Welcome to the
13th edition of RTO7’s staff picks of the month! It’s a great way to learn about this training platform firsthand as we share our experiences and recommendations on Typsy courses. This on-line training platform is available free-of charge to those that work in tourism in BruceGreySimcoe, and to all levels of employers and employees – business owners, managers, full-time and part-time staff, and seasonal employees.
After reading our choices below, try Typsy out for yourself and be sure to share this awesome training tool with your staff and co-workers.
Bill Sullivan, CEO, RTO7 / BruceGreySimcoe
Typsy Pick of the Month: Managing Barriers to Improve Productivity
Total Lesson Length: 4.5 minutes
Have you ever found yourself in the midst of a whirlwind at work, especially during the "Peak Season"? The rush of meetings, relentless deadlines, and constant planning can be overwhelming. But let me share something game-changing with you. In the midst of this chaos, I discovered a powerful tool on Typsy: a lesson on Managing Barriers to Improve Productivity. It felt tailor-made for these intense work periods.
What I Gained: This lesson was an epiphany and a reminder. It not only revealed how to expertly manage time amidst chaos but also assured me that there are solutions. Knowing that I'm not alone and that there are practical solutions was a relief. The prospect of sharing this lesson with our team and you is exciting. In essence, this lesson equips us with strategies. When time is managed effectively, we can transform this frenzied peak season into a period of remarkable productivity and growth.
The Strategy: Armed with this knowledge, I invite you to join me on a journey of strategic time management. Let's schedule our work intelligently, plan for potential interruptions, streamline our processes, and ensure that everyone understands their role. This concerted effort will allow all of us to function like a finely-tuned machine.
The Profound Impact: This lesson holds the potential to revolutionize our approach. It's likely the initial step towards enhancing efficiency, achieving better results, and experiencing heightened job satisfaction. Time constraints need not be viewed as adversaries; instead, they can be leveraged as allies in our quest for efficiency and profitability.
Join the Movement: This Typsy lesson on Managing Barriers to Improve Productivity isn't just a lesson – it's a potential game-changer. When the rush of your busy season arrives, let this knowledge be your compass.
More About Bill
Bill Sullivan is the CEO of Regional Tourism Organization 7, BruceGreySimcoe. Bill has over 40 years in senior management roles within the hospitality and tourism industry in rural Ontario. Bill’s operational experience during previous booms, recessions, emergencies, pandemics is assisting the industry on its road to recovery. Bill is responsible for strategic planning and operations of the organization. Prior to joining RTO7, Bill held progressive management positions over a 30-year career in resort operations. Bill received his education in the Hospitality and Tourism program at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University).
Alex Hogan, Project & Administration Manager, RTO7 / BruceGreySimcoe
Typsy Pick of the Month: Knife Essentials
Total Course Length: 40 minutes
I enjoy cooking and admittedly haven’t invested in quality knives so thought it would be good to learn a bit about knife essentials. Luckily, one of the things I learned in this lesson is an expensive knife is not always an indicator of good quality. I learned quite a bit in this course including the 3 most useful knives for a starting kit. The most interesting insight for me was the reasons why you want a sharp knife – there’s way more to it than I would have recognized. And counter intuitively, sharpening a knife increases the serrations on the blade. We use a pull through sharpener (which is not ideal) but is a time saver in the kitchen. I also appreciated the basics on how to let the knife do the work.
More About Alex
Alex Hogan is the Program & Administration Manager at RTO7 and has over 20 years’ experience managing a wide variety of projects. Alex brings strong communication and organizational skills to projects to meet the needs and objectives of partners and projects. She manages the Partnership Program, as well as contributing to sustainable tourism and workforce development projects. Prior to RTO7, Alex managed training projects for a Toronto based environmental consulting company specializing in waste management and climate change issues. She graduated from Environment and Resource Studies at the University of Waterloo.
