Private Club Radio Show
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Private Club Radio Show
347: National Club Conference Recap & Review.
Listen in as I, Denny Corby 👋 , walk you through my recap and review of the National Club Association's Annual Conference.
Spoiler alert, it was a great time, and I can't wait for NYC in 25!
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Hey everyone, welcome to Private Club Radio Show, the industry's source for news, trends, updates and conversations all around the world of private golf and country clubs. Whether you are brand new to the industry, welcome. Or a seasoned professional, welcome back. I'm your host, denny Corby. Thank you all so much for being here this episode quickly going to recap the NCAA Conference National Club Association their annual conference held a couple of weeks ago in Fr texas at the omni pga headquarters. Before I do go on, um, I do want to thank the nca for inviting me out uh, for allowing me to come to engage, interact uh, to be a part of what they've built, what they have going, and it really really means a lot. Um, they've been extremely supportive uh of myself and the Private Club Radio Show over the years and I just want to give a big hats off, a big hat tip. Thank you so much to Joe, john, the whole team over there, kim everybody is absolutely fantastic and thank you all Really appreciate it. Same token want to thank my show partners because their support of me and the channel allows me to go and do things like attend the NCAA conference and go and do the CMAA conference and go to education and go and do things.
Speaker 1:Big shout out to Kenneth's member vetting, active, good factual background checking and getting information and digging in about the applicants that are coming into your club. You're really setting your club up for potential risk. So if you're interested in learning on how Kennis can help you with fact-based member vetting and really find out who your applicants are who are trying to get into your club, check out membervettingcom. Set up a call with Paul Dank Really great guy, really good group of people over there. Also, concert golf partners, boutique owner-operators of private golf and country clubs nationwide. If your club is looking for recapitalization, even if they're not looking for recapitalization, even if you, your club, somebody else's club is just looking to get out of being member owned, they just want to. They want it just a club that they can go to. That is that they know is going to be handled, managed, taken care of, upkept. No more assessments. Um, you know it's not always about being in a bad place, it's about just what's best for the club. Uh, head on over to concert golf partnerscom. Set up a confidential phone call with Peter Danula and you guys can take it from there.
Speaker 1:Big shout out to our friends Members. First, premium-based software for member based organizations. They have a great app, great product, amazing web development websites. It's not just that they understand and get clubs and their club people, a lot of the staff, a lot of the people there come from the club world background. Whether it's general managers, management leadership, they come from clubs. So it's not just they're here selling a software or they're selling a website or selling anything like. They understand clubs, they understand data, they understand what makes clubs tick. So if you're interested in learning more, head on over to membersfirstcom, slash PCR and hit them up. They're really good people and thank you all listeners, because without you this show would not be possible. So thank you all for being here.
Speaker 1:So quick little recap of the NCAA Conference National Club Association. It was at the PGA Omni, so it's the PGA headquarters right nearby on the same campus, but they have the Omni down there, a great facility, almost brand new. It's only a few years old and I wasn't going to put this in, but I just want to let you know how good the staff is there, because the whole experience was great at conference. There was just this one bartender in the main lobby who was just a little bit off, and it wasn't just me. There was other people in the part of the NCAA who also noticed and it was brought up in other conversations in different times. Anyway, I don't complain, I don't care. He was just a little bit off. Like there was the hospitality of the customer service, just wasn't there at all. I mean when, when, when the people cleaning up the plates at seven in the morning for breakfast have a better attitude than the bartender serving $18 drinks? Something's not right. So anyway, I'm on just the survey. I just made a note. Hey, everything was great, but the bartender server. They reached out and actually I just had a call with somebody from the team asking for some more information. That's amazing. So big shout out. The facility was awesome. I think a lot of people wished it was at a club. Next year it's going to be at the New York Athletic Club, so it will be at a club. This was a little bit different. I think if you can't have it at a club, having it at pretty much the PGA headquarters golf central, I mean, come on, you can't beat it, um. So facility was great, uh, place was great there, um. The other location that we did go to was the middle B innovation kitchen, um, but that we'll talk about that a little bit later. But, uh, this, the everything on property, everything was was great. It was a great facility. The education was really good.
Speaker 1:What's neat about the NCAA, the National Club Association? If you don't know, it's the association for private clubs and their boards, so it tends to be a little bit more deeper conversations, a little bit more in-depth on the governance and more pressing issues than just the overall general theme theme. And with that, during the sessions, they also have breakout and separate sessions specifically for the board members who come from private clubs. So they have specific education, specific tracks, specific networking and things for them to go do and interact and engage so they can all network and learn from each other as well. So it's really cool how they mix and mingle and let people come together but also separate and do their own thing.
