Dyana Kelley, the president and CEO of the California Outdoor Hospitality Association (CalOHA), told WOODALLSCM.com (WCM) that plans for the association’s annual Summit are well underway, with the schedule just about finalized.
The Summit will be held from March 28-29 at the @Grounds Event Center in Roseville, Calif. The event attracted over 120 attendees in 2022 and Kelley expects a similar crowd this year.
New this year is a Reservation Software Summit on March 27, the night before The Summit opens, that will feature representatives from reservation software providers talking about reservation software trends. ResNexus, Campspot, RMS, NewBook and Firefly are set to take part in that session.
“During the Reservation Software Summit, there will be 45 minutes of high-level, directed conversation with the panel of experts and then after that, there’s going to be 90 minutes where each of the software vendors will break off into separate areas where they will be able to talk to attendees, answer questions, get leads, even do small demonstrations and things like that,” Kelley explained.
Also this year, The Summit will have dedicated trade show hours from 1:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. on March 28 and from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on March 29. Last year, the Summit had the trade show open throughout both days and attendees perused vendor booths between sessions. Kelley said that after feedback, a change was needed.
“One of the biggest complaints I got last year was that we didn’t have dedicated trade show hours,” she noted. “Vendors are welcome to stay open when the conference hosts sessions, but we will have dedicated trade show hours as well.”
Supplier Partners can also elect during trade show hours to host an individual session in the conference center’s Garden Room.
“We have that set up kind of theater-style, where they can come in and do an actual demonstration or a presentation on their product for 45 minutes,” Kelley told WCM.
Kelley said that she received numerous compliments on last year’s lineup of educational sessions, which for the most part were filled with attendees.
“That is one of the reasons we had complaints about the trade show aspect last year, we just didn’t expect every attendee to attend every session, but for the most part they did,” she explained. “I even had people tell me that there was stuff that they weren’t really interested in — like the fire panel — but they came to the session and found it super valuable.”
The Summit is set to host five educational workshops this year, with one still in the works.
Sessions include:
- Math That Works: Amenities = Rate + Occupancy, with Kathleen Walsh, CEO of Advanced Outdoor Solutions
- Your Legal Responsibilities as a Park Owner, with Dan Rudderow, CaolOHA’s attorney
- Marketing to a Changed Consumer in a Digital First World, with Mark Koep, CEO of Campground Views.
- Ask the Experts: A Cracker Barrel Panel of Owner/Operators
The Summit will also host a number of dinners and raffles to support CalOHA and its mission to support parks across the Golden State.
Kelley noted that she has been dealing with a lot of mobile home park issues on the legislative front.
“We are directly tied into a lot of those issues and I am trying to keep up on all of that,” she explained. “I am also trying to create a management training program and working to understand all of the regulations around that. But it is a state agency that is going to be providing us the criteria for that and so far they have told me they aren’t quite ready yet.”
Kelley said she is actively looking to hire someone to support her in the office, but that it has been a challenge.
“It is tough to find people right now unless you want them to work from home,” she explained.
