Conference centre seeks corporate gigs.

With a new team in place and a fresh coat of paint, the operators of the Elk Lake Eco Resource Centre are eager to attract some big corporate fish to their wilderness conference centre.

After being mothballed for a year, the six-year-old centre re-opened in late 2005, with a fresh influx of start-up cash from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and an army of volunteers to restructure and renovate the facility.

There have been some hard lessons learned by previous management after some money-eating building deficiencies and a decline in the region's forest industry sapped their efforts to showcase the secluded meeting venue situated about a half-hour's drive west of Highway 11.

New General Manager Pamela Hamel of the registered non-profit organization says they're planning a marketing blitz across northeastern Ontario and into southern Ontario to promote corporate team building excursions and "experienced-based" eco-tourism opportunities.

In January, Hamel was in the process of adding to their staff of 10 with a recently-hired resident chef as well as working on a possible partnership with Muskoka's Deer-hurst Resort for catering and corporate retreats.

The centre, which opened in 2000 and operated for three-and-half years before briefly closing, relied too heavily on the forest industry for corporate bookings as a meeting and training venue when it should have taken a "multi-pronged approach," says Hamel.

As well there were numerous building structural problems.

"It was like a boat with holes in it. General managers were running around trying to fix plumbing and heating problems."

Those problems ate into revenues that otherwise would have gone into marketing and programming.

Now the centre is back on track with $241,719 in government funding and new six-member board in place with a cross-section of forestry, financial and public sector reps.

"When a centre of this magnitude is closed for a year there's quite a bit upkeep that needed to be taken care of," says Hamel, that included landscaping work and many minor repairs.

The idea of even establishing a major $5 million conference centre in a remote part of Northern Ontario with no existing client base to build upon was a major undertaking.

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"It's quite the magnitude for a business," says Hamel. "Lemme tell ya it's not like a mom and pop business. You don't build up clients over a period of years. Open the doors and the bills start coming in."

But today with so much mineral exploration activity in the region, there are plenty of new booking opportunities.

The conference centre is a totally wired facility with latest audio/visual equipment and meeting space capacity for as many as 80 people. The six chalets provide a total of 35 bedrooms with Internet access.

Hamel, who arrived with a government management consulting background, officially took over the general manager's position on January 1. She's been involved in the eco-centre's programming for school kids, having so far succeeded in drawing 700 in the last eight months.

Besides pursuing big corporate clients for hosting executive retreats, Hamel wants to showcase the centre for school outings, social gatherings, specialty dinners and weekend brunches combined with an outdoor activity.

Some of their bookings this year include weddings, corporate and government training sessions.

"We're super busy in spring and fall with numerous retreats."

But Hamel says they're careful not to compete with local outfitters in the area, the so-called "hook and bullet industry"

We're not set up for hunting and fishing, that's not the type of chalets we have.

Because the centre is restricted to 35 beds some of the overflow has gone to local tourist operators. "In a number of instances, they've had bookings because of us."

www.elklakeeco.ca

By IAN ROSS

Northern Ontario Business