We’re over half way done with our series of Town Halls and Think Tanks, making eleven stops in eight different cities across the country and one stop in Canada. These have been incredibly rewarding opportunities to meet with members and stakeholders in their home regions and better understand what the most pressing priorities are for our industry.
Growing participation, building community, strengthening specialty and developing a centralized voice for the entire industry have all emerged as common themes, and ones that SIA is committed to addressing to ensure that we have a thriving industry and inspired community for the future.
During these events, many have asked me “what’s next for SIA?” I want to assure you that we’re moving fast on implementing a strategic plan to lead the industry in this new business landscape and unite and grow the community, and that we’re doubling down our communications so that you’re continually aware of our progress.
Here’s a quick update:
- Since we sold the Snow Show in May, we’ve been focused building out the following five strategic pillars that will be the foundation of SIA:
- Membership – Creating the most value for our members
- Research – Delivering must-have data and analytics in a way that’s digestible for our members
- Education – Arming the industry with critical knowledge to grow their businesses
- Participation – Having more people around the world participate in winter sports every year
- Community – Keeping the band together
Each initiative is critically important and while they will take time to build out, we’ve made significant strides in planning and implementing within these initiatives, including the following:
- Membership
- We’ve retained Chris Steinkamp, formerly of POW, to consult on building community and enhancing SIA communications
- New website is live and our member portal launches in December
- New member database
- Member only events including Copper On-Snow Demo and SIA End of Season celebration and consumer demo in Park City, April 5-7
- Research
- We’ve completely overhauled our research products and how they look, feel and read
- A new research team is in place and we’re working with Adapt Analytics to provide the valuable research needed by our members.
- New consumer-based research products that will launch this winter
- Education
- Executed SIA Town Halls in five cities across the US (and Canada) aimed at bringing critical information to the regions
- SIA Think Tanks in six cities across the US (and Canada) aimed at bringing thought leaders together to discuss the industry and collaboration. Think Tanks are invite-only, intimate member events where we take a deep dive into the issues creating hurdles for the industry – an open discussion into the state of our business and featuring guest speakers on a number of topics. Think Tank findings will be compiled and shared at a meeting at the Snow Show+OR in Denver and at the “End of Season Event” in Park City, April 5-7. In the meantime, we recorded our Chicago Town Hall here – enjoy! http://sia.yourbrandlive.com/c/sia-chicago-town-hall
- “Data and Drafts,” an educational, research based happy hour, will take place at six different regional shows across the country starting in December.
- All new Ski Mechanics Learning Center, a digital learning platform for retailers has just launched – access it here: https://smw.snowsports.org/
- Industry + Intelligence in conjunction with OIA at the OR + Snow Show (agenda/speakers coming soon)
- Participation
- We’re committed to driving the conversation globally on how to get more people into winter/winter sports. We’re in the process of adding an in-house staff person to focus on participation – outlining best practices and creating a platform to build on for the long-term.
- Community
- Building events to bring the winter industry together, including:
- End of Season Celebration in Park City that will feature 3 days of entertainment, education, on snow, and consumer demo.
- 3 nights of the Winter Fest Lounge in the Hyatt lobby during the OR + Snow Show
- Continuing the regional listening campaign to understand and address issues that are important to all industry stakeholders
As I continue to travel and meet our members, I’ve been continually impressed with the passion and optimism that drives all of these conversations and I know that by harnessing this enthusiasm, we can work together to develop long-term collaborations and solutions and address our common concerns.
Charting the course of action for our future growth and the growth of the industry takes time. Hopefully you can see that we’re making serious headway in establishing the foundation for tomorrow’s success. Thank you for your support.
As always, please shoot me your thoughts and comments. I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Nick