By Libby Hoppe

Planning and executing an event is difficult; planning and executing an event while short-staffed is almost impossible. Associations and organizations are constantly watching every dollar that comes in and every dollar that goes out. Few have the funds to employ enough full-time staff members to execute large-scale meetings and events. As a result, they rely on volunteers to pick up where labor drops off, but using
volunteers isn’t always easy.

The good news is that the number of volunteers in the country is growing. Last year, the number jumped by 1.6 million, the largest increase since 2003, according to a report by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). The total number of people who volunteered their time with a formal organization rang in at 63.4 million, amounting to an estimated $169 billion worth of labor.

“Americans have responded to tough economic times by volunteering in big numbers,” says Patrick Corvington, CEO of CNCS, which conducted the survey in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Religious organizations attract the highest percentage of the nation’s volunteers at 34 percent, followed closely by educational and youth events.

Many associations and organizations rely on volunteers throughout the year, but they become especially important during meetings and conferences. Event planners and organizers who call on volunteers have to do three things to make it a successful venture: find volunteers, learn how to use them properly and reward them for their efforts.

FINDING VOLUNTEERS

For some planners, finding volunteers — reliable ones — can be the hardest part. The first place to look for volunteers is within an organization. Will Engle joined the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) as the director of external operations three years ago, taking on the responsibility of planning the association’s annual convention. Part of his job includes assembling a team of 12 volunteers who travel to the conference destination to help for the four-day event. What he found is that some people within the AVCA are happy to help out at a conference, which they would have attended anyway. “Some wouldn’t be able to afford coming if we didn’t pay for them to come,” says Engle. “They get to see friends [and] go to educational sessions. If they’re not on duty, we let them be a part of it.”

The AVCA event is now in its 30th year, and Engle knows that though he’s best suited to handle site selection, contracts and hotel arrangements, some of the volunteers who tag along provide useful feedback. “When I came on, I looked to them for advice,” he says. “This is their community, these are their people. They’re going to understand the community better than I am.”

Not all planners have a crop of volunteers ready to pack up and hit the road for an event, so the next best place to turn is to members of the community in which the event will take place. “If you’re using volunteers for the first time, try to find people within your market segment,” says Engle. “For us it’s volleyball coaches, but just find people who know your organization.

“Once you have those types of folks, don’t be afraid to ask for their help and their opinions. They’re on the pulse of what these folks are doing on a daily basis.”

Another resource to use for volunteers is the destination itself. The Virginia Beach CVB, for example, has a volunteer program in place that helps recruit volunteers for planners and gives Virginia Beach residents the opportunity to reach out to the CVB if they want to help. When the American Bus Association came to Virginia Beach in 2008, the CVB assembled a team of 800 volunteers. “We’re very hands on. We want to go out and put the message out in the community,” says Al Hutchinson, vice president of convention sales and marketing at the CVB.

For the ABA convention, the CVB staff put the word out to local businesses and printed calls for help in the city publication. “All that was coordinated by our convention services team and staff at the CVB. We have a good system, a model in place,” says Hutchinson. The local airport has also jumped on the volunteer bandwagon and has a staff to offer refreshments and transportation to groups when they arrive.

A simple yet effective way to find volunteers is to ask around. Ask other planners. Ask friends. Ask previous volunteers. “We use current volunteers to recruit volunteers,” says Denise McGinn, CAE, president of Association Guidance. McGinn organizes about 10 events each year that utilize volunteers, including a spring conference with more than 160 volunteers. “We find peer to peer works best. When someone sees that someone else in their industry is willing to donate their time to the event, it makes it easy for them to do it as well.”

Jo Angela Maniaci agrees. “Once you recruit one volunteer, they will recruit at least one other person to join them,” says Maniaci, CMP. “This guarantees they will know at least one other person for the day, since we all have some trepidation about showing up for a new task at a new location and not being sure you know anyone.” Maniaci is the owner of Special Events Planning based in St. Paul, Minn. She organizes mostly nonprofit and government events, so she’s always recruiting volunteers based on limited event budgets. The ask-around strategy is an important one for her. “Another source is tapping the board members of an organization for ideas [and] leads,” she says. For example, she planned the Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk and recruited a Boy Scout troop, corporate community involvement employee groups, a high school Key Club and church groups to help out. “One of the best parts of working in the nonprofit world is that there is rarely a shortage of a volunteer base from which to draw,” she says.

Pat Ahaesy, CMP, CSEP, of P&V Enterprises, believes in volunteer retention. “There are people who have volunteered for me before and if there are ones I like, I’ll ask them again,” she says. Still, that’s not enough to fill the roster for many of the events she plans, so she taps into the local college market in New York City, recruiting students who study event planning, marketing and communications, or students from fraternities and sororities who need to boost their volunteer hours. “They’re usually very eager,” she says.

USING VOLUNTEERS

After recruiting volunteers, the next step is knowing how to best use them. Responsibilities often include manning the registration table, introducing speakers, collecting evaluation data, selling merchandise and shuffling crowds from session to session.

“I will use volunteers for almost all parts of an event and try to meld the tasks needed with volunteer self-interest,” says Maniaci. She says it’s important to give a volunteer a task that they’re interested in if that option exists, but there are a few tasks that volunteers are usually always asked to help with. “Volunteers are particularly effective at the registration area,” she says, especially when they are members of the event’s organization. “From the attendee’s point of view, a warm hello called out by someone who knows your name sets the best tone possible to start the day’s activities.”

Depending on how much help is needed and the skill level of the volunteer, Denise McGinn has used volunteers for website updates, sponsorship sales, meal planning, proofing marketing materials and site selection. “The list goes on and on,” she says. But the relationship between the planner and the volunteer only works when there’s effective communication, she says.

“A detailed job description and timeline must be supplied to the volunteer, with a complete background of why the job needs to be done, how it is to be done, and what the expected outcome is,” says McGinn. My staff sometimes teases me that I write the instructions so that a monkey could do it. I find that even the most knowledgeable volunteer appreciates it, as they don’t feel like they have to make assumptions or second guess themselves.”

Volunteers are often asked to put in a lot of work, and Will Engle says he makes sure his helpers know this before they ever sign up to help. “This event is a 24-hour show; it’s not an 8-to-5 workday,” he says of the AVCA annual conference. “A lot of it is going to be unglamorous.” The first job his event volunteers take on is laying down full-size volleyball courts, snapping pieces of wood floor together for three hours. “They’ll sweat and we’ll wear them out … at the very beginning,” he says, “and it gets worse from there.” At the end of the day, says Engle, he needs volunteers who are willing to do those jobs, work together on a team, and realize that they’re working toward a bigger goal: putting on a successful conference.

While no particular person fits the perfect volunteer mold, planners still know what they want. “I’m looking for people who are outgoing [and] who speak well because they’re going to be speaking with VIP clients,” says Ahaesy. “I expect them to be responsible for what they do. On their part, they have to treat it like it’s a paying gig. On my part, I try to treat them with respect and show them how important they are. Having volunteers enables me to do my job better. They make everything happen.”

Of course, there are some things that will put volunteers on a planner’s do-not-use-ever-again list. “If somebody doesn’t show up, they’re scratched off my list forever,” says Ahaesy.

Maniaci says she trusts volunteers, but “I also fall back on my left-brain control tendency by supplying a list of dos and don’ts for acceptable activities at the registration area,” she says. The “don’ts” include no reading trashy novels, no knitting, no doing your nails, no putting on makeup  — all things that made the list after real-life experiences.

REWARDING VOLUNTEERS

Most planners agree that the positive experiences with volunteers far outnumber the no-show or bad-behavior episodes of a few events. And event volunteers deserve to be rewarded, even if they don’t expect it.

Pat Ahaesy often hands out gift cards to coffee shops or restaurants, and she always sends thank-you notes. More importantly, though, she makes it a goal to have conversations with the volunteers, explaining to them how their help contributed to the success of the larger event. “I tell them what they did and how important it was so they can use it for their résumés,” she says.

The résumé-boosting aspect of volunteering may be the most important reward for students volunteering their time. Will Engle understands this. In addition to bringing on a few people from the AVCA to work the annual conference, Engle also has a relationship with Jeff Meyer, a volleyball coach and leader of the sports management program at Wayne State College in Nebraska. “I contact Jeff every year and he brings a graduate assistant and a chaperone, and they bring four or five students to volunteer.” To get a spot on the volunteer list for the conference, the students submit résumés and cover letters to Engle and the AVCA staff who then select the best candidates. “It’s a great résumé builder,” says Engle. “In the last couple years, I’ve had three or four students then ask me to be a reference for them.” He gladly says yes.

Last year, AVCA volunteers received an all-expenses-paid trip to Tampa, Fla. This year, they’re headed to Kansas City, Miss. That’s quite a perk for cash-strapped college students — or anyone else, for that matter.

