Event Industry | PlannerWire

PlannerWire Updates

January 17, 2012 By Keith Johnston Leave a Comment

So, if you are a regular visitor here, you will notice a few changes! I have ditched the narcissistic header in favor of something a little more streamlined with the new logo and more accurate categories (God, about time, I have no idea what that Planner Life category was all about).

One thing that I said that I would do is turn my post on great event industry blogs into a page and you can find it here. One of my goals is to get each of the bloggers behind these amazing sites to write a few sentences about another blog on the list.

Thanks to everyone for their readership and good words, it really does mean a lot and I want everyone to know that I truly appreciate the fact that you are here.

Anyway, I hope that everyone digs the new digs and let me know what you think!

Original Image: GWire

Filed Under: Event Industry

Site Chicago’s New Website, New Look, Great For All

January 12, 2012 By Keith Johnston Leave a Comment

I love being involved with Site (the Society of Incentive Travel Executives) and being a Board Member for the Chicago Chapter.

This is why I am totally psyched that we are putting the final touches on our new website.

We are just about ready to pull the stops out for the members and send them their log ins so that they can go behind the scenes and check out all of the amazing features including the new forum, educational sections and member directory.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Event Industry

A Sad Day for the Broadmoor

September 22, 2011 By Keith Johnston Leave a Comment

Image: Jeffrey Beall

The famed Broadmoor Hotel located in beautiful Colorado has been sold. I have a lot of opinions about this and I am about to share them with you because we all need a little rant from time to time…..

I hope that this hotel is a financial boondoggle to the new owner, Philip Anschutz who will be forced to sell it to another group who will retain the staff and management so that they do not lose their jobs. I am sorry that I have to feel that way, but I do.

Philip Anschutz is, in my opinion, one the biggest scumbags on the planet, right up there with the Koch brothers and Charles Manson…. Again, that is my opinion and if you don’t like it, you may feel free to unfollow, unfriend and forget I exist because we certainly do not share the same “values”.

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Filed Under: Event Industry, Green Meetings / CSR

The Hyatt Workers Strike – Meeting Planners Beware

September 20, 2011 By Keith Johnston 5 Comments

Image: Huffington Post

Hyatt was bitching because 3000 union employees went on a week long strike in Chicago Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu after working without a contract for TWO YEARS. I am not surprised by Hyatt’s move and I am certainly not surprised by their response at the time, which was, typically corporate.

Here is what Hyatt Regency Chicago General Manager Patrick Donelly had to say:

“Unfortunately, this work stoppage could have been avoided if the local union had accepted the identical wage and benefits package they already accepted from Hilton, Starwood and InterContinental,” he said. “It is unclear why the union is refusing to help give our associates the benefit increases they have earned and deserved….We look forward to a quick resolution to this action so our associates can return to work as some of the best paid hotel associates in the city.”

Now, call me crazy, but I am not sure that this is an accurate representation of what the union and its members were striking about. What they were striking about in addition to pay, is working conditions and the rampant outsourcing that is taking place in the hotel industry… ergo, the meetings industry.

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Filed Under: Event Industry, Green Meetings / CSR Tagged With: hotels, Resorts

What has your Association Done for You Lately?

August 11, 2011 By Keith Johnston 10 Comments

Cliché question, yes… one that meeting and event planners should ask and answer because your association may be starting to hang around your neck like some bad boyfriend straight out of a made for TV movie.

I am sure that you can answer what you have done for your association lately:

Given them your hard earned money
Volunteered to sit on some committee
Attended that freaking awful networking event
Given them more of your money

That is all well and good but if you cannot answer what your association has done for you today, yesterday or in the past few months…. Maybe it is time to part ways, find new digs and a new place to hang your “association member” hat.

Think about it… you spend $100, $200, $400 or $1000 dollars on membership, and even more throughout the year and what do you really get in return… a crappy quarterly magazine, the occasional crappy networking event, crappy marketing emails from every company they have sold your name too, crappy educational offerings and the ever popular crappy annual event….

Whoopee shit my friend.. in essence you are paying top dollar for a steaming pile of crap and they expect you to love it, they expect you to be there and they take you for granted.

Maybe it is time to walk away from this really bad relationship, this dysfunctional nightmare.

Oh, the old association will come sniffing around, they will whine and they will cry and they might even plead for you to take them back telling you how they have changed… but be strong, you can live without them.

You can do it, you have been living without them since the day you joined.

Filed Under: Event Industry Tagged With: associations

Stop Blaming the Unions for Trade Show Failures in Chicago

June 22, 2011 By Keith Johnston Leave a Comment

I have heaped a fair share of blame on unions for their part in the rising costs of trade show exhibiting for a long time, In fact, I have a posts where I call out all of the sides to rethink how they are working together at McCormick Place here in Chicago.

