Private Club Radio Show

477: Bringing the Board With You, Why NCA Conference Is the Move This April

• Denny Corby

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In this episode of Private Club Radio, we're joined by John Good and Joe Trauger from the National Club Association to preview the 2026 National Club Conference at Ocean Reef Club in Florida, happening April 19 through 21.

We get into what makes this conference different, why it’s designed for both club leadership and boards, and how NCA is building a shared learning experience around their core pillars, governance, insight, and advocacy.

We also talk speaker highlights including Steve Sands (Golf Channel and NBC Sports), economist Chad Moutray from the National Restaurant Association,  and Dr. Jessica Kriegel on culture and workforce trends.

Plus, the fun stuff, the Excellence in Club Management Awards dinner and gala, networking events, a chairs reception at Key Largo Anglers Club, and yes, a rum tasting that somehow became educational (do not ask questions you are not prepared to enjoy the answer to 😉).

Registration details, the conference site is nationalclubconference.org, and presale pricing runs through February 16. Non members can attend, members get discounted rates.

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SPEAKER_04:

Welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, the show where you get the scoop on life inside private golf and country clubs. I'm your host, Danny Corby, and each episode is a real conversation with club leaders, the pros, the people, and partners who help clubs thrive. We talk leadership, culture, food and beverage, member experiences, member engagement, marketing, governance, and so much more. If you want practical ideas, better teams, and a club experience members actually feel and talk about, you're in the right place. Now, welcome to the show. In this episode, we are chatting with the gang over at the NCAA, the National Club Association. We got on John Good and Joe Traugger, and we are talking all things national club conference coming up really soon, April 19th through the 21st. They have an amazing speaker lineup, so much good content, so much good networking, so much fun. They even have a rum tasting. What? If you don't know the NCAA, it's the National Club Association, it's the association for clubs and their boards. So not only do they encourage you to come and bring your leadership and your team, but also bringing bring your boards to get everybody together so that everybody can come, network, engage, and have an amazing time. And if you've been to a National Club Association conference, the National Club Conference, you know how great they are, how amazing the people are, the great networking, the great speakers, the great educator. Everything is just always top-notch in a really good time. And real quick, before we get to the episode, before we get to all the juiciness you can hear about the National Club Conference, I gotta tell you, management in motion is happening again in 2026. I am super stoked. Save the date Monday, September 21st at the Monticello Motor Club. Details will be coming soon. If you want early access, head on over to privateclubradio.com, sign up for the newsletter, and you will be on the list for early access to when we put out the registration for 2026 uh management and motion, which will be very, very soon.

SPEAKER_01:

I am so excited.

SPEAKER_04:

And I'm also really excited about the year that is ahead. Very busy, super fortunate, and shameless plug. If you are looking for an amazing, fun member event night that's engaging, interactive, a lot of energy. You got the Danny Corby experience. There's excitement, there's mystery, also there's magic, mind reading, and comedy, a ton of laughs, gasps, and holy craps. It's a who. If you want to learn more or to reach out to learn about dates and availability, head on over to dennycorby.com. Fill out the form and we'll be in touch. Or find me on LinkedIn. Wherever you want to find me. I'm all over the place. Enough about all that though. Let's get right to the episode. Private club radio listeners, welcome back on the show. Joe Trager and John Good. This is gonna be a really good conference. You guys have great speakers, great per it's it's gonna be killer, awesome location, great spot, awesome speakers, great people. It's gonna be a killer year.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, we're very, very excited about it. Um we've got, as you've mentioned, just some great speakers lined up, and you know you can't beat the location. This is actually uh we're coming back to Ocean Reef. Uh our we had a conference there in 2021, and that was a very successful event. Um, I think it was the first one in the industry in-person event since uh the pandemic, it kind of shut everything down. Um so everybody was super excited to be there and be together, and and um so we're looking forward to going back and um having an awesome speaker lineup. You know, we're still working on some of the some of the sessions, some of the slots, but um, you know, what we've announced so far, I'm very excited about and and proud of. Um, and I know it's just gonna continue to get better.

