Having recently chaired the DMA Nonprofit Federation Conference in NYC, I’ve been reflecting on what makes a good conference, and that led me to think of posting some suggestions for things to do and not to do in order to ensure you get your money’s worth and justify your time out of the office at any conference, including the upcoming Fall DMA Conference in San Francisco Oct. 9-14.
Don’t Run Screaming From the Vendors: Yes, easy to say coming from someone on the vendor side, I know. But the next Big Idea that will improve your program will as likely come from a vendor as a colleague. However, to maximize the use of your time, insist that any vendor you meet with be able to provide you what is unique about their product and specifically – within the first five minutes of your meeting — how it will save you time/money or improve your performance. There was a special session at the last New York Nonprofit Conference where the sole purpose was to give commercial partners an audience with their target audience (nonprofits), and they had exactly 3 minutes to describe their product or service and its merits. Though your next conference might not host a session like this, you can still request that kind of instant value proposition from any potential commercial partners.
