Tuesday June 7, 2011

Dear colleague,

SPOTLIGHT ON MARKETS

Full details of NABMA’s Annual Conference “Spotlight on Markets” is currently being circulated. NABMA’s Conference is the centre piece of NABMA’s year and is widely recognised as the leading market conference of the markets industry. This year we are concentrating on a wide range of subjects but we want to particularly look at how tourism and culture can impact on markets. There will also be a number of presentations covering different aspects of market management and operation and one big change this year will be the inclusion of workshops on the Monday afternoon in place of plenary sessions.

The three workshops will focus on promotion of markets, management models, and how to deal with a failing market. The workshops will be facilitated by senior market officers and I am sure that there will be much to be gained from debate that will take place. We have managed to make substantial reductions on last year’s Conference rates thanks to the very generous support of our sponsors and the Barceló Hotel Group. Delegates can save an amazing £150 on last year’s prices and there is an also attractive rates for day delegates on both the Monday and Tuesday.

Anyone who has an interest in the future of markets needs to be at Harrogate to keep up to date on the current market scene. Booking forms can be obtained from NABMA at nabma@namba.com or downloaded from the website at www.nabma.com

MARKET AWARDS

We want to celebrate the good things about markets. KPR Midlink’s Market of the Year has become a very successful competition highlighting some of the best markets in the country. Now we want to recognise the achievements of individuals. With thanks to Blachere Illuminations, NABMA is launching three new competitions and we are looking for The Market Officers of the Year, The Market Team of the Year, and The Market Innovation of the Year. We want to hear from as many people as possible and will be making awards at the Gala Dinner on the 19th September 2011.

Please let us know in no more than 250 words why you think you should receive one of these awards. Again details can be obtained from the NABMA office at nabma@nabma.com or can be downloaded from the website at www.nabma.com

MARKET OF THE YEAR

It is important that we provide widespread coverage of the winners of our annual KPR Midlink Market of the Year competition. There is so much good practice to share that we want to make sure that everyone can see just how successful markets operate. Hard copies of the Market of the Year publication are being sent to all members and if you need additional copies they can be downloaded from the NABMA website at www.nabma.com if you want additional hard copies to provide to your members please contact the NABMA office at nabma@nabma.com

INSTITUTE OF PLACE MANAGEMENT

We are slowly increasing the number of members of the Institute. I have said that my target is 50 members before we launch the Diploma of Markets Management. At the moment we have over 30 members so we need to make a push over the next two or three months and try and achieve the 50 by Conference so that we can launch the Diploma at Harrogate. Remember you can become a Member of the Institute at two levels.

Any market officers, at whatever level, can become an Associate Member of the Institute simply by applying to the following email address dan@placemanagement.org. If you want to become a full Member of the Institute then you need to reply to the following email address cathy@placemanagement.org and provide details of your post, authority and the highest qualification you currently hold.

MARKETS RESEARCH

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the recent research on the state of the markets industry. We had a superb response from NABMA members making it the best ever response to a NABMA questionnaire. The information is being currently analysed and I hope that we can produce information for all our members in a few weeks.