Are We All Doing Okay?

The fear of long words is called Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. For more ironic and over complicated terms, see also “FAFSA Simplification.” 

In this edition: 

• So. Much. Conference.
• Oh hey, conference updates!
• Virtual Conference Sponsorship (new!)
• Black Hole Sun

First Things First - May 5 Payment Deadline

Don’t forget to pay your National Conference invoices! Payment in full is due May 5. Login to your Exhibitor Record at any time to pay online, or print an invoice to submit with an offline payment. Please remit check payments to: 

NASFAA
Attn: 2024 NASFAA National Conference Exhibitor/Sponsor
P.O. Box 426067 
Washington, DC 20042-6067

We’re “All In” on This Year’s Charity 

If you loved our 5K charity walk/run last year to benefit a local organization, you’re going to love what we have in store this year!

First, meet our local conference charity partner, All-In Milwaukee. All-In Milwaukee is a college completion program that provides financial aid, advising, program and career support to high potential, limited-income, diverse Milwaukee students, helping them complete college, build meaningful careers and transform the Milwaukee community. They are doing wonderful work with deserving students and we couldn’t be happier to provide an opportunity to support them! 

Second, check out the three events/items we’ll be using to raise funds for our Milwaukee friends: 

• 5K Walk/Run - Back for 2024, this year’s race will be along the beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline on Sunday morning. 
• Trivia Night - Our Tuesday night offsite event will have teams competing to be crowned trivia masters. 
• ISIRvived Conference T-Shirt - Because we all need a laugh right now, we’ll have ISIRvived 2024-25 shirts available for purchase at the conference.

Finally, if you haven’t already, please consider supporting All-In Milwaukee by becoming a charity sponsor. For only $1,000, we’ll put your logo on the 5K race shirt, the ISIRvived T-shirt, AND on the website used for 5K and trivia night registration. You’ll also get special recognition during trivia night via event signage and a thank you/shout out from our trivia DJ. We also encourage charity sponsors to increase engagement with the NASFAA community by hosting a table at the 5K, and/or signing up to hand out ISIRvived t-shirts at the conference. 

Regardless of sponsorship, everyone is free to participate in these events, purchase an ISIRvived shirt, or even just donate to All-In Milwaukee. Sign up here for the race, trivia night, to order your shirt, or donate. 

To become a sponsor, please email me by May 15. 

Service Kit & Upcoming Price Increase

In case you missed it, the National Conference service kit is available and provides all the info you need to prepare your booth for showtime. Log in with exhibit code NASFAA24 to access (you may need to create an account to log in). 

Any on-site services you will need, like electric, Wi-Fi, catering, etc. must be ordered through the Baird Center’s online exhibitor store. Please note that advanced pricing is still available through May 14, with prices increasing on May 15 and then again on June 1. Consider this your nudge to place any orders now!

Additional helpful links can be found at the Baird Center exhibitor resource page; please refer to the welcome letter and exhibitor instructions for additional information.

Looking for Leads (In All the Right Places)

I may have just dated myself with that song reference, but it’s worth it for leads! We have partnered with Cvent to provide lead retrieval services through their LeadCapture product at this year’s conference. *Please note this is a service provided and supported through Cvent, not NASFAA (i.e. I can’t answer your technical questions). 

How It Works:

• Scan badges to gather lead information
• Score leads and takes notes
• Export leads to any database on demand

New to LeadCapture or want additional help? This how-to guide is all you need to get set up. Questions? Email Cvent’s Lead Capture Team.

Pre- and Post-Conference Attendee Lists

Our pre-conference attendee list is included in Platinum, Gold and Silver sponsorships. The list will be sent approximately one month before the conference and does not include email addresses. For non-sponsors, the list is also available to “rent” for one-time-only use at $1,000. If your company is interested in renting the list, please email me.

Our registered sponsors may also view attendee rosters anytime on our conference microsite. 

The post-conference attendee list will be sent out to all sponsors and exhibitors in the weeks after the event. 

Please note that only NASFAA can provide attendee lists. Any emails you receive from outside entities are not approved by NASFAA and should not be considered legitimate. 

Use Those Comp Registrations

If you still have complimentary registrations to use, we’ve got a handy little how-to that guides you through the process. Don’t let those free registrations go to waste! 

Not sure if you have comps? Simply click on the registration page and your comp registration status will be displayed. 

Virtual Conference Sponsorship

With all the focus on Milwaukee, don’t forget that our Virtual Conference is also  coming up and is also awesome! In fact, removing the barrier of travel, providing all new content (not just a replay of our in-person sessions from Milwaukee), and offering a very affordable institution-wide registration fee means we have even more attendees at our virtual event – making it well worth your sponsorship dollars!

With that in mind, our 10 virtual sessions are available to sponsor, presenting a valuable opportunity to reach a wide audience during the conference and beyond. Sponsorship benefits include: 

• Sponsor logo, preferred URL, and description on session web page
• Email on your behalf sent to all registrants the day before the live session
• Direct connection to session attendees who opt-in to share their email address
• A full list of session registrants, including first name, last name, and institution (does not include email)
• All for just $7,500 per session, the same cost to sponsor a regular NASFAA webinar

Sponsorship is awarded on a first come first serve basis, so contact me ASAP to lock in your sponsorship. Please include your top three session choices so I may better accommodate your preferences. 

Just Because and Let’s Chat

This month’s just because is wow, what a moment the sun is having! Between the recent solar eclipse and the creepy and terrifying news that the sun may be conscious, there’s a lot going on up there. So of course I had to go down a rabbit hole (black hole?) of wacky science facts related to space and planets. Here are some fun ones:

• The rotation of Earth is getting slower, meaning our days are getting longer. Days were only 21 hours long 600 million years ago. I bet they still had a 40 hour work week. 
• If you ever think you’re not getting enough exercise, remember that you travel 2.5 million km around the sun everyday. Well, okay, Earth does all the traveling, but it still counts, right?
• The average color of the universe is called “cosmic latte.” All the galaxy light blending together is a beige-white color. The Starbucks marketing plan almost writes itself.   

What’s going on in your world or galaxy? Send me your thoughts, questions, general musings, or pet pics.  

Carissa Uhlman
Manager of Corporate Partnerships, NASFAA
(202) 785-0453