Page 11 - GBC Spring 2021 English

IsA Resounding Success
not a single golf course owner or operator across the country would have uttered a word. Everyone would have understood.
It didn’t come to that. Not even close, quite frankly. Instead of COVID-Excused, the NGCOA Canada team put on their facemasks, rolled up their sleeves and made the organization’s annual conference and trade show, COVID-Ready.
Pivoting to this year’s three day, online virtual event not only delivered a significant return on investment, it reaffirmed the national organization’s Forever Promise, “to always serve the best interests of its members, No Matter What!”
“The tremendous positive feedback we received throughout the event further validates our decision to move into the virtual space for this year’s event,” said Lavallée, the conference’s lead organizer. “Our virtual conference provided an opportunity for those across the golf industry, not just in Canada, but the United States and Europe; to listen to educational speakers covering a range of business trends and best practices during this unprecedented time, to connect with each other face-to- face albeit in a completely new way, and to forge those connections our event is known for.”
COVID-19 is the disruptor of our lifetime. A virus barely anyone had heard of back in early February 2020 manifested itself into a pandemic of limitless global scale and devastating proportion. No one was spared. Nothing is as it was. All of us were challenged.
As government initiated new levels of responsibility to protect our health and safety, Canadians coast-to-coast were asked to change; to re-think everything we do, every single day, to ensure the well being of loved ones, family, friends, employees, neighbours and, of course, ourselves.
Effectively, we were mandated to “pivot”. Businesses, organizations,
associations and leagues were ordered to do the same. As routine suddenly required a power point presentation, simplicity morphed into complexity and “bubbles” became our measuring stick for social interaction, the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada (NGCOA Canada) faced a mid-summer decision: Cancel this year’s Golf Business Canada Conference & Trade Show or find an alternative platform.
Let’s not kid ourselves here. Had NGCOA Canada Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Calderwood and Chief Operating Officer, Nathalie Lavallée, pulled the plug and suspended this year’s event,
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