It’s hard to believe the holidays are here and 2019 is just weeks away.  It’s a wonderful time to spend with family, enjoy the company of friends and reflect on 2018.  It’s also the time of year people begin to make their annual resolutions for changes they would like to make in the coming year.  While making your New Year’s resolutions, don’t forget to about your job and changes you would like to make there as well.  Here are my resolutions to help get you started…

My first resolution for 2019 is to better develop the relationship I have with my Parks & Recreation department.  While some cities have amazing private sports parks or school facilities to utilize, many of us rely a great deal on our public parks to host many of our events.  As cities to continue to grow and the availability of open field time shrinks, a great relationship with your parks and recreation staff can help overcome facility obstacles.  Strong relationships can help lead to creative ideas on how to move flexible events, prioritize new events and help to minimize issues that may arise while events are in town.  The bottom line is the parks and recreation folks are crucial in the success that you have with both repeat and new events.

Speaking of repeat events, my second resolution is to make sure I communicate how appreciative I am of my annual, reoccurring events.  Big, new events are great to bring in and impress your boss and board of directors, but the community would be greatly affected if annual events packed up and moved elsewhere.  Many of our stakeholders rely on those annual events for business and count on them when forecasting for the next year.  How often do you follow-up them?  Make sure each tournament director truly understands how impactful their event is to your community. 

My final resolution is to diversify my tournament portfolio.  Often, we get stuck in a rut when looking for new events.  Many of our thoughts go to traditional sports like basketball or soccer when in there are more non-traditional sports and events out there.  NASC does a fantastic job of bringing all kinds of new sports to their annual Symposium.  Start your research now and plan on meeting with events that use the facilities you already have, but in non-conventional ways.

Of course, the key to any successful resolution is making sure that it doesn’t fall by the wayside.  Set reminders on your calendar to send an email or make a call, follow-up on a previous conversation or even take your contact out to lunch.  The more committed you stay to your resolutions, the greater your chance of achieving your goals.

Here’s to wishing you a safe and joyous holiday season and a Happy New Year!

Joshua Bricker
Sports & Leisure Sales Manager
Dublin Convention & Visitors Bureau
NASC Mentoring and Engagement Committee