Reflections On The Past 25 Years
Wrapping your arms around the evolution of the meetings industry during the past 25 years isn't easy. Almost everything, say those with tenure in the industry, has changed—from the role of planners and vendors to the growth of support organizations, and the expectations of attendees.
The Role Of The Planner
Joan Eisenstodt, who is a meetings and hospitality consultant, facilitator and trainer for her company, Eisenstodt Associates LLC in Washington, compared some of the differences in the planner's role today with those of a quarter-century ago. "Meeting planning was very traditional back then and very focused on logistics. I did not know of any planners who were focused on strategies for their organizations. Planners at that time were mainly concerned with making sure rooms were set and coffee was out when it was supposed to be," she said, adding that in 1983 few meeting pros actually carried the title of "planner."
Instead, said Eisenstodt, who in 1983 was president of her local chapter of Meeting Planners International—now called Meeting Professionals International, or MPI—many planners were in administrative or secretarial roles with planning as only part of their responsibilities. While she acknowledged that for some organizations this is still the case, she said planners today have the opportunity for formal training at universities.
Eisenstodt also believes that planners today are more concerned about the content of the meetings they plan than they used to be. "In the past, someone else would plan the content and the meeting planner would be responsible for setting the room. Today, meeting planners have become much better with content and with understanding how every facet of a meeting—such as nutrition—affects learning."
In support of Eisenstodt's statements is Ann Godi, CMP, president of Atlanta-based Benchmarc360° and vice chairman of finance for MPI. "During my days, I've seen a lot of growth and elevation of the role of meetings and events. While logistical excellence—what we like to call ‘execution'—will always be a key deliverable, there is more of a contribution being made now. Not only that, organizations are understanding and valuing the contribution." she said. "There's no doubt the industry has evolved and continues to make an important contribution to overall organizational objectives. The positioning of meetings as contributing to overall ROI (return on investment) has been a major move forward. Delivering on objectives is a broader metric that is very central to the profession."
One thing Eisenstodt believes has not changed significantly since 1983 is that many planners are not paid what they're worth. "Looking back 25 years and evaluating the respect of the position, I still see that salaries are not where they should be," she said. "When a client tells me that they want to hire a planner and then tells me the salary they want to pay, it's just abysmal. Planners probably made more then than they do now based on the cost of living."
The Evolution Of Our Industry & The Shaping Of Your Profession
By Kristen McIntosh Support Organizations Come Into Play
One-On-One: Ann Godi, CMP, president of Atlanta-based meeting planning firm Benchmarc360°, shares her thoughts on the past 25 years in the meetings industry. [Go To Godi’s Reflections] |
Throughout the years, a host of organizations have evolved or come into existence in support of the meeting planner—providing guidance, training, certification and credibility to the profession. According to Eisenstodt, meeting planning reached the "profession" stage when the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation was instituted in 1985 by the Convention Liaison Council, now called the Convention Industry Council, or CIC. CIC was formed in 1949 by four organizations to facilitate the exchange of information within the industry and has grown to include 33 member organizations, including MPI, the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and the Religious Conference Management Association (RCMA), among others.
CIC considers CMP the premier industry certification that distinguishes holders as career professionals who have demonstrated a high level of experience, skill and knowledge. The CMP designation conveys credibility among peers, creates a competitive advantage, and offers holders the opportunity for salary enhancement, etc.
"When the CMP was instituted, people began having more conversations about what it meant to be a meeting planner and how the designation was going to elevate the profession," Eisenstodt said.
Industry associations like MPI, RCMA and PCMA, which seek to educate planners, have humble beginnings, but their growth has strengthened the profession. MPI, for instance, was created in 1972 as a club of meeting planners who met in a charter member's basement in Ohio, said Howard Fieretag, CMP, a charter MPI member and instructor in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech University. "In 1972, I ran into a bunch of guys who were responsible for planning meetings and we decided to form a club," Fieretag said.
That club, which started as a small organization, is now 24,000 members strong and operates throughout the world. "We wanted to be an organization of education, which is still the case today," Fieretag said.
Bruce MacMillan, C.A., MPI president/CEO, concurred and said the organization is committed to education and the continued growth of the profession not only in the United States but also throughout the world. "We just held the Gulf Meetings and Events Conference in April in Dubai, where 175 delegates represented 19 countries. We held a workshop in São Paulo, Brazil, this year where there were about 300 people in attendance. The growth of our industry truly is global. The research we've done is demonstrating that businesses are devoting more of their marketing and communication dollars to meetings than ever before. This validates that meetings have a strategic significance in enterprises everywhere."
Also devoted to education is RCMA, a niche organization of individuals who are responsible for planning and/or managing events for their religious organizations. For more than 35 years, RCMA has dedicated itself to improving the experience of religious meeting attendees throughout the world, said RCMA Executive Director Dr. DeWayne Woodring, CMP, CEM, adding that planning meetings—regardless of whether or not they are for religious groups—has become more complex over the last 25 years.
