THE BIG VIEW FROM THE ASSSEMBLY
The Assembly was noteworthy for several aspects this year, not just Bill Jensen’s blockbuster analysis of the health of resorts nationwide. His depiction of 150 ski areas as lacking the resources to remain viable drew headlines, of course. But The Assembly’s unusual mix of participants—resorts, destination marketing organizations, travel experts, SIA suppliers—provided plenty of food for thought.

One example: the sharing economy was a recurring topic. HomeAway president Brett Bellm noted his company’s relentless growth (think VRBO); more than a million homes are now rented by owners worldwide. He encouraged resorts to embrace this, not that there’s much alternative. There are now more available beds in vacation homes than in hotels or resorts, especially in the mountains, and 75 percent of Americans say they will consider renting their home short-term at some point.

CNL’s Steve Rice encouraged resorts to consider building affordable, shareable real estate options, such as the 350 sf “park models” of Tiger Run, near Breckenridge. These pre-fab homes can retail profitably from $75,000 to $150,000, which puts them in reach of Millennials, the heart of the sharing economy, and penny-pinching Gen Xers.

Speaking of Millennials, they were a key point of focus, too. Everyone is trying to get their attention, and hold it for longer than five minutes. Problem is that few in the audience know how to do that, in large part because Millennials, roughly ages 18 to 35, were largely absent from the audience. The mostly white, mostly male Boomers leading the discussion at The Assembly, and at most such confabs, may not be the most expert at attracting a diverse group such as the Millennials and the generation after them, roughly half of whom are “minority” members.

As Donna Carpenter, president of Burton Snowboards and a champion of diversity, put it, “It’s very hard to be innovative if everyone around the table has the same background, and the same experience, and is coming at the sport from the same perspective.”

While Jensen’s comments on the financial health of resorts drew the most attention, his observations about income inequality in the mountains was perhaps more significant. He noted that wages in resort communities have not kept pace with the cost of living there, and that resorts will have to address this eventually. “You can feel this issue percolating,” he said. “We have to be thoughtful about it.” Rice agreed: “We have to have good people, and we have to be able to pay them,” he said.

Summer operations also received a lot of attention, much of that focused on how different it is from winter business. On the plus side, margins are often higher, 40 to 85 percent, and the returns often faster. But summer business is far more diffuse, with a broad range of visitor interests and aims. This will require resorts to be part of community- and even region-wide marketing and branding efforts in which they are not the main focus.


HISTORY IN THE MAKING
For 60 years, the Guinness Book of World Records has been blowing minds with the innovative, extraordinary, and odd. The most heads shaved in an hour? 73. Longest marathon group hug? 25 hours, 10 seconds. Now, the ski industry is eyeing its piece of the action with a slightly less esoteric goal: The Largest Ski/Board Lesson Ever Taught.

The concept, brainchild of Snow Operating’s Hugh Reynolds, is modeled after the largest swim lesson. The idea is to get 100 or more resorts nationwide to host a learn-to lesson on the same day at the same during Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month in January 2016 (tentative date: Jan. 8). When all is done, the industry will have nabbed a title in Guinness’s “mass participation records” category.

The topic generated plenty of enthusiasm at the recent NSAA winter trade shows. Organizers will be soliciting feedback regarding cost vs. free, tracking methods, and more. The event will be discussed in more detail at NSAA’s national conference in May.

The effort is a hook to gain media attention and bound to boost participation for the nationally coordinated LSSM. It’s a great way to keep the initiative fresh and marketable, and a good example of the sort of out-of-the-box thinking that’s made it and its Bring A Friend offshoot successful.


DRONING ON AND ON
Drones, those incredible little flying machines, have gone from novelty to ubiquity almost overnight, and could soon fill the skies at resorts. Technically, it’s feasible today. Practically, and more importantly legally, there are hurdles to overcome.

Resorts got a taste of the potential for both personal videos and more general patrol and rescue work at the NSAA east and west winter trade fairs via demos, seminars, and exhibitors.

Private use of drones is largely unregulated, and poses obvious safety issues. Therefore, NSAA recommends that resorts develop drone policies, and prohibit drone use except when expressly authorized by the resort (for, say, a summer wedding). The policy should appear on the resort website, on signs at the area and on trail maps. NSAA has posted a sample drone policy at www.nsaa.org/government.

Commercial use awaits final rules from the Federal Aviation Administration, and that’s at least 18 months away. Some likely regulations, according to NSAA’s Geraldine Link: legalization of commercial operation of drones weighing up to 55 pounds, and flying visual-line-of-sight operation of the pilot, within confined areas of operation, and only during daylight.

NSAA will be pushing for exemptions in certain, limited conditions, such as search and rescue operations, where a line-of-sight requirement or daylight-only rule would limit utility. Similarly, NSAA will seek special authorization for use of drones over the public when guests explicitly consent to such use, such as in a NASTAR race or other special events, or concession aerial videography services like recent trade shows exhibitor Cape Productions.


DAVID INGEMIE: END OF AN ERA
At the start of the 2015 SIA Snow Show in late January, longtime SIA president David Ingemie announced he will be stepping back from his current role after next year’s Show, marking 40 years with the organization. The change will mark the end of an era. Make that several eras.

Ingemie joined SIA in 1976 as marketing director. In that role he launched the Subaru Deduct-A-Ski program, which offered tax breaks on used equipment donated to charitable groups, the Cross Country USA program to encourage development of urban cross-country ski centers, and a high school assembly program.

He was named president of SIA in 1981, then led the organization as it incorporated snowboarding into the association and trade trade show during the 1980s. Later, David engineered a series of relocations for the show, first from its longtime home in the Las Vegas Convention Center to the Mandalay Bay, and then more dramatically to Denver’s Convention Center, where it currently resides.

He has always been an enthusiastic marketer. He helped create the “Ski It to Believe It” consumer campaign and was an early and enthusiastic supporter of Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month.

The concept of an industry-wide marketing effort led to Ingemie’s most controversial position, as president of the merged NSAA/SIA entity, the United Ski Industries Association, in 1989. Ingemie did his best to foster harmony and collaboration between the two disparate groups, retail suppliers and winter resorts, who nonetheless broke the organization in two again in 1992. After the breakup, Ingemie returned to running SIA.

More than almost anyone else, he understood the two groups. He began his management career as director of marketing for his hometown hill, Wachusett Mountain, Mass., from 1969 to 1973, then moved on to become executive director of the Mt. Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce in North Conway, N.H. It has been an eventful 40 years.