CEO Business Visits

• Holiday World Theme Park & Splashin Safari Water Park
• More from the Holiday World Visit
• Dist. 201 Superintendent, Jeff Dosier
• Director of Business Development, Brett Baltz (Investor)

I like the progress we are making in the badge project, as well as what we are finding out about ourselves as we work together. With our large group, we are fortunate to have several classmates that are throwing out good ideas for the aspects of the project. We already have an investor, and I feel we will continue to progress at this pace.

Holiday World was enjoyable, but not quite what I was expecting. I enjoyed the tour, but as I have been there several times, only two or three things we had seen were really new to me and others who had been before. I did enjoy the presentation at lunch, however. It was interesting to learn about their unique and expansive history, as well as their emphasis on great care for their employees and customers. I am already starting to notice that these two principles are the most commonly believed and practiced methods in businesses…

…I was very impressed with Egyptian Workplace Partners. Out of out all the businesses we've visited, this one by far emphasized on innovation and new looking to the future. They claimed their success by embracing the philosophy of adapt or die. As a result, they changed their marketing style to survive the changing economy, while competitions failed. They also hire the right people for every job, whether it's consulting for marketing or developing the logo. It was very clear to me why Egyptian has been around for as long as it has.

Jacob Gall
Friday, September 1, 2017Learn More About Jacob

I learned a new lesson in the past couple of days and that lesson is customer hospitality. I learned this lesson from a very great thriving business Holiday World. We toured Holiday World and the tour guide talked about how it takes a certain amount of people to work in each department. She emphasized on how teamwork completes the job at Holiday World. Holiday is already known for its great customer satisfaction. That is what makes people keep coming back to Holiday world because they treat you very good and act like they really care about you. As well as coming to Holiday World as a customer Holiday world takes care of its employees. If you are in a certain radius of Holiday World a bus comes and pick up its’ employees. I have never heard of any business like that, which offers employee pick-ups. That really makes Holiday World really special and sounds like a place that you would want to work at. With all of this being said the tour guide said they have fun doing their job as well. Who would not want to have to have fun doing their job? I asked the tour guide a question, “what makes you different from other theme parks”, she responded and said the guest and employees make us different.

We traveled to the district office and talked to Jeff Dosier. He gave some good words of advice he said if you are going to be a business owner you want to learn about your employees. He talked about great soft skills when interacting with other people in a social setting. He also said when approaching a person make sure he give them eye contact.

When the class went to the Egyptian Workplace the owner Brett talked about how they took the company and made it better. They also talked about how it is going to keep being a thriving business in the next ten years from now.

Martrell Robinson
Friday, September 1, 2017Learn More About Martrell

There are a lot aspects that go into running a big and successful theme park. Holiday World is a world renown theme park that has won many awards and achievements, such as being the cleanest park in the world for 17 years. As we were told countless times during out tour of Holiday World, there are many workers and divisions needed to run and maintain the business. Though they only have 100 full time employees, they hire an astounding amount of seasonal workers, that average to about 2,200 people. At Holiday World, they have 5 core values which are: Play by the rules, respect the individual, Encourage work and life balance, be a team, and lastly have fun. Along with learning of these core values, we were able to talk about what makes the park what it is, hospitality. Hospitality is personal, felt, has passion, is deserved, and keeps things lively. The difference between this and service, is that service is impersonal, given, expected, and repetitive. Most businesses seem to only provide service rather than hospitality (from their words).

The main focuses of our visit to the Belleville District 201 building were the pros and cons of social media and what soft skills are and how they effect a conversation. While discussing with Dr. Jeff Dosier, we were able to come up with multiple pros, including how social media is able to connect people, provide entertainment, raise awareness, etc. We were also able to come up with multiple cons, including how it can lower self-esteem, have bad influences, and ruin reputation. The reputation point led to another side conversation, which included other points such as how jobs will look to social media to determine someone's character and how your social media accounts can be “cleaned.” After this discussion we began speaking about soft skills, which are the way you interact with people in a social setting. Examples of having soft skills include greetings, introductions, eye contact, and respect. Doing all of this will leave a good impression on the person you're speaking with and helps continue a conversation.

The Egyptian Workspace Partners gave me a good idea of how a business is able to change and evolve over time. As they told us during the tour, at first, they did not provide and install furniture into other workplaces. They simply sold ink and other sorts, until overtime they got to where they are now. I feel like the evolution of your business should always be a goal to have in your mind, since that will lead to expansion, and more money for you and your company in the end. Being comfortable and making work more personable, and less private are key points that they conveyed to us, and their furniture that they displayed reflected those ideas.

