Snow schooling

© Vicki Jeromos-Blayney

The Accredited Snow Contractors Association (ASCA) closed the books on its 2015 Executive Summit, which took place at the scenic Stowe Mountain Lodge in Stowe, Vermont in August.

The three-day event featured record attendance of more than 200 contractors, and the unveiling of a new event, the ASCA Action Network (AAN).

This state-based initiative is intended to build support at a grassroots level for legislative initiatives that will improve the environment you do business in. To date, the ASCA has been successful in getting tort-reform legislation introduced at the federal level. At the state level, the association has gotten bills introduced in Illinois and New Jersey that would eliminate hold-harmless agreements from your winter service contracts.

When adopted, this legislation will have an immense impact on how you do business by essentially placing the job of winter snow and ice mitigation into the hands of the professional, where it belongs.

© Vicki Jeromos-Blayney

The marshmallow challenge

Executive Summit educational speaker Joyce Layman, JL Enterprises, left, challenged attendees with a number of management exercises. She instructed attendees how to change their thought patterns, how to turn obstacles into opportunities and how to tap into internal motivators to accomplish bolder goals. What “stuck” with most participants, though, was Layman’s “Marshmallow Challenge,” in which challenged teams to erect the tallest, free-standing structure constructed from a few strands of spaghetti, a short length of tape and a marshmallow.

Networking

Event planners made sure Executive Summit attendees had ample time to network with one another. Contractors took this time to talk a lot of shop and pick each other’s brains about their approaches and philosophies toward snow and ice management. The first evening’s kick-off opening reception and dinner featured a good, old fashion barbeque-style meal served in the shadow of Stowe Mountain.