PCMA Survey Reveals Future Booking and Cancellation Intentions
While budget constraints are the number one challenge facing event planners, more than a third also cited image, publicity and public policy concerns in a recent survey by the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), the PCMA Education Foundation and American Express by Ypartnership. “The insights revealed in this survey confirm what most in the industry have assumed to be true in recent months: the economy is the primary culprit for the challenges now facing the industry. But professional planners are clearly concerned about the image issues and negative rhetoric associated with hosting meetings as well,” says Deborah Sexton, President and CEO of PCMA. Other highlights from the survey:
- Four out of ten (44%) respondents expect to book fewer off-site meetings in 2009/2010 compared to the number they booked in 2008. This translates into an average of 19 fewer meetings in 2009 and 15 fewer meetings in 2010. Roughly half (47%) of all respondents expect to book the same number of off-site meetings in 2009/2010 compared to 2008
- On average, professional meeting planners expect to pay approximately $81,000 in cancellation/rebooking fees for meetings they intend to cancel, postpone, or rebook in 2009/2010
- Not surprisingly, “upper upscale” and “luxury” accommodations were cited most frequently as the types of lodging professional planners expected to use less in 2009/2010 – 50% and 54%, respectively
- Professional planners intend to make greater use of alternative meeting methods in the months ahead, including Webinars (54%), teleconferencing (48%) and videoconferencing (30%).
For more information on the survey, go to www.pcma.org/Press_Room/Press_Releases.htm
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Industry Responding Proactively to Economic Turmoil
One year into a less settled economic climate, meetings industry suppliers and buyers are fighting back on a number of fronts, a new IMEX survey reveals. Respondents say the industry is getting leaner, smarter and more cost-conscious, noting that buyers have clearer objectives, albeit with shorter lead times and a stronger appetite for negotiation. “I see this market shakeup as something of a renaissance for our industry,” said one respondent, while another noted that “it is true that size, luxury, format, budget, duration and traveling distances are all being curtailed, [but] the actual number of events is largely unchanged.” The majority clearly believe that demand is – and will continue to be – resilient, and they anticipate little change in the volume of meetings and events being held. They do, however, predict a pared-down approach, with clients satisfied by swifter, “off the shelf” solutions, will prevail in the near term. For the detailed research results, visit the IMEX Global Data Exchange at www.imex-frankfurt.com/dataexchange.html
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2010 IRF Invitational Scheduled for May 19-23 in Colorado Springs
The Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) has announced that its 17th annual Incentive Invitational will be held in Colorado Springs , CO at The Broadmoor Resort. In addition to The Broadmoor, co-hosts for the 2010 Incentive Invitational include the Cheyenne Mountain Resort, Destination Colorado and partners, Vail Valley and partners, Destination Services of Colorado, Rocky Mountain Adventures, Experience Colorado Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau, and other Colorado area hosts. The Incentive Research Foundation funds and promotes independent research to advance the science and enhance the awareness and appropriate application of motivation and incentives in business and industry globally. For more information, and to download IRF research, go to www.TheIRF.org
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Cross-Cultural Study Examines Incentives’ Emotional Impact
Firms that operate globally may be interested in newly published research that looks at how different cultures react to what researchers call “pleasant surprises” (i.e., unexpected gifts like premiums, in-store coupons, spot awards, promotional products, etc.). Although unexpected marketing incentives can have powerful effects on consumer behavior, not all consumers react to them in the same way. This article investigates cross-cultural differences between the emotional reactions of East Asians and Westerners when presented with unexpected incentives. The study found that for Westerners, an unexpected gift may reinforce feelings of control over their current environments. For East Asians, however, an unexpected gift may indicate imbalance and prophesize bad fortune. These findings have practical implications for international marketing strategies, since marketers often use pleasant surprises to influence consumers’ brand evaluations and purchase decisions. While the marketing literature emphasizes the role of consumer delight as a source of competitive advantage, unexpected marketing activities must accommodate cross-cultural differences. Westerners are delighted with an unexpected gift offered as a token of appreciation for a prior action. East Asians are delighted with an unexpected gift when it’s offered as a lucky sign of good fortune. Promotional programs that include unexpected offerings should adopt either effort-based or luck-based formats, depending on the cultural orientation of the target consumer. To view an abstract of the article, go to: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/605592
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The New Engagement Strategy – Do Your Meetings Measure Up?
The cover story of the July/August 2009 issue of Insurance & Financial Meetings Management examines how engagement impacts the success of meetings. Bruce Bolger, President of Selling Communications, the publisher of SMERF Meetings Journal, was quoted in the story, along with Don Peppers and Rodger Stotz, all of whom are involved in the creation of the Enterprise Engagement Alliance, a coalition of leading corporations, brands, management consultants, associations and media firms that supports the research and promotion of Enterprise Engagement, a new area of business that focuses on achieving financial success by engaging people. Here is an excerpt:
Bruce Bolger, Managing Director of the Incentive Performance Center and member of the Enterprise Engagement Alliance, noted how meetings and incentive programs play a significant role in furthering the company’s objective of investing employees in the company’s success: “Almost every meeting provides another occasion to help key employee audiences better understand the promises being made to customers and how their jobs and actions can contribute to the overall objective of attracting and keeping these customers. As a result,” Bolger continued, “meeting planners can increase their value to their organizations by continually looking for ways to make meetings more strategic...by using the opportunity to re-emphasize key organizational goals and to explain how employees can contribute to the goals.”
