“Executive Experience” Gives Meeting Planners Fishing Memories
Debra Dohnert and Christine Phelps come from similar backgrounds. Both are meeting-planning executives and work in large cities, and – until recently – neither had experienced the joy and excitement of fishing.
But both returned home with a new perspective after recently spending two days fishing with professional BASS anglers during a professional development program called the Executive Experience. The event was produced by Disney Institute and the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and took place at Walt Disney World Resort in Central Florida.
The event used the sport of bass fishing as a unique way to help meeting planners enhance their leadership, build teamwork skills, enact problem-solving and engage in risk-taking. Dohnert and Phelps were among 45 meeting planning professionals from around the country who attended.
The highlight of the experience was a catch-and-release tournament on Disney’s Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon. The planners fished alongside 25 of the most accomplished professional BASS anglers for two consecutive mornings while attending seminars and workshops in the afternoons.
Going in, the two women were thinking differently. Dohnert, manager of special events for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in New York City, was excited to fish for the first time while Phelps, associate executive director for the American Academy of Neurology in Minneapolis, was concerned.
But both were all smiles when they returned from three hours of fishing on the pristine Disney lakes, the adventure of catching largemouth bass a new part of their being. “It was fun,” said Dohnert, who fished with Florida BASS pro and CITGO Bassmaster Elite Series angler Charlie Youngers. “When we first got going, it was amazing. While we were fishing, we used the ‘Three Ps’ – patience, persistence and perseverance, just like in business.”
Dohnert was the first on her boat to catch a bass, which also was the first catch of her life. “She was very excited and was having a great time,” said Youngers.
Phelps, meanwhile, was paired with Tennessee BASS pro Jay Kendrick. “I’m less nervous because I’m going out with a professional, but I’m nervous that I’m not going to do a good enough job when I’m out there,” she said before the launch.
“I like to be in control,” she added. “I like to be the one who knows what to do. And I like to be the one advising others, so to be in the reverse role is a weird thing for me. We put on a meeting for 10,000 neurologists and I’m the one who makes the decisions. To rely on someone else to tell me what to do and an environment that I don’t know, it’s kind of scary.”
But just hours later, Phelps called her fishing experience “very Zen-like.”
“The control thing went away pretty fast when we got out there,” she said.
Planners, anglers and event organizers said the experience was a success and participants learned. “There are so many parallels between any sport and business, but fishing in particular,” said Dohnert. “I go to a lot of conferences and usually they are so boring. No one thought learning could be fun, but this is.”
Debra Sexton, president of the PCMA, which co-organized the event, said bass fishing and business leadership are more closely connected than many might believe. “The commitment, the focus the anglers have is obviously something very important for a leader, so you can tie that back together again,” Sexton said. “It’s a very unusual approach.”
Dohnert agreed. “Supposedly, so many great sales are made on the golf course, but maybe great strategic planning can be made on the boat.”
BASS is the worldwide authority on bass fishing, sanctioning more than 20,000 events through the BASS Federation annually. Guided by its mission to serve all fishing fans, BASS sets the standard for credibility, professionalism, sportsmanship and conservation, as it has for nearly 40 years.
BASS stages bass fishing tournaments for every skill level and culminates with the CITGO Bassmaster Classic. Through its clubs, youth programs, aquatic resource advocacy, magazine publishing and multimedia platforms, BASS offers the industry’s widest array of services and support to its nearly 550,000 members. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.
For more information, contact BASS Communications at (407) 566-2208.
