| July 2006 • Volume 26 • Number 7 • The Meeting Professional |
Feature
All Roads Lead to Success
Cash- and time-strapped planners are finding that regional or drive-in meetings are effective alternatives to national or conventions.
By Maria Lenhart
Although the long-haul business travel market has rebounded since 9/11 and organizations are now doing more national and international events, the regional meeting is a more popular option than ever before. For many organizations, cost considerations and time constraints are driving decisions to meet closer to home.
And while on the surface regional meetings may seem to be a simpler proposition than big national gatherings, they are posing particular challenges of their own these days. Planners faced with finding hotel rooms and meeting space availability on a short-term basis are also under increased pressure to provide the most productive experiences possible in the least amount of time.
Regional Trend
“Regional meetings are the way the industry is going and it’s true across the board—corporate and association alike,” said independent planner Michele Wierzgac, CMM, president of Michele & Company in Oak Lawn, Ill., and a member of the MPI Chicago Area Chapter. “People still don’t want to travel long distances, and they have less time and money to go to major conferences. So people prefer to meet locally. You really have to think about the time commitment these days.”
The trend is also noted by Kevin Kowalski, Atlanta-based vice president of brand management for Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts, The Americas, who believes the shift toward regional meetings, which took hold in 2001, now reflects a long-term shift in corporate behavior.
“I see the trend for regional meetings to still be very strong in the corporate market, particularly because it is so ROI focused,” said Kowalski, a member of the MPI Georgia Chapter. “Today, it’s all about content and getting your business objectives accomplished. It’s easier to do this on a regional level, where you can interact more and people aren’t as tired from traveling.”
Kowalski also believes that the tight hotel situation in major cities is causing some organizations to meet regionally rather than nationally.
“The cities where you would hold a national meeting have become so hard to get into and require such a long lead time that it is reinforcing the preference for a regional meeting,” he said.
On the association side, many organizations are finding that they draw greater attendance if they offer education meetings on a regional basis, according to Michael Payne, Washington, D.C.-based executive vice president of association management company SmithBucklin and a member of the MPI Potomac Chapter.
“More associations are choosing to provide education and training on a regional basis because it offers opportunities for people who can’t come to a national meeting,” he said. “Time is money for people, and this is more efficient.”
Meetings that involve U.S. government employees or contractors are also favoring regional rather than national events. Pamela Milan, president of Milan and Associates in Beltsville, Md., who plans three regional meetings a year for a federal healthcare agency, says cost is a major reason.
“Travel budgets for the federal government have really been slashed, so it makes more sense for people to attend meetings that are closer to home,” she said. “Attendance at our regional meetings has been way up, much more than we anticipated.”
Time Factor
Along with the trend to meet regionally, many organizations are also trimming the length of meetings by a day or two. According to some planners, both trends are directly tied to the fact that people often have heavier workloads these days and cannot afford much time out of the office.
“There has been a lot of downsizing, and people are stretched very thin in their jobs,” said independent planner Denise McGinn, CAE, president of Association Guidance in East Lansing, Mich. “So, meetings by necessity are shorter and more content-driven. The four- to five-day meeting is now the three-day meeting. The two- or three-day meeting is now one long day.”
Judi Feldman, president of OnSite Meetings & Events in Longwood, Fla., adds that many attendees are simply choosing to arrive late or leave early if meetings encompass too many nights.
“If a meeting is scheduled from Wednesday through Sunday, many people will come in on Friday,” she said. “In many cases they can sneak a Monday or Friday off but cannot take other weekdays off. People are simply so overburdened that they fear they will be buried in work when they get back to the office.”
Feldman, who focuses primarily on pharmaceutical meetings, says the time factor is making the one-day meeting increasingly popular among her clients.
“We’re doing a lot with airport locations because people can fly to the meeting in the morning, meet all day and then catch a flight home in the evening,” she said. “More meetings are being scheduled to eliminate overnight stays.”
All About Content
Not surprisingly, content rules at meetings where time is of the essence. What falls by the wayside are the “frills”—social events, free afternoons, golf tournaments and the like. Also driving the trend in some industries is the issue of perception, of not wanting to appear frivolous.
