Meeting News - September 8, 2008 - (Page 10)

Inside the Meetings Industry Edited by Rayna Katz rayna.katz@nielsen.com NBTA Show Highlights Shifting Corporate Travel & Meetings Strategies With the fragile economy upending business-travel buyers’ and meeting planners’ operations, over 1,400 of them sought ideas at the National Business Travel Association convention, held July 27-30 in Los Angeles. An airline CEO panel featured Delta Air Lines chief Richard Anderson and Air Canada head Montie Brewer, who discussed the airline industry’s near future. “Our members are concerned about airfares and what the capacity cuts will do to fares and travel options,” said Kevin Maguire, NBTA president and CEO. “We expect fewer seats, higher costs, and significantly greater inconvenience of passengers. And that concerns us, because you don’t want your road warriors facing delays and cancellations, with no way to upgrade.” Despite all this, Maguire said attendees were neither seeing nor expecting big cuts in their firms’ overall travel. But for meetings, “we’ve heard from attendees that there will likely be adjustments; they won’t send as many people to off-site events as they used to, and they will look into video- and webconferencing.” But, he added, “if you look at the past, technology solutions have not been terribly effective versus in-person events.” The weak economy is creating stress on the market, but it gives buyers an upper hand, said Maguire. “Members are revisiting their supplier contracts; it’s the right time.” What’s more, he added: “Many people are saying that rooms for meetings should be rolled into the overall contract. So corporate travel managers are salivating over the opportunity to get it under control. “But planners shouldn’t worry,” he said.“They just need to communicate better with procurement. There’s too much potential there.” Global Trends On Meetings the Focus At AIPC’s 50th Annual Confer ence The 50th annual conference of the International Association of Convention Centers (known as AIPC) was held in early July in Singapore, and presenters highlighted the new demographics of attendees. Kishore Mahbubani, a dean at the National University of Singapore and author of The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East, joined Ho Kwon Ping, executive chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings, to offer insights into economic and social development in Asia. Both men said these changes will impact the atmosphere of meetings and exhibitions globally, and also impact the working environment for event planners who use convention centers throughout Asia. Also, James H. Gilmore, author of The Experience Economy and Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want, lectured on what event planners and facility managers need to deliver in the near future, given the massive influx of youth into the global workforce. On the competitive front, this year’s AIPC Apex Award winner for world’s best convention center made history: The Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre became the first to win the award twice. Runners-up were Australia’s Cairns Convention Centre and Brisbane Convention Centre. www.meetingnews.com Facility Managers Gather to Discuss Bevy of Challenges At the International Association of Assembly Managers’ annual convention, held in July in Anaheim, nearly 1,000 public-assembly facility executives heard meeting and event planners’ concerns. “We talked about the forces blocking foreign attendees and others from events in America,” said Dexter King, executive director of IAAM. “Some conventions are having a difficult time getting foreigners in—especially from China. And this affects not only convention centers and performance venues, but also hotels and resorts, so it’s a big problem.” One recent development that IACC Moves to Bolster Venues’ Technology Seeking to raise members’ technology standards, International Association of Conference Centers North America has formed a technology task force. The goal is “to ensure members have technology that groups need for a successful meeting,” said Neil Pompan, president of IACC North America. On the task force are senior-level professionals from major national technology providers and designers. They will regularly review IACC’s technology requirements to make sure properties are current, and try to predict trends for adjustments. “If planners need more sophisticated technology, our members should offer it in their packages,” Pompan said. The first job of the task force, said Steve Smith, director of quality services at IACC, is to recommend both minimum and ideal requirements relating to sound, lighting, computer technology, and presentation technology. The group is also developing a glossary of terms for a report that will serve to standardize emerging technology relating to audiovisual, lighting, acoustics, production, and infrastructure. r —Section written by Robert Carey 10 MeetingNews September 8, 2008 will likely affect planners’ negotiation ability with public meetings venues is falling state-tax revenues. “We discussed our preparations for what local governments could do to our operating budgets or revenue mandates as tax receipts drop,” King said. Another happening aimed at meetings and events was the release of a report, jointly created by IAMM and Destination Management Association International (DMAI), on how a destination’s convention and visitors bureau can work better with event venues. “These best practices for interaction between facility operators and destination marketing personnel have been much needed,” said King. The IAAM/DMAI best practices document will be vetted by members of Meeting Professionals International and the Professional Convention Management Association, and IAAM is exploring merging the document with the Convention Industry Council’s Accepted Practices Exchange initiative (APEX). http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - September 8, 2008

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