Lacey Hein
Events Specialist
Alerton and Trend, a division of Honeywell
Redmond, Wash.
Do you find that your booking window is increasing or shrinking recently? Are you finding it harder to book rooms/meeting space in a short timeframe at hotels and other meeting facilities?
I have been trying to increase my booking window to at least one year though I have some smaller meetings that I book about six months out. I am finding it harder to book space even with advance deadlines as the meetings industry is rebounding.
Is the duration of your meetings either shrinking or expanding?
The duration of my meetings has remained steady and will continue to remain the same. We find that we have hit on the perfect number of days for each of our meetings so we have no need to change it.
Is the attendance at your meetings shrinking or expanding?
Expanding! I recently had record attendance at my November sales conference in Seattle. I am not sure if it was the destination, our topics or just the fact that more people (our dealers) are attending meetings. I did notice about a 20% reduction in 2009 and it has been increasing ever since. I expect to have record attendance at my next sales conference in May in San Diego.
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?
Last year my budgets remained the same.
Do you expect your budget to increase or decrease in 2012?
I am getting slight increases for 2012; nothing huge but hopefully enough to keep up with price increases.
Do you expect your attendance to increase or decrease in 2012? I expect an increase in attendance.
Every year I get about a 10% increase, but I think with the destinations we have chosen we will get even more people attending.
Are perception problems (meeting at luxurious properties, resort destinations, etc.) a great concern for your organization? Have they become less of a concern than they were in 2010, and do you expect them to present any perception problems in 2012?
We’ve never had the perception problem and continued to meet at resorts throughout the last several years.
Are there any destinations or facility types that are considered “off-limits” due to perception problems or the current economic climate?
No, though we have always stayed domestic for the most part. We have done cruises to the Western Caribbean and Bahamas and we will return back to those in a year or so.
Have you planned, or do you expect to plan, virtual/videoconference meetings? Do you expect to see more virtual meetings in the future?
No, we don’t really do any virtual meetings. The benefit for us is the face-to-face to network.
Are you exploring the possibility, or have you already held, a “hybrid” meeting (meetings that combine live events with an Internet/digital component? If so, what are your observations?
No, we haven’t done a hybrid though we have discussed it. My observation is it is too easy for people to “tune out” while on the computer and start doing other things. We post our presentations to our internal website so that people can check those out.
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?
No, we have the same amount of general and breakout session times and days. We shifted though from repeating our sessions four times to just twice. This allowed us to focus the group more and we had better attendance at all of the sessions because there were less times for people to choose not to attend a session. We also increased half of our breakout sessions to workshops that lasted two hours so we could go more in-depth. These were very popular and full both sessions.
Are you incorporating more, or less, activities into your agenda? If so, what types of activities are being added or cut?
We are planning the same amount of activities. One conference has a smaller budget so we give them an afternoon free and then choose a location that has activities nearby (San Diego and the beach). My larger conference has activities and we do a golf tournament and at least one other activity--in Austin, TX it will probably be the gun club or horseback riding.
Have you offered, or do you think you will offer, a CSR (corporate social responsibility) component to your meetings?
This year we did a Build-A-Bike program during our onsite registration and then donated the bikes to a local organization that supports foster kids. Everyone involved had a great time and we will do something in the future.
Are sustainable (green) meetings something your organization has moved toward? If not, do you expect to implement more-sustainable meetings in the future?
In some ways. We have reduced the amount of paper we hand out, I don’t let them place bottled water on the buffets and recycle when the hotel has a program. But, we haven’t done carbon offsets, or other initiatives because it just isn’t that important to them.
Are you finding that attrition clauses are being enforced more, or less, strictly recently?
I am fortunate that I rarely have attrition. I did have some slight attrition in Jackson Hole, Wyo., this year due to last-minute cancellation and did have to pay for the rooms. What I am worried is being conservative on my room block so I don’t have attrition and then needing extra rooms and not getting them.
Do you feel the pendulum is swinging back to being a seller’s market?
Yes, I have felt like my concessions, offers, rates, room space, etc., are not as favorable for 2012.
Do you find that you had much more leverage on room rates during the last year?
Yes, I think I was getting better rates last year and in 2010. How much of a discount it tough as we don’t usually go back to previous locations for several years, but I would say at least 10% if not more.
Are you using social networking websites for business purposes? If so, which ones and why?
We have Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, though we struggle with how to use these for events since our events are not open to the public.
Have you planned more meetings closer to your organization’s headquarters (“drive-to” meetings) recently?
We did plan our annual sales conference in Seattle for 2011 (a drive from Redmond), but only because it was our 30th anniversary and we thought we should hold the meeting in our hometown; 80% of our participants were not from the area and had to fly anyway.
Are you more optimistic, or less, about the meetings industry and the economy than a year ago?
About the same. I didn’t stop planning meetings so I got some great deals. I think that hotels are still hungry though especially in the resort towns vs. the big cities.
How do you think 2012 will shape up for the meetings industry?
I think the meetings industry is rebounding.
Where do you see costs (hotel, restaurant, venue prices, etc.) going?
I’ve already seen an increase in room rates and expect to see an increase in F&B costs as well.
Do you think your budget and/or attendance will increase or decrease? Why?
I expect both to increase because our business has continued to grow and we gain new dealers every year.