SPEAKER_04:

What makes this one different than like ones in the past?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I think some of the things that we've done um in in the last few years is we've tried to be very responsive to you know suggestions about how we can make our conferences better. And uh I think what we've done over the course of the last couple of years is we've really condensed things. Um so you know, there it's very tightly packed. Um, and and you know, we make the best use of the time that folks have uh and spend with us. And I think that's you know, that's some of the feedback that we've gotten that people have really enjoyed over the last couple of conferences, is that we have done a really good job of keeping things, you know, fresh, compact, and and uh relevant. So, you know, we're continuing to iterate and improve, and um you know, that just uh yields results, positive results.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, and and and it's it's good that you guys are taking that feedback and then enhancing it, making the event better. Um is so like are there things that maybe club leaders and their boards because that's what this and you guys are about, is clubs and their boards. So it's it's GMs bringing their boards so they can all come learn and network and engage together. And and you also just have stuff just for the board, so they can kind of separate the GMs from the boards, not in like a bad way, but like get them talking, engaging. Hey, what's going on in your club? What's going on in your world, which is which is really cool too.

SPEAKER_02:

That's one of the iterations that we we've made over the last couple of years, is that we used to have a board uh member symposium sort of breakaway session for uh specifically for the board members, but we we actually don't do that. We haven't done that for the last couple of conferences. And you know, we've we've kept the entire group together so that everybody gets to hear the great speakers that we have. Because that's one of the downsides of having that breakaway session is that you know we we continue to have programming and sessions for the general managers, and then the board members don't get to see those sessions, and and oftentimes they're they're really good speakers. So we we want to keep everybody together, have a shared experience, uh, a shared learning experience, a shared social and networking experience. Um, and and the feedback we've gotten has been has been really positive on that as well.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Do you want to jump in, John?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, sure. I mean, you know, I just to reflect on a couple things Joe said. We we had just come out of the pandemic in 2021, and we a lot of folks didn't have the opportunity to actually appreciate the site that we're going to. I mean, Ocean Reef is gorgeous, right? I mean, it's a it's a really singular property in that it's a public-private partnership. It's got multiple clubs within clubs, it's gorgeous uh and huge. Uh so there's plenty to do there. So we really wanted to go back to Ocean Reef to sort of give people the opportunity they might have missed right after the pandemic. And then to pony on that, whenever we do a conference, we like to showcase our members wherever we are. So we'll do not only events at Ocean Reef, but also some of the other clubs in the area, including Key Largo Anglers Club, you know. Um, and uh, I mean it's just it's it's a great venue, it really is. And you know, you can work on your tan a little bit, uh get a little early season tan in April.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, I think you can always kind of get a tan in Florida, so it's there's never a bad, never a whore. I mean, I guess there is a bad there's really isn't a bad time to go to Florida. It depends on where where you're at.

SPEAKER_02:

Um it's one of the great appeals of Florida, I think, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04:

