Tuesday, January 8, 2013

ICAS Regions Finalize Plans for 2013 Winter Regional Conferences


Mark your calendars and make 2013 the year to attend as many of the regional conferences as possible. Remember, your conference venue is not limited to where you are based. We encourage you to experience the different regional offerings and a chance to get connected to other air show communities.

360 Degree Marketing at a Safe Air Show – SWCAS Conference February 8th & 9th
For those arriving early Friday into historic old town Sacramento, there will be a visit to the California State Railroad Museum before the official kick-off on Friday evening with a hosted social cocktail hour and opportunity to meet all of the attendees including organizers, performers and vendors.  Saturday’s activities begin at 8 a.m. in the Sacramento Grand Sheraton with a full breakfast in the meeting room and formal introductions to all attendees. After the opening remarks from the SWCAS leadership team, the featured keynote will be delivered by Clarence E. “Bud” Anderson, WW2 P-51 Mustang pilot and triple ace. The interactive education session will continue until 5 p.m. with a working lunch brought in and discussion areas around marketing led by John Haak of Extremetix and safety including an update from ACE Bill Cornick on changes to pilot oversight and a cadre of experienced air bosses will review initiatives around air boss training and standardization including an overview of material presented at the 2012 Air Boss Academy held at Little Rock AFB in Arkansas. They day will conclude with a hosted dinner. For more information: www.swcas.org

21st Annual NECAS Conference – February 15th, 16th & 17th
The Niagara Falls Air Reserve Base will once again be host for the northeast’s premier air show education and networking event when the members of the Northeast Council of Air Shows gather for their annual winter opportunity to re-charge the entrepreneurial and creative spirit and continue preparations for the upcoming 2013 air show season. Historically, the NECAS Conference has received high marks for both the learning opportunities that this well established event provides AND the chance to meet with, get to know and establish useful working relationships with air show professionals from throughout the northeast United State and eastern portion of Canada. And, once again this year, the world-class meeting facilities at the Niagara Falls ARB will help ensure that the meeting is held in the best possible location at extraordinarily reasonable prices. Final plans for the conference’s extensive educational programming will soon be available on the NECAS website. For more information: www.necas.org.

Elevate your Airshow Season – NWCAS Conference March 1st & 2nd
Whether you are a producer, performer, air boss, announcer or support provider, this conference is guaranteed to have the networking, contacts and best practices that will ensure 2013 is your best air show season yet! We have a fantastic speaker line up with Lockheed Martin’s F-35 test pilot Billie Flynn kicking off our Friday afternoon, Mary Lee bringing us new and inventive marketing methods and Lt. Colonel Jon “Huggy” Huggins will have us flying high with his U2 and T-38 highlights. Part three of “Thinking Inside the Box” will add value to our focus on our safety and efficiency and the military agencies and the FAA will be on hand with the latest updates.  And you won’t want to miss the legendary NWCAS hospitality starting on Friday night with our welcome event.  To top it all off, our wind-up banquet is in the Space Gallery at the Seattle Museum of Flight. Astronaut John Creighton will walk us through the space shuttle program and you can experience the full flight trainer first hand. For more information: www.nwcas.org.

Submitted by Dave Pinsky, Colonel, USAF (Ret.), Air Show Operations, "Wings Over Wine Country" Air Show

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