630-484-2336 ben@bedo.org

IT’s a simple question–one I”m sure you’re asking yourself.

After all, just because I am calling this the “World’s First Coach Training Cruise” doesn’t mean that it’s something that you would necessarily sign up for.

I was aware of that right from the beginning.  And I knew that while the idea of a coach training cruise would be exciting and novel, but it would the the actual learning that would be the attraction that would make people willing to sign up and participate.

I had to start figuring this out quickly.  Although it would likely be a year away, (I was starting the planning back in January) time was going to disappear quickly and then it would be too late.

So what to do?  What to do?

The first thing we knew we had to establish was how long the cruise would be.  This depended on pricing, availability, itinerary and any perks the cruise line would offer.

My wonderful partner, Carol, who is also a travel agent, knew all the calls to make, the questions to ask, and the places to avoid.  She did a fantastic job researching different options during the end of winter time frame I suggested.

It became like something from a strange Goldilocks story.

The first cruise was too long.  10 days.

The second cruise was too short.  4 days.

And the third cruise was just right.  7 days.

Seven days seemed just perfect.  It was long enough to get away from the crazy of the world, and just enough time to fully recharge your batteries.  But any longer than that would make it difficult for many people to get away.  Even myself–I felt like I could easily arrange to skip a week with my clients, but two weeks was not going to fly too well.  Not when you’ve got momentum going on.

So one week cruise it was.

After researching various 7-day cruises in February and early March, we found this one leaving March 1.

It was perfect. Leaving from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and then making stops at the Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten islands.  (And they are all quite beautiful.)   What was even better was that schedule would allow us a few sea days that we could fill with training hours so that we wouldn’t conflict with shore excursions and all the fun activities that one does on cruises.  (And if you don’t know what that is, perhaps this might be a great time to find out.)

So once we settled on the date and the cruise itinerary, the next question was what were we going to do for all the “wonderful and exciting” coaching stuff.  How many hours was I going to fill and offer as CCEUs?  What was the content and learning?  What was the whole theme going to be?  Was it just myself or would there be others leading?  What would coaches be leaving with?  What would be exciting and beneficial and valuable for coaches to discover and experience?

In other words, why should they sign up for this in the first place?

And that wasn’t going to be as easy to figure out.

TUNE IN NEXT TUESDAY TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS