Association Insight International & European 1 | Page 68

Association Success Story
How We Grew Our Annual Convention
registrations by 10% in less than Four Months
Organisation:

Categories:
Events

International Facility Management Association (IFMA)
Organisation and Membership Profile:
Professional Facility Managers
Member Geography:
Number of Members:
Organisation location:

85 countries
More than 23,500
Houston, Texas USA

Lead Contact:
Position:

Monica Grinage Cooper, CMP
Event Program Manager

Project Dates:
From: May 2013
To:
October 2013

Aims and Objectives:
The goals were to simply:
1) Increase conference registrations in less than six months by six percent
2) Produce a greater return on investment (ROI) for all key stakeholders
3) Liven up the attendee experience.

Introduction:
The International Facility Management Association’s annual convention typically attracts nearly 5,000
conference delegates. However with the downturn in the economy, a significant decrease in registrations
occurred in 2011 and 2012. This presentation/case study will explain the steps that were taken to increase
the annual convention registration in less than 6 months.

Background:
Like many associations, IFMA aggressively strives to attract more of its members and non-members to the
annual convention. However, with the downturn in the economy there was also a downturn in convention
registrations. In order to confront the obstacle for the 2013 show, the events, marketing, member services
and corporate connections teams setup a brainstorming meeting to discuss and develop a strategic plan to
assist in increasing registrations by six percent in less than six months.