I threw my bags down in my room at the Hilton in Hartford and that was it.  I was there.  After a three-hour drive from Albany NY, I was at the NASC Symposium…

So…what now?

Far and away my biggest fear going into the Symposium last April was “what now?”  As a Sales Assistant at the CVB, I had no contacts at the Symposium and had never really sold my destination in that capacity.  While I loved sports, my ability to recite ten seasons of Buffalo Bills scores and rosters probably wasn’t going to have much of an impact on anyone.

But within a half hour though, none of that mattered.

After swinging by the Convention Center to check in at registration, I was heading back to my hotel to get ready for that evening’s welcome reception when I spotted a person walking ahead of me with the same NASC duffel bag that I had slung over my shoulder.  It was when we stopped at a crosswalk that conversation started and continued for the fifteen-minute walk back to the hotel.  It came easy—we were both new, we were in the same industry, and we were both figuring it out.  No big deal.

Later that evening upon walking into the welcome reception, I found myself in that same situation…what now?  Always one to trust my gut, I made my way to the buffet in the center of the room and said hello to a woman in line.  As fate would have it, she was from Albany as well!  Albany, Georgia, but still—what were the odds?

It was also at this reception that I met a guy from Georgia who was new to his Sports Marketing position.  We bonded over our relative inexperience and were intermittently joined throughout our conversation by others saying hello and introducing themselves.  The CSEE Grad from Florida.  The duo from North Carolina.  While I can’t rip every name off the top of my head, I can reach down and grab my stack of business cards from the show and have everyone identified in a minute. And making those connections is what it’s all about.  The show continued in a similar fashion for the next three days and it was absolutely fantastic.

Fast forward six months, I’m now a Sales Manager here at the Albany CVB and starting to think about my second Symposium proactively instead of reactively.  I know now that doing business isn’t just trying to sign a deal during an eight minute info-session, but rather forming relationships that will garner business in the future.  If this is your first Symposium, know that there’s nothing to worry about.  This is the greatest sports-related networking experience and exposure you’ll get all year, and as long as you take advantage of the opportunity by putting yourself out there, everything else will fall into place.

 Charlie Hewitt
Sales Manager
Albany County (NY) CVB
chewitt@albany.org

Charlie Hewitt has worked in hospitality for eight years, and is  currently a Sales Manager with the Albany County (N.Y.) Convention & Visitors Bureau.  In this role, he works with meeting planners in the Group Tour, Fraternal, Reunion, and Sports markets to ensure their event needs and expectations are exceeded.  Charlie also spent time working for the Sports Foundation of New York’s Capital Region, helping to plan and execute events to support amateur athletics in the Albany area.  In addition to work with the CVB, Charlie has worked for hotels, restaurants, and attractions, and has used this experience to fully understand what the client experience is like from start to finish when visiting a new destination.  His academic background is in hotel, resort and restaurant management with the SUNY College of Technology at Delhi.