Event Industry | PlannerWire

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

St Louis CVC Pay to Play is Shameful

January 4, 2011 By Keith Johnston 1 Comment

@joaneisenstodt brought a great article to my attention today, it centers on new signs for tourists in St Louis that ignore local attractions that couldn’t pay the fee to be listed. This is my blog and my opinion, so take this as you will because I have problems with this and I am about to call this one as I see it.

On its face, this might seem like an OK idea, but it really is not. Here are some small snips from the StLouisToday.com article with my thoughts thrown in.

In the coming months, workers will erect hundreds of signs intended to point tourists to the best that St. Louis has to offer. But the $1.7 million effort will overlook many of the area’s most historic, unusual and off-the-beaten-path destinations.
That’s because it’s a pay-to-play campaign, and the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission is asking attractions to pay tens of thousands of dollars to be mentioned on the signs, which will be placed on prominent streets. Big commercial attractions — like casinos and sports facilities — can afford the hefty price tag, as can many of the biggest — and richest — cultural institutions.
But dozens of smaller attractions that could benefit from the exposure will be ignored because they were never approached by the CVC or they simply can’t afford to participate.
“You’ve got to spend money to make money, but you have to have money to spend it,” said William Piper, the chairman of the board of trustees for the Eugene Field House Foundation, which runs the historic house of the poet on the south side of downtown. He said the museum would have had to pay more than $25,000 to participate in the CVC’s street signage program.
“We just couldn’t play in that league,” said Piper, a lawyer.

Why not use funds from the Hotel Tax to include the smaller institutions? Why not have different costs of entry based on how much revenue an institution or attraction has? Why not come up with something that would include everyone…….unless the CVC did not want everyone to be listed (you will notice in the article that it says “not everyone was approached”).

Who won’t be listed?

The Campbell and Eugene Field houses aren’t the only historic downtown landmarks that won’t be listed. Nor will Soldiers Memorial, the Scott Joplin House and the city’s oldest building — the Old Cathedral next to the Arch.
Another religious attraction also won’t be on the signs. Monsignor Joseph Pins, rector of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, said he would have to spend about $25,000 to get signs directing tourists to the New Cathedral and its world-famous collection of religious mosaics. “I just couldn’t in conscience spend that much money, especially in this economy,” he said.
“The program really seemed geared towards the large organizations,” Clifford said. “You’d really need to have revenue of a million dollars or more to justify this.”
Even some of the city’s better known institutions — such as Jefferson Barracks, the St. Louis County Museum of Transportation or Laumeier Sculpture Park — won’t appear on the signs, intended mostly for out-of-towners.

So, now your attendees will be guided directly to the attractions that can pay:

Big commercial attractions — like casinos and sports facilities — can afford the hefty price tag, as can many of the biggest — and richest — cultural institutions.

It seems to me that this load of crap was not thought out very well and is not the success that the St Louis CVC thinks it is (or hopes it will be). This is actually a shameful moment in their history and geared for big business and big money partners.

It is my humble opinion that the St Louis CVC could have worked to find a solution for everyone but decided to jump in bed with the highest bidders rather than put in the effort and mind numbing 30 minutes of thought it would have taken to come up with something better.

Seriously, they spend hundreds of thousands on a study and this is the best they can do……I have two plans that would pay for the whole f’ing thing and it took me 34 seconds….seriously, I timed it on my Timex.

So, now we have a conundrum and the CVC credibility is now called into question.

Can meeting and event professionals now trust anything that the St Louis CVC says or are they steering us toward the properties, venues and attractions that feed the machine with the highest bid. You should see the comment section of the article….

“Well Mr Meeting Planner, it is our opinion that you should choose Hotel A because they are the best”….. but please do not look behind the curtain a the suitcase full of cash moving through.

Whether they like it or not (and obviously not here), a CVC, CVB, XYZ or whatever, is tasked with representing a city or destination.