I I think so. I think so. And you have a stacked speaker lineup this year that it's only getting better. Um and what's cool is is there's some like outside, like a little bit outside, like industry adjacent people too.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah, I I'm I'm really excited about uh how the speaker lineup is shaping up. Um, you know, we uh we always try to you know find the the best speakers we we can uh that are relevant to the industry, but also interesting. And so whenever we have an opportunity to bring somebody in who is not necessarily of the industry or within the community, but still uh relevant and um you know somebody that's interesting and and you know that's that's a great opportunity. Um so yeah, I mean fantastic, uh fantastic lineup so far. Still working on it. We've had a few slots to fill yet, but um, you know, we have uh Steve Sands, who's uh with golf channel and MBC Sports, who's uh uh going to be opening up our conference on Sunday afternoon. And you know, I'm I'm really excited about that. I actually had a a conversation with um Steve at uh at another event back in October of last year, um, and we just kind of chatted uh about this possibility, and I'm just so glad that it that it worked out. And um, you know, we'll we'll have a uh actually I'm kind of previewing a little bit of news. We'll have a uh an article, um, interview with Steve Sands uh that'll be published in uh Club Director that'll be ahead of our conference. Uh so people will get a little bit of a preview of what he might be talking about. But he, you know, he's just an interesting guy. Uh he gets to see some really uh you know iconic facilities and and you know some of the best events uh around the country. And um, you know, it'll be fun to hear his uh his impressions of what goes on on inside the ropes and you know, sort of the challenges and and uh you know things that uh tour pros go through and that kind of thing. So uh, you know, very excited to have Steve uh joining us, and I know he's excited to meet our folks. Um and then we'll have uh Dr. Chad Moutre, who is the uh Senior Vice President of Research and Knowledge with and the chief economist with the National Restaurant Association. And um he Chad has um he's done some articles for us in the past and club director. Um I've tried to get him at one of our conferences in the past, but the schedules didn't work out. Um but uh he he's excited to join us. Um and obviously, you know, being the chief economist with the National Restaurant Association, I'm sure he's gonna have plenty of insights on you know what's happening in the food and beverage industry and um you know maybe some trends uh given the fact that he's in the research and knowledge portion of the National Restaurant Association. So uh and and and the fact that I mean he's also a friend of mine. So I'm I'm it's always nice to have a friend who's uh chief of the. And you know, you can say, hey, Chad, can you uh you stop by our conference? Um but he's a great guy, uh super, super smart. And um I I worked with him at the National Association of Manufacturers where he was the chief economist there. And um he moved over to the National Restaurant Association a couple of years ago, and uh it's great to be able to work within the same sort of industry adjacent, if you will, um, with him. Um so looking forward to to seeing him. Another um somebody that I worked with that that's on the speaker list uh that's been announced is um Peter Kersenau, who is an attorney with a partner with Banesh Friedlander out of Cleveland, Ohio. And he kind of goes back to my manufacturing days as well. Um uh Peter and I worked together on some legal issues, labor issues, um, and he'll be speaking about labor issues at the conference. He he's a dynamic speaker, he's a dynamic individual, really, really interesting. And um like I said, we we worked uh together a little bit um back in the I think it was 2013, um I actually I was briefing the CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers for some television appearance that he was going uh to do on labor issues. And I said, hey, if you want to make some news, you can announce that we're gonna sue the Department of Labor. And you could imagine my my you know, anyway, it was it was it was sort of an aside comment. Uh within a week we were suing the Department of Labor, and I asked Peter Kersenau to be our lawyer for that lawsuit. Um, I think that was in 2013. And uh we ultimately it it was uh it was a went to the appellate court and uh and we won. So uh, you know, Peter and I had a great experience going through that, and and he again, he's just an incredibly smart, smart individual and um knows everything about labor. He was a member of the National Labor Relations Board. He was, I think, until just this last December, was on the Commission on Civil Rights. Um he's an author of nonfiction uh, I mean sorry, fiction uh novels. Uh I think he's got four uh books out right now. Um but again, just a fascinating, fascinating individual and somebody that I call a friend. And then we when we have um another speaker that I'm very excited about, uh Dr. Jessica Kriegel, who's the chief strategy officer of workforce and labor with culture partners. And uh you can find her on YouTube, and she's done um a number of um speeches around the country. And she's gonna talk about culture and uh you know sort of metrics that that have been used in the past to measure employee engagement and how that may it may not be the right measurement that we need to be you know cognizant of. Um so I think she'll offer a new sort of outside of the club industry, fresh perspective on workforce issues, culture issues within the uh within the workplace, and also some generational issues. So I'm excited to to see what she's gonna have uh to say. And I hope that uh I I well don't hope, I know our members are really gonna appreciate what she has to say.