Speaker 1:Really, really, really great, really enjoyed that there is so much networking, which I think is super important. That's why we go to things like this. You know you can learn and get educated anywhere online now. You know, listening to podcasts here, there's so much way to educate. But really, I think it boils down to this, to the in-person. You know the the shaking hands and slapping asses. Really, that's what that's. That's what this is about and this is what I loved about the conferences. Everybody was there for the same reason to grow, to engage, to network and to build our personal and professional relationships and our brains.
Speaker 1:So the first night they had a new member reception, which was a lot of fun, the NCAA chair and chair reception and dinner. That was really good. And then they had the night golf outing at the Swing, which was on property and it's a lit short nine and that was just cool because not a lot of places you can golf at night and or have lights. So to be able to be out with our peers just hanging out, playing golf and at night, it was just a good time. It was just good energy, it was good vibes. The education was really good.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to go through my notes quick. I did take notes. Some of the education, I will be upfront, was above, way over my head, did not understand, but I'll be the first to say yeah. So some of the education. They had Seth Waugh, who's the CEO of the PGA of America. He was there just kind of giving a quick update overview. It was a fireside chat with him and Joe Trauger, the CEO of the NCAA, and just going over what's going on in that world. I have a bunch of notes, but one of the notes towards the end, you know, is talking about culture and the PGA is Seth. Seth said they have a no jerks allowed rule, which I thought was that was pretty cool. It's a. It's a culture of conversation and openness. And another quote I really liked from him was the only thing you can compete on is excellence. I thought that was pretty good Speaking of.
Speaker 1:So they had their club governance symposium which was just specifically for all of the board members of the clubs. Obviously, I couldn't go, but the feedback and things I heard from the board said it was really good, really educational, really valuable. And going back to being able to meet and have conversations with other people and other boards from other clubs in other parts of the world too. So it's not just you're chatting with other board members from other clubs in your community, it's you know people come from all over the country, so you're getting input and valuable data and insights from clubs all over big and small towns, communities, jurisdictions, townships, villages. To the NCA government relations update panel. I have notes on the on the government relations update. But, like I said, some of this stuff is a little over my head, so I don't know if I want to say anything, because I don't want to sound dumb, stupid or give the wrong misinformation. But here we go.
Speaker 1:Some of the takeaways from that part was you know, with elections coming up, things are just going to get a little crazy. Obviously, 2025 is going to be the Superbowl of taxes. I thought that was pretty fascinating. There's with the FTC banning their junk fees. I think the big thing is because there's going to be some differentiators contacting just your local, your tax expert, and just making sure you are all handled when it comes to fees, taxes, gratuities and some of these junk fees and things that are going on. He mentioned the OSHA walk-around rule, which would allow people to bring in third parties onto your clubs, into the properties on site, if there happens to be a concern, because those people who are coming on could be unknowns. They could be lawyers, reporters, you don't know. So there was the OSHA walk-around rule. Dig into that a little bit if you don't know what that is already. And we're talking about the independent contractor rule, which we've talked about here on the show and I think a lot of people know about that already, but also with the joint employer rule. Sometimes those two instances they will come together. So that is also something to check out. Make sure you're safe, make sure you're taken care of, handled and not open to any negativity.
Speaker 1:There's a session on cracking the culture code, kelly Merbler, and there's a couple good quotes in here. She referenced Marcus Buckingham. Leaders are experience makers. I really liked that quote. Management is not leadership. I liked that because management is more SOPs and systems and processes and leadership is all about the people. So those two things are separate. The same, equal, different. I just like that. Management is not leadership If there is no psychological raise or a new title is not professional development, and I liked that. Then there's a few other things going on.
Speaker 1:That day. There was a networking roundtable luncheon, which was a lot of fun at a great table, met some really cool cats there and we had some fun conversations. The evening we had the Excellence in Club Management Awards and Dinner. That was really good. Congrats to all of those winners. Only downside was dinner didn't start till late, like food didn't come out till like I don't know, like 8.45. It was wild. Other than that, really good night the following day. So there was two days of education. Really good night the following day. So there was two days of education the next day it was all about.
