PROS
AND
CONS
to Onsite Materials —
How Much Ends Up in the Recycle Bin?
By Heather Berg
Every association has publications or resources that
it wants to have displayed
at meetings. These are
additional vehicles for
communicating with the members, after all. conference
attendees rarely want to
haul 15 extra pounds of
paper home — especially
when a report or PowerPoint
presentation is often available online.
While a conference is an opportunity
to spread the word to a specific audience, it also can be a costly and wasteful use of publications that entails
expensive printing and shipping costs.
So when is it worthwhile?
YES, LET’S SEND
THEM
Publications at meetings and confer-
ences are an added outreach to a very
specific group of individuals and can
be a valuable outlet for an association.
Sending publications to a specific conference can gain name recognition with the
attendees at the conference. For instance,
an attendee at the Association Forum of
Chicagoland’s Holiday Showcase exposition
may consider using a vendor because he
or she received printed information about
them at the event. Associations can gain
access to people who are unfamiliar with
their resources by being represented at a
conference via publications.
Conferences also are an opportunity to
access non-members. By displaying copies
