Welcome meetings/Snow Briefs..love or hate them?

Yes I realise as opposed to summer and your many bar crawl or drinking activities are different to winter. And having worked 4 winter seasons in resorts and mountains I realise people obviously like an Apres drink and meal after a day on the mountain. But I will also or like to talk about, lessons for everyone no matter your ability, things to do that don't involve drinking, especially if you have children, ski guiding and what it offers. And it's all about the audience,and what THEY want.
But keep the info coming, thanks all again.

The best welcome meetings I've been to are the ones which impart the information pertinant to everyone first, Lift passes, ski school meeting points, bus timetable,maps, reps phone number for emergencies and hand out a timetable of events like guiding etc
At that point you can either leave or stay to find out about other trips you may or may not be interested in.
My budget will not allow me to to do husky rides etc, I really don't want to sit through the hard sell for three quarters of an hour before finding out where they post avalanche warnings or whether the gondola starts late on mondays because thats when they do service inspections. -)

Don't like the pub crawls, if you want to do that then you don't need a rep on commission to show you the way, another downside is that the crawl will turn up in the bar your using & spoil yours & others enjoyment :evil:

Best one i had was in Flaine last year, we met in the pub and had a few beers with the rep. Really informal.

If you work for a chalet only company, then IMHO, and from experience, then there is no need for a welcome meeting outside the chalet. Most guests will have met you on the transfer so get the chalet staff to speak with their guests before dinner, and whizz around as many chalets as possible yourself on the first evening, and then invite yourself to dinner at different chalets each night.

I guess if you have hotel and self catering guests it's very different, but keep it short, and be on time, and not in an expensive bar!

Short and sweet - I don't want to be given the hard sell on trips and excursions, just need the important stuff if I am in a new resort I've never been to before.

Been to LDA 3 times, last time was in Hotel Aalborg which is entirely run by Neilson staff. On the coach, they invited us down for a drink in the bar with the welcome meeting to follow if people wanted to attend. They had given out the lift passes, etc, on the coach and knowing the resort, we didn't go to the meeting but it was a nice opportunity to meet some of the staff and have a drink with everyone.

Many didn't go to the meet, but stayed in the bar for another drink and a chat - good atmosphere.

Dont go.

Find everything out for yourself. It is more fun :)

All helps with the pre holiday prep/excitement

My experience is thus:

Rep meets you at airport and travels on bus. Irrespective of the time of day, all I want to know is what are conditions like up the mountain and where is my lift pass.

I think they should then stage 2 tier welcome meetings at the accommodation, not in some dingy over priced bar without enough free drinks.
There should be a welcome for new or inexperienced skiers giving info on ski school and the basics that a lot of people seem to want to know and dont bother finding out themselves.

Us seasoned skiers really dont want to know about lessons, husky rides, bar crawls etc as has been said already. However, I also think there should be an informal meeting for those who just want some info. Such as: which bars off the slopes do a happy hour, where are the decent huts to eat up the mountain, what time is first/last lift and do you need to be across a certain link by a certain time in order to make it back alive, and basically an informal chat about decent runs, weather forecasts, and where to find untracked powder. Oh and bus timetables and details if you need to use them.

I dont do trips either on ski holidays or summer ones either and I know that the reps will use the welcome meeting as a disguise to flog you extra things at ridiculously inflated prices so I avoid them. I do find I am capable of finding out pretty much most things I want to know by reading WTSS, talking on here, and doing my own online research, but I do find it interesting to speak informally to one of the reps about the conditions and the runs up the mountain to see what they have found to be good, bearing in mind they've been there a long enough time usually.