1.
Chapter Level – 54 Regional Education Opportunities, 2 Statewide Conferences, 7 CMI
Workshops
Entry Questions:
1. Which of the ten competency areas did your chapter’s educational program cover? Briefly describe how your chapter covered each one (what were the topics of the programs).
The chapter’s educational programming covered each of the ten competency areas in the
2012-2013 year. In addition to at least six educational sessions per quarter, the chapter offered 5
CMI Workshops and two statewide three day conferences in order to target the diverse educational needs of our members. The following is a summary of the chapter’s educational programming this year:
November 1, 2012 – October 31, 2013 Education Calendar
1.
Club Governance a.
2 Credits: Books, Bylaws and Being Good - What Your Board Should Know and Do
2.
Now by Robyn Stowell
Food and Beverage Management a.
6 CMI Credits: Central Coast CMI Wine Workshop
3.
b.
3 Credits: Hat’s Off to Hospitality! Living the Values by Tom Costello c.
2 Credits: Making Yours an Always Full Restaurant by Gregg Patterson d.
2 Credits: Wine Education in Roadrunner Region e.
3 Credits: Wine Education at iron Horse Vineyards by Randall Bertao, MS f.
3 Credits: Wine Education at Frei Ranch by Scott Kozel
Accounting and Financial Management a.
2 Credits – Financial and Lifestyle Trends for Clubs by Kevin Reilly, J.D., CPA b.
6 CMI Credits: 50 Points of Profit by Ronald Yudd
4.
Human and Professional Resources a.
2 credits - Performance Evaluation of Team Members by Crystal Thomas, MCM
5.
b.
6 CMI Credits: Finding the Edge – Headhunters Discussion Panel
Leadership a.
6 CMI Credits: Apollo 13: Making the Tough Decisions by MAP Consulting b.
6 CMI Credits: Strategic Inquiry for the Club Manager by Steve Swafford c.
2 Credits: Lead, Follow Up and Get out of the Way by Bill Main d.
6 CMI Credits: Building Teamwork to Accelerate Your Company’s Performance by
MAP Consulting e.
f.
6 CMI Credits: A Few Good Men Movie Series by MAP Consulting
3 Credits: The Future of the Membership Enterprise by Nicholas Webb g.
3 Credits: Everything Counts! By Gary Ryan Blair h.
18 CMI Credits: Train the Trainer Crystal Clear Concepts i.
6 CMI Credits: rePower Workshop by Crystal Clear Concepts j.
6 CMI Credits: rePower Workshop by Crystal Clear Concepts k.
6 CMI Credits: rePower Workshop by Crystal Clear Concepts

6.
Membership and Marketing a.
2 Credits: Wellness as a Strategy to Increase Usage, Retention and Recruitment by
Rick Ladendorf b.
Over 75 Education Credits: (Approx. 30) Local Area Network Meetings throughout
2013
7.
Golf, Sports and Recreation Management a.
b.
2 Credits: Fitness & Spa services in the Modern Private Club by Chris White
2 Credits: A Preview of Anatomy of a Kid’s Activity by Andrea Curthoys
8.
c.
2 Credits: Attracting and Managing a Major Golf Tournament by Michael
Leemhuis, CCM w/ No CA panel of managers d.
2 Credits: Attracting and Managing a Major Golf Tournament by Michael
Leemhuis, CCM w/ So CA panel of managers e.
2 Credits: The Emotion Quotient of Summer Camps by Andrea Curthoys
External and Governmental Influences a.
2 Credits: Legal Outlook for Private Clubs in 2013 by Robert L. Bouchier & Jeffrey
A. French
9.
Facilities Management a.
2 Credits: Strategy and Tactics for our Current Conditions by John Deere Golf
10.
Interpersonal Skills a.
2 Credits: Eight Simple Rules of Resolving Conflict and Improving Relationships by
Greg Giesen
2. How did your chapter determine which topics to address in its 2013 educational program?
The chapter has an Education Committee, which consists of a Chair from the Board of Directors,
Co-Chair and six additional chapter members, for a total of eight members. Following each educational session, members evaluate the speakers and additionally we continue to survey our members quarterly through the chapter’s retained consultants, who assisted us with formulating a strategic plan for our actions, including advice on how we can best maximize attendance at all of our chapter events and educational sessions.
