Planners, Suppliers Face-To-Face In Atlanta For GaMPI’s Educational ‘Showdown’
Editor’s Note: The 2007 Meetings Exploration Conference for the Georgia Chapter of Meeting Professionals International, held in late April at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, was sponsored, in part, by ConventionSouth. Managing Editor Marlane Bundock attended the two-day conference and filed this report from Atlanta.“The beacon of light is shining down on us and ‘illuminating’ our future,” said Lance Hornecker, CMP, president of the Georgia Chapter of Meeting Professionals International (GaMPI) and global account director for Starwoods Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., at the opening of the chapter’s annual educational conference.
Illuminate was the theme and it was evident by the level of participation to the April event in Atlanta that the strength and buying power of the meetings industry in the South is “shining bright.” Fitting for the Georgia chapter, MPI’s 5th largest, record setting attendance numbers were reported with more than 500 at the conference’s nightclub-styled networking reception and more than 180 booths on the exhibition floor. Hornecker said the conference energy was high as meeting-minded professionals “learned from industry leaders in a wide variety of continuing education and professional development sessions as well as networking events.”
By joining six of the 12 sessions, attendees had the opportunity to earn up to 105 continuing education credits, which are often applied toward CMP designations.
Of them, a riveting keynote presentation was given by Sara Blakely, founder of the hosiery company SPANX Inc. Blakely shared her success story on how she patented the highly-succesful footless pantyhose brand out of her apartment and from a mere $5,000 in start-up cash. She said that through a determination instilled by an upbringing of ability-challenging encouragement, she developed her product through Internet research, cold-calling and less-than-shy demonstrations—all of which led to the call from Oprah. Her dare-to-dream narrative not only proved to be an inspirational story but stressed the need for establishing goals and finding personal means to achieve them such as being surrounded by individuals who have similar resolve.
Other sessions included the sharing of wisdoms by Cris Canning, CMP, head instigator at Hospitality Ink, who spoke about ways to build attendance through creative buzz marketing that not only “gets people talking but gets them excited enough to take action.”
Forging cooperative business partnerships in today’s fast-paced meetings environment leads to bottom line achievements, according to Cynthia Alford, CTP, managing director of Destination South Meetings and Events, and Kate Demarest, CMP, vice president of event marketing at SunTrust Bank, who jointly lead a session on the subject, revealing the necessity for wisely orchestrating planner/supplier collaborations, negotiations and proposal requests and responses.
Trade Show
Giving planners and suppliers more than three hours of time devoted to forming closer working relationships was the conference’s exhibition. In an exciting business-to-business display, suppliers from the across the Southeast and as far away as Canada and Mexico not only showcased their destination, venue or product, but conversed with attendees in a manor telling of today’s partner-based market. Such was exemplified by Spencer Lake, executive meeting manager of the Doubletree Hotel Historic Savannah, who not only greeted attendees with a warm smile and a warm chocolate chip cookie, but easily conversed with planners.
The exhibition floor was also buzzing with news from several Southeastern destination and venue marketers of whom I was able to speak with. Here’s some of what I learned.
- Savannah (Ga.) Area Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Michael Carter, said the city is expanding the downtown riverfront. It’s a “historic urbanism” project called Savannah River Landing and in February, developer Kevin King, president of Ambling Land and Resort, outlined detailed plans for the high-end mixed-use development that’s set to break ground this year and open fully by 2020. The announcements revealed two hotels sitting among pedestrian-friendly blocks with six new traditional city squares. Carter added that ferry-like boats will transport attendees across the river to the city’s waterfront convention center.
- In Ashville, N.C., the Grove Park Inn has new meeting space and a piano bar.
- In Virginia, the Lansdowne Inn is opening a new nine-hole course this month.
- And, almost as I was leaving the exhibit area, Mark Newton, Ed.D., director of the hotel, restaurant and tourism program at Georgia’s Gwinnett Technical College grabbed my attention about a new educational program at the college for Georgia’s supply-side planners. Newton said the new Special Event Specialist certificate program is designed for meeting and event planners within hotels, convention centers, retirement communities, recreation departments or other operations related to the travel, recreation and leisure industries. The program covers all phases of event planning, including topics such as budgeting, contractual negotiations, staffing, and legal and ethical issues.
