CMASA CONFERENCE IMPRESSIONS – John Collier Golf

By Alistair Collier | The Business of Golf Magazine

THE CLUB MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHERN AFRICA (CMASA) CONFERENCE HELD AT FANCOURT, GEORGE 25 to 27 AUGUST 2024

In July of this year, when one of BG’s Founder Partners – Alistair Collier of the John Collier Survey – indicated his intentions to attend this year’s CMASA Conference at Fancourt, I asked if he could share his impressions of the event with us, and he kindly agreed.

BG: In what might be something similar to an overview, how would you summarise the event’s content, and its value to those in attendance?

AC: When deciding to attend a conference arranged by the Club Management Association of Southern Africa (CMASA), or indeed any conference, many delegates would have needed to persuade their management committees that the experience and money spent would be value for money.

BG: Would it have been an easy sell?

AC: These days, I doubt if any sell is easy, but there are at least 5 positive aspects to consider in this case.

Firstly, having access to networking opportunities is important, and there is no doubt that the conference provided a platform for club managers, and all the delegates, to connect and share experiences.

The conference was an ideal opportunity for knowledge sharing, and to learn about latest trends, technologies, and best practices in club management, through presentations and workshops.

Of the 16 or so guest speakers at the conference, certainly more than half were in the speaking slot of inspiration, while there were several speakers who brought other valuable insights for consideration by the delegates.

In terms of opportunities to explore new products and services that can benefit club management, the Ideas Fair was an efficient way to publicise the opportunities, but unfortunately there was very little ability to engage with the club’s submissions, to assess the true value, or any sustainable value if it was a product, or if it was indeed a service, rather than just a gimmick.

BG: Were there any negative aspects or weaknesses with the conference or programme?

AC: Rather than ‘negatives’, I prefer your use of ‘weaknesses’, and the first of these was that I feel that workshops and training should normally be an added value, and positive aspect of any conference, but regrettably this was lacking at the CMASA Conference.

The costs of registration, travel, and accommodation must surely be a factor, as to whether one attends or not.

Another consideration would be around time constraints, as for some, taking time away from regular duties may be challenging.

Overcrowding can also be a challenge for delegates, but fortunately the number of participants, and venue at this conference, mitigated any possible negative aspects in this respect.

Of the 16 guest speakers, there was a general categorisation of guest speaker’s topics from inspirational, to thought leadership, and on to club issues.

Obviously, one cannot please all the delegates all the time, but consideration could be given to have alternative break away sessions.

I also felt that another potential weakness is that not all delegates have the type of outgoing personalities to manage networking challenges, but the Knowledge Café session went some way to overcome this networking challenge.

BG: How was the flow of the conference programme managed, and did it work?

AC: The master of ceremonies for the conference was, the inimitable Brent Lindeque, more popularly known as “the good things guy”.
His positive vibe, up-tempo approach of using humor and charisma in introducing speakers, was infectious, and kept the conference ticking along appropriately, and ensured that there was a smooth transition between sessions.

If there was any negative aspect of the master of ceremonies function, while strictly not that person’s responsibility, the conference lacked a “rapporteur”.

This person’s role would be to assist with picking up key points of the presentation, and acting as a link between the speakers and the delegates, ensuring key messages are effectively communicated, and where necessary, obtain agreement on what action points need to be taken away from the conference for reporting back on at the next event.

BG: What were the individual topics covered in the presentations, and who was involved in these?

AC: There was a balanced mix of areas covered, and I shall start with inspirational and thought leadership:

David Grier was one of the inspirational speakers, whose life experiences included, among other things, running the Great Wall of China in both directions, as well as running across the USA.

These experiences underpinned his messages of the importance of collaboration, and the understanding that the closer one comes to success, the bigger the temptation it is to give up.

David emphasised that one should not give up; one should do it for the collaborative effort as a collective, and put your hand out and help each other.

Carl du Toit, CEO of the Mint Group, spoke about his, and the organisation’s journey regarding AI trends and the influence AI has had on him.

Carl emphasised that the importance AI was having on his organisation, has been in creating and supporting digital transformation disruption, through a seamless blend of highly skilled people, processes and technology.

He challenged the delegates with a proposition that within five years AGI (artificial general intelligence) would become a standard, and that golf club managers should get on top of the issues now, or be left behind.

He spoke about solutions being driven by data management, the facilitation of appropriate measures to assist with compliance, interpretation and analysing data and increasing transparency

David Allen spoke about the key characteristics of an effective leader, and emphasised the core values being integrity, collaboration and transparency.

Within the section on club issues, Paul Leishman – General Manager of Bryanston Country Club – reported back to the conference, about his journey and experiences at the CMAA world conference, which had been held in March 2024 in Las Vegas USA.

What was striking about the presentation was the number of issues raised at that conference, which impacted upon golf clubs in the USA, and which had a similar resonance with South African golf clubs.

In reality, there were not many new issues, within a mix where he highlighted, sustainability, compliance, governance, board membership, communication, technology and data and analysis.

Another important factor was the culture of a club, transparency and collaboration.

Regrettably the presentation merely trotted out all the club issues, but did not conclude with any real positive feedback, as to what was being done to deal with these challenges.

This is an example where the rapporteur role would have added value.

Benoit Le Roy, spoke on the issue of water and energy in South Africa.

Many of the slides contained statistics on water and energy availability, which left many delegates a little uncomfortable in their seats.
As an example, the level of evaporation in Africa, and the negative impact of this statistic was astonishing to many delegates.

What Benoit did dwell in his presentation was to suggest solutions to the club managers, on how to address issues of water and energy.

He emphasised the importance of understanding a club’s water footprint, as well as its carbon footprint.

This required data management, data analysis in obtaining an objective calculation of one club’s water and carbon footprints, the understanding of which would lead to greater transparency and strengthening of compliance.

Craig Corbett spoke on how effective water management in agronomy involves precision irrigation technologies, advanced pump management systems, and soil conservation practices.

What Craig did well was to highlight some solutions to the water and energy conundrum, and he also spoke about water saving technologies, to improve water filtration and retention.

He also indicated that fertilisers, such as silica and potassium, can boost turf resilience.

In terms of energy efficiency, he touched on the need for clubs to be working towards renewable energy adaption, energy efficient technologies, and sustainable maintenance practices.

To be continued

Yours in Sustainable Golf
JOHN COLLIER