The 2015 Boating Ontario Conference at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, ON was a great success, with a great turnout, compelling speakers, relevant workshops and terrific networking opportunities.  Some of the highlights included….

Ron Huibers – Volvo Penta
Ron Huibers from Volvo Penta flew up from the US to present an excellent overview of his company & all of the facets of the marine industry that Volvo is involved in, including their new high-tech forward drive propulsion engines.  An avid boater himself, he really represented what boating means to a family’s lifestyle. Volvo’s forward-looking programs including engine size reductions, improved fuel economy and compete integration of all systems is leading to cost reductions and environmental improvements.  He also emphasised the importance of technology integration for the entire boat system including design, engineering, navigation and electronics. Ron provided an excellent, enthusiastic presentation for the future of recreational boating

Terry McNew – Mastercraft
 Terry McNew, the President & CEO of MasterCraft Boats made a quick trip from North Carolina to Huntsville in the same day to address the Boating Ontario annual Conference.  Terry provided an excellent overview about how MasterCraft has made a major turnaround at the company since he took over in 2007.  He outlined the importance of having staff participation, empowerment and teambuilding.  At the present time, they are producing two times as many boats as they did when he took over with no additional infrastructure or overhead.  He explained how the philosophy of MasterCraft is to share the profits and challenges with their network of dealers.  The presentation was extremely well received by all attendees at the Boating Ontario Conference.

Clean Marine Anniversary Celebration
 Clean Marine Company Awards:

Ontario – Lefroy Harbour
B.C. – False Creek Harbour Authority – Fishermen’s Wharf
Quebec – Club Nautique de Roberval

Clean Marine Individual Awards:
Jeff Papiez
Gillian Organ
Kevin Gallagher
Miche Steinbakkers

Staff Training Sessions
Office Managers were taught about social media, computer programs specific to the industry, POS equipment, how to deal with insurance claims and customer relations.
 
Service staff: Ken MacDonald led a great session that focused on managing service departments.  There was a great exchange of ideas and the positives and negatives of procedures that are in place at many marinas. The move towards creating winter work initiatives to keep the service department profitable year-round was shared amongst the group. There was also discussion about continuing education for service department staff and technicians.