Transcript
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Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, where we give you the scoop on all things private golf and country clubs, from mastering leadership and management, food and beverage excellence, member engagement secrets, board governance and everything in between, all while keeping it fun and light.
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Whether you're a club veteran just getting your feet wet or somewhere in the middle, you are in the right place.
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I'm your host, denny Corby.
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Welcome to the show.
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In this episode.
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I am super excited, stoked, to be chatting with the wonderful and magnificent Sandra Petty from Neshada Country Club in Concord, massachusetts.
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What a treat, what a delight.
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What a great human, a wonderful person she is and super stoked to have her here on the show chatting with us.
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She is the Chief of Staff, membership and Marketing Director at Neshada Country Club and she does so much for the club and it shows she pulls off events so magical.
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Even Santa himself needs two stand-ins to keep up.
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Uh, we're going to talk about their santa brunch, where she has to have two santas, two seatings going on at the same time, because she has over 600 attendees coming through and is all just so perfectly choreographed and timed with seating charts, acapella, carolers.
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It is quite the event.
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But it's not just this event, all of her events.
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Her entire club is rocking and rolling.
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They just went through an amazing, amazing renovation and Sandra shares the inside scoop on turning every member touchpoint into something that's extraordinary and why she believes families are the future of clubs and how her chief of staff role helps keep her club's vision on course.
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This is I mean, there's so much packed into this episode we're gonna have to probably do another one because what she has done with CRMs and automations that help enhance and allow her to duplicate herself, because she uses automation to enhance and not to take away, and uses it in a way that it still provides a memorable experience.
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I think a lot of people think of automation.
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They think of like losing that personal touch, but when it's done right, no one's ever going to notice.
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And what I really enjoy about this episode is obviously on the show we bring on guests and people who are names, people who are just out there at a club, who are just doing well in small cities and just out there killing it.
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And that's what this episode is.
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It's just a club that is just out there killing it for their club, for their members, for their communities, for the families involved, and this episode is just so good and I am super, super, super excited for this one to be happening.
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Before we get to the episode, quick thanks to some of our show partners Concert Golf Partners, kenneth's Member Vetting and Golf Life Navigators, as well as myself the Denny Corby Experience there's excitement, there's mystery, also there's magic.
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It is the most fun member event you will have guaranteed.
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If you're looking for a very fun, interactive, crowd-focused show, check out DennyCorbycom and, better yet, sign up for our newsletter, private Club Radio, because I will be sending out an almost finished with the club entertainment guide.
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All things private golf and country clubs.
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When it comes to member events, I go deep.
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It is.
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It's going to be epic.
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If you want early access, make sure you sign up to the newsletter.
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Everyone who signs up to the newsletter gets early access.
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Privateclubradiocom it pops right up.
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Enough about that, let's get to the episode.
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Private Club Radio listeners.
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Let's welcome my friend and soon to be yours, sandra Petty.
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I'm doing well Selling any memberships today.
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Yes, yes, I did.
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How many members Do you guys have a wait list or no?
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We don't have a wait list right now.
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We are looking for probably 10 to 15, maybe even 20 more members.
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The club is large and a lot of our members travel in the summer, so we have the capacity to actually have more members during peak season or perceived peak.
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Our busiest times are like May and June and September and October.
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As I said, our members travel quite a bit, so you're able to get a tea time in the summer and a seat at the pool and dining.
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So waitlist is always a thing.
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No, I mean I position it that way.
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I can give you access in a climate where there's not a lot of access and a customer that's looking for access for their family.
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Yeah, and because your sales skills are good, so you know who you're selling to, so you know what parts to hit.
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Because you know some people that's probably not even a care for them in the world.
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They don't care that they need that access, so why even bother talking to them about that or trying to do that?
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No, we're you.
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You weren't always in clubs, right?
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no, no, I was a wedding planner for 15 years that's how you have so much patience is that it?
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It Is that what we're calling it today?
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I don't know.
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I don't know, I just felt like that was the right word.
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I was a um.
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I shouldn't even tell you this.
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I was a model for 12 years.
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I modeled for a company called Barbizon they're big in Boston and I did some.
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Barbizon.
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Barbizon, all of it, and you learn how to act when you need to.
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And you're really a duck on water, a lot, you know.
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Don't let them see how fast you're paddling oh, that's a funny analogy.
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Yeah, yeah that's absolutely true, yeah and then and then.
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How did you?
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How did you find clubs?
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Did clubs find you?
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What was that journey?
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So I was a wedding planner for 15 years.
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In the fall of the economy I lost my job and decided to pick up golf.
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My husband had just started and I went to the range with him one day, hit a ball, it went in the air and I said, all right, I'm going to need a lesson because I'm totally hooked.
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And then I would just really hang out at the driving range.