Karolyn Kiburz, owner of Meetings & Concierges Source in Scottsdale, Ariz., and a member of the MPI Arizona Sunbelt Chapter, says the regional meetings she plans for her pharmaceutical clients have changed dramatically in recent years.
“Spending has gone down because pharmaceutical companies are really concerned with perception—the image of playing golf with doctors when drug prices are so high,” she said. “So there are no frills. There is one social evening, but no afternoon for golf or the spa as there once was.”
Feldman says that trend is particularly relevant if the meetings are for mid-level executives or below.
“In those cases, there are no frills at all and content is very heavy,” she said. “People are going from morning until night. Attendees are remarking that they have no free time at all.”
Bonni Scepkowski, president of Stellar Meetings and Events in North Brunswick, N.J., says companies are “working people to the bone and not even giving them time to check their e-mail.” She believes that organizations are making a big mistake when they sacrifice events that foster networking and team building.
“There is no time for real relationship-building with colleagues,” said Scepkowski, a member of the MPI New Jersey Chapter. “The consequences will start to show and it could turn things around. I don’t think the CEOs get it, but the vice presidents are finding that things are getting to the point where people are unhappy. Eventually the CEOs will have to realize that the pace has got to slow down.”
Race for Space
Although there may be more flexibility in planning regional meetings than national events, the challenges in finding favorable rates and availability in today’s tight market are no less acute. In fact, given the shorter lead times usually associated with regional meetings, they may be greater.
Ed Curry, director of sales and marketing for The Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena, Calif., says planners often underestimate the amount of lead time required for securing first-choice venues for regional meetings.
“This particularly happens with drive-to meetings because there is no advance need to book air and there is the flexibility to change locations within the region,” he said. “But this mindset means you may end up with something much less than what you would prefer.”
Noting that 2006 is shaping up to be the strongest year for hotels in a long while, Bill Briscoe, chief industry relations officer for the Naples, Fla.-based site selection firm HelmsBriscoe, says booking further out and considering secondary markets has become crucial.
“We’re asking clients to give us as much lead time as they can,” said Briscoe, a member of the MPI Tampa Bay Area Chapter. “It’s becoming tougher and tougher to find space in major cities, and flexibility is more important than ever.”
Kowalski at Crowne Plaza says the most favorable choices for regional meetings are the downtown areas of second-tier cities, largely because these locations do not usually get as much transient business as large cities or suburban areas with office parks.
“Not only do they offer better availability, but many of these cities have revitalized downtowns where there is a lot to see and do,” he said.
Jeff Sacks, CMP, St. Louis-based vice president, Midwest region for Conferon, agrees.
“Compression is happening in the top destinations, so it’s crucial that people be open to new destinations,” said Sacks, a member of the MPI St. Louis Area Chapter. “Small and mid-size cities have done a lot with their infrastructure, including new convention centers, and people are often pleasantly surprised at what they find. There is availability out there, but you have to get out of your rut.”
For those who do not want to give up on a first choice, flexibility with dates is key, sometimes even by just a day or two.
“If we can fit the group according to other business on the calendar, it makes a big difference in both availability and pricing,” Curry said. “If the planner has flexibility, it’s a win-win situation all around.”
Milan has also found this to be true.
“We always have a preferred date, but I ask the hotel what they have available and if they can fit us in,” she said. “You need a savvy sales manager who can work things out and get other groups to move around. This is where good relationships come in—with both the sales manager and the sales director. It’s kind of like buying a car.”
Cultivating relationships with CVBs as well as with hotels is also important, according to Michele Wierzgac.
“The CVB can be a great help for a regional meeting—don’t overlook them,” she said. “Sometimes people think they don’t need a lot of help with regional meetings, but they are wrong. In fact, a regional meeting is just as difficult and time consuming as a major convention. It takes the same amount of time and thought.”
MARIA LENHART is a freelance writer based in San Francisco.
SIDEBAR #1: Gas Prices Driving Some Meeting Choices
What impact are today’s soaring gas prices having on meetings where most attendees drive to the venues? While not yet a major concern for most organizations, the cost of gas is starting to influence site selection and transportation policies for those with especially tight budget constraints.
