Kay Bothwell, CMP
Administrative assistant III
Department of Labor & Employment
Denver
Is the duration of your meetings either shrinking or expanding? Why?
Remains the same, as our training seminars are set for a specified number of days depending on which one is being held: one day; one-and-a-half-day; two days.
Is the attendance at your meetings shrinking or expanding? Why?
Our attendance depends on the number of doctors needing to re-accredit each year and the number of new doctors becoming accredited. Our attendance goes in a three-year cycle with one year having a higher attendance and then the next two years being less.
Did you have a smaller budget to work with last year? If so, how much do you estimate it was decreased?
My budget was reduced by$500 per seminar last year because of budget constraints.
Do you expect your budget to increase in 2011?
No, I do not expect my budget to increase in 2011, but to probably stay the same.
Do you expect your attendance to increase in 2011?
Yes and no. The attendance at the accreditation seminars I believe will increase because of the increased interest in the program, but the attendance at the re-accreditation seminars will decrease because I have about 100 less needing to re-accredit in 2011.
Are perception problems (meeting and luxurious properties, resort destinations, etc.?) a great concern for your organization? Have they become less of a concern in the past few months, and do you expect them to be a problem in 2011?
Perception problems are not really a great concern for this program. If a resort can meet the budget I have to work with, they can be considered as long as they have the necessary space. They have not become less of a concern in the past few months and I do not expect them to be a problem in 2011. As long as a property can work within the all-day meeting package budget and meeting room budget, they can be considered as a meeting site for us.
Are there any destinations or facility types that are now considered “off-limits” due to perception problems or the current economic climate?
No, as long as they are willing to work within our budget.
Have you planned, or do you expect to plan, virtual/videoconference meetings? Do you expect to see more virtual meetings in the future?
No, I not ever planned or do I expect to plan virtual/video conferencing. It is not conducive to the seminars that we are conducting. I do believe, however, that the number of virtual meetings in the future might increase for other conferences, but not for training seminars such as the ones I handle.
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?
Entertainment and social events are not a consideration when scheduling our training seminars. The attendees are there to fulfill a requirement to keep their accreditation. The doctors do have some time to interact amongst themselves throughout the seminar, but social time is not a consideration at our meetings.
Are you scheduling more educational components for your meetings? If so, why?
The educational components remain the same based on which training seminar is going on. Training starts at 8 a.m. and runs until 5 p.m. or 6 p.m.
Are you incorporating more, or less, activities into your agenda? If so, what types of activities are being added or cut?
There are no activities included in our agenda. We have workshops/breakout sessions where the doctors have a chance to discuss a case and issue among the whole group, or work on it by themselves.
Are you finding that attrition clauses are being enforced less strictly? Can you share any comments/observations about this?
As a state entity, attrition clauses are not included in our contracts. For our training seminars, there are no guaranteed sleeping rooms included. We do usually have to have a minimum food and beverage that I sometimes have to do some negotiating on.
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.
Since I do not do any guaranteed room nights, I do not negotiate on what the room rate is on the courtesy block of rooms. They usually tell me what it is going to be and I pass that information on to the attendees. It usually is the same as per diem or sometimes less.
Are you using social networking websites for business purposes? If so which ones and why?
No. we are not using social networking websites for business purposes. The state would not look favorably on that.
Have you planned more meetings closer to your organization’s headquarters (“drive-to” meetings) recently? If so, why?
Because of the cost of paying per diem and travel costs, all our training seminars are held in the metro Denver area currently. We used to hold a meeting in Colorado Springs and one in Grand Junction, but the attendance was never as good as in Denver, so therefore we no longer do the meetings in Grand Junction or Colorado Springs.