Bolger added that incentives, rewards and recognition “are a critical means of encouraging behaviors that lead to customer satisfaction and loyalty.”
While “engagement” is not a new concept, it is being tossed around a lot as the newest buzz word in the industry and is causing a little bit of confusion. Industry leaders say in order to maximize any kind of a meeting, companies have to start in the home office by learning the how and especially the why of engaging employees, customers and other stakeholders who may attend any corporate event or incentive program.
According to one study, “Incentive, Motivation & Workplace Performance,” published by the Incentive Research Foundation, “if selected, implemented and monitored correctly, incentive programs – with awards in the form of money or tangible awards – increase [employee] performance by an average of 22 percent. Team incentives [e.g., the Midwest sales office vs. the Southeast sales office] can increase performance by as much as 44 percent.”
To read more, go to www.themeetingmagazines.com
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Dittman Introduces ‘Great Escapes’ Travel Program
Dittman Incentive Marketing, a leader in the incentive and performance improvement field and creator of world-class group incentive travel programs for more than three decades, has launched Great Escapes, a new Individual Travel product. Great Escapes offers clients freedom of choice for both program sponsors and winners, combined with a level of personal service rarely available in this type of product. Clients can choose from several “tiers” or levels of award. There are also up to 13 distinct travel experience options within each level, providing maximum variety; a total of over 100 different travel and travel-related rewards in all. One level can be used to build a stand-alone program, or multiple levels can be used to create a tiered recognition program. “Great Escapes offers a completely turn-key, low-risk and high-impact way of motivating individuals,” says Executive Vice President David Dittman. “Whether you’re running sales contests, have set individual or team goals of any kind, or want to add impact to seasonal promotions or contests, this is a custom solution you can implement with ease.” For more information about Great Escapes Individual Travel, send an e-mail to greatescapes@dittmanincentives.com
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Study: Business Travel Drives Bottom-Line Results
In this challenging economy, businesses are making difficult choices about how to prudently manage expenses and resources. Until now, business leaders lacked hard data and largely relied on anecdotes from salespeople that face-to-face meetings help build relationships, increase sales and drive growth. A comprehensive new economic analysis conducted by Oxford Economics reveals that companies should think twice before cutting back on business travel. The research quantifies the strong, bottom-line benefit of business travel on corporate revenues and profits. Highlights of the study, sponsored by the U.S. Travel Association and Oxford Economics, will soon be available on the USTA website at www.tia.org
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Innovative Programs Unite Team-Building with Philanthropy
Odyssey Teams recognizes that people perform best professionally when their work is tied to a sense of purpose. Accordingly, Odyssey Team’s programs incorporate a philanthropic component: As participants build teamwork, creativity, leadership and intelligent risk-taking, they also build a sense of civic spirit and community service.
- Life Cycles, a program created by Odyssey Teams and now much copied in the industry, helps participants assemble free bicycles for deserving children. More than 10,000 bikes have been donated worldwide since 2000.
- Helping Hands brings together teams to assemble basic but highly functional prosthetic hands for donation to amputees in developing countries The Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation, which oversees the donations, recently named Odyssey Teams its exclusive partner for organizational training.
- Participants in Project Playhouse emphasize their organization’s community ties by building playhouses for children’s groups and donating them to various local children’s hospitals, youth hostels, orphanages, and residences.
Odyssey Teams, founded in 1991 and a recognized pioneer and leader in the team-building industry, has provided programs for eBay, Wells Fargo, the Stanford University women’s swimming team, Pfizer, Kinko’s, Hilton Hotels and other blue-chip corporations, non-profits and educational institutions. For more information, go to www.Odysseyteams.com
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I&MI Media Launches MICE Industry’s First Online ‘Print’ Directory
I&MI Media has made a major decision after 15 years of successful publication to stop the printed edition of its multi-award-winning global directory, The Workbook, and shift it to a web-based distribution system.The result is a truly unique product – the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Workbook – a tool that allows MICE buyers to assemble their own custom directories of data-rich “pdf” pages of hotels, destinations, congress centers and DMCs and download them in a single document, sorted by their choice, with the ability to add their own personal title to the cover. All of the website URL links and email addresses remain “live” even after downloading, so buyers can make direct contact instantly with suppliers from their desktop. Meeting and incentive planners can use the tool as many times as they wish, and collecting and assembling 2, 10, 20, or more pdf pages at a time takes only moments. For more information, go to www.i-mi.com
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