With many rinks in North America still closed, the bulk of industry conferences that were normally scheduled for April and May were also put on hold. The only way for operators to get together is by virtual gatherings, and these aren’t just becoming popular, they are completely practical.

Here are some upcoming webinars you might want to tune into:

  1. The North West Ice Rink Managers Association, a closed forum on Facebook, runs a Zoom meeting each Thursday. Donald Baldwin, from consulting firm Rink Management Services Corporation, runs the meeting. Baldwin is the Admin of the forum, which currently has 97 members. I haven’t made it into one of the Zoom meetings yet, but will try to drop in next week.
  2. Municipal Climate Change Action Centre – The MCCAC is an Alberta organization helping municipalities reduce their energy spend and have started a series of webinars. On May 26th at 3:00 EST there will be a FREE webinar entitled, “How to Improve Energy Efficiency in Recreation Facilities” with the spotlight on the City of LEDuc’s LED retrofit (I couldn’t resist that, Leduc!). Special Projects Manager of Facilities, Bruce Knisley, will be the featured speaker and he’ll highlight some of the other energy efficiencies they’ve implemented at their Recreation Centre. It will be super interesting and I’m signed up for it.
  3. Mayors’ Megawatt Challenge Webinar Series – The MMC is developing a road map to net zero for indoor ice arenas and have also developed a FREE series of Zoom webinars featuring methods that make significant differences in an arena’s energy spend. Their next webinar is on Wednesday, May 27th at 1:00 EST and will feature a variety of operators from different kinds of facilities using treated water for cold water flooding. Called, “Cold water ice resurfacing: debunking the myths” and I’ll be the co-host.
  4. On May 28th at 4:00 PM EST, the North East Ice Skating Managers Association (NEISMA) and the United States Ice Rink Association are partnering for an hour long webinar entitled, “Reopening our rinks“. With a smattering of States already allowing their ice rinks to reopen, this webinar is timely, and should be enlightening. I’m already registered.

Many, if not most of the webinars out there, require that you pre-register. Once you’ve registered, even if you’re not able to make it into the meeting as it’s being broadcast live, you’ll probably get access to the replay in the days following the webinar, either off the website or via a YouTube channel. This gives you the power to decide when to watch it, or even skip ahead to a segment that is particularly interesting, especially if the meeting is structured and begins with an agenda.