You won't see Eric Commodore, Von McMeekin, Mike Burke, Alison Kent or any of the rest of NRECA's Education, Training and Events team onstage at NRECA's PowerXchange or TechAdvantage in Nashville, but the fruits of their labor will be everywhere.

Each year, they work behind the scenes on the nation's largest gathering of electric cooperative leaders. To the thousands at the conference, it's a smooth, cohesive and seamless experience from the first welcome reception to the closing keynote speaker.

Rarely, though, do attendees think about how this massive event gets off the ground. Working with vendors, event partners, hospitality staffs and others, NRECA works for well over a year to develop the theme, a high-tech production scheme, content and speakers.

The team also sells space at The Expo at PowerXchange and TechAdvantage, finds sponsors, secures hotel rooms and buses, and nails down all the other details that ensure attendees have a memorable experience.

“These events start and end in less than a week's time, but they're years in the making," says Erin Pressley, NRECA's senior vice president of Education, Training and Events. “We are constantly working to make sure we provide the most relevant programming, speakers and networking opportunities for our members—and a bit of fun, too."

NRECA's annual meeting has grown in size, scope and sophistication since the inaugural event in 1943, a comparatively modest gathering of 1,000 in St. Louis.

Over the past few years, crowds closer to 10,000 have converged upon Nashville, San Antonio and Atlanta. Pulling off a modern annual meeting is “a bit of a science and a bit of a skill," says NRECA Director of Meeting and Event Planning Eric Commodore. “We always say 'members first' and try to put ourselves in the mind of the attendee, think about what they want and what will excite them."

Commodore and Event Education & Programming Director Amanda Kramar oversee the core group of meeting and program planners. They work with most, if not all, of NRECA's departments to bring members an engaging, multiday experience. And when the inevitable hiccups do arise—storms, cancellations and even a global pandemic—the team's combined century of wisdom and experience saves the day.

“It's a challenging job and we get our miles in," Commodore says. “But it's worth it because when the event comes off seamless and we've hit all our marks, it's a very exhilarating feeling. Just to hear directors, CEOs and your senior leaders onstage or behind the podium makes it even better. That makes us joyous."

Read on for a behind-the-scenes look at how NRECA pulls off the event each year.

The Planning

PowerXchange's attendance and size place it in the upper range among events that Shepard Exposition Services, one of NRECA's event partners, works on. What's most complex is the three-in-one format, says Shepard's Randy Graham.

“There's PowerXchange, there's TechAdvantage, and there's the Expo… It's a little more complicated than a normal trade show," says Graham, who's worked with NRECA for 27 years. “And NRECA has one of the largest general sessions I've experienced in trade shows."

And consider this: NRECA organizers are planning two iterations of the meeting at the same time. About six months before the first speaker takes the stage at this year's event in Nashville, the team kicked off the planning process for the 2027 event in San Diego with a “pre-site visit."

“Technically, we're finished with [the 2026 event in] Nashville, and our mindset is in San Diego," Commodore says.

Because a city needs to have enough event space and hotel rooms to handle something as large as PowerXchange and TechAdvantage, the pool of possible host cities is limited to less than a dozen.

“We're competing with other groups for the same time and space," Commodore says. “We are looking for spaces that can accommodate 6,000 people in one general session, but we also have a lot of breakout and logistical needs."

“I take the logistical information from the various stakeholders around the building, translate their vision and put all the components in place to make that come to life," he says.

Meanwhile, NRECA's marketing team works to promote the event, track registration numbers and share critical information that helps get attendees on site.

“It's a months-long process with lots of moving parts and some expert project management that brings it all together," says Paul Timm, NRECA vice president of marketing. “Our team supports everything from the onsite experience to branding and signage, as well as generating awareness and action when it comes to member registration and engagement. This event is a true case study in cross-departmental collaboration and we love being a part of it."

Onstage Talent

With the exception of NRECA CEO Jim Matheson and the NRECA president—this year, Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative CEO Mike Partin of Tennessee—most opening and closing keynote speakers may not know much about electric cooperatives when they're booked.

Senior Program Manager Alison Kent, the primary PowerXchange and TechAdvantage coordinator, brings them up to speed. She's also in charge of finding and booking the Entertainment Night act.

But before that year's talent signs on the dotted line, Kent meets with NRECA senior leaders on a thematic framework for both events.

Kent is looking for someone dynamic who can appeal to a wide range of backgrounds. “For the opening speaker, we want people to begin their first day engaged and excited," she says. “And then with the closing speaker, to feel energized and ready to go back to their cooperatives with all that they have learned."

Speaker bureaus, where most general session keynoters are found, “are great partners because they help with suggestions or recommendations," Kent says.

They also help with contract negotiations, including introducing potential speakers to NRECA. If you've noticed that speakers mention NRECA “members" and not “customers," there's a reason for that.

Four to six weeks before the conference, Kent and the speakers meet during a virtual “prep call." That's when she goes over the terminology—including the member vs. customer difference—and the issues facing co-ops today.

“Those calls are very important to get that message across to the speakers because they may not always know what a co-op is," says Manager of Event Education and Programming Kristen Wheeler, PowerXchange's lead organizer until last year. “The good speakers have already done research on their end."

