When Ron Johnson planned a recent conference for the State Bar of California in Hong Kong, the group wanted to minimize its carbon footprint. Responding to this concern, he arranged the entire event so that attendees could get around on public transportation—sometimes among four different locations in the city in a single day.
Years ago, all of this schlepping might have led to some grumbling among delegates, outside of those focused on environmental causes. Today, concern about sustainable meetings and events has gone mainstream.
"People are looking to be a little greener—not just by recycling but even in their transportation," said Johnson, CEO of Mosaic Event Management, which serves the corporate and foundation market.
As Jim Collins notes in his new book Great by Choice, the world has gone through a shocking series of destabilizing events that defied all expectations in the past 15 years, ranging from dramatic technological change to the global financial crisis. This climate of rapid-fire change poses both challenges and opportunities, he notes. It leaves many professionals in the tough spot of not knowing what’s next.
"We can be astonished, confounded, shocked, stunned, delighted or terrified, but rarely prescient," Collins wrote.
In the meeting industry, all of this change has made selecting the right venue a greater challenge. A location or destination that worked three years ago for an event may be inadequate today. And there’s a lot of variety within different niches of the meeting industry.
"It all depends on the conference, the industry and the number of attendees," said Toronto-based independent meeting planner Sandra Aaron.
To help meeting professionals zero in on the qualities a venue needs to have now, we turned to active industry members for their insight.
Easy Access
If attendees will have to take multiple flights and then drive an hour to a destination, it’s likely to be ruled out these days, no matter how inviting it might otherwise be. Factors that used to be undesirable, like adjacency to an airport, are now selling points today.
"Because of economic conditions, the ease and availability of getting in and out of a destination inexpensively has probably never come more into play than in the last few years," said Mike Dominguez, vice president of global sales for Loews Hotels, who oversees 18 U.S. hotels for the brand. "It comes down to accessibility."
Value Pricing
"This doesn’t mean inexpensive or cheap," said Mosaic Event Management’s Johnson. "It has to be commensurate with what they’re selling."
Many hotels have add-on charges to stay profitable in the tough economy, but taking this too far can drive away business, in his view.
Case in point: For one client, Johnson recently inquired about buying out all the rooms at a small boutique property for a full week, which would have entailed purchasing what he calls "a very significant amount of food and beverage."
However, the hotel wanted the client to pay an additional US$25,000 to cover potential revenue it might lose at its gift shop and restaurant.
"I started to laugh," said Johnson, who walked away from the negotiations—and had no interest in resuming them when the hotel called back later. "There’s still about 50 percent of the hotel industry that does not realize we’re in the middle of a global recession."
Another no-no: Charging extra for basic services.
"I saw one hotel contract where they were attempting to charge a maintenance fee for the ballroom restroom to be maintained by their janitorial staff," Johnson said incredulously.
Hotels that have had to cut back on extras to meet budgets can avoid conveying a feeling that they’re cutting corners by offering small but high-impact extras, Johnson advises.
"Make it a bowl of fruit in someone’s room, something really minimal—even something you have in inventory that you don’t have to go out and spend money on," he said.
Sense of Place
Even if a meeting organizer chooses a venue in a local metro area, attendees will want it to feel unique and special to participants, Dominguez says.
"If you’re in Chicago, it has to have a Chicago feel to it," he said.
One way to achieve this end is through flexible building architecture that allows guests to enjoy local views in open space. For instance, a big city hotel will score points with guests by offering a rooftop bar or another open-air gathering spot.
"That used to not be the big need," Dominguez said. "Today, it’s what differentiates your hotel. [For guests,] it’s about being able to enjoy the venue whether it’s by views or the weather."
Local Food
Attendees don’t want to dine on the same thing they ate at the last event, no matter how memorable it was. More than ever before, Dominguez says, delegates are interested in dining on food grown by local farmers or using local ingredients that they won’t be able to sample elsewhere.
"It’s all about being able to experience different types of food and different types of cuisines," he said.
Wired Meeting Rooms
The days when attendees showed up with just one digital device are over, as more people bring smartphones, tablets and laptops. Venues must accommodate this reality by offering the connectivity that’s needed, or they’ll fall behind, Aaron warns.
"I need to know that the venue and destination are set up so that event staff, speakers and attendees alike can have access to all the technology they need," she said.
Aaron looks for reliable Wi-Fi, a strong digital and cellular network and modern equipment for presentations. It’s important to realize that many participants will be multitasking as they watch presentations and will be frustrated if it’s hard to keep in touch with the office, she says.
As many meeting planners and organizers have gravitated toward hybrid meetings—incorporating both live and digital aspects—it’s essential for properties to be prepared with the appropriate technology, advises Arnold J. Shaw, chief marketing officer of MAP Digital, an event marketing agency that works with large financial services companies, among other clients.
"Without these things, the notion of being able to meet participants’ needs is limited," Shaw said.
It’s also important that a venue offer the ability for the organizer to gather information on how participants behaved at an event, such as the booths they visited at a trade show.
A desirable venue, Shaw says, can collect data based on how delegates moved throughout the event and identify their interests.
Right Tech Staff
Given that each meeting is different, hotels and conference facilities need to be able to adapt to diverse technological needs quickly.
"More important than the technology itself is having competent and well-trained professionals on staff at a hotel that can deliver whatever your tech needs," Dominguez said. "They become a partner for a meeting professional to try to give a unique experience to attendees."
Adequate Storage
Many hotels have converted what used to be closets into staff offices and even meeting rooms, as they try to make it enhance the cost effectiveness of the property, Johnson says. If there is storage available, it’s now common to charge so much for it that it’s cheaper for the guests to rent a room to store their materials—which he sometimes does. Johnson says offering reasonably priced storage is a good way to stand out.
"Everyone knows that when you do meetings, you bring stuff with you," he said.
And if the hotel is inviting enough, clients will continue to bring that stuff back in the future. One+
Comments
I agree 100% that Wi-Fi is no longer a "nice to have" accoutrement but a "must have" essential for events that want to be respected. The question is how to create the activities that engage participants. Personally, I would like to see integrated strategies that use social media to encourage conversation before, during and after events. I’d also like to see ways that we can take the event discussions outside the walls of the conference center. Options include fringe sessions, greendrinks and photosafaris. (Ron Mader, Planeta.com Campaign for Free Wi-Fi, 25 January 2012)