For Denise McGinn, CAE, president of Association Guidance in East Lansing, Mich., gas prices were the determining factor in the location choice for a recent association board meeting. Instead of holding the meeting at a northern Michigan resort as originally planned, the meeting was shifted to a hotel in Lansing, a much closer destination for most attendees.
“This saved at least three hours of drive time for most people,” she said. “Gas prices are becoming part of the consideration. We’re looking at more locations close to the highway, fewer resorts and more in-town locations.”
Carpooling is also heavily encouraged at the meetings McGinn plans for her association clients within the state of Michigan.
“We’ve long done this because of parking considerations,” she said. “When we have a large meeting at a downtown location, there can be long lines at garages and sometimes people get turned away. But now gas prices are giving people an extra incentive to carpool.”
Judi Feldman, president of OnSite Meetings & Events in Longwood, Fla., also believes gas prices are changing behavior.
“We’re seeing state organizations or associations renting cars or using government cars and putting two or three people in each car,” she said. “It saves on gas and airfare. We’re also seeing more carpooling.”
Pamela Milan, president of Milan and Associates in Beltsville, Md., believes that gas prices may soon have an impact on her government clients who are now caught between rising meeting costs and tighter budgets.
“The price of gas could well be a factor in determining future attendance,” she said. “I can see that we will be offering more webcasts and videotaping more speakers. For some people, that may be the alternative.”
For many organizations, particularly corporations, gas prices may be annoying, but they are just one of many rising costs associated with meetings.
“I don’t think companies are thinking too much about gas prices,” said Bonni Scepkowski, president of Stellar Meetings and Events in North Brunswick, N.J., and a member of the MPI New Jersey Chapter. “A tank of gas, as ugly as the cost may be, pales in comparison to other costs such as airfare or ground transportation. Of course, those are affected by fuel costs too, but the cost of car gas is not a big consideration when it comes to determining location.”
SIDEBAR #2: Easing the Pain at Time-Crunched Meetings
With time such a critical issue for many attendees these days, regional meetings are increasingly all work and no play. In many cases, the free afternoon for golf or spa treatments is only a distant memory. Instead, sessions are tightly scheduled from morning to evening, with little to lighten the load.
With so much content being packed into so short a time, how can attendees come away from a meeting inspired rather than expired? For planners, this no-frills scenario means coming up with innovative ways to make the experience as stress-free and enjoyable as possible.
Reggie Sears, CMP, owner of Sears Enterprises in Sacramento, Calif., found his ingenuity tested recently when a client cut a regional conference from four days to three, requiring sessions to start earlier and end later.
“A lot is now crammed into a short period, including into the evening social functions,” he said. To compensate, Sears incorporated more breaks during the day and even added drawings for random door prizes (for which attendees must be present to win) during some of the sessions.
“You have to get really creative under tight constraints,” said Bonni Scepkowski, president of Stellar Meetings and Events in North Brunswick, N.J., and a member of the MPI New Jersey Chapter. “My clients are very dependent on planners for this. They’re not thinking of the exhaustion level of their people. If you’re meeting from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., it gets to the point where people will stop retaining information.”
To try and make long days in meeting rooms as pleasant as possible, Scepkowski looks for meeting space that has plenty of natural light.
“I ask myself how I would feel being stuck in this room all day,” she said. “That’s something I didn’t have to consider five or six years ago.”
To give attendees a break during the middle of the day, planners are looking beyond the hotel ballroom for lunch venues.
“If the weather allows, we try to hold the lunch outside, so they can have fresh air and a change of scene,” said Karolyn Kiburz, CMP, president of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Meetings & Concierges Source and a member of the MPI Arizona Sunbelt Chapter.
If appropriate for the location and budget, Scepkowski will schedule lunch on board a boat.
“They have to eat anyway, so it doesn’t take up too much extra time,” she said. “Plus they can hear one of the speakers during the meal.”
What to serve during lunch and breaks has become even more important, as no one wants attendees falling asleep during those long afternoon sessions.
“You can’t just put out pastries and coffee anymore,” Kiburz said. “People want almonds, yogurt, fresh fruit—things that stimulate the brain and keep energy up.”
While many regional meetings leave little time for spa visits, increasingly mini spa treatments are being brought to the meeting room. Yoga stretches and chair massages in the meeting room foyer are being employed as ways to rejuvenate attendees during breaks.