TRENDY Award (Formerly All Media Contest)

BOMA Georgia was recognized by Association TRENDS with the 2021 Silver TRENDY Award in the Promotional Items category. BOMA Georgia earned the recognition for its transition from producing an in-person trade show in 2020 to a virtual “Enhanced Exposure Experience,” due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following are excerpts from the award application: “In a year where a global pandemic interrupted many associations’ ability to conduct in-person trade shows, BOMA Georgia launched an innovative idea to protect one of the organization’s most substantial non-dues revenue generators and member connection experiences. The BOMA Show Enhanced Exposure Experience was created with the goal of facilitating meaningful business connections between BOMA Georgia’s property management professional members and the vendors and service providers who still sought to maintain and establish new client relationships, all while protecting the association from substantial net revenue loss occurring from the inability to conduct an in-person trade show legally and safely. The Enhanced Exposure Experience was an opt-in program for those exhibitors that had already registered to exhibit in the association’s annual trade show. Companies could choose to opt out of the experience and receive a full refund or credit for the cost of their trade show booth; however, those companies that chose to opt-in were provided with a package of exposure opportunities that provided significant exposure for their organization in a time where many opportunities were non-existent. To effectively communicate and promote this opportunity to exhibitors, BOMA Georgia created the BOMA Show Enhanced Exposure Experience Sales Kit that communicated the terms and benefits of this new opportunity which resulted in 78 of the 184 companies originally registered to exhibit at the in-person trade show opting in to the BOMA Show Enhanced Exposure Experience, making it the largest virtual trade show produced by any BOMA in the United States in 2020. The 78 companies that participated also benefitted from exposure to readers of the Guide to Building Operations, Management and Finance in the New Normal, which also featured 11 advertisers. All 78 participants also received a premier or premium listing on the association’s managed CRE Insight Journal Marketplace website. Furthermore, more than 75 percent of BOMA Show Enhanced Exposure Experience participants completed the presale to participate in the 2021 in-person trade show.”

BOMA Georgia received the award during Association TRENDS’ annual Salute to Association Excellence celebration on October 28, 2021. The celebration was the 41st annual awards program facilitated by Association TRENDS. The TRENDY Awards, formerly named the All Media Contest, recognized excellence in association communications and educational programs.

At the time of receiving the award, on its website, Association TRENDS described itself as, “a community dedicated to providing association executives and industry partners the training, data and insights needed to better understand and serve their organizations.” This is a screenshot of the Salute to Association Excellence webcast, which was held virtually instead of in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic. BOMA Georgia also received a 2020 Gold Circle Award from the American Society of Association Executives for its 2020 Enhanced Exhibitor Experience initiative.