MSAA Activities

Read MSAA's Midwest Ski Areas News - click here

MSAA Member Update

The MSAA Board of Directors met in August after the Summer Meetings. Directors converged from all over the Midwest to make plans for MSAA's future and review past activities. They elected Amy Reents of Afton Alps, MN as chair of MSAA and Dan Grider of Great Bear Recreation in SD as vice chair. Among the topics covered were:

2009-10 Media Relations Campaign

MSAA's 2009/10 Updated Media Relations Campaign - You Can Make It Work For Your Area

Postcards & e-newsletters sent to you & 1,400 Midwest journalists
(Update your MSAA Contacts NOW call MSAA at 651- 484- 1818) You and/or the marketing contact from your ski area should receive copies of the new direct mail pieces that MSAA begins mailing on November 23 to 1,000 journalists in 10 Midwestern states AND to 400 TV meterologists in the same states.

The main direct mail piece directs journalists to snowplaces.com/media for:
Eight timely story ideas/press releases; Contact info at a ski area near them; Downloadable rights-free photos to illustrate their stories;  and What's New at Midwestern ski areas.

The weather-specific direct mail piece for TV meteorologists directs them to a sub-section of snowplaces.com/media called snowplaces.com/weather for:
Four weather-specific ideas/press releases; Streaming video of stories that Midwest TV stations have done on ski areas; Contact info at a ski area near them.

We are now following up on those direct mail pieces by e-mailing an electronic newsletter to those same journalists and meterologists, highlighting the same information and providing direct links to snowplaces.com/media and snowplaces.com/weather.

We will e-mail you the same e-newsletters we sent to the journalists and meterologists. Please be on the lookout for them. You can then click on the "forward" button, add a personal note and forward the e-newsletter to your own local media contacts.

MSAA is updating the media section of Snowplaces.com with the new stories and updated information. If you have new contacts - please let MSAA know at once so we can have correct information on our website and in our mailings. If you have new what's new information, let us know at once. All postcards are addressed at the beginning of the season - so correct informationn ow is crucual. The media relations campaign will continue throughout the winter with the mailing of oversized postcards to the 1,000 journalists and 400 meterologists, highlighting story ideas/press releases.

We will also be sending e-newsletters to the media in conjunction with the postcards, featuring the same story ideas. You will also receive copies of these e-newsletters throughout the season and can easily add a personal note and forward them to your own local media contacts.
For more tips on leveraging the Midwest Ski Areas Association media relations campaign and general advice on creating publicity for your area, download this PowerPoint presentation here.

New Stories / New Oversize Postcards / New E-mails MSAA Mailing and E-mailing Schedule for 2009-2010

The new media postcards, with their new story links on various topics will be mailed by standard mail using this schedule: November 23 - snowmaking; November 27 - group/school programs; December 1 - learn to ski/snowboard; December 8 - regional vacations; January 5 - midwest Olympians; January 12 - families getting back into winter sports; January 20 - terrain parks; February 16 - spring skiing. New E-Newsletters to you and to media will go out 7- 10 days after the postcard for the corresponding story idea has been sent.
New meterologist postcards with new story ideas will be sent via standard mail using this schedule: November 23 - snowmaking; November 27 - outdoor fun in winter; December 8 - be active in winter; January 5 - TBA; January 12 - got snow? ski areas do; January 20 - group/school programs; February 16 - spring skiing. New E-Newsletters to you and to meterologists will go out 7-10 days after the postcard for the corresponding story idea has been sent.

Member ski areas will receive the mailings.

This is one of the ways MSAA uses the information you send us. We still need good photos that we can share with the media. We need to know the things you are especially proud of at your area. Send us the details so we can help tell the world.

Rental and Accessory Buying Group

The regional associations cooperative Ski Area Rental and accessories Buying Program has been created from MSAA's Rental and accessory Buying Group. Informaiton on the new program can be found at www.sarabp.com.

MSAA members can log into the special member offers page using the

user name: MSAA and the password: snowplaces.

Snow Trails, OH and Afton Alps, MN will be this year's test areas. Suppliers are being asked to send shorter adult and kids equipment to these three areas for our season-long testing. MSAA members will receive the results late next winter. Thank you to all three areas and to the rental suppliers. If you need MSAA to develop a Buying Group relationship with a company we have not worked with in the past, please call MSAA at 651-484-1818.

MSAA again needs to know your buying intentions for next spring's buy. What is your Open To Buy? Letting us know the general scale of your buy helps us plan our work with the suppliers. We can either share the information with reps or not--depending on your request. If you want us to share the information, we can see that you get plenty of test equipment to help you decide which products you most want to purchase.

The money MSAA receives from the Buying Group suppliers is being used to fund the media relations work mentioned above. Our goal is to use this effort to grow the sport and your business.