The cheapest and sometimes most meaningful reward is simply recognition for services. Maniaci includes acknowledgement of volunteers in event programs as well as from the stage, and she asks volunteers to stand and be recognized. McGinn agrees that sometimes a very simple gesture like that can mean a lot more than a gift card. I find people like the recognition they get if you put their name on the website, or in a newsletter, or even announce it at the event itself, she says. Be sure they are given credit. They will keep coming back if you do.

By Monica Compton

Tough economic times stretch your business and personal dollar, forcing financial decisions that you wouldn’t otherwise have to, or want to, make. Companies are becoming more cognizant of how they are investing their funds and event marketing budgets are often the first to be slashed. Associations and non-profit organizations are usually the most in need of funds, with an economic model based largely on member dues, donations and sponsorship dollars.

The global cash crunch caused a 6 percent decline in sponsorship spending from 2008 to 2009, the first time less money was spent on sponsorships than in the previous year, according to IEG, a global provider of sponsorship measurement and valuation. “Those unprecedented numbers reflect a marketplace that never recovered from the economy’s free fall towards the end of ’08,” says William Chipps, IEG Sponsorship Report senior editor.

The financial crisis has forced organizations to realign the way they are recruiting new sponsors and maintain existing ones. The now industry-wide cliché — out-of-the-box thinking — isn’t enough. Companies must add strategy to their creative thinking and top it off with a dose of financial frugality.

“Sponsorship and advertising are key barometers on an organization’s radar, more so than in fatter times,” says Karl Ely, CAE, vice president and publisher, the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). “We have to change the way we bundle assets in a more comprehensive way.”

Rather than slapping a sponsor’s logo on a tote bag or listing names on a throwaway show guide, organizations must prove value to sponsors, more so than ever before. Return on investment (ROI) must be shown immediately at the end of the event as well as an expanded analysis of how the sponsorship might bring prospective business to the company in the future.

Philip Arbuckle, MT, MBA, CMP, of MeetingTrack Inc., links a sponsor’s support with a program element that can demonstrate a result. “Whereas in the past it was sufficient to have their name/brand linked with the program,” Arbuckle says. But an IEG survey in partnership with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) states that only 65 percent of organizations determine the results of their sponsorship and event marketing programs. At the same time, almost eight in 10 respondents said the need for validated results has increased in the past two years as a result of having to justify expenditures.

Ely agrees that validation of sponsorship spending is crucial. “We have to be very smart and sharp about tracking the value right away,” he says. “The sponsor doesn’t want it three months after the event; they want it now.” And, he adds, it’s not enough to simply show ROI; you must also provide ROE, Return on Engagement.

“Sponsors are also your event attendees and they need to be engaged,” Ely says. “They are in the market and want to know about it. [They] want to be a part of the discussion.”

Many associations analyze their sponsoring partners’ need factors by interviewing them and understanding what they really want to get out of their investment. It sounds simplistic, but organizations have had a history of creating packages based on what they need (including a certain dollar amount), not what their sponsors want. With the decline in sponsorship revenue, organizations now have to change this history and start customizing programs according to the sponsors’ needs.

Karl Kirsch, CAE, vice president of Meeting Expectations, agrees that sponsorships should be tailored to each company’s needs and like any nurturing relationship, should be given attention on a year-round basis. “The sponsorship is not about the meeting or trade show,” he says. “The planner should be calling the sponsor throughout the year and giving them alerts on how to better leverage their sponsorship both pre- and post-event.”

Another fact-finding idea is to create an advisory board for each of your conferences and events, inviting a member of the sponsoring company to sit on the board. William Drohan, CAE, president of Drohan Management Group, limits this benefit to his top-level sponsors — the platinum as opposed to the gold. He then adds the value of this access to decision makers into his sponsorship package. “There’s a value in providing exposure to these executives,” Drohan says. “And if you’re a top supplier in the industry and you don’t show up, the decision makers will think you’re no longer interested in their industry.”

Drohan also suggests inviting the top-level sponsors to the board of director’s dinner, which might precede the opening day of the conference. The admission that normally would be paid to attend the dinner is then added to the sponsorship package. “Sophisticated board members understand that this is where [sponsorship] revenue is coming from and that’s it an opportunity for the sponsor to develop a business and personal relationship,” Drohan says. “The chance for sponsors to actually meet these executives means much more now in these days of impersonal Internet and e-mail than it did 20 years ago.”

Medical associations must be even more creative in generating benefits. Governed by strict guidelines as to how much and what kind of exposure a sponsor can receive, their programs are limited in advertising opportunities.

Tara Morrison, CAE, president of Association Management Executives Inc., has become more flexible in working with sponsors to achieve their needs. Because only educational materials and pamphlets are permitted in the exhibit hall for pharmaceutical meetings, Morrison cannot provide the traditional logoed merchandise benefit to her sponsors. Not even pens and notepads with a company’s logo are permitted into the hall. A bucket of candy is the minimal booth-traffic enticement sponsors are allowed, but even at that there can’t be a company logo on the wrapper. “We’ve had to call on our other members and not focus solely on pharma companies,” Morrison says.

Philip Arbuckle of MeetingTrack believes that concerns about public perception have made associations much more sensitive to what they are sponsoring and how the sponsorship is listed. “There seems to be more emphasis on being linked with education and community support,” Arbuckle says.  “We also see some sponsors asking that their logo not be used on conference materials and opting for a simple listing of their company name instead.” When he is recruiting funds, he now leaves out the word “sponsor” when asking for an association’s support.

Charles Dillehay, MBA, CAE, of Dillehay Management Group, also had to become more creative in developing benefits for his Association of Physician Assistants conferences. In addition to a more robust e-mail campaign to members, he’s purchased online ads on industry websites targeting pharmaceutical representatives. The reps visiting the site then see the exhibitor opportunity for his conference. “We’ve had to become more cutting-edge and create strategies we haven’t employed to date,” Dillehay says. “You’ll be out of business if you’re doing things the same as you did one to two years ago.”

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Nonprofit sponsorship matchmaking:
Linking together has never been better.

Imagine a matchmaking service for nonprofit organizations seeking funding and companies looking to enhance their corporate social responsibility profile. The nonprofit may not have staff to write a grant or the expertise to craft a proposal targeting interested corporations. The company may not have time to research nonprofit associations offering sponsorship opportunities that can blossom into long-term strategic partnerships.

Enter SponsorPark, an online service that links association to sponsor, opportunity to prospective funding. Result:  a triple bottom-line marriage of “people, planet, profit.” Membership to SponsorPark’s nationwide, web-based community is free of charge. The service provides nonprofit organizations and potential sponsors with the ability to review proposals that match the criteria they enter in the site.

SponsorPark’s search engine manages multiple searches to satisfy a company’s request for more than one event with different target audiences. Although a company can contact the association if interested in the sponsored event, the privacy settings ensure that pursuing the opportunity is at the company’s discretion; they are not inundated with unwanted requests.

Released to a limited audience in March of 2009, the software was beta tested for usability and to gain public feedback. By the end of the year, the SponsorPark website had almost 5,000 registered community members and more than 40,000 proposals had been reviewed.

“SponsorPark is now truly the premier Internet community portal bringing sponsors and sponsorship opportunities together,” says Emily Taylor, co-founder of SponsorPark.  “The best part is we have only started.”

An association such as Soroptimist, for example, would benefit from SponsorPark’s service. A 501 (c)(3) volunteer organization for business and professional women, Soroptimist works to improve the lives of women and girls in local communities.

“We are a charitable organization and we have actually returned to some of the more traditional approaches to sponsors,” says Leigh Wintz, CAE, executive director of Soroptimist International of the Americas. “A lot of our sponsorships have been in-kind good and services, such as laptop computers for our Women’s Opportunity Awards recipients.”

Nearly all recruiters of sponsorship revenue agree that the bundling of benefits into a year-long value package and a multiple-year discount are two top trends.

Arbuckle has moved to multi-year packages where a sponsor is offered a program for three years instead of just sponsoring one event. “This allows us to work with the sponsors in an on-going mode where we can develop an alliance throughout the three-year period,” he says.

Drohan gives a multi-year discount for a bundled benefits package purchased in one payment. He shows the individual pricing of each benefit and then shows the discount if they are purchased together. He believes these packages are also easier to renew because the conference organizer can show the benefits the sponsor received for a longer period of time.

“We can say, ‘here’s what we did for you all year,’ which is easier for the association to sell and less complicated for the sponsor to buy,” Drohan says. “If the sponsorship has a $30,000 value and we charge them $20,000, they know they are getting a $10,000 discount and they have to make only one payment.”

A third trend in sponsorship recruitment is researching industries outside your immediate membership and expanding your offerings to alternative markets. “We have looked at our membership/conference participants and analyzed their buying needs to find new sponsoring companies that may not have been part of our sponsorship mix in the past,” Arbuckle says.

Kirsch is creating flexible packages to accommodate his sponsor’s vertical markets. If his sponsor has a niche product, he might work with the association to create a Webinar targeted at that niche. “Most associations are casting a wider net to try to attract a larger variety of sponsors,” Kirsch says. “This helps to mitigate the risk of being dependent on a small number of large sponsors.”