It is the smaller destinations and attractions that need the signs, not the big ones.

I fully understand that it costs money to do that and some attractions may get a better push than others, but this program is 100% bullshit on its face and I really, really wonder what the other motivation is here because informing tourists how to get the screwing stadium or casino is certainly not necessary…. they already know how to get to the big attractions or perhaps the $150,000 study neglected to tell them that.

In fact, if you wanted to put up nice signs, why do a 6 figure study……….just put them up. A study that told them to do this in 2 phases…. seriously, whose freaking brother in law was the consultant on this one.

In the famous words of a Dude named Ted “Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K”……maybe they should do a study to tell them what…..

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Filed Under: Event Destinations, Event Industry, Places Tagged With: cvb, cvc, pay to play, st louis

Unions and Hotels Need to Play Nice

December 20, 2010 By Keith Johnston Leave a Comment

The Economy Sucks, it is really not getting much better and there is no end in site to this never ending story of misery that is the state of the meetings and events industry.

Yes, there are some bright spots and there are some folks that are actually doing well, but by and large most are getting by with less, working longer hours because of slashed staffs and many are in fear of what the New Year will bring.

That is what happens in a recession… it has happened before, it will happen again and there will be a time in between when we all prosper (bring it on!!).

I often stand perplexed by some of the crap that I see in the news. Here is one such article that caught my attention last week here in Chicago:

From the Chicago Tribune:

Group cancels conference at 2 Hilton hotels a day before Chicago workers go on strike
American Sociological Association says it wants to 'meet in hotels where workers are treated properly.' Hilton says hotels operating 'as normal.'
Chicago's hotel industry felt the consequences of a 15-month-long labor dispute when the American Sociological Association said it will not hold its 2011 annual meeting in August at two Hilton hotels.
More than 5,000 people were expected to attend the conference at the Hilton Chicago and Palmer House Hilton.
The association's decision came one day before a one-day strike Thursday by workers at the Palmer House Hilton — members of Unite Here Local 1 whose contracts expired in August 2009.
"Nothing seems to be moving; so, we are," said Sally Hillsman, the association's executive officer.
While the association said the hotels pledged to be able to accommodate the conference, "our members have been concerned that we meet in hotels where workers are treated properly in terms of wages and other working conditions," Hillsman said.
Click Here to Finish this Story

OMG, what the hell is wrong with both sides on this issue. Both sides of this issue need to sit the F*&K down and talk and get this thing worked out before we see another round of meetings, events and trade shows leaving Chicago for greener, less problematic destinations.

TO BOTH SIDES I will say that what you do is not isolated in a bubble and it has repercussions to all of us that work in the industry. You are not just hurting each other, you are hurting us and we are all getting a little ticked off.

A meeting planner that read the article above and did a little Google search would come across this piece from September.

Unions picket over McCormick Place rules
Dozens of union carpenters carried signs announcing "strike" as they picketed McCormick Place on the last day of the huge International Manufacturing Technology Show, one of the first events in what state and city officials hope is the start of a trade show renaissance that could stimulate billions of dollars in spending in the city.
The job action was spurred by an overhaul of the convention center's procedures for enticing trade show business.
Click Here to Finish this Article

After reading both of these stories, do you think that Ms Meeting Planner is going to choose Chicago? Do you really think that they are going to risk bringing their programs to a City that has labor problems? I have news for you, they will pass us by for a better spot.

Chicago is no longer a good place to have meetings, events and trade shows and the reason is….frankly…………you. Both sides are to blame here, no one has the high ground.

You both need to get off your asses and quit complaining about each other and work this out. NOW. There is a compromise, find it.

We are not asking that you do this, we are demanding that you do this.

Again, there is a compromise somewhere and we do not want to hear your excuses anymore, you are all out of excuses. I don't care about "who said what" and "who did this" and "Johnny wasn't nice to me, so I am gonna take my toys and go home".

Don't want to hear it, get it done.

