New England Summit 2026
September 14-15, 2026

Preliminary list of Educational Sessions (Subject to Change)

Complete Session descriptions will be available in August.

NSAA’s Fall Education Series (FES) is returning to the New England Summit  with another packed agenda of current trends in risk management, legal updates, operational best practices, and helpful technologies emerging across the ski industry.  Sponsored by MountainGuard for 33 straight years since its inception in 1993, MountainGuard’s Ryan Lavoie and NSAA’s Dave Byrd will again helm the FES—along with assistance from our amazing local ASDA counsel in the Northeast.  This year, the FES will be taking place in five distinct sessions.                                                                                                            

The series will take a fresh look at where the industry is on operational challenges involving terrain parks, including new ideas on guest education, park layout, investigations, and events in the park.  In addition, there are a lot of recent industry updates, including upcoming changes to ANSI B77, ASTM and padding, night lighting and surveillance—with a special focus on NSAA’s new Lift Safety Toolkit for the industry.  As we discussed a lot recently, OSHA is aggressively scrutinizing the ski industry, with an unprecedented number of ski area unannounced inspections—as a result, we will be highlighting the best ways to prioritize overall employee safety and accountability.

Of course, we always incorporate a round-up of legal claims, court rulings, and current litigation updates, including some important wins on releases of liability, legislation, and ski statutes—still, there is a critical need to address some of the industry’s challenges with our internal written policies and manuals that often complicates claims.  Indeed, the overall litigation landscape still remains problematic with increasingly high demands and especially aggressive tactics from plaintiffs’ counsel.  The fall education seminars are a big success because of the incredible collaboration and sharing within our industry, and the sharing of best practices.

Tactical and Practical Business Succession and Estate Planning:  Assuring the Successful Continuation of Your Company

In understandable language, business owner members will learn about proposed tax law changes that could have a direct impact on their overall wealth. In addition, there will be discussion surrounding vital strategies in the areas of business succession and wealth preservation as well as eventual transition of assets (with special focus on the business). Typically, the more successful business owners become, they also become more vulnerable. Accordingly, techniques will be discussed showing how to combat those vulnerabilities and assure that the business remains ongoingly successful! Among the areas of focus will be why profitable businesses ultimately fail, the importance of business owners coordinating business succession plans with estate plans, addressing active vs. inactive children within a family business (does it make sense to leave the business and related businesses to all your children?), liquidity issues, valuation methodologies that will satisfy the IRS while lowering the tax bill, the proper type of buy-sell agreement that allows for maximum tax savings/cost efficiency and frequent insurance funding mistakes that oftentimes result in massive tax liabilities that could have been legally avoided. The session concludes by tying in many of the areas of the seminar discussion into a compelling real life family business case! 

This session drives home the point that as a business owner, when it comes to business succession and estate planning, you must know more than you have ‘something in place’ and realize that the specifics of the plan directly correlate to the success and outcome of your plan.

***Special attention will be given to the upcoming change to the federal estate tax law that may make succession and preservation of businesses even more challenging, and how to combat these obstacles!

Leveraging AI in Mountain Operations

Operations teams are being asked to do more with tight staffing, shifting conditions, and constant pressure to keep work safe, efficient, and consistent. This session will dive into how ski areas can use accessible AI tools to support everyday operational work across mountain operations, snowmaking, grooming, and lift teams. Drawing on practical examples from document review, training development, inspection support, and planning, it explains where AI can save time, where human judgment must be incorporated, and how to use these tools without exposing sensitive information. Attendees will see how AI can help turn existing SOPs, logs, and standards into clearer checklists, training outlines, and first drafts that staff can refine for real-world use. You will leave with a practical framework for testing AI on one operational task right away to improve consistency, speed up preparation, and support better decisions on the mountain.

Takeaways:

• Identify operational tasks where AI can be used without replacing the human component
• Use AI to build first drafts of checklists, training materials, and planning documents from existing resources
• Recognize what information is safe to use in consumer AI tools and what should stay out
• Apply prompt-writing techniques that produce more useful, resort-ready results

Designed for operations managers and on-mountain teams focused on efficiency and consistency.

Jeopardy: NSAA Resources Edition, Buzzers Included

Ski areas invest heavily in training, licensing, and professional development, yet many staff and managers are unaware of the full range of resources NSAA already provides to support that work. This session turns the discovery process into a live, game-show style competition modeled after Jeopardy. Attendees compete in teams to answer questions covering NSAA and other industry events, publications, e-learning courses, resources and toolkits available to members, with prizes and bragging rights on the line. Categories will span a variety of topics from PEAKS courses to national and regional conferences and resources, helping participants see the full scope of support available to their operations. The format is fast-paced, interactive, and designed to spark conversation about resources teams may not be using yet. You will leave with a clearer picture of the industry tools already at your disposal and ideas for putting them to use back home.

Takeaways:

• Learn about NSAA’s full library of e-learning courses, toolkits, resources and events
• Discover resources that may already be included in your membership but aren’t being used
• Walk away with practical ideas for applying NSAA tools at your ski area
• Enjoy a lighthearted, team-based format that makes learning about resources memorable

This session is intended for anyone pursuing professional growth and stronger workplace development.

From Stoke to Staying Power: What Keeps Seasonal Employees Coming Back – Kathleen Brennan, CEO PSIA-AASI Eastern Region

Seasonal staffing remains one of the biggest challenges facing ski areas and outdoor recreation businesses. While much attention is given to recruiting employees, long-term success depends on creating an environment that inspires people to return year after year.

Drawing on decades of experience in snowsports education, workforce development, and leadership in a variety of seasonal businesses, this session explores what transforms an enthusiastic first-season employee into a committed member of your team. Participants will examine the role of passion, mentorship, belonging, recognition, and personal growth in employee retention, and discuss practical ways to create experiences that encourage seasonal staff to return, contribute, and grow.

This session is relevant to managers and supervisors across all departments, including snowsports, lift operations, rentals, guest services, food and beverage, patrol, and mountain operations.

General Managers Roundtable
Join us for this lively discussion about issues that challenge ski areas in the Northeast on a daily basis.  Open only to General Manager, Owners and other high level management.