At OHCE 2024, Vital Germaine, president of ENGAGE Teams 360, addressed campground owners in a keynote highlighting the importance of attitude, creativity, and emotional intelligence in building successful operations. Known for his engaging approach, Germaine used personal experiences to demonstrate how these qualities can enhance campground management and improve customer satisfaction.
As a former Cirque du Soleil team captain, Germaine offered a unique perspective, blending performance discipline with leadership insights. The keynote moved into the critical role of collaboration, where Germaine introduced interactive activities to illustrate teamwork’s potential. One exercise, the “desert island” scenario, challenged attendees to prioritize survival items together, emphasizing the value of listening and leveraging each person’s strengths.
Germaine noted that when individuals bring their unique skills to the table, the outcomes are often greater than expected—a valuable lesson for campground teams aiming to enhance operations.
The keynote also tackled the importance of creativity. A practical exercise underscored the value of creativity, with Germaine urging attendees to “shake off” mental constraints and reach for new possibilities. He demonstrated that creativity could be applied in every role, including in the campground environment.
“By the way, here’s my definition of creativity: having an open, curious, flexible, and childlike mindset that allows us to envision beyond limitations, take risks, adapt, and reach higher,” Germaine said, encouraging campground operators to view creativity as a tool for innovation.
The keynote also focused on emotional intelligence, or EQ, a skill Germaine described as fundamental to cultivating trust within teams. He stressed success relies heavily on strong team relationships, which are built through understanding and responding to team members’ and guests’ needs. By applying empathy, campground managers can foster trust, enabling smoother operations and more meaningful connections with their teams and guests.
Germaine advised attendees to assess their reliability and consistency—key components of trustworthiness in any business relationship. “We are loyal to brands, businesses, and people that we can trust,” he noted, emphasizing that campground owners who demonstrate genuine care and dependability will not only strengthen team cohesion but also create a loyal guest base.
He also shared how embracing a positive attitude is essential for campground owners facing daily challenges. Recounting his time with Cirque, he recalled the “showtime” mentality performers adopt—leaving personal struggles behind to deliver an unforgettable experience.
“At Cirque du Soleil, we have the same issues that you do. There are days we don’t feel good, there is company policy we don’t agree with, we have fights with our significant others, and there are colleagues we don’t like—all the same realities. Off stage, life sucks. But the minute we step on stage, we make it showtime,” Germaine shared.
Concluding his session, the OHCE2024 Keynote summarized the three pillars—attitude, creativity, and emotional intelligence—into an acronym, ACE. He challenged attendees to identify one actionable takeaway they would implement to “reach higher.”
