| Event Management and Managing the Event (September 2004) |
By Joe Cummings
Anyone who has been to our annual Convention and is the inquisitive type may have wondered how the enormous event comes together. The answer is with planning, multiple meetings and the support of the city that is hosting the NSCAA – but that is only part of it. The Convention comes together because of the efforts of some very talented and wonderful people whom I would like to introduce to the membership.
Robert Robinson is the Convention Manager. Robby, as we all affectionately call him, chairs the meetings that are held during the year prior to the convention. The committee first meets in February, one month after the previous year’s Convention. This meeting is a “review and preview” and begins the process of a full year of preparation.
One of the first challenges is a visit the convention center to try to visualize where each activity will take place. Regarding this matter, we are blessed with Rudy Zimmermann. He possesses an “eye for space,” a unique gift that allows him to walk into a room, turn his head slowly from left to right and know how to configure the combinations of meetings, groups and proper rooms. After selecting the room, he coordinates the daily schedule. Try to balance those two tasks. The man is a genius.
As we move from space to space, meeting room to meeting room, Sandy Williamson of our national office can “see” the registration counters and understand the traffic patterns that the coaches will follow when they enter the NSCAA Registration. The reason that our registration moves so smoothly is that Sandy doesn’t take anything for granted. She imagines the steps that each registrant will follow and wants to guarantee that each registration flows without a misstep. She also oversees the accounting procedures and manages the NSCAA office at the Convention. All this after giving personal attention to every registration that comes to the office during the early registration period.
Another member of the national office staff, Steve Veal, is one of two Assistant Convention Managers. Nowhere in our organization is there an individual who captures each aspect of the Convention the way he does. The committee is made up of individuals who must focus on one specific aspect of the Convention. Not Steve. He wants to see, understand and draw the big picture with all of its parts. He does so as no other is able, and he does a masterful job of managing security for the Convention, as well as taking care of numerous VIPs and coordinating travel.
Jeff Farnsworth chairs the Awards Committee. Did you know that the NSCAA presents more than 10,000 awards each year? I truly believe that Jeff wishes he could deliver each one personally. Our two banquets are very important to Jeff, and he looks at each ballroom as if he were planning an inauguration. He also measures the distance from the storage rooms, the height of the ceilings, the size of the banquet tables, the length and width of the head table…well, you get the idea. Jeff leaves nothing to chance. If there is an award presented at any time during the Convention, Jeff probably has written the letter of congratulations, picked out the correct plaque, delivered it to the banquet room and felt as much pride as the recipient when the award was presented.
Roy Gordon has done it all. We even gave him the title Special Events Coordinator for a while because he had multiple jobs. Now he is the second of our two Assistant Convention Managers and wears more hats than one may imagine while overseeing the housing block (no small feat in itself), local transportation and on-site signage. He has a strong business sense, is inquisitive when needed and understands the history of this association and the Convention. His real strengths, however, are that he is as steady as anyone on our committee and is always ready to assist in any way he can. I enjoy watching him mesh all his jobs with consummate professionalism.
How does that exhibit hall, home of the nation’s largest soccer-only trade show, take shape? When walking through the hall for the first time on Thursday evening, many are struck by the colors, size, number of booths and variety of soccer products on the market today. Chris Wyche, our Director of Marketing, brings all this business to the NSCAA and does so with infectious enthusiasm. “You want two booths? How about four?” he asks. If you are a soccer vendor, Chris has contacted you. Partnerships, sponsorships and marketing – we have them all. No single individual has done more to forge relationships with vendors, clubs, associations and leagues than Chris.
The Convention is about clinics, meetings, banquets, eating and drinking, and the banquets are a very important part of the week’s activities as well. John Dewitt is our Meal and Hospitality Manager and is responsible for each meal function. The most enjoyable time of the committee meetings is the day we do the “tasting.” John and our Meal Function Coordinator, Jill McCartney, choose a wide range of meals for the committee to sample. We all sit down at a long banquet table and the wait staff parades out samples for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Like fine wine connoisseurs, we compare our selections and make a final choice for each of the major meal functions. But that isn’t all that John and Jill must concern themselves with. How is the room set for the banquet? Who is at the head table? What about the program? Who collects tickets? Who is the Master of Ceremonies? It isn’t just about the food.
The many facets of the relationship between adidas and our organization are most evident at the Convention. They truly are our most influential partner, providing national and international clinicians, assisting with the video presentations and sponsoring and hosting a number of the major meal functions. Kim Mosher, who serves on our committee and is a very important direct link to adidas, coordinates these numerous responsibilities.
Craig Bohnert is a jack-of-all-trades. He is the Director of Communications and is responsible for coordinating the myriad press releases that go out almost daily throughout the month prior to the Convention. He oversees the media room, spreading the word of the NSCAA to the increasing number of journalists who visit our Convention. His responsibilities do not stop there. The Friday awards banquet and the Saturday All-American luncheon are both a product of Craig’s handiwork. The banquet programs, visual effects, portions of the script and overall presentation are completed with his input. Every Convention publication is developed in his shop, and this year’s Convention logo is the third that he’s designed.
We all go to the Convention to learn from the clinicians, and each year we are introduced to new teaching and coaching methods. The NSCAA is the world leader in coaches’ education, and we are because of Jeff Tipping, our Director of Coaching Education. The committee relies on Jeff to bring to us the “names of soccer” on both the men’s and women’s sides of the game. He does so unfailingly each year. “Jeff, we need a new topic.” “Jeff, can we do this session in this space?” “Jeff, where do we find a clinician for the flat back four?” We bombard him with a wide range of requests and challenges, and he responds to and meets them all.
The demonstrations would be meaningless without players. Geoff VanDeusen, our Special Projects Manager, oversees the Local Organizing Committee and the youth soccer players who come from many different locales within the host city. In the days leading up to the Convention, he coordinates the tons of freight that represents the material we need to make the event happen, ensuring each piece reaches its destination. He then coordinates the preparation of thousands of attendees welcome packets. Prior planning is Geoff. He meets with the coaches of the youth soccer organizations, coordinates the requests of the clinician for an age group or a gender, delivers the equipment, prepares the demonstration area and never watches a session. How can he when he is doing everything else?
In our governance structure the three vice-presidents rotate through the major responsibilities of marketing, education and the Convention. This way when the president serves his/her term, he/she has experiences in each area of the NSCAA. This year in Baltimore Louise Waxler is our Vice-President for Conventions. Louise, the consummate organizer with a keen eye for details, connects with each and every member of the convention committee and, even better, has organized a number of major events, from local, regional and national tournaments to professional (WUSA) and international (Women’s World Cup) events. Who better to be the Vice-President for Conventions?
Each of these people have wonderful assistants who, behind the scenes, do their jobs without much thanks. Now is the time to say thank you to them: the Red Aprons, our resident legends; Tom Farr and Vicki Sanford, who help ensure a smooth-running program; John Mayer, Rick Mueller, Marianne Shultz and David Bokhart, who help keep the awards program flawlessly; Diana Jackson, a valuable right hand in registration; local organizer Pete Caringi and many others.
I began this column by mentioning Robert Robinson, but only described Robby as the Convention Manager. Let me close by underscoring that he is so much more. For three years I served as the Vice-President for Conventions, so I know what the person in charge does. Robby pulls it all together, doing so with the deft mastery of an orchestra leader – blending all the different personalities into one single harmonious focus. He is truly the master of event management and managing the event.
These are the talented individuals who collaborate to bring us our annual Convention. Thank you to our Convention Committee. |
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