It would be much better for us all if the Headline read:

Workers and Hotels come to Multiyear Agreement that is Welcomed by Both.

With a subheading of:

Compromise wins the day for Chicago Unions and Hotel Owners

A nice picture of both sides shaking hands would not hurt either.

You do remember what compromise and shaking hands looks like don't you? Maybe you don't, perhaps it has been so long that you only know hate and hurt.

So, here is a question to all of my meeting and event planning professional friends out there and maybe this can send a message……..

Does labor unrest in a city, destination or at a specific property cause you to avoid bringing a group there? Let me know.

Filed Under: Event Industry Tagged With: Chicago, event, Hilton, meeting, planner, Union

The TSA and the Pat Down

November 23, 2010 By Keith Johnston Leave a Comment

I hate the new TSA pat down and I have more reason to complain about it than 98% of the population.

Why you ask? The answer is easy….I get the pat down every time I enter the airport. I am not a random selection, I will say it again, I get the pat down every time I go through security.

That means that although you may get the pat down once a year, I get it multiple times per month and yes, the new pat down is invasive, it is disgusting and yep, they now grab the junk…

I am forced to endure the pat down every flight because I have a very large hunk of metal in me that sets off the metal detector whenever I walk through. I can not avoid the pat down, it finds me whereever I am….

Now, I am not writing this to be for or against the new searches although I think that they are probably not any better than they were before and I am not walking into the debate on the full body scans yet (but I will), although I would say that no one is running out to make pin up posters of the images that they produce.

What I am here to say is the next time you want to bitch at someone about the new rules, please don't take it out on the (mostly) hardworking people that make up the TSA front line staff.

Yes, I know, there is a percentage of them that are rude, obnoxious assholes, but that is true of any large organization. I can walk into a McDonald's, a Kohl's or a Safeway and be forced to deal with a gaggle of jerks, a herd of morons or a tribe of idiots, the only difference is they are not grabbing my junk.

What we, as meeting and event professionals, must remember is that most of the folks at the TSA don't like the new searches any more than we do. They don't want to be grabbing me, you or some other smelly dude that ate 9 cloves of garlic for breakfast and a block of stinky cheese for lunch. They are just doing the job that they have been assigned to do.

I have been reading a lot of things lately that make me ashamed for the traveling public and I have heard things from colleagues that make me cringe. People calling these poor folks perverts, racists and worse just because they are doing their jobs and trying to make a living and buy their kids dinner.

I finally had a chance to speak with a TSA guy and he was very nice, he said he hated the new pat down and hated the fact that people get so upset with him. I told him I was cool with it and he could do what he needed so that both of us could get on with our day. The only difference was, after we were finished, he was off to grab someone else, I went to my gate and got a Starbucks.

If you would like to direct your anger at someone, direct it at the stupid bureaucrats that make these folks subject us to this. You should act like the professional you are and not take it out on someone that is just doing their job.

Filed Under: Event Industry Tagged With: down, event, meeting, pat, professional, TSA

10 Things Meeting Planners Hate about Hotels and Hotel Sales

November 17, 2010 By Keith Johnston 2 Comments

There are many fine hotel sales folks out there and I have talked about them in a few posts like this one about the Westin Chicago North Shore and another about the Langham. If you are one of the "good" ones, don't get your panties in a bunch over this post, count yourself as one of the good guys!

This is by no means a complete list and I know that my meeting and event planning comrades can add about 80 more so feel free to put them in the comment section. Perhaps a saavy and smart hotel sales person (and their are a lot of them) will read this and tailor how they interact with us -

The hard sell

Enough said but if you want to read more, check out my post about how Hoteliers Will Loose with the hard sell.

Paying for in-room internet

Come on Mr or Mrs Resort Property, If the Holiday Inn Express can give me superfast high speed internet for free, so can you, so don't give us whatever excuse you are peddling this week.

Waiting for the sales person to call

Happens all of the time. If we set a call time of 10:00 am to talk about your property, make it 9:55 when you call. Really don't care that you were on the phone with "another client".

