With clearer goals (and AI), NSAA’s Growth Committee hits its stride.
Gregg Blanchard /
After joining in the fall of 2018, I recently wrapped up my time on the NSAA Growth Committee. As I type that I know there are a handful of resort marketers who still don’t know this exists or aren’t sure how the work of this committee can benefit them. So before I let this team continue their work I sat down with one of the leaders of the effort who has been there from the beginning, Snow Operating’s Dave Belin, to get the story on this talented group, his thoughts on the work they’re doing, and how folks like you can help.
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Gregg: Let’s start at the top with a little bit of back story. How long has the growth committee been around and what led to its creation?
Dave: NSAA formed the Growth Committee around 2018, largely in part to feedback from ski area members saying that their biggest challenge was growth. The NSAA president and CEO at the time, Kelly Pawlak, was instrumental in recruiting a variety of ski area and supplier members to the Committee.
Gregg: Talk a little bit about the initial mission and direction of the group.
Dave: The committee started by defining the issue of growth, measuring the current situation in terms of a number of metrics such as skier visits, a broad variety of demographics, and the number of skiers/snowboarders, all broken down by region of the country.
The initial goal of the Growth Committee was to have the industry average 60 million skier visits nationally over a 3-year period, an ambitious goal when the ski industry was at a plateau of about 57 million annual skier visits.
Gregg: I think you mentioned we’ve now hit that initial skier visit goal, what changed for the group at that point?
Dave: Once that goal was achieved, the focus then shifted from skier visits to the number of people who participate in downhill skiing and snowboarding in the United States. Following many rounds of in-depth analysis from RRC, the Growth Committee launched its next goal of 13 million US skiers, an even more ambitious goal; the current estimate from RRC is that there are 10.7 million active downhill skiers and snowboarders in the US.
Gregg: Zoom out a little bit for me and talk about the higher level mission that’s guiding those more specific goals?
Dave: The Growth Committee recently established a purpose statement, which is sort of like a mission, which is:
“The NSAA Growth Committee serves as a think tank and action-oriented group focused on increasing participation in downhill skiing and snowboarding at US ski areas. The Committee uses research, data, and member expertise to establish growth goals, identify barriers and opportunities, and recommend best practices to help ski areas attract, engage, and retain participants while ensuring a sustainable and welcoming future for the sport.”
Creating this purpose statement was an important step in formally putting down on paper what the Growth Committee has been working on over all these years.
Gregg: How has that mission ebbed and flowed over time as skier visits have grown and measures of growth have also evolved?
Dave: We have discussed many definitions of growth and how the committee can support ski areas in achieving growth. Starting from skier visits, which is an important metric but a limited one, before moving to the number of skiers, was a subtle but meaningful shift for the Growth Committee. The thought was that in order to grow the sport, it’s more than just growing skier days (which is a short-term goal). Rather, increasing the number of people participating is more important in the long-term. The purpose statement above mentions a “sustainable and welcoming future,” which is a more recent clarification of what the Growth Committee is trying to achieve.
Gregg: That makes good sense. You mentioned at the top that Kelly Pawlak worked really hard to recruit a good variety for the committee. Who is on the committee?
Dave: The composition of the committee has evolved since the start, but we have many members who have served on the committee since its inception. From the beginning representation from a variety of geographic regions and sizes of ski areas has been critical, and that broad makeup remains to this day.
Most of the ski area members are from independent resorts or small groups of ski areas, though we have representation from the major multi-mountain companies as well. We also have representatives from suppliers, state associations and affiliated members, including from PSIA-AASI, USCSA, and SOS Outreach.
Gregg; What’s the common thread or perspective within the group?
Dave: The through line is people who are passionate about growth and getting more people out on the hill, whether that is through ski schools, partnerships, marketing, or industry initiatives.
Gregg: I can confirm that, there’s a fantastic variety of voices. When the committee gets together, what are some of the main action items currently being worked on toward that mission and goal?
Dave: The growth committee has been gathering case studies, best practices, and ideas from various ski areas about strategies and tactics for growth. We have loaded past Conversion Cup applications, NSAA Journal articles, and submissions from Growth Committee ski areas into a database. NSAA has built and trained a bot on the information, and ski areas will be able to use this bot to ask questions and get suggestions to help guide their growth efforts. The bot, which is being called The Growth Lab, will be available later this summer to NSAA members.
Gregg: Wouldn’t be 2026 without AI, that’s such a great idea. If a resort is reading this and they’ve never heard of the committee, what would be the best next step for them or how can they contribute?
Dave: The committee is always interested in hearing about additional case studies from individual ski areas regarding their growth ideas and programs. What have you tried? What worked? What didn’t work? What did you learn from it? We can incorporate these examples into The Growth Lab so that the database continues to become more robust and valuable. Ski areas can contribute their ideas on a form that NSAA created:
https://form.jotform.com/Bailey_Lloyd/growth-best-practices-form
Gregg: Thanks, Dave, and best of luck to the committee going forward!