Affiliates Committee Chair Dennis Christina: Writer's Block

I now understand what writers go through when preparing a manuscript or article.

With so much going on with Affiliates and the Affiliates Committee, how could I have writer’s block? As I look back on the work started by our previous Affiliates Committee Chairs, Mary Sticha and Mark Klein, I see our Committee changing, expanding, and taking on new directions and an expanded role in NAFA.

When I first began serving on the Affiliates Committee, we oversaw concerns and activities of the Affiliates, but our primary function was planning an appreciation night for our customers, the members, the Expo, and fundraising for these events. Today, the Affiliates Committee is involved in much more and we continue to look at how we can serve NAFA better.

At our recent Affiliates Committee meeting held at the NAFA Board of Governors meeting in Atlanta, GA on June 6, we discussed the 2013 I&E, the Expo Trade Show, the networking reception, and the role the Affiliates take part in. This year’s I&E showed an increase in fleet manager attendance of 21 percent, with total attendance up 16 percent. The Expo trade show experienced better traffic, and already 53 percent of the floor space has been sold for the 2014 edition.

Much of our discussion was looking at the Role of Affiliates and how can we participate and be more supportive of NAFA. We are looking at three main areas to help achieve this goal.

First, we are looking at expanding the Affiliates Committee by inviting the Affiliate Vice Chairs from all committees to participate in our meetings at the BOG. They could bring valuable information about what the Committee is working on and how Affiliates can help. They can also serve as a liaison between their Committee and the Affiliates Committee.
Second, we want to invite some of the long time Supplier/Vendors that have supported NAFA and the I&E over the years to participate on the Committee. This will help in two areas: It will help give advice on improving the Trade Show, and provide the expertise needed to help the EDC on their projects.
Third, we will continue to share this information with the Affiliate Chapter Chairs through our periodic conference calls. This will expand our outreach for expertise and advice to the Chapter level. The Affiliate Chapter Chair will serve as a liaison between the Chapters and our Committee.

Utilizing these three areas of expansion and growth will give us insight to what Committees concerns are, what are the concerns of the Vendors and the Trade Show, and what are concerns of Affiliates at the Chapter level. Our goal is to bring Affiliates, our Committee, and our Chapter Affiliates together to work on NAFA issues and increase our overall support for NAFA. After all...we are all NAFA!

NAFA Affiliates Committee Chair Dennis Christina is BusinessLink Commercial Manager of Telegraph Dodge Chrysler Jeep, Inc.