Blog

Time Flies

February 13th, 2023 by Kenneth Abrahams

Later this week I will be heading to NACA LIVE, the reimagined NACA National Convention. NACA is the National Associations for Campus Activities. They are an association that brings staff and students, from colleges and universities around the country who plan student activities, together with vendors that supply talent, products, and services. It was 43 years ago when I walked into my very first NACA National Convention in Washington DC. Honestly, I can’t remember what hotel or convention center was used but I do remember it was in the nation’s capital. Yes, 43 years is a long, long time ago and so much in NACA has changed over that time. In this writer’s opinion it is not better or worse, just different.

For those of you unfamiliar with NACA, the organization started in the 1960’s with a very simple mission; to put college talent buyers and those that provide the talent in a room together to help facilitate the booking process. Those providing the talent would offer better prices if they could book a tour hitting multiple schools in a short time span. In turn, the schools would receive a discount if they were able to form this tour, or block booking, as it’s become known. In its early days, for schools to be able to attend this talent showcase, they had to commit, upfront, to booking at least one of the acts. Over time, attendance expanded, the requirement that you had to buy an act was dropped, and educational sessions were added to help staff and students understand the event piece of their jobs better. These educational sessions focused on programing, looking at things like contract negotiations, hospitality, understanding tech riders, and how to promote your event.

It is easy to make the case that when NACA was founded it was really a trade conference (it was originally called the Block Booking Conference). Then, it slowly morphed into a trade conference with an educational component. Now, it is much more an educational conference with a trade component. Educational sessions are reflective of what is happening on campuses today. There is a lot more attention being paid to inclusivity and diversity and sessions are offered on programming to different affinity groups. The entertainment offerings have expanded as well with bands, singer songwriters, and comedians now sharing the stage with spoken word artists, dance troops, mentalists, and hypnotists.

In those days, most of the talent on the stage was musical in nature. Comedians were sprinkled in to act as Masters of Ceremonies (MC’s) to get from one act to the next. Over the years, there have been some very big names that have graced the NACA stage; Ray Romano, Paula Poundstone, Phil Vassar, and a slew of bands that went on to fame and fortune. “Celebrities” like Snooki from the Jersey Shore crew and Kato Kaelin, known from the OJ Simpson trial, have attended as their agents tried to get them speaking engagements at colleges nationwide.

When I went to that first convention in 1980, there was no internet or at least it wasn’t widely used. Professors didn’t expect us to complete assignments and email them in (email wasn’t a thing back then) by Midnight on Sunday or risk getting a failing mark. Often those professors were more supportive of co-curricular activities. Several of them would even ask how things had gone when we returned. Now, students often leave the exhibit hall or showcases to go back to their rooms to do homework, prepare for tests or write papers. It wasn’t that we didn’t care about academics back then, but it seems as if we put less pressure on ourselves to excel academically than students do today. We looked at our NACA experience almost as a lab and welcomed the opportunity to build real life skills through our attendance at the conferences and the work we did on campus. It was a way to further our education and get a break from the academic routine of a normal week during the semester. One could say it was a simpler time.

For that conference in Washington, several schools from New England all took the same train down to DC. Many of our advisors were also friends and they thought it would be great if we could meet students from other schools before we hit the convention. Looking back on that experience, I wish I had ventured outside of my comfort zone and really talked to some of the folks from other schools. That being said, the ride down and back was fun.

As I said earlier, NACA LIVE isn’t better or worse than when we attended in 1980, just different. In those days, there seemed to be bigger names and “national” acts. At that convention, Etta James and I believe Lonnie Brooks showcased along with Dr. Hook and the Medicine show. Etta sang Piece of my heart, which was amazing. Here is a clip of her doing the song towards the tail end of her career https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBtQTYlRjp8.

Over time, the convention has also become shorter, not only by the number of days we convene, but the length of the days themselves, which is also reflective of what is going on in the world and on campus today. Our days went from 8 or 8:30 in the morning until well past midnight. It wasn’t uncommon for students to stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning, if not all night. Today, there is always at least an 8-hour break from the end of the last official conference event to the beginning of the first event the next day and most of the time the breaks are longer than that.

What makes NACA truly special hasn’t changed. It is the chance for people doing similar work, on a wide range of campuses, the opportunity to get together. Staff members have a forum to talk about what is going on in the profession and with their students. Students can meet people from other schools and exchange ideas, make connections, and learn from one another. For the vendors, it is an opportunity to meet some of their clients face to face, renew old friendships, meet new people, and potentially expand their client base. For me, it is a chance to get an education. A chance to talk to students and advisors and hear what their concerns and frustrations are and to see if we can help. Despite doing this for well over 30 years, I still truly love talking to students and their advisors. You just never know what you will learn. If you happen to read this and are heading to Louisville, make sure to stop by the FUN/SPEAK both and say hi.

About the author:

Ken Abrahams is a former student programmer at Connecticut College. He worked on the Program board for 3 of his 4 years in college. Over the last 4 plus decades he has attended more than 300 NACA sponsored events.

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