By Mone’t Johnson, Association Manager, Impact Association Management
In May 2023, the National Association of Travel Healthcare Organizations (NATHO) partnered with Impact to produce their third annual conference for Healthcare Staffing Executives. As a client of Impact's for three years, NATHO entrusted Impact to produce a successful event, one that would top all of the previous.
Finding topics for a broad audience
With a 60% growth in membership, NATHO faced the fortunate challenge of not only providing a conference for a larger audience, but creating a conference that would appeal to all their attendees, new and old. The Impact team began meeting with NATHO's Conference Committee, president, and board to discuss which topics would be included in this year's conference. Through those several meetings, Impact was able to establish the common themes to satisfy what members requested: data trends, legal compliance, and future predictions on the industry.
Identifying industry-qualified speakers
With the common themes determined, it was time to find qualified and relevant speakers. Impact worked with NATHO's Conference Committee to find top speakers within their industry who could provide the most value for attendees. Once the speakers were established, the Impact team began working on a marketing strategy that was the largest catalyst for record-breaking attendance.
Establishing a top-notch marketing strategy
Unlike previous NATHO conferences, the Impact team developed a thorough marketing strategy that included social media, early bird rates, and interest-driving content. The team found great success when they offered and promoted an early bird rate and allowed their audience to see which well-known industry speakers would be participating in the event. These simple steps made a huge impact and after just one week of open registration, nearly 90 individuals had registered. This significantly surpassed NATHO's attendee data from last year.
Comparing the numbers
In the end, Impact was happy to help NATHO surpass their goals and achieve great success compared to previous years’ events. The 2023 NATHO Conference for Healthcare Staffing Executives saw an increase of 43% in member attendance, 175% in sponsorship participation, and 128% in sponsorship contribution. Such success was reflected through attendee responses in NATHO's post-conference survey. When asked, "On a scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied were you with the quality of information presented at the conference?" 90% of attendees rated the event as a 5.