I will lay blame where it is due and now, it is not the unions, not by a long shot.

A couple of weeks ago (yes, I am running behind), @gregruby and @michaelmccurry shared a couple of articles that show that although the unions have mostly played ball on cost cutting measures, costs at McCormick Place have not decreased and in some cases, costs have actually gone up.

Having a trade show or large conference here in Chicago is a pain in the ass, getting harder and more difficult.

I do not blame planners that take a pass on Chicago, I really don’t…. I would. Let’s find out where your money is going.

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Filed Under: Event Industry Tagged With: Conference Planning, contractor, Event Planning, exhibiting, exhibitor, trade show

Mexico’s Meeting and Conventions Industry Growing as Tourism Surges

June 8, 2011 By Keith Johnston Leave a Comment

I do not normally run press releases anymore, just not something I am that cool with doing since PlannerWire has moved to a more blog/commentary site. This one was brought to my attention by my fellow Site Chicago Board member Teresa Matamoros of Visit Mexico (many of you know her!) and I thought it was worth a mention because I still have some Mexico posts to come in the next couple weeks.

So, here it is!

ICCA ranks Mexico 22nd worldwide for international association meetings
MEXICO CITY, June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Mexico’s Meeting, Incentives, Congress, and Exhibitions business continues to grow, and has been ranked 22nd worldwide in the latest rankings by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). Mexico moved up five (5) places in the 2010 rankings from its 2009 ranking of 27th, in the number of events with a nearly 31 percent increase in meetings held in Mexico.
This comes to no surprise, as visitor arrivals to Mexico have been on the rise. Most recently, the Secretariat of Tourism (SECTUR) announced that in 2010 Mexico was the main destination for tourists from the United States by capturing 14.7 percent of overseas US tourism. This represents the highest number of U.S. travelers to Mexico since 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“Destinations and entities continue to invest in infrastructure, equipment and services… But Mexico has much more to offer,” said Gloria Guevara Manzo, Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism, in a press release. “In order to continue our competitiveness, we will also promote less well-known destinations that can be of interest for international conventions.”
And international convention planners have clearly taken notice. In 2010, Mexico was host to 140 international conventions, many of them taking place in Mexico City. ICCA ranked Mexico City 15th on the international list of top cities for congresses and conventions, with more than 36,000 annual participants. Mexico City clinched the 5th spot in the Americas category, having hosted 43 conventions. International meetings are defined as those organized by international associations which take place on a regular basis and rotate between a minimum of three countries.
The conventions and meetings industry and tourism growth may be in part due to increased levels of investment in tourism projects. During the first trimester of 2011, more than US $900 million were spent on tourism projects in Mexico, according to the Secretary of Tourism. The investments represent a 127 percent increase from 2010. The Secretary of Tourism, has stated that “the resources were primarily allocated to projects relating to the areas of accommodations, real estate tourism, and the food and beverage industry.”

SOURCE Ministry of the Economy of Mexico

If you have taken the time to read this, take the time to share it, Mexico could really use a boost from the US right now!

Filed Under: Event Destinations, Event Industry, Places Tagged With: ICCA, Mexico

Where are the Meeting and Event Planners? Associations Should Ask Themselves.

April 18, 2011 By Keith Johnston 1 Comment

I was talking to an industry buddy the other day and we were commenting about how it seems that every industry event that we attend is populated by a planner/supplier ratio of about 10/90, we both agreed that this has been going on for quite sometime although not at these levels. We started to ask ourselves why this was and how come the problem is reaching epic proportions and we came up with a few reasons that are probably blindingly obvious but I thought I would make note anyway. The problem is not an “industry event” issue either, the problem may actually be within the association itself. This is also not a rant on one association, this is a rant on all of them, they all have good qualities and they have all have bad qualities, the cracks are starting to show with many of them though.

I am also sure that the following holds true for most industries and their associations, I can only speak to what I know. What I do know is that some are trying. I work with associations that are trying to change, they are thinking about the future and their members and to those associations, I say bravo!

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Filed Under: Event Industry Tagged With: event planning associations

New Chicago Tourism Board Chief Should Act Quickly

January 31, 2011 By Keith Johnston Leave a Comment

The following is a little tidbit shared a couple of weeks ago by the always awesome @heidithorn… this is a short excerpt from an article that was in the Chicago Tribune.. it took me this long to figure out what I really wanted to say after reading the article because, to be honest, I want to give him a fair shake and before today, I was not doing that, so I let this sit… I want the new CTB Chief to be an overwhelming success.

