Best Practices

NEW YEAR - NEW YOU Happy New Year! The NASC Mentoring and Engagement Committee wishes each of you the best in 2019: in business, personal relationships, competitions, and personal growth! Goal #1 - I will read this entire blog post. Goal #2 - I will take the action at the end of the post. If you can reach these two goals you’ll begin the year with two ‘Wins!’ GOALS = SUCCESS If you want to succeed you must set goals. Without goals we flounder, directionless. Goals provide a roadmap, waypoints, direction, and, ultimately, achievement. Your goals can be short-term or long-term; your goals can be personal and/or professional; your goals can be big dreamer and/or mundane. The point is that with our goals on paper they become real and attainable. Take a few moments to review how to create, measure, and realize your goals! GET MOTIVATED Get excited about what you want to achieve this year. It’s a new year and we are all recharging for the upc...

As the football season moves into the playoffs, TravelPulse takes a look at the many similarities between sports and the business world. Both football and sales are contact sports in their own ways. In football, the contact is your rival team. In sales, you have three main contacts… Your first contact is your support network. Without the collaboration of your colleagues, your success would not be nearly as great. They keep you focused on moving towards your goals and hold you accountable. The client is known as your second contact. Typically lots of contact is made with the client via email, phone call, meetings, etc. to communicate and come to an agreement on a suitable outcome for both parties. Follow-up is the third and arguably most important contact. Because less than 30 percent of your clients will work with you again, working hard to maintain current clients is much more cost effective than finding new ones. It takes a team effort to achieve success. Be sure t...

A new year can bring the same troubles for event spaces. One of the biggest questions is how do you attract events to your venue or city. We found a few simple venue promotion ideas, thanks to Eventbrite. 1. Start with a Refresh It’s a simple idea, but it could really help. Review your website, social media channels and marketing. Make sure it’s up-to-date, on brand, and it’s selling your venue. 2. Update Photography This is the same idea as a refresh. If your pictures are outdated or grainy, it might be time to take a few new pictures. Don’t be afraid to include action in your photos whether it’s a team scrimmage or parents in the stands. This allows any potential client to visualize themselves in your venue or city. 3. Create a Virtual Tour Go one step further than photos. Give potential clients a 360° tour of your space on your website. EventBrite suggests getting started with a service like Google’s Tour Creator to showcase ...

I was lucky enough to attend the Inaugural Women’s Summit last year in Columbus, OH. I wasn’t sure what to expect with it being the first year that NASC put something like this together – it was great, everyone was a first timer! The first gathering of the Summit was the opening reception. It was relaxed and a great opportunity to meet other women in the industry. I met several colleagues I had not had the pleasure of meeting before, and are now friends. The thing I enjoy most about NASC events (Symposium, 4S, and now Women’s Summit) is the opportunity to meet others in the industry. I’m able to take the relationships I build and use it as a help line with any questions I may have regarding the sports world. The second day we had inspiring speakers, opportunities to talk about issues we encounter in our jobs as a group and were able to experience Tourney Town for Women’s Final Four (probably my favorite part of the event.) Not only was I able t...

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.&nbs...

Stuck on how to share information on Destinations International's Event Impact Calculator with the media in your community? Take a look at how Louisville Tourism is doing it: Calculating Individual Economic Impact of Louisville’s Conventions and Events In 2017, the LCVB transitioned to a new EIC (Economic Impact Calculator) which takes into account more variables than previous models. The Destinations International Event Impact Calculator (EIC) is the official industry standard for measuring the Estimated Economic Impact (EEI) of an event. Once event specific data is entered into the system (dates, attendance, room nights, number of exhibits, etc.), the calculator uses eight different sources of industry data (including city-specific data such as average room rate) to compile a complete event impact analysis. This model uses data provided by the organizing body such as anticipated room nights, attendance, ticket sales, length and type...

The Winter 2018-2019 edition of the NASC Playbook is available now.  Download your copy. Inside this issue Awards Commitee Accepting Entries Registration and Housing Open for 2019 Symposium Bylaws, Branding & Strategic Planning Tips from the Member Mentoring Committee We encourage members to share information with your peers. Contact Meagan Grau, Director of Member Services and Engagement, at meagan@sportscommissions.org to learn more about how you can contribute to a future edition of The NASC Playbook. Happy Holidays! The NASC Staff

The Tampa Bay Sports Commission is excited to be hosting the 2019 Women's Summit April 3-5, 2019 in Tampa, FL!  Developed by top women leaders in the sports events and tourism industry, the Summit will inspire you to achieve your career goals. Successful speakers and enlightening sessions guaranteed to supply the tools you neeed and give you direction to reach new heights in your professional and personal life. This illuminating day is filled with several practical, idea-packed sessions. Between workshops, you'll experience meaningful networking at its best.  Topics covered include: Building Professional Allies Breaking Down Barriers Communicating for Women Overcoming Perfectionism Personal Branding Women Entrepreneurs Registration Member Rate: $499 Non-Member Rate: $699 REGISTER NOW Schedule *Subject to change Wednesday, April 3 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm - Registration 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm - Welcome Reception Thursday, April ...

Although I have attended the NASC Market Segment Meetings in the past, I did not attend the inaugural 4S Summit in 2017.  In all honesty, with new leadership and changes to the organization, I thought it best to “sit this one out” and evaluate the feedback post-event. Between the FOMO (fear of missing out) and the extremely positive feedback I received from industry peers, there wasn’t a chance I was going to miss out on year two.  I wanted to personally experience what was making the 4S Summit different from the past Market Segment Meetings.  And, as a long-standing mentor, it was important for me to share this experience with both new members to the Association and future first time attendees. From the moment I arrived onsite, familiar faces were surrounding me…in the hotel lobby, in the hotel restaurant, and even on the hotel elevators.  Right off the bat, the sense of camaraderie was evident.  To kick off the Summit, the atten...

The 4S Summit is headed to Cleveland, OH in a few weeks!  The summit kicks off with a Reception at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A great opportunity to get together with your colleagues, share your stories and enjoy the history of Rock and Roll! The 4S Summit provides an opportunity for all of us to discuss our commonalities. The commonalities could be challenges we are facing or successes that we want to share. My motto “Why recreate the wheel, when I could learn from others’ successes and challenges.” The opportunity to learn from the NASC members is one of the best learning tools at the tip of your fingers. Be ready to learn more on the 4S’s of sports events and tourism: sponsorships, sales, services and strategies. The sports events and tourism industry has many commonalities within these 4S’s. Is your organization focusing on strategies to have the community more engaged with your sports events? Looking to learn new bidding best practices...