"With the globalization of their meetings, religious meeting planners have faced an escalation of challenges as they deal with multi-lingual planning committees and staffs; endeavor to communicate with local volunteers upon which so many religious events rely; deal with contracts in foreign languages, unfamiliar audio/video equipment and customs formalities; and have the need for sophisticated site selection skills along with a host of other needs," he said. "In the past, the faithful would be happy with a plain meeting room, some chairs and a speaker or two. Today, attendees of global assemblies are disappointed if they don't have multi-screen productions, interactive programming, satellite downloading, videos, Hi-Fi sound, mass choirs, and dozens of breakout sessions from which to choose. Facing such needs, we have seen a growing number of religious meeting planners immersing themselves in educational sessions and tutorials, such as those provided by RCMA, preparing for and taking the CMP exam, and generally doing all they can to prepare themselves to meet the challenges before them."
The Evolution Of Hotels & Other Meeting Sites
Fieretag, who has worked in the CVB and hotel businesses for 45 years, said much has changed for these organizations over the last 25 years as well, especially for hotels.
"In the early days of Holiday Inns, there were two rates: single and double," he said. "There were no special rates, no group rates. Now, you can go into almost any hotel and there are more than 15 or 20 different rates: group, discounted, government, long-term negotiated, corporate, etc."
Fieretag said as early as 20 years ago there were only about 80 brands. "At my last count, there were 324 hotel brands in the world today, and there might even be more," he said, adding that the development of "sub brands" to appeal to all price points is also a development that's occurred in more recent history.
While the hotel industry has seen its ups and downs, Fieretag said 2007 was a great year in that occupancy averaged 63.5 percent. "There are a lot of rooms out there, and they are being used," he said, adding that when the economy is struggling the meetings industry tends to do well. "We meet to talk about how we're going to get better, what we're going to do to get our revenues up. When the economy is good, we have fewer meetings. Right now, the meetings industry is flying high."
Eisenstodt said she has seen quite a few changes in hotels over the last 25 years, with décor and an emphasis on business amenities among the most notable. "Hotels are more aware of what they should offer business travelers," she said. "But in terms of meetings, I don't think hotels have come to fully understand how they can support content delivery or overall meeting objectives."
Godi noted the improvement in the customized experience hotels provide their guests. "As travelers experience more, they demand more experience," she said. "They also want more customization in their travel experiences. Hotels have done an amazing job through exciting designs, services and targeted appeals—something for everyone and every group."
Fieretag said the planner/supplier relationship has grown stronger through the years, especially with the help of professional associations that encourage membership from both sides. "Thanks to the associations, more hotel managers understand the meetings market better. There are more sales people interacting with meeting planners."
Eisenstodt and Godi both mentioned the more stringent negotiation and contract process as a major development in the hotel industry during the last 25 years. This, Eisenstodt said, is likely due to a shift in ownership that requires hotels to turn a profit. "In the past, tax laws favored hotel owners. Hotel owners today are looking at things in a more business-like way. Whereas in the past they could probably write off losses, today they have to make money. Now, we joke that hotels have gone to Wall Street," she said, citing Blackstone's $26 billion purchase last year of Hilton Hotels Corp., which represented the largest hotel acquisition in history.
"The hotel negotiation process has become more professional and sophisticated," Godi added. "It's no longer for the inexperienced."
Eisenstodt also mentioned that contracts contain more specific clauses and that more meeting planners and hoteliers have become trained in the legalities and the language that should be included in contracts. "In 1983, we were barely above doing contracts on cocktail napkins."
When asked whether hotels today consider meetings an important part of the overall mix of business, Fieretag said they do but that sales managers are challenged to balance booking meetings, especially as they are booked with shorter lead times, with booking social events that could result in larger catering expenditures.
Eisenstodt said hotels also could be reluctant to book meetings business "if they can fill rooms at a higher transient rate than they can for meetings, and when you consider the labor involved in servicing a meeting and the smaller profit made on food and beverage, hotels often consider transient business more profitable."
The convention center industry has changed over the last 25 years as well, Eisenstodt said. "There are too many of them, and many of them don't have adequate housing nearby. On the up side, they are certainly more attractive than they used to be."
Conference centers also continue to evolve as meeting sites, Eisenstodt added. "Twenty-five years ago, conference centers used to be sort of monastic with a single bed and no TV. Most conference centers are at resorts or have the amenities of resorts. They have improved their sleeping room model and have always been the leader in terms of providing top-notch educational settings, tackable wall surfaces, ergonomic chairs and pricing that made sense. If somebody had been in a conference center 25 years ago and saw one now, they'd say they couldn't believe it," Eisenstodt said, adding that conference centers have also begun "unbundling" their complete meeting packages to create greater client flexibility.
Service Levels Continue To Be An Issue
Offering greater flexibility to clients is an example of improving service levels over the years. But, as it was 25 years ago, service provided by meeting sites can still be "spotty," Eisenstodt said. "Back then, in some places people cared and in other places they did not. Many of the complaints planners have today are the same as they were 25 years ago. One of the complaints is that service workers don't speak English, which is an issue with the growing immigrant labor workforce."
