitability. Of interest was the fact that they have a zero marketing budget—their success comes from the use of e-mail marketing and word of mouth. Next up was Charles Blier from Camelback who offered up a cautionary tale of "be careful of what you wish for." While very successful, (growing from 75,000 visitors in '98 to just over 332,000 guests in '08) Camelback's summer operations leave very little time for the management team to take a breath and forward plan for winter operations. He suggested that those thinking of getting into the summer business should start slowly, have a good plan and strategy, and not to underestimate the heavy work load that goes along with it. Scott Romberger from Ski Roundtop, Lauri Jones from Seven Springs and Barb Green from Blue Mountain rounded out the discussion with some good suggestions of high revenue, low overhead cost activities that work well at their summer operations. These included wake boarding (on the snowmaking pond), the Gravity Orb, canopy tours, summer tubing, in addition to the usual wedding, festivals, etc.
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EVENTS WRAPUP 
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