A mentor is someone that will guide you along the path you have chosen, someone that will help you overcome challenges and build your character, while being motivated to support you and being a positive influence on your journey.
Have you identified important individuals that have had a positive impact on your life? These individuals could be friends or advisers that you haven’t talked to in years, but they are still mentors to you. Reach out to them, thank them and start up that new dialogue. For me, it was a college professor at Ohio State in 2003, and I never realized how important he was to helping create who I am today and why I ended up in the sports tourism industry in 2012.
After nine years of working in a variety of roles in professional sports – from interning and working full-time for a Minor League Baseball team, to spending time selling sponsorships for a PGA golf tournament and then moving into event operations for a golf contractor, then finally landing...
Our members, pse Event Housing, take care of all the housing details for their clients. From contract & staff room negotiation, real-time room tracking & reporting, to commission & rebate processing, they do it all! Whether you’re looking to start your very first tournament or event, or you’ve been in the game for years, check out these 4 essential questions you should be asking your event housing provider:
1. Is your booking system optimized for mobile users?
In 2018, 57% of all Internet traffic came from mobile users, and that number is only expected to keep growing. With this number on the rise and customers increasingly using their mobile devices to get things done online, offering a mobile-friendly experience is no longer just a nice-to-have feature – it’s a necessity.
What to look for:
Responsive Design:
Most sites are now viewable on mobile devices, but there’s a big difference between just being viewable on mobile an...
When you begin to plan for your event, something that is a driving force of how you plan is the event’s branding strategy. Everything is centered around what colors you associate with your brand, the logo, the tagline, and the name of your event. Beyond that, how your event goes will affect the future of your brand and can change it forever. Keeping this in mind, here are some tips from ‘Wild Apricot’ for keeping your branding strong throughout the event planning process.
Name your event.
The name of your event is the first thing your future consumers will see. It can easily be a make or break if someone decides to participate in it so you need to make sure your tagline is eye catching and easily explains the event. With naming your event, think about how your event is different from others in your area and what are you wanting the message that your consumers read is.
Create a tagline.
Once you have the name, think of a short and m...
Among the numerous segments comprising a destination’s tourism portfolio, often exists sports and event tourism. These efforts may reside in any number of organizational structures from within a destination marketing organization (DMO), a government entity or stand-alone organization. The growth of sports and event tourism has been undeniable. The industry’s professional association originated with merely a dozen communities gathering to share ideas more than 25 years ago. Today, what would become the National Association of Sports Commissions (NASC), serves more than 840 members from across the country and beyond.
As the go-to resource for the robust sports and events tourism industry, the NASC serves not only destination representatives, but just as importantly, sports and event rights holders looking for host destinations that can accommodate their events, venue and facility operators, and a plethora of industry suppliers. Destinations ranging in population from less ...
Soccer, volleyball, gymnastics, destination management organization… what do all of these have in common?
Competition.
Each one is competing to win the tournament, to win the meet, to win the event. Parents are spending an exorbitant amount of money on trainers, coaches, and advanced leagues to help their children excel in hopes of winning and future scholarships. Destination management organizations are investing hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of dollars to renovate and/or build the best sporting venues to attract large multi-day tournaments for multiple year contracts.
As destinations look to sports tourism as an option to increase overnight visitation, resulting in additional tax revenues for the destination, the question is often asked “should we invest in our current infrastructure or build new sports facilities?” If the answer is yes, then the question of “how do we pay for those infrastructure improvements” usually follows.
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Want to create a successful sports event or tournament? If so, you’re going to need great sponsors which means a great sponsorship activation plan. The first problem with many people is they don’t truly grasp what sponsorship activation is. For many, they believe simply putting a logo on a banner or poster is considered a successful sponsorship activation. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
In The Secret to Successful Activation blog, Eventbrite says activation “is where audience goals and sponsor goals come together in a way that achieves the outcomes of both parties.” Once you’ve successfully obtained a sponsor, now comes the activation.
Eventbrite says it all starts with understanding what your audience wants along with what they don’t want. To do this, ask them questions- what do they love about your program or event? What didn’t they like? After collecting feedback, talk with your sponsors about the responses. Have they r...
The Certified Sports Event Executive program offers NASC members a chance to elevate their sports tourism careers to a whole new level. With the opportunity to meet a variety of specialists from the industry and taking classes directed to give you a fresh, new look at the sports tourism industry. For graduates like Kristyn Hawkins, this program enhanced her knowledge and experience in ways she never imagined.
As the current, Sports Tourism Sales Director at the Spartanburg, South Carolina CVB, Hawkins came into the program wanting to learn more about the best practices in the industry so she could bring that back to Spartanburg CVB. She ended up getting that and so much more.
“This program allows you to learn all aspects of sports tourism by learning from the top industry professionals,” Hawkins said. Even more so, Hawkins recognizes that this program allowed her to build relationships and a support system to bounce ideas around.
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Definition of aha moment
: a moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension
I will be attending my seventh NASC Symposium this year, and with each one I have incredible “Aha Moments”. From the definition noted above, I have experienced the following:
A sudden realization that my destination can host events and play in this marketplace.
Inspired by incredible leaders within the sports tourism industry that have made me see things in a slightly different way, changing my whole perspective.
Incredible insight from my counterparts from all over the country on all the aspects of our work.
Recognition, with articles published, successful events achieved and the ability to show the impact of what we do for our communities.
Comprehending all the processes from RFP to Recap.
As we approach the next Symposium in Knoxville, I encourage you to take it all in and let yourself have those Aha Moments. I wa...
Grab your dancing shoes, it’s time to tango with sponsors. Don’t worry, we aren’t here to teach you to salsa dance. Instead, we are here to help you build meaningful relationships with your sponsors.
One of the simple ways to improve a sponsorship relationship, according to SBI, is elevating your sponsors. Give them a spotlight on your social pages, connect them with other business, or invite them to another event of yours. These easy tasks show them are thinking about them all year long.
When it comes time to bring a sponsor in on an event, don’t create a cookie-cutter proposal. Add in your own flare that ties it all back to the sponsor. That could be a creative name, a giveaway, or a hashtag. Give them something they haven’t heard before.
Sponsorships should be mutually beneficial. Sponsors want to support the team, but also have their brand well represented. Their happiness will be based on how well they are being recognized at your event. If y...
Sponsorships in this current age are more than just funding opportunities. Sponsors can be used to market your destination or event. MKTG analyzed three ways any sports commission can do this.
Start by selecting a sponsor which helps you target a particular demographic. MKTG uses the example of Travel Alberta being a sponsor for the Los Angeles Kings. Travel Alberta created the Alberta Dome near the arena. The LA Kings encouraged fans to visit the dome before and after games, and to post pictures using a hashtag. With this activation, Alberta was able to market itself as a travel destination for Los Angeles residents.
Is your destination not generally not know by the public? Or maybe you want to focus on one certain area. MKTG suggests finding a sponsor that will put your name in front of a large audience. This is what Azerbaijan did when they got a sponsorship deal from Atletico Madrid, a prominent Spanish soccer team. This gave Azerbaijan a chance to promote themselves as a tou...