The Business of Curling

Business of Curling Symposium Report 

 In partnership with the Canadian Curling Association, Curl Ontario, and The City of Greater Sudbury, the Northern Ontario Curling Association presented a Business of Curling Symposium May 9th – 11th at Laurentian University in Sudbury.

 

66 participants representing 27 clubs in Northern Ontario were treated to informative presentations on such topics as Volunteers, How to Run a Little Rock Program, Insurance for Curling Clubs, Board Governance, Club Finances, Fundraising, Membership Recruitment and Retention, and Icemaking 101. The final session, called Getting Started, featured a recruitment program piloted at the Ottawa Curling Club this past season. 

 

The Symposium concluded with a spectacular presentation called “Change the Curling World in 10 Easy Steps”.  Danny Lamoureux, Manager of Curling Club Development and Championship Services had the crowd applauding the simplicity of these 10 Steps.

 

Mr. Guy Hemmings was the Master of Ceremonies for the weekend and the keynote speaker at the banquet on Saturday evening.  He entertained the participants while at the same time reinforcing the point that clubs have to encourage new participation and continue to develop new strategies and programs to promote the sport at all levels.

 

All participants received a cd which included all of the presentations as well as numerous resources for use at the club level, and a hard copy of the presentations. 

 

Some of the comments about the weekend included:

 

“Thank you for a wonderfully informative weekend. Please pass on my thanks to all the presenters and all the members of NOCA that were involved in putting on such a useful and enjoyable symposium.

 

“Great event.  I can’t wait to get back and share the information with our Board.”

 

“I have so many new ideas; I don’t know where to start.  It’s going to be hard to pick just one or two to use next season.”

 
 
The Business of Curling® program is a three step process designed to help curling clubs understand the business they are in. Curling clubs are experiencing a variety of problems adapting to this constantly changing environment. Meeting the challenge of survival in the marketplace has prompted them to adopt selected management tools from the private sector.

Click here for more information from the Canadian Curling Association's website