Ginny Henry, Communication Coordinator, RTO7 / BruceGreySimcoe
Typsy Pick of the Month: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
Total Mentor Session Length: 4 minutes
One of the things (and there are many) that I love about Typsy is the option of choosing a short lesson or mentor session when I’m pressed for time. What I learned in this beautifully filmed video is the positive messaging of the young Aussie-Fijian Chef, Louis Tikaram. His chief hiring practice includes looking for two main traits in applicants: passion and a willingness to learn. With these, he says, he can train anyone to be a chef – the above are the two most important ingredients (pardon the pun!). Essential teamwork tips for any commercial kitchen or, in my opinion, any workplace anywhere are:
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Be there for your fellow cooks and they will be there when you need them most
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Help train each other and encourage the team to ask questions or ask for help
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Communicate with your team to achieve greatness together
Simple advice, to the point and easy to implement and encourage among staff. Warning: the food in this video looks so amazing, you may be hungry at the end!
More About Ginny
Ginny Henry is the Communication Coordinator at Regional Tourism Organization 7 / BruceGreySimcoe. Her career in the tourism industry started from the “bottom up”, with a summer job cleaning toilets and rooms at a family-run motel in Port Elgin, Ontario just over 40 years ago. Many of her job choices were inspired by the words, “it’s something I’ve always wanted to do”, with a strong focus on customer service, tourism, event organization and small business support. Her role at RTO7 includes social media, overseeing the seasonal partnership/image campaigns, newsletters, website content and pretty much anything communication-related that crops up. Ginny has a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa.
Kim Clarke, Manager, Stakeholder Relations RTO7 / BruceGreySimcoe
Typsy Pick of the Month: Slips, Trips and Falls
Total Course Length: 14 minutes
So many businesses have trouble finding and keeping employees these days so making sure the workplace is safe and free of hazards is critical to ensuring they can keep coming to work.
I’ve completed a few of the WHS courses led by Luke Croston and he really does have a passion for keeping people safe at work. Slips, trips and falls can happen every day, is all aspects of life, so sometimes I forget that these are important hazards than can easily be prevented. Although this video focuses on hazards in restaurants, there are lots of tips to take away from this course that can be implemented in any workplace.
This is a short course but a great reminder of how you can make any workplace a safe one!
More About Kim
Kim Clarke is the Manger, Stakeholder Relations at Regional Tourism Organization 7, BruceGreySimcoe. Kim has spent over 15 years in the tourism industry working in destination development and management. She works closely with a variety of stakeholders to help them create amazing new experiences, managing visitation and works to find solutions to the workforce crisis. Kim is the lead for the experience and workforce development files at RTO7. She received her formal education, Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Allison Davies, Communication Assistant, RTO7 / BruceGreySimcoe
Typsy Pick of the Month: Espresso Coffee Drinks
Total Course Length: 19 minutes
Award winning barista Hugh Kelly leads this short course on preparing a variety of espresso coffee drinks. Why did I take this course? Well first of all, I love coffee. I like drinking coffee, I like ordering coffee with confidence, and I spend way too much time at our local coffee shops (like Good Grief, Royal Majesty, and Espresso Post) marveling at the intricate leaves they design on top of my lattes.
I was intrigued to know if a course like this would be useful for local coffee shop owners as they train new staff. My conclusion is that yes, while nothing could replace hands on training with new hires, this would be a great intro to learning what the different drinks are with visual cues on how to make them.
The course covers everything from making a basic espresso to a flat white, a latte, a macchiato, and a mocha. It even has helpful tips on how to divide your milk when filling a multi-cup take out order. Kelly has also included some fun facts on each drink that would make for good behind the counter food for conversation with customers.
I now know that it takes 70 coffee beans to make an espresso. That an Americano was created in World War II to make espresso go further. That latte means milk in Italian and that a flat white is called that because it has less foam and is therefore ‘flatter’.
I found the host to be efficient, funny, and knowledgeable. Also, Espresso Coffee Drinks is just one in a series of courses that Kelly hosts that would all help coffee shop owners train new staff or serve as refreshers for existing staff.
All in all, I enjoyed this course. It made me want to head out to a local café right now and place my order and to marvel at the latte art that they get just right each time. Now I am aware of just how much more goes on behind the scenes of serving a perfect espresso drink.