SPEAKER_04:

No, I I mean I'm I'm looking at the schedule now. There is so much great stuff packed in that it it's I mean, a rum tasting class that I did not expect the rum tasting class to to go across my eyes for for the NCA.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Uh well John and I you know we had the at our conference last year in New York at the New York Athletic Club, um, we were kicking around ideas of what we could do for the last session of the day. And we landed on, we had the opportunity to have um uh Kevin Zraley, who is a world-renowned you know, wenophile, um to uh to uh do a tasting class uh with the entire group. And you know, it was when you think about the logistics of trying to do a wine tasting of several different wines with about 250 people, the logistics of that are a little daunting. Um but at any rate, we we pulled it off and it was so well received. Um, you know, that we were we were John and I were kicking around ideas like how can we recreate that? What can we do in in at Ocean Reef um to create that vibe? Because everybody just left, you know. Obviously, you have a little nip of wine, you're gonna be a little happier. And and the the last the more wine, you're a little happier. They they they didn't finish theirs, you finished that. Yeah, yeah, it's all session of the day, and I think it was the most widely attended. And and that never happens. So um, you know, I I think what we were trying to do is recreate that vibe because I think everybody really enjoyed it. It was it was a you got some education, but you also got a little nip of you know something and you know, have a social experience, and then that sort of sets you into the evening for the for the chairs, reception, and dinner. So um, yeah, we we we decided what what would be what would be appropriate for Florida, southern Florida, right? South Florida. Rum.

SPEAKER_04:

Couldn't couldn't think of almost anything, especially like ocean reef, you have boats, right? You know, pirates. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Now are are the people serving the rum going to be dressed as pirates?

SPEAKER_01:

Um we're gonna hold that one close, Danny. Hold that one close, so it'll be a surprise.

SPEAKER_04:

They better.

SPEAKER_00:

That'd be awesome. But the other the other part of our conferences is the networking opportunities and the evening events that we have every year. So so we'll kick the conference off with a luncheon, right? So everybody can kind of get acquainted, catch back up again. Then we go into those education sessions, some of the ones that Joe had mentioned before. Then that Sunday evening on the opening evening is the Excellence and Club Management Awards dinner and Gala. Uh, and by the way, today's January 8th, just so you know, we're recording on January 8th, and uh McMahon Group just opened up the nomination window for this year's Excellence in Club Management winners. If you go to their website, McMahon Group LLC, uh, you can find the uh application for us there, and you can nominate your general manager uh or AGM uh for this year's Excellence and Club Management Award, which we will present there at Ocean Reef on that Sunday evening. So that event is essentially we do a cocktail reception, we hang out a little bit, we go in, we have dinner, uh, we do the awards ceremony, we have a little bit more to eat, a little bit more to drink, and it's always a stellar event. It's a really uh it's a it's a great event, and we're gonna be able to host it.

SPEAKER_04:

No, it's great energy. Great energy. Um I'm extremely fortunate I've been able to come to a couple of the uh NCA conferences, and the the excellence awards is always like great energy.

SPEAKER_00:

Um it's our opportunity to acknowledge those outstanding individuals in our field. It's always a good time.

SPEAKER_02:

I've had a number of uh our attendees, um, you know, general managers uh or CEOs of clubs that have kind of come up to me and said, you know, this has really become the marquee event, you know, dinner of the year. And and uh it's it's really heartwarming and rewarding to hear that.

SPEAKER_04:

Especially when it's like by your peers, too. It's not just you know, you guys going, all right, who are we gonna give it to this year? It's like you know, it's actually it's it's like it's like it's a very big communal thing, which is what you guys are about.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, the nomination, it's a it's a real, you know, it's a real process, and and you know, they they take it very seriously, and and it's important for folks to know that you know McMahon group and the NCA, we we do we do have nothing to do with who they select. Um it's it's not something that we do. Um there's an independent uh committee that does all of that.

