by Ed Shanaphy, CMAA

We welcome in 2024 here at BeyondTheBaselines.com with a renewed vigor and an eye to a bright future in the private members club industry. Although 2024 will have its challenges as we head toward an election the likes of which we may have never or will never see again, we can take solace in that the private club industry is in a strong position to move forward, with both member and private funding readily available.

Post-pandemic normality has returned and waiting lists are shrinking across the industry as clubs look to renew their relationships with their current membership. This new normality will require innovation in connection with new programming, technology and communication with both members and staff.

Marketing, through top-notch hospitality, and branding along with brand loyalty, will have to be at the top of the agenda to attract new members and younger families to the membership rolls. Legacy memberships and reaching out to the community will be imperative.

Clubs will have to reinvent themselves within the community, possibly breaking that barrier where they are viewed as elite and privileged. Through community outreach, charitable giving and strategic fundraising and well-chosen business outings, clubs will use many methods to serve a need to source possible new members.

Tournaments and events might have to be reworked over the next few years As families travel more, having lost those Covid years to travel the globe, tournaments such as three-day golf member-guests and club championships might have to be shortened, in both time and formats. As we watch tennis changing formats and pickleball matches short and fast, we might want to think about how we can get through events in hours rather than days.

As an industry, we will have to look at upgrading and prioritizing daily communication with members to bring them back to the clubs, clubs where they spent much of their time during the pandemic. We can’t allow members to feel blasé, or even bored, with what in effect was their “home away from home” during the pandemic. Daily text messages, or pushes from the club’s cellphone app, or even an email with course and court conditions might have to be conjoined with an anecdote about the club or one of it’s member or staff, will be a necessity.

As we head into January, 2024, I would like to thank all my guests on the Beyond The Baselines Podcast over the past years. We were just awarded our 50th episode badge and I couldn’t have fathomed that we would have over 1,000 downloads for episodes and over 12,000 listeners.

Please have a listen as I thank our team and partner clubs, and the road our work and consultancy has paved for me. As we look to the future, it’s always important to learn the lessons from the past. What have I personally learned from doing our company’s podcast? I discuss why we established Beyond The Baselines and where we feel the industry is heading and where we have come as an industry over the past fifteen years.

I’d love to hear from any and all of you in 2024. Feel free to reach out to me via email at consultants@beyondthebaselines.com and please let us know your thoughts on the podcast and the industry. To all our friends, colleagues, partners and staff, Happy New Year!

Ed Shanaphy is the President of SBW Associates, Inc. Through its management consultancy arm, BeyondTheBaselines.com, Ed has worked with clubs on both sides of the Atlantic, including Wianno Club in Osterville, MA and The Beach Club in Palm Beach, FL. He’s served as President of Blackheath Rugby and Lawn Tennis Club in London, England and is and has been a member of over a dozen private members clubs. Before his entrance into the private members club industry, Ed served as CEO and Managing Director for nineteen years for Haysbridge (UK) Ltd, a multi-national conglomerate in the marketing, music and film recording industries with offices in Dublin, Sydney and London.