Resort Fees

Another scam by hotel properties to avoid paying taxes and reduce the advertised room rate, this is one that can get newbie meeting planners in trouble when they go back to the boss and say "the rate is only $149.00 per night"! Add the fees to the room rate and pay your taxes like the rest of us.

Hidden Construction

If you are planning to do a 100 Million Dollar renovation to your property, please let me know up front. I do not want to sign a contract and then read in the paper that the pool will be closed for a year while you create Water-Land-o-Rama. This happened to me in Chicago at a well known property. The client and attendees arrived to a hotel that was all tore up and the sales department knew it was scheduled when they booked our group… bad, just bad. Have not been back since.

Competing Groups in House

I asked if there was going to be another pharma group in house over my dates, you could have said yes, I would have looked at other dates… now I just don't like you and my client is in deep crap with her boss.

A Crappy RFP Experience

My RFP is clear how I want (or need) your response, very clear, it is on page one of the RFP, why do you insist on doing it your way when you should know that it is going to kick you to the bottom of the pile. Also, I asked for a particular set of items to be included, why did you ignore them completely and make me come back and ask.

The Site Visit I don't care about

My Group is Pharma, Tech or Association, why -o- why are we walking around your property talking about how many beautiful weddings you have had or how Jimmy's Bar Mitzvah was fabulous.. I don't care!!!

Address Me When Speaking

I was once on a site with a client and the sales person never made eye contact with me and actually called me Kevin… He only spoke to my client. Yes, the client will make the final decision on what property to choose, but listen up jackass, I hold more influence over the decision than you may realize, in fact, I can spin your property anyway I want. Also, the client chose me to be her eyes and ears and she trusts me, calling me Kevin was a really bad idea. We got back in the car and she said "What a jerk".

Not following direction

The client said "a low key site visit" and she meant low key. Picking her up in a limo and having all of the staff out front to greet her made her uncomfortable. When I said the site visit should just be the three of us, I did not mean her, me and all of you.

Bonus Gripe

Trying to hard to make it fit

This is something that even the best sales people with the best intentions fall victim too. They want a sale so desperately that they will try and try to make it work. Instead, concentrate on the relationship, not the program.

My program is specific and 1/2 way through the site we all know this, please stop trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Instead, let's talk about other ways we can work together on future stuff and let this one go. I am with my client but have 20 other clients, we can still finish the site and maybe my client will come back for a smaller program or maybe it will work for another client.

I once had a sales person that was thinking that the program was not going to work and she was brilliant… she asked if we had an extra hour (yes) and brought a car around, we jumped in and she took us to a sister property where the program would work….. and instead of handing us off to the new sales person, she "joined" her counterpart and they did the site together because we were comfortable with her. I don't know if she was in on the commission on that one but she deserved to be and if she wasn't, she ended up being the winner in the long run anyway.

That is the essence of sales, sell me what I need, not what I want.. if you do that, the return will be 10 fold (I have since done 7 programs with her).

There you have it! 11 gripes that meeting planners have with hotels and hoteliers!

Filed Under: Event Industry Tagged With: Event Planner, hotel, hotelier, meeting, rfp, sales

How Hotel Marketers Ruin Meeting Planner Love

October 27, 2010 By Keith Johnston 1 Comment

Hotel marketers, for all of their saavy can sometimes be clueless morons that can screw up a wet dream.

I am not sure what motivates them to ruin a perfectly good relationship, it could be the bosses demanding numbers, sheer hope or simply being stupid.

How do they do this you ask? The answer is simple, they treat me like a dumping ground.

Here is the scenario.. I attend a tradeshow or industry event and then, rather than sending me targeted information and marketing emails about their property that I can use for my clients and their meetings, they start dumping every email campaign they have on me in hopes that something will stick.

