American Boating Congress – May 4-6, 2026
When constituents talk, Congress listens.
About:
The boating community is the industry’s most effective advocate. No lobbyist is as influential as an employer or employee from a Congress member’s district or state. Attending ABC and participating in Capitol Hill visits with others from your state is the best way to educate representatives on issues that impact your business. It’s your opportunity to build and strengthen relationships that lead to a brighter future for the recreational boating industry. NMMA will arrange your meetings and provide talking points and other resources to guide you through the ABC experience. To learn more.
Click here for more information on The American Boating Congress and NMMA.org
The American Boating Congress is a comprehensive legislative conference that brings together recreational boating industry leaders to formulate public policy and present a unified front on issues that impact marine businesses.
- Learn how to grow your business in the current economy.
- Discover how current state and federal regulatory issues affect your operations
- Learn the status of key federal legislation concerning the marine industry
- Hear updates from experts about how pending legislation and regulation can impact your bottom line
- Get first-hand knowledge from state and federal regulators, key congressional staff and industry experts about trends that impact the marine industry
- Network with fellow industry leaders
We also encourage you to sign up for updates from American Boating Congress, if you have not already.
NMDA Role:
NMDA is a co-host for the annual Capitol Hill Visits and conference. This event allows you one-on-one conversations with your representatives regarding issues important for your business and the boating industry. The staff at ABC provides talking points.
ABYC – American Boat & Yacht Council
About:
The American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC) is a non-profit, member organization that develops voluntary global safety standards for the design, construction, maintenance, and repair of recreational boats. ABYC is driven by a voluntary group of technical experts including boat builders, technicians, engineers, boat and accessory manufacturers, surveyors and investigators, retailers and dealers, yacht brokers and designers, marinas, law firms, government agencies, boat owners, insurance companies and more. To learn more.
NMDA Role:
ABYC promotes safe boating practices as an independent representative of the industry. Our distributor members host ABYC technical training events and NMDA Members help ABYC spread their message to dealers and technicians. We have also featured speakers from ABYC at our annual meeting during S.T.E.P. Purchasing.
AEA – Association Education Alliance
About:
Formed in 1991 by five wholesale-distributor trade associations; PTDA, AHTD, EASA, FPDA and NAHAD. AEA represents approximately 40 trade associations and works to develop programs that deliver value to its members.
The vision is to identify, evaluate and develop educational products and programs for use by member associations as well as to facilitate networking and idea sharing among AEA members.
NMDA Role:
We are member of this association and many NMDA members that have attended the University of Innovative Distribution (UID) and Four Pillars of the Sales Profession training camp.
DEALER WEEK – December 6-9, 2026, Tampa, FL
MRAA’s Dealer Week will be held December 8-11, 2025 at the Orlando Convention Centre, FL.
For more than 50 years, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas has delivered world-class educational programming to dealers, retailers and service operations that power the boating industry and serve today’s boaters. Dealer Week exists to engage, energize and empower the dealer community. The MRAA envisions a brighter future for marine retail, and Dealer Week is the preeminent means for bringing that vision to life.
Registration Information will be coming soon. Click here for more information.
NMDA Role:
NMDA is committed to the ongoing education of dealers. We know that dealers are an important link in the recreational boating industry and the more dealers know the stronger they can become.
MRAA – Marine Retailers Association
About:
The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas believes that for the marine industry to thrive, the companies that interact with the boater in their community must thrive. Those businesses determine the boater’s experience and are the leading factor in the industry’s success. The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by uniting those businesses, providing them with opportunities for improvement and growth, and representing them with a powerful voice. To learn more.
NMDA Role:
NMDA has been a Platinum Member of the MRAA since 2013 as we realize retailers are a vital link in the supply chain. Working with our distributors provides many benefits to retailers. We also feature the Marine Industry Career Network (MICN) on our website
NAW – National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors
About:
The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) is composed of wholesaler-distributors and a federation of international, national, regional, state and local associations and their member firms, which total more than 30,000 employers that have locations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. NAW’s constituency is at the core of our economy—a vital link in the supply chain between manufacturers, retailers, and commercial, institutional and governmental end users. Distribution firms vary widely in size, employ more than 5.9 million American workers and account for nearly $5.7 trillion in annual U.S. economic activity, which is 6.0% of the overall economy. Wholesaler-distributors are either publicly held or closely held, family-owned companies that have served their local communities and regions for decades and, in some cases, for more than a century. To learn more.
NMDA Role:
NMDA is a member of NAW and our executive director has had positions on the board. NMDA regularly posts NAW information to our website, sends emails when key issues will impact our members, encouraging engagement with the Senate and House of Representatives.
