Successful Meetings - July 2009 - (Page G24)

Guest Column the how, what, why, and win of hole-in-one insurance By Mark Gilmartin W ant to spice up your annual sales conference or incentive meeting? Imagine the response when you give your golf meeting attendees the chance to win his-and-her luxury sedans, a brand new house, or even $1 million… for as little as $150. If you think that sounds mathematically impossible, then chances are you’ve never heard of hole-in-one insurance, a special form of prize indemnification insurance that’s a fun and affordable way to add big bling to even the smallest golf event. With hole-in-one insurance, you pay a small premium based on the value of the prize you’d like to give away, the number of golfers participating in your event, and the length of the hole that’s being insured. When a golfer makes a hole in one on the “target hole” during your event, your policy kicks in, and the insurance company pays for the prize. In most cases, the insurance company will also include free hole-in-one contest signs and tee markers, free tee prizes for every tournament participant, as well as auxiliary prizes for those acing any “non-target” par 3 hole during your event, making adding a hole-in-one prize as easy as it is affordable. One of the great things about hole-in-one insurance is its flexibility. You aren’t limited to offering a single prize or even to insuring a single hole. For example, if you want to reward teamwork, you might insure four cars on a single hole so that if someone makes an ace, everyone on the foursome drives home a winner. Or you might decide to insure a “50/50” prize, Nope, it's not the lottery. These happy players won $1 million by scoring a hole in one on the golf course. PHOTO: COURTESY OF HOLE IN ONE INTERNATIONAL where the acemaker splits the prize with a favorite charity. Then again, you might offer every attendee a shot at winning in a giant-prize putting contest before or after your golf event. As for hole-in-one prizes, the sky’s the limit. You can insure anything with a cash value – for example, furniture and appliances, a lifetime supply of free gas, diamond jewelry collections, ’round-the-world vacation packages, or even a trip to outer space. It’s simply a matter of selecting a prize that will be of value in the eyes of your attendees and in keeping with the theme of your event. But hole-in-one insurance isn’t your only option for adding sizzle to your next incentive or off-site gathering. Using other forms of prize indemnification insurance, you can give event attendees a shot at winning a larger-than-life prize in a million-dollar “game show,” dice roll, or even an olive-in-one toss for hitting a particular sales target or meeting other performance goals. You can also use insured prize contests to drive traffic to your trade show booth. In fact, you can insure almost anything involving a risk, in nearly any location, based on just three things: the cost of the prize you want to give away, the probability of the event occurring, and the number of attempts that will be made to win the prize. Before you purchase any policy, take a few moments to verify that your hole-in-one insurance provider is underwritten and has a proven track record. If you are unsure, ask. A reputable hole-in-one insurer will happily share the name of their underwriter. That way, when you hold your next “million-dollar” golf meeting, you’ll be confident that when someone makes the ultimate shot, the company you’ve selected will be there to pay for the prize. Mark Gilmartin is the president of Reno, Nevadabased Hole In One International, doing business with more than 18,000 golf tournaments annually. For more information, see www.holeinoneinternational.com. 24 July 2009 http://www.holeinoneinternational.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - July 2009

Successful Meetings - July 2009
Contents
Editor's Letter
News Update
Education
Mouth for Sale
Incentive Insights
Meetings Law
Management Matters
Gurus
Path to Success
Cover Story: ROI Guide
Medical & Pharmaceutical Meetings
Safety & Security
Industry Roundtable
Places + Spaces
Alabama
Georgia & the Carolinas
Hong Kong
Melbourne
Golf Meetings
Planning a golf meeting, 101
Formats, games, prizes, and the awards ceremony
The how, what, why, and win of hole-in-one insurance
How the PGA professional can help your meeting plans
A woman’s view of golf
Opinion: The (new) perception of golf resorts
In closing: Boondoggle is not part of the golf vocabulary
Hawaii
Business Unusual
Q&A with Michael Murray
The Latest and Greatest

Successful Meetings - July 2009