Carol McGury is executive vice president of event and education services at SmithBucklin, an association management company based out of Chicago and Washington D.C., that provides meetings assistance for the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE), its newest client the Convention Industry Council (CIC), the International Live Events Association (ILEA) and Financial and Insurance Conference Planners.
Meetings Today News & Engagement Editor Eric Andersen conducted a phone interview with Carol to check in on what she does in her work with SmithBucklin, her thoughts on Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID) and how she is participating.
MT: Could you tell me a little bit more about what you do in your role at SmithBucklin?
CM: I have the privilege of serving as oversight for about 100 event planning professionals across the Chicago and D.C. office, so my role is to essentially ensure quality of service, innovation for event experience, revenue generation for our organization as it relates to events. I oversee execution of all these events, we have collectively about 450 events we do annually at SmithBucklin for clients. The majority of our clients are associations, but we do have corporate and government clients too.
MT: Thursday, April 6, marks the second annual Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID). How would you describe the day and what it represents to you from your own personal standpoint?
CM: I’ll be participating in the Industry Xchange, which is here in Chicago, then there’s several other events across the country. We’ve got staff around the world who are on-site. It’s a way to not only celebrate what they do to make a difference for clients, but for the professional in general.
It’s not about getting an award for what we do, it’s really about acknowledging the hard work and the innovation … when you work for organizations, you know, my analogy I use is “no, we’re not curing cancer, but we are supporting those who are,” so that’s how we’re making a difference through providing incredible experiences, education, helping organizations drive revenue growth through their event strategies.
Bringing the whole community together to celebrate this, it really is just a way to acknowledge the great work of our teams and tie it back to [the fact] this fuels $2.1 trillion in revenue from a travel perspective globally.
I think it’s a great way to say “look what we’re doing to help fuel the economy, look what we’re doing to build robust, rich environments for our teams and create long-term careers for our colleagues.”
MT: You mentioned you will be attending the Industry Xchange at McCormick Place in Chicago. Could you tell me a little bit more about that event? Will you be going as a presenter or an attendee?
CM: The Industry Xchange is held two times a year and it brings thought leadership from the industry to talk about latest trends. In this instance it’s a celebration of GMID and on the front-end is the Choose Chicago annual meeting, which is a meeting of the CVB partners and we SmithBucklin happen to be one, where we’re talking about what’s happening not only locally, but then we’re bringing it together later in the afternoon to talk about what’s happening internationally in the global meetings environment.
SmithBucklin is a member of an organization called Incon, basically a consortium of leading meeting planning and association management companies, and by partaking in that as well we’re bringing more of an international focus. All of that blends together to create a day about what we do for a living.
Tomorrow I’m just there as an attendee. I’ve spoken at previous Industry Xchange events.
MT: What is your main goal in attending the Industry Xchange event?
CM: My main goal is to continue networking with both peers and potentially new contacts. It is an educational environment as well, so hearing about latest trends that would impact our industry will be beneficial—obviously there’s a lot going on as you look at the political environment—and many of those topics are incredibly important to how we do business, so just being aware of what’s happening [is key].
MT: I know SmithBucklin made an effort to be actively involved in the day. Anything else planned?
CM: As a company we’re doing several things. We’re showcasing our teams that are on-site at [meetings and events] to say congratulations and do fun things on social media to show where they’re at. We’ll also be showcasing a lot of our team who are actually working in preparation for meetings. Across the hospitality industry, this is actually a busy time of year—March, April, May—and so we have over 75 events we’re doing just in this timeframe, so we have teams here preparing to leave next week, teams who are on-site elsewhere working on events, so we’re threading the needle and keeping them engaged in terms of one common theme, which is analyzing “what is the heart and soul of what we do?” And then showcasing that.
Pictured below: SmithBucklin’s Education & Learning Services team members (who are part of Carol's team) show their love for meetings on Global Meetings Industry Day on April 6. #GMID17
MT: How can planners who aren’t able to attend GMID events partake on this day?
