NACDA Convention

First off, I apologize for not writing in the past week. As you will be able to tell, our days have been as busy as they were promised. In addition, our Internet access has been extremely limited at best. So I’ll do my best to keep you updated with my every move from now on, now that we have finally settled after a few days in Coventry.

So, going back a week to last Monday – Wednesday...

NACDA: The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. For three days I was stationed in the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas networking and planning for my future. I'll try to keep this post short, but these three days were anything but long, drawn out days filled with unbelievable amounts of information and insight. I'll take you through the highlights of my time at the convention and what it is technically about.

Here at the NACDA convention, there are 12 separate mini-conventions associated with smaller organizations. Yes, sounds confusing but I'll make it as simple as possible. Basically, NACDA is a set of panels, discussions, and networking opportunities between people in collegiate sports careers. So, there were absolutely no one there who was still in college, except for those in our group. 

Day 1: To begin our convention our group went to most of the NACMA associated events. NACMA is basically the marketing arm of the NACDA convention. Because everyone in our group was attending the convention for the first time, we had to go through a 4 hour "Basic Training" right in the beginning of the morning. Here at Basic Training we went through five sections about the following topics: Mentorship, Social Media, Networking Best Practices, The Job Search, and What to Do after your First Job. Each sections were led by a panel of four to five of prominent collegiate athletic heads from small colleges to large ones. The advice was sound and I walked away with two pages of notes that I will be able to reference in my future. 

Day 2: Starting the day, we sat in a presentation by Kevin Plank, the CEO and kick-starter to Under Armor. Using epic movies and a well-told story, Plank inspired many of to think about careers at Under Armor. Second, we went to a Marketing Super Panel with executives from the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, Oregon Marketing, and FC Dallas soccer team. Here they once again stressed the importance of getting good mentors and working harder than anyone else. This is in addition to the marketing advice they imparted on a crowd of over 400. Throughout the rest of the day we attended smaller mini networking events that focused on certain topics that could help smaller and bigger colleges develop new ideas for their program. I attended sessions on Social Media, Developing Leads, and Engaging Your Students and Alumni. Here I was able to take diligent notes and also meet with and exchange business cards with countless people. (List of the expansive network I developed below)

Day 3: On the third day, we began with a heated discussion about the State of Intercollegiate Athletics. Mainly this debate had to do with payment of collegiate athletes and if it should be done. One man, Taylor Branch, a Pulitzer Prize winner said this: "College Athletics will crumble if you don't start paying athletes." Stating this in a room of collegiate athletics workers, started quite the buzz and as a college student I was in for a treat. After this, the rest of the day was full of breakout sessions on the following subjects: Getting People in Stands, Branding, Creating the Fan Experience, and Leading from the Middle in Collegiate Athletics. Each of these sessions lasted for around an hour. My favorite of all three had to be the Leading...Athletics. Led by the Marketing and Sales director for the University of Tennessee, the information he presented was so useful I had to meet him afterwards to possible obtain a mentorship from him. (More information about this in my attached paper.)

An everyday experience was the lavish lunches that were put on. In a room of over 1200 people, I was amazed by the expansive nature of college athletics. People ranging from Graduate Assistants, to the Athletic Director of Ohio State University, I felt quite humbled to be able to attend such a prestigious convention. 

The Exhibition Hall

The gathering area outside the main ballrooms

NACDA 2012

Instead of posting all the things I learned from these three days, I am going to post my paper for our class on this topic. Hope you have enjoyed :)

EXECUTIVES I MET PERSONALLY OVER THE PAST THREE DAYS

• Jimmy Delaney - University of Tennessee:Senior Director, Marketing and Sales
• Lee De Leon - University of New Mexico: Associate Athletics Director for Development
• Craig Pintens - University of Oregon: Senior Associate Athletic Director, Marketing and Public Relations
• Trip Durham - CEO of 2D Consulting
• Becky Parke - Arizona State University: Director of Marketing and Communications
• Reginald F. Overton - University of Pikeville, Athletic Director
• Tory Teykl - University of Houston, Director for Marketing, Promotions and Sales
• Meaghan Brooks - University of Oklahoma, Director of Community Relations and Fan Development

These are only a taste of some of the relationships I have developed over the past three days....crazy networking...