They treat my inbox like their own personal marketing dump with their endless supply of vacation, wedding and get-away for the weekend emails for which I have absolutely 100% no need for.

I am in the meeting and event planning business, I plan meetings and events and when I am not doing that, I speak or write about things that effect the meetings and events industry…. Guess what, I am now writing about something that effects the meetings and events industry and it is you dip wad.

I do not care if you are having a "Mom's Day Special" or a "Bring the Kids to Sheboygan Weekend". I really don't.

This is 2010, there are tools out there to segment your audience. Put me in the Corporate Business or Meetings business folder and keep me there. I don't want anything else, I did not ask for anything else.

This tirade is not unmotivated. Today, the line was crossed by a property. I attended an industry event last week and even before my car hood cooled off I had gotten the "thanks for attending email" from the sales person I met. So far, so good.The next day, the sales person sent me the specs that I had asked for, again, we were on the right track, we were cooking with gas.

The next day, I forwarded the specs to my client and said "have a look" this property might fit.

Then, the train hit a rock, it started to sway and we started to derail. That was about 4 days later, I am guessing that is about the time it took for my email to go from the CRM software to the marketing department and then be acted upon by someone adding me to their list(s). The emails started telling me about all of their specials, all of their offers to have a vacation, have a weekend. They were not stopping.. everyday, without fail, adding to my email inbox nightmare.

All marketers want you to take action from their messages and I took action! Yes Mr Marketer, I took action! I unsubscribed.

I have taken myself off of your list forever and you cannot have me back. You wrecked the relationship and really, I am better for ditching you….

The sad part of the story is the poor sales person, they did their part by the book and I liked her, she was pretty good at what she did but she lost any potential business because everytime I think of their property, I am going to think about all of the stupid marketing that they did.

What is even worse, the next time someone says "What do you think about that hotel", I am not going to talk about the awesome benefits of having a meeting at the property, I am going to go straight into my email story……

That is the vision you have left me with….

Filed Under: Event Industry, Event Marketing, Web and Event Tech Tagged With: Email Marketing, event marketing, Hotel Marketing

Chicago McCormick Place and Unions Killing Chicago Meeting Industry

September 20, 2010 By Keith Johnston Leave a Comment

I am about to go on a rant the likes of which I have not had in a long time. Perhaps a rant is exactly what this situation needs. I am also putting in a foul language alert because I used some raw words in my post. Perhaps, a hard look at what is going on will make at least one person realize that the situation is almost beyond repair.

I have no idea what the Chicago Carpenter's Union is thinking. Perhaps they are having a senior moment and forgetting what my mother always told me "Don't air your problems in public and keep problems in the family".

The recent spate of headlines over the weekend should translate into millions more in lost revenues for the city, our workers and our businesses. Do the unions in Chicago care? Nope, they could care less (oh, they will cry and say they care but we know they don't).

If you did not see them, let me give get you up to speed so that you can share in my disgust with everyone who is involved at McPier (our beloved bone-heads that run all of Chicago's convention facilities) and the Unions.

From ABC7 News:

September 19, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — Union carpenters at McCormick Place have settled a labor dispute with a trade show exhibitor that prompted a strike. The two sides reached the agreement Sunday.
The two-day dispute centered on work rules and threatened to cause complications at the International Manufacturing Technology Show.
The settlement was reached in time for carpenters to dismantle and pack up exhibits from the show.
Despite today's agreement, a federal lawsuit remains. It was filed by the union over the recent overhaul of labor rules at McCormick Place.

And they continue:

Union carpenters file suit against labor rules at McCormick Place‎ - Chicago Sun-Times
Union picketing could affect McCormick Place trade show‎ – Chicago Tribune
Unions strike against McCormick Place rules overhaul‎ – Examiner.com

To everyone at McPier and the Unions, I want to share this little fact, this news spread all around the country thanks to this new fangled thingie we got called the "internets". People know and they do not sympathize with you anymore. They may have at one time, but they do not anymore.

