Whether it's your first time at NACA, your 3rd time at NACA or even your 25th time; the amount of information that gets thrown at you can overwhelm even the most seasoned NACA veteren.

In my opinion the best way to approach everything at NACA is with just a rough outline of a gameplan for what you want to accomplish. Go in with no game plan what so ever and you will definitally find yourself drowning in artist names,information,agents and the works. Going in with the mindset that; I need x amount of musicians, x amount of lecturers, etc. means you'll probably miss out on alot of awesome things you didn't open your mind to think about. SO going in with a rough outline of what'd you like makes sure you can stay on top of the game at naca. It helps you know what you should keep your eyes open for, without shutting them to too much.

The big thing we do as a delegation at Simpson to help us know what to look for is a survey. We send out a survey a couple weeks before NACA asking the campus all sorts of questions. We ask them if they went to our 'Hump Day Ha" series (which is our comedians,we have about twice a month on a Wednesday) and if they went how'd they like them. We do the same for musicians, lectures, late night meals etc.  We ask what they'd like to see more of, whether its musicans, comedians, novelty acts etc. and the list continues. We keep the survey open till about a day before we leave for the convention and this is the biggest tool we use. We look through the results and see what our students are saying. Last year for example, students wanted less "no name" bands and more "headline" bands. SO we cut back on the amount of bands we booked and then booked a more well known name in place. The survey really helps because then we know what our students want.

Another big thing we go off is the entertainers we've had in the past. Ones that we want to keep bringing back because students enjoy them. Nick Motl for example, has come to Simpson since my freshman year. He's a great musician and a great guy and people love him .So we bring him back. It's the same with comedians as well.

Ed sessions are another important component to think about. These are great tools to attend to learn how to improve your programming board. I HIGHLY suggest that you split up your delegation for these too! Don't have all 6 of you going to the same ed session. Instead, go to 6 different ones and then you'll really pick up some great information.

Then with marketplace. Stop at every booth. Talk to the agents, they have SO MANY talented artists that didn't showcase at NACA. See who's out there that you might not know about. Plus it's fun to play around on all the toys!

So, when going to NACA don't go too prepared. Because lets get real. In my life at least, when I have the perfect plan everything goes wrong. But when I have a barely plan it turns out alright.

SO go to NACA with a rough idea of what you want to see. Know what you should probably really look at getting but don't be too closed minded and definitally don't go having no clue. Then you'll spend too much time trying to regain focus and nothing will get done.