In June of 2012 the Education Committee formulated a calendar of 2013 events and competency areas in each of the six education areas throughout the state, with the goal of 90% of our managers being within 90 minutes of quarterly education covering all of the competency areas. Throughout the year the chapter reviews past speaker evaluations and potential speakers from a multitude of sources including: CMAA certified speakers, industry related speakers.
Speakers bureaus, and suggestions from current news, partners and members. Once the dates were set, speakers were contacted and chosen from the above sources and asked to submit their speaker fees and availability. After carefully reviewing all of the speakers’ information, the committee confirmed the education budget. In August and September, the regional committee representatives confirmed venues for each educational session using the chapter’s Host Club
Confirmation Letter.
3. How did your chapter market its educational programs to its members in 2013?
The chapter marketed events in a multitude of ways to ensure each member was properly notified. Once the confirmation of venues was completed by the regional committee representatives, the chapter created a Save the Date Throughout the State postcard in October of 2012 for the 2013 year. This postcard included dates, venues and competency areas for

regional education, dates of the state wide conferences, four chapter golf tournaments, GSC
Foundation golf tournament and CMAA events. This postcard was displayed on our chapter website, emailed to the membership and also printed and mailed to each member. For regional education events, a flyer was created in InDesign and posted to the chapter calendar where members could view the flyer and register themselves and guests for specific educations, up to
90 days in advance. Each event was emailed to the membership six, four, two and one week in advance of the date to ensure everyone had the opportunity to sign up. Other pertinent team members of the club were invited to the events based on the education that was being offered and this was noted on each flyer. (i.e.: For an Accounting seminar, the flyer would invite
Members, Controllers and Guests.) On the one week email reminder, a list of those who had already registered was provided, along with the flyer, to ensure accuracy. This list was always available at any time through the website as well.
This year the chapter further developed our Engagement Committee to increase member participation. The Engagement Committee Chair developed a committee of 40 members and assigned each of them a list of members in their region. If attendance was low for a particular event, we would “engage” the committee in that particular region. Each member of the committee was to call their list and remind them of the meeting date and ask them if they wish to attend. The engagement committee became a very effective tool to increase participation at events, which created only one cancelled event throughout the year.
The chapter also plans two annual conferences. These are comprehensive, three day conferences packed with educational, social and networking events. They feature an opening session speaker and other top-rated industry presenters, a marquee networking event and the opportunity to visit with the area clubs. Locations and venues are chosen at least 12 months in advance, along with social host clubs and the conference themes. In addition to being advertised on the chapter Save the Date postcard, a Conference Save the Date brochure was created in January. The brochure outlined the dates, locations, topics, available credits and timing for each conference. CMAA also listed the conferences on their website calendar. Four months in advance of the conference, the chapter office designed a brochure and Writeable
PDF registration form with all of the details. These forms were sent to the printers and subsequently mailed to the membership. They were emailed to the membership and were also posted to the website at the same time. They were then emailed to the membership at ten, eight, six, four, three and two weeks in advance.
The chapter has a LinkedIn and Twitter account as well as a Facebook presence. We post information about events in each of these three social media arenas as well.
4. How does your chapter address the diversity of professional development needs among its
members (GMs/COOs vs. Assistant Managers)?
The chapter understands that it is vital to properly address the educational needs of our diverse membership and the Education Committee is committed to focusing on different career levels within each of the ten competency areas. For example, in 2013 the chapter hosted eleven CMI
Workshops in seven different areas such as Human Resources and Food and Beverage for midlevel managers and more advanced topics on Accounting and Leadership for General
Managers and other more tenured managers. The chapter hosted two conferences in 2013 with over with eight cutting edge speakers presenting on a variety of topics to our members, their management teams and guests related to the club industry and leadership.
The chapter has two Mid-Manager Local Area Networks (LANs), which are smaller group meetings that occur throughout the state and meet on a regular basis, whether monthly, bimonthly or quarterly. They have a pre-set agenda and offer an education component which is

relevant to their area, thereby earning CMAA-sanctioned educational credits. These groups focus on Assistant Manager level education and they met quarterly last year. The chapter has established General Manager LANs in the past, which continue to meet on a minimum quarterly basis to discuss relevant topics in their clubs. Many times they will bring in a specific manager level speaker or they will have round table discussions.
Crystal Clear Concepts, Inc. provides education at a mid-management and higher level management with different regional seminars, and educational webinars with the membership.
