GCMA 2021 Conference: Breakout sessions revealed

17 September 2021

Hot on the heels of the announcement of the main programme last week, the Breakout sessions for GCMA 2021 Conference have now been revealed…

Whether it’s how to best utilise technology when marketing your club, saving money by using water better, or sustainably managing your course, you’ll find something to capture your attention in the Breakout sessions for GCMA 2021 Conference.

After the announcement last week of the main programme, a total of 15 Breakout sessions have been revealed for the three-day event in November.

Featuring key speakers around the GCMA Hot Topics, GCMA Know How and GCMA Inspire banners, they will focus on the Conference themes of Leadership and Wellbeing, Sustainability and Technology.

GCMA 2021 Conference is being held between November 21 and 23 at Wyboston Lakes Resort, in Bedfordshire.

You can find details of all the sessions below, and you can view the main conference programme by clicking here.

To book your spot at Conference, visit the dedicated website here.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Monday, November 21

8.30am to 9.30am

Breakfast Club

Choose one of two simultaneous sessions; “Put Your Oxygen Mask on First” or “Setting the Tone”.

First collect your breakfast and then join us as we discuss and, along with our hosts, share the ideas and best practice on how to create greater levels of personal wellbeing to enable us to deliver outstanding results for our Clubs.

Each session limited to 42.

10.50am to 11.20am

Breakout Session 1: World class Wellbeing – a practical application

Danielle Brown MBE supported by GCMA Board Member, Gareth Morgan

Danielle Brown MBE will continue the theme of her Keynote Speech of putting your own wellbeing as a priority in order to be better able to look after the wellbeing of your team and others around you, and how to implement practical tools and actions to achieve this.

Gareth Morgan will speak from personal experience of how he has successfully applied this in the golf club management environment.

Breakout Session 2: Ignite Employee Engagement & Boost Your Bottom Line!

Miklós Breitner, Golf Business Monitor, Golf Club Marketing Consultant

In this session, Miklós Breitner, globally acclaimed golf club marketing consultant and Founder of Golf Business Monitor, the world’s #1 B2B golf business blog, will share his insights around the issues of employee experience. This session will provide you with ideas, tools and motivation to return to your club and put your employees at the centre of everything that you do.

12.30pm to 1.05pm

Breakout Session 3: The Story of COVID

Kevin Fish, Contemporary Club Leadership

In this session, internationally recognised Golf club industry education and professional development specialist, Kevin Fish, will share the results of a nationwide survey undertaken to measure the impact of covid on our golf clubs. Beyond the data, Kevin will give us his prognosis on where golf clubs are likely to excel but also where the challenges may lay in the months and years ahead, the legacy of covid.

1.15pm to 1.50pm

Breakout Session 4: Repeat of Session 3

3.05pm to 3.35pm

Breakout Session 5: All roads lead to the CAPITAL

Kevin Fish, Contemporary Club Leadership

In this session, Kevin Fish will tackle the issue of Financial Sustainability and highlight the importance of making profit in a club in order to fulfil the club’s obligations and ultimately raise the “value of a share” in your members eyes.

Breakout Session 6: Golf Club sustainability and climate action made easy (This session will run for 1 hour)

John Kemp, GEO Foundation

Sustainable clubs are efficient, popular and future proof; overcoming risks of regulation, cost, resource availability, and the impacts of climate change, and promoting themselves in ways that matter to younger consumers.

The only question now is – how can your club deliver this?

You will leave this workshop with a greater understanding of the issues and opportunities; the practical actions that have most business impact; and access to a programme that will engage your team to track, plan and promote your sustainability work. Including a new and easy way to measure your carbon emissions and the C02 your golf course stores.

Breakout Session 7: Panel: Key issues in sustainable management of golf courses

Jonathan Smith, GEO Foundation; James Hutchinson, BIGGA; Shaun Anderson, Rain Bird; Kerr Hunter, Symbio UK; Marc Addison, JCB Country Club

This quickfire panel session will cover some of the key course management topics and trends that Club Managers need to be aware of:

Sustainable water use for golf courses
Developing the natural environment on your course
Moving to hybrid and electric equipment
Integrated pest and disease management
Managing a sustainable golf club

3.40pm to 4.10pm

Breakout Session 8: Repeat of Session 5 – All roads lead to the CAPITAL; Kevin Fish, Contemporary Club Leadership

Breakout Session 9: Case Study: Water efficiency, GCMA; Jimmy Sandison, Rain Bird; Andy Baker, Worcester Golf & Country Club

This session will highlight the benefits that can be gained from a water efficiency audit. The Case Study of Worcester Golf & Country Club is an example of how a golf club can save money by becoming more efficient with water usage whilst at the same time, investing in their long term sustainability.

Tuesday, November 23

10.35 to 11.05am

Breakout Session 10: Current trends in Technology and how best to utilise technology within your Club; Peter Kirk, Parconex

This session, delivered by our Keynote speaker, Peter Kirk and will highlight what the current trends in technology are so as the golf club manager leaves with the most up to date information available. Peter will aim to shed light on what an efficient technology strategy could look like for your golf club.

