Southwest Parking & Transportation Association (SWPTA)
Resilience is defined as the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. By that definition, SWPTA is as resilient as it gets. This is a tale of three years – three very different years. Each one presented its own challenges to the members of the SWPTA community, and each was met with solutions by a creative board of directors that kept the association moving forward, serving its members, and helping them achieve their own resilience. Here is how SWPTA has navigated the last three years:
2020
March 2020 brought with it the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and an economic shutdown. SWPTA was planning a mid-year in-person conference in Palm Springs, Calif. in mid-April that had to be canceled, and the SWPTA board met to decide how to respond to the new environment. The association had done some webinars in the past, but they were not regular offerings; it was decided to ramp these up to monthly events in 2020. The board also decided to take on a more active social media presence on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube to keep its members connected when everyone was physically apart.
Swag Boxes
The SWPTA board wanted a unique way to continue to engage with members and sponsors during this challenging time, and they came up with idea of sending members and prospective members “swag boxes” with SWPTA items and items from their sponsors. Monthly boxes were sent out to about 100 members beginning in September 2020. The hashtag #SWPTAswagbox was used to promote the effort on social media. SWPTA board volunteers asked sponsors to send items that would be fun for members to receive in the mail as part of this monthly mystery box of parking-related goodies. The swag boxes were themed and tied to virtual social events that were held in the month following the arrival of the box. There was a Halloween theme in October, and gingerbread cookies and other holiday items inspired members to participate in the December Gingerbread Parking Garage Contest.
Swag boxes were sent out each month between September and December 2020, and then another five were sent over the course of the first nine months of 2021.
The result—a multi-channel campaign that kept members engaged and connected.
2021
As the pandemic began to release its hold, SWPTA again re-evaluated and came up with the best plan to engage its members while still abiding by local regulations and keeping safety and comfort level of its members as a paramount driver. They began to mix in some in-person events with the continued increase in virtual webinars, virtual social events, and the swag box campaign. Mixers were held in Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Denver to begin re-acclimating members back into in-person events.
This all culminated with the return of their annual conference in Las Vegas, October 25-27, 2021, at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas/Fremont Street Experience. The event was well-attended, and a great return to in-person conference events that SWPTA plans to build on in 2022.
An exciting achievement in 2021, SWPTA was honored with a 2021 IPMI Marketing Award in the Social Media Campaign category for their #SWPTAswagbox campaign, recognizing the hard work the SWPTA board put in to keep members connected and engaged during the pandemic.
In December, SWPTA hosted a gingerbread contest called the 2021 Great Gingerbread Garage Build. It was such a huge success, they anticipate this event being an annual tradition.
2022
While 2022 will see an exciting increase in in-person events, SWPTA will continue to offer a blend of virtual events as well. These events proved to be a great value to SWPTA members over the course of the pandemic and continue to provide great benefits. There are virtual social events planned for May and July, in addition to the return of the Gingerbread Contest in December. A Webinar is currently planned for May 10, Managing and Leading Up, with others to be offered throughout the year.
SWPTA also has in-person Frontline training events planned for this year, all to get people back out and learning together again. The first was held in Tucson in April, and two more are planned for Colorado and Utah.
Last, but certainly not least, the SWPTA 2022 Annual Conference will be held October 24-26, 2022, at the Golden Nugget/Las Vegas. Room reservations are open now, and more details are coming soon!
