Private Club Radio Show

486: The Room Matters

• Denny Corby

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Denny Corby 2.0

Welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, the show where you get the scoop on life inside private golf and country clubs. I'm your host, Denny Corby, and each episode is a real conversation with club leaders, the pros, the people and partners who help clubs thrive. We talk leadership, culture, food and beverage, member experiences, member engagement, marketing, governance, and so much more. If you want practical ideas, better teams and a club experience, members actually feel and talk about. You are in the right place now. Welcome to the show.

In this episode, I want to talk about something that can quietly, I don't wanna say make or break an an event at your club, but it can. And that is the room, not the event concept. Not the menu, not the email Invite the actual room that your members walk into the room, that they feel the one that you are all in all the time. And there's one thing I think we can do as club professionals a little bit better is walk the room a little more and a little better with more intention. What does that mean? This is coming from me in the event space side. It's, you know, when you have the room set up, don't just set it up and let it be the best event planners, the best GMs, the best people who do events at their club, they get, I don't wanna say nitty gritty and down and dirty, but they experience the room. As it's set up and as it's being set up as the members, they're sitting in different chairs, they're going to different spots in the room, and they're listening and they're looking, and the good ones are also going to different levels, meaning they're literally going to different levels. Why not slouch down in your seat? What does it look like from a different angle, a different perspective? Maybe stack some books or sit on a bunch of stack chairs. Maybe get a different eye level, a different sight line. Um, listen to the sound from different points of the room, from the back, from the front, to the sides, to the middle, to the extreme sides, to the corners to is the sound hitting. All those little details matter. And the best event people, the best club people know that and they are engaging with the room, right? They're looking at. The setup. Okay, yeah, the stage looks great here now, but hey, we're doing a magic show tonight, And the stage is right in front of the giant window, which is great, but there's no curtain. And then when it gets dark, it turns into a giant mirror, which for a magic show, it turns it into a lecture. But it's just noticing and looking at those different things. It's going, Hey, can we put a backdrop here? Is everything cleaned up? Are, is the ugly being hidden? Are there things we could move away? Is there clutter? Is there other things that we can do to clean up the room? I. Are we thinking about the music, right? Does the music and the type of music match the event and the vibe of the room and the tone and what's all going on? All of that stuff matters, and I think that's one thing as club leaders we can do a little bit better, is just taking that little extra time and just working and owning and being in the space a little bit better, a little bit more intentional. In doing so, ideally before it even starts, right? It's being a little bit conscious of, hey, in a couple weeks we have something coming up. Hey, do we have the right lights for this? Is the stage gonna be set up well? Is the room gonna be a vibe? Hey, we should maybe order some uplights.'cause I think that would look really nice and do whatever, right? Don't do it. Or think about the week before, a couple days before, look at your schedule. Look what's coming up in the next couple of months that maybe you could already now start to enhance a little bit. You can start thinking about things that maybe happened last year that you can make it a little bit better and cleaner, more organized, more. Vibey. More exciting this year. And sometimes it's even, you know, thinking about it from the member's perspective, but perspective, but also your perspective. Would you feel good here? Would you feel good in this environment? Would you like the seat? If you had that seat at an event? Would you like that seat right? And all of this just ties into something bigger.'cause event planning Act clubs is not just about logistics, right? We're talking about, it's about the member experience. That's the real job. And as we know, we can have an amazing room, great food, strong programming, and still sometimes miss the Mark A. Little bit if the setup makes the event harder to enjoy. So few little small adjustments can change everything. Shift focal points, move some tables, clean up a background, add some lighting. Change the mic set up, get a better sound system. Reposition a screen handle glare before it. Before your members walk in, small changes, big differences. And the best part is members may never specifically point any of that out to you. Like no one's gonna come up and be like, wonderful sight lines tonight, Cheryl. But, but they will feel it. They will feel when the room works and they feel when it's easy to settle in, follow along, and enjoy the experience. And that's what great clubs do. They don't just schedule events and schedule fun and do these things. They, they, they shape the environment around them. So before your next thing, speaker night, member Night Wine Night Comedy Night comedy, magic night awards program, holiday celebration, member event, whatever. Spend a few extra minutes in the room, being in the room as it's being set up and think, what are some small changes that we can do to make this a little bit better? Walk in, sit in, listen in, think and act like a member. And that's all. Just think a little bit more about, okay. About the room, about the events, how to make it a little bit better. Don't just set it up and whatever's on the diagram, that's what you put. If, if you're setting up the room and it, and it starts to feel right, you can change it up. You can change the diagram later, you can do whatever. I've just been doing a ton of events lately and just different rooms, different environments, and that's why I always love to show up early.'cause I'm also not afraid to move things around. Sometimes people get a little upset, but also at the end of the day, it's. You know, my show and I wanna make the, the best for it. So I'm not afraid to go, you know, pull some tables a little bit closer if there's weird gaps or if it's, you know, too, too much space in between tables and people. Because I know for me and my show, the more we're together and closer and the same, it's the same with comedy and a lot of fun events, right? You want people as close and tightly packed together.'cause that's where humor and laughter, and that's how like the ball starts, starts rolling and that's. When events become fun and the energy and the vibe starts, starts going, that's not for everything. But I know at least for my show, that's like, that's a very important thing is getting people a little bit closer, a little bit tighter, uh, but each show, each, each things is different. And that's what this is about. That is this episode. If you and your club is looking for a really fun member event night. You have the Denny Corby experience. There's excitement, there's mystery. Also, there's magic, mind reading and comedy. A ton of laughs, gasps, and holy craps. If you wanna learn more, head over to dy corby.com working on the second half of 2026 and into 2027. One of the most fun member event nights, your members will have guaranteed performed for well over 400 clubs Let's have a conversation, but that's this episode. I'm your host, denny Corby. Until next time, catch y'all on the flippity flip. I.

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Denny Corby

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