Day Three Through Five

Day Three through Five

I am consolidating days three through five because the Parmasters conference concluded at the end of Day Two. The following three days (well, 2 ½ really) were all about the multi unit franchise owners conference. I won’t go into a lot of detail on what happened at this conference, but I will say there were some incredible speakers. One of which was Herman Cain (radio talk show host). Another was James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers. Both gave tremendous speeches. There were a lot of other speakers and presentations as well, and if anyone wants me to go into it further, just let me know.

Day three also was the day where I redeemed my prize for the hard work Colin and I did during Day One and Day Two. At 4:00 PM, we met downstairs and hopped in a limo headed for McCarran Airport. After total VIP treatment, we got into a helicopter and headed for the Grand Canyon. Weather reports for that day were not promising, but everything turned out to be just fine. I remember going to see the Grand Canyon with my parents when I was younger and not really appreciating the magnificence of it all. I must say, this trip totally made do a 180 degree turn on the importance of seeing this marvel of Mother Nature. Anyway, I could go on through a whole blog on this trip alone, but instead, here are some pictures and I will leave it at that. Upon our return, Colin and I met up with everyone at the ESPN restaurant at the New York, New York Hotel and Casino for dinner and drinks.

Day four was all about the conference and making connections with all kinds of people in many different businesses. When this day was over, it was truly a time for rest; especially because we had to get ready for the next day which was our business golf day. Day five we finished up with the conference in the morning and checked out of rooms in the Bellagio. Then we were off to the golf course. We went Sienna Golf Club and had a truly awesome round of golf. The wind made it a challenge, but the views of the Strip were spectacular. After golf, we went and checked in at the Palazzo Hotel and Casino (we got a much better deal for the last night, which made it worth switching hotels) where we had an awesome dinner with a great view of the Treasure Island show. Not much more than that to report for Day Five. The next morning we got up and made our way to the airport and headed for home.

All in all, this was a spectacular trip and worth every penny. We really did do a lot of fun and exciting things, but when it comes down to it, the training, networking and friendship building we did while there can not be priced. We have already put into effect some of the things we learned while there. We have maintained contact with some of the people we met while there; and we have fostered some new business relationships since we have gotten back.

So in the end, I guess what happens in Vegas doesn’t really stay there. At least in our case, I definitely do not want to leave it there, or forget any part of it!

Day Two - Annual Conference

Day Two -

Day two began bright and early with meetings beginning at 9:00 AM. However, most of met early for breakfast where Tom had some great words of wisdom for us all. Colin and I were still hard at work, despite only a few hours of sleep for both of us. I have to admit, my strategies for the competition were not quite panning out, but Colin on the other hand was firing on all cylinders. Anyway, after breakfast we made out way to our first meetings of the day where we went over what we learned from the previous days. This is what we call "Greatest insights of Day 1". A great tool to help drive home what was taught at the previous sessions. We also had some other discussions about Parmastes business that went on until lunchtime. For lunch...Bellagio Buffet. Wow! What a spread! After lunch, we went back to work discussing the future of Quantum Business Golf. This isn't really the place to go into detail about it, but there are some really exciting things about to happen with QBG...and Parmasters as a whole for that matter! We all were quite busy for the rest of the day until about 6:00 PM. That gave us about an hour to go get ready for dinner. Our evening meal was at the Olives in the Bellagio. A truly magnificent meal. It was here where we found out the results of who won the challenge issued at the end of Day One. Also, the Full On award was also issued at this dinner. Before I say who the winners were, let me say what the prizes were. For the Day One Challenge, the two man team that was judged to be best were to receive a VIP trip via helicopter to the Grand Canyon; complete with a champagne meal inside the Canyon. For the Full On award recipients, front row tickets to the Elton John show at Caesars Palace. Both prizes SPECTACULAR! Now, the winners of the Full On award went to Brad from Ontario and our Regional from the great white north, Andre Ferris. As for the winners of the Day One challenge and the trip to the Grand Canyon, yours truly and Colin from Edmonton won that. Wow! What an experience of a lifetime! Words cannot describe. I am posting a picture of that trip on my Day Three through Five blog . Pretty awesome! So, that was Day Two and the end of Parmasters Franchise Owners' conference. The next three days were more focused on the franchising industry. I will consolidate the remainder of our time in Vegas in one final blog post about our week.

Again, this was truly an AWESOME event, and if I need to elaborate further for anyone out there, just say the word!

As promised, I will break down what we did while we were in Las Vegas last month. Hopefully I can remember everything! No, not because of what you think…David and I were extremely busy taking care of business. Seriously, we were. Yes, I can keep a straight face while I say that. Ok, we did have some fun while there, but nothing we would have to “leave” in Vegas.

Here’s what happened at our franchise owner’s conference from 13-17 April (an annual requirement we are obligated to attend).

