Community partners for you can come in many forms. They could be board members, advisory board members, universities, hoteliers, downtown alliance groups, professional teams, facility owners, volunteers, sponsors, etc. The one thing they need to have in common is the buy into your organization’s mission and vision. With this buy-in, you will be amazed at how much easier it is to understand and navigate political landscapes, fundraise, accomplish organizational goals and take your organization to new heights. Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” Most of your community partners’ primary business is not tourism, but their willingness to help and understand tourism’s contribution to the community is what makes them unique.
Most sports commissions or sports tourism departments are very small staffs, which lead to lots of travel, long hours and many weekend events. All of this ...
As registration just opened for the 25th annual NASC Sports Event Symposium, it is never too early to start planning for appointments. Whether you are a rights holder, DMO, sports commission, or vendor, appointments require some level of planning from both an appointment setting and discussion point of view. There is nothing more frustrating than sitting down for an appointment with someone who is unprepared for the meeting.
Whether you are a rights holder or a destination, the first thing you need to know going into a trade show with appointment style meetings is “know what you are selling.” If you are a rights holder this means knowing the type of event, a time frame, and your minimum list of requirements. If you don’t know what your requirements are, then how are destinations supposed to know if they can accommodate your event? From the destination side, the DMO/Sports Commission must know its own inventory. There is no point in meeti...
Have you experienced challenges with how to track room night information better, or do you wonder if others pay bid fees and, if they do, where do they receive the money? Well, you are not alone with challenges or issues we may face in the sport tourism industry.
The upcoming NASC Market Segment Meetings in Indianapolis, October 25-26, 2016, is a great meeting to attend for the opportunity to discuss your challenges/issues and to share best practices in the sport tourism industry.
NASC Market Segment Meetings are very beneficial. Here are three top benefits for attending these meetings in Indianapolis.
1. Learning Opportunity. Market Segment Meetings are an excellent opportunity for you to sit down with your colleagues and share challenges or questions you may have. Learn best practices, trends, strategies, ideas or solutions in small group discussions. You will be discussing with organizations similar ...
Recently I was browsing through the NASC website, www.sportscommissions.org, and was reminded what a tremendous resource it is for our membership. It’s very easy to navigate, even for a web-challenged Baby Boomer like me! Being a destination sales person, I am drawn to the “Directories” tab. Having contact information for a person within an organization is a valuable resource in this day and age and is a useful feature no matter what your membership category. I particularly like the “advanced search filter” the directories offer. I use it when traveling to various destinations around the country. I search to identify organizations located in the city I am visiting and use this information to add face-to-face meetings to my schedule while I’m there.
I have been a frequent visitor to the Models & Samples page under the “Research” tab and have used the examples there on many occasions. I am a be...
For a number of years back in the very late 1980’s and early 1990’s, the Florida State Games used to host a Business of Sports Symposium. As a new kid running a CVB in Lincoln, Nebraska, it was a great way to learn more about this new sales specialty. There weren’t many CVBs involved then. It was mostly sports commissions with some of them tussling with CVBs to get part of the lodging tax dollars.
So, this young guy from North Carolina, Hill Carrow, tried to organize a “National Association of Sports Commissions”. It didn’t resonate on the first try. He persisted, and a few of us started to listen. Along the way, we created the bones of the organization deciding such a group should be dedicated to sharing information with each other and rights holders, along with quality, professional education. The NASC was officially born in a meeting room in St. Louis with about fourteen people in attendance.
Why tell you ...
Last month I had the opportunity to present to the Florida State Sports Commissions’ convention. Along with nineteen other speakers, I had the chance to talk about my sport for ten minutes. As luck would have it, I got the chance to present last. Twentieth out of twenty. I was the only speaker between my audience and the Coors Light. The room was lost.
So I zigged. I broke the pattern of presentation predictability. I engaged the room and got my point across.
Here are just a couple tips that you can consider using when you are in a multiple presenter situation.
1. Keep your message simple: Your audience will have seen dozens if not hundreds of slides. Most will be forgotten. So focus on one or two key points and keep your slides simple.
2. Don’t let technology get in the way of your message: You have a video? Great. Doesn’t support your key message? Leave it at home. A misplaced video just gives your audience to check ou...
You have some excellent leads and RFPs that you received during your appointments and while networking at the Symposium. Now the work really starts. Here are some ideas on what to do next.
We are in a relationship business. Follow-up by mail, email or with a phone call to the people that you met at the Symposium and even those with whom you were interested in meeting but were unable to connect due to scheduling issues.
Reach out to your community to get your local partners, facilities and sports experts involved in the RFP evaluation and bid process.
Review the RFPs or information that you received and investigate if the event is a match for your community AND for the event planner. Make sure that the event will be a win for both you and the rights holder. There are sporting events and meetings that will work for all communities. Not all events will be a match for you and the planner. It is best not to pursue an event where yo...
You have done your research. You are prepared and organized. You know what to do when you get to Grand Rapids. But what about what not to do? Below are 6 things to avoid doing during your appointments in the NASC Sports Marketplace.
1. Don’t weigh the event owners down with a lot of promotional material.
2. Don’t be pushy. Instead understand their needs first before beginning the sales approach.
3. Don’t race through your appointment. Instead listen to what the needs of the sports rights holder are.
4. Don’t try to sell something that won’t work in your community.
5. Don’t overstay your allotted time. Instead meet with them at one of the networking events.
6. Don’t dominate the conversation in Event Overview Appointments.
No matter your membership category, become familiar with the organizations you want to be sure to meet in Grand Rapids. As appointment time in the NASC Sports ...
Sometimes we request an appointment, and due to the large amount of requests made, the appointment request is unable to be scheduled. Luckily for us, there a lot of opportunities available during the NASC Symposium to meet with anyone even if you do not have an Individual Appointment with them.
Solutions:
Attend as many events that NASC has to offer – education sessions, opening and closing luncheons, happy hours and other activities that are offered throughout the week. While attending these events, use this as an opportunity to find the event owner you need to meet. Mix and mingle and meet with other event owners and peers in the industry, too. They may have insight into the event you are interested in and could introduce you to exactly who you are looking for. Check out all of your opportunities here.
Contact the individual/organization you were hoping to meet prior to the Symposium and see if they have time to meet with you personally. Look at the sche...