Sponsors sought for our ninth annual conference

Consumer Action hosts its 9th National Consumer Empowerment Conference in Rosemont, IL, on Nov. 14-15 near Chicago. The annual conference takes community outreach and consumer literacy training to the next level by providing our most active and engaged community group partners—from cooperative extension offices and social service agencies to veterans advocates and credit and housing counselors—with the rare opportunity to learn from some of the country's top community educators and subject matter experts and to network with other adult consumer literacy education providers.

This year we unveil some new levels of sponsorship as well as a paid registration level for non-network and unconfirmed network partners. To view the conference sponsorship and exhibitor website, click here. We have added a Friend level of sponsorship at $1,000, which includes conference registration and hotel accommodations for one attendee; acknowledgment on all materials and listing on the conference webpage; and exhibit space in the general session room. It does not include travel.

We reduced the FinTech Exhibitor rate to $500, which includes the reception; one breakfast and one lunch for one attendee; an opportunity to exhibit products during conference exhibit hours, with complimentary Internet access and power at the exhibit table; listing on the conference webpage; and a copy of the conference participant list. Note: Lodging and travel are not included in the FinTech Exhibitor registration.

To view a complete list of sponsorship opportunities, download the 2018 National Conference Sponsorship and Exhibitor Rates (PDF).

Conference registration fees for non-network and unconfirmed network partners are $350 for two days of conference programming and $75 for the pre-conference reception. Note: Lodging and travel are not included.

“We are very excited to offer these new sponsorship opportunities and paid registrations because some of our partners have asked in the past how they could support the conference and others wanted to be in the room even if it meant paying their own way,” said Consumer Action’s Audrey Perrott. “Each year, we receive more registration requests than we are able to accommodate. Paid registrations enable us to allow more people in the room. We will continue to offer hotel accommodations and a limited number of travel scholarships to our most active network partners.”

The national conference has a tremendous impact on how our partners serve their consumers, educate their staff and operate their programs. Here’s a sampling of what we have been told:

Thank you for hosting a great conference. I’m having a debriefing with our staff tomorrow to share the great info that your presenters provided. We are trying to use best practices as we review a client’s loan application and will be using a lot of the info, such as the international credit reporting data that was presented, the PACE info, the consumer surveillance, etc. —Al Alvarez, Greater Newark Enterprises Corporation, NJIT-Enterprise Development Center (EDC), Newark, NJ

Consumer Action’s annual Empowerment Conference continues to provide numerous valuable materials to those we serve in our county. So much of the information that we have obtained by attending the conference has been used directly to assist low-income residents in our county who attend our month-long employment training program. The money management and budgeting material has been invaluable to this client base. Also without the ability to obtain a scholarship to attend, our department would find it difficult to send a representative to the conference. —Joel Flamand, Contra Costa County Workforce Services, Brentwood, CA

Thank for you again for the invitation and travel scholarship awarded to Navicore Solutions. The conference was great as usual and Consumer Action staff is always amazing. I learned a lot of great things to bring back to my community to share. Thank you as well for all the great free resources you always provide your partners! —Janice Parker, Illinois Relationship Manager, Navicore Solutions, Peoria, IL

The free scholarship to the conference came as a lifesaver to my agency as it provided us the much needed partnerships and affiliations while enhancing our capabilities to operate our various programs more effectively and efficiently. Specifically the conference helped us develop our company website, i.e. we now plan to issue web-based annual and quarterly reports on our programs as well as use infographics for program illustrations. The knowledge gained at the home buyer/lending education sessions enabled us to effectively market our program to our clients in the Kansas City area by using enhanced outreach techniques. —Edward Ukponmwan, Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc., Kansas City, MO

Save the date! There are many great events happening simultaneously. We want our most active groups to be in the room to hear from expert consumer advocates, government regulators, financial educators and others. The conference planning committee works tirelessly to assemble top-notch presenters who are experts in their fields. We will post the agenda for the 2018 conference in late September.