61 Club Members in 61 Days

What does the #61 have to do with Baseball, Service and ClubVMSA?

During this #CovidCrisis, my company, ClubVMSA, continues to pivot from an in-person events business to an online club while our four small children are home-schooled.

Today is Memorial Day Weekend 2020... in "CovidLand". I might as well be in The Walking Dead or in I am Legend. Life sure is different. Here is the timeline of events associated with Covid-19 (so far).

Covid has put our community in a real pickle. Talent Acquisition Suppliers and Solutions Partners along with their CW/Procurement Clients thrive on in-person meetings to share and solve their every day challenges with better solutions.

Covid has left us alone and flapping in the wind.

It happened on the Ides of March funny enough (March 15, 2020)... the announcement that would change it all, "No events of 50+ people and no more school." Et tu Brute?

ClubVMSA is an events company. We produce 15+ in-person events a year for the Buyers and Suppliers of the Global Talent Ecosystem to connect and engage. In short.... I curate and organize conferences, meetups and summits of 30-400 people.

When the economy closed, we realized we needed to step up and do something. If we couldn't meet in person, we can surely meet online, right?

From March 15 until March 23, I'll be honest... I panicked. The odds were against us. Our community held conference tickets they could not use and wondered when are we going to meet again... in 2020... how about 2021? Yikes! People are losing jobs/income, contracts are abruptly ending, kids are "learning" at home and loved ones are literally dying all around us.

Then it hit me. I know how we can help our community!

Let's take all of our on demand training and live coaching programs which we typically sell for $40,000+ and wrap them up in our annual club dues of $997 per year. Companies could join our club during this difficult time or early renew their membership for $997 and get all of our training and coaching programs FREE for the rest of 2020. After all, everyone is at home and can brush up on their recruiting and sales skills with online training courses.

Now, we had to figure out how to get our message out quickly and consistently.

We decided to produce a daily live video chat at 12:30 PM ET to bring our community together consistently. The video chat was/is free for all and the recording free for members only. Every day we interview a leader in our industry in a short, digestible 30-min segment for all to gain insights into current trends and challenges of the extended workforce (aka non-employee labor, contingent labor, temps, etc.)

People say it's the highlight of their day. They feel heard and supported. The sense of belonging we are cultivating with these events really matters today more than ever.

Exactly 61 days ago from today... 61 companies recommitted or joined ClubVMSA for the first time. I am proud to call them our "Community Leaders."

Got me to thinking... why does the number 61 sound so familiar. Growing up a Yankee fan in the Bronx... it hit me!

Roger Maris, an American professional baseball right fielder, is best known for setting a new Major League Baseball (MLB) single-season home run record with 61 home runs in 1961. The record remained unbroken until 1998. Maris' home run record was controversial. The previous single-season home run record was 60, set by Babe Ruth in 1927. Taken from Wikipedia.

Billy Crystal even directed a movie in 2001 called, 61* about how Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle were on their quest to break Babe Ruth 's 1927 single-season home run record of 60 during the 1961 season of the New York Yankees.

Toward the end of these 61 days, ClubVMSA received our PPP and launched online conferences and our new VIP - Virtual Influencer Program where we share what we've learned about producing online events to share with our community and members. We continue to produce daily video chats and work collaboratively to improve the opportunities of connection and growth within this challenging landscape.

Say hi to our youngest of four, Emily, 4.75 years old. She likes to scoot in her sequined gown and face mask through the streets of the Village during the pandemic.

I hope you are healthy and coping with Covid too. May it bring out your better self.

Wishing you and yours a continued safe and healthy existence.... Thanks for reading!