The good news is that IEG is expecting sponsorship spending by North American companies to grow by 3.4 percent in 2010 to $17 billion, up from $16 billion in last year. “We saw a 12 percent drop in sponsorship revenue in 2009,” Arbuckle says. “Sponsorships improved some in 2010, mainly as a result of taking a different approach in working with sponsors and developing new opportunities. Next year [2011] is looking good and may come close to 2008 levels.”

SponsorPark exists for the purpose of supporting people’s passions by connecting sponsors to sponsorship opportunities. Our service allows for proactive outsourcing and competitive partnerships, while operating more efficiently than ever. Our goal is to introduce the most mutually beneficial relationships, therefore seeing talents realized, business grown and life giving communities unfold.

By Monica Compton

The grand exhibitor booths with heavily padded plush carpets are dwindling. The “what-do-I-do-with-this-now?” trade-show giveaways are disappearing. In their place are the tweets of targeted audiences and the faces of higher-level attendees. From social networking to creative cost-cutting measures, the result is a more strategic trade show where show organizers and exhibitors can see a greater return on investment despite a sluggish economy.

Economic Indicators

In 1960, McCormick Place opened in Chicago as the first purpose-built exhibition center, ushering in the trade-show industry. Since that time, there has been only one economic downturn in the industry: From 2001 to 2002, there were six consecutive quarters of negative decline in attendance numbers. But just two years later, the industry bounced back to its pre-2001 numbers. The annual nature of most shows and the fact that many are pre-booked years in advance create a longevity and bounce-back effect not found with traditional meetings.

“The trade show industry is resistant to decline and resilient to recovery,” says Doug Ducate, president and chief executive
officer of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research. “Annual events might hit the [sales] cycle just right and not experience a decline.”

Ducate says we are now experiencing eight consecutive quarters of downturn and it is likely the second quarter of 2010 will be the ninth quarter of decline. “While the declining show metrics have stabilized to some degree, there is little improvement,” Ducate says. “We really don’t expect to resume growth before 2012.”

Since trade shows mirror the industries they serve, Ducate believes you can monitor signs of recovery by looking at the success of shows in industries that were severely affected by the economic downturn. For example, the building and construction industries are a food chain for many products and shows in these sectors are precursors of what to expect in the trade-show industry in the coming year. “The building and construction shows did not reveal marked improvement,” Ducate says.  “The fact that their losses were less severe than 2009 provides little comfort.”

Lew Shomer, executive director of the Society of Independent Show Organizers, saw a 7 percent to 11 percent decrease in attendance in 2009, but is now seeing an increase between 5 percent and 20 percent in 2010. He believes the annual planning calendar for expositions can create a lag time in revealing economic impact. Since many of their shows are planned one-to-three years in advance, the industry will trail an upward or downward trend. “Revenues will be down in 2010, but up in 2011 based on what we are seeing in attendance increases,” Shomer says.

Doug Miller, partner and president of Urban Expositions, which produces gift shows across the country, says his company started feeling an economic impact during the summer of 2008 when booth sales and attendance were down by 10 percent. But from January through March of 2010, his company has produced six shows, each with an increase in attendance numbers. “There is a little more optimism out there and attitudes are much better than they were before,” Miller says.
“I still think the economy is rough, but I do see positive signs.”

Miller’s Las Vegas Souvenir and Resort Gift Show, an annual event that is national in scope for this industry, was up in booth sales by 65 percent in 2009 over 2008, and he’s sold 50 percent more space for the 2010 show than he did in 2009. “We actually had to stop selling space,” Miller says. “We want to make sure we have enough buyers [for all these exhibitors].”

Dan Strother, senior communications manager for Agilysys, has seen a significant decrease in attendance at the shows his company participates in, but the level of attendee has improved. “The positive side is we are seeing a higher executive level and a more highly-qualified attendee base,” Strother says.

A Strategic Trend

As trade-show organizers and exhibiting companies look to maximize value for their shows, strategic audience acquisition has become a focal point. It’s not enough just to fill the exposition hall with a large number of attendees; the presence of decision-makers is key. “We have to make sure we’re speaking to the right audience,” says David Ecton, director of marketing for Syscom Technologies. “The recruiting process has to be tight and specific.”

For Ecton, exhibiting at a boutique show appealing to his niche market produces the value for dollars spent. He calculates the number of attendees his staff can speak to in an hour and sees a greater return with smaller shows. “The bigger the trade show, the less of a return-on-investment we get,” says Ecton.

But it’s not just the level and number of attendees exhibitors weigh when they plan their annual show calendar. Companies review networking opportunities against travel and overall show expenses. “Exhibitors must identify the premier events in which to bring their products to market, including where they can see the most buyers, make the most connections and get the most value,” says Marian Bossard, vice president, meetings and events, Toy Industry Association (TIA). “Attendees, including retail buyers, are also being more selective in the trade shows they attend, including travel and time away from the office.”

Pre-scheduling appointments between buyers and suppliers is considered the best method of ensuring a targeted attendance. When trade shows are boiled down to buyer and supplier doing business, the need to book a big stand and spend money looking more attractive than those around you is eliminated.

Cost-saving Measures

There has been a metamorphosis since the days of mega booths, when more exposition real estate was equated with attracting more attendees and generating more leads. A table-top display can provide as much, if not more interaction with an attendee as a mammoth booth structure. By eliminating the cost and distraction of a flashy or gimmicky booth theme, exhibitors can draw serious buyers wanting more than the free giveaway.

Steven Hacker, CAE, president of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), sees exhibitors refurbishing existing booth properties and looking at cost-effective options for construction and shipping costs. “Many are refreshing exhibits used before in lieu of building new exhibits,” Hacker says. “Exhibitors are taking advantage of lighter-weight materials to construct exhibits, thus reducing shipping costs.”

Other companies are opting to rent some or all of their booth properties to save on storage costs. Elements that require a change from show to show like graphic walls can be rented to reduce design costs. “A growing number of exhibitors are getting much more for much less by leveraging strategic exhibit rentals,” says Dean Marks of The Taylor Group, a global event design company headquartered in Toronto. “Renting assets altogether or combining owned exhibits with temporary rentals is providing much more of the bang with much less of the cost.”

To assist companies in trimming their budgets, many show organizers are subsidizing exhibitor expenses.  From hotel discounts to packaging show services at a discounted rate, show producers are becoming creative in their value propositions. “Exhibition organizers are packaging more elements than ever before. Some are including material handling in their space rates,” Hacker says. “Others are allowing payments for exhibit space to be paid over time. There is a great deal of innovation taking place.”

The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) offered creative savings options for its annual meeting in Dallas in January. The association allowed members to pay for their registration fees with Starwood Award points instead of cash. And like IAEE, members were offered a payment plan and could split their registration fee payments over two years.

Urban Exposition’s Doug Miller has shifted his marketing dollars to complimentary programs that will help gift and resort show exhibitors cover costs. A certain level of exhibitor recommended by buyers can receive free hotel rooms, lunches or airfare. His “Hotel Buy-down” program reduces the rate of hotel rooms across the board for all exhibitors. Miller secures a block of rooms at a discounted group rate and further discounts the cost to his exhibitors, subsidizing the difference. Miller was able to secure a rate of $79 per night for exhibitors at his San Francisco International Gift Fair, a new show on his 2010 calendar. For the Las Vegas Souvenir and Resort Gift Show, he achieved an incredibly low rate of $15.99 per night at the recently renovated Tropicana hotel. “We’ve spend more money on advertising shows, but I think it’s paid off,” Miller says.

The Toy Industry Association assists its members by subsidizing 30 percent of advance warehouse and freight charges. To help exhibitors prepare for its 2010 Toy Fair, TIA also launched the “Customer Cost Review Process.” The association’s meetings and events team analyzed each exhibitor’s specifications from booth space and décor to manpower and travel costs. “Then we made recommendations as to where they could realize cost savings and greater efficiencies,” Bossard says. “To date, feedback from exhibitors who have taken advantage of this new service has been positive.”

Technological Trends

From social networking to going green, trade shows are elevating their efficiencies and marketing endeavors to meet industry trends and consumer demand. TIA has implemented a number of technologies in an effort to eliminate paper waste and become more environmentally sound.

In lieu of the traditional printed trade-show directory that guides attendees through the show, TIA installed electronic wayfinder kiosks, which help locate a particular exhibitor in the marketplace or in one of the show’s specialized product zones. TIA also uses a mobile technology called ChirpE that allows attendees to search for exhibitors and products and navigate the show floor on their personal digital assistants (PDAs).

“Traditional printed paper materials no longer provided a progressive or eco-friendly way to communicate,” Bossard says. “We are eager and excited to expose exhibitors and buyers to a more technologically rich Toy Fair experience.”

Shomer also sees an initiative to eliminate paper information through a snippet computer programming code sent through an attendee’s smart phones or mobile devices that accepts e-mail. Attendees are given a list of exhibitors with assigned catalog numbers. If they want more information from a specific company, they enter the catalog number into their smart phones and the exhibitor’s product information is sent to their computers at home. “It enables attendees not to be burdened with printed catalogues as they walk around the show floor,” Shomer says.