Day One

So, it all began when we landed Monday morning. All of us from the Southeast region managed to land at nearly the same time. So, naturally, the since there were five or six of us, we had no choice but to get a limo and arrive in style! Not sure how it looked from the outside since the trunk wouldn’t close since we all had clubs and luggage to boot. We made it to the Bellagio with plenty of time to check in and grab lunch before our meetings kicked off. I can’t speak for David, but I really wasn’t sure what to expect once meetings began. So, the theme of our conference was “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?” With that in mind, Monday’s meetings were centered on looking, feeling and acting like a million bucks. First looking…naturally, it would probably take more than a million bucks to get some of us to look good, but our first set of meetings were centered on how to look like a professional business person. THQ flew in a professional stylist with a long list of dressing famous people for commercials, tv, and other various venues. During this training session, half of us were taken downstairs at the Bellagio and were cleaned up at the spa by getting a facial and a manicure. For me, it was a first…ever! I do have to admit, it was extremely relaxing and I really did feel much better after I walked out of the spa. We learned a lot during the fashion training; and in true Parmasters style, we had to put into practice what we learned. Therefore, we were put on a “land yacht” and set sail to the local outlet mall. There were some handpicked stores where we were taken at first and we were given $200 to spend on a wardrobe upgrade. Only stipulation was that we had only two hours to do it in. Not to worry, I spent mine with 3 minutes to spare…of which, I used to buy I slice of pizza! David went in his own direction and also did quite fine spending his $200. BTW, Nice suit David! Upon return (approx 8:30PM) we headed back to the penthouse for yet more meetings. This time, we really had some meetings where we learned how to ACT like a millionaire…and the importance of putting forward that confidence and image. We were not taught how to talk “slick” or with a silver tongue. Instead, we discussed the importance of being trustworthy, what that means and how to communicate to others our trustworthiness. Again, in true Parmasters style, we had to put into practice what we learned. First, we were split up into teams of 6 and had a little competition of who could inspire the most trust from the other team. To the winning team went a nice kitty of chips to spend downstairs at the tables. David and I managed to wind up on the same team, and luckily enough, we were on a winning team. Secondly, the group was asked to divide up into teams of two. The teams’ instructions were to go out and meet as many people as possible and generate leads using what we learned in the lessons about inspiring trust. My teammate, Colin Christensen, and I worked out butts off until almost 2:00AM before we decided to call it a day. The prize for this one…well at that point it was still a surprise and that is where I will leave day one.

So that was day one…day two will be in my next blog post. Feel free to leave a comment if you want me to elaborate anymore. I will be glad to do so.

An update to get you up to speed...

Last night I sent this out to friends and family who we have not kept up to date in the last few months. I think it does a good job of bringing things up to date on what David and I have accomplished thus far with Parmasters Orlando. Have a look...in a future blog, I will go through what we did in Las Vegas!

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Good evening all! I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day. Especially if you are one of the many mothers on this list. We had a pretty nice Mother’s Day here at my house. Lisa’s mom and dad, Gina, Teresa and David (and all the kids of course) were here and we had a nice spread of food. While sitting around discussing the future, we thought it would be nice to share how things have progressed with Parmasters with everyone else we have mentioned it to over the past 9 – 12 months, but haven’t necessarily kept up to date for one reason or another.

Below is a pretty broad snapshot of what we have been up to:

In November, David and I went to Vancouver, BC and received our franchise training and learned all the ins and outs of Parmasters. We had a very productive week while we were there and came home with lots of tools to help move us along. Shortly thereafter, we focused in on the family as the Holidays were upon us. With the economy on a downward path…straight down…things really started to move along at a snail’s pace, but no sense in holding back now!

In January, we attended the PGA Merchandise Show here in Orlando and made many contacts and met with a lot of our future vendors. During this time, Mike and Mario (our regional franchisors), along with Scott Hazledine from headquarters (Chief PGA pro for Parmasters), were here for the show and to help us look at several possible sites for us to begin construction. Although we looked at several sites, none really were what we wanted in our first center. Still, it was another productive week!

A few months went by and David and I attended many meetings with local business groups, including the Orlando Chamber of Commerce. A lot of networking and relationship building went on during this time. In April, we had another round of sites to look at…with a lot more success. There were a half dozen that really looked good. We narrowed it down to three and at this point, we are looking to send offers to lease to all three to see which one can give us the best deal.

Immediately after that round of site selection, David and I went to Las Vegas for our annual center owner/area developer conference. Yes, Las Vegas. Believe me, I still get “that look” from Lisa. Seriously though, David and I were unbelievably busy while there. The week really did go by way too fast to enjoy being there. I could put together an entire e-mail describing the progress and positive things that came from going, but I will spare you the details. It is, however, worth noting though that it was time and money very well spent on going.

At the beginning of this month, David and I traveled to Memphis, TN to meet with someone who expressed an interest in being a part of our team. As you may or may not be aware of, our biggest hurdle at this point is raising the capital necessary to open the doors. The individual we met with in Memphis seems to be fairly well connected and we are hoping to leverage his contacts and really broadcast the opportunity we have for people willing and able to take the risk on us. It was a successful meeting in Memphis and it looks like things may start to really pick up in the next few months. Time will tell.

As I said, I sent you this update because at some point either David or I discussed Parmasters with you. In the event you might have been curious as to how we were coming along, I wanted to provide an update. Through David’s expertise in website development, we now have a website that is a little easier to get to. Check it out from time to time. www.parmastersorlando.com . We have our twitter feed on there (@indoorgolf), so you can always see what we are doing at any given moment. I am contemplating asking David to institute a “blog” link and I can expound on what we are doing there. 140 characters (twitter limit) does not allow for much of an update!

I suppose I have gone on long enough. If you are still reading this after all of that, thank you for taking the time to do so. And thank you for being interested. We both always eager to babble on about what we are up to with Parmasters, so drop us a line some time. OR, hit us up on twitter. And of course, if you do not want me to e-mail you about this anymore, please feel free to let me know.

Take care and Happy Mother’s Day!!!
Charlie