Sometimes speakers want more details about the demographics of the audience. “For many, it's the first time they've spoken to a co-op audience," Kent says. “Or, if it's a combined session where there'll be a mix of technical professionals, CEOs and directors, the speaker wants to know what will be the most valuable for the audience."

As for the Entertainment Night performers, “Alison and I don't really get starstruck," Wheeler says.

Most of the time, speaker and entertainer contracts stipulate lighting and sound needs, and NRECA may meet specialized requests. One recent speaker wanted the dressing room stocked with jars of fermented pickles, prompting a “serious pickle search" in local stores that ultimately was successful, Commodore says.

“We want to do the best we can to make sure everyone is happy and prepared to give the best presentation possible to our audience," Wheeler says.

Putting the Puzzle Together

The conference takes more than a year and a half to plan, but the whole thing comes together in a matter of days. That includes an expo hall the size of two football fields and the NRECA booth that's the size of a single-family home's first floor.

The grunt work falls on the shoulders of the event partners, such as Shepard and the local unions in the host city hired to unload (and reload) the multitudes of tractor trailers, skids and crates containing the equipment to stage the event.

Contents include items to enhance an Expo “environment," such as tables, chairs, plants and carpeting. And the much-needed electronic equipment.

“We send seven 53-foot semis, fully loaded with road cases with all kinds of different lighting, sound, video and scenic elements," says Chad Littman, senior account executive at Video West, NRECA's audio visual partner.

Crews lug and situate the equipment across the convention center, the Expo space and main hotel. One destination is the “video village," the area behind the main presentation hall where more than a dozen technicians hunch over lit-up monitors to manage the general session mainstage experience.

The Expo floor is another stop. That's where Meetings and Events Manager Von McMeekin and Mary Novak of Novak Management pore over a master floor plan of hundreds of plots—of many different sizes—denoting where some 400 exhibitors set up. They make sure exhibitors have the mandatory equipment (like carpeting or electric connections) and anything else they might need to have a great show through an on-site decorator.

The Expo has grown tremendously over the years, says McMeekin, who painstakingly works with Novak on the master floor plan a year in advance. “Exhibitors want face time with our members, and we want our members to see what they have. And we want them to educate each other."

And the giant trucks you may see on the Expo floor? Those are scheduled for move-in on Saturday and Sunday to take advantage of lower floor occupancy.

When Things Go Awry

NRECA organizers strive to bring the best member experience each year, but bad weather, traffic congestion and other unavoidable circumstances can threaten even the most polished plans.

White-knuckle moments have included hotels bumping attendees at the last minute, general session speakers arriving mere moments before they take the stage, no-show exhibitors and building-wide evacuations.

And then there are the once-in-a-generation incidents.

The 2020 NRECA annual meeting in New Orleans took place in mid-March, just a week before the global pandemic announced itself in full force in the United States.

NRECA conferred with city and hotel officials on safeguards as news of the virus started spreading. “It was one of those things where our senior vice president at the time was saying, 'I think we need to get a little bit more hand sanitizer.' And I said, 'Yep, I'm on it,'" Burke recalls.

“Literally, I was jumping on Amazon before I took off from the airport that morning, ordering as many hand sanitizers as I could to be delivered the next day. I'm glad I did because if I waited, they would have been out of stock."

Sometimes, a VIP speaker must be accommodated.

Last year, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins arrived on the last day to address members. And a couple years before that, former President Joe Biden spoke to attendees remotely, which led to some last-minute adjustments to the event script.

To the outsider, the secretary's appearance was seamless and looked like it had been planned all along, which is exactly what the NRECA team is going for. Over the years, they've built good relationships within host cities, so if they do need to respond to an emergency situation or a member's particular need, they can respond quickly.

The last-minute cancellation of service by a major hotel? Commodore's contacts in the host city led to alternative lodging for attendees.

“A number of things go on behind the scenes that we don't want members to see, and if members don't see it, it means we were successful," Commodore says. “We look beautiful on top of the water, like ducks and swans, but sometimes underneath we are paddling like crazy."

Combined Experience

If you're a longtime attendee at PowerXchange and TechAdvantage, you may have noticed a subtle shift to tie the two events—and the Expo—closer together over the past few years.

Earlier this decade, there was a concern that attendees looking for programming for one event would enter, see signage for the other event, and be unsure where to go.

“Whenever anyone enters, whether it's the hotel, the convention center, or the nearby streets, we wanted cohesive branding with NRECA to make sure they feel welcome at every stop," says Kent. “We lean into the individual branding when it makes sense."

The changes are by design, but they also go beyond design into programming. Beginning in 2023, the team made a handful of breakout sessions available to attendees of both conferences. “There are always topics that both groups want to hear about," Kent says, including demand growth, workforce planning and data centers.

Next month in Nashville, there will be 10 breakout sessions on Tuesday that are open to a combined PowerXchange/TechAdvantage audience. And the general session on the meeting's third and final day will be combined.

“We said, 'Let's make day three really lean into that combined session talking to both audiences, and send them off with one core message,'" Kent says.