NEMRA22, Valued and Getting Industry Back to Normal

Next week represents potentially the biggest week of the year for many manufacturers and reps as the NEMRA Annual Conference begins February 1^st.

Over the past two years there has been limited success with the industry getting together “at scale”, with the AD North American meeting representing the largest gathering to date.

From talking with manufacturers over the past few weeks about “meetings” in general, there appear to be trends that:

• Smaller manufacturers and those who are either more entrepreneurial or have aggressive / progressive management that are empowering their staffs, appear to be traveling more, engaging with distributors (and end-users.)
• Manufacturers appear to be more “selective” on the meetings that they are attending. While tradeshow attendance may be down (as evidenced by CES having 40,000 instead of its historical 170,000), suppliers are exhibiting (NECA had many even thought reportedly attendance was 5000-7500 but “quality” interactions were up.) The words that were repetitively mentioned is that engaging with end-users is needed.

Next week is the industry’s largest conference – NEMRA, so I decided to check in with Jim Johnson, president of NEMRA, on the upcoming conference and what he expects.

Jim shared:

• NEMRA hosted 49 virtual meetings for manufacturers the week of January 10^th. Rather than hold “group” meetings at the conference, this year’s scheduled moved the group meetings to virtual so that more people from agencies and factories could participate, cost-effectively. NEMRA identified a combined 6000 connections, combined, on the various sessions (which probably means that there were many more in attendance). Feedback was very positive (and I was on a call with one manufacturer client who had over 60 attendees, which was 3 times what they had at their last in-person meeting.)
• For the conference, which is being held in Dallas, NEMRA currently has 1,403 people registered, which is impressive given that Canadian manufacturer representatives and factory personnel are restricted due to Canadian travel restrictions / challenges.

Jim shared that many manufacturers have commented that the NEMRA meeting was a “must attend” for them as it is their national sales meeting opportunity. This year’s schedule also allows for more educational / informative sessions, increased networking, and more one-on-one meeting time. So rather than having to take 15-25, maybe 30 trips, suppliers can take one to meet with their agencies.

He’s also received a number of emails from manufacturers commenting about the conference and he offered to share. Manufacturer’s expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming meeting:

• “While there are less individuals attending from our rep firms, we are very pleased that they are coming to their conference.”
• “This is the most important meeting we have with our principles.”
• “Virtual platforms are nice but there’s no substitution for meetings in person. See you in Dallas.”
• “Thank you for bringing us back together.”
• “The majority of our reps are attending.”
• “The new agenda really does provide better and more opportunities to learn and network.”
• “I was pleased to see the emerging talent and the NECA session and I like the opportunity for interaction during these sessions.”
• “This is the most important meeting for reps and manufacturers to set, review and align. We have never missed a conference and don’t intend to do so this year.”

It is interesting that manufacturers have commented about the agenda given that historically, manufacturers only focus on their one-on-one meetings for industry conferences.

Educational / informative sessions at NEMRA include:

• A technology session discussing the exchanging of data between reps and manufacturers
• An Emerging Talent session titled “Catalyst for Change”
• Craig Wortmann’s Professional Development Program will be on Mastering Sales, Presenting with Panache
• The keynote session is Josh Linkner speaking on “Unlock Innovation, Drive Explosive Growth”
• A discussion with NECA’s CEO, David Long, titled “Charting the Course”

And he shared that NEMRA is still accepting registrations and that some manufacturers have “upsized” their booths to accommodate additional staff.

When asked about COVID, Jim shared that, in addition to the Hilton Anatole’s enhanced cleaning protocols, NEMRA is:

• Using modular privacy suites and meeting spaces on the main or mezzanine level to provide a good environment from which to attend the one-on-one meetings.
• There will be ongoing and continuous cleaning and sanitizing of the modular suites throughout each day and a deep cleaning of all meeting spaces will be done at the end of the day.
• Sanitizing wipes & hand sanitizers will be provided in all meeting rooms. Attendees will also find increased hand sanitizing stations throughout the hotel.
• The Hilton will provide white glove service at all breakfast, snack and beverage stations and the NEMRA Reception.
• There will be a Covid-19 Self-Assessment Attestation sent to every attendee, every day, before attending any of the sessions.
• For attendee convenience, NEMRA will have free COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test Kits available – one per attendee.
• Attendees will receive face coverings, color-coded bracelets to indicate the attendee’s level of comfort with distancing from colleagues (i.e., is a handshake okay, or is distance preferred?) and a travel size bottle of hand sanitizer.

With the conference in Texas, NEMRA will not be requiring or requesting proof of vaccination in accordance with state mandates.

So, NEMRA is investing to provide as safe a conference as possible

According to a Bloomberg Business newsletter “One interesting divide that has emerged is that smaller businesses have proved much more willing than larger corporations to put workers back on planes.

At American Airlines Group Inc., travel demand in the fourth quarter from small and medium-sized businesses returned to 80% of its pre-pandemic level, compared with only 40% for large companies. A Jefferies Financial Group Inc. survey of U.S. adults who took business trips in 2019 found that those who worked at companies with fewer than 1,000 employees were much more likely to predict a return to pre-Covid patterns in the near term. About 80% of that group on average expected to be traveling as much for business as they were before the pandemic by the end of 2022, compared with just 55% of workers at bigger enterprises. Among the 9% of previous business travelers who said corporate trips would never return to a 2019 pace, two-thirds work at companies with more than 1,000 employees, the Jefferies data show. The results of the survey were published in January.

This makes sense in the short term: Corporate giants with storied reputations and long-standing customer relationships are less likely to lose out on opportunities by keeping workers at home a little longer. The gears of change grind slowly at bigger companies, particularly in the face of a constantly evolving virus. Upstarts (smaller companies) don’t have the same luxuries.

Many are looking forward to next week’s conference and to getting back to some degree of “normal”. Teams / Zoom has a role, but so does face-to-face, networking, valued educational sessions and developing / maintaining relationships.

See you at NEMRA22!