SPEAKER_04:

So yeah. And and what what I like is this isn't a massive, huge I mean, it's still a decent sized conference, but it's not you know thousands of people. It's fairly intimate. So you can really, over the couple days, get to really know people, see people, engage, interact. And what I like too, and I I think it was different from last year. This year, you guys start it on the same day and get like straight to it. Like, you know, there's not, it's you know, Sunday, boom, you guys are starting strong, Monday's going strong, and then Tuesday you end with uh, you know, breakfast and then the uh golf tournament. So you really pack a ton into a short amount of time.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and that's what I was talking about earlier. Um, you know, as we've gone through and tried to iterate and come compress things, um you know, and that's based on feedback, but it's also based on just logistics and you know, people's time is is is really crunched. And so what we wanted to do was make sure that we packed as much as we possibly could into those first two days. And then if people have a little extra time and they want to play golf uh with you know whatever you know venue we're at, um, then they can do that. But um if they need to get back to their their clubs or their offices, you know, they can they can take off on um Tuesday morning and they're there in the afternoon. So yeah, it's it's um and and in addition to the education sessions, you know, we also do an the our annual meeting of the membership um as an association that that uh the Sunday afternoon. Um so that's an important thing um that we've that we've changed. We've added that to the schedule. Um so yeah, I mean we we we have it's a very, very compact. And full schedule.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And speaking of sending people off happy on Tuesday morning, so we're doing so we're doing the rum tasting on Tuesday afternoon, and then we immediately go into the chairs reception. Monday afternoon. Monday afternoon, my apologies. And that will be at the neighboring club, the Key Largo Anglers Club, which is a beautiful yacht and rod club. Actually, it had just been undergone a number of renovations with Peacock and Lewis, had done some work on them recently. They're literally like 20 yards outside the gate of Ocean Reef. So easy to get to, change of venue, change of place. We can catch the sunset over there. They always put on a great show. Their chef has is so imaginative and does so many wonderful things that are period, you know, specific for the area, specific for the time. Just a great event. So we're really delighted to be going back to Key Largo Anglers Club as well. And then, like Joe says, the next morning, if you can wake up on time, uh having rummed up and uh and uh eaten up all night, uh, you can go ahead and spend a great day on the links at the Ocean Reef Club's hammock course, which is actually built on a wildlife refuge. It's got some, it's it's a beautiful course. It really is a gorgeous course. So you can spend some time out on the links, and then uh you got your afternoon open to do whatever you want to do. Go swim with manatees or go kayaking or hit a reef or two, and you know, good stuff. Scuba dive. Plenty of options in Keat Larga. So many options.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh I was talking with John Prior. So at this point now, you have more people signed up than you have in the past, which is amazing. So you guys are cranking. Is there, and and I know the the association's growing, you're growing, there's always new people coming to the NCA national conference. Is there anything first timers sometimes miss? Or is there, I don't want to say advice for first timers, but is there like something that you've seen that first timers can maybe take away better? Or I mean I'm phrasing this horribly, but hopefully like you're kind of picking it up. But you know, you you know, like sometimes like when you first go to something, you sometimes miss that magic, or you know, you're you know in new water. So maybe you don't take in everything as well. Do you have any like I don't want to say advice for newcomers, but like how can somebody who's never been to a national club association conference get the most out of it?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I I think the the best way to get the most out of it is to attend. Um I mean, it you know, we've look, I've had conversations with a number of folks who've never been to a uh the national club conference, and afterwards they're completely blown away. They're like, Why have I not been coming to this conference every year? Um, or haven't I been here yet? Um, so and and that's really a credit, I think, to to John and the the work that the team does in putting together this very well curated event um that is impactful professionally, it's impactful personally. Um so yeah, I mean, the best advice I can give is just show up. Um, and you know, it's it's all ready for you. It's it's all laid out. Um, you know, we'll we'll have all the education, everybody stays together, um, and just you know, meet your colleagues and say hello and meet the vendors and you know enjoy the enjoy the couple of days and and learn. You know, it's a good opportunity to learn.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. To piggyback on that, so we we do build in time for specific networking. So you have 45-minute slots on each day that you can go to the expo hall, meet some of the vendors, meet some of the associate members of the National Club Association, learn a little bit about their products and solutions to help your club thrive. We also have uh a networking luncheon that we'll do on Monday, where you can actually sit down at a table that's got a designated topic at that table, where you can say, I'm having problems with membership, having problems with uh, you know, maybe policing some uh aspect of uh people acting up at my club. Let's talk about that. And that gives you an opportunity to also meet like-minded individuals who may be having the same challenges that you have at your club uh in a more informal over-a-meal. Let's break bread, let's talk about this kind of thing. And then we have spaced breaks during the course of the day that you can check in with the club, you need to do what you need to do, but you can also go and uh you know enjoy uh maybe a glass of lemonade with uh somebody that you hadn't met before. And honestly, I I always notice that our club is not particularly uh, I mean, our club conference is not particularly clicky. We're all in the same room, we're all experiencing the same events simultaneously, all of us. Uh we're all doing the same networking events, we're having meals together. It's not like it's bifurcated. It's not like you have to pick a track and then you only see those same 25 people in that track. You're in the room with everyone all the time.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