Get your acts together…….YOU ARE THE PROBLEM

Meeting, conference and convention planners are no longer watching your bullshit to see what happens and how it turns out. They used to do that because everyone loves Chicago and they wanted to bring their events here. They are now seeing these glorious headlines and tuning out, moving on and abandoning Chicago as an event destination. YOU ARE TO BLAME. You have already caused us to have a bad reputation in the industry, the people and events that move on will not be coming back. Do you get this, or are you that stupid. They are not coming back.

You are schmucks.

You are to blame for all of the lost revenue, you are responsible for the lost wages and you are responsible for the problems. No one else but YOU.

They (we) are sick of you all, you both are the reason that we are loosing so much business. You are acting like whiny, snivelling little school children and you need to either shut up or go away before there are tumbleweeds blowing through the ghost town that used to be "Event City". You should let real event people handle this mess you have created. Real event people, do you hear, real event people. People that actually understand the event business would not let this crap go on another minute. Event professionals get things done.

To McPier: You all patted yourself on the back with the last load of manure that you spread around about "improved" labor rules and lower costs. You even have videos up on YouTube talking about just how fucking great you are. You are not great, you can't even keep your extended family in line. You should be ashamed and you should all probably be fired. (My rant continues below these videos).

To the Unions: You are probably the biggest bunch of crooks out there. Now this may be an exaggeration, but that is the perception and you do yourself no favors in the PR department. Your leaders should be tossed out on their asses and some reasonable, forward thinking members should step up to take over.

Exhibitors hate you, meeting planners despise you and most people think that you are a bunch of incompetent boobs. You charge too much and basically screw up everything you touch. Get with the program, this is the 21st century and things are different now. This is not 1978….you still act like Barney Miller is the number one show on TV and Jimmy Carter is in the White House.

You want my little union story. Last year I had a client that had to set up some A/V equipment for a couple of interviews, this was at McCormick Place. Now, because it is McCormick Place, union guys had to set up his stuff for a disgusting amount of money. They arrived late. They did not know how his equipment worked and he had to stand over their shoulders explaining what plug went where. You know how they handled this situation….. THEY LAUGHED. They were late, incompetent and had the nerve to laugh about it…………ARRRRRRGH. Oh, and my client had to pay that ungodly bill.

This is what is happening in Chicago. The morons at McPier and the asses at the unions want you to think that they are getting it done, they want you to think that what they are doing has never been done before and that they are making Chicago "The place for conventions"……..what these dip-shits don't realize is that 99% of meeting and event professionals have heard their sob stories and promises to "make things better"……..WE HAVE HEARD IT GUYS AND GALS, WE ARE SICK OF YOU, WE WANT IT FIXED.

Meeting and Event Professionals, Association Directors, Major Corporations are sick and tired of waiting for things to get better because they are never going to be better. They are not going to be better until Chicago gets leaders that actually understand what meeting and event professionals need and the city is non-union.

Let me get one thing clear. I am not anti-union. I am anti-Chicago-BS-Union. There are cities all over the country where the unions have made positive concessions and they are all now singing Kum Bay Ya and roasting marshmallows over the burning coals of Chicago's lost event business.

I do not understand what is going on here. Maybe someone can get me a ticket for the clue train because I really do not understand……. How do they think that they are making things better? Do they actually think that we even hear them anymore? They are not listening to us, why should we listen to them.

Filed Under: Event Industry Tagged With: McCormick Place, McCormick Place Events, McCormick Place Unions, Union Labor

The real state of the economy for the meetings and events industry

September 2, 2010 By Keith Johnston Leave a Comment

Meeting and event people crack me up (and yes, I am one of them and yes, I crack myself up). We have the unique ability to stand in the middle of a burning room, inspire confidence, take the lead and talk about how the glow gives the room a more personal feel. We have the innate ability to see the good side in everything or at least make the bad side a little more tolerable. I call this affliction, "Eventeritus".