PAPER ON NACDA:

NACDA Convention Summary

            Passion, Leadership, and Opportunities. These three words of advice were some of the larger lessons I learned from my time in Dallas at the NACDA and NACMA convention. Taking advantage of every opportunity that presented itself to me, I attended every lecture, panel, and struck up every conversation to advantageously network. However, at the end of the day, it was those three facets that resonated largest with myself: passion, leadership, and opportunities. In addition to a new outlook to my own future in the world of sports, I now am able to harness my own potential, combined with my ability to lead, to take on and be open to every opportunity available to a college student such as myself.

            Passion. A word often said, but rarely utilized. In every panel I attended that required the members to give advice, the one trait that they looked for in job applicants was not a certain job experience or a skill set. It was a passion for the job and a love for what one might be able to accomplish with desired job title. The conversations with the 50 people I gave my business card away to, I always asked the same main question: “How did you get your start in sports?” Not once did I ever receive a generic answer that was the ideal mix of success. No one common recipe allowed for the ultimate success in the industry. But what I found in each and every one of these humans was not a job title, but a love for what they do, and a passion to move up in the industry. Never did I encounter a person who did not love what they do. This definitely has resonated with myself. Finding that yes, internships are important, degrees are important, but its why you are accomplishing these things, rather than how you did them is what gets you the farthest. For much of my time so far in the sports career field, I have been short changed by the fact that I was not “the coach’s friend’s son”. And many times, that fact is discouraging. However, while looking across the vast room of attendees at the main lunches, there is no way that all of these collegiate leaders all have those ‘fortunate relationships’. The people that truly make it in this industry are people who do not quit. The ones that don’t complain when their name isn’t picked; the ones that keep driving after the clock hits 0:00; the ones who want to work in sports not for the fame and culture, but for the ability to make a real and tangible difference in this world. And that is passion.

            Ever since I was a kid, I have loved sports. Even when I was unable to play because of lack of skill, it was never because of a lack of drive and competitive nature. And that allure of athletes competing against each other had always been the one thing that pulled me away from doing school assignments and studying. Finally realizing in high school that my future could not lie in playing, but only in managing sports my passion went in a different direction. Unknowing to myself, until this past week of networking at the NACDA convention, the passion did not die; it simply hid itself behind a shield of collegiate experiences. Now, after finally tasting the business aspect of sports, I can surely say that that passion has been reignited and I am ready to pursue my next dream, like most at NACDA have already done. So yes, passion, although a simply a fashionable word, was the first and I think most important thing I learned from my three days in Dallas.

            Moving on, I attended a seminar by Jimmy Delaney, a University of Tennessee employee in Marketing, about “Leading from the Middle in College Athletics.” I went into uncharted territory where one hour later I found myself thinking “That was the best advice I have received from anyone here in Dallas.” Why? Mr. Delaney’s passion for leadership resonated in everyone in the room. His advice, geared towards those in middle of their careers, could be applied to everyone in the sports career field. Focusing on leadership, and the importance of not simply having a high position, but more importantly, being respected by all those you work with. As a student senator on campus, I have been recently slapped with the title ‘leader’ and now, with the help of his advice I was able to largely understand my role now in college, but also in the future at my first job. Most of his advice revolved around being understood by your constituents and by your bosses. More often than not, we as humans isolate ourselves, focused on our own personal growth within a company or organization. What Delaney stated, was how isolating oneself, not taking blame for your mistakes, and refusing to lean on others in your department will result in your own demise. By reaching out to those closest to you, rebounding once your make those mistakes, and accepting others success, you will ultimately arrive at your future goals. And this, in itself will enforce and bold your status as a leader within your profession.

