While corporate and association meetings have taken a hit during the past 18 months, planners in the SMERF (social, military, education, religious and fraternal) market report steady business. Despite Wall Street’s negative effect on other segments of the meetings industry, social, military, education, religious and fraternal groups are still traveling and meeting.
Meetings South spoke with planners in each SMERF segment to get their take on what’s happening in their respective markets.
Social
For the past 27 years, Reggie Sears, CMP, Sacramento, Calif.-based owner/meeting planner for Sears Enterprises, has planned association, fraternal and reunion meetings. Specifically on the reunion front, he’s seen a large change in hotels approaching the market in recent months.
"I received many cold calls in the last year from hotels that I couldn’t have considered before," he says. "The SMERF market can’t pay what the corporate folks pay, but now I’m getting calls from hotels and cities that are top-tier.
"Three years ago, most of my groups couldn’t afford to meet in some high-end hotels, but now they can. I’ve received e-mails with package deals for places like Palm Springs. There are some fabulous deals out there."
According to Sears, attendance at reunions is still strong, thanks to the voluntary nature of the events.
"If you are a member of a reunion group, you are going to go to the meeting because you want to go," he says. "If you are going to a corporate meeting, you are going because you are required to be there."
While attendance may be steady, Sears says reunion meetings have still been impacted by the economy.
"There was a dip in numbers about a year or two ago, but it is sort of coming back," he says. "Across the board, they are watching their pennies. Things that they really didn’t look at very closely in a contract are now critical."
One item in the contract increasingly up for debate is attrition, and times are changing.
"I am noticing that hotels are being more lenient with attrition and being more accommodating," Sears reports. "I think they’d rather have the smaller business than none at all."
Military
In Norfolk, Va., Molly Dey has been organizing military events and reunions for the past 23 years. As co-owner and senior event planner of Armed Forces Reunions, she’s seen a demographic change in recent years.
"Demographics have shifted in the past five years or so," she says. "As the ‘Greatest Generation’ changes, they are in their mid-80s. For the World War II reunions, we are seeing more family members and children attend. About 30 to 40 percent of our World War II reunions are run by second-generation folks."
As the years have passed, veterans from different wars have emerged.
"We have seen an increase in Vietnam reunions," Dey says. "When we started, there wasn’t much of that. I think we are seeing more because of the aging population and people having more discretionary time and income."
Like the social meeting segment, military reunion planners are also being courted by top-tier destinations and properties.
"About a year or so ago, we started hearing from hotels that would have not considered our business before," Dey says. "We started getting quite a few sales calls last fall."
According to Dey, locations for meetings haven’t changed and military reunions are still looking to second-tier destinations for their value, but the properties available have expanded.
"It is unfortunate that the economy is in a slip, but it is better for our clients," she says. "We will take it."
As it is for Reggie Sears, attrition is a hot button for Dey.
"Getting attrition penalties as low as possible is really important," she says. "You can go on past performance, but when dealing with the World War II segment, no one can guarantee attendance. With hotels we use a lot, we will try to ask them to wipe out attrition altogether."
Even so, those healthy enough to attend are almost guaranteed to do so, Dey says.
"A lot of folks who attend will come, come hell or high water," she says. "They are going to come regardless of the economy. It is so meaningful to them personally; they save all year for it. They don’t want to miss seeing their buddies."
Education
Long-time planner Peggy Young, Santa Cruz, Calif.-based director of Peggy Young & Associates, has lived through many ups and downs in the meetings industry. Ever since 1990, she’s focused most of her energy on the education market and says that while the past few years have been rough, things are starting to come back.
"I think 2009 was the lowest, 2010 matched 2009 and in 2011 we are going to be a slight increase," she predicts. "I am hoping for the same rates in 2011 that I got in 2010. I think 2012 is still an unknown."
Similar to the corporate and association markets, education meetings are also sensitive to perception issues and getting value for the dollar.
"Meetings are rate driven, cost conscious and very sensitive to public perception," Young says. "These have been there for a while, but in recent years, they’ve become more of a primary concern and focus."
One trend she’s seeing in the education market is the introduction of "add-on" events, i.e. small events around a larger meeting.
"The meetings may be getting shorter, but we are thinking of ways to strategize to best use their time," Young says. "In the education market, I’m seeing a lot of piggy backing on other meetings. For example, board meetings when attendees are at other meetings. I’ve been seeing that for about two years now."
Religious
Changing economic times have led to changing venues for the religious market, according to DeWayne Woodring, CMP, CEM, executive director of Indianapolis-based Religious Conference Management Association.
"Ever seeking to give expression to their beliefs, we see the devout traveling to the furthermost ends of the Earth to hold their events in venues which may have been largely not considered in the past," he says. "To save on costs, some are utilizing universities and colleges."
Recently, Woodring has also seen an emphasis on high-tech audiovisual equipment and centrally located meeting facilities.
"There has been an attempt to hold events in centralized locations to reduce the cost of travel," he says.
While some corporate and association planners may be looking to the SMERF market as a viable revenue stream, Woodring hasn’t seen a migration to the religious segment.
"One of the reasons is that some churches and religious organizations will only employ staff who are members of their denomination," he says.
Woodring adds that attendance at religious meetings continues to be strong, feeling little or no impact from economic recession.
Fraternal
Meetings for fraternities and sororities have benefited from the economic downturn with high-end hotels searching out their business over the past few years, but that trend is slowing, according to Sidney N. Dunn, administrator of Indianapolis-based Fraternity Executives Association.
"With the corporate market drying up, better properties have been courting the SMERF market because they have availability," he says. "The rates have been better and there are better opportunities to book meetings three or four years out.
"But that is starting to dry up. I’ve seen it begin drying up in the last month or two. Business has picked up for hotels and top destinations and they are getting more selective."
While several market segments have suffered from lower-than-optimal attendance numbers, Dunn says the fraternal market has been insulated from such headaches.
"I don’t think there has been any diminishment in attendance," he says. "We have the same national conventions and the same board meetings. The same number of meetings are happening and, for the most part, attendance has been good."
Katie Morell, a former Meetings Media editor, is a freelance writer based in Chicago.
