As at many other recent DM events, this year’s New England Direct Marketing Association annual conference roster was filled with more senior than junior level marketers.
Conference chair and new NEDMA president Alexandra MacAaron noted that the higher level attendees were likely attracted to the strategic and issue oriented sessions featured at this year’s show, held Monday in Burlington, MA. The economy and companies being less willing to send junior level employees out to conferences also played a role, she acknowledged.
About 300 DMers attended the event, down slightly from the approximately 325 at last year’s conference. However, corporate membership for the association is up, meaning better attendance for monthly meetings, such as the Butterworth Copywriting Seminar this Wednesday, June 18, at the John Hancock Conference Center in Boston.
DM legend Stan Rapp received the NEDMA lifetime achievement award during a breakfast session on Monday. MacAaron said with a laugh that organizers had forgotten he had already received the honor from the association 15 years ago. “We told him we’ll invite him back in 2018 for his third award,” she joked.