Greetings NACA Friends!

     In approximately 23 days we once again converge onto the giant bubble world that is the Gaylord Opreyland Resort, where students, advisors and entertainers will all come together in the hopes of bringing back some great things for our respective campuses. I thought I would take the opportunity to shed some light and hopefully offer advice on what I do as a student in preparing for the 5 day entertainment extravaganza!

   I've been on the Campus Activities Board at Simpson College since my freshman year and in my now 2.5 years, have done almost all of it. I've set up for bands and comedians. Called BINGO, introduced our acts. Worked on marketing our events. I've worked with agents in securing dates and I was a Co-Op buyer at NACA-Nationals and NACA-Northern Plains last year. Currently, I serve as the president of CAB at Simpson. So, that's a brief background of my relationship with CAB.

    I was lucky enough to attend NACA in Nashville as a freshman and can assure you that it will be quite the expereince!

    But anyway, today I will be providing you with some helpful tips on Preparing for NACA-Student Style

1. DO HOMEWORK NOW! The NACA schedule has VERY LITTLE free time and making sure that you read "The Prince" or whatever homework you're missing out on, will soon become the last thing on your mind. You'll be running from ed session to showcase to dinnner and starting the process again. Bringing homework will only weigh down your already limited baggage (a whole other issue I'm not excited about) and will only make you stress. So, do your homework before hand. SO, when you get back from NACA you're A-OK and ready to go.
2. Stock up on sleep and or Red Bull! With the NACA schedule being jam packed, it is also long. Most days start at 9 and don't end until 1am and you don't want to miss a minute. An average of 3 or 4 hours of sleep is what I've gotten at past NACA's and to be honest I don't really notice till after the fact. You get so caught up in going to showcases,attending ed sessions, networking with other schools, talking to agents and artists, playing in CAMP, and trying to figure out the hotel. You won't notice until Tuesday that you've only had 10 hours of sleep since Saturday. So, if you're a person who needs their sleep or caffine, put on some wings. You'll need them!
3. Meet with your delegation! Meeting with your delegation helps for a couple reasons. 1) We have 8 students going to NACA this year, 2 of ours are returners and the rest are first timers. Our group has already met once and it's given us returners an opportunity to share some info with the newbies on what to expect, how NACA's ran etc. 2) If you're group isn't a group that hangs out outside of CAB. It's a great opportunity to get to know the people you're going to be spending 21 hours of your day with. So it's not too awkward that first day or so. Meetings are also a good time to talk about what you want to bring back from NACA as far as entertainers are concerned and who is going to attend what ed session when you go through the NACA preview book.
4. Bring cold fighters! Whether thats Ziacam,Cold-eez, vitamin C etc. The hotel is a giant bubble with recycled air and when you never leave the hotel for 3 days you're body starts to feel it. So, I suggest bringing some vitamins and water to help keep your body up to par, so it doesn't crash and you get sick. Which is what happened to half our delgation after NACA- Nashville.
5. Bring business cards! This is one thing I've forgetten to bring to every convention I've been to. These cards are a good way to network with other schools, so you can swap and steal programming ideas from each other after NACA. But it's a way easier way to exchange information with agents.
6. Get excited! I don't want to talk about too much or I'll have nothing to talk about in other blogs. So I'm ending my tips with GET EXCITED! NACA is an amazing time and you should be stoaked!

   SO, that's it for now. But stay tuned for more!