Molly Marsh
Director of Events and Programs
Omicron Delta Kappa Society, Inc.
Lexington, Ky.
Is the duration of your meetings either shrinking or expanding? Why?
The duration of our meetings has remained the same. However, we have been looking to different patterns to take advantage of supplier incentives.
Is the attendance at your meetings shrinking or expanding? Why?
Our attendance trends vary depending on the type of meeting. Our specific educational and training programs have seen an increase in interest and attendance while our convention has seen declining attendance for several years. I believe that the programs with specific programming goals and appeals are perceived as being more personally significant than our larger conventions, so they are worth the investment of time and resources.
Did you have a smaller budget to work with last year? If so, how much do you estimate it was decreased?
Our budget is consistent with what it has been in the past, although we are certainly looking to reduce costs as much as possible without losing the service and amenities we require.
How are possible perception problems affecting your meetings and your planning of meetings?
I do not think that our organization has suffered from direct perceptions of meeting significance, but because our membership is centered around the college campus, we tend to feel the secondhand affects of perception issues. Our chapters that may have been able to find resources from their campuses to attend our conventions and programs are having a much more difficult time making the argument that the school should invest that money in them. Our individual members and chapters still see the significance of attending, but their funding sources are often drying up.
Are there any destinations or facility types that are now considered “off-limits” due to perception problems or the current economic climate?
Not really, in fact, we are seeing our options to try a variety of destinations open up due to the incentives properties are offering because of lost corporate business.
Have government regulations or actions affected your programs? If so, how?
We do not receive any funding from government grants and because all of our programs fall within our 501 (c) 3 tax-exempt purpose, we have not been negatively affected by government regulations.
Are you finding that you are scheduling more meeting sessions per day, and if so, is it at the expense of entertainment or events that are more social in nature?
We are definitely packing in as much content as possible into our events, but we are also redesigning much of the social time so that it can reap the benefits of social/networking opportunities and reflection on the sessions or programs. As opposed to completely replacing social events with sessions, we are providing more small-group reflection activities that have both social and content components.
Are you scheduling more educational components for your meetings? If so, why?
We are maintaining our numbers of educational components for most of our meetings.
Are you incorporating more, or less, activities into your agenda? If so, what types of activities are being added or cut?
We are actually reducing the number of activities in our agendas, but expanding the amount of time for the remaining activities in hopes that they will be more meaningful. We have cut a few panels and removed a recognition portion from our convention agenda to devote more time to small group discussion and reflection on how the content can be used to benefit their local chapters.
Are you finding that attrition clauses are being enforced less strictly? Can you share any comments/observations about this?
Absolutely. We recently held a reception where several items, including bartender fees and audiovisual, were supposed to be billed on top of our food and beverage minimum, but the property included them with our food and beverage expenses to help us meet our minimum. We have very small volumes for all of our business with this property, but they are still treating us like a major client because they are so appreciative of the business we’ve given them.
Do you find that you had much more leverage on room rates during the last year? If so, please give an idea how much discounting you are seeing.
Considering our small volume, we have seen a dramatic increase in our opportunities to leverage reduced rates. I have seen discounts of up to 35 percent on many of the properties we regularly work with even for our very small meetings.
Are you using social networking websites for business purposes? If so, which ones and why?
Yes, I think that social networking is vital to all organizations right now simply based on how much information is shared through them. Specifically for us, it’s a necessity due to the fact that the vast majority of our 8,000 new members each year are college students and that is one of the primary ways they communicate. We use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube for a variety of different areas of our organization.
Are you taking less (or no) FAM trips? If so, why?
I actually took several FAM trips this year, but since I am still a very young professional in the field, I have been given permission to take as many as are offered to broaden my understanding of the industry.
How do you think 2010 will shape up for the meetings industry? Where do you see costs (hotel, restaurant, venue prices, etc.) going? Do you think your budget and/or attendance will increase or decrease? Why?
I think that 2010 will be the beginning of a slow re-emergence for the industry. I think that planners will continue to hold the power in negotiations and that costs for venues and restaurants will continue to be highly discounted for a time. As long as the unemployment numbers remain high, companies and individuals will feel constrained by tightened budgets and perceptions, but as soon as those numbers begin to drop the freedom to travel and resume high-cost, high-benefit business practices will bring the industry back to its feet.