Not Just Surviving, but Thriving
Beginning in 2020, Franklin Street Management became the Association Management Company for the National Association of ESEA State Program Administrators, with the task of continuing the work of managing all aspects of membership and daily operations, and producing its annual meetings and events.
This happened to coincide with the enormous disruption that was the COVID-19 pandemic, which was officially declared in March of 2020. Franklin Street Management assumed the role of AMC the following month, and we were immediately confronted with the deep uncertainty that came with such an unprecedented, global event. As it relies heavily on the revenue generated from its annual conference, the National ESEA Conference, to fund its operations, the Association faced the very real possibility of bankruptcy in those first few months, and we collectively understood that creativity and a re-doubling of our efforts were needed in order to survive. While other organizations were cancelling their events entirely, we were confident that our team at Franklin Street Management could adapt in the face of this challenge.
But the in-person format utilized for over 25 years to deliver the National Conference was immediately rendered all but useless, as there was no precedent for a disruption of this scale and significance. We are reminded of the adage that it is not the strongest but the most adaptable that survive, and indeed the team at Franklin Street Management have proven ourselves remarkably adept at adaptation, and we retooled our core proficiencies and developed the knowledge, tools, and processes required to produce a successful conference in this new landscape. And along with our client we made a decisive pivot in the face of uncertainty to entirely new conference formats.
This began with the first ever Virtual National ESEA Conference in 2021, which proved to be an unmitigated success. Attendance broke all previous records, and the Conference received overwhelmingly positive feedback and produced record profit for the Association. We heard from numerous attendees how deeply they valued the opportunity to attend the conference despite limitations due to travel bans or financial or logistical impediments, allowing groups to attend that would never before have been able to participate in and benefit from this event.
In the lead up we also began offering periodic webinars for the first time because we recognized there was a critical need amongst stakeholders for connection and information and sometimes just a little glimmer of hope in the face of trying times.
The following year, we embarked on planning the first-ever hybrid national conference in New Orleans, LA, expanding our capabilities to deliver content and foster engagement across multiple venues simultaneously, and produce another tremendously successful, valuable, profitable event. This trend continued through the Hybrid 2023 National ESEA Conference in Indianapolis, IN, and we are now looking forward to yet another successful event at the upcoming conference in Portland, OR.
The success of Franklin Street Management is due to our near-constant reinvention, creative problem-solving, and collaboration. We helped our client not only survive through these challenges, but thrive. We are proud to work with this client as part of a larger team, two symbiotic organizations that support one another and the larger mission. Despite the challenges we all faced, we remained focused on the Association’s goal of supporting the education system and ensuring that every child receives a high-quality education.
