If I Had a Hammer
“Force multiplier” is primarily a military term. A force multiplier is a factor or combination of factors that allows people, weapons, or hardware to accomplish more than is possible without it. A simple example of a force multiplier is a hammer.
Florida Nakations (FN) was formed in late 2021 with an eye to becoming a force multiplier for the benefit of Florida’s entire nudist community.
The concept is pretty simple. Pooling the limited resources of multiple nudist groups and combining them with the time and talents of FN’s team members, we can generate a more pronounced presence in the marketplace of commerce and ideas than any individual group can achieve on their own.
A more prominent presence can speak louder and draw more attention for good. It can exert a more positive influence, as well. More awareness and impact can eventually translate to more business for nudist resorts, campgrounds, and rentals. It means more attendance at beaches, more demand for beaches, and more members for beach advocacy groups. It’s more members for nudist and naturist support organizations and landed and non-landed clubs. And its growth for the nudist community as a whole.
Another benefit we believe this additional growth and influence will bring is the general public’s education about non-sexual social nudism. The public’s familiarization and increased comfort with nudism will inevitably mean fewer taboos and misunderstandings. That will result in a relaxation of restrictions and fewer attempts to legislate our lifestyle.
Primarily, we want to influence people worldwide to come to Florida to experience our brand of nude recreation. Whether at a resort, beach, river, campground, rental, landed or non-landed club, our message is, “Florida is the best place to get your nude on!”.
Our website and social media presence is part of our strategy. We also offer a colorful, six-panel brochure with a map of Florida in the center spread. Our participating sponsors can be located on the map by their logo and a QR code. When scanned with a phone app, the QR code links directly to the sponsor’s website.
Another highly desirable group we want to speak to is Florida’s tourism industry.
Tourism is, arguably, the largest industry in Florida. Florida’s tourism movers and shakers are as disparate as multi-billion-dollar corporations to the State Park system. But that’s where the political and financial clout resides. One needs to get into “the club” to be seen and heard, and that’s no easy task.
Fortunately, there’s Visit Florida, the State’s official tourism marketing corporation. Every year, Visit Florida hosts an event called the Governor’s Conference on Tourism. This year’s conference was at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, September 6-8. For the second year in a row, FN sent a team of four to the conference. This year, we went as a Visit Florida “Partner,” proudly representing 16 nudist groups and four beaches within one exhibit booth. Like last year, everyone received us warmly, and we were well pleased with the success of our efforts.
The Florida Nakations team consisted of Martin Novoa, President of the BEACHES Foundation Institute, Marysol Medina, a Director of South Florida Free Beaches, and founding FN members Maryanne Rettig and Jack Clark. These four individuals worked hard every day to greet each visitor, answer questions, promote all of our sponsors, and extol the virtues and benefits of family-friendly social nudism.
In the weeks leading up to the event, founding FN members Arlene Thomason and dave carlson worked to create the print materials, the promotional video, and the booth layout. They were present at the beginning and end of the conference to set up and take down the booth with assistance from the other four. The idea was to maximize the energy of those working during the event and minimize the required number of $500 floor badges!
Everyone arrived on a steamy Wednesday morning, ready to go. Even before our booth was fully up and running, other exhibitors were stopping by to say hello and tell us how glad they were to see we had returned. Finding so many who remembered us from last year was gratifying. It was an encouraging start and set the tone for the rest of the conference.
Throughout the rest of the week and without fail, everyone with whom we engaged was smiling, positive, and enthusiastic about our message and our sponsors’ contributions to Florida tourism. It was amazing how many people were already familiar with some of our sponsors.
Our theme this year was “Florida Nakations. Good for Families, Good for Florida.” Underneath a tracer-lit signboard, a 55” television monitor displayed a two-minute video loop highlighting essential aspects of Nakationing. A combination of words and images introduced uninitiated visitors to ideas like “Nude, but never lewd,” “All of Florida’s beaches used to be nude beaches,” and “Nakations have proven to be profitable for Florida.”
Flanking each side of the video were two long tables displaying the print material and imprint items each of our sponsors provided. Rounding out the decorations were an inflatable surfboard, a flamingo, and two palm trees. We even offered Tropical Starburst candies from colorful beach pails. As visitors collected items from the tables, team members handed out a shopping bag printed with the Florida Nakations logo. Our logo continues to get rave reviews for its colorful, retro-Florida vibe.
