A Convention Apart From All the Rest

Normally at this time of year, we’d still be riding the high of returning from Cancun fresh off of our annual franchisee conventions. This year, we were lucky we could still have our conventions for both British Swim School and Pool Scouts, but it looked a little different than year’s past. For the first, and hopefully last time ever, we had two virtual conventions – one for each brand.  While we missed interacting in person, the conventions were amazing, both packed with content, collaboration and fun!

The Convention Planning Process

The convention planning process is always a lot of work, with great preparation to ensure everything runs smoothly. This year was no different, with many hours dedicated to finding the right topics, speakers, sponsors, and balance of information and conversation. However, it was even more of a planning process than usual, having to factor in the unique challenges that come with virtual meetings. From testing different technologies and platforms, to ensuring that people could easily interact, to making sure no one got burned out from hours of screen time, our convention planning team did an incredible job! Throughout the course of the convention for both British Swim School and Pool Scouts, franchisees were highly engaged, able to learn, and came away feeling refreshed to serve their customers in 2021.

Notable Sessions

The theme of the British Swim School convention was All Systems Go to represent the brand going full force to new heights in 2021. The theme of the Pool Scouts convention was Virtually Unstoppable, to reflect on the significant growth over the past year despite a pandemic, and channeling that momentum into the year ahead. Each brand’s sessions played into the convention theme.

Convention Kickoff

Both conventions kicked off with the brand president providing a recap of 2020, and all the ways that our franchisees overcame the challenges presented by COVID-19. They also talked about goals for the coming year and how to achieve those goals. Virtual mentalist and magician Harrison Kramer followed each kickoff, leaving the audience completely dumbfounded with his mind-blowing magic tricks.

Franchisee Panel

The franchisee panel is always one of the most popular events at convention. During this session, seasoned franchisees share tips for success and what they wished they had known in the beginning stages of business ownership. There is dedicated time for Q&A where they take turns addressing frequently asked questions or issues that come up for their fellow franchisees.

Keynote Speakers

This year’s keynote speakers did an excellent job inspiring our franchisees with uplifting messages and actionable takeaways. For British Swim School, Jeremy Kourdi shared a hopeful message of encouragement for surviving and thriving during turbulent times. He provided useful tools for developing success and encouraged franchisees to practice a flexible growth mindset in order to stay focused on customers and find great opportunities.

For Pool Scouts, Kurt and Melissa Godwin shared how they built one of the most successful Mosquito Joe operations in the country, and steps others can take to mirror that success with their business. The final day of the Pool Scouts convention ended with retired Navy SEAL and New York Times bestselling author Jason Redman, who shared a message of conquering challenges with an Overcome Mindset of surviving difficult situations by “Getting off the X.”

We are so thankful to have a strong company where the culture isn’t lost when we can’t meet in person. Aside from the great ideas and communication that came with convention, there was a restored energy to propel us into greatness for this year.