Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Review of NCDC

I recently attended the annual National Catholic Development Conference in Orlando, FL. I had been on hiatus for several years, turned off by the way the organization and the conference had been run. However, my hats off to Sr. Georgette Lehmuth, President of NCDC, who has obviously put her own personal stamp on the organization and turned it around.

The sessions were well attended because the material presented was relevant. The staff at NCDC and the presenters did a wonderful job promoting the services of the exhibitors/ corporate partners. Many of the central functions were held right in the exhibit hall. Now that is the way to make your corporate partners/sponsors of such events feel welcomed and get a bang for their buck!

Kudos to Sr. Georgette for recognizing the importance of the vendors in the overall fundraising mix.

Looking forward to next years event in Arlington, VA.

Labels: conference

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Hats off to the Nonprofit Federation

Last week the DMA Nonprofit Federation produced one of the best events I've attended. Well organized and full of excellent sessions, the conference hit on all cylinders. Even the Networking Reception was great. Held at the Canadian Embassy, attendees were welcomed by the sponsoring hosts and the Director of the Embassy. The short but very engaging and warm greeting by the Primiere of Manitoba, Canada was truly a nice touch. I know I felt very appreciated.

Keep this as a template for the future. It's going to be a tough act to follow.

Labels: conference, DMA Nonprofit

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Merges scheduled for DMDNY

The DMA plans to merge List Day (formerly List Vision), International Day, and Directo Day into DM Days New York, effective with this year's June 10th-12th conference. Further details will be released in February.

Labels: conference, DMDays

Friday, December 7, 2007

Shelly Lazarus

This month's issue of Target Marketing had a quote by Shelly Lazarus, chairman and CEO, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, from the DMA conference in Chicago. It's worth reading.

"We always know which offer sells best when we are using direct response, but I don't think we['ve] yet asked the same kind of question aggressively enough for new media....We need to go from a sense of wonder that 'Wow, we can do it' to a demonstration that what we can do is valuable....It will take years to get to be serious....to be able to measure the [effect] of all this interactive communication, but we have to start by asking questions. You, as direct marketers, know how to do this. This industry, your industry, must lead here. This is the territory of direct marketing."

Labels: chicago, conference, DMA

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

It's time to get serious

John Greco is right on the money. For those of you who missed his opening speech at the Fall Conference a great recap is on Direct Newsline today.

This is a scenario that happens all the time. At industry functions the conversation moves to "what's the DMA doing about 'X'" ? And no one has the answer. Well John Greco gave us all the answers. And did it quite passionately.

Now it's up to us as members of the Direct Marketing community to get behind the initiatives laid out by the DMA and make sure our clients are at least aware of what needs to be done. I've already heard people say this is just a lot of inflammatory rhetoric. Maybe it is. But I'd rather prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised than suffer the consequences. We can't afford to be wrong on this one.

Labels: chicago, conference, DMA, legislation

Friday, October 12, 2007

Off to Chicago

Gonna be busy for the next few days. Not unlike other companies, we start planning for the Fall DMA Conference immediately after the prior one. So, our meetings are all set up, our schedules are full and we're psyched to go. An interesting point; so many people I speak to about this Conference immediately bring up next year's in Las Vegas. Hmmmm? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Be back next week.

Labels: chicago, conference, DMA

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

How quickly your dance card fills

Direct marketers are about to face the same problems our potential customers face daily. We are going to descend on Chicago to our annual conference in hopes to accomplish whatever our predetermined goals are. The only obstacle: so is every other direct marketer. The next problem is time. We only have about three days to do it in.

Broker/manager, mailer or data service provider, we all want to make that contact who will seal a deal or promote our business or our client's business. It's hard! It's like trying to be at every one's wedding on the same day. Or mail box clutter.

We need to take a tip from our own play book. Make sure you stand out in the crowd. Then above all make sure you deliver what you say you will.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Review of NCDC

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Hats off to the Nonprofit Federation

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Merges scheduled for DMDNY

Friday, December 7, 2007

Shelly Lazarus

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

It's time to get serious

Friday, October 12, 2007

Off to Chicago

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

How quickly your dance card fills

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