Potato farmers engaging with porn stars? Tobacco advocates congregating with the American Cancer Society? Pro-life meets pro-choice?
All of the above are real-life examples of “incompatible” groups meeting in the same facility as if by some mystifying twist of fate, the results of which can range from being a boatload of laughs or a temporary inconvenience to a recipe for violence.
We work in a multifaceted industry, which can be both fascinating and terrifying, and as meeting planners, you better know who could be an uninvited guest at your party.
“It’s one of those topics that’s kind of hidden,” says attorney, speaker and professor Tyra W. Hilliard, principal of Hilliard Associates, who presents on the subject of incompatible groups at meetings industry trade events. “It’s one of those [contract clauses] you don’t know you need to have until you need to have it.
“At the very least, planners have been in a hotel or some property where they’ve had a noisy group, and at worst they’ve had a really inappropriate group,” she continues. “And then you have the corporate planners who have to worry about competitive issues. It hits people at different levels and in different ways, but almost everyone has some story.”
According to Hilliard, corporate groups typically have the most at stake, especially regarding corporate espionage if they have a new product coming out, such as a pharmaceutical company launching a new drug.
One such pharma group combated this at one of their meetings by announcing a fake meeting later in the day during a session, and informing their employees to keep it confidential, so anyone who showed up was obviously an interloper.
In the most basic sense, the ultimate responsibility rests on the shoulders of the meeting planner, as they are typically the most knowledgeable about who may be in their organization’s competitive set.
“A lot of times, with our association acronyms and fanciful corporate names, the hotels don’t have any idea who your competitors are. They’re just trying to put heads in beds,” Hilliard says. “In the contract, say this is who we are, this is what we do, and something like, ‘no one else in the elevator industry.’ You have to be a hammer, because if you don’t, you won’t have any recourse and your clauses are basically useless.”
Hilliard says that planners need to be very specific and decide in advance who or what kinds of groups might be conflicting or incompatible; make a list with the names of such companies, if possible, and if not company names, identify the industries that may conflict with the group; and also to consider both the nature of the groups and what type of event they are having.
Another tactic is to include a “frustration of purpose” clause that can be vague enough to allow for negotiating wiggle room if your group is hindered by the atmosphere at the meeting facility.
If the hotel or meeting facility does not live up to its end of the contract, remedies can include moving the other group; having to pay to move the aggrieved party’s meeting to another hotel; allowing the group to terminate without liability (which is not recommended, because then the planner is stuck); or getting various ‘freebies’ such as free Wi-Fi, receptions and the like. The important part is to include in the contract what you want in order to resolve the situation.
One interesting story Hilliard shared was what she labels in her presentation as “Studs v. Spuds,” highlighting the meetings of the National Potato Council and Adult Entertainment Expo, which both met in Las Vegas at the same time. Picture in your mind exhibits detailing everything the world of adult entertainment offers clashing with a floor brimming with tractors and other farming implements.
Due to its very nature, Las Vegas offers ample opportunity for group collisions, given its immense popularity, sprawling convention facilities that can contain multiple groups at the same time, and its reputation as “Sin City.” What could go wrong?
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WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE!
Smoke ’em If You Got ’em?
If you asked a room full of meeting planners which of them has held a meeting that collided on-site with another, you may be surprised at how many had their own horror story.
Atlanta-area association manager Greg Martin, president of Renaissance Association Management, remembers a case years ago when he represented a group of convenience store wholesalers that held a small annual tradeshow. The group, which counts tobacco companies as a large part of its vendor base, was a repeat customer of a hotel that knew tobacco, and even smoking, was an integral part of the event—this was before laws greatly curtailed indoor smoking.
“I wrote in the contract that they’re a smoking group, and wanted to know who else was on the property for that reason,” he remembers. “At the pre-con the event manager said the American Cancer Society had an event there and were moving in toward the end of our meeting, and we had two registration areas right next to each other
“Now, my members are big supporters of the American Cancer Society—we’re not “anti” American Cancer Society,” he continues. “But they’re doing pop-up banners for the American Cancer Society while my suppliers were walking through the lobby with cigars. It was awkward for us and it was awkward for them. It was awkward for everybody and it ended up costing the property a lot of money.”
Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life
In the U.S., no issue is as contentious, and carries with it the most potential for violence, as the battle over abortion rights.
Meetings Today blogger and industry veteran Joan Eisenstodt, chief strategist of Washington, D.C.-based Eisenstodt Associates, almost found herself in the middle of this volatile situation when she planned a board meeting for Planned Parenthood over a big anniversary date for the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
“I got there, and when I learned there were also National Right to Life people there I immediately went to the client and said ‘We can’t stay. It’s a dangerous situation,’” she says, adding that just looking at the acronyms of other groups that are on property at the same time isn’t a fail-safe, as acronyms can be confusing or not tell the whole story. “I learned they booked [after giving a cursory look at the] acronyms. They weren’t paying attention to who these groups were, so we found another hotel across town and had to notify people to get them there. It could’ve been dangerous for both groups.”
War Story
Being based in Washington, D.C., results in ample opportunity for groups with opposing politics to collide. While not nearly as volatile as the pro-choice vs. pro-life issue, Eisenstodt remembers planning a meeting for the LGBT-equality advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, which was having a dinner in the same facility where the U.S. Army was holding an event, before the U.S. military was tolerant of LGBT service members.
The army had military-themed exhibits in areas where her group would be walking through, albeit after the Army had left the building but before load-out.
“Catering called me two days before and told me this, so we had to deal with covering up all of the exhibits,” she says.
Trial by Turkey
Twenty-five-year industry veteran Patricia Zollman, senior director of global accounts, for HelmsBriscoe, has organized her share of meetings in the many years she’s been a planner. One of the most memorable ones happened about a decade ago, however, when she was shepherding a series of legal industry seminars in Nashville, Tenn.
“The attorney that was putting on the conference really had an in with Opryland and wanted to do it there,” Zollman remembers, adding that the small meeting of under 70 participants was good to go even in the vast expanse of Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center because it could be sequestered away from the other, larger gatherings on-property at the same time. “The numbers kept growing, and soon we had 180 people coming to the program, so we asked the hotel if they could move us to a bigger space,” Zollman remembers. “Because we liked classroom-style seating, they said ‘The only place I can move you to will have a big convention around you.’ We thought, ‘How bad could that be for one day?’”
Zollman soon found out.
“I started getting calls from the on-site coordinator saying ‘It’s loud! It’s terrible!’ And then she called back and said ‘Oh, my god, it’s turkey calls—it’s the wild turkey convention!’”
When trying to resolve the situation, Zollman discovered that the general manager was actually at the convention enjoying the festivities, so that put a damper on trying to immediately quash the turkey calling.
“What they actually did, which was interesting, was in the afternoon they were having a break and invited our group to come over and participate in the activities,” Zollman says, “and they had some really nice food, so everyone was happy in the end, but it was an interesting experience.”
Another meeting collision Zollman experienced featured a marching band opening a general session next to her group, which the hotel didn’t know about.
“So we started our session and the next thing you know you have a marching band leading them into the room, so the hotel went in and said ‘Stop that!’” she says. “They didn’t say anything [beforehand] to the hotel, but we actually got our morning break comped because of all the noise.
Zollman advises her fellow planners to watch out for situations such as construction, and that this will be particularly troublesome in the next few years as many properties are undergoing renovations they put off during the economic downturn, and a lot of new properties are coming on-line. To combat this, planners can ask to have them halt construction during peak times, at least for a couple of days,
“I’ve been putting in clauses and penalty clauses if they’re doing construction, and then they don’t let us know far enough in advance,” she says, “but many times you have groups that are so large that you can’t move them at the last minute, so all you can do is damage control at that point.”
Culture Clash
Many times the opposing groups are not really sworn enemies, but merely have greatly conflicting practices, such as when a group that likes to imbibe is in the same facility as, say, an Alcoholics Anonymous group.
This happened when Deborah Singleton, president of Ewing, N.J.-based conference and event planning firm Singleton & Associates, took her longtime client the National Consolidated Licensed Beverage Association (NCLBA), comprised of African-American liquor store and bar and nightclub owners, to Atlanta for its annual conference.
