There is a direct link at the beginning of the schedule for submitted your
convention if you are not yet listed.
Also, don't forget to send ACC your convention news releases - both before
and after the event - for the ACC News Service. Send to:
NewsService@Collectors.Org
In the last ACC Update of 2005, we featured several articles on conventions -
Creative Ways to Boost Convention Attendance, Attention to "First Timers" and
Getting People to Volunteer. Our intent is to include additional convention
articles in this issues and the next, while many clubs are busy planning your
2006 events.
Conventions - Balancing Tradition with "Trying Something New"
=============================================================
This, perhaps, is one of the most difficult challenges for the convention
chairman. Every chairman really wants to do something new or a little different
- to leave their "mark" so to speak.
Obviously, there are certain convention traditions that will remain just that
- basically untouchable. And this is all right, so long as there are other
elements of the convention program or operations which offer something new,
something creative.
Probably one of the worst mistakes a convention chairman can make is to come
in thinking that they need to change everything just for the sake of change.
There are sometimes very good reasons for traditional portions of the convention
program to remain exactly the same from year to year. The skill of the
successful convention chairman is to identify those areas that can or should be
changed and weave them together with the tradition for a balanced program.
Trying a special, new "twist" on something traditional can sometimes be a great
success. But a word of advise. Don't make it a total surprise - test your idea
out on some of the stalwarts in the club and get their opinion and backing.
If you have a great idea for trying something totally new at your convention,
perhaps other changes you may want to make in the program should be more subtle
or "baby step" changes. This way, the one big change becomes your "signature"
change in the history of conventions for your club. Again, it comes down to
balance between trying something fun and totally new, and going with tradition.
Conventions - Promotion and Publicity
=====================================
Promotion and publicity for your convention really has several audiences.
Obviously, your own club membership is one of the key audiences. You want to get
the membership to the convention. Some members will automatically come every
year...year after year after year. Others need to be coaxed or convinced that
they should attend. But you need these members there if the convention is to be
a success.
An internal promotion campaign is needed to do the convincing. Use your club
publication or newsletter, the website, e-mail messages, and direct mailings.
Develop some appealing "tools" to help do the job. For example, by shopping
around it is amazing how cheap 4-color postcards are - real attention-getters.
Prepare presentation packets for your club officers and board members so they
can help with the sales job.
External promotion and publicity falls into two major areas. If your
convention is open to the public - at lease portions of it - you need to offer
promo tools to the local media in the city where the convention is being held to
assist with bringing in "walk-in" traffic. Posters and fliers for local
libraries and community centers and other locales may also be appropriate. Send
information to local collecting clubs in the vicinity letting them know that
your convention is "coming to town"! The local library might help identifying
these groups.
If your annual convention is the major event of the year for your club, it
needs to be showcased. Releases and features need to be sent out prior to the
convention, maybe even during the event, and a follow-up report afterwards.
Where should these go? Specialty publications serving your collecting area and
general collector publications are the major outlets. Make sure you also utilize
the ACC News Service.
Often your best exposure may come from media outside the antiques and
collectibles industry - daily newspaper columnists, radio and television shows,
news websites, wire services and syndicates. They all are looking for features
with an interesting twist. Don't blanket the general media with a canned news
release. You probably will be more successful being selective, picking out one
or two or three to go after, maybe invite them to your convention and be
prepared to work with them on developing the feature.
You may want to ask the Convention/Visitors Bureau in the host city where
you're holding the convention for their suggestions or assistance with the local
media.
A couple of comments about publicity if your annual convention is entirely
closed - for members only. While some collecting publications may have an
interest in running an article on what happened at your convention after it is
over, getting publications to run a story on an upcoming event which is closed
to the public and for members only is certainly not newsworthy. We know - there
are publications that do this regularly. The point is...their editor isn't
thinking very clearly. A story on a closed, members-only convention is not of
value to their readers. It's not news.
Conventions - Sponsorships
==========================
Soliciting sponsors for various portions of your club convention should
almost be automatic, yet few clubs have sponsors for their annual event.
Conventions offer a great opportunity to "ask" for assistance with a variety of
options.
We'll start with the easy ones - the inexpensive options that most anyone
could afford to sponsor. Door prizes or raffle items. Table decorations for the
annual banquet. Items for the convention auction. Ads in the convention printed
program.
Moving up a step - Sponsoring a coffee break, wine tasting, or hospitality
session. Registration portfolios. Special pens & notepads for the seminar
sessions. Gift packets for "first timers" or for young collectors.
If your collecting area has dealers and suppliers who make a living from
sales to many of your club members, perhaps they would be willing to provide a
meal event, or co-sponsor an event. Or, perhaps the rental of a bus for a
program tour, or pick-up the expenses for a keynote speaker. Sponsorships for
banquet entertainment, costs of plaques for the awards programs...these are
other possibilities.
We know of no club which is doing this, but what if a vendor or supplier
offered 50 $100. travel grants for members most in need of financial help in
attending the convention? What would your club do with the grants? Perhaps for
some members it would make the difference of whether they would attend, or not.
Offering the opportunity to sponsor portions of your convention activities
not only allows you to better use your convention budget for other expenditures,
but, to put it simply, it "involves" people and makes them feel like they are a
part of the convention success.
Frankly, we don't see a negative side to having convention sponsorships. As
stated in the beginning, it seems so logical and should be automatic.
Conventions - Travel & Lodging Discounts
========================================
It is surprising the number of clubs which do not offer - or even explore -
travel and lodging discounts for the member convention-goers. Granted, if you
have a small club convention of under 100 people, it may not be as easy to get
discounts, but still not impossible. Let's say your convention will need 40
sleeping rooms. For the facility, if it happens to be during a time when they
are not terribly busy, and your convention lasts three days, this means the 40
sleeping rooms turns into 80 or 120 sleeping room nights. You should be able to
get a convention rate for your group, particularly if you are also using meeting
rooms and having a banquet, show/bourse or auction. It's just like everything
else - you have to negotiate the "deal".
When we talk about travel discounts, perhaps you need a slightly larger
number for negotiating than for room accommodations, however if you are meeting
in a city which is serviced basically by one or two airlines, call them up and
see what they can do for you, particularly if most of your attendees will be
flying in.
Check with the City Tourism Department, Visitors' Bureau or Chamber of
Commerce about getting discount package deals for restaurants near your
convention hotel and for theaters, museums and other attractions. Even local
fast food establishments might offer discount coupons you can place in the
convention packets.
(If you have other ideas in this area, please let us know.
info@Collectors.Org)
Flea Market Directory
=====================
Spring is right around the corner (yes, it is), a time when many collectors
get anxious to start hitting the flea markets. The Flea Market Directory on the
ACC Collectors.Org website is one of the largest on the Internet. If you havn't
visited it, we urge you to do so -
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