In the dynamic and ever-evolving world of fairs and rodeos, succession planning has emerged as a critical factor for ensuring the longevity of these cherished events. As new generations step up to take the reins, the transition of leadership becomes pivotal in maintaining the integrity and success of fairs and rodeos across the nation. To chat more about this topic, I was thrilled to sit down with Courtny Conkle, who at just 28 years old, has already made significant strides as the CEO of the Wyoming State Fair. Courtny shares her journey from her early beginnings in California to her current role, emphasizing the importance of structured succession planning in fostering sustainable growth and preserving the rich traditions of the rodeo and fair industry.
Krysta: What is your background that allowed you to step into this CEO role at just 27 years old?
Courtny: I’m originally from California and my family has been working in fairs and events for almost 40 years. I distinctly remember back in 2011 and 2012, there was a lot of conversation about fair funding in California, and then that funding had been cut from the budget overnight. When that happened, I realized that the industry was going to need a lot of change in leadership over the next decade or so. It was also around that time, I knew I wanted to become a fair manager by the time I was in my 30s. Since then, we’ve had such a massive transition in our industry over the last decade, and looking back, I actually got that opportunity a lot earlier than I thought it was going to. The most important aspect of this industry is that we need to treat fairs and rodeos as a business in order to protect the integrity of these events for future generations.
Krysta: What did your first role look like to prepare you for the CEO position?
Courtny: I got offered an opportunity to be an exhibit representative in California, which is a state position but it had been three positions before the funding cut. So it used to be a static exhibit so everything from jams and jellies to baked goods to all of the livestock, and then also all the interim events. I was offered that position when I was 17 and I had to wait until I was 18 to formally accept my state job. Once I got into my role, there was very little documentation about what the job entailed. It was then I learned that I think people have good intentions, but people don’t know how to leave roles. So I was in that position for a few years. And then one of my lovely friends and current fair CEO got pregnant and she was due that week of the fair. So it was at that time I got my first opportunity to be a CEO when I was 20. I served as the interim CEO there on and off for about nine months and then I was offered my first full-time permanent CEO position managing the Lake County Fair.
Krysta: Tell me a little bit about your specific role now. What does your job entail from start to finish?
Courtny: That’s such a great question to ask because it’s different every day. There’s so much to it. It’s also transformed a lot in the last five years as our organization has grown. For the day-to-day, I manage all the operations of the Wyoming State Fair, everything from major preventative maintenance to our event planning to the actual production of the annual State Fair and our PRCA rodeo. This last year we had 479 unique event days in a calendar year. We’re also working on a lot of team development. Right now, people are staying in positions for less than two years on average and so it means that you kind of have this constantly transforming team. So with that, we try to work a lot on boosting morale and really investing in the values of the organization that transcend our current team. Ultimately, we know that there’s going to change, it’s inevitable, but we want to make sure that we’re keeping those core values as we move to that next iteration of what the state fair is going to look like.
Krysta: What are some of the biggest challenges when it comes to succession planning at the scale you are at?
Courtny: The Wyoming State Fair has been in existence now for 119 years, and that is absolutely amazing. I feel like my job is to make sure that we’ve got the foundation where we can move forward for another 119 plus. One of the biggest challenges that we see that we want to face head-on is that we don’t have anything from accurate job descriptions to onboarding documentation to team and training elements. So we’ve really tried to focus on creating that collateral. The goal is to have a roadmap for every single position, but also pair that with the historic documentation of what the role is. So that’s something that I really want to make sure we focus on moving forward so that we don’t lose any of that history and tradition.
Krysta: What would be your top three recommendations for a rodeo or fair committee to have in place or start doing to be prepared for future generations?
Courtny: The first place to start is to look at your job descriptions and see if they’re accurate about what you’re doing and the different roles in your organization. Because that description is what your next position will be posted as so you want it to be accurate for both you and the potential employee. The other myth that I think we need to acknowledge and move past is that when you have a succession plan in place, it’s not one-and-done. It’s something that you’re adding to almost constantly because anytime a process changes or a point of contact changes, you’re updating that. So if I fell off the face of the world tomorrow, somebody could pick up essentially where I left off. I think if we can start looking at people’s careers and job opportunities, a little bit more like a relay race will be in much better shape. The last big thing that I’ve faced a lot is that, as a boss, if you approach succession planning in the wrong way, people will think that you are trying to get rid of them, or they will get really insecure about it. So the most important thing in this case is to lead by example. I want to leave the organization and the fair better than when I came in and having that mindset goes a long way with the rest of your team.
Courtny’s Closing Thoughts
One thing that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is we can’t be afraid of change and transitions. In fact, I think we really need to embrace that and understand that this is so much more cyclical than we give it credit for. Things are always going to be changing and evolving. Sometimes for the good, sometimes not but what can we do today to make tomorrow a little bit better? It can feel really scary when people leave jobs, and take on new jobs so just taking out some of the impostor syndrome and the fear of failure out of that because that’s what makes us human. We’re always learning and growing, so embrace the change. It’s worth it.