Strother’s company also supports the green environment philosophy by no longer shipping promotional/product brochures. Agilysys has developed an online system with an electronic library of the company’s collateral materials. “Attendees simply log into a computer terminal located within our trade-show booth and e-mail the literature of greatest interest to their needs,” he says.

The use of technology can also help reduce an exhibiting company’s onsite staff. Ducate has seen companies with Internet or instant message capabilities at their booths allowing a salesperson to chat real-time with their manufacturing plants.

“In the past a salesperson wouldn’t know the answer to a question and had to say ‘let me get your name and have someone contact you,’ which may nor may not happen,” Ducate says. “The link back to the technological person allows the question to be answered immediately.”

This need for real-time information and a desire to communicate with a mass number of potential buyers has brought forth the era of social networking at trade shows. Exhibition organizers create Facebook pages and open Twitter accounts to promote their events and post updated information about their shows. Both vehicles allow show producers to track the pre-event buzz for their shows as well as disseminate information during show hours.

“If something on the show floor is exciting, social media can get the word out real-time,” Shomer says. “You don’t have to wait until it appears in the newsletter the next day.” Shomer says event organizers can also use these social media tools to remind attendees of their attendance at educational sessions. A message can be sent to the attendees’ smart phones alerting them that the session starts in so many minutes.

Communicating with your audience is a year-round marketing requirement now. Keep the dialogue going using blogs, podcasts, Facebook, Twitter and other outlets that will keep potential attendees interested in your show after its over and before the next one opens.

The Future of Trade Shows

The virtual trade-show concept has been tried and tested with mixed results. While this technological advancement would certainly eliminate a myriad of on-site show costs, the key benefit of live customer interaction and relationship building is gone.

“A virtual trade-show concept would certainly be challenged to match the impact offered by the traditional trade show model with respect to face-to-face meetings between customers/prospects and suppliers,” Strother says. “I believe the concept is a ways off from becoming a reality.”

Syscom’s Ecton believes the concept works better for buyers who cannot travel and must depend on online tools to make their purchasing decisions. “Virtual trade shows can be confusing and cumbersome,” he says. “The concept is better marketed to IT people who can’t leave their desk.”

Virtual platform developers say that these events attract two to three times the attendees seen at physical meetings. However, many show producers are concerned that the virtual option will eventually eliminate live events. In many cases, a virtual concept can supplement a live show or only replace it when the percentage of members attending is too low to warrant the cost of a physical venue.

As a potential source of non-dues revenue, blending a virtual concept with a live meeting can increase incremental revenue for the organization. The trade show can be included in the registration fee for the onsite meeting, while the educational sessions can be streamed real-time or archived for later viewing for an additional fee. If your organization is offering continuing educational units (CEUs), attendees who cannot attend the show often will pay for the online sessions.

The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) is offering this blended live meeting and virtual component for its 2010 Annual Meeting and Exposition. According to John Graham, ASAE’s president and chief executive officer, the organization will stream all three general sessions as well as 24 other sessions throughout the conference. The sessions will be archived and available for viewing for 90 days.

“The fee to attend virtually will be about 20 percent less than the regular registration fee,” Graham says. Since this is the first time ASAE is offering the virtual component, Graham says he has no concrete expectations for registration numbers.

Whether it’s a traditional trade show or a virtual experience, both exhibitors and buyers need to establish return on investment (ROI). By measuring results, companies can justify their expenditures and provide stakeholders with a line of revenue attributed directly to the show. The Center for Exhibition Industry Research has an ROI Calculator companies can use to convert the contacts made at a show to a dollar amount.

By subsidizing exhibitor costs and packaging value-added items, show organizers can create the return companies are looking for. “Companies want to know what the return on investment is going to be and what the show organization is providing to give them a better experience,” Shomer says. “Exhibitors are no longer buying booth space; they are buying a value package.

Monica Compton, CMP, an event specialist with Atlanta-based Pinnacle Productions Inc., is a columnist for Connect. She presented several education seminars at Connect Marketplace.

Read more on trade shows:

Case Study: PRINT 09
Chris Price, Vice President of Graphic Arts Show Company, discusses the challenges he faced planning last year’s PRINT 09 exhibition during a down economy.

Case Study: NEO conference
Janet Graff, CMP, plans NEO – The Conference for Neonatology every year. Read about how she dealt with issues this year regarding room blocks because of frequent changes in sponsor and exhibitor personnel.

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By Dianne Budion Devitt

Whether you recognize it or not, your event is using color to send powerful emotional signals to attendees, minute by minute and second by second. Are they the messages you want to send? Color choices are too important to be left to chance or whim, but all too often that is exactly how they are made. Planners traditionally build their events around their brands’ or organizations’ colors, but increased demand for attention to every detail, from strategy to design and execution, means that color is one element planners can use more effectively to bring their events to a higher level.

Regardless of the size of the budget, conscious, strategic decisions about color can have a powerful and positive impact on your participants’ experience, their retention of and willingness to act on key messages, and their long-term attitudes toward the organization. Consider the following case study.

SEND A MESSAGE

The CEO of an international technology company gave me the following challenge: “Use the upcoming three-day executive management retreat to make my top executives realize it’s time to start thinking differently. I want interaction among the four divisions, and I want the whole company to become more responsive to the marketplace and more interactive with each other. Take all of our left-brained managers and get them thinking inventive, right-brained thoughts, so they approach their business more creatively. I also want them to work together as a team better as a result of attending this event.”

Using the CEO’s objectives, the senior vice president of communications and I worked together to come up with the “big idea” of the event — the central concept that would bring the company’s most senior people together around the CEO’s objectives. That big idea ended up taking the form of a single word, “change,” which drove these annual gatherings for several years. This key word was inspired by the company’s tagline, “Change the nature of things.”

One of the three-day events carried the title “Change the Nature of Things … Now.” Each day’s event centered around the idea of rapid, dynamic changes taking place both internally and externally. Each of the events, and each of the breaks, was built around a single dominant color; with every progression and event component of the meeting, one dominant color quickly replaced another. Red dominated the breakfast environment, with the pre-function area featuring red linens and organic accents on the tables, including apples and red flowers. A separate menu complemented each color assigned to meals and breaks. The red-themed breakfast featured strawberry yogurt, cranberry waffles and raspberries for cereal.

The very first break, of course, changed everything. The dominant color became white, complete with white-clad chair massage therapists behind white folding screens. The afternoon break was green, and featured a miniature golf course. Each hole was keyed to an action word from the day’s session. The driving message behind all these color shifts — change — was crystal clear, because it tied into management’s objective.

Over the course of the event, each of the participants experienced the effects of being immersed in color. Through carefully planned interactions and the various event components, a new collaborative spirit emerged; the use of color and its applications affected behavior, giving attendees permission to think differently. They became engaged in a new way and eagerly discussed the next application. Each work group, represented by a single color, began to change its patterns of interaction: The ever-red engineers, for instance, began to interact with and understand the bold blue dynamics of corporate leadership, which resulted in a new shade, purple, and a new relationship. The same merging of colors and viewpoints took place between other groups.

This color-driven process was astonishing to watch. Preconceived ideas and behaviors based on specific roles and functions began to fade, and a new, vibrant corporate vision based on collaboration emerged.

BOOST YOUR BOTTOM LINE

If you’re looking for a good way to maximize a limited budget or get the most bang for your buck out of a substantial budget, using color is one of the best answers. Using varying shades of a single color is one of the oldest, most cost-effective event design tricks of experienced meetings and events professionals.

Fashion designers know that bright colors can cause a powerful reaction that may distract observers from noticing that the actual design is relatively simple and inexpensive. Sometimes that bold fashion statement is also a cheap fashion statement, although that’s not how the end user sees it. Take a modest garment, choose your colors aggressively, and you can get by with less expense on labor and materials. The same principle holds true for a meetings and events designer. If your budget is tight, you can use a strong, impossible-to-miss color choice to distract people from the absence of elements you can’t afford.

In Philadelphia, there was an annual event, the “Beaux Arts Ball,” hosted by the American Institute for Architects. Each year, I’d look forward to receiving the invitation because the color of the invitation envelope let me know the year’s color theme. In order to attend, you had to dress in colors that matched it. It wasn’t just the décor and collateral that focused on the color themes the designer had selected; it was the guests as well. It’s another example of a powerful, budget-friendly, color-related secret of meetings and events designers. When guests are asked to wear a specific color, the color choices come to life, becoming fluid rather than static. The color becomes a dynamic, self-propelled organism.  This is a simple, compelling way to use color to turn your event into what it really should be — a work of art.

THE GREAT COMMUNICATION TOOL

Think of color as a powerful communication tool, not just a personal preference. It is a vital tool in advertising and public relations; color choices help communicate and reinforce messages, whether in a dynamic print ad, logo graphic and/or branding message. Don’t make color choices impulsively; make them strategically. Show different color combinations to stakeholders and vendors and get their reactions. Which combination best supports the theme and message? Which conflicts with that message? With the venue? With the destination? With the season? What combinations of colors evoke the emotions you want participants to feel?

