The meetings market holds a lot of potential for venue owners, but knowing what meeting planners look for in a venue can be difficult to pin down.
More than $107 billion was spent on meetings in the United States in 2005. That year there were 1,243,600 meetings attended by about 137 million people, according to the 2006 Meetings Market Report from Meetings and Conventions Magazine.
To capture a piece of that pie, venue owners need to appeal to the gatekeepers who book the events.
Professional meeting planners consider a number of factors when selecting a city for a meeting or event, said Carrie Naupari, director of meetings and communications at Management Options Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based association management company and international business consultancy. In addition to having a clear understanding of the organization’s goals and the needs of its members, Naupari said, planners also take into account:
• Availability of suitable meeting space.
• Accessibility and cost of air and ground transportation.
• Compatibility of hotel prices with attendee budgets.
• Likelihood of favorable weather.
• Suitability and variety of entertainment and recreational activities.
• Responsiveness of the city’s convention and visitors bureau.
Magdalena Andreozzi, owner of The Event Diva in Cranston, said choosing the right venue is a key success factor for any event, and she chooses each venue carefully.
“The art of blending the aesthetic, culinary and budgetary details to create a memorable and successful event begins with the selection of the venue,” Andreozzi said.
Reaching the meeting planners of the world with the information about your venue is much easier with the Internet. Andreozzi insists that venue owners have “current” floor plans available online – with specifics such as square footage, ceiling height, outlet locations and wall and carpet color palettes – so she can tell whether or not the space is appropriate for a given event.
But she also advises clients against basing venue decisions on Web-site information alone.
The planning team at The Event Diva schedules on-site walkthroughs of properties before booking, no matter what.
When evaluating a city or resort area, 84 percent of meeting planners say hotel space is the most important factor, according to Meetings & Conventions magazine’s 2006 Meetings Market Report.
“As the clients’ hotel liaison, we are their eyes, ears. … Our expertise lies in knowing the nuances of the area’s venues and recommending the right fit,” Andreozzi said.
Location matters, because meeting attendees often shop, eat and sightsee during meeting downtime. Historic Newport and Providence, with hotel space, shopping and restaurants, put Rhode Island in a strong position to increase its meeting and convention business significantly, said Melissa L. Withers, director, communications and market development for the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.
“Even if you put aside our strategic location in the Northeast and Providence’s emergence as a world-class city, there are still many other reasons why Rhode Island would be a place of interest for meeting planners,” said Withers. “It’s great for spreading the word about all that Rhode Island has to offer.”
Another top concern for meeting planners is cost, with 80 percent of planners citing the price of the meeting space and food, beverage and room rates as deciding factors, the Meetings Market Report shows. •