I have seen this affliction strike many times and have even been afflicted myself. Whether it is explaining to an attendee why his room does not have a view (but wait! You are 10 steps closer to the bar) or giving an inpromtu history lesson when a bus is running late or even smiling while running as the audio portion of a program comes to a crashing halt, most of us just seem to make others feel like everything is going to be OK.

This affliction can actually be a great trait when you are trying to keep attendees calm, moving forward or need to buy an extra ten minutes as you fix that little audio problem, but I am getting the sense that the entire industry is moving into the advanced stages of this affliction. It is fast becoming a case of "delusional eventeritus", especially when it comes to the current state of the world economy and how it applies to our industry…..perhaps we are simply applying our own happy/fuzzy techniques to ourselves as we delude ourselves that the economy is getting better, the worst is over and that we are all going to be A-OK.

I was sitting and chatting with an industry chum yesterday afternoon and we got to talking about the massive train wreck that is the world economy. This was a somber conversation to say the least; We discussed how many friends we know that are out of work (17 between us), the companies that have gone out of business and the problems that this man made disaster is creating for the entire meetings and events industry (and every other industry for that matter).

This is not the first time we have had this conversation nor will it be the last I am afraid; It appears that when in groups of two or three, the "delusional eventeritus" virus goes into remission and we are able to talk openly and candidly about what is happening and why we are all scared shitless.

Now, my chum and I are pretty knowledgable guys, we are not stupid and from everything we can gather, regardless of what we are hearing and reading, there is no economic recovery. Zero… it is simply not happening or if it is, we can see no outward signs. Yes, we understand that some areas are seeing little peaks, some companies are doing OK, but as a whole, the entire industry seems to be wallowing in the valley of death and we are fearing evil because it is knocking on the door and it is really pissed off.

To put it bluntly, this is Chernobyl, this is an economic atomic meltdown and Underdog is not coming to save us and Superman is taking a coffee break. They both know that they need to keep their butts out of this fight; Even the Man of Steel is afraid of getting his ass kicked by this scary monster.

In small groups, behind closed doors, in coffee shops and after three martinis, while "Eventeritus" is in remission a truth emerges. Everyone my chum and I talk to, from association executives to meeting planners, hoteliers to CVBs, are telling us things that they are not saying when the door is open and the microphone is on. These well placed, industry executives are saying that they have never seen anything like this, it is terrible and there is no end in sight. No end in sight… someone actually used those words. From the top to the bottom, we are hearing stories that are heartbreaking.

Even in good times, companies go out of business, lay off and slash budgets. It happens everyday; That, as they say… "is business". What we are seeing and hearing now is unprecedented, frightening and causing massive amounts of collateral damage.

The collateral damage is what hurts, it hurts because it happens to real flesh and blood people and it is happening more now than ever before. The people that the economy affects have to make that long journey home to face the spouse, the kids or the mirror and come to the realization that tomorrow, there will be no reason to get up so they might as well get used to sleeping in.

In good times, these individuals would simply go out and get a new gig but the sad fact is, there are simply no new gigs out there and when one comes available, the unemployed pounce on it because they want to be the first to get their resume in, the first to make a good impression. Every last one of them really needs this job, any job, because the mortgage payment is due and heaven forbid little becky gets sick before the insurance runs out.

I see the job seekers everyday. I am getting stacks of unsolicited resumes sent to me. I used to get a couple a week in the good times, now I get so many that I don't even open them anymore, I simply hit the delete button because I have no good news for anyone. Why get their hopes up that I am going to "keep it on file", why should I spread a case of Eventeritus to another person.

As my chum and I were talking, we sat and compared notes about what we are hearing from different parts of the meetings and events community and it was eerlily similar… let me see if others are hearing the same things. Maybe this will sound oddly familiar to all of you.

Hoteliers, long the bastion of happy times and good vibes are telling us that they are sucking pondwater. They are saying that even when they are booking business it is because they have killed themselves with disgusting room rates and contract concessions that would have been unheard of five years ago.The prevelant story is that they are giving away the farm in order to secure any new business that they can put on the books, using the "some business is better than no business" model.