NMMA – National Marine Manufacturers Association
About:
NMMA is the nation’s leading trade association representing boat, marine engine and accessory manufacturers. Collectively, NMMA members manufacture an estimated 80 percent of marine products used in North America.
NMMA is a unifying force and powerful voice for the recreational boating industry, working to strengthen and grow boating and protect the interests of its member companies. The NMMA Government Relations department is the hub for advocacy work on behalf of the recreational boating industry. Through its Government Relations staff, NMMA works to educate Congress members about government issues that affect the marine industry and to educate NMMA’s members about government decisions that impact their businesses. To learn more.
NMDA Role:
NMDA is a member of NMMA and actively works to support their efforts by engaging our members through our eNewsletter and other calls to action for vital legislative issues.
SBLC – Small Business Legislative Council
About:
The Small Business Legislative Council (SBLC) is an independent, permanent coalition of trade and professional associations who share a common concern for the future of small business. The purpose of SBLC is twofold: to consolidate the strength and maximize the influence of business on legislative and Federal policy issues of importance to the entire small business community; and secondly, to disseminate information on the impact of public policy on small business. To learn more.
NMDA Role:
We are members of the organization and we regularly post information to our website from SBLC and send emails when it’s of high importance to members.
Grow Boating
Mission
The mission of Grow Boating – Discover Boating is to promote the boating lifestyle and improve the boating experience to increase participation in boating and ultimately increase sales of marine products and services.
Increase Boating Participation
Generate awareness and interest in the boating lifestyle through the Discover Boating campaign, an integrated marketing strategy grounded in sound research.
Share Stories of Discovery
We have produced four ‘Stories of Discovery’ videos. You can add these to your own website at no cost as a way to communicate with your customers about how impactful a boat can be to someone’s life. Click here for more information.
Program Promotion
Welcome to the Water and Discover Boating are programs designed to persuade more consumers to try and, hopefully, adopt the boating lifestlye. NMDA members are encouraged to use the FREE resource materials on the DiscoverBoating.com website to promote boating in a variety of ways. These materials can be used on your websites, but also, can be provided to dealers as they are in direct contact with consumers.
Discover Boating researched and evaluated which online resources consumers consult before making a purchase. They have many tools you can add to your website:
- Videos – Welcome to the Water, Good Run, Boating Guy and more
- Interactive Tools – Boat loan calculator, cost comparison tool, Take Me Fishing Hotspot Map, Spouse Conversion
- Facebook Tools – MovieMaker
- Printable Checklists – Boating Safety, Spring Start-up, Winterizing Your Boat and more
- Click on this LINK to watch Why Boat Shows are ‘Can’t Miss Events’
International Boat Builders Exhibition and Conference – IBEX
Learn first hand what all the leading marine companies are doing, not just your partners. Knowledge is power. IBEX is three days of solid data gathering to educate yourself and your staff. And you’ll learn about upcoming regulatory requirements and new emerging technologies.
IBEX: October 6-8, 2026 – IBEX details here
New Customers. Industry Networking. Relationships.
IBEX offers you a single platform to meet the North American recreational marine industry face-to-face and increase your sales. If your company is a product manufacturer or supplier in the recreational marine industry then IBEX is the trade show for you. The stats speak for themselves:
IBEX Attendees Have Buying Power
- 30% of Attendees are Owners/Presidents and CEOs
- 66% of Attendees have the final say or make recommendations for purchase
- 79% of Attendees will make buying decisions at IBEX
For more information, visit www.ibexshow.com.
The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF)
The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) is a national, non-profit organization that is leading the drive – in partnership with industry and government, and through its brands Take Me Fishing and Vamos A Pescar – to increase participation in recreational boating and fishing, thereby helping to conserve and restore our country’s aquatic natural resources.
RBFF is committed to spreading the joy of fishing and boating to all ages, genders and cultures; we envision one nation united in our passion for fishing and boating. A nation committed to the pursuit of leisure activity on the water.
In 2016, RBFF announced its 60 in 60 goal to increase yearly angler participation to 60 million in 60 months. This aspirational goal comes at a critical time for the fishing and boating industry. Get involved by using the many free tools RBFF offers.
- Research – This area includes Hispanic market research, boating and fishing research, and more.
- Content You Can Use – This area includes places to boat and fish, social media posts, infographics, and videos.
- Marketing Materials Resource Center – This area included web banners, a photo library, logos, direct mail and email ides to reactivate lapsed anglers, and a Spanish translation guide for common fishing terms.
- Webinars and Workshops – RBFF hosts an annual State Marketing Video for all 50 state agencies to share ideas and help increase participation. RBFF also hosts a variety of webinars.