Dianne Budion Devitt has a 25-year track record as an innovative leader and expert in communication through events and meetings. She is an assistant professor at New York University’s Preston Robert Tisch Center of Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Marketing with a focus on the events curriculum. This article is an excerpt from her forthcoming book, “What Color is Your Event?”  For more information, visit dndgroup.com.

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The Cultural Associations of Color

Meeting planners must understand the intonations and meaning of color in different cultures. You don’t want to leave yourself open to mistakes like using a color for a celebration that represents death, or insulting someone within the society where your event is being held. Whenever you are working in a
culture that is unfamiliar to you, ask local experts to share their knowledge. What works in Indiana may not work in India; what works in India may not work in Indonesia.

Individual color responses can come from cultural mores; reaction to color is based on powerful learned responses as well as innate physical, mental and involuntary emotional references. In other words, there are strong cultural factors to take into account, and at the same time, everyone may respond in a unique and independent way to the colors you choose for your event. What follows is based on culturally dominant color references in the United States.

Orange

• Instills a sense of energy
• Heightens cheerfulness,social interaction
• Encourages movement, gives vigor

Red
• Stimulates appetite
• Associated with impulse, desire, passion
• Promotes vitality and intensity of experience
• Provokes the urge to achieve results and succeed
• Increases blood pressure and pulse rate
• Warms, enriches

Yellow
• Instills happy, carefree feelings
• Restores personal balance
• Supports optimism
• Improves memory and creative expression
• Promotes a positive attitude

Green
• Promotes optimal use of willpower
• Creates a cool, relaxing,soothing feeling
• Establishes balance and harmony, friendly feelings
• Supports concentration and focus
• Reinforces analysis, precision, accuracy

Blue
• Promotes feelings of peace and calm
• Supports increased sensitivity
• Promotes feelings of loyalty, security, contentment
• Reinforces tradition and lasting values
• Lowers blood pressure and pulse rate
• Suggests safety, trust
• Deep blue may be associated with a conservative worldview

Pink
• Strongly associated with femininity
• Suggests a loving, nurturing, soothing environment
• Encourages healing, resting
• Stimulates intellect and clarity of thought

Violet/Purple
• Supports creativity
• Seen as regal, dignified, royal and powerful in some settings; others may yield notions of being mystical, magical, full of surprises or enchanting
• Lighter shades may suggest an irresponsible or immature nature

Gray
• Strongly associated with neutrality and borders
• Suggests solidity, security, objectivity and professionalism
(Warning: Gray is bland and uninspiring when used alone.)

Black
• Creates an authoritative, somber attitude
• Perceived as mysterious, sophisticated, stylish
• Carries overtones of being, contemporary, sturdy and substantial
• When used effectively, may suggest power and indomitability

Brown
• Suggests a reduced sense of vitality
• Perceived as passive, receptive, sensory
• Suggests desire for family, a home, physical ease, solid roots

White
• Strongly associated with innocence, cleanliness, goodness, simplicity, purity
• In some settings, also may be used to send messages of glamour, sophistication, excellence

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Color By the Numbers

80 percent that color can increase brand recognition, according to a University of Loyola, Md., study

23 million new sales, in dollars, attributed to Heinz’s decision to release a variety of green ketchup — the largest annual sales increase in the company’s history, according to colormatters.com

42 percent that color phone book ads exceed black-and-white ads in motivating people to actually read the ad, according to “Color for Impact,” Jan White, Strathmoor Press, April 1997

-.67 number of seconds the typical black- and-white image sustains interest

2+ number of seconds the typical color image sustains interest

73 percentage increase in comprehension among meeting participants attributed to color choices, according to colormatters.com

The down and dirty, no-frills checklist for dealing with AV for your event contacts.

By Scott Reagles

Have a list of those people you will be dealing with on site and their phone numbers. Make sure those people know how to contact you or those working for you. Also, make it clear to everyone involved who is in charge and who has authority over what.

Schedule
Make sure your AV provider has a detailed schedule, including start and end times of each session, times when door are open for the audience, rehearsal and walk-throughs, meetings, and any other times that AV crew or equipment will be needed. Also helpful are schedules of other vendors or crews that might cause any conflicts.

Load In and Load Out
Conditions for loading in and out are important, especially when it comes to dock space and traffic. Too many companies on the dock at one time can lead to chaos. Also, room availability, amount of time required for set-up and strike, and the availability of in-house personnel such as electricians and technical people is important.

Room Dimensions and Details
Make sure the room where your event is going to be held is big enough for the attendees and all the equipment. AV gear takes up space, not just on the floor, but also in the air. Make sure you account for ceiling obstructions such as chandeliers, ceiling coves, air ducts and so on. How and where the audience is seated will also make a difference in what kind of AV gear should be used.

Power
Check to see if arrangements have been made for needed power drops and electrical service, keeping in mind that they are rarely free.

Facility Requirements
Many facilities have special requirements, such a putting covering over carpets, use of hallways and elevators, or hiring security personnel. Ask a venue if they have any such requirements and get them in writing.

Union Requirements
Find out if your event is in a union-contracted facility. If so, take time to know the rules and budget accordingly.

Speaker and Talent Requirements
Ask talent and presenters for their needs and requirements well in advance. This may include Internet accessibility, specific types of microphones to use, someone to operate a PowerPoint presentation and so on. Oh, and pass that information along to your AV provider.

Changes and Add-Ons
Changes and add-ons are inevitable. Keep a detailed record and, if possible, get sign-off when it comes to changes. Confusion later just costs money and causes headaches.

Contract and Payment
This may sound trivial, but make sure you have a contract, that you know what the payment terms are, and that you understand what is included and what is not included. Ask questions and get answers before your event.

Scott Reagles is a production manager and video director for IPG (Initial Production Group), based in Denver, Colo. He focuses on bridging the gap between clients and technology. He is presenting a seminar at Connect Marketplace.

We’ve all heard the term “meeting planner perks.” It can refer to the non-event industry’s view of a planner’s life: luxurious stays in posh settings, business class airline seats and hard-to-secure reservations at a celebrity cook’s restaurant. In reality we know that those perks, if ever received, are rarely used, turned over to VIPs or often wasted. After all, do event planners in a fast-paced industry with an expected 24-hour availability to their organizations’ needs really have time to take a vacation?

For those who do, complimentary hotel stays and airline upgrades seem to be a well-deserved reward for spending 12 hours on the trade-show floor, lifting heavy boxes and not having enough time to eat. While hotel loyalty programs were created more than 25 years ago for frequent travelers, the concept of tailoring a program to target meeting planners is at an all-time high. In a lumbering economy, hotels are looking to entice planners with complimentary hotel nights, discounts on group meals and credits to their meetings’ overall bills.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide customized its Starwood Preferred Guest program, the hotel group’s original rewards program for frequent travelers, and created a Starwood Preferred Planner program. Planners just don’t get points; they get “Starpoints,” implying a higher level of benefits for meeting planners over leisure or business travelers. The program is further expanded to offer “Instant Meeting Awards,” the ability to get up to a $1,500 credit on your group bill as long as you are a Starwood Preferred Planner with 15,000 Starpoints (and, of course, a signed hotel contract must be in place). But there’s a terms and conditions catch to get meeting planners to book with Starwood again. Starpoints earned for the group’s current meeting may not be redeemed toward that meeting. So if you haven’t reached 15,000 points, you’ll have to wait until your next meeting to earn the group bill credit.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), the first company to introduce hotel points with its Priority Club Rewards for Holiday Inn in 1983, has also created a planner niche for its program. With the addition of one word to its title, the Priority Club Meeting Rewards becomes a program that awards planners for “qualified” meetings. Reading the fine print is also essential here. Planners must have a minimum of 10 rooms occupied in their block from a minimum of one night up to five consecutive nights depending on the brand in IHG’s portfolio of hotels. InterContinental and Crowne Plaza have an additional requirement that meeting-related food and beverage charges must be applied to the master bill.

IHG further adds the perk of giving planners different status levels depending on how many meetings they book. Similar to an airline’s status ranking, IHG bestows Gold Elite status to planners who host one qualified meeting in a calendar year and Platinum Elite status to those hosting two meetings per year. The benefits of status range from the gold level’s 10 percent bonus in points and priority check-in, ensuring your room and keys are ready upon arrival, to complimentary room upgrades and a 50 percent boost in bonus points at the platinum level.

Marriott’s “Rewarding Events” program also offers levels of elite status and allows planners to choose between hotel points and airline miles. For every $1 in total meeting charges, planners can earn three hotel points up to a maximum of 50,000 or one mile up to a maximum of 15,000.

