Fall Conference 2022
Pineland Farms – November 9 & 10
CCSAA will return to in-person conferences beginning with the Eastern Conference to be held at Pineland Farms in ME on November 9 & 10. We are excited to be getting our group back together and hope you can join us. We understand that historically COVID will be on the upswing during this time period and will do all we can to mitigate any issues there.
New this year will be the introduction of a 2 day format, although you can still attend just one of the days. The format will be as follows:
Presented By
Sponsored By
Wednesday, November 9
11am – Tour of the PistenBully Facility, 200 Merrow Road, Auburn, ME
1pm – 5pm – Grooming Workshop
5:30pm – Weather Balloon Release
7pm – Candlepin Bowling at Pineland Farm
Thursday, November 10
9am – 3pm Eastern Conference and Trade Show at the new Pineland Outdoor Center
Silent Auction
We will again have a silent auction as part of the NE Conference. If you have an item or service, please contact Reese for information on getting it listed.
Please remember to bid high and often as your silent auction dollars help CCSAA continue to work for you, the members.
Other Details:
| Dates | Wednesday, November 9 & Thursday, November 10 |
| Cost | 11/9 – Grooming Clinic – No Charge |
| 11/10 – Fall Conference – $69/person | |
| Lodging | The Freeport Hotel – Ascend Hotel Collections 506 US Highway 1, Freeport ME $99/night – Call 207-865-1408 – “XC Ski Group” |
Grooming Workshop Details
Wednesday
| 11am | Tour of the PistenBully Facility, 200 Merrow Road, Auburn, ME |
| noon | Lunch on your own |
At 23 Campus Drive, Pineland Farms, New Glouster, ME
| 1pm | Welcome and introductions |
| 1:15pm – 2pm | Tricks of the trade: Equipment modifications, and techniques that work. |
| 2pm – 2:30pm | Grooming Times: When to start, how to adapt to changing conditions, how to handle storms that switch to rain. |
| 2:30pm – 3pm | Internal Communications: How to communicate between the groomers and the Center Staff. Who writes the grooming report and what to include within the report. |
| 3pm – 4pm | External Communications: How to convey the trail reports and conditions to the consumer. When and how often to update the conditions page on your website. How to use social media to get information out to the skiers, snowshoers, and fat bikers. |
| 4pm – 5pm | Equipment Expose: Pineland will have their equipment on display along with other ski areas who are willing to demonstrate their equipment as well. discussion will include talk about effective modification that was talked about in the tricks of the trade portion of the workshop. |
Thursday
| 9am – 3pm | Eastern Conference and Trade Show at the new Pineland Farms Outdoor Center |
| 8:00 – 9:15am | Registration, Continental Breakfast, Partner Expo and Silent Auction – Sponsored by PistenBully |
| 9:15am | Welcome – Reese Brown, CCSAA Executive Director |
| 9:20am | Presentation of the Founders Award to John Frado |
| 9:35am | Pineland Introduction – Matt Sabasteanski, Outdoor Recreation Director |
| 9:45am | KEYNOTE – NOAA Weather Station at Grey, ME – Derek Chroater will discuss the changing climate and how is impacting the cross country ski industry. |
| 10:30am | Managing Growth Roundtable – What are you doing manage the growth at your ski area? This interactive panel discussion will look at what ski areas are doing. Bring your ideas to share. |
| 11:00am | Social Break |
| 11:10am | Managing The Customer Experience – With the influx of new customers coming to cross country skiing, ski areas are scrutinizing their consumer facing elements and looking a new ways to best accommodate this new audience. Our panel will discuss action items you can put in place for this season. |
| 11:50am | Short Tour of the “NEW” Pineland Outdoor Center |
| 12:00pm | Lunch and Silent Auction and Expo – Sponsored by Prinoth |
| 1:00 – 1:40pm | What Are You Doing/How Do You Handle… – Hear from the panel and the group about how they handle projects like promotions, newsletters, programming, etc. Prepare to be part of the conversation. |
| 1:40 – 2:00pm | Update on CCSAA Initiatives • Insurance for smaller ski areas • Indy Pass • Snowbound Expo • Media • More… |
| 2:00pm |
Snow Making Roundtable – You have decided to go with snowmaking, now what? Ian Jarrett from HKD and David Reed from SMI Snowmakers will discuss how to take the next steps. -or- Grooming Expo |
| 3:00pm | Final Silent Auction Cash Out |