Thank you for registering for this year’s Blue OceanTour. I am excited you are coming and confident you will learn a lot and improve your firm.  Here are some additional items for you to know about.

We have reserved a block of rooms at the host hotel.  This is the same hotel hosting the ICCFA convention. The block is limited and it is of course, first come – first serve. Below is a direct link to the reservation site. Make your reservation today!

Also below is our agenda. About two weeks before the event you will receive materials you will want to review before you come.

• Paper worksheets for you to use during the conference to apply the information to your own circumstances
• A USB drive for the techies who prefer to work on their laptops. These will be automated so you just have to fill in your numbers. Presenter’s powerpoint presentations will be forwarded by email following the convention.

Finally, if you have any special needs like dietary requirements please let me know.

A hearty thank you to Foundation Partners Group for hosting our tour and to my presenters;

• David Hernandez
• Danny Jefferson
• Greg Rollings
• Steve Shaffer
• Erin Whitaker

I look forward to seeing you.

P.S. If you requested CE education information, you will receive it by email. please let me know if you need help filing it.

Please Note: The hotel reservation system is odd. When you click on the link it will take you to the hotel reservation page. You will need to click on the date section which refers to March 28 – April 5 and select March 31 checking out on April 2nd. If you are staying over for ICCFA you will need to make a separate reservation. Thank you.

A block of rooms has been reserved at:

 The Westin Charlotte

601 S. College St.

Charlotte, NC 28202

(704) 375-2600

The block is reserved under the name: Creedy & Co.

Arriving by car:   Paid parking is available at the hotel

Arriving via air:   Please take a shuttle from the airport

Group transportation:  Transportation is provided by bus to all offsite events and meals. If you have a car you are encouraged to travel with your co-participants.

Rate:  We have reserved a block of rooms at a group rate of $202.00

This button is not yet live as I wait for specific links to reservations. All registrants will receive notification when it is available

Sunday, March 31, 2019

6:30 to 8:30 PM                                                                                  Networking Opportunity

Blue Ocean Tours are “Collaborative Learning” exercises. One of the most intentional agenda items is the opportunity to make new friends and contacts. You will be working together so you might as well know each other

• Heavy hors D’oeuvres
• Cocktails, beer & wine
• Make new friends

Monday, April 1, 2019

8:30 AM to Noon                                                                                How Money Works

Prior to attending the workshop attendees will receive preparatory materials enabling them to collect data on their own firms or on prospective acquisitions that they can use in the workshop. These will include Excel worksheets for the tech savvy and paper for those who are not.

Alan Creedy will lead this workshop as attendees apply what he teaches to their own situations. Alan will teach you:

• The difference between a seller’s math and a buyer’s math
• How to assess risk in calculating a multiple
• How to assess a firm’s efficiency, ongoing viability and sustainability
• What decisions sellers can make to increase value
• How strategies differ relative to the prospective buyer
  • Selling to employees
  • Selling to children
  • What your competitor is looking for
  • What a third party is looking for
• EBITDA Vs. Seller Discretionary Income
  • Why you can’t replace your income with after tax sale proceeds and what to do about it.
• Buying strategies: how to offer sellers what they need rather than what they want.
• Planning for business continuity

Noon to 1:00 PM

Lunch:     Enough said!

1:00 PM to 4:00 PM                                                                           In the Trenches

Independent and corporate practitioners will share how they built their companies through acquisition and management. Sharing the good, bad and ugly as well as target profiles and management issues our faculty will teach you how it really works.

Our presenters represent corporate, regional and local strategies. They will address the usual acquisition issues but also the management and staffing issues that so often accompany them.

4:00 PM to 5:00 PM                                                                    Panel Discussion

The day’s faculty will answer your questions and, maybe, pose some of their own.

7:00 PM                                                                                              Dinner

Your fees include a group dinner offsite at one of Charlotte’s better eateries. We board the bus at 7:00 and will probably return around 10:00 at which point Alan will go to bed and the rest are on their own. (I hear many of the world’s problems will be solved at the hotel bar, but I don’t know for sure)

Tuesday, April 2, 2019                                                                 

8:00 AM to Noon                                                                                Facility Tour

Foundation Partners has graciously agreed to let us tour their Hankins and Whittington facility in Charlotte. The bus leaves promptly at 8:00 AM. These tours are the highlight of Blue Ocean Tours. Don’t miss this one. Attendees will:

• Experience Foundation Partners new ShareLife™ multi-sensory platform
• Learn new ways to handle phone shoppers
• Learn new ways to train arrangers
• Learn to conduct arrangements for improved sales value
• Attend the funeral services of Bugs Bunny

ICCFA

This year’s ICCFA convention begins April 2^nd in Charlotte. Attendees are encouraged to stay over and attend.