Allan Steinfeld Education Scholarship recipient Dan Monhemius of P3R shares his insights
DETROIT (March 6, 2020) – What makes the running industry unique in comparison to other sports businesses? After attending the 2020 Running USA Industry Conference presented by Race Roster in Las Vegas last month, one attendee shared his insights.
“You would never hear of the Pittsburgh Steelers calling up an opposing team and asking them about their plans on game day,” observed Dan Monhemius, director of finance for P3R in Pittsburgh. “However, in our industry everyone seems willing to collaborate to make every city’s race day better.”
That spirit of sharing information and improving running events of all sizes was ever-present during the sessions he attended in Las Vegas. With over 700 attendees, the 2020 Industry Conference was Running USA’s largest ever, bringing together events, vendors, non-profits and other companies from across the road running industry.
“Even though we all compete to a certain extent for race registrations, the big takeaway was that we are all in this together with everyone going out of their way to help each other,” Monhemius noted. “There is definitely value in attending this conference to know where to find answers to issues you may have and to get ideas that you can implement to promote your race, grow registration, have a more sustainable race, provide better customer service, land sponsors, keep everyone safe and secure, and more. I would highly recommend anyone to attend that has not had the chance yet.”
The 2021 Running USA Industry Conference presented by Race Roster will be held in New Orleans, La. from Sunday to Tuesday, Feb. 14-16, 2021.
“We’ve appreciated all the constructive feedback we received on this year’s event and look forward to incorporating it to improve 2021, as we endeavor to do each year,” said Christine Bowen, vice president of programming, partnerships and operations for Running USA. “And it’s great to have insight from a first-time conference attendee like Dan who is seeing all that the event offers its participants with fresh eyes.”
Monhemius attended the event as the recipient of the annual Allan Steinfeld Education Scholarship offered by Running USA to further the knowledge of first-time conference attendees. The scholarship nomination window for 2021 will open in late summer.
Registration for the 2021 Industry Conference presented by Race Roster will open in April. Stay tuned.
About the Industry Conference
Since its origins as a small gathering of Running USA’s founders in Southern California in 2004, the Running USA Conference presented by Race Roster has grown to becoming the best-attended, most esteemed gathering of running industry professionals from around the USA and the world. Now moving locations each year, the conference has been held in Los Angeles, San Diego, Savannah, Houston, San Antonio, Orlando, New Orleans, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Las Vegas and back to New Orleans for 2021.