5. How does your chapter incorporate technology into its educational program?
The chapter has increased its incorporation of technology into education significantly in the past few years. Marketing for our chapter events is implemented through our chapter website and email system, which is connected to our membership database. This allows us to filter who we market emails to go to by education area, region, local area network name or membership category (i.e.: Professional, Alumnus, Continuation, Friend). The email system also has the capability to import professionally designed PDFs of our event flyers and brochures as the email message, which ensures to our members that our events are well-planned and should not be missed! Also, using our website, members can easily sign in, view and download brochures and registration forms for events and even register using the calendar tool, which also enables them to see who else within the chapter has registered. Members can also download the entire chapter calendar straight into Outlook using an iCal download. The chapter also has a page on the website named Educational Resources, where we save links to past webinars, our new member orientation and educational materials.
In 2013 we offered 12 educational one hour webinars to our membership, more than any other year to date! The use of webinar technology is growing in strength and it also allows members in remote parts of the state to still receive exceptional information without leaving their office. Also, a majority of 2013 educational sessions, speakers used PowerPoint, video and music throughout their presentation to make it interactive and engaging.
The Communication Committee utilizes social networking through LinkedIn. We will post information about events, as well as discussion questions, on LinkedIn and it subsequently is automatically posted to Twitter and Facebook. We use this tool related to education to announce when events are available as an opportunity for an online “managers round table” if they have a question about something specific at their club and require responses immediately.
6. What does your chapter do in its educational program that is unique or innovative?
The chapter developed six education areas throughout the state in 2013 and provided at least quarterly education in each of these six areas. This ensured that there was quarterly education within 90 minutes of each of our members. We continued to provide educational webinars presented by our strategic partners and held chapter business meetings for activity credits at all regional meetings to inform members of TGSC happenings and any CMAA updates that were pertinent. The chapter encouraged participation of our different member membership types by offering 50% for all chapter events to retired members and their spouses, regional education sessions at no cost to Continuation members and 50% off both spring and fall conference registration rates to Continuation and unemployed chapter members. Students were also invited to attend regional meetings and conferences this year for the educational experience and networking opportunities, at no cost to them and courtesy of our Foundation.
Additionally, we made a concentrated effort to further develop "Local Area Networks" (LANS), which are smaller group meetings that occur throughout the state and meet on a regular basis, whether monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly. They have a pre-set agenda and offer an education

component which is relevant to their area, thereby earning CMAA-sanctioned educational credits. There are 15 LANs that are active throughout the state. This offers yet another opportunity for our membership to gain valuable education by networking with their peers through roundtable discussions and with outside speakers. The chapter actively promotes these groups and has established formal LAN leaders, member organizers of these groups, who oversee the scheduling, agenda creation, minute-taking and documentation submission to
CMAA for educational credits.
Another unique component of our educational efforts in 2013 consisted of offering a vendor show during our Spring Conference. Our administrative office compiled this show, which featured 40 vendors, who set up booths and offered their wares to our membership during the luncheon session of the second day of the conference. This event has proved to be enormously successful the past three years and will be continued at our future Spring Conferences. This is also an opportunity to strengthen our Partner Sponsorship Program by allowing more interaction between partners and our membership. An additional opportunity for our partners to be more involved with our membership is when they become sponsors of educational meetings. At the partner sponsored educational meetings, a company representative gets to be present, introduces the speaker and joins the members for lunch or dinner after the session . This has proven to create a stronger relationship with our partners and they get to see the value of their partnership-first hand.
7. Does your chapter solicit individual attendee feedback for each educational program you offer and how do you track it?
The chapter does solicit individual feedback for each educational program through CMAA evaluations. Following a presentation, each attendee is given the form, which rates the Overall
Value, Content, Presenters and Supplemental Materials on a 1 – 10 scale. They are also asked whether or not they would recommend the presenter in the future. There is additional space for comments as well and a member must turn in the evaluation in order to receive credit for a session. The evaluations are then logged onto a spreadsheet, so they can easily be shared back with the speaker and the Education Committee when they wish to review and plan speakers for the next year. The evaluation summaries are shared with the speakers as well.
Additionally, we conducted membership surveys, specifically asking chapter members about their areas of challenge and which areas they would like to see more education and we took those results into consideration in planning our education calendar. The focus of these surveys is educational based and we specifically ask our membership which topics of education would be of interest to them.