Kaleb Leatherman
Friday, September 1, 2017Learn More About Kaleb

The second week of classes are complete. We have already met with so many influential individuals! My class and I traveled to Indiana to experience a tour around Holiday World, it was so much fun! There were other CEO classes there with us. My favorite part of the week was learning to break out of my shell and get comfortable with interacting and communicating with others in the different CEO classes. Along the tour, I met two new associates, Mason and Fernando. I got to know a little bit about their class and themselves as well. Fernando had just moved in the area about two years ago. He is originally from Mexico. I love getting to know people so this tour was a great start to learn how to start a conversation with people you aren't familiar with.

In addition, social media is a big part of just about every teens life. Impacting us all over the world. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and more are just a few of the applications we incorporate within our everyday lives. District 201 Superintendent Jeff Dosier, brought our CEO class to the district office to learn a little bit about our personal reputations. We learned the pros and cons of social media. Pros being things like how social media raises awareness, promotes and advertise, and also can boosts one's self esteem. In addition it can also do the total opposite, like take away actual the skill to socially interact with someone else in person. Soft skills were the first thing we learned. The way you interact with others socially such as eye contact, small talk, and a firm handshake can all form a good first impression.  To Dr. Dosier we made a great first impression! Social media follows you all through your career and that's what's the most important to remember. Watch what you post because even if you may try to delete it. It's not really deleted.

Teonna Davis
Friday, September 1, 2017Learn More About Teonna

This week in Belleville CEO, our group really seemed to start getting a hang of everything. I already know that I have grown closer to some of the students I never thought I would have. From working on our badge project, to travelling all the way to Holiday World, our group is coming together.

The difference between our first week and our second week sticks out to me greatly. In our first week, I look back and see just some students going to an early class and almost dreading the idea of having to look nice and be fully alert at 7:25 am. But now after this second week, it already appears to be different from that. The students, at least I myself, appear to enjoy the time they have during the hour and a half in the morning, and really want to work now. Even if that means having to be at Allsup at 6:30 in the morning for a three hour bus ride. Holiday World gave some excellent insight on how to be a business that can be productive and have fun as well.

I actually really enjoyed our visits this week as well. When we visited Jeff Dosier on Thursday, I got a lot of good information out of the meeting we had. Much of it was based on giving yourself a good social media representation and making sure you give yourself a good image in general. Especially if that seems as simple as a handshake and eye contact, I have some very good notes, and just advice in general to take from that meeting which I know I’ll carry with me for a while. Also visiting the Egyptian Workspace Partners was an excellent experience. I thought that Brett Baltz gave some very good insight on how the market is constantly changing, and how they have kept their business up with the market and millennials.

To conclude, I really enjoyed Belleville CEO this week. We found extra time to work on our badge project as well, and it really is coming along well. I have plenty of notes and advice from all the companies we've visited, and hopefully next week is even better.

John Lewis
Friday, September 1, 2017Learn More About John

Holiday World is one of the most successful amusement parks. I thought getting a behind the scenes look at the park was a pretty great opportunity. There's a lot that goes into making a big park like that run each day. In every area of the park there's multiple different “teams” working at once to make sure the area is clean, guests can eat, rides work, guests can ride the rides, etc. Teamwork is one of their main objectives day in and day out. Guest hospitality is the most important thing to holiday world. Having a “the customers always comes first” mentality I think is what has made them so successful. They try their best to make the customer happy, and go as far as free drinks, free sun block, and free parking.

First impressions are deal makers or breakers in the world of business. Dr Jeff Dosier taught us about the importance of soft skills, something as small as a limp handshake can ruin a job for you. Social media has expanded its uses to more than keeping in touch with friends. Today most places hiring check applicants social media to see if anything at all makes an applicant unworthy of the job. Dr. Jeff Dosier from District 201 showed us how important it is to be smart and not post anything stupid onto social media.

James Wiegers
Friday, September 1, 2017Learn More About James

This week during this class I have realized that a business can be completely different on the inside compared to prior standpoints. More times than not, I drive past many businesses and I do not even know what product or service they sell. After visiting a few local businesses, I understand that there are many innovative businesses that I thought were just slow, old, local companies.

The key concept I picked up from the visit to Holiday World was how important customer service is. The rule of thumb is if you make your employees happy, in return, they will make the customers happy. Creating an environment where employees feel relaxed and well-treated will result in higher productivity because they will be genuinely happy, and that is contagious. Being hospitable is the foundation of Holiday World. One of their polices is L-E-A-P which stands for Listen, Empathize, Apologize, and Perform, performance being the vital step in the process. This stuck out to me because everyone spreads their frustrations into irrational outlets. The problem a customer is upset about may have absolutely nothing to do with the worker they have come upon, yet they take it out on them. The workers at Holiday World have learned not to take it personal, and the best way to please the customer is to improve their situation in whatever way possible. Sometimes it may just be simply answering questions to clear up confusion, but their sole goal is to improve the customers’ situation and experience. Personally, I am going to strive to use this tactic when I am working now, and in the future.