CM: They could get active on social media tomorrow, even say if it’s a two meeting planner shop, they can participate by taking photos or participating in online discussions … I think it’s important for everyone to talk about the importance of face-to-face meetings no matter where they work.
When you talk to exhibitors and sponsors about face-to-face meetings, it still remains as the number one place that business is done. Even though virtual and blended meetings are critically important the value of face-to-face remains and it shows in the stats. So if you’re part of it you should talk about it and tell stories. The key thing is to a tell a story about an outcome or an experience that was delivered that showcases why, again, being in this business is incredible and the difference that we can make.
MT: SmithBucklin recently landed a big client in the meetings industry with the Convention Industry Council. In what ways have you been working with the CIC so far and is there anything you can share?
CM: We’ve done the official transition and Karen Kotowski, who’s their executive director, just officially joined SmithBucklin … I think it was last Friday or even Monday this week … and so we’ve already begun transitioning with transitioning as well as planning for their 2017 and 2018 events. The CIC is also the powerhouse behind the CMP so there has been a lot of work from an education perspective too.
MT: I’ve spoken with some in the industry who feel that even with GMID, the industry still isn’t doing enough to actually get the word out on meetings and events to those outside the industry. Is there any ways that you think MMB and the industry can increase the impact this day holds?
CM: Meetings Mean Business is a pretty robust website and a lot of the Industry Xchange events will reference what’s happening with the organization. We’ve had Roger Dow come and speak from the U.S. Travel Association and Michael Dominguez has been a key presenter, so there’s always kind of a stakeholder from that organization who is part of any one of these different types of events.
In terms of how to get the word out [on the value of meetings and events], again, I’m a big proponent of storytelling. Sending something that says “hey, here’s this day,” to someone who doesn’t understand the industry won’t help them get the value of what we do. But telling a story about a well-executed experience in the form of a face-to-face meeting and how it can benefit business … how it can make a huge impact on client organizations and those who attend these events … is the most critical thing to do.
MT: The current political climate is obviously heated at the moment and a lot of things going on, such as the recent travel ban, have potential to impact meetings with international delegates. I know politics can turn ugly fast, but you do expect to sit in any discussions during the Idea Xchange?
CM: The topic is important no matter what side of the political landscape you sit in. I think being aware of what the travel ban is and being able to translate it back to your individual organization is critical. For some organizations it could have a huge impact and for some organizations it could have no impact. The key thing is to be armed with facts and information and be able to translate that in terms of business impact to your organization. I have colleagues who have been active sitting in on Hill dialogues in terms of what’s going on … being able to share information back in terms of what it means and what it doesn’t mean is one of the most important things that folks can do and then educating key stakeholders.
MT: To switch to a less heated topic, let’s talk education. That’s one of your many areas of expertise at SmithBucklin. What sort of trends in education at meetings and events have you noticed?
CM: A trend that’s not necessarily new, but has become more of a mainstay, is looking at how you engage multi-generations in one conference environment. We have associations where we might have four generations attending the conference. How do you take a legacy member, a millennial member and deliver education. It’s all about understanding and analyzing data and really targeting demographics.
We’ve found that millennials want to create the educational experience, so they are not wanting to sit in an audience and be lectured to. They want to be part of the solution through facilitated dialogues. That doesn’t mean a legacy member doesn’t want the same thing, but they’re not as apt to push for it.
We’re seeing more and more associations using technology to enhance education. Folks have two or three devices with them at all times, so instead of fighting it we’re employing more second screen presentations. It’s really about creating more dynamic engagement, not just passive participation.
MT: Is there anything new and exciting that you’re hoping to discuss or learn more about in terms of education opportunities that are available to planners during the Idea Xchange?
CM: There are a lot of venues out there. The ones that do it best do some number crunching, they understand the analytics of their attendee base and they build the experience around them. I’m hopeful that this venue and those venues I won’t be attending represent the audience and are designed for them, versus more of the same from the previous year and not analyzing the demographics.
I’m excited. GMID is a great day. We don’t have a Hallmark card, but we do have our own day.
