ELON, N.C. – Elon University Associate Director of Athletics and 1st Vice President of the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) Trip Durham helped to create the NACMA “On the Road” seminar which held its third annual meeting on April 20-21 in Indianapolis, Ind.
The 36-hour workshop, which draws administrators from NCAA Division II, Division III and NAIA schools, uses speakers and programming to teach and assist small college administrators with effectively marketing their athletics programs.
Durham and Mike Racy, vice president for NCAA Division II, initiated the seminar in 2004 with the help of Dave Pickle, editor of the NCAA News. The first meeting was held in Rock Hill, S.C. with 38 attendees and the second session was in Boston, Mass., in 2004 with 55 administrators in attendance. This year in Indianapolis, attendance numbers were over 100.
According to Durham, the seminar originally targeted areas of the country where Division II, Division III and NAIA schools are concentrated by athletic conferences. In the past two years, administrators from all over the country have been in attendance.
“The marketing of college athletics programs and the sponsorship landscape has changed so much over the last 10 years,” Durham said. “Athletics personnel at smaller schools are wrestling with how to improve their operations when faced with limited staff and ever shrinking finances. The level of success with ‘On the Road’ has been inspirational.”