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Things Are Moving Forward and You Better Get on the Train

March 6th, 2023 by Kenneth Abrahams

There are times when it is interesting being one of the oldest people in the room. Few, if anyone else in the group at that NACA meeting would be considered a Baby Boomer. There was a good mix of millennials, Gen X, and a few Gen Z members as well, but I’m pretty sure I was the last of the boomers. Even more intriguing is when you are the senior citizen of the group, but you are embracing the change that is taking place. Rarely, if ever, do I advocate change for the sake of change, but when I see the world or at least an organization I have worked with for over 40 years, needing to change, I feel as if I must support that.

Recently, I attended NACA LIVE, which is their national convention.  For those that don’t know, NACA is the National Association for Campus Activities. Several weeks ago, I wrote a blog about heading to said event. As part of the convention, they do an information session for the vendors to talk about upcoming events and things going on in the association. Whether it is on the agenda or not, there is always a discussion about how much business is being done in the college market in general and specifically how much at the event itself.  There is a system in place called block booking (more on that below) which encourages schools to work with other institutions in the system.  Schools fill out forms to express interest in a particular act or service. True to form, one of the vendors asked how much business was being done? How many forms were filled out? How many tours were created? In his opinion, and the opinions of others, it wasn’t enough. We needed to get back to our roots.

Perhaps, a little history about the association is in order. It started in the 1960’s with a handful of schools in the Carolina’s possibly just South Carolina but absolutely in the south. These schools had a problem, actually 2 problems that they were trying to solve. Remember, this is pre-internet days, and you couldn’t just go to YouTube and check out a performers video or videos, so it was hard to see talent before you booked it. In those days, the thing most colleges brought to campus were bands. There were few comedians on the circuit, the drinking age was still 18 and most events centered around music. Problem 2 was that the bands were expensive. These schools got together and came up with a simple solution to bring the schools and the bands together so they could see the talent and get the agents for those acts to give a discount if some of the schools booked them to play on their campuses in a tight time frame. They were successful in convincing several agents to give it a try. One little known fact is that any school in attendance had to commit to buying at least one of the acts to be allowed to attend.

Over time, as the needs of the attendees changed, so did the organization and their conferences. More and more schools joined and after a few years they formed an association. Originally, it was simply called the block booking conference because that was really what they did. Booked bands in blocks or tours. Soon after they realized that perhaps educating the students and their advisors on things like concert production and contract negotiation had some value. If any of the founders walked into a conference today, they wouldn’t recognize it. Bands are a very small part of what is offered. Students are running through the exhibit hall with their faces painted waving stuffed animals that they just made. There are spoken word poets and people that will come to your campus and create pancakes that look like the students standing in front of them. Educational sessions still talk about concerts and contracts, but there are also sessions on leadership and how to include diversity, equity, and inclusion on campuses today.

Not only has the name of the association changed, several times, but the needs of its members have changed. Booking talent and producing events is just one small part of what the staff professionals do on a daily and weekly basis. It is no longer just about block booking but so much more. Funny thing is that I am one of the older vendors that attend these conferences. It would be easy for me to complain that we have lost our focus, lost our way, like some of my peers. I see that train moving in this different direction and I either need to be on it or stand on the sidelines and have it pass me by. I truly believe that there is still a lot of value to being a member of the association. It gives you instant credibility with many of its school members. There are still a lot of schools that are active members and NACA gives you a lot of access to those schools, students, and staff professionals. Being able to attend live events and meet clients face to face still has immense value to me and to FUN/SPEAK. There is no question that it is different.

For some in the room, when I said just that they nodded in agreement, others were frustrated and dismayed. We all spend a lot of money to be there, and it used to be far easier to calculate a return on your investment. You often had booked enough shows on site to make back the investment you made to be there. Over the 3 or 4 days, you talked to x number of new schools, and perhaps even booked a few shows with them. Now, it is far more nebulous, we talk about contacts and conversations that we had. New methods of data capture help us track who we talk to and our follow up from the conference will be more critical then ever. If we are lucky, we will know in 6 months or a year if it actually paid off based on the relationships we have built and the shows we have booked but we may never be completely certain what that ROI is. FUN / SPEAK has always believed in building our business through our relationships and that has only become more critical in 2023. Times are changing and we need to change with them.

About the author

Ken Abrahams has embraced a lot of the changes that he has seen in his 62 plus years on the planet. He is looking forward to what is around the next corner. He is also looking forward to driving an electric vehicle that can get 600 miles or more between charges.

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