Meetings, conventions respond to business needs

It may seem odd to some that a group of corporate executives would visit professional football coaches searching for business acumen, but not to Kraft Foods Inc.
Kraft executives met recently with the offensive coordinator and line coach of the National Football League’s Baltimore Ravens. The coaches showed the executives how they scout opponents, matching their best players with the opposition’s best, exploiting the opponent’s weaknesses.
But while the executives – who met at the team practice field – may have thought they were learning about football, in reality they were learning about competition, seeing the process by which coaches attempt to outwit their rivals. It’s the kind of knowledge that pays off in business, said Linda F. Higgison, president and chief executive officer of The TCI Companies, a national convention and event management firm based in Washington, D.C.
“What they were really doing is teaching strategy, (how to be) innovative,” said Higgison, who coordinated the meeting. “We were showing them other processes that were not part of their traditional environment.”
That’s the length today’s companies will go to get an edge. And this drive, which has led some to do the unorthodox, manifests itself at meetings and conventions. Today’s companies make calculated decisions about what conventions to attend and whom to send to them, Higgison said.
Many factors influence the decision. Distance, the ease in getting flights, and cost are among them. But Higgison said the most important considerations are less tangible, such as the meeting’s relevancy, the chances to network, and the possibility of returning with ideas to make the company more profitable.
“The practical application,” Higgison said, explaining the consideration process. “Can you actually come back from that meeting and start implementing change?”
Large associations must also make highly calculated decisions about where they will hold their events. An important factor for associations in choosing a site – after determining that the city has the facilities, hotels, and other requisite accommodations – is the attraction of the city and region itself. John Flaherty, vice president of sales and marking for the Providence-Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), said meeting planners have to consider the impact the destination will have on their attendance, especially given that conventions are counted on as large revenue producers.
To market itself as a desirable destination, the Providence CVB has partnered with the cities of San Jose, Calif., Minneapolis, and Memphis, Tenn. – four cities that do not compete with each other – to split promotion costs. The four cities have hired a firm called City Reps. Inc., a Washington D.C. firm, to market them to convention and meeting planners.
Flaherty added that Providence is gaining recognition around the country, and that its proximity to other destinations in Southern New England is a good selling point for meeting planners.
“More and more meeting planners are starting to recognize Providence as a destination that people want to come to,” Flaherty said. “The challenge over the past (few) years hasn’t been that we have a negative perception. It’s that we haven’t had any perception.”
Higgison said the meeting and convention industry has changed greatly since she started her company in the 1970s. When she started she had no competitors in Washington, D.C. Now she has more than 100 in the city alone. When she started academic programs in meeting and convention planning were non-existent. Today it is possible to earn a doctoral degree in it, she said.
One of the changes she has seen has come in response to companies’ desire to get the most bang for their buck. Today’s meetings strive to lure in the most recognized expert in the field as keynote speaker, as opposed to simply an authoritative member of the meeting goers’ group. With companies closely monitoring which meetings they will attend, meeting organizers are all shooting to be the source of timely information.
“It used to be that meetings were very peer-group driven,” Higgison said. “Now, the really high profile meetings are featuring the noted authority.”
The authorities most in demand are those who can speak about intangibles – leadership, motivation, innovation, Higgison said. Gen. Colin Powell is one example. Successful meetings, she added, are those in which the attendees find (or at least feel) that the speakers speak directly to them, not to an audience. In this way the most productive of meetings and conventions are those that inspire the people who attend.
Meetings and conventions mirror what is happening in business. Higgison said she recently attended a conference for marketers of sports-tourism – the industry that makes it possible for vacationers to spend their time attending fantasy camps or white-water rafting or visiting Major League ballparks. Ten years ago this industry didn’t exist, she said. Another example is the numerous meetings that concern managed health care, another issue that was less prominent a few years ago.
And with the spread of technology, the proliferation of meetings and conventions will become even greater, Higgison said. The best of them help attendees stay current in their fields, exposing them to new ideas that translate into increased profits.
“A lot of times you’ll come back revitalizedsparked up with so many good creative ideas,” she said. “No one minds spending the money if they believe the net result will benefit them.”