Many in the group attend with their bartenders, who interact with major spirits companies in workshops that teach how to make the latest cocktails. Being in the industry they’re in, and having a multitude of spirits reps in attendance, the group pays corkage fees to facilities so they can feature as many alcoholic beverages as they can.
This, of course, flew in the face of the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that shared the headquarters hotel with the NCLBA. Compounding the situation was the fact that the AA meeting was recognizing a major anniversary of the 12-step group, which meant attendance was large.
“So we were having an afternoon pool party, and because we didn’t have the entire pool closed, we had liquor readily available, with corkage from the hotel,” Singleton says. “So I asked our people if they could just move our liquor to an area in the back, where we had a little bar, so we wouldn’t be in their face.
“I thought, ‘We need to be mindful of these people, because there could be a problem, because we had almost full run of the hotel,” Singleton says. “Just know that this is what they’re facing, and we needed to be kind. That’s all.”
Singleton says her AA counterpart was appreciative, and even put his own humorous twist on the situation.
“His words were, ‘God has a sense of humor. Why else would he put us in the middle of a liquor conference?’” she laughed.
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DAMAGE CONTROL
The planners interviewed for this story all recognized that, like Singleton and the NCLBA, the best policy is to have empathy with the other group, as they’re typically in the same situation as you.
Saira Banu Kianes, an independent planner who operates Piscataway, N.J.-based Banu Event Solutions & Training, stresses that doing one’s homework and asking lots of questions are the best strategies.
Memorable experiences she has faced include members of direct competitor organizations meeting at the same site moving directional signs so they could dominate the space.
“There was nothing we could do about it,” she says, “so we went into the pre-con together with the competitor organization’s planner and I said, ‘We’re in the same situation as you are, how can we work together?’”
Banu Kianes says the situation was resolved by moving luncheons and breaks so the two pharma groups wouldn’t collide.
“It was awkward because some of the doctors were speakers for the other company, and vice versa,” she says. “Before they could see what was going on we just told them so they all knew they would bump into each other because there’s another big conference going on. At the end of the day it worked out fine.”
Another event Banu Kianes pulled from the fire was at a pharma meeting in Puerto Rico where her group’s reception ended up competing with another group’s higher-budget affair held in close proximity.
“Both of our receptions were across a garden area,” she says. “On the right was my reception and on the other side was a higher-budget reception, as I had to follow pharma guidelines that set budget limits.”
The other event, sponsored by a different organization, did a door drop to attract attendees and boasted an open bar with an ocean-side setting.
“When I did the site inspection I moved my venue so there was no way for our attendees to see their event,” Banu Kianes says. “There was another indoor/outdoor venue on the second floor that featured a beautiful outdoor balcony with amazing views.”
Banu Kianes says her group took the foyer to a ballroom that was being set up for another group the next day, and she got it for free because she stressed that she was worried inclement weather could affect the previous site she had booked.
“Keep your ears and eyes open during the site inspection,” she stresses. “And if you don’t have the budget for a site inspection, call your colleagues in the area and give them a voucher for a massage and tell them to check out the facility.”
Eisenstodt, who also recalls one story she heard of an S&M group meeting in the same facility as a conservative religious group, stresses that planners should always ask what other groups are on-property, and even who else may be in the city.
“In many companies, at the c-level, they’re not even aware where they’re going. It’s the planner’s responsibility to know their organization’s culture,” Eisenstodt says. “Hotels are going to try to sell space up to the last minute, and if there’s an empty ballroom, they’re going to try to fill it.”
Other things that could disrupt a meeting could be concerts held in the facility, or even a large group with lots of kids running around that cause all manner of havoc.
“What kind of group or activity would cause a disruption in any way to the comfort and safety to their meeting and participants?” Eisenstodt advises planners to ask. “And if it’s going to be dangerous, you want it moved. Planners often think in terms of perks, but they shouldn’t. You want to keep people safe and make sure that conflicts don’t arise that have the potential for damage.”
