There are some really important conversations happening in the ski industry right now. One of which is something I’ve been hoping for and talking about a lot as of late: unlocking the knowledge of how to ski.

Now, there have always been some form of “quick tip” videos and stories within resort marketing. But with renewed focus and enthusiasm for this tactic, I wanted to highlight one I came across recently that checked a lot of boxes that similar content often fails to do.

Snow Valley
Pamela Disera, Snow Valley’s Snow School Director, opens the video skiing some gentle trails on a bluebird day. She walks you through a tip, then skis away. But, again, there are some subtle differences here that I thought were really well-played.

First, notice it audio. It takes a second to realize it, but Pamela is actually talking to you while she skis. But the audio is crisp. I couldn’t really see it in the video, but I believe she has a wireless lav. That takes extra equipment and cost, but it makes a huge difference in the quality.

Second, with good wireless audio, they could shoot this in the exact situation she was basing her lesson on. So often you see these shot either, a) on terrain that doesn’t match the topic or, b) with the narration dubbed over later.

Third, it’s short and to the point. Longer videos can sometimes work, but not always. Keeping things short is a great constraint to self-impose because it keeps the time-cost down of creating the video in the first place and keeps your video length in a zone that has a higher chance of matching the audience’s time-spend to watch it.

Fourth, Pamela sounds like she’s having fun. Her happy, friendly voice isn’t condesending but it’s not using language that some non-core skier isn’t going to grasp. She’s one of the best on-camera educational personalities I’ve ever seen in ski.

And it’s not just that one video. They have a half-dozen or so that are just as sharp.

Really Good Stuff
Bottom line, the fact that you don’t get distracted by anything like length, bad audio, poor lighting, etc. is the exact reason these videos deserved a shout out.

Great work, Steve, Pamela, and team.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.