That that's what I like about the networking sessions. I've seen it in the past too, uh, as at some of the conferences, is then which is it's good but bad, but sometimes it takes a little bit harder to pull people back because now they're like locked into conversation. You're like, no, we we can figure, you know, we can we can continue the conversation later. Come on back in, it's time to start. And then that's also cool too, because and I'm sure you've probably seen it too. And I've I've heard, you know, later on during the receptions or other breaks or whatever, you hear people like re-bringing up those. Hey, you were mentioning how did you like I and that's like that's the best part. It's the best part. It's so cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. Yeah, it's true. And then uh what we what we do at our conferences is we have our associate members, usually our corporate partners or our associate members, uh, introduce the speakers on the panels. So you have an opportunity to see, oh, that's that person from that company. I need to talk to him later, and then you'll remember to see him during the break later on that afternoon.

SPEAKER_04:

If um people are on the fence, a GM, what do you tell them?

SPEAKER_00:

If you come once, you'll come again. You're gonna get enough out of this conference, you're going to meet so many people who can help your career, can help your club, who you might be able to help them, that it really builds community to a level that you don't find at other conferences. If you come once, you'll come again.

SPEAKER_04:

And then the same token, what do you tell GMs to tell their boards? You know, hey, like how do you tell like what do you tell them to tell their boards like, hey, this is the reason to come?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I mean, aside from it's a good time and you get to share some time with them and build relations with them, that there are a lot of things that you can take from this conference and use in the boardroom. I mean, that's the governance aspect of this is one of the main pushes that we do, right? I mean, insight, governance, advocacy. That's what we're all about. So I think that if your board member will come, first off, they're gonna have a great time. They're gonna meet other board members from other clubs and perhaps share with them some of the challenges they've seen in their boardrooms. And you're gonna see other GMs to kind of gauge how they work with their boards, how they find solutions at their clubs, you know. Um, I think it's a good thing. I think a lot of times GMs are like, uh, gosh, do I want them to know as much as I know? Is that gonna be better for my club or is that gonna make my job harder? And honestly, it's gonna make your job easier because you're gonna be on the same page, you're gonna be on the same wavelength, you're gonna have the same amount of knowledge and the same resources to make those decisions that are necessary day-to-day in your club. I think it's great. Plus, you get some great golfing, you know, you could eat some good food, spend some time in the tropics, it's all good.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, and being able to bring now, do people bring multiple board members, or is it usually just like one?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we see some clubs uh put a force of them together for the golf tournament and they'll bring three or four board members with them. We see others just bring their chairs. But we also see a lot of AGMs at these two. We see a lot of people bring their number twos, we see people bring their executive chefs, perhaps not as much, but uh, I mean, they'll bring their leadership team as well at a discounted rate, I might say. The first registration at the club member rate is one rate, and then if you bring your AGM or a board member, it's a considerably discounted uh registration, and they get the same education, entertainment, and networking opportunities that you do.