Marriott’s limited-time “Meetings Matter” group promotion adds contract incentives and bonus points to its base rewards program. For each meeting with at least 50 cumulative room nights booked and held by Dec. 31, 2010, a group will receive: 35 percent allowable attrition; one complimentary room night for every 35 paid rooms; and a 2 percent rebate off the master bill for each qualified meeting exceeding 100 cumulative room nights. This promotion also adds triple points for master bills paid with any Visa credit card up to a maximum of 150,000 total points.

Marriott, IHG and Starwood have all received “Freddie Awards” honoring the best frequent traveler programs throughout the world for the last 20 years. Receiving an award by giving travelers rewards confirms the industry’s intense focus on points. But for meeting planners who are bound by industry guidelines and organizational policies, does redeeming points for personal gain step dangerously close to the edge of ethics?

Many of these points programs focus their advertising on the individual benefits rather than what the group receives. Marriott’s Rewarding Events section of its website sympathizes with planners that “times are tight, and budgets are tighter,” but it can be “business as usual for you,” urging planners to earn points toward free nights for “your ultimate getaway.” Starwood’s site tells planners that earning Starpoints will “bring you one step closer to your dream vacation.”

IHG ran a 2008 campaign for Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts that masked the individual benefits by calling its promotion the “M.B.A.” (Masters in Business Accommodations), designed to engage the traveler and educate them “in the personality of the brand and our latest promotional offerings.”

So when do rewards points move from an acceptable gift to a breach of ethical guidelines? Joshua Grimes of Grimes Law Offices, a firm specializing in associations and the hospitality industry, says there is no industry standard on points; however, many companies have policies that employees and contractors must follow.

“Sometimes these policies require people earning points for business travel to credit them to the company account,” Grimes says. “Other times the [individual] may keep them.”

Sheila Evans, director of sales Southern region for Hilton Worldwide, has clients who create a “house account” for points. Similar to an escrow account at a bank, Hilton holds the rewards points for use as the group books meetings. This ensures that the points are going to the company and not the individual planner. “Some clients use their points in company giveaways or donate them to their favorite charity,” Evans says.

Grimes says that most hotels have a policy allowing the meeting sponsor to designate who gets the points, the only condition being that the points will be paid to only one person or entity. “This means that any recipient may be designated, Grimes says. “However, ethics considerations may dictate that the points should go to the meeting sponsor unless that sponsor designates another recipient.”

Evans says that it must be stated clearly, prior to the signing of the hotel contract, who will receive the points. “This is usually decided by the meeting planner or the person booking the program,” Evans says.

Ethical considerations can be stretched further when a planner bases a destination or venue decision on the rewarding of points. Kyle Greer, program manager for the Society of International Business Fellows (SIBF), books properties based on how they fit his organization’s needs, not by their points program.

“Our key concerns are location, meeting space and service level, Greer says. “It is critical [that] we pull off high-caliber meetings and events, and we’ve yet to find that a point system helps in any way.”

Paulette Hopkins, president of The Hopkins Alliance, puts a clause in her contracts listing the designated representative who will receive the points. “But it has never been the decision-breaker [over another property],” Hopkins says.

While Grimes says there is no legally correct answer, under the federal Sarbanes-Oxley law the points would have to go to the company or organization sponsoring the meeting. Otherwise, there could be an implication that the planner chose a particular hotel because he or she was personally earning points — a suspect incentive because it doesn’t benefit the meeting sponsor,” Grimes says. “The best policy is for the planner to give the company the points, or to disclose to the company that the hotel is offering the points and seek approval from company officials to keep them.”

Monica Compton is an event specialist with Pinnacle Productions Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia. She has 18 years of experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally. She is presenting several seminars at Connect Marketplace.

As a meeting planning professional, do you consider yourself to be in sales? Most planners don’t think about their jobs in these terms, but the job of a meeting planner is very much a sales job. To some degree, many professional jobs have a sales component and presentation skills are critical. “Meeting planners are constantly selling: ideas, locations, venues, events and, most importantly, themselves,” says Craig Harrison, a speaker, trainer and founder of Expressions of Excellence!, a speaker and sales consulting service.

“Strong presentation skills are vital for establishing credibility and professionalism, and building trust,” adds Harrison. “They enable planners to persuade, negotiate, promote and sell. If you can put on a good show in a presentation, it stands to reason that you can help plan a great event.”

Selling Yourself
Meetings industry consultant Corbin Ball, CSP, CMP, agrees with Harrison about the importance of presentation skills for meeting planners. “We are selling ourselves and promoting our ideas. There are many situations where strong presentation skills will help meeting planners, like pre-conference meetings, on-site staff meetings, group announcements at events and in volunteer roles for professional associations. It can’t hurt to feel comfortable with public speaking.”

Ball says it was his election as president of the Washington State Chapter of Meeting Professionals International that made him get serious about public speaking. “With my year as president coming up, in which I would speak before 150 people and conduct a board meeting each month, I knew I needed to do something about it, so I joined Toastmasters,” he says. Toastmasters International remains one of the popular organizations offering speaking and leadership skills training. “This gave me the practice and the feedback to grow greatly as a speaker. Three years later, I started my own business as a professional speaker,” says Ball.

Bonnie Wallsh, CMP, CMM, chief strategist with Bonnie Wallsh Associates, LLC, a meeting management consulting and training firm, says, “Outstanding presentation and communication skills are crucial for success as a meeting professional. Planners communicate with their staff, suppliers and internal clients, so it is imperative that their presentations be concise and anticipate any possible misunderstandings.”

After 32 years as a full-service meeting professional, Wallsh says her business is shifting to speaking, facilitating and teaching. “Most of my business comes from people who have attended my sessions and webinars,” she notes. For example, she was invited to present workshops and a boot camp at Rejuvenate Marketplace and Connect Marketplace after Dean Jones attended one of her sessions.

LoriAnn K. Harnish, CMP, CMM, CTA, is president and CEO of Speaking of Meetings and the past president of Meeting Professionals International, Arizona Sunbelt. She says speaking skills are vital to client relations and retention. “Whether you’re an independent, association or corporate meeting planner, you need to be able to present yourself well to clients and stakeholders,” says Harnish. “For years, we’ve been trying to elevate the position of meeting and event planning so that planners are highly regarded. All planners want a ‘seat at the table,’ so to speak, and this requires strong presentation skills.”

Beth Hecquet, CMP, the director of meetings and events for the National Association of Sports Commissions, says that she is often called upon to speak on behalf of her association to promote meetings and talk about her industry. “If I am not able to give an appealing presentation with confidence and ease, this reflects badly on me and my association,” she says. “First impressions are very hard to reverse, and if the first time you hear about a meeting is from someone who can’t communicate effectively, that can result in a potential lost attendee, sponsor or partner.”

Hecquet says she didn’t start her career with strong presentation skills, but has acquired them over the years by taking advantage of every opportunity she has to speak. “Being a good presenter is not something that comes naturally for most people; rather, it’s a skill that has to be learned through experience.”

After years working at various nonprofit organizations, MaryAnne P. Bobrow, CAE, CMP, CMM, president of Bobrow & Associates, an association and meetings management consulting firm, felt drawn to share her ideas and experience with others in order to give something back. One of her first steps was to take a public speaking class.

“I’ll never forget it. I held onto the lectern for dear life and stared like a deer in headlights at the back of the room for fear I might actually make eye contact with someone,” she says. “I now share my knowledge at industry conferences, use it for my clients and teach in the university environment so that those just entering the industry will have the tools they need to become successful.”

Confidence and Credibility
Bobrow points to two key benefits of strong presentation skills for meeting planners: They help increase the planner’s credibility and self-confidence, and they help planners articulate their wants and needs to C-level executives they work with.

Carole B. Rosenblat, an independent on-site meeting and tour manager, echoes Bobrow’s thoughts about self-confidence. “As a meeting planner, you’re selling your services, and 90 percent of this involves your presentation skills. Having strong skills will convey that you have a sense of confidence in what you’re doing, which will give clients more confidence in you.

“Presentation skills have been very beneficial as I sell myself to potential clients,” she adds. “They help me think fast on my feet, stay calm, speak slowly and enunciate clearly, so that I can communicate my expertise to clients and prospects.”

Also, if your event’s speaker is late or doesn’t show up, you’ll be better prepared to deal with the situation. This doesn’t necessarily mean giving the presentation yourself, but you can at least address the group or facilitate a meeting, Rosenblat points out. “I’ve done this many times before simply because nobody else was prepared.”

Improving Your Skills
The most common presentation mistake is talking too fast, says Rosenblat, who now helps train planners on speaking and making presentations. “You really have to concentrate on slowing down. If you’re timing your presentation, keep in mind that it will probably be shorter than when you practice because you’ll probably talk faster than you realize.”

Here are some more tips from the experts for improving presentation skills:

Know your audience. “Research the profile of attendees and their objectives and know what their hot buttons are,” says Wallsh. “Customize your presentation as much as possible, rather than using a cookie-cutter approach.”

Be confident and enthusiastic. You’ll have a hard time conveying your message convincingly if your listeners sense that you don’t have confidence in yourself. Don’t be tentative or apologetic, and if you make a mistake, remember that your listeners probably won’t even notice. Just move on to your next point without stammering or apologizing.

