US SWIM SCHOOL ASSOCIATION National Conference

Please see the Special Events section for more information

Please see the Special Events section for more information

Please see the Special Events section for more information

The Ritz-Carlton Culture: As a foundation for this session you hear a brief overview of The Credo, Motto, The Three Steps of Service, The Employee Promise, and the 12 Service Values of The Ritz-Carlton.

The Ritz-Carlton Key Process, known as “The Systems Behind the Smiles”: One cannot extend legendary service without having robust systems and processes in place. You will hear about the selection process at The Ritz-Carlton and how we onboard talent and reward and recognize our associates.

Employee and Customer Engagement: The foundation of driving customer engagement is having engaged employees. You will be introduced to the three levels of employee engagement and shown techniques that will enable you to personalize your service and create emotional connections.

The presentation we will show you ways to stretch the energy dollar in your swim school. We will be visiting the most sustainable and energy efficient swimming pool in the Netherlands and in Germany. We will be learning how they use solar energy and the reuse of water and heat. Also shared will be our findings from updating our own facility in Madison, WI to be more energy efficient and our cost effective to operate.

1. How to read your energy bills (starting point)
2. Simple ways to save money in your facility
3. Learn what others are doing in the industry and what works and what does not in different areas of the world.
4. What an investment in future energy savings could be for your facility. (return on investment)

The Importance of Empowerment: Empowering your employees is an imperative component of legendary service. You will learn about The Ritz-Carlton Empowerment Guidelines, including how these reduce problem resolution costs and create consistently exceptional service.

News media interest in your swim school and how to approach them.

If you’ve ever had concerns, or are generally curious about roll over back floating and teaching newborns, this presentation is a must see. 
There are a number of different ways to teach a child to swim. Teaching survival skills in the water, although seemingly beneficial, usually comes with an unfair amount of crying and struggle. Over the last couple of decades, the Smart Fish Method has helped students not only learn to swim safer, but with little to no fuss. Karen, who started learning to swim in the pool at 10 days old, recently had 2 children Robbie and Monet, who each started their swim journey at 5 days old. Both babies learned to save themselves at an extraordinarily young age with little fuss because of the technique and teaching aides that were used. Watch their journey from a floating newborn in the pool to a toddler swimming in the ocean.

Takeaways:
Babies and children can learn to roll over and back float with ease.
Teaching aides that help babies and children learn to swim.
Benefits to teaching babies at a young age.
You can teach your baby to swim before they can walk and prevent drowning."

Running a Swim School is BIG business today. This presentation will cover a wide range of topics to help be better prepared with items “outside the pool.” We will start with financial budgets, pricing considerations, common policy mistakes, automation of your back office, swim school financial ratio and KPI’s, payroll trends, pitfalls you should avoid and new compliance and tax regulations impacting this great industry.

I would love to go over techniques, but also to delve into the development of the preschooler and emotions/feelings. I would discuss the developmental milestones around this age and building the relationship with both the parent and the swimmer. How the parent can either help or hinder the learning progress.

Takeaways:
Greater understanding of their role as the teacher
Developmental milestones and stages at this age
Skills to work w/children w/autism or ADHD in group setting
Better understanding of how to work with the parents"

Do you love TedTalks? Well we have PeteTalks, short presentations packed with information to help your business. In this series we will cover retail dos and don'ts for a successful store; supplementary water conditioning devises and their impact on better, safer pool water; and the latest in technology tools you can pair with your software to maximize efficiency. Raffle for fun prizes and USSSA swag held at conclusion of session, must be present to win. Grand prize is a underwater camera!

One on One Consultation with an Industry Expert for Charity (15 minutes)

Staffing/HR
Facility
Charitable/Special Event Ideas
Lesson Program
Technology
Accounting/Taxes
Business Training/Development
Legal

More information coming soon!

The power of choice is a reminder that one man's choice to make a difference for our family has grown to a movement that has literally spread worldwide and helped thousands of people. In his session, Rich will inspire you with his story of turning tragedy into kindness by making a choice. He will also address efforts in drowning prevention education and the opportunity swim schools have to capitalize on increased awareness in the public at large about the many misconceptions surrounding water safety

What is your school’s data trying to tell you about your business? Data can inform decision making, help you better understand your customers and staff, improve internal operations and create additional revenue. In this session, we’ll explore the phases of data strategy and review real-world examples of data driven decision making in business. You’ll get ideas and tips for how you can use your numbers to better understand your business, create a data-driven culture, and take decision making to the next level. Becky will be sharing what she’s learned (so far) in her 2018 Coutts Foundation Scholarship project.

Bring your questions and great ideas as we pass the mic and share best practices with one another. No need to reinvent the wheel, learn from your peers and share your successes!

Building blocks are essential in anything we learn so why not swimming? We start our students with fundamentals that transfer over as they continue to advance in their endurance, stroke technique and water safety skills. From Babies to adults why not make it easier to master stroke technique by doing it right from day one.