            In addition to his comments on how to be a true leader, Mr. Delaney mentioned something that stuck the moment he uttered this advice: “Create Efficiencies, don’t create Drama.” Easier said than done, relying on your own ability to analyze a situation and look at the positives, not complaining about the negatives can and will expedite your road to success. I have found on this trip, many students focus on what may be wrong with the little things in their current situation. They will complain and make a big deal over the fact, say, their showerhead pressure is not correct. Instead, like Jimmy Delaney said, focus on the efficiencies, essentially the positives. Understanding that you are not here on this program for great showers, but for networking opportunities, a new perspective is born. Utilizing this vision in business scenarios I will be able to fix the wrongs, exploit the things that make my projects stand out, and accept other’s ideas in a way that will be a win-win situation. Valuable advice is an understatement to this seminar. He finished his lecture saying “Genuinely tell people how great they are.” Simple advice, but after three days of using these words in my own life, I have already felt my maturity and understanding of humanity grow. I have since reached out to Mr. Delaney and started talks on personal and career advice. As I stand now, chiseling away at the block of my future, I hope to stay in contact with this man as to utilize his experiences in my own road of life.

            I cannot express the amount of times I heard the word opportunities. Specifically, seize every opportunity you have. Talking to the marketing director for the University of Oregon, Craig Pintens, I found the road to success did not revolve around working the way up one companies later. Many of his co-workers worked for smaller colleges before making the jump up to the larger schools. For him, it took working with minor league baseball to finally achieve his status now as head of one of the largest and best marketing universities in the country. (It also doesn’t hurt to have Nike on your side.) However, it was instruction like this that I received from countless executives. I had never truly considered working for any college aside from BCS schools. But once I saw that most people I met first went somewhere small to gain experience in every aspect of collegiate athletics I found myself becoming more and more interested in the opportunity to build not only a resume, but also large skill set. In essence, the opportunities that presented themselves to Mr. Pintens were never overlooked. More often than not, I sometimes glance at various opportunities and disregard them due to my negligence and thoughts not to move down in the business after working for a professional NFL team as an intern. (I worked for the Arizona Cardinals last summer.) This mentality has set me back in the business, and I now hope that the next two years I will be able to take large steps towards gaining experience that Mr. Pintens received in the business that he now has large influence in.

            On a side note, I found throughout the three days I networked with a very wide range of people. Starting on my first day I sought out any person who would converse with myself. By the last day I focused my time on higher executives that pertained to my interests. For example, I talked to the person in charge of fan experience interns at Purdue on the first day for over an hour. On the last day, I talked to Lee De Leon, a person of high regard at both Arizona and now New Mexico for a good thirty minutes. This being the last day of NACDA, I had learned so much about networking with the right people, not just the ‘higher’ leadership A.D.’s, and so it was Mr. De Leon’s name that largely stuck out to me. Being a former Arizona employee, I knew he already had contacts with our trip’s advisors so making a name for myself in his book should be easier. Now, I am in contact with a man who already respects the program I am on, and is basically a second connection between my advisors and I.

            In addition to connecting with the right people, by the end of the convention I found myself attending every lecture I could, no matter if it pertained to my interests or not. For example, I went to a lecture on new ways to find leads by a sales manager at Dayton University. Here the man talked for an hour on a subject I had absolutely no idea about before stepping into the Madrid room. However, after I felt confident on taking an internship with a company on the subject simply because of this man’s knowledge in the field and how he made sales and leads seem manageable to a person of my age. These experiences proved to myself even more that I was ready and could not wait until the day I can consider myself a professional in the career of sports. Every lecture, panel, and session I attended I was able to find at least a half a page of notes on a subject that now intrigues me. I have even since coming to London taken time to look further into issues such as the one of if collegiate athletes should be paid more than awarded scholarship.

            Overall, NACDA and NACMA provided me with the seed to my future in athletics. Whether or not I will work in college sports, I was instilled with knowledge that I could not receive in the classes at the University of Arizona. I received experience interacting with people I had never met, some even talking for over an hour. In the first session of basic training, one lady from the University of New Hampshire said one of my favorite quotes that helped inspire me throughout my three days in Dallas. It revolved around the fact that it only takes 20 seconds of insane courage to achieve some of your biggest dreams. Coming into the convention I had done research on who I had wanted to meet. Craig Pintens of Oregon was my number one contact. Now, I am talking with him over email, sending resumes back and forth and developing a foundation to a future relationship that may be the key to my success. It was that insane courage that now allows me to look forward to my future with even more optimism. And now the passion has built to even higher levels to truly seek what I most desire, to drive with no inhibitions and overcome any obstacles. In summary, I am thankful for NACDA for helping me take my next step and nudging me to the ledge of success.