As the first quarter conference season wraps up, the team at NMMC (aka National Mail Marketing… or our shiny new DBA, National Mail & Digital Marketing) has a few pro tips to share from our travels across ICMG, Medicarians, and RISE. We showed up, we learned, we laughed, we ran out of tchotchkes. Here’s what we wish someone told us before the season started:

1. Pack your most comfortable shoes. 20k steps a day is real.  Running from location to location and meeting to meeting demands the ability to be quick on your feet.
2. Underestimate your tchotchke demand at your own peril. (Ask our Medicarians team… gone by Day 2).  Then have a back up plan to have your office overnight you MORE!
3. There is no AI tool for handshakes. Never underestimate the power of face-to-face. In an AI-driven world, handshakes and hallway chats still drive relationships!
4. Build an A+ team to turn your results into marketing gold. Shout-out to our internal creative team. The case studies and creative we showcased had people buzzing over our award-winning campaigns and our record-setting 12% direct mail response rates.
5. Stay for the sessions. The presentations were genuinely strong this year, from Medicare to ACA to life and annuity topics. Shocking how much true value is shared between all the coffee and badge scanning.
6. Roll deep. Having a strong partner vendor matters. Huge thanks to our friends at National Mail Graphics (NMG) for helping us show up stronger, together. Conference season is better when you don’t go it alone.
7. Avoid the “AI can fix everything” guy. He’s at every show. You’ve been warned.
8. Don’t just swap business cards and contact information. Bring solutions. Real conversations matter way more than scans and handouts.
9. Expect to be inspired. We walked away impressed by how many leaders in the Medicare and ACA space are innovating with purpose.
10. Already be planning for next season. The best relationships start before the conference!

To everyone we met, partnered with, or learned from during this first quarter conference season we say, thank you. We’re proud of the work we do, but even prouder of the partners and colleagues we’ve met along the way. NMDM’s mission is to grow strategic partnerships by offering leading-edge direct marketing initiatives that drive brand trust and loyalty for our clients.  Conferences offer the best opportunity to do that, if you’re prepared!