Meeting News - July 27, 2009 - (Page 6)

Meetings Spotlight By Seth Harris sharris@meetingnews.com Financial Association Implements Annual Regionalized Meetings Abroad After a handful of successful forays outside of North America, the Million Dollar Round Table, an association of more than 31,000 financial and life insurance professionals, will begin annually holding overseas meetings with regionally tailored programming, beginning in March 2010 in Seoul. Planning internationally has been a change for MDRT director of meeting services Ray Kopcinski, as the association needs to book venues and begin logistical processes earlier than it does for North American events, which are booked five years out, and planning begins in earnest about a year ahead of the show date. MDRT holds three 3 large events and about 50 smaller meetings in North America annually. The annual meeting in North America usually draws about 6,000 attendees, although June’s meeting in Indianapolis was closer to 5,000, said Kopcinski. The association, whose members are the top 1 percent of financial and life insurance sales professionals from 476 companies in 80 countries and territories, held its first international MDRT Experience meeting in Singapore in 1998. The first international Experience hosted 3,500 attendees, and the association’s next international meeting took place six years later in Hong Kong, drawing 6,000. The 2006 event in Bangkok had 10,000 attendees. The last meeting in Japan in 2008 had 7,000 attendees. In developing the original MDRT Experience, Kopcinski wanted to design an event that had locally tailored content and programming for its attendees, while using a similar format to its annual 6 MeetingNews July 27, 2009 meeting in North America. Because attending the North American meeting “is difficult for some of these people, we thought MDRT’s Ray Kopcinski we would bring our meeting or a taste of it to them,” said Kopcinski. “We realized that if we tried to emulate what they have in their own country, that could be a mistake. We decided to try to give the people from that country a taste of what it is like to attend a meeting here. We gear it toward that with deference to the host country.” The meetings services staff undergoes some local cultural training leading up to the event. For the Japan event, staff members took weekly language and culture classes to better acclimate to the on-the-ground environment. While MDRT’s meetings services team of 12 handles contract negotiations, the association partners with destination management companies for large events. In Asia and Europe, it uses association and event management company MCI for logistical and planning assistance. As MDRT’s meetings footprint broadens, Kopcinski has implemented new technology to reach a wider audience. Following investments in audiovisual equipment and other technology, MDRT is producing YouTube videos, Facebook content and developed a Web page with about four hours of video event promotion and sales tools for member education. Event sessions now are recorded and produced as downloadable MP3 files. The association also sells DVDs and other multimedia from its events. MDRT Experience meetings are translated into five languages, and the annual meeting is translated into 12 languages. The association is considering streaming live broadcasts of its meetings so members not in attendance can have real-time access to show content. However, Kopcinski said there is a balancing act plan- ners need to evaluate when incorporating virtual components into a physical event: “You always have to weigh that. If you start doing that, do you cut into your attendance?” Kopcinski, who has been planning meetings at the association for more than 25 years, also is evaluating the current buyer’s market. While many MDRT meeting locations are set for several years— including those for the annual meeting, which are set through 2012—Kopcinski said, “Ideally, both sides don’t ever want to take advantage of the other because the pendulum does swing back. We like to form partnerships with facilities and the hotel community. They are our partners and if we work this correctly, it should be a win-win for both of us.” r Hotels Explore Remote Conferencing continued from page 3 also recently announced an agreement to manage a room in Manila. Both Tata and AT&T also have capabilities to link to private Cisco TelePresence locations. Although TelePresence technology often is viewed as a way to cut down on travel necessary for meetings, executives from both Starwood and Marriott said they expected that partnering with technology suppliers ultimately would provide a boost to their meetings business. “As the 24/7 world economy becomes more interconnected, the need to hold small global meetings that cross continents and oceans will only grown,” Marriott president and COO Arne Sorenson said in a statement. “We believe TelePresence will create more business meetings because people can travel shorter distances and easily connect with colleagues around the world.” Kevin Iwamoto, vice president of enterprise strategy for meetings management technology company StarCite, said the TelePresence strategy was a good one for the hotel companies. Though its price comes down every year, TelePresence technology remains expensive, and the hotels would benefit from those companies that realize the possibility of mixing TelePresence with live meeting elements to maximize savings and efficiency, he said. “They are very smart to add that to diversify their portfolio and business mix,” Iwamoto said. “It adds another creative option for them.” r www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - July 27, 2009

Meeting News - July 27, 2009
Contents
Newsmaker
Meetings Spotlight
Meeting Post
Viewpoint
Association Watch
Event Profile
Meeting People
MeetingNews Research
Travel Dashboard
Mid-America Regional
Golf Meetings
Hawaii

Meeting News - July 27, 2009