Record participation and high interest marked the third version of the “On the Road” marketing series sponsored by Division II and the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators.

A total of 83 administrators from Division II, Division III and NAIA institutions attended the event, the purpose of which is to provide marketing and promotions instruction to personnel from smaller athletics programs.

“This was the best one so far,” said Cliff Dochterman, associate athletics director at the University of California, Riverside, and NACMA president. “The speakers were outstanding, and the participants were hungry for ideas. They weren’t here as tourists. They were active participants.”

The first event in the series was staged two years ago in Charlotte, North Carolina, with about 20 Division II administrators from the Southeast taking part. Last year, “On the Road” was conducted in Boston and opened up to Division III and NAIA administrators. About 50 people from throughout the United States (and a few from Canada) registered for that event. That national participation continued at the April 20-21 seminar.

“There’s clearly a need for this sort of programming,” said Division II Vice President Mike Racy. “The audience invariably had many good questions for each of the presenters. We had a 90-minute panel discussion at the end of the second day, and we more or less had to cut off questions. This was a tremendous success.”

Speakers included Dochterman; Brent Seebohm, University of Arizona; Tim Selgo, Grand Valley State University; Trip Durham, Elon University; Matt Donovan, University of Indianapolis; Tommy Riggs, Pittsburg State University; John Johnson, NCAA; Rich Luker, University of Michigan; and Jeff Bain, Martin Methodist College.

NCAA President Myles Brand also addressed the group at an April 20 luncheon.