So, after 2 years of personal CMAE membership, 14 months of starting and building a new region and countless networking events, we finally have our first seminar. And what a first seminar it was!
We had targeted having 10 people to our first seminar, considering that this was an entirely new region, and we were delighted to have 22 bookings. We knew that Mike and Julian would be a big draw and, after speaking to several attendees, it was clear that they were a big part of the reason for them being there.
Dinner the night before the event gave a good indication of what was to come the following day, with lots of energy and passion about the club industry and travelling the world to educate managers on the 10 core competencies. With our first event just hours away, it was important that it was to go well.
Mike started the day by giving us a talk on leadership and used his vast experience to teach the room that reading and attending conferences was a great way to self-educate and to learn from great leaders of our past and present. Mike was conducting an on-going survey of what we as managers see as the most important parts of leadership. There is no right or wrong and Mike would use the information to help him in his future educational seminars.
On to Julian, who gave us great insights into what Wentworth is doing to continue providing exceptional customer service. He talked about how his team had an incentive in place to ensure that they attended training, knowing that this would lead to consistent strong performance from those individuals. They also all carry a credit card sized card entitled ‘People Matter. Our commitment to Excellence’ with them at all times to remind themselves what are the key points to do on a daily basis.
In the afternoon, we moved on to both Mike and Julian giving us their inside views of how to run a major golf tournament. Congressional having held the 2011 US Open, along with the annual Tiger Woods/ PGA Tour event, and Wentworth being the annual stopover for the European Tours flagship BMW PGA Tournament. You could only have heard these stories by being in the room and I know that the audience was completely hooked as Mike told us of his ‘48 hours with no sleep’ episode and Julian talking of the major operation that needs to be planned behind the scenes each year, involving a lot of diplomacy with local residents and members!
A successful start to the new region, with many more moments like these planned for the future.
Best regards
Ian Barthorpe
Chairman, CMAE Midlands & North (UK)
