NAB launches new awards program. (Organizational Development).

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), Washington, D.C., achieved five critical goals when it launched a new awards program for technological innovations during its 2003 spring convention held April 5-10:

* Increase publicity before, during, and after the convention.

* Generate excitement among convention participants and a buzz around the awards.

* Provide exhibitors with an avenue to promote cutting-edge products.

* Add legitimacy to exhibitors' participation in the show (you have to be there or you can't win).

* Brand its convention as the venue for hot new technology for electronic media.

With the help of Wall Street Communications, NAB's public relations agency, the program was conceived, developed, and implemented in four months, during which NAB considered many issues, including award categories; voter eligibility (board versus general election); and on-site implementation (ballot distribution and collection as well as electronic or manual voting and tabulation).

Hurdles to overcome. NAB faced a number of challenges in developing its new program. For example, the cost of collecting and printing product information before the show was prohibitive given that the convention would draw more than 1,200 exhibitors. In addition, many exhibitors would not release new product information before the show--a major stumbling block when preparing ballots. The solution: Allow voters to manually enter their choices on a simple ballot form in three general categories--content creation, content management, and content delivery. Five winners were selected in each category.

A ballot system. With more than 88,000 participants coming to the convention, we needed to limit voter eligibility and the possibility of ballot stuffing. We required that each ballot include a name badge number to verify that it did not belong to an exhibitor. We believed that making the awards a people's choice, rather than an academy or board choice, differentiated us from the other award programs. We hired interns to help with ballot distribution, made announcements across the public-address system, used the convention daily newspaper, and placed ballot boxes in high-traffic areas to encourage people to vote.

NAB announced the award winners at its technology luncheon on April 9, which allowed only two days (April 7-8) for voting and tabulation. We also selected members of the media to comprise an editor's choice panel to add validity to the awards program. It selected one overall winner in each of the three categories two weeks after the show.

New promotion opportunities, The awards provided NAB with new opportunities to promote the convention. We provided exhibitors with the award logo to use in their promotions before the show and on-site and had tent cards made to display in exhibitors' booths. We also distributed packets to winners that included sample press releases, information on how to download the logo, and a questionnaire about the winning product. Winners could then use the information in their product promotions year-round.

Submitted by Stacey Perrus, media relations manager, and Michelle Kelly, senior director, convention marketing, National Association of Broadcasters, Washington, D.C. E-mails: [e-mail] and [e-mail].