December 26th, 2007. I probably will remember this day for awhile. It wasn't because I got a shiny new sled or anything else on Christmas Day. It was because of an email.
An email that had the subject line: RFP Request.
It was from a woman I'd only had one email correspondence before hand and to be quite honest with you I didn't really think much of it and I checked out some other emails mostly from friends and family wishing me a Merry Christmas etc.. When you work in the ski industry holidays are just another day and usually are your busier times of year so Christmas day for me has always been celebrated with my coworkers on the third floor of the very old Mount Snow base lodge. (We always have a mouse stirring in case you wanted to know.)
RFP... Hmm.. Ok so for those of you wondering what the hell is an RFP?? Request for Proposal. Basically someone wants a ton of information about your business to host something usually quite large. An RFP are not common emails maybe I get one every few months for a major event but many times you start to read the one sheet and it's easy... no thanks.
Dawn's RFP. Consisted of two PDF's. So much for a day after Christmas ski Day... The first page though hooked me, it had a logo. Not a one pager outlining we need this and this and you provide this for this, it had a simple logo. The Dew AST Logo. I knew that logo. Shaun White, Bucky Lasek, Ryan Nyquist, that other Ryan kid you know Sheckler, and and the thought of skiing or even leaving the office was put on hold.
"LIVE TV on NBC." Those words stood out the most to me.
"$1.5 Million Prize Purse," that caught my eye too.
I was sold.
Three weeks later an 80 page proposal was submitted.
A month later a site visit was arranged.
A month later we were heavily favored to host the event.
Another email this time I was very familiar with the sender.
Subject line: MOU. Memorandum of Understanding.
A day later senior and middle mangers are called to a meeting to discuss the eventual transformation of Carinthia into a massive terrain park. Perfect fit.
Dew Tour - Mount Snow - Carinthia - January 2009.
Supreme fast forward we are here today: writing a blog, running promotions and handing out postcards about the upcoming event with the help of a student sport management class at UMass. So we must have done good in our RFP to be discussing the upcoming tour.
Today, DewMass had a great promotion at the Zoo's student union. Next week the ski sale, TGR premiers in Boston, Friday and then NYC on Saturday. It's the "show and promotion" season.
Crazy travel and crazy hours but tons of fun at the shows and even more fun after the shows.
Speaking of shows. If around the great New York state capital tomorrow stop by the Mount Snow booth at the Empire Plaza. Our terrain park manager Gaitor, an Albany native himself will be hanging out at our booth. Who better to learn about Carinthia than the guy who has been over there physically building the new deck, mini-ramp and other elements you'll see at the Dew Tour and at Carinthia this year.
Gaitor, with his burly long goatee, looks very zen these days.
He should.
To be continued...
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