Last week I had the opportunity to attend the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) convention in Orlando, FL. Everyone from Athletic Directors to Marketing interns gather in central Florida to discuss the state of college athletics, network with others in the industry, and share ideas from their campuses. As a member of NACMA (National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators), I was able to attend any workshop I pleased. Dan Migala of The Migala Report opened the convention with his 5-tool sponsorship plan. Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen address the convention as the keynote speaker on the third and final day. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience all week.

Throughout the three day convention, there were several themes that kept surfacing during many of the workshops, speakers, and discussions. In no particular order, here are the five themes that seemed to surface throughout the convention.

Social Media:
Several workshops addressed Twitter directly and another discussed Facebook exclusively. Additionally, many other workshops and discussions seemed to discuss social media on some level even if it was not the main topic. Kathleen Hessert of Sports Media Challenge, organized a Tweet-up during the first day of the convention. While the turnout was small, the most surprising part of the meeting was that there was only one university represented. All other Tweeters were with companies. Additionally, if one were to search Twitter for #NACDA or #NACMA, they would find that almost all the tweets came from people associated with companies, not universities. It is clear that many universities, and college athletics in general, has not fully integrated social media into their plans for the upcoming semester.

The Economy:
While it’s not the auto or banking industry, the economy is hitting college athletics hard – and from all sides. Lack of available jobs, sponsorship renewals, ticket sales, and elimination of entire programs were topics being discussed throughout the convention. Athletic Marketing Departments are being forced to become even more creative with how they spend their money.

Media Rights Partners:
Over the last 18 months, many large athletic programs have signed contracts with major agencies such as ISP Sports, Learfield Sports, IMG College, and Nelligan Sports. The benefits and disadvantages of teaming with such agencies were discussed at length.

Licensing/Commercialism:
The court case surrounding EA Sports was the catalyst for these discussions. With standard marketing practices failing to live up to expectations, many universities are turning to new mediums to increase revenue. Unique licensing endeavors offer different opportunities for revenue for the upcoming semester.

Professional Growth:
To the Athletic Directors at the conference, this may not have seemed like a major theme. However, since The Sports Business Exchange is geared towards young sports business professionals, and I, too, am a young sports business professional, the amount of discussion on professional growth easily warrants its placement on this list. Mentors talking with mentees, recent grads talking with recent grads, established professionals talking with young professionals – it was all there. There was plenty of good advice being passed around. The only question is, how much of it will be followed?

See you all next year in Anaheim!

Note: The author of this blog is a member of NACMA. While at the convention, he did not attend any ICLA or NAADD sessions. Therefore, the above list was gathered mainly from NACDA and NACMA workshops, first hand discussions, and panelists/speakers during convention-wide gatherings. For more information, visit www.nacda.com.