In the pursuit of business, companies can expend the same energy and resources pursuing smaller prospects as bigger ones—often translating into twice the headaches for half the rewards. This is decidedly not the case, however, for CVBs courting the smaller end of the group market. Amid goliath conventions and tradeshows, meetings industry Davids loom large.
“Smaller groups,” wrote The Wall Street Journal in 2015, “have a greater ability to be efficient.” Small business owners surveyed last year by the Meetings Means Business Coalition gave high percentage marks for the value of face-to-face meetings. And looking at attendance numbers for all major meeting types in the 2017 American Express Global Meetings & Events Forecast, smaller, more targeted groups are clearly the right size.
While “small” is relative to destination size, major market and regional CVBs alike are embracing smaller meetings in their strategic planning and marketing mix. Here are five destinations that are big on going small.
Fred Shea, Sr. Vice President of Sales & Services, Visit Orlando
“Orlando can host any type of meeting, from corporate and association to specialty, diversity and other categories in between, with hotel options and price points to accommodate all group sizes and budgets. Smaller meetings are very important to Visit Orlando’s overall strategy. Several years ago, we created the business development team as part of our plan to promote new meeting opportunities for Orlando.
Dedicated to finding new and unique groups that have not met here previously, this team helps meeting planners unfamiliar with Orlando learn about the destination, its diversity of hotels and other event options.
Programs include hosting educational events around the country, and our Destination Orientations (fams). Together with our regional sales directors, the team also attends numerous hosted buyer tradeshows, including IMEX, Connect Marketplace, and CVENT Connect, that primarily host planners with small meetings. Visit Orlando also hosts a monthly “What’s New in Orlando” webinar to help educate planners about all the new and exciting hotels, restaurants and attractions opening in Orlando.
Once a small group has confirmed their event, our staff works hard to ensure their experience exceeds expectations, with support based on a tiered approach.
Helping with market expertise, including finding the perfect off-site venue, sourcing transportation or suggesting entertainment options, our destination services team assists groups with nine rooms or less on peak. For groups with up to 149 rooms on peak, our business development specialists will assist and even build site itineraries for the group. For groups from 150 to 1,500 rooms on peak, our business development account managers and regional sales directors provide dedicated hotel site selection services to ensure group requirements are met.”
Cori Day, Vice President of Sales & Services, Visit KC
“Visit KC has extensive experience with small meetings, which we consider as all groups in the tier of 499 peak rooms or less. Many find Kansas City to be a great location for their programs. Strong factors behind our booking success in this segment include our central location, downtown renaissance, delicious food scene and Midwestern hospitality.
Additionally, our hotel package continues to renovate and innovate to welcome and better service small meetings. Kansas City has many different districts, all containing hotels with meeting space that are very active in the segment. With two sales managers working the small meetings, short-term market, our office assists in sourcing small meetings for hotels in both the downtown core and the surrounding communities on both sides of the state line.
Our sales and services team continues to develop and implement customized options for planners seeking unique and exciting new agendas for their conferees.”
Kathy Reak, Senior Director of Convention Sales, Colorado Springs CVB
“Small meetings, which we define as 10 to 100 people, are very important to the Colorado Springs market and our bureau. Without a large convention center and with an average group size of 300 to 350, many of our smaller properties depend on smaller meetings to fill their rooms. I would say 85 percent of our marketing targets smaller groups and incentives.
Our experience is that small meetings often take a bit more time to work. This allows us to assist the planner from start to finish, including sourcing the location, pre-promoting the meeting, and providing services such as transportation and off-site venues.
Planners often depend on us as the destination and planning expert to guide them through the total experience. While incentive planners are usually more seasoned, we are there to help make their visit experiential and memorable.
At the higher-end, The Broadmoor Hotel, Cheyenne Mountain Resort, Garden of the Gods Collection, Lodge at Flying Horse and Mining Exchange are all a good fit for small meetings. For tighter budgets, good options include Antlers Hotel, Colorado Springs Marriott, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites Hotel and Hotel Elegante.
Agenda-wise, we have created downtown dine-arounds, and craft brewery and wine-tasting tours. Our many unique attractions, such as Space Discovery Center and the Colorado Springs Pioneer’s Museum, offer unique space and other options for smaller groups.”
Tara Gordon, Vice President, Business Events, Tourism Toronto
“Several years ago, having identified small meetings as representing big opportunities for Canada’s Downtown, Business Events Toronto built a sales strategy based on insights derived from market research and growth projections.
Addressing need periods around large conventions, small meetings are pivotal to the success of the destination. A destination and its partners aligned to winning in this market must understand the unique attributes of groups that fear getting lost in the shuffle of larger properties, implement a proven sales process to respond to shorter lead times, and most importantly, view small meetings as a cornerstone to influencing future meeting procurement, often citywide in size.
Small meetings tend to be organized across multiple departments and roles, often by professionals not intimately familiar with meeting planning. That’s where a CVB provides vital destination knowledge and community connections that complement and support the meeting objectives, and saves valuable time.
With a dedicated team of sales and service professionals solely focused on meetings requiring 10 to 200 rooms on peak, Tourism Toronto continues to experience small meetings success in multiple areas. These include HR training, recruiting and teambuilding; corporate meetings focused on strategy, culture, and board-related agendas; and sales and marketing meetings emphasizing market and client development, incentive programs and launches.
Margie Sitton, Senior Vice President of Sales and Services, San Diego Tourism Authority
“Historically, we’ve always had two separate teams, one booking citywide efforts, the other self-contained meetings. Without a large corporate base to fill hotels during the week, group, along with leisure of course, is very important. My team only handles non-citywides, from 10 to 1,000 rooms, including a salesperson focused on just 10 to 35 rooms on peak.
After the 2008 downturn, we completely refocused our efforts on finding 35- to 500-room on peak groups that fit the small meetings bandwidth outside of our already well-advantaged downtown, in areas such as Coronado, Mission Bay, Mission Valley and North County.
Four years ago, we also refocused our goal structure on new business development, taking a deeper dive into repeat customers for new opportunities, like their board, executive and legal meetings. It’s part of our Customer Acquisition Program, which includes partnering with organizations like Connect to do the heavy lifting. They profile their database for customers fitting certain criteria for us, we vet them, and they help us bring them in for introductory fams.”