Don’t use language crutches. Harrison urges speakers and presenters to use what he calls power language. “Avoid qualifiers, hedges and other figures of speech that dilute your message and diminish your impact and expertise.” Examples are words like maybe, if, possibly, perhaps and consider.

Learn from others. Identify people whose communication and presentation style you like and become a student of their success. This can be famous people on TV or videos, or simply others in your office or industry. “Listen carefully to these speakers and critique them to learn what techniques they use to engage the audience,” says Wallsh.

Join professional speaking organizations. Experts are unanimous in their praise of Toastmasters for anyone who’s serious about becoming a better presenter and speaker. Harrison has been in Toastmasters for 18 years and considers himself an evangelist for the organization. He has even written a quick-start guide titled “The Professional Toastmaster.” “Through Toastmasters, you can get mentoring, coaching, evaluations, feedback, support and lots of practice.”

Include examples and personal experiences. “This is the best way to really engage the audience,” says Wallsh. “People like hearing stories sprinkled in with facts, figures and statistics.”

Maintain strong eye contact. The natural tendency is to focus on just one or two people, but try to maintain eye contact with everyone in the room. Also, don’t be over-reliant on presentation materials and spend too much time looking up at a screen with your back to your audience.

Have a strong conclusion. Otherwise, it’s easy to ramble on and not know when or how to wrap things up. You want to leave listeners with a powerful idea or thought. Ask yourself: If they forget everything else you’ve said, what’s the most important thing you want listeners to remember? Then craft your conclusion around this.

Don Sadler is a freelance business writer, based in Atlanta, and a regular contributor to Connect. You can read more of his columns and blogs at ConnectYourMeetings.com.

The Value Debate

Patti Kennedy, CMP, CMM, was a meeting planner for 20 years before she received her first certification. Although she believes some companies place more emphasis on certifications than others, achieving a certification was not necessary for job advancement.

“I have definitely found that I receive a higher level of respect within the industry by having my CMP and CMM,” says Kennedy, a planner at Infor, a software company. “However, it would be nice to have had some of the scenarios I faced in the real-world experience brought up in a classroom.”

While Kennedy agrees that on-the-job training can’t be replicated in the classroom, she believes it could be “previewed” there, thus better preparing a meeting planner for the workforce.

Alexandra Wagner, a graduate of the University of South Carolina’s School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration, agrees that classroom training should include real-life applications. “A good program incorporates these scenarios,” says Wagner, director of event marketing for SunTrust Banks Inc. “Students should have to create menus, manage and execute events.”

Leslie Hettenbach, CMP, CMM, meetings manager for the American Urological Association, was in the industry seven years before earning her CMP and 17 years before earning her CMM. She believes that in current times it is necessary to have a certification in meeting planning to advance in your job but it’s the experience that’s critical to being good at it.

“There are definitely things that you gain from classroom experience such as contract negotiation skills, risk assessment and crisis management,” Hettenbach says. “However, knowing how to deal with all kinds of crisis can really only be learned through experience.”

While Jeannie Battin, CMM, CMP, CTSM, doesn’t believe certification is necessarily the path to job promotion, she does see the value for both the individual and the employer. “Certification is an example of professionalism and commitment to your chosen field and performing at the highest level,” says Battin, senior program assistant at the National Education Association. “These traits will certainly have an impact with an employer or client in considering promotion or expertise.”

For Blanca Ferreris, CMP, CMM, job promotion was directly related to the attainment of her CMP. “I was promoted to my current job and believe this would not have happened without the CMP designation,” says Ferreris, meetings and events manager for the Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc. “The CMP designation gave me the tools I needed to become a team member who was ready to have an active role in my organization.”

Many planners with several years of experience decide to gain certifications later in their careers to keep their skills fresh and update them on industry trends and regulations. Battin has been involved in meetings and trade shows for more than 20 years and added the Certification in Meeting Management (CMM) to her list of credentials this year. Prior to this she had achieved the Certified Trade Show Marketer (CTSM) and the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designations.

“I have long held the conviction that skills development outside the job is critical,” Battin says. “I’ve always found a workshop, webinar or similar training to enhance skills.”

However, Gail Meyer, meetings and incentives manager for Mighty Distributing Systems of America, believes that learning “trial by fire” gives planners the ability to think on their feet, which cannot be duplicated in the classroom. Although she has received formal training during the span of her career, the foundation of her experience started at a young age with hands-on learning.

“My parents owned a motel and I worked the front desk as well as cleaned rooms,” Meyer says. “Then in the early ’70s after graduating from a business college, I was a travel agent and learned how to coordinate client vacations from start to finish.”

Whether you have this real-world experience, classroom training or a combination of both, most seem to agree that initiative and a passion for the business are the inherent keys to a successful career.

“You will quickly find out if you’re cut out for the stresses of the business once you start planning meetings,” Meyer says. “If you’re a hard worker, know how to multi-task and have the desire for this field, you can learn on the job; you will advance.”

Choosing a certification

Many planners and suppliers look for a certification that best matches their employment industries and best strengthens their weakest job skills. Those who have logistical responsibilities and are looking to enhance their knowledge of the tactical side of planning would find getting their Certified Meeting Professional a great advantage. CMP applicants must have three years of work experience in the industry or two years of experience if they have a degree in meeting, event, exhibition or hospitality/tourism management. Full-time instructors who have taught for three years in a meeting/hospitality university program also may apply for the CMP.

In addition to work experience, CMP applicants must show evidence of 25 hours of continuing education or must have completed an internship. Certification is achieved by passing a written examination of 165 situational multiple-choice questions. The examination must be completed in three and a half hours in the U.S. and within four hours if English is not the candidate’s first language.

Senior planners and those who have a CMP and are looking to advance to the next level of education often apply for the Certification in Meeting Management designation. This certification focuses on strengthening strategic decision-making abilities to drive the success of the organization. Its goal is to teach industry professionals how to use meetings as a strategic tool within the company. Many professionals seeking management-level positions and those looking to start a business in the industry such as independent planners would find this certification useful.

To apply for the CMM, individuals must have a minimum of 10 years of experience in all areas of meeting management and show evidence of continuing education. Certification is achieved by: attending a five-day program with group coursework; passing an online essay examination one week after the on-site program; and submitting a newly-created business plan within eight weeks.

Those who have a role specifically in the trade show industry might consider the Certified Trade Show Marketer designation. Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree and two or more years of experience in the trade show and events field or three years of experience without a degree. Certification is achieved by completing a curriculum of 28 seminars, which equates to 42 hours of classroom study, and passing a written exam of multiple choice and true/false questions based on the seminar coursework.

Those who are looking to develop their roles in association management might consider the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation. Applicants must be employed by a nonprofit organization or an association management company within the last five years and have three years of experience and a bachelor’s degree as a chief staff executive at an association, or five years of experience and a bachelor’s degree as an association staff member. Applicants must also have completed 100 hours of professional development. Certification is achieved by successfully passing a multiple-choice exam.

With the exception of the CMM, most designations require that candidates renew their certification within three to five years. Similar to the initial application, candidates must provide evidence of continuing education/professional development and current employment within the industry. Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits can be achieved by attending industry conferences. The 2010 Connect Marketplace, Aug.12-15 in Louisville, Ky., will feature a full-schedule of educational seminars that qualify for CEUs. For more information, please visit connectyourmeetings.com/2010-connect-marketplace.

Monica Compton, CMP, is an event specialist with Pinnacle Productions Inc. based in Atlanta, Ga. She has 18 years of experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally. She will be a featured speaker at 2010 Connect Marketplace, presenting the topics: “Managing Your Room Block,” “Return on Investment Strategy: Outlining the Value of your Meeting” and “How Cultural Factors Affect Your Planning Process.” Read more about the conference’s educational sessions in “Connect Marketplace 2010: Educational Sneak Preview,” page 127.

Read more on certification:

Help wanted: Employers dish on what they look for in meeting planner candidates

In addition to inconveniencing so many passengers, the recent airline flight cancellations had a significant impact on the meetings industry.

We had a number of clients contact us to say that their meetings had been affected as a result. Some were unable to hold their meetings, as they could not get their attendees to destinations. Others arrived at their destinations but found that no rooms were available because previous groups had not been able to depart and stayed over as a result. In other instances, function space was not available because a previous group had extended or adjusted its meeting times.

This brings up the burning question: What are the duties and rights of a group when a flight cancellation impacts a meeting? The short answer is: It depends on what the contract says, if anything, about transportation interruptions.

Provisioning up

A group’s duties will be evaluated against the contract’s force majeure provision. A force majeure provision should be included in each and every contract signed in connection with a meeting. There are three components I focus on when reviewing the provision. First, I review the grocery list of items that could occur such as acts of God, weather, strikes, wars, threats or acts of terrorism, travel advisories or diseases. It is important to ensure that transportation interruptions or flight delays or cancellations are included on the list. It is also important to include a catch-all provision at the end of the list such as the following: “or any other cause beyond the parties’ control.”

