of a new report at another organization’s
conference, an association can demonstrate its expertise to a new audience.
When an association has a new product or a new member benefit, a conference is an optimal venue for the launch.
The occasion allows for firsthand access
to the product and opportunity to create
buzz for it.
Another optimal time for sending
publications is when the information is
not available anywhere else. There are
numerous publications that either are
too long or too comprehensive to be
posted online. When the information is
unique and not available in another format, supplying copies to an engaged
audience, like conference participants,
helps increase outreach as well as estab-lishes reliability as a resource.
LET’S NOT ADD TO THE
RECYCLING
Printing costs, shipping costs and rental
of the space to display publications can
add up. And when budgets begin to
tighten, publications are a place to look
for some flexibility, especially when you
see more and more conference attendees
pitching printed resources in the trash or
recycle bin — not because they don’t need
the information, but because they don’t
have the luggage space. Consider what
can be made available before or after the
event in another format.
Many association employees have had
to make a decision onsite whether it is
worth it to ship 500 leftover copies of a
publication back to the office. Whichever
choice is made, there is waste. When the
publication wasn’t developed specifically
for that conference, there is a chance
