Tracy Petrillo, CAE
Director, education & conference
League of California Cities
Sacramento, Calif.
Is the duration of your meetings either shrinking or expanding? Why?
Beginning in September 2009 and continued in 2010, we compressed our annual conference to Wednesday-Friday. It had previously continued into Saturday. In addition, we will be reducing two, three-day conferences to two-days by December 2011. Reasons: to save our attendees additional overnight expenses, time out of the office and time away from family.
Is the attendance at your meetings shrinking or expanding? Why?
We serve local government staff and elected officials whose travel and training budgets have been significantly impacted by the economy. Our attendance has been reduced by 10 percent to 40 percent at various conferences from 2008-2010.
Did you have a smaller budget to work with last year? If so, how much do you estimate it was decreased?
Our budget is directly impacted by anticipated attendance revenues for the next year. Our budget was reduced by approximately 10 percent total as we looked for additional ways to minimize expenses and reduced staff by one FTE.
Do you expect your budget to increase in 2011?
No.
Do you expect your attendance to increase in 2011?
No.
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 of the value of training is often misinterpreted by the media. In educating government officials, we have always been concerned about perception of properties used, but we have open bidding and utilize the best location that provides accessibility, great hotel rates and competitive F&B.
Are there any destinations or facility types that are now considered “off-limits” due to perception problems or the current economic climate?
We avoid resort- or destination-types of properties due to additional costs for fees and services that we will not utilize at their properties when coming for a professional meeting only. We don't utilize golf services, spas or have spouse/children programs at our conferences.
Have you planned, or do you expect to plan, virtual/videoconference meetings? Do you expect to see more virtual meetings in the future?
Yes, we plan virtual meetings and webinars. We have seen an increase in participation due to travel budget reductions. For the first time, our Board of Directors has taken a stand on education as one of our three Strategic Priorities for 2011: Responsive and Accessible League Services; implement distance learning; meeting and other cost-effective strategies to deliver even more responsive and accessible League educational, information and advocacy services to the city officials of California.
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 have always maximized programming during the day due to the competitive nature of our call for proposals to present needed topics at the statewide level. We have simplified our evening networking events to reduce expenses.
Are you scheduling more educational components for your meetings? If so, why?
No.
Are you incorporating more, or less, activities into your agenda? If so, what types of activities are being added or cut?
We have found less interest in small off-site bus/walking tours of related professional topics--redevelopment areas, environmental areas, historical preservation. A few have been canceled due to lack of sufficient interest even when offered at a nominal cost.
Are you finding that attrition clauses are being enforced less strictly? Can you share any comments/observations about this?
Contracts are enforced but doing business remains relationship-based. We have found that we can work with hotels to modify our contract by addendum, well in advance of the event, and find a win-win for both sides. We have negotiated attrition down by modifying future business, increasing F&B spend and ICW events, etc. We will look to rebook future events within the properties that were most willing to work with us during the economic downslide.
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.
We are finding almost every hotel is willing to negotiate rates down when we provide information on competitor rates over same dates, promotional specials and Web rates. We also enforce our best rate clause to our advantage. Hotels do want your guests in their beds, so it is a win for both sides and especially the attendees.
Are you using social networking websites for business purposes? If so which ones and why?
I utilize LinkedIn to contact hotel sales staff due to the extensive and rapid changes in the sales forces. Hotel and CVB websites are often not up-to-date and very few make professional notification to let you know who your new rep is.
Have you planned more meetings closer to your organization’s headquarters (“drive-to” meetings) recently? If so, why?
We have begun to utilize our internal board meeting room for several meetings per year. Although it is a tight fit for some events, it saves significant staff time/travel and allows us to manage any catering costs on a shoestring budget.
