David Nagy: Blending the Member/Affiliate Relationship

During our last Affiliates Committee meeting, the group reviewed survey results from the 2015 NAFA Institute & Expo attendees. The results indicate that Members attend for educational opportunities, networking opportunities, and to research products and services. The group focused on the survey results with the idea of trying to understand how Affiliates can continue to add value at future I&Es while at the same time enhancing the educational aspect of the event. Keep in mind, many Affiliates also exhibit and so there is a fine line between what is education and commerce.

There is no doubt that fleet professionals who attend the I&E do so to enhance their knowledge. How do we know that? Over 90 percent of the fleet professionals spent all six hours on the Expo Floor and want more Expo hours for the next year’s I&E in Austin, Texas. The Affiliates Committee challenge is: how can we add more value/education to the Expo?

We had a lot of discussion on educational-only areas on the Expo Floor. One thing for sure is the fleet industry never runs out of new interesting topics or developments. This would make both Expo sessions additional educational opportunities. No firm recommendations were reached as the discussion has just started. Stay tuned.

Another important and relevant topic discussed was how should we engage procurement departments? How can NAFA provide value to the procurement process? NAFA has always been an inclusive association for all individuals that touch fleet, regardless if the fleet is commercial, government, or municipal. Today, procurement has a prominent role in most of today’s fleet decisions so NAFA needs to answer a couple of questions if they want to engage this audience. The Affiliates Committee is helping NAFA with that effort, which should prove beneficial for both Members and Affiliates.

The Affiliates Committee is continuing to work on initiatives that add value to all the NAFA members, with a keen understanding that the educational aspect of what we do strengthens the networking channel and creates a higher level of partnership between Members and Affiliates.

David Nagy is Senior Vice President-North American Sales for Emkay.

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