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I was a range rat, hang out with the boys, learned how to play with the boys, and I say golf saved my life.
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And I used to walk around and say if I could only get a job in the golf world, that would be dynamite.
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And so I did.
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I got a job at Ipswich Country Club, north of Boston, and was the member relations person.
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And then this came along and I applied and I got it.
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But it was quite an interview process.
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It was an eight hour interview.
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What?
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Eight hour interview?
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Single, Single interview for eight hours.
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It started with two pages of essay questions that I needed to complete and send back by a certain day, and then they told me that they would call down the group and there'd be a phone interview, which I never got.
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I got an invitation to come to the club.
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I needed to bring my spouse and plan on being here the whole day.
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With your spouse.
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With my spouse so he's like what I'm like you're doing this.
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Now is this at Neshotic Mm-hmm.
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It was a prior GM and when I arrived it was very well crafted in that I was taken and my husband and I were together, say like the first hour, and then they separated us and we went to all the departments.
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I only met with team members, never met with the GM, who, as you know, I work very closely with the GM.
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And then he, the GM, met with my husband.
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So when you think about it, they can ask questions to my husband that they can't ask me.
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I met with the board.
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I met with the membership committee.
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I had a presentation about what I do and how I do it and they talked to Bob about what do you like to do for fun?
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You know sat at the bar and you know.
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Then I had to go to dinner with a bunch of members and some employees and the member sitting across from me was a banker and he said to me there's no money in banking?
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I had yeah, that was a face like oh, okay.
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And he asked me there's no money in banking?
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I had yeah, that was a face like oh, okay.
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And he asked me what do I think the future of clubs is going to be?
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And I said it's all about the family.
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You have to be able to attract young families who will be with you longer and provide programming that meets the needs of them, their wife and their children.
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And he said right to me I couldn't disagree more.
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Salad hadn't even hit the table.
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I'm like, oh, this is going to be a long one.
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Another gin and tonic please.
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Yes, please One more.
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Yeah.
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So we left and my husband was like, wow, you're really quiet.
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I'm like, oh, totally lost it there, and they called me the next day and said you want to come work for us?
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that was probably like a internal prank yeah, they, they all talked about it before like let's see how uncomfortable we can make sandra well, I said it to the gm after I was in.
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I'm like, what were you thinking, setting me up with him?
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And he said that's the answer he needed to hear.
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That's who I wanted.
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I didn't want someone who said, well, it should be legacy, cause that's what he believed, it's all legacy.
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My son should have priority over everyone else.
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That whole thing and that was really a dying mentality.
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If you didn't embrace the family aspect of it, you were going to miss the boat.
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Is.
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Is he still a member or did he?
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leave.
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He is not a member anymore.
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Oh, that's good.
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How, how soon after?
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Oh, I'd say three years after four years yeah.
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Oh, okay, so he okay.
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But he did come to an event that was like a member mixer or something and uh, he came over to me and said you know, you've really done a good job here.
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I didn't see the vision you were laying out, but it really has come to fruition.
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I'm like thank you yeah, thank you.
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Now.
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Did you were always?
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Did you always have this personality and this kind of go getter going to like, do it, like was?
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Did you always?
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Was that always in you or did it like evolve over time?
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Always in me, always in me.
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My family really wants to know where I came from.
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I um, I grew up like the big bang theory.
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I have twin brothers that are extraordinarily brilliant organic chemist and nuclear engineer, you're a triplet.
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No, they're twins and I'm Penny.
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Oh, I thought maybe you had three of you, okay.
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No.
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So they came first and of course my parents were glowing and proud.
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And then there was me, and I think I was just vying for attention and so, being Italian, allowed me more and more.
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Hello, my name is Ty, exactly.
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Exactly.
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So really I'd sit there at dinner and have no idea what was going on the conversation.
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You know, I was like yeah, I am Penny, I am Penny from the big bang.
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Like okay, yeah, that sounds good.
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What, what skills transferred from the wedding business, the wedding planning, doing all that coming over to member membership relations, members communications, stuff like that.
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Well, it's it's.
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It goes back to how you make them feel, right.
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I mean you can choose to have your wedding anywhere, you can choose to be a member at any club, but at the end of the day it's how you make them feel and that they are your favorite member at that time, or all the time, or you are the favorite bride I've had and that mentality of wanting to serve and see the joy on other people's face.
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I enjoy that and my organizational skills.
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So that's a big one being a wedding planner.
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You need to be organized, and so the larger events that we do here at the club that I we all affectionately call Sandra's majors and they are the majors, they're the big ones, they're over 500 people and you need someone who can kind of see the entire picture and all the aspects and pull it together.
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A lot of logistics that go into it.
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So I think all of that just what are these majors?
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What are the majors?
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Easter, mother's Day, the Men's Invitational, which is a three-day event, halloween it's huge at Neshotic and Santa Brunch, which opens up tomorrow, and then the annual ball.
