INC. Magazine Hosts A Select Group of Motorcycle Riding CEO’s and Business Owners For The First Of Its Kind “Riders Summit” in North Las Vegas This Fall
Ask any motorcyclist worth their chaps and he or she will tell you they’ve had the experience of finding an unexpected waterfall, twisty road or breathtaking sunset vista at least once during their time spent in the saddle.
It’s a word INC. Magazine president Bob LaPointe, and author Dwain M. Deville are both familiar with.
But what does that have to do with motorcycle riders and entrepreneurs? A lot more, it seems, than anyone knew or guessed. That is until a year or so when LaPointe put together the first CEO ride at an INC 5000 conference in Phoenix Arizona.
LaPointe, himself a “boomerang” Harley-Davidson rider (someone who grows up riding motorcycles and leaves it while raising a family and returns when the kids are grown) says he wasn’t thinking about the business implications at that first ride.
“I decided that I’d just try getting together a group of entrepreneurs, CEO’s of privately held companies that tend to attend our national conferences and we’d take a ride of 4 or 5 hours together prior to the conference. I did it for the first time in Phoenix and we had 20 riders sign up.”
Founder and co-host Bob LaPointe is the president of INC. Magazine.
LaPointe says something quite unexpected and magical happened after the ride. “It was serendipity. This group of riders (who didn’t know each other before the event) stuck together like glue through the entire conference. We saw them in sessions together, they would sit at meals together. If someone was local, they would invite all the riders over to their homes for dinner, we’d see them late night at the bar together drinking beer.”
Summit co-host Dwain M. Deville is a professional speaker, author and entrepreneur.
The bonding that resulted in that first, (and several subsequent rides) inspired this first ever event, INC Riders Summit. Sponsored by Inc Magazine and hosted by author Dwain Deville, (Bikers Guide to Business) scheduled for November 12-15 at the Aliante Casino & Resort, in North Las Vegas NV. The Riders Summit promises to be a very different networking and community event that will bring together some of the most extraordinary CEO’s in the world, INC 5000 companies, growth companies, entrepreneurs, for highly interactive networking and business sessions with afternoon, into early evening rides, sprinkled with other great experiential activity such as trap shooting and premium cigar sampling.
The Riders Summit itself is the result of a chance meeting between LaPointe and Deville. Deville was at a conference promoting his book, Bikers Guide to Business, when he overhead LaPointe talking about surviving cancer. Deville, also a cancer survivor, introduced himself and offered LaPointe a copy of his book, who upon reading the title, revealed that he rode a Harley. The two men struck up a conversation which led to a 90 minute meeting in the offices of INC. Magazine which led into the CEO rides at the INC Conferences, which sparked the birth of the Riders Summit.
Limited to 50 spots, the total cost of the (all inclusive) summit is just under $5,000 which includes meals, hotels, chase vehicle and even the motorcycle you’ll need while you’re there. While that sounds high, think about how much you may have spent for a few days in Daytona or Sturgis during one of the national rallies. From a business standpoint, you probably could not claim any of that as legitimate business expenses, nor were you in a position to meet potential customers or form long lasting business partnerships.
Deville says price was carefully considered to attract the top level CEO’s who can afford it. “If you’re going to drop 4500 dollars you’re already going to understand the investment and the benefit of that investment. Because you’re going to meet people at your level, you’re going to meet people doing business in certain ways.” Deville added, “It’s the opportunity to really create a whole new tribe. A different tribe of people at your level.”
LaPointe and Deville both laugh at the prospect of forming a C-Suite exclusive “biker club” like the Brothers of the Boardroom or the Wall Street Disciples. Neither men rule out the possibility of a future club, but LaPoint says, “My vision of success is to be riding someday and by serendipity finding somewhere a woman, guy or couple wearing one of our damn cool t-shirts or jackets with INC Riders Summit logo on it.”
Knowing his history with serendipity, that’s a chance meeting we’d put high odds on happening.
For more information on the inaugural INC. Riders Summit, visit www.riders.inc.com
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