Alexandra Carvalho
Manager, Meetings and Events
Hospital Council of Northern and Central California
Walnut Creek, Calif.
Do you find that your booking window (the time between booking a meeting and the actual event) is increasing or shrinking recently?
For the past two years, yes, our booking window has been significantly decreasing with the exception of our annual meeting which it is still booked three-four years out. Our smaller regional meetings the past year were booked sometimes with a two- to three-month lead time. The trend is changing, although our Q1 meetings were just booked for 2012, we've also secured most of our locations through Dec 2012 for all programming that has been calendared.
Are you finding it harder to book rooms/meeting space in a short timeframe at hotels and other meeting facilities?
Actually, I am finding quite the opposite. I am finding greater pushback from properties when trying to book meetings one year or more out because of our program’s meeting space/sleeping room ratio
Is the duration of your meetings either shrinking or expanding? Why?
There has been no change in the structure of our programming
Is the attendance at your meetings shrinking or expanding?
Building attendance was challenging for Q1 and 2; our annual meeting, however, broke attendance records this year.
Did you have a smaller or larger budget to work with last year? If so, how much do you estimate it was decreased or increased?
Our budgets have definitely grown tighter for non-grant-funded programming. We've had to become very creative with program development and coordination in order to maintain registration prices at the same level and still be able to provide the same level of programming.
Do you expect your budget to increase or decrease in 2012?
We expect the budget not to fluctuate very much, even though our program offers are increasing...
Do you expect your attendance to increase or decrease in 2012?
We are expecting an increase in attendance, driven by earlier marketing, social networking integration with our marketing and new marketing efforts.
Have you planned, or do you expect to plan, virtual/videoconference meetings? Do you expect to see more virtual meetings in the future?
We produce and will continue to produce quite a bit of online learning, we find, for our association, this is the best format for our non fee based programming that requires multiple convening of our constituents. The online format facilitates the participation of a larger attendee base, making it more practical for our people to gather in an auditorium at their facilities. This format is very cost-effective for us as well.
Do you feel the pendulum is swinging back to being a seller’s market?
Absolutely, the trend is moving towards it being a seller's market. This is being felt with all current contract negotiations.
Are you using social networking websites for business purposes? If so, which ones and why?
We are getting ready to deploy a Facebook, Twitter and Linked in presence in 2012
Have you planned more meetings closer to your organization’s headquarters (“drive-to” meetings) recently? If so, why?
Due to the size of our geographical territory, we plan our meetings regionally to target constituents in a specific area, only our annual meeting travels to different locations within our territory
How do you think 2012 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?
I think with the economy trending up and consumer confidence increasing, we will definitely see, as we have been seeing this past year, that prices will steadily start increasing, both for room rates and catering prices. I think with hotels seeing business starting to grow, bargaining power for planners will decrease, and concessions will be harder to negotiate. The key for planners will be to know the value of their business, what are deal breakers in contract negotiations and know what concessions they can live without.
