By Jordan Sok, Founder & CEO, OneTeam Aviation Marketing
NBAA is one of my favorite weeks of the year. The people, the dinners, the Old Fashioneds, and catching up with people I somehow only see once a year. (Yes, this Kentucky girl likes an Old Fashioned. Apparently, that order surprised one of my clients last year.)
It is also a week when I can be incredibly busy and still somehow leave thinking, “Wait, how did I not talk to that person? ”
You can have a calendar packed from breakfast through drinks and still miss the three conversations that actually mattered most.
That is why I have started thinking about NBAA less as a schedule to fill and more as a few things I want to make sure happen.
Who do I really want to see? Not just the people who are easiest or most comfortable to talk to, but the connections that could actually matter for my business. How do I want them to remember me after the week dies down?
And what system am I going to use so I do not forget half of what we talked about by the time I am flying home?
That is the kind of prep we walk through with our clients, too. So this year, we figured, why not share it?
The NBAA Game Plan is a handful of exercises you can work through before Vegas, then print or email to yourself when you are done. It is no-cost, and we will not receive your answers. It is simply a tool we find helpful and think you might, too.
BUILD YOUR NBAA GAME PLAN
If you want the thinking behind it first, here is what I would work through before you get there.
1. Start with the people, not the calendar
Most NBAA planning starts with the schedule: dinners, booth meetings, events, and figuring out who needs to be where. But a full calendar isn’t necessarily a productive one.
Start by deciding who you want to spend meaningful time with. That may include prospects and clients, but more often at NBAA it’s referral partners, collaborators, people you could send business to, and relationships you already have that you want to deepen.
Some of the most valuable people you meet at NBAA may never buy from you, and that’s fine.
A good place to start is the five or 10 people you’d be genuinely disappointed to leave Vegas without talking to.
Then think about how you’d naturally reach each one. For some, that’s an email a couple of weeks before the show to make plans. Others call for a casual text once you’re there asking if they have time for a drink.
There doesn’t need to be a formula. Just make sure the week doesn’t get so busy that you miss the people who matter.
2. Rethink how you introduce yourself at NBAA
Most people have a standard answer to “What do you do?”
“I’m a broker at [Company].”
Or, in my case, “I own an aviation marketing company.”
Both are accurate, but neither gives the person standing in front of you much reason to remember you.
At NBAA, you’re often talking to someone who isn’t your customer. They might be a management company, finance partner, attorney, broker, wealth advisor, or someone else who works with exactly the kind of people you want to reach.
So instead of simply explaining what you do, think about what matters to the person you’re talking to and how working with you helps them better serve their own customers.
Take an aircraft broker talking to a wealth advisor whose clients include aircraft owners. They could say, “I’m an aircraft broker.”
Or they could say, “When one of your clients starts thinking about selling or replacing an aircraft, you want to know the person you introduce them to will handle that relationship with the same level of care they expect from you. That’s where we come in. We give advisors a trusted aviation resource they can bring into the conversation when their clients need one.”
Same service. The second version gives the other person a much better sense of where that broker fits into their relationships.
I think about my own introduction the same way. Rather than, “I own an aviation marketing company,” I am more likely to say, “A lot of aviation companies built incredible businesses on referrals and reputation, but buyers now size them up online before they ever call. We make sure the excellence our clients have built offline is finally reflected online.”
That gives the other person more context for what we do and, just as importantly, when we might be useful to them or someone they know.
Before NBAA, think about who you’re likely to meet and how what you do helps them or their customers. Build your introduction from there. There’s an exercise in the Game Plan that walks you through it.
3. Pick the proof point that actually matters
Once someone understands where you fit, give them one reason to believe you’re especially good at it.
One.
You don’t need to squeeze every accomplishment, certification, transaction count, award, and decade of experience into a conversation over cocktails.
