There is absolutely no denying it now, we are well into 2015!  Its hard to imagine that my home property, Darien Lake, will be opening for its summer season in just two months considering we are still looking at 10 foot snow banks throughout the theme park.  In the same spirit, it is incredible to imagine that we are just eight months away from the 2015 HUG Conference.  We have so many great things planned for the conference this year.  So, we have decided to get things started early!  We have already locked in our guest speaker for the conference...more coming on that soon.  Our 2016 property proposals are coming in early.  We're even planning our grid and sessions at an earlier spring meeting!  With all that being said, we have decided it is also time to open our Conference Registration early!  So, coming later this month, registration for the 2015 HUG Conference will be open!!!!  This early registration has even better news for everyone, we are giving you the opportunity to lock in your 2015 HUG Conference registration at the cost of last year's early registration!  Until July 31st, 2015, you will be able to lock in your registration at the lowest possible rate of $489.  

This year's conference is at Sunriver near Bend, Oregon from 11/8/15 - 11/12/15.  Registration will be available at WWW.SMSHUG.ORG/HUG2015. Rates will begin at last year's early registration fee of $489.  This Early Registration opportunity will be available for a limited time until the end of July. On August 1st, the regular registration fees will kick in at $519, with the late registration fees of $569 in effect after September 4, 2015.  So lock in now and get your plans set to join us in Oregon at Sunriver in November!

Have you ever had trouble explaining to your management what exactly goes on at the HUG Conference?  I have gone through multiple management changes and each time it can be challenging to explain just how valuable the HUG Conference is to our property.  As the HUG board sat with Larry Hall and Victor Vesnaver in January, we realized that this is a common thread.  We all know exactly how valuable HUG is, but putting it into words can sometimes be a challenge.  "You don't know what you don't know, until you get to HUG" Victor mused.  So true! If only we could use those words as our ROI justification to our management when trying to achieve funding for the conference huh?  You can try this catch phrase for your justification, but here are a couple other bullet points that might help:

- 5 full days of training and new information (over 80 sessions).

- Special sessions lead by Industry Experts.

- One On Ones with SMS - You can ask those questions you've been dying to ask!

- Vendors - A great way to shop for new products all in one spot.

- Industry Sharing - You can share experiences with fellow users and find how others have tackled the same hurdles.

At my property, once we get approval for HUG, we make sure we get our return ticket for the next year by planning and follow through.  We meet up before HUG and create a list of all issues and questions that we have.  That list will follow us all the way through HUG and we do everything we can to get that list addressed.  If there isn't a session covering an issue on our list, we sign up for a One On One with SMS to dig deeper into our questions. It never fails that we get back from the conference saying "Wow...That was a lot of information!".  Our list is covered and we have a huge pile of other things that we learned along the way.  Its always boils down to, "You don't know what you don't know, until you get to HUG!"

So its time to get your lists made and start planning your travel!  Get you and your team signed up early for the 2015 HUG Conference.  Then you can join us on the Oregon Trail all the way to Sunriver on 11/8/15!

Sincerely,

Marie Bell

Your 2015 HUG Chair