I know I am a little early talking about a New Year’ Resolution---let me get through the Holidays enjoying the plethora of Sweets and endless Parties with all that delicious food. After all of that I will then come up with and announce my 2018 Resolution to shave some pounds knowing that it will be September before I will hit my goal.

My resolution that I want to announce today is that I will make it a Priority to dig deeper in my personal relationships with our facility partners.

We (Sean Robison on our staff and I), as I am sure that your destinations do as well, have turnover from time to time in our Parks and Recreation Departments. To be honest, they are not always public about the change or the new hire. In some cases, we found out through another source of the change. We have several different Park and Recreation Departments in our various communities, but they play a key component in hosting tournaments and events here in Dayton and Montgomery County.

Build that relationship with your Parks and Recreation staff because in some event bid cases it may take multiple sites to put a successful bid together. There may be cases as well where an event organizer may call the Park and Rec Department directly. When you have a strong relationship with your Parks and Recreation staff, it is more likely for them to call on you to assist in winning the event.

This also works with the Athletic Directors at your private and public high schools. For us, this is a little more challenging to meet with them as their responsibilities tend to keep them at school during regular hours. We have also found that during the summer their office hours are restricted, and they are as not as eager to meet during their off/down time.

Develop a way to stay in contact and keep your name in front of them. If I find an industry article that I think would be of interest, I forward it to them. It is a small way to show that you are thinking of them. In return, if an event opportunity comes across their, desk whether they can host it or not, they may pull you into those discussions. (Note that you should do the same for your College AD’s knowing that they may have limits due to NCAA regulations on hosting events.)

Lastly, stay connected with your private facilities staff. They do not have limits with school schedules and the NCAA, and their bottom line is filling their facilities. Granted we run into the issue of “resting the fields” but hopefully your personal relationship with them can open the doors to some new event opportunities.

I know that I have stated the obvious. Over time, we can get complacent in our daily work responsibilities and shouldn't get stagnant with the status quo. These small steps to building relationships with your local partners could go along way in being successful.

Ron Eifert, CSEE
Senior Sales/Sports Manager
Dayton Convention and Visitors Bureau
(Ron has been with the Dayton Convention and Visitors Bureau for 25 years and currently serves on the NASC Mentoring Committee as well as the Huber Heights (Dayton) Parks and Recreation Board.