And the best proof point usually isn’t the most impressive one. It’s the one that matters to the person standing in front of you. For one person, that might be your experience in their market. For someone else, it’s a transaction count, a measurable result, a specialized capability, your team’s background, or the fact that you’ve solved the same problem dozens of times.
It’s worth thinking through a few of these ahead of time and matching them to the people you’re hoping to see. If you’ve already identified those people, this gets easier.
The Game Plan has you sort that out ahead of time, so you’re not guessing at the dinner table.
4. Have a capture and follow-up system before you get there
By Day 3 of NBAA, the conversations start blending together. You remember the person. You vaguely remember where you were standing. And let’s be honest, that cocktail didn’t help.
You are pretty sure you promised to send them something.
What was it again?
Do future-you a favor and sort out your capture and follow-up system before NBAA starts. You need some way to track who you talked to, what you discussed, what was promised, and why you wanted to continue the conversation.
Notes app, CRM, notebook, AI tool, whatever you’ll actually use. This year, I’m trying an AI notetaker bracelet. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.
The system matters less than having one and using it. “I’ll remember” probably won’t cut it.
And the follow-up isn’t one-size-fits-all either. Some people need a personal email. Some need a call. Some need the article or introduction you promised. Some just need to stay on your radar. The Game Plan has you decide all of that before the week starts, plus the time you’re blocking when you get home to actually run it.
5. Remember Google
You meet someone at dinner. You have a great conversation. They like you.
Then they look you up.
Maybe they Google you or pull up your LinkedIn. Maybe they go straight to your website. Suddenly, your marketing is the second half of your introduction.
Before NBAA, take a look at what they’re going to find. Can they tell what you do within a few seconds? Is it clear who you help? Does your LinkedIn profile make sense in the context of the conversation you just had? Does what they find online feel as credible as the company they met in person?
This is the thing I see constantly in aviation. So many companies have already gotten the hard part right. Great reputation, strong relationships, years or decades of experience, and customers who trust them. But what someone finds online hasn’t caught up.
Hear me, fellow perfectionists: you don’t need to rebuild everything before NBAA. Find the thing most likely to create confusion and fix that.
Pull up your homepage and look at the header. Could someone who met you last night understand what you do, who it’s for, and why they should trust you in less than five seconds?
If not, you just found something worth working on. If you want a second set of eyes on it, that’s the kind of thing we do all day. Send me a note, and I’ll tell you what I see.
One more thing I’d do before NBAA
This one is a bonus, because I was that geeky kid who loved extra credit.
If most of your team is going to be there, hire a photographer for an hour.
For a lot of aviation teams, NBAA is one of the only times all year that everyone is physically in one place. Get the headshots you have been meaning to update. Get a few good team photos, natural shots of your people talking, working, and actually being part of the industry. Head out to the aircraft display and get some shots there, too.
You can use them everywhere next year: your website, LinkedIn, proposals, PR, recruiting, and social media.
It may be one of the highest-value hours you spend at the show. It is a lot easier to plan it now than to realize halfway through next year that your website needs new photos and try to get the whole team in one place again.
Build your plan before Vegas
I’m not saying to schedule every minute. Quite the opposite. Decide what you want to go after, make sure those things happen, and leave room around them for the unexpected. Some of the best conversations at NBAA are the ones you had no idea you were going to have.
The goal isn’t to over-plan the week. It’s to avoid spending it wondering if you’re in the wrong place, missing the right person, or forgetting the thing you meant to do.
Go in knowing who you hope to connect with, what you want them to understand, why they should trust you, how you’ll remember the conversation, and what happens after everyone flies home.
Then let the rest of the week surprise you.
That’s what we built the NBAA Game Plan for. It walks you through your priority relationships, introductions, proof points, daily plans, follow-up system, and a final pre-show checklist. Work through what’s useful, skip what isn’t, then print your plan and take it with you.
Hope it helps you have a really great NBAA!
PS: We’ll be there too. Let’s grab an Old Fashioned.