Breakout Session 11: Use of technology in Marketing Golf clubs; Miklós Breitner, Golf Business Monitor

Breakout Session 12: Golf Clubs – where Technology meets Tradition; Craig Higgs, Golf Genius Software

In this session, Craig Higgs will share with us his international experience of implementing Technology into golf clubs – an environment traditionally resistant to change – and how clubs can increase efficiency and customer experience whilst preventing their tradition and culture. An integrated technology strategy is becoming a fundamental piece of any successful clubs overall strategy.

12.10pm to 12.40pm

Breakout Session 13: Mobile Technology, customer journey and your golf club members; Scott Seaborn, Capita

Scott will continue with theme of mobile technology coupled with key learnings on customer lifecycle management.

This interactive session offers practical applications to the customer journey related to golf clubs, from the first contact with a potential member right through to the end of the membership – and what to do on each part of the journey.

Breakout Session 14: Marketing your Golf Club; Tom Irwin, Sports Publications

Tom Irwin is a director at Sports Publications, the owners of National Club Golfer, 18 Players and NCG Top 100s Tour.

In this session Tom looks at digital and print marketing for a golf club in 2022. There will be a particular focus on organic and paid for activity across, web, social, and traditional media. You will leave knowing your influencers from your instagrams!

Breakout Session 15: How to use digital tools to generate more revenue; Rob Corcoran, The Revenue Club

Rob Corcoran will show how to make the most of digital marketing tools and online tee sheets to increase direct revenue and retain golfers from the post lockdown boom. Online green fee sales now form 70% of all visitor sales in UK and can be an important revenue stream for golf clubs if managed well. With insight into up to date market trends, learn how you can use some simple tools that are already at your disposal to achieve the vital link between effective digital marketing and pricing to generate more sales.

Check out the full programme from GCMA 2021 Conference, and book your spot, at our dedicated website here.

By GCMA Content Team

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John Steele

John Steele is a former professional athlete, sports coach, Olympic Leader and is the Executive Director of Sport at Loughborough University. He has been Chief Executive across a range of sectors. Drawing on leadership experience of nine different Olympic and Paralympic Games (including the amazing events at the Rio Games), John reflects on the lessons from this unique period in British sport and relays his fascinating views on creating high performing teams.

Indeed, inspired from PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, by the most successful performance ever for Team GB, he has a whole host of new business and leadership insights into how this was brilliant performance was achieved and how it can translate back into your organisation.

John moved into the corporate world, before he enjoyed an outstanding career as a professional rugby player achieving international honours. After his playing career, he turned his hand to coaching and achieved the highest accolade for a British club coach by winning the European Cup with Northampton Saints. He then became Executive Director on the Saints Board during a period of unprecedented growth, and served on the England Rugby Board during the successful world cup campaign of 2003. It was no surprise that John’s talents were called upon to drive through a change and modernisation programme as CEO of the Rugby Football Union – a challenge that became controversial and ended in his departure from the post after only a year, but with his dignity and professional pride intact.

Headhunted by UK Sport, John took up post as CEO the day before London won the 2012 Olympic bid – and this promising start was sustained as he embarked on developing the UK’s high performance sport system, which he led for a six-year period of unprecedented success through the Beijing and London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Post-London 2012, with the Olympic legacy in place and an obligation to continue inspiring a generation, John took up his post as Group Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust. He has also succeeded Steve Cram as Chairman of the English Institute of Sport, an organisation described as ‘the team behind the team’, which delivers a range of performance impacting solutions to over 40 Olympic and Paralympic sports and some non-Olympic sports.

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Dr Jo Salter MBE

Dr Jo Salter MBE is famed for becoming the first female fast jet pilot, having flown the Panavia Tornado ground attack aircraft during her services in the Royal Air Force. Joining the RAF aged 18, Jo has since taken Air Cadets into the skies as part of Air Experience Flights, become the Director of Global Transformative Leadership for PWC, and most recently become a Global Advisory of GenAI for PwC.

Jo has piloted flights in the Air Cadets Air Experience Flights and inspired countless budding armed service members to pioneer a male-dominated sector, having been the leader of an all-male squadron. Since leaving the military behind, Jo has established a strong business career working in roles such as Head of Technical Services for NetConnect, European Operations Manager for Automated Power Exchange and Managing Director of Saltin Ltd.

Having developed first-class expertise in leadership, analytical thinking and performing under pressure, Jo is now a highly sought-after public speaker to share stories from her time in the skies.

Jo is a passionate Trustee of The Royal Air Force Club and an Ambassador of the Global Angels charity, an organisation that gives communities around the world access to clean water, education, healthcare and encourages female and youth empowerment. Jo has also authored two books, titled Energy: 52 Ways to Fire Up Your Life and Become an Energy Angel and Energize: Spring Clean Your Mind and Body to Get Your Bounce Back Today and Every Day.

In recognition of her achievements throughout her career, Jo has also been named as one of the 50 Most Inspiring Women in the World by Harpers & Queen. She is now working as the Director of Global Transformation Leadership at PWC, after working in other roles such as Director of Risk Technology Strategy, Director Chief of Staff to Head of Technology & Investments and the Director of People & Organisations.

In 2022, Jo was invited personally by Tom Cruise to attend the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick. Most recently, Jo received an honorary doctorate of Arts from Bournemouth University.