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and I was just to kind of double back uh a little bit on the you know, as a board member, you know, or as a GM trying to decide how to, you know, talk to a board member about this uh attending and what they might get and uh out of it. Um you know, I I sort of come at this from that board member, club board member perspective. Uh I was the president of my club when I joined the NCA staff back in 2019. And I was never really exposed to any of the this. Uh, you know, one of the first things I did when I became club president, as I told my general manager, we need to be part of the National Club Association. I wasn't I wasn't on the staff at the time, so I just you know, uh to make it clear, um, did that before I joined the staff. Um, but you know, having that uh the a board member that sort of uh can connect with or or resonate with the GM and the struggles they have as far as governance, um, you know, what the proper board role is, you know, all of those things that go to the good governance, um, having your board member with you and hearing that, and they hear that you know, from the speakers that we have, because we we we try to cover, John mentioned the you know, governance insight and advocacy. Those are our sort of three pillars um to our mission. You know, we'll we'll have things that are based on each of those pillars. So we're we're gonna have sessions on governance, we're gonna have sessions that really focus on the insights of you know leadership and clubs and all of that kind of stuff. And then we're certainly gonna be talking about advocacy. Um, you know, with uh with Peter Kirstenau is gonna be talking about labor issues and you know, we'll have other other aspects, uh, other speakers that'll address some uh other sort of specific issues in advocacy. But um, you know, it's all curated to make sure that you're having that that that experience that is that is shared between a GM and the board member because that's who we are. Uh the National Club Association is you know really designed, and my focus as the CEO is to create that environment, to create that association that is the the general manager or CEO of the club, and it's also the board of directors, it's the club presidents and even the committee members. Um, this is their I want them to view this um organization and this conference as a as a window into the broader club community.

SPEAKER_04:

And what a way to connect with your board. I know some people do like board retreats and all that, but like what a way just to get away. Like what a way just to go engage with your board in like an educational and fun way. I mean, at a place like this, you can't beat it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. Well, you know, look, uh uh I'm a big believer in the fact that um, you know, you can have fun and learn at the same time. And so that's kind of a driving uh thought behind how we're we're trying to set up these conferences.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. The dates are April 19th through the 21st. Where can people learn more, register, sign up?

SPEAKER_00:

You can go to our dedicated website, which is nationalclubconference.org, or you can get there through the National Club Association website. That's nationalclub.org. And you can just go to events and you'll see the full lineup there as well.

SPEAKER_04:

And do people have to be members to be able to come?

SPEAKER_00:

They do not. There is a discounted rate if you are a current member of the NCA. Uh, we're currently in the pre-sale period still, so right now you're getting the lowest rates. Those will end on uh February 16th, and the rates will go up a little bit by then. But if you get in before February 16th, you're gonna be guaranteed the lowest rates. Uh, members pay a little bit more. You might want to consider becoming a member and appreciating the discount that you'll get to the conference this year, and then check out your first year membership with us and see how beneficial it is to your club.

SPEAKER_01:

Amen.

SPEAKER_00:

Praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_01:

Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_00:

Hallelujah. Well, thanks, Danny.

SPEAKER_04:

My pleasure. Hope you all enjoyed that, and I hope you are all going to the National Club Conference. It's gonna be so much fun. You might even see me there. You never know. Might magically appear. I think I get like one magic pun a year. I think I just used it in the third week of January. But that is this episode. Seriously, go check out the National Club Association. Go check out the National Club Conference. It's gonna be a blast. That's its episode. Until next time, I'm your host, Denny Corby. Catch y'all on the flippity flip.

Head Shot

Denny Corby

Host