NPA Exceeds 800 in Convention Attendance

December, 2011

NPA: Reach, Stretch, Repeat
It sounds a little like an exercise, but NPA, this past year, set goals that were a touch out of reach, stretched to meet them, then committed to doing it all again.
Case in point, conference attendance last month surged past 800 to 830 and 94 percent of attendees said they would recommend the NPA’s annual conference to colleagues. More telling, however, is that membership is up by 19 percent.
Expanding beyond its core members, NPA set the stage for industry collaboration and established many new products and programs for all parking professionals.
Forward-looking Research
Also this year, NPA produced and released two new research products including “Parking In Perspective: The Size and Scope of Parking in America” and “Purchasing Power: Decision Maker Trends, Preferences and Parking Industry Purchasing Plans.”
“Parking In Perspective . . .” studied the size and scope of U.S. parking operations by aggregating and analyzing public data and private research on the parking industry. The report answers a number of questions about market size, geographic distribution, number of employees, wages and number of facilities, and includes population projections.
The report showed that parking will continue to play a greater role in the U.S. economy as more organizations see it as an opportunity to add value to the experience of their customers, and as a way to improve organization bottom lines by generating revenue and/or outsourcing parking operations.
The “Purchasing Power . . .” survey highlights report, which debuted during the annual conference last month, showed that 90 percent of NPA members are the purchasing decision makers for their companies. Of those decision makers, nearly 60 percent are responsible for purchases ranging from $200,000 to $10 million per year.
The largest member segments that responded were commercial operators, academic/medical and public/municipal members. The full report details commercial, valet, public and academic/hospital purchasing preferences.
Parking industry buyers identified the top categories for requesting proposals over the next 12 months and their purchasing plans for the next 24 months.
The top seven categories for parking industry proposal requests in the next 12 months are:
• Revenue control
• Computer hardware and software
• Facilities equipment and supplies
• Consulting services (architectural, engineering, planning)
• Parking enforcement/collections
• Green products
• Managed parking services (outsourcing)
For Members Only
NPA gave a shot in the arm to its advocacy program by producing new, timely and relevant Issue Alerts about national legislative activities and equipped members with a new Fair Tax Policy Toolkit. The organization also created Parking Industry Peer Networks, an international series of peer topic and trend discussions on leading parking and transportation industry issues, that provide an ongoing opportunity for parking and transportation professionals to build industry connections, learn best practices and discuss topics of interest to each peer group.
Finally, along with the University of Baltimore and the Middle Atlantic Parking Association, NPA hosted its first Certified Parking Professional (CPP) Summit in May – a full day of speakers and peer roundtable discussions focusing on best practices in parking management human resources, finance and operations; parking-specific First Observer™ anti-terrorism training; and preparation for NPA’s certification testing.
2012 Initiatives
Parking Industry Innovators Awards
As part of its focus on innovation and sharing knowledge, NPA will host its first Parking Industry Innovators Awards. The Call for Nominations will open in April 2012. Be on the lookout for information on how to enter your organization, leader, project or facility to be honored for peak of the profession innovation.
Convention 2012 – Driving Progress, Performance and Profits
Mark your calendars for NPA’s 2012 Convention that will focus on helping attendees drive progress, company and individual performance as well as positively present strategies to positively affect bottom-line profits.
Thought Leadership
More than membership or a traditional business opportunity, NPA provides parking professionals the industry insight and analyzes the political landscape to help them stay on top of trends and maintain a competitive advantage in this dynamic business. NPA is bringing together thought leaders to help parking professionals attract clients, located experts and advance the profession.
Count on NPA’s momentum to continue in 2012, as they move ahead with initiatives that advance the parking profession and improve bottom-line performance. Watch them (better yet, join them!) as they stretch, reach, repeat — again.