CAI-NJ May 2017

INSIDE CONNECTION JACLYN OLSZEWSKI | DIRECTOR, EVENTS & EDITORIAL

Using Your Membership with CAI-NJ Efficiently….

I n keeping with this month’s theme of “Efficiency," I thought it might be helpful to offer a few tips on how you can efficiently work with CAI-NJ to get the most out of your membership. The CAI-NJ calendar is filled to the max with events and education, and it may be difficult to understand when you as a member should be doing certain things, such as reg- istering for events, acquiring sponsorships, submitting your information for the online and print directories, renewing your membership and when you will be able to secure your tradeshow booth. The list below is subject to change, but hopefully it will provide a guideline to help insure you will not miss one thing that CAI-NJ offers you!

Also a few important time frames to remember for the Conference and Expo are that Angela will begin soliciting requests for proposals for the programs around February each year. In March, booths will open to the general mem- bership, as exhibitors from the year prior will be able to lock in their same booth the week following the Conference each year. Sponsorship sales begin in April and Attendee Registration begins in May. Membership Each member of CAI-NJ is encouraged to renew their membership annually. The time frame for each member is different as it works based on your original join date. The Membership Committee and Laura work hard to make sure members are notified when they are expiring, please keep an eye out for this information annually. Membership is handled through the national organization, and you must renew through their website www.caionline. org. If you have any issue with your renewal reach out to Laura@cainj.org. Some of the benefits of membership include the ability to list your company in the Online Service Directory, which correspondences begin in December/January annual- ly as well as a listing in the Print Directory. Brainerd Communications, Inc. will reach out to the CAI-NJ members in March/ April of each year to ensure that your information is accurate. Please keep an eye out for the mailings and emails from both CAI-NJ and Brainerd Communications to ensure that you do not miss the deadline for this very important member benefit. Partnership Program With the success of the CAI-NJ Partnership Program, mem- bers are enthusiastic to take advantage of this program. To

"Here at CAI-NJ it almost feels like we hold an event every week..."

Events & Education Here at CAI-NJ it almost feels like we hold an event every week, just look at the calendar on page 7 and you will notice the array of educational and networking events. This calendar is provided monthly in each issue of Community Trends ® and I encourage you all to tear it out each month to use as a guide. A question I receive often is in regards to sponsorships at our events. A general rule of thumb is that we typically open sponsorships up for grabs roughly two months or so prior to the event, except for the Annual Conference and Expo, in which sponsorships usually open around April each year for the September/October event.

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