More About Allison
Allison Davies is a writer, photographer and content creator who has worked for Regional Tourism Organization 7 in the Communication Assistant role for 5 years. As a trained photojournalist, she worked for many local DMOs on both writing and photography projects before joining the RTO7 team full time. Today she uses those skills to help support tourism operators by marketing the region through social media and web content. She has an English Literature degree from McGill University and a Photojournalism Diploma from Loyalist College. In her free time, Allison loves to shoot sports and continues to write for several magazines on a freelance basis.
Amanda Pausner, Experience & Administration Coordinator, RTO7 / BruceGreySimcoe
Typsy Pick of the Month: Hosting
Total Course Length: 50 minutes
This course taught by Kate Edwards on hosting teaches viewers that the job of the host in a restaurant is one of the most important ones, they provide the first and last impression of the business. They are key communicator between the back and front of the restaurant and have the most information about the guest. The host holds a lot of power and authority!
Did you know that only 7% of communication is verbal, 38% is vocal and the highest percentage of communication is non-verbal at 55% (we call this body language). That is why it is important to ensure that vocal and non-verbal communication match what is being said to guests, messages can be perceived differently if they are said with a disinterested tone, or if the hostess is looking away or distracted.
When a host is communicating with a guest, try and avoid using the word ‘no’, instead replace it with, ‘I would love to’ and..list options, or ‘I wish I could’ or ‘Yes but..’. Using the word YOU is the most persuasive word.
When taking a reservation or communicating with a future guest over the phone it is key to ensure you are poised, smiling, and sounding authentic when responding to the person on the phone. Always clarify what you heard, so you are certain the information gained is correct and meets the needs of the guest.
The course consists of 9 lessons, is 51 minutes in length and Kate is very engaging. At the end of each lesson tips, tricks and advice packages are available for the viewer to reference or integrate within their business.
More About Amanda
Amanda has worked in the tourism industry for over 23 years. She joined the RTO7 team in 2018 in her current position as Experience & Administration Coordinator. She assists with administration duties, programs offered by RTO7 and, over the last two years, has led the T3 Accelerator Coaching Program, which supports small businesses in Bruce, Grey and Simcoe Counties. Previously, she worked with Grey County Tourism for 16 years, managing operator relations and working as a media relations specialist, showcasing what the area had to offer. While taking the Tourism Management course at Georgian College, Barrie she spent her summers with the Owen Sound Transportation Company (MS Chi-Cheemaun Ferry). In her spare time, Amanda enjoys travelling with her family of four and working in her many veggie gardens.
Robyn Hewitt, Program Coordinator, RTO7 / BruceGreySimcoe
Typsy Pick of the Month: Draft Beer Operations
Total Course Length: 53 minutes
I spent a year in my early 20s working in one of London England’s best pubs, The White Horse on Parson’s Green. As a bartender, I served to locals, celebrities (does the name Rick Astley ring a bell?), and beer lovers alike. We served and maintained over 25 drought and draft beers from around the world and although I knew a lot about beer, I never learned the cellar operations. Having visited a couple of our region’s craft breweries this week, I decided to jump back into it. WOW! This course is packed with everything you need to know about how draft systems work, safe handling of the kegs, gas, and cleaning products, as well as a tremendous lesson (just 6 minutes) on minimizing wastage and maximizing returns. Even if you contract a draft beer professional to maintain your operations, I highly recommend this course to all our food & beverage stakeholders who offer draft or draught beer in their establishment. You can even use “pouring draft beer” and “changing and tapping kegs”, both under 5 minutes to help train your staff. Cheers!
More About Robyn
Robyn joined RTO7 as the Program Coordinator in August 2021 and brings a diverse background with almost 20 years of experience in various capacities of sales, marketing, and partnership development in the hospitality and tourism industry. Much of her experience is within the hotel sector where she specialized in the leisure travel trade, selling multiple properties within the Marriott family of brands. She has experience in creating integrated sales and marketing strategies and has managed the digital marketing for a large urban hotel. Robyn oversees the RTO7 Implementation Programs (OIP, SIP, RIP), as well as the administration of the Typsy training platform. She received a Business Commerce Degree in Hospitality & Tourism Management at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) and completed a Certificate of Digital Marketing Management through the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Toronto.