Membership Promotion – Eastern States Show

Last year, with no Regional Program to promote and the National Convention in Hartford in July, The Amherst Society was generous to allow us to use the booth area normally given to the NER to promote the organization to promote the National Convention. The HN2009 convention program was a great success however way you want to measure it.  While we were unable to reverse the decline in paid attendance to the Convention Program, with a total registration of just under 1100, our planning was tight enough that the HN2009 convention program was profitable and made more profit than the last two conventions combined. The National Train Show had a paid attendance of 17,019 which we thought was a exceptional number for July.

In 2010 the NER will be back promoting the Region and Divisions programs at the Eastern States show. I am looking for people from all around the region to sign up for a one-hour slot to staff the booth and respond to people who are curious about the Region and the Divisions. There are seventeen hours to fill – 9 – 5 on Saturday and 10 – 5 on Sunday. I will be managing the sign-up sheet. Anyone willing to take an hour, please send me an e-mail and I will slot you in as best I can. Please do not sign up for an hour if you are not sure you can fill it

I am looking to upgrade the presentation of the booth. Two years ago I debuted a plastic pipe frame that allowed us to display the Northeastern Region banner. This year I want to eliminate the static panels describing NMRA and NER Activities, and replace them with a Powerpoint Slideshow presentation that shows photographs and text of activities in the Northeastern Region and the various Divisions. This will be shown on a 19” LCD monitor. There will be displays promoting our two conventions in 2010, and each Division is invited to provide a flyer that shows their upcoming program schedule and contact information.