The second and most critical component is the standard of impact. If any of the items on the list occur, what has to happen to performance in order to trigger the protections of this provision? Does performance have to be rendered impossible? Or illegal? Inadvisable? Commercially unreasonable? Depending on what requirement is included in a contract, a group may have a difficult time exercising its right to cancel the agreement without liability. Standards such as “inadvisable,” “commercially unreasonable” or “materially affected” make it easier to invoke protections for a group, especially with respect to flight cancellations. Another option is to specify a certain percentage of attendees who would be discouraged from attending the meeting. Based on surveys of passengers affected by flight cancellations, this option offers another way of establishing that a group has met the requirements of the provision.

The third and final component is defining what will happen if a group could cancel its contract without liability due to force majeure but chooses to perform the contract anyway. The provision should state that in such an event, the hotel will waive room and food and beverage attrition fees related to a smaller meeting and honor any lower room rates. For example, if the flight cancellations meant that only 50 percent of a group’s attendees could travel to the meeting, the force majeure provision may give the group the right to cancel the agreement without liability but the group can elect to hold the meeting and not be subject to attrition fees for a lower utilization of its room block.

A group also may want to consider purchasing event cancellation insurance for its meeting. Typically, the following are considered “covered events” under the policy: adverse weather conditions, non-appearance of a principal speaker or entertainer, terrorism (but only to the extent an event meets the policy’s parameters in terms of proximity and timing), labor disputes, airline cancellations due to adverse weather conditions or labor disputes, and floods. Typical exclusions include financial cause or lack of support for an event, war or military action, government action and terrorism outside of the bounds of the policy. By having such insurance in place for revenue-producing meetings, a group can ensure that no matter what the liability under the contract, its revenue from the meeting will be protected.

Invoking Walk Clauses

A group’s rights under a hotel contract in the midst of transportation interruptions also will be governed by the contract. In this instance, however, what the contract says is often not as important as dealing with the practical issues. For example, if a prior group has not departed due to flight cancellations, a hotel may not have enough rooms to honor your group’s reservations. In the event that guests overstay their reservation dates, a hotel generally has two choices: evict the guests or assume a new contract exists and charge the guests on a day-to-day basis. Since eviction is a rare consequence in the event of overstay (eviction is a consequence in the event of a guest’s violation of law or hotel policy), hotels typically treat the overstay as a new contract. That said, a hotel has no other option but to relocate the incoming group’s guests. Since a hotel room reservation is a contract, a hotel must provide alternate accommodations to the guest. That may mean “walking” the guest to any other hotel or, if a contract includes a “walk” clause, the terms of that clause will govern in such an event. It is important to include parameters in the clause such as the type of alternate hotel (nearby and equal or better quality), and reimbursement of transportation to and from the hotel and an alternate hotel as needed. Some groups request that guests be returned to the hotel as soon as possible and receive upgraded accommodations along with an apology letter.  Bottom line, if it appears likely that a walk situation will occur, a group must monitor a hotel’s relocation practices to ensure they meet the terms of the contract.

Maximizing Rights

As life imitates art, I recently found myself in a walk situation caused by bad weather in another part of the country. While it appeared that the hotel had appropriately followed walk procedures, its method of dealing with guests who were being relocated was less than professional. Front desk managers were not adequately trained in basic customer service in such a situation and, as a result, many attendees were upset about the situation. In order to avoid this outcome, planners should work with a hotel’s front desk staff to ensure attendees are treated appropriately.

With regard to function space, a group’s rights are governed by the contract but once again, if a previous group does not vacate the space, the incoming group has the practical problem of securing its required space. As compared to sleeping rooms though, a group should have more leverage to insist that a hotel move a previous group. Function space is rented on a daily basis for specified hours. If a group exceeds the hours it reserved, a hotel has the right to remove the group from the space.  Again, it is important for an incoming group’s planner to work closely with the hotel to ensure that this situation does not arise in the first place.

Planners can undertake a number of measures both in and out of the contract to ensure that if transportation interruptions occur, they will be properly poised to minimize their duties and maximize their rights.

What is “force majeure,” anyway?
The French term means “superior or irresistible force.” The purpose of a force majeure contract clause is to protect parties in the event that a part of a contract cannot be performed due to causes that are outside the control of the parties. Typically, force majeure events include acts of God, superseding governmental authority, civil strife and labor disputes. In the world of meetings, the force majeure clause was catapulted into the spotlight following the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Since then, the clause has become the topic of much debate centered around: the listing of calamities that could occur; the standard of impact such a calamity has to have on a party’s performance in order to excuse such party from performing the contract; and the net effect if such party chooses to perform the contract despite force majeure. Read more about contract negotiations and terminologyat ConnectYourMeetings.com.

Barbara F. Dunn is an attorney and partner with Howe & Hutton Ltd. in the firm’s St. Louis, Mo., office. She specializes in hospitality law and is a session speaker at the 2010 Connect Marketplace in Louisville, Ky., Aug. 12-15. For more information, visit ConnectYourMeetings.com.

By Monica Compton

A meeting planner in Washington, D.C., sees a loose bolt on her exhibit panel. She picks up a wrench to fix it and a union laborer standing nearby sees her and reports a grievance to his supervisor. A florist in San Francisco attempts to carry centerpieces up a hotel loading dock and a Teamster stops him. The meeting planner who hired the florist must pay union laborers to perform this service.

While these scenarios may seem far-fetched, they are based on actual experiences faced by planners holding events in cities with unionized labor. While union regulations vary from city to city, an understanding of the venue’s guidelines will allow you to budget and reduce your organization’s liability to union grievances.

Before contracting a hotel or convention center, ask if it utilizes a union labor force and specifically which departments are in the union. While banquet servers and bellmen may be under a union contact, conference services managers and administrators might be non-union. If the venue does employ union laborers, inquire as to whether the union contracts are expiring or up for negotiation. Labor disputes could cause a disruption in services, a strike and public demonstrations outside the venue, all of which can affect your meeting.

Your salesperson might downplay any union negotiations to make a sale or not know the full extent of disputes, especially if the salesperson is located in another state. It is best to perform further research outside the venue’s report. The official hotel guide of the Hotel Workers Union, Unite Here, provides a list of hotels that are at risk of dispute or on strike. You should also perform an Internet search on the property. Search with the venue’s name followed by the words “labor dispute boycott strike” or “picket lines protests union” to learn of any existing or pending labor disputes. You can also call the local branch of the Hotel Workers Union and ask if they are currently engaged in any labor disputes in hotels in your chosen city. Unite Here provides a list of branches per city at unitehere.org/about/locals.php.

Include a union clause in your contract to further protect your organization, even if you find that union contracts are not up for negotiation and no disputes are pending. Most force majeure clauses include strikes and labor disputes. However, it is wise to add language that allows you to cancel the agreement and receive a refund of all deposits should a dispute or strike occur within two weeks prior to the start of your event or at any time during your event.

Consider also adding a clause that requires the hotel to notify your group within 10 days after it becomes aware of any labor disputes involving the hotel and its employees. The clause should include notification of the expiration of a negotiated labor contact or the filing of an unfair labor practice charge by a union, which often leads to a dispute.

Once your contract is in place, it’s time to research the union’s regulations and uncover any additional fees that may be imposed. If you are using the venue’s exclusive service providers, they are fully aware of the regulations and will work with the local unions to ensure compliance. If you are using an outside production company, for example, make sure it has worked in the city previously and has an understanding of the guidelines.

Increased fees often come into play when your event requires union labor for longer than an eight-hour period, on holidays or weekends. Check with the venue to see what staffing guidelines are in place and how you might alter your schedule to reduce fees. For example, union servers might be restricted to three hours for a breakfast or lunch shift and four hours for a dinner shift, including setup and teardown time. If you request that the linens are placed on the tables 1.5 hours before your dinner begins so your florist can bring the centerpieces, you’ll have only 2.5 hours to set up, serve and tear down your dinner and chances are you will go into overtime. In this case, see if the florist can deliver the centerpieces at the same time the venue is setting up the overall tables.

If your program requires dedicated staff, taking them away from their regular schedule, you may incur additional fees as well. For example, if you require dedicated room service staff for your VIP executives, which means the servers would not garner gratuities from other guests, a hotel might then require a flat “attendant” fee to compensate for the lost income.

Always ask hotels if the unions will agree to negotiate fees for certain services. For example, hotels charge a certain amount per item for room deliveries, an amount that goes to the bellman as a gratuity. If you place an envelope on top of a box, that can count as two items. Try to negotiate a bundled fee based on the overall amount of deliveries. If you have a multi-year contract with the hotel or your program is generating a significant amount of revenue for the property, the hotel might be more willing to waive the fees for your group and pay the union staff out of its own budget.

By carefully researching the property’s union guidelines and strengthening the contractual language against disputes, you can successfully manage an event at any union facility.

Monica Compton, CMP, is an event specialist with Pinnacle Productions Inc., based in Atlanta, Ga. She has 18 years experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs.