Signature March/April 2015 - 37

BY KATE ACHELPOHL

Ever since Google became a verb, your members have had access to
terabytes of data. That means great education is no longer enough
to make your event successful. What attendees really need - and
what an association's annual meeting is uniquely qualified to provide - is a community that will help them translate knowledge into
understanding.
That's as true for trade shows, like the
NACS Show from the National Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing
(NACS), as it is for professional conferences, such as the American School
Counselors Association's (ASCA) Annual
Conference. Both of these associations are
finding new ways to create communities
that take visitors from passive attendees
to engaged participants.

NACS |

COMMUNITY
MEANS VALUE

The crown jewel of NACS's member
events is its annual NACS Show. With
more than 400,000 net square feet, 1,300
exhibitors, and 25,000 attendees, the Trade
Show News Network ranks it among the
50 largest trade shows in the country. Education is a key component, with over 50
workshops taking place throughout the
event. But that's not the focal point, says
one of the association's top executives.
"The NACS Show is where our industry comes together," says Erin Pressley,
vice president of publishing for the NACS
Media Group, and the immediate pastpresident of the Association Media &
Publishing board of directors. "Our value
proposition comes from bringing our
member groups together at our events."
NACS uses a number of tools - such
as social media and its show app - but
central to everything is an associationwide commitment to engagement.
"Our culture on site is to be proactive
in engaging with our members," Pressley says, noting that NACS CEO Henry
Armour empowers staff to approach
"orphans" - people who seem to be alone
and unengaged - and help them find
exhibitors, solutions, and other members.
"Whether it's NACS staff engagement
or bringing a retailer and supplier together on the EXPO floor or at a reception, we try to facilitate that as much
as possible," she says, underscoring the
importance of the staff-wide effort. "The
whole staff is involved, all 80-plus of us.
It's important to think holistically about
the event. Certainly, the expo is vitally
important, but we also try to make it fun

and provide moments of intimacy."
The NACS HQ booth is central to the
effort, so staff gets creative to attract attendees to it. At one show, an artist translated attendees' business challenges into
infodoodles. The experience gave staff a
chance to talk with members and better
understand what keeps them up at night.
Board members are invited to attend the
New Member Reception, and everyone at
the show is invited to the opening party.
To measure the effectiveness of its
efforts, NACS uses Net Promoter and
its Net Promoter Score®, which employs
a 10-point scale to calculate responses
to a single question: How likely is it that
you would recommend [insert brand] to
a friend or colleague?
"Our NPS has shown that the NACS
staff has a direct impact on engagement and
satisfaction," Pressley says. "So we know,
as a staff, that our participation has a really
positive effect on someone's experience."
Back home, NACS staff looks closely
at NPS and other metrics, such a show
size, exhibitors, and attendance, examining who's new to the show and who's
returning. Pressley says, "We have a very
successful show, so it's more about innovating around the edges. We're trying
these little things, and we're looking very
closely to see if they're successful or not."

ASCA |

ENGAGEMENT
EXTENDS OFF SITE

Dedicated to furthering the needs and
mission of school counselors, professional
development (often required for licensure) is key to ASCA's reason for being. At
the ASCA Annual Conference, however,
networking shares top billing, according
to Director of Communications Kathleen
Rakestraw.
"During the conference, our goal is
to help attendees realize they can get so
much more out of attending our conference than just sitting in a breakout
session taking notes and keeping to themselves. Many school counselors, especially
in elementary schools, rural schools, or
smaller schools, may be the only school
counselor in their building - or even
their community. Giving them a chance
MARCH/APRIL 2016

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signature March/April 2015