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Those are the majors.
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What your Santa bro.
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You have what Like two different seatings, two different Santas.
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It's a constant flow.
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You were talking about that when we were at at Neshotic and I was like what is going on Like, oh, it's Santa bro.
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I'll be like what is going on Like, oh, it's Santa I'm like what To Santa?
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I was like this is bonkers.
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So Santa used to come in a helicopter because it's Neshotic and he'd land on the driving range and the kids loved it.
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But at that point we were only doing like 250 people.
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I now have 625 to 650 people that I need to serve.
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So it is again orchestrated.
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I split the building into two sides.
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There are two Santas, two Mrs Clauses, elves.
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Every kid gets a gift and then you arrive and you know to stay on which side.
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Wherever you're seated, you stay on that side of the building.
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So as we crossed over to the other side for lunch, we would never allow that, and so I do send all of the attendees an email prior that states you know what to know before you go and that we don't want to ruin the spirit of Christmas for anyone.
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So we ask that you stay on the side that you've been assigned to and I do a floor plan based on the guests and who they normally sit with friends, families, people they know.
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So they don't say, oh, I want to run over and see if Denny's there.
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No, no, you're not running over to see if Denny's there, and it's really-.
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You're not going anywhere kid, you're going nowhere, and it's really, it's great and the kids all love it.
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And then they usually leave here and head downtown to a Santa parade that they do in a tree lighting in Concord and it's the same Santa.
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So when they get there they see the same Santa, and it's magic Santa's hustling they're like it's him well for half of them yes the other half, they're like oh wait who's this?
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Who's this imposter?
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who's this imposter?
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what?
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When did you start doing?
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Have you always done the two Santas, or was?
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it like one year.
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You're like what if we had?
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two and you're like oh, of course, that just makes sense.
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I think it was 22.
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It was December of 22.
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Did what you did, did you ruin the spirit for one family.
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This kid freaked out.
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No, none of that happened.
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Fortunately, I um, I just had a huge, huge turnout and I thought it was going to be fine.
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And then our lovely GM, chris the math wizard, says have you done the math?
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And he was in Europe and he was coming home for it.
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He's like how many people do you have?
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And then he's like have you done the math?
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I'm like no, what math?
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No, I don't do math, I do happy.
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And he said that gives Santa 30 seconds with each kid.
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If a kid has a meltdown, we're going to have a problem.
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We're not going to be able to turn the table all of it back up.
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You know, if somebody doesn't have a good time with Santa, it's going to be a problem.
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I'm like okay, give me 20 minutes.
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I called Santa.
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I said who do you know?
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He goes?
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Oh, I got a friend who's Santa, because they all know each other.
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It's like the Santa group.
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I got a guy and I said do you have a lady too?
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He's like I can get you a lady.
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And so we did two in each room and I sorted it.
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And then when the kids arrive, I give them a ticket that says I talked to Santa this morning.
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He wants to see you at 11 o'clock.
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This is your ticket to see Santa and they'll you know they're glowing.
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So then they nudge mom and dad.
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We got to go.
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We got to go see Santa at 11.
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Soon, as you get up, I flipped that table and so I'm able to turn the tables quickly here.
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So is Santa still in the same rooms, or is he?
00:17:51.884 --> 00:18:07.769
in a different room, like so he's in a different room so there's the ballroom where we were and then where the bar was, in that little room, santa yeah and then on the other side, santa's in one of the back rooms and then we seat in the grill in the summer and then all the food goes in that middle area.
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Yep, and then I'm sure, if you needed to summer.
00:18:08.404 --> 00:18:13.369
And then all the food goes in that middle area, yep, and then I'm sure, if you needed to, you can pipe and drape and make a next door wall.
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Yeah, that's, that's.
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But I have to hustle Santa in the back door, Santa's in the back door, through the kitchen's sort.
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Go over there, stay on your own side.
00:18:26.082 --> 00:18:27.184
You got walkie talkies.
00:18:27.184 --> 00:18:28.709
People are the aisles clear.
00:18:28.709 --> 00:18:29.490
Santa's coming through.
00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:31.105
The package is in the open.
00:18:31.105 --> 00:18:33.166
I do wear a headset.
00:18:33.166 --> 00:18:36.223
It's too many people.
00:18:37.106 --> 00:18:39.765
No one's on it, but it just looks so official.
00:18:40.366 --> 00:18:45.769
Well, the first year was totally decor and making the image come out.
00:18:46.701 --> 00:18:50.010
Well, it's the easiest way to get out of conversations.
00:18:50.010 --> 00:18:56.587
You know a member, someone's trying to chat, you're like, yeah, oh right, so yeah, I got to go, sorry.
00:18:56.587 --> 00:18:58.605
And then bang, you're out.