While national meetings may be making a comeback, those at the opposite end of the scale—the local meetings designed to draw an audience within a single city or metropolitan area—are booming as well. According to Mike May, president of Spear One, a meeting and incentive company, these highly localized events are a fast-growing segment of the industry.
“We are seeing more of these local market meetings,” he says. “These tend to be lead-generation events in which companies are trying to bring in local customers who may not want to travel to a big annual trade show or conference. They’re usually brief, personalized events that include a lunch and presentation.”
While local customer meetings are not replacing national tradeshows, May says there is a trend for companies to augment their sales efforts by taking the tradeshow concept on the road, holding a series of smaller events in multiple locations.
“They realize that some people are under time constraints and may not be able to travel to the one big event,” he says. “Local events allow them to reach more customers.”
According to May, planners of these types of local meetings need to pay careful attention to drive times, parking and other car-related issues.
The first step is to realize that they are not the same as regional meetings, which are typically longer and able to attract people from a wider geographic area. When choosing a location, it’s important to understand that many people will not want to drive more than 30 or 40 minutes to attend a lunch event, he says.
“Too often people expect these meetings to function like a regional market,” he says. “They think that if they hold it in San Jose they will draw people from all over the [San Francisco] Bay Area. Or if they hold it Orange County [Calif.], that they’ll get people from the west side of Los Angeles down to San Diego. That simply isn’t true.”
A better strategy is to hold a series of smaller events that don’t require long drive times, he says.
Because attendance at these types of meetings is nearly always voluntary, planners need to allow for the fact that there is likely to be a high percentage of no-shows, according to May.
“It can be up to 50 percent, particularly if it’s just a standard meeting at a hotel,” he says. “In situations where people are driving, there is less commitment than in situations where they have booked air transportation.”
Holding the meeting at an intriguing venue or popular restaurant will tend to minimize no-shows, he advises. Offering complimentary parking is another effective carrot for boosting attendance.
“If it’s at a restaurant, comping the valet parking is a nice touch and worth building into the budget,” May adds. “It also ensures that people will arrive on time if they can just pull up and pitch the keys.”