New Chicago tourism chief targeting more corporate gatherings, sports events
Don Welsh also will lobby for increased funding
When Don Welsh takes the reins at the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau next month, his first priority will be sharpening its sales force to lock in critically needed new business.
“I think the first thing we have to do … is make sure we have the best and most productive sales people in the convention market,” Welsh said in an interview Tuesday.
In addition to pursuing big trade shows that have been the city’s bread and butter, the bureau will be looking to add more corporate gatherings, given the concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the Midwest, Welsh said. The bureau is courting the likes of Microsoft Corp. and McDonald’s Corp.
Click here to continue

It sounds like Don is telling us that the CTB was not courting McDonald’s , Microsoft or other companies with a strong local presence before his arrival?? For God’s sake, McDonalds is headquartered here. Next he will tell me he just heard of a little company called Boeing and wouldn’t it be groovy if they had a meeting in Chicago!

Making sure that the “sales force is the best and most productive”, I will not even address this statement except to say… No kidding.. Bravo, Whoo Whooo, stroke of genius.

I am sure that Don knows that these are ridiculous statements and very much like a loosing coach holding a press conference and saying “We should have scored more points”. He is a smart guy, of that I am sure.

After reading this article and then digging a little deeper, I learned some other things that are giving us pause..

What I found is that Mr. Welsh is not even going to be living in Chicago for the first 18 months of his tenure. He will be commuting from Indy (he has kids in school is the reason given, fair enough, but there are kids and parents that move every day for jobs, my family moved my senior year).

Not being a part of the Chicago community and being in charge of Chicago tourism is not acceptable. It is OK for a couple of months, but 18 months? Come on…. We live here, we work here, so should you. You should not be commuting to and from Chicago from a far off land to be the head of tourism.

You really don’t care about the city if you don’t live here. You don’t react to the evening news. You do not spend weekends in Grant Park or down at the Cell. You do not see the good or the bad in a “I live here” kind of way. You will be living in a hotel which I bet we are paying for and not living in a neighborhood or on the block. For 18 months you will be in charge of our tourism and yet an outsider because your brain will be back with your family. Home is where the heart is, not where you lay your head.

I think what is giving us concern is how much money we spent for what is obvious and to have a leader that will not live here. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that it is $390,000 per year plus the chance to earn another 78k in bonus. This salary is 50% higher than Tim Roby who is leaving the position.

To be fair, I must and I will reserve judgement about Mr Welsh for the time being. I typically reserve judgement for a couple of months after someone takes the reins in a new gig, and pushing for more funding is a smart move but the clock has started ticking.

Mr Welsh may very well come into power and kick ass and take names, that is certainly my hope. He did great things in Indy and may well do great things here, but to win the hearts and minds of Chicago, he will need some quick success because we do not tolerate anything less, especially given these circumstances and the money involved.

Chicago does welcome newcomers and we adopt them as our own but only when they give us the same respect… you must also make Chicago yours and treat it like your own in return. If Mr Welsh does that, than he will have a long and healthy tenure here, but Mr Welsh, please, spare us the whitewash and the obvious answers.

There are bigger reasons that Chicago is getting hammered as a meeting and event destination and it is not because the CTB Sales Force is not the “best and the most productive” or because we are not courting local companies, the reason is higher up the food chain and we hope that you address those issues.

Chicagoens, including those in the meetings and events industry are smart, do not forget that.

Filed Under: Event Industry Tagged With: Chicago Convention Tourism, Chicago CTB, Conventions, Don Welsh, events, meetings

Goodbye and Good Riddance

January 17, 2011 By Keith Johnston Leave a Comment

I have written about the mayor of Las Vegas before, I have no love for the man. Frankly, to me, the man is an embarrasment to the city and he is a big reason that Vegas meetings and events took a hit after the AIG mess.

I wrote an article about him after he appeared at a White Sox Preseason game with "the girls" and a giant martini glass at the same time the President and congress were getting ready to filet anyone holding a meeting or event in "Sin City".

This was the wrong image to send then and it is the wrong image to send now. Everyone knows that bad shit happens in Vegas, but you can also have fun and do some serious business. No need to highlight the chicks and the booze Mr. Mayor, really, we freaking get it.

His latest quote does him no favors and as he is want to do, the man always appears with a showgirl at all public appearances and this is how he describes them:

"They're usually very bright, very statuesque, wearing plumage and a very skimpy, shall I say, outfit. They take my arm; they hold my gin."

This is the man that is the face of the Las Vegas meetings industry. Luckily, for this great destination, he is outta here later this year, you can read more over at the post. I certainly hope that those in the Vegas Meetings and Events industry are breathing a sigh of relief.

Filed Under: Event Industry Tagged With: AIG, Las Vegas, Mayor, meetings