Takeaways:

How to implement foundational skills that transfer into upper level swimming.
Why it important to start small and attainable.
What to drive home to parents and swimmers who believe they should be moving on to more advanced skills but really need to master basic foundational skills.
Tips and tricks for all four swim stroke technique and development.

We all have Moments of Impact in our personal and professional lives. How we respond to them can significantly effect our success as we move through life. This talk takes a look at historical, business and personal events over the last 60 years, I will share a an optimistic but challenging perspective on how we can respond to those events to lead our teams, families and communities.

Takeaways:
Our times, while turbulent, are no different than many years in the past.
Responding to personal, financial, social and business challenges with perspective and balance will lead to positive outcomes.
Developing your personal leadership skills early on will provide balance in times of crisis.
Maintaining a historical perspective helps us to understand future challenges and aids us in how we respond."

Sharing insight gathered through a survey of people who work with their family members and the perspective on the non family members within a family run business. Sharing the challenges, the benefits through real life examples.

Takeaways:

Pros of working with family
Challenges of working with family
Real life examples
Fun

Is your swim school ready to grow? Do you want to take your business to the next level? Growing a business is easier said than done. Swim schools of every size face challenges that keep them from reaching their big plans. In this session we'll work through a 7-step growth strategy that will help your swim school in increasing your enrollments and expanding in your communities. Growth strategies are critical to your business because they help you and your team working towards goals that go beyond what's happening in your school today. Owners, directors and administrators will leave this session with a framework for developing a business growth strategy that is dynamic and effective.

How do great companies attract top talent, encourage innovation, and instill a desire for excellence? That’s the question Eric Chester set out to answer.

By interviewing more than one hundred acclaimed C-level leaders across all industries, Eric discovered commonalities in how successful leaders create cultures of engagement. In this entertaining and content-rich multimedia presentation, he shares those discoveries with you.

You’ll discover the secrets and strategies that legendary companies use to:

Consistently attract top talent to their organizations with minimal recruiting
Engage employees so that they’re motivated to work harder, perform better, and provide outstanding service
Significantly reduce costly turnover and develop hourly young talent into long-term leaders
Create award-winning workplace cultures that generate priceless PR and brand awareness

What is the best way to approach a situation...from all angles! Join us as we examine the challenges and best practices in communication with your families. Hear from an owner, deck supervisor, front desk staffer, marketing manager and parent what has worked and how their approach changes based on their role at the school. This panel will discuss a number of scenarios and the approach each takes to ensure students are successful, parents are informed and staff are delivering the experience you desire.

Eric Chester is the leading authority on developing work ethic in teens and young adults. His presentation will illustrate why the work ethic in America has declined, and he’ll provide solid, actionable ideas and tools for instilling the pride of a job well done in your swim school staff.

In this presentation you will:
• Discover the 7 Indisputable Core Values that every employer demands from every worker
• Find out how to promote a culture rooted in reliability, professionalism, initiative, integrity, and respect
• Explore how to instill an attitude of gratitude among your staff and make them motivated learners

In addition, when will Eric begin research specifically into swim school best practices? How many schools would he like to talk to? I can provide contact information, please let me know what you need to make this a smashing success.

Learn how to attract, engage, and convert prospects into clients for your swim school using your website and social profiles. Learn the tips and tactics used to generate interest, build relationships, and establish trust using digital tools.

Takeaways:
Building awareness of your brand and gaining followers
Nurturing a relationship and building trust with prospects on autopilot
Mechanisms to convert attract leads and convert them to clients.
The blueprint every owner can use to implement a lead generation system in their local market."

There is no better joy than watching a fearful or anxious swimmer overcome their challenges, knowing you made that possible. With more fearful anxious swimmers walking in the front door of our swim schools we need to be prepared to meet them where they are at with the tools to move them past their fears. Ensure your instructors have the tips, tricks and strategies to move those swimmers from fearful to comfortable with confidence while having fun and building trust and create life long clients. Instructors who have the knowledge and skills to work with some of the most challenging clients will become client magnets.

Takeaways:
No one strategy works for everyone.
Instructors with a toolbox of tips and strategies are confident professional client magnets.
Working with fearful swimmers can and should be fun.
What to do with that 4, 14 or 40 year old fearful swimmer.
"

If you are building a pool, thinking of building a pool or looking for ways to optimize your pool facilities, you will not want to miss this session!!

This session will touch on the requirements of operating and running a safe and enjoyable facility for students, teachers, parents and pool operators. We Will walk thru the process of planning, designing, building, operating and programming a successful pool facility.
Documents will be shared that may help in the process and operations (Recipe for Success).

This session will involve a review of child development milestones. It will also address how children may learn and grow differently throughout the preschool to school-aged years.

Attendees will have a better understanding of Developmental Milestones in the Young Child.
Attendees will be shown Tips and Tricks for Addressing Different Learning Styles and how to support these in aquatics