During the visit to District Belleville Office, the concept of the importance of one’s reputation and Internet reputation were reiterated. The difference between the two is that one’s Internet reputation is documented and may never go away, whereas a reputation is just by perception. They are both equally important and require different maintenance and skills. For the Internet, one must remember to keep everything appropriate and try not to be very controversial. For a personal reputation, soft skills are very important, such as good eye contact, a firm handshake, and making small talk. These tips can take you a long way in life.

Elizabeth Harla
Friday, September 1, 2017Learn More About Elizabeth

Personable. The virtue word my school adopted for the week for our virtue program. This word has been the representative of this week for CEO. Personable means to have a pleasant manner or appearance, which is vital to every business to have happy customers. Appearance is everything for a business, and if you don't show a friendly appearance, you can't expect to get far.

Holiday World had the best example of being personable out of our visits for the week. They make sure their amiable appearance is their top priority. They go out of their way to please their customers. Their employees have a guideline to go by which insures that the customer will have the best experience possible. Also they offer services such as free parking and free soft drinks. Things like this make businesses thrive and makes the customers want to come back again.

What really caught on to me the most from that experience, wasn't just how nice they were to their customers, but was the affection they gave for their employees. Making work seem like another family is just incredible. It's something I would love at a work place. They even have a bus service for a 50 mile radius to insure their employees can make it to work. When businesses don't just care about money, and invest time into being personable, it just makes the world a better place.

I've learned that being personable is a great marketing technique to appeal to many people, but it just doesn't have to be used for business. Being personable in real life is something I can do to make my life and others people's lives better. Things such as opening the door for someone, completing someone, helping someone when they are feeling down, etc. Not only is this nice but is also a way to be a better person, which is some I strive to be every day.

Cam Wicks
Friday, September 1, 2017Learn More About Cam

This week was definitely one of increased productivity for our group as a whole. Monday and Tuesday we were keeping busy at Allsup working on our badge project which is coming along at a pretty good rate. Everyone knows their roles for the most part and there really is a set plan of action for how we want to get this project done as a whole. Finding ways to stay actively connected such as through a shared email account, the Groupme, and multiple google documents to check progress has had an active role in us working as a team.

On Wednesday, when we got to go to Holiday World, while it was more of a fun experience than one full of learning it was still helpful. The team at Holiday World really emphasized exactly how important the staff you hire is to your company's success. It amazed me that they bused in their seasonal workers from a 50 mile radius each year to help the workers out. Another huge note at Holiday World was how to remain effective with customers and knowing they are the reason a company is able to thrive and grow. Most companies in our society are based on human interaction and customer service which means that it needs to be held to an extremely high standard.

Thursday at the Belleville District Office it was expressed how important your online reputation is to your success, both in getting hired for a job and while hiring your employees. It was drilled into our memory that anything we put out there is always going to be accessible regardless of if we delete it. Many companies in today’s society use your social accounts to see how we truly are and if they want us to reflect them as a company.

Friday at Egyptian we saw how something as simple as a rebranding can ultimately aid in pushing an already successful company that much further into profiting. We were shown how important it is to keep up with what is going on around us while thinking about our companies. We should not get stuck in old traditional ways and expect a good outcome as the world and technology is always evolving around us.

Josie Proffitt
Friday, September 1, 2017Learn More About Josie

This week the activities for CEO was even more exciting and even more enthralling than last week. On Wednesday we took a trip to Holiday World where we learned some things on how to make a business work. At Holiday World the presenters taught us that a team attitude and how we treat our customers can really affect how well or poorly our business will do. They also made it clear that getting to know your customer and appealing to the customer can really help your business succeed in the long run.

On Thursday we were at the Belleville School District building and we learned how social media can be used for good and bad. Some of the pros of social media are that it connects people, it is entertainment, it boosts self-esteem, and it can also make business easier. But we also learned that some cons of social media are that it can ruin your reputation, it can take away from your social life, and you can get involved with the wrong people. Also while we were at the district building we learned about soft skills. Soft skills are the way you interact with others and how first impressions matter in the business world. Some ways to make a good impression are to make eye contact, have a firm handshake, and to let them know that you respect and trust them.

On Friday we went to Egyptian Business Furniture in downtown Belleville and I believe that this experience really helped our whole class learn how to market a product and I believe that it will also help us with our badge project now and our class business project in the future. Also at Egyptian they showed us that making a brand isn't just coming up with a name it is also choosing how and where you want to market your brand and how to choose a color scheme that will appeal to the everyday customer. Another great piece of advice that the people at Egyptian gave us was to look at the cost of not doing something.  What that means is to look at the cost of not doing a certain project could have a higher price in the long run than the price of actually doing the project.

Jake Roche
Friday, September 1, 2017Learn More About Jake