Meeting News - February 2, 2009 - (Page 4)

Inside the Meetings Industry Edited by William Ng william.ng@nielsen.com Economy Can’t Keep Planners from PCMA Annual Meeting In NOLA, the focus was on positives like job performance and creativity, not job security Despite the corporate and association budget-slashing for non-revenue-producing travel, just slightly over 3,000 planners and hospitality suppliers went to New Orleans for the 53rd annual meeting of the Professional Convention Management Association, Jan 11-14. And while attendance was down about 5 percent from the record 3,279 delegates in Seattle last year, PCMA spokeswoman Julie Fawcett said it was almost exactly what the association expected. The overall tone of the conference was described as “cautious optimism,” according to Sue Dykema, deputy executive director of the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.“There was some worry among suppliers about more layoffs, but planners seem to feel that our side of the business is pretty stable,” she added. “So the concerns of planners were more about finding creative ways to manage costs and still deliver a quality product— looking to trim whatever you can without cutting quality too much.” Susan Katz, director of corporate events at True Value Co. in Chicago, agreed: “In the sessions I attended, there was a sense that this is an opportunity to be more creative in our jobs, to find ways to do it better and bring more value to attendees and to the organization, and to make the business case in every area as to how people will benefit from attending a meeting. I think that people know this is not the time to sit in the corner and be quiet and hope that management does not notice you. So almost all of the conversations were upbeat, to be honest.” PCMA addressed recent negative events—both domestic and international—scrambling to add two edu- cational sessions just a few weeks before the conference. The topics: the dire economic situation, and security at meetings in light of November’s terrorist attacks on hotels and other areas in Mumbai. “I’m really pleased that we acted quickly to pull together a session on safety and security,” said Deborah Sexton, PCMA president and CEO. “This topic has again been pushed to the front.” Another timely session was “The New Ruling Class: What it Means to The U.S., The World, and Our Industry,” in which New York Times columnist David Brooks and political consultant James Carville shared insider perspectives on the shift in U.S. political power. Conference Centers Focus on Technology Leadership After staging its first-ever European conference in late August, the International Association of Conference Centers (IACC) turned its attention to advancing the uses and the quality of meetings-facility technology. First, IACC in November published a new reference document, “Design for Great Technology,” which outlines various levels of conference technology for different sizes and types of meeting rooms. The document, found at www.iacconline.org/content/files/TechDesign Online.pdf, was approved by IACC’s board of directors, along with 11 new technology-related standards that conference centers must meet to remain in good standing within IACC. According to the document, for “the best possible environment for meetings and adult learning experiences . . . all dedicated conference space should have interior architecture, design elements, physical arrangements, plus sufficient [electrical] power accessibility and signal infrastructure, to support the convenient and unobstructed use of all portable equipment for audiovisual presentation technologies.” That’s because “meeting planners go to IACC facilities expecting them to be up to par on technology, as well as on other areas critical to hosting productive meetings,” said Kevin Rupp, technology task force chair and general manager of the Council House and the The Motivation Show Tweaks Exhibit Hours In response to both exhibitor and attendee requests, the Motivation Show, Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 in Chicago, has changed its exhibit hours to lessen conflicts with speaker sessions.“We are moving back the opening of the exhibits each morning by an hour to reduce overlap [with] educational programming,” said Peter Erickson, managing director of show organizer HallErickson. Morning seminars will end at 10:15, while the exhibit hall will open at 10, giving exhibitors more time to gather their sales teams or to meet one-on-one with clients before the floor opens. Also, afternoon seminars have been pushed back to 2:30, helping to keep attendees around the McCormick Place show floor until the 5 o’clock closing time. 4 MeetingNews February 2, 2009 Wingspread conference centers in Racine, WI. “This information goes a long way in making sure that continues to happen.” Another advancement in making conference centers more technologically savvy is a partnership between IACC and the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) that gives IACC access to the latter’s educational materials. In June, IACC will release a publication addressing different aspects of facility technology. “The chapters cover operating systems and software used not only in AV equipment, but also in meetings-support technology, billing systems, and more,” said Jerry White, IACC’s director of education and technology. “We modified the extensive information that AH&LA had on file to focus it toward the conference center niche.” White added that this publication and others IACC will release over time will improve the delivery of conference services to planners and their groups, and possibly form the basis for a professional certification in the conference-center niche down the road. More technology developments will be discussed at IACC’s annual North American conference, March 26-29, in Braselton, GA. H —Section by Robert Carey www.meetingnews.com http://www.iacconline.org/content/files/TechDesignOnline.pdf http://www.iacconline.org/content/files/TechDesignOnline.pdf http://www.meetingnews.com

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