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.

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Grooming Expo

3:00pm Final Silent Auction Cash Out