INDOOR CLIMBING EXPO CLIMBING GYM BOOTCAMPS
Hands-on & Collaborative Half-Day Workshops for Gym Operators, Managers & Aspiring Owners Hosted by Rise Above Consulting
GYM START UP WORKSHOP
In this hands-on and collaborative half-day workshop you will get assistance fleshing out your business plan, the key drivers of your financial model and your pitch. This workshop is for anyone looking to open their first gym, refine their business plan, or seeking funding and planning expertise for scaling. Together, we will define your brand, the opportunity, your business model and give you tangible tools to execute. In addition you will get time with leading consultants and industry experts as well as collaborative time with other aspiring gym owners
Day One is Broken into 4 Sessions
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Define your brand: Who is your brand & Why should anyone care? In this session, we will investigate the power of your brand, why your brand matters and most importantly, how your brand directs your business strategy.
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Define your model: What are the key drivers? What are the Key Success Factors (KSF’s)? In this session, we will learn what it takes to select a good location + open on time and on budget, we will understand key financial drivers of success and how to determine what are your KSF’s and how to plan for them. This session will include time with Jared Wells of Maverick Climbing Walls to help you determine how to choose your climbing wall - one of the most important (and expensive) decisions you’ll make in launching your dream.
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Define the opportunity: Why your market/team/business? In this session we will clarify your vision to build credibility, and to learn to pitch that vision to investors
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Learning to pitch your business: How to effectively present your business idea to potential investors and stakeholders.Understand how to measure and articulate the market & opportunityUnderstand the strengths & weaknesses of your team and how to articulate themUnderstand the advantages and risks of your business plan & how to articulate them
GYM OPERATIONS WORKSHOP
In this hands-on and collaborative half-day workshop we will do a long form deep dive on climbing gym operations to help you and your managers develop best practices for running a successful gym. This session is designed for gym owners as well as any team leaders or managers. You’ll walk away with tangible action items to drive High Performance Culture, operationalize your values, as well as best practices for taking strategic control of your revenue and managing risk.
Day Two is Broken into 4 Sessions
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Taking Strategic Control of Your Revenue: In this session we will work with Miura Hawkins and Steve Montebello of BETA to learn Tech and best practices that will allow you to:
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Build a sales function that can be measured and strategically influenced
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Leverage data to make decisions and monitor your business health.
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Manage Churn
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Understand how to build a high performing culture: In this session we will learn the strategic importance of your people-assets, learn the four key responsibilities of a leader, and how to develop strategies to manage the employee life-cycle.
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What are the top four threats to your business and how can you mitigate them? Climbing gyms are good business and they typically fail for one of four avoidable reasons. We will learn what those threats are and how you can optimize your gym to avoid them.
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Hands-on leadership skills with other gym owners. Scaling your business means learning to interact with investors, banks and other key strategic partners. This session will include organized group learning time to connect and collaborate with professionals who are facing the same challenges as you and your team.
MEET YOUR HOSTS
GAVIN HEVERLY
Founder & Principal
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Founder - Rise Above Consulting
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Founder - Rise Above Consulting Network
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Founder - Climbing Gym Management Series
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COO - UBC Pro Tour
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COO - Brooklyn Boulders
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20+ years of leadership and innovation in the climbing gym and outdoor industry.
EXPERIENCE
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Championed HR strategy including new team structure to improve HR response time by +300%, reduce recruiting time by 50% and employee turnover by ~20%.
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Implemented enterprise planning process to define and monitor objectives and clarify resource prioritization. Resulted in first-ever measurable utilization rate, achieving 75% success rate on key results.
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Identified real estate and market opportunities & prepared for expansion, with 3 locations producing ~$1.4mm in EBITDA
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Increased national membership base ~3X to 10K+ active members achieving best sales months ever in company history. National Members +70% and revenue +31% vs. previous year
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Led market expansion with development and launch of new facility on budget to deliver record breaking 2,000 pre-sale memberships, 2X previous record
PETE WARD
Partner
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Board VP & Interim CEO - American Alpine Club
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Founder & CEO - UBC Pro Tour
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Founder & CEO - NE2C Productions
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Interim CEO - Rockwerx
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Founder - PSG
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BS - Neuroscience
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MBA - Leadership
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25+ years of leadership and innovation in climbing, tech, finance and corporate strategy.
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EXPERIENCE
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Multiple growth CEO positions delivering five-year highs in performance and up to 51% YoY revenue growth
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Built the modern model for competition climbing & digital broadcast
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Experience in Tech & on Wall st managing up to nine figure P&L responsibility
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Visionary strategist and thought leader in the climbing industry
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Swiss Armed Forces Command & Staff Officer School - Crisis Management Training and Simulation Certified