Throughout the day, questions were asked and answered, we exchanged contact information, and each visitor left with an updated Florida Nakations brochure and the other items on the table in which they showed an interest.
Wednesday evening featured a cocktail reception and awards dinner. More contact information was flying around, and the night was awash in trophies and applause. The heavy hitters of Florida tourism (read: multi-million-dollar advertising budgets) received awards for their excellence in drawing worldwide attention to Florida’s unique vacation fun and relaxation opportunities.
The gap between those voices and ours is not lost on the FN team. We represent a tiny niche market with a micro-budget, but it gives us something to aspire to, right? We’re considering suggesting a “Best Booth Design” Award for 2024. Based on all the positive comments we get, FN would be shoo-ins for first place. It’s small beans by comparison, but it’s a start!
Thursday, the conference’s first full day, was another busy day. Starting first thing in the morning, the team members continually worked the booth with the informative skill and friendly manner for which FN is now known.
Break-out sessions were offered throughout the conference on various topics germane to Florida tourism. They were available to all attendees, so three of our team went to the session called: “This is Adventure: Unveiling the Florida Adventure Travel Network”.
In past years, the hot trend has been eco-tourism. Now, visitors are seeking something edgier and more adventurous. The tourism industry is responding with adventure tourism. In Florida, for instance, that might be manatee, dolphin, or whale-watching expeditions. SCUBA diving, charter fishing, or camping in the Everglades are examples, as are exploring limestone caverns and multiple-day chartered sailing trips on an old square rigger.
The FN team thinks there’s a solid case to be made for nudist tourism falling into this category, as well. That’s one of our action items for the coming year.
Later Thursday evening, the networking continued at Orlando’s ICON Park. The park features a 400 ft. high Ferris wheel offering unparalleled views of the Orlando sunset. Drinks, finger foods, handshakes, and business cards were in plentiful supply well into the night. Given the long day behind us and the early wake-up call ahead, we kept it short and sweet. But, yes, we rode the Ferris wheel; it was the HIGHlight of our trip! (#puns-r-us)
After a quick breakfast, Friday morning found us right back in the booth, continuing to promote our sponsors, handing out their brochures and imprint items, answering questions, and touting the glories of nude vacationing in Florida.
We really are fortunate to have so many unique opportunities to enjoy nude recreation in our State. Many people have laid the groundwork and continue to work hard to maintain those opportunities. Others are working to create even more options in other parts of the State. FN sees our task as bringing all manner of nudist interests together into one unified voice that says – “We’re here, Florida, and we are an economic force you can’t afford to ignore!”
We made some crucial contacts in the hospitality sector near the show’s end on Friday. It is here that FN wants to explore new opportunities in the coming year. We want to find hotels, restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues near naturist points of interest that might partner with us. The idea is to create a symbiotic relationship to benefit those who visit the naturist beaches, resorts, landed and non-landed clubs. We’ve got our work cut out for us. But the wheels are already turning.
By early Friday afternoon, we were packed and loaded. Most of the other exhibitors were long gone. Their slick pop-up displays and collapsible backdrops that pack into briefcase-sized rolling cases make for rapid exits. Granted, ours is something of a home-grown effort, but the descriptions we have now received two years in a row are our booth is “fun,” “eye-catching,” “retro-Florida,” “adorable,” “memorable,” “not-boring .” On a shoestring budget with a lot of DIY, we take that as high praise, indeed!
Anyone who exhibits at conferences and trade shows will agree that the real work begins after you get home. It’s all about turning those business cards into viable contacts, turning those contacts into meetings, turning those meetings into strategies and plans, and those plans into win-win opportunities. Only then do you know if all the time, effort, and tired feet were worth it.
For the FN team, it isn’t even a matter of whether it was worth it to us, personally. Our sponsors, the people we represented and gave voice to at the conference this year, are the point. It’s their messages, faces, and our combined force that we want to continue presenting to the Florida Tourism Industry players.
It’s for us, for them, and for all of nudism that we’ll keep hammering away.