Eisenstodt also said that she believes hotels and other meeting sites are spending less to train their service workers than they used to. "Twenty-five years ago, many of the general managers (GMs) were old school and sticklers on service. Today, a lot of GMs have probably never experienced excellent service. And, they are dealing with a smaller workforce with greater responsibility and that is not paid enough."
CVBs Find Their Place
From their earliest beginnings to "try to book some convention business into town," as Fieretag said, to the complex, competitive destination marketing organizations (DMOs) of today, CVBs have undergone a major evolution over the last several years, said Michael Gehrisch, president and CEO of the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), formerly the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus. "The originating DMO model came about nearly a century ago. The model worked well and remained the same for nearly seven decades. However, in the 1980s, the travel sector faced hyper-competition, price instability and airline deregulation/reconstruction. These changes skyrocketed the travel industry out of its adolescent phase and grew it into the trillion-dollar worldwide industry that it is today. With these changes, DMOs changed as well."
Gehrisch said in the 1990s conference organizers began to seek assistance from non-DMO intermediaries, forcing DMOs to understand the importance of working more closely with third-party vendors. DMOs continued to grow but faced increasing competition for visitor tax revenues while local governments sought validations on return on investment. "Relevancy was—and continues to be—a significant issue for which DMAI provides tools, such as performance reporting resources, to its DMO members.
Gehrisch also said DMOs have made information technology and brand recognition top priorities. "Though predictions that the rapid use of the Internet would reduce group and corporate meetings did not come true, DMOs took the opportunity to re-brand themselves as ‘official' destination marketing organizations, differentiating themselves among the vast number of online information providers," he said. "This industry re-branding effort was led by the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus, which re-branded itself as the Destination Marketing Association International in 2005."
Looking ahead for DMOs, Gehrisch said some might continue conducting business as usual while others may transition to improve their overall strategic approach. "Yet others may look to totally reinvent their DMO. The path a DMO takes will be determined by what works best for each destination to ensure continued success."
Godi weighed in on the topic. "The most successful ones know what image is best to promote their destination and what groups to target."
CVBs are at a turning point, Eisenstodt said. "Twenty-five years ago, they were not the integral part of helping planners or organizations with their meetings that they have become. I consider DMOs to be an extension of my work. I can't do my job without them. CVBs have realized that they must continually reinvent themselves. Overall, they really are working to become a greater part of the community."
Technology's Role In The Evolving Industry
One aspect of the meetings industry that has completely changed the way planners and their supplier partners do business is technology. "Everything has changed," Eisenstodt said. "When I started my business in 1981, I was still using an IBM electric typewriter. Every time I made a mistake, I had to retype my document. Twenty-five years ago, I didn't even use a fax machine. Work was more complicated, but then that was good because we had more time. While we can collaborate more easily today on contracts or any document for that matter, there's a downside to increased availability of technology in that I could spend 24 hours a day with podcasts, webinars and research and do nothing else. While technology has allowed us to create global communities, I have to make a concerted effort to disconnect."
Eisenstodt also mentioned how hotels have become much more sophisticated in the use of technology to serve their clients. "In 1983, I was in Dallas to do a meeting. I remember that in the hotel I was using they weren't automated in any aspect of their operations—not in reservations, check-in, nothing. I didn't even start using a computer regularly until 1985, and hotels certainly weren't using them."
Any conversation about how technology has affected the meetings industry over the last 25 years would be incomplete without involving the expertise of Corbin Ball, CMP, CSP, MS, of Corbin Ball Associates, a meetings industry technology consultant. "In 1983, there was only one software program for meeting planners (MeetingPro from PeopleWare) designed for mini-computers—the much more expensive predecessors of PCs," Ball said. "Attendee registrations were all done manually via the postal service. Exhibition floor plans were tracked on large sheets of paper with whiteout. Rooming lists were mailed. We didn't even have the fax machine to help expedite things. It was a completely different world."
Today, technology has transformed the way meeting professionals do business, Ball said, with changes happening at lightning speed. "The Web is used to manage and market meetings; to register and house attendees; to sell and manage exhibitions; to accept abstracts and handle speaker requirements; to help attendees network and to survey their thoughts; to source hotel sleeping rooms; to track meeting spending; and much, much more. Web and other technology has increased efficiency, reduced costs and improved service. Mobile technology and Web 2.0 promise great changes still to come."
What Does The Future Hold?
The meetings industry is in terrific shape, according to Fieretag. "It's growing and it's going. I don't see any downturn. It's become more popular as a job. It's becoming more professional, and there is a greater understanding of the hotel side by meeting planners. MPI is in 70 countries all over the world; planners throughout the world are becoming more educated."
Eisenstodt said she believes the future is ripe for growth as well. "I believe we're going to see a resurgence of people wanting to meet face to face because they have become so accustomed to working primarily through technology. I often hear people say they want to gather with their colleagues because they are so tired of e-mailing. I think that people may get together in smaller groups and may want their education delivered in different ways, but people miss interaction with other people and crave meetings."