Speaker 1:One of the sessions was why the rising healthcare costs and waste is one-third of healthcare costs, one-third Wastes and one of the other things that's what's driving cost is providers paid on volume, not outcomes. And, like I said, this is something that was going over my head so I'm not going to touch too much more on it. But one thing he did say and it did hit home for me in trying to learn a little bit more and be more educated on it is, he said pay attention, because you're paying for it one way or another. And that hit home. Yeah, that, that hit it, hit it slapped. So they had Cameron Dawson, a speaker from New Age Wealth, on the economic factors affecting clubs and members. Same thing. This is a lovely starting to go over my head on some stuff, but so much data, so much info that the biggest thing I got taken away from this is and I think some of us know this as well is the government is spending more on interest than the military and defense Interest payments Craziness. We're in a wild time right now.
Speaker 1:One of my favorite sessions was Jim Butler talking about the economics of private clubs and the economic impact they have on the communities. That was one I actually didn't take too many notes. I was there just listening and taking it all in. I really enjoyed what he was saying. But I will say their data sources. So they got it from Club Benchmarking, club Management Association of America and the National Club Association of America, which gave them about 5,600 clubs. They had to exclude about 1,500 clubs that did not have EIN numbers. Then they excluded about 800 clubs with no operational revenue that they could have or did not get and then they excluded 1,100 clubs with revenue less than a million dollars, which means their final database, their final polling which to me this is just an interesting number is that there's only 2,235 clubs in the United States doing more than a million dollars in revenue. Take it for what it is and then to end the whole thing or not really to end it.
Speaker 1:It was just one of the last big fun things was the Middleby Innovation Kitchen Tour. That was so much fun. So Middleby Innovation Kitchens. They have amazing. Anything you need kitchen related they have it. So they have a showroom with all of their top of the line products, anything and everything, and they allowed us to come in. They opened it up just for us. They had about 18 chefs. All of their stations were open. Oh my God Pizzas, foods, lobster rolls the product. It is amazing. I love seeing what food does. Food brings people together and you saw that there was not a sad face in that building. Everybody was happy, laughing, having a good time talking food, learning about the product, touching it. That was cool too is like the chefs and the staff were there to let you see, touch, learn, feel. They allow clubs to bring their staff and management and their teams in so they can use it. They can bring their own foods, they can supply the food so you can try the stuff, try the kitchen, try the products. They have so much going on there and that was a real treat and a real highlight for that and that was sponsored by Middleby Innovation Kitchens and Bolter Food Service Design and Equipment. Big shout out you guys. Thank you so much for that. Overall, it was a great conference, it was a good time.
Speaker 1:It's not always perfect. I will say a little. I don't want to say the cons, but a little of the downside was I think it lacked a little bit of fanfare, a little bit of energy. There was a little bit of a I don't know. Uh, just during during some of the sessions and things um didn't run on time 100. I know I'm not a huge stickler for time, but um, things seemed a little bit behind um, I mean, if that's really the worst that happens, it was that and like a lack of like fanfare. But I think that's me coming from the entertainment background. You know. Just, there's a few times like a speaker wasn't ready or something whatever. And that's fine, it's not a huge deal, it's not the end of the day.
Speaker 1:It wasn't like it was this 5000 person conference. It was a fairly smaller, intimate room, which I will say that I think for the amount of people, I think we could have used a smaller room. I think there was some open space, some openness and for me being, you know, entertainment and fun and when it comes to people and engaging, interacting and getting involvement, it was just like high ceilings in a very big room. But I get it because also the vendors were in the room also. So, all things considered, if that's like the worst. Really really not a big deal. So really wasn't anything bad.
Speaker 1:The exhibitors were good. All the people who were there wanted to be there. It was great seeing so many friends and colleagues, club professionals Some of my show partners were there, kenneth was there. Got to see Paul Dank members first. It was great seeing Don and Jason and all of them there and got to meet amazing new people as well. It was a good time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, highly, highly recommend. If you are unfamiliar with the NCAA, definitely recommend you check them out and if you are interested or have it, I highly recommend you come to an NCAA National Club Conference. Next year is going to be in New York City at the National Athletic Club, at the New York Athletic Club. So I'm excited for that. Don't have to fly, going to drive there. So that was it. That was my review. It was a great time. Very little to complain about, if anything. It was great people, great networking, great education. What more can you ask for? Great food, it was all around a fantastic time, highly recommended. That's this episode, if you're enjoying the content. Thank you. Share with a friend. Subscribe to our newsletter. Head on over to privateclubradiocom. Catch you on the flippity flip.
