I am not a member of the NFDA but I know quite a few members. During the NFDA’s recent meeting in New Orleans, they held what are called Executive Planning Sessions, or ESPS. As their promotional information described: “Held in private suites, ESPS bring you face-to-face with several of your current and future trading partners, providing you a unique opportunity to connect, network and conduct business, all in a single trip. Open to NFDA members and nonmembers alike, this format is one of the most efficient ways to build and maintain key business relationships”. In short, the ESPS sessions are a sort of speed dating where you can meet with several people in one day without having to travel to multiple destinations. Unlike a trade show, you have private meetings for a set period of time then you change rooms to meet with your next client. NFDA’s program is aimed at executive-level interchange and each meeting lasts about 25 minutes.
The people I spoke with who attended said they had several excellent meetings at the NFDA event. Every meeting is not necessarily a Home Run, but even their less productive meetings seemed to be informative. On a personal note, about a week after the NFDA meeting, I was copied on a letter sent to one of my principals from one of my customers. I have been working for more than a year to get an opportunity to quote this customer and they are finally allowing my supplier the opportunity to quote based on their ESPS meeting! They were kind enough to copy me, I guess to say, “OK, here’s your chance…finally”. If that particular meeting had not taken place, I’m not sure we would be quoting the business.
NFDA’s program is aimed at executive-level meetings as that is their target audience. It falls within the program structure of the NFDA. I think this is a very valuable tool but it might also be something that could be expanded down the road. It is great to travel to a destination where you can meet with 15 or 20 companies in one day. But, only so many people can be flown to a destination to attend these meetings. NFDA serves the executive teams very well, and the member companies benefit from meetings even if only a few members of the companies attend. It would be interesting to have a similar program aimed at inside sales people or purchasing people where a “speed dating” type of schedule could allow them to meet with 20 other companies in one day. Maybe it could be done through video conference or a separate day could be set aside at some kind of “fastener summit” as part of a trade show schedule. But, for now, I’ll tip my hat to the NFDA as they seemed to have a very popular and productive program that is already up and running.