When in public though, the story is radically different. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal from August 11 has the headline "InterContinental Hotels Says Room Rates are Rising" and in the article Bill Marriott is quoted as saying "Business and leisure stays at our hotels are trending up". I am not sure that I completely agree with him and "things are trending up" after your plane has crashed into the side of a mountain is not necessarily an improvement.

Every leisure traveler I know has cut back on their trips and spending. The hotel contracts I am seeing look like the hotel sales people were worked over with a baseball bat. You would not believe the concessions that are in them. They are getting killed in this economy and they know it. Every day I read about this property or that property being taken over, bought out or simply going under, I post these stories to Twitter, Facebook and PlannerWire all day, yet in public, "things are trending up".

CVBs? Same story… life on the their side of street is not much greener. I am friends with many, many CVB executives, sales people and frontline folks. I love them because they always make me so happy to be in their cities. They have a love for their destinations and share that love with everyone. Even those reps from some far-flung backwater can make you truly believe that you have landed in a little piece of heaven when you hear them talk about their destination…. But now, from behind the iron curtain that we all build up, they are telling us that they are scared and they have no idea what to do about it. In some secondary markets, this fear can turn to downright panic, especially when they are located next to a big tier one city where the hotels are giving the rooms away. How can some smaller markets compete with that. They can't, they know it and the cracks are starting to show.

I got a first hand peak at one of the cracks last week. I was hanging with one of my meeting planner friends who is working on a citywide for 2014 (yes, people are still meeting) and after the winning bid was announced, she received a call and an email from a non-winning CVB rep begging for a second shot to resubmit their bid because she said "they have orders to bring in ANY business they can, that it is critical to win this one and that they really need it". That to me speaks volumes about the real "boots on the ground" situation. Things are bad when a major city that we all know is making calls and sending emails like that. Destinations are hurting badly, yet we are seeing articles like this on "Today" with the headline "Tourism showing signs of life in the Big Easy". Perhaps New Orleans is seeing a little jump, I hope they are because they really need it, but that is not what people are saying in other destinations. They are saying that the current state of affairs is Dead on Arrival.

Meeting and event planners may be doing great when it comes to contract negotiations, but we are getting our asses handed to us on the home front. There is a planner I know that works for a major pharma company. You would think that she would be as happy as a pig in shit, but her great job title and business card from a major reputable company hides a terrible secret. What she is experiencing is common throughout the industry. You see, she is one of only two meeting planners left in her department. They used to have a staff of over 14. Add to this that her budgets have been slashed to the bone and she is working 60-70 hours a week just to keep up and you have a recipe for disaster. Will she quit this awful situation? Not on your life, she said there is no way she is jumping into the job market right now, that would be suicide.

Associations? Not even a smidgen better than the rest. Yes they are still doing their annual meetings, conferences and trade shows but they are doing them with fewer attendees, smaller budgets and slashed staffs. One association I know has an annual attendance for their conference that typically hovers around 450. Not this year. They have 83 on the books and the event is a couple of weeks away. This is a great organization and the program is not lacking… it is also being held in a great location. Attendance is down because of the economy. Plain and simple, companies are slashing the industry events that their employees can attend.

We all see it at the meetings and events industry events we attend. With a few exceptions, attendance is down all across the board, we see the tumbleweeds blowing through the aisles and see the empty seats in sessions. Think about this, we all know that every conference or tradeshow spins their attendance numbers, that is just an ugly truth. When the numbers look this bad and a full court spin job has been applied, that is a reason for quaking in your boots.

What does this all mean? Who knows, I wish I had some rosy picture to paint for everyone like the headlines that we are reading.

What I do know is that we are not blind, the truth is staring at us and we are gazing back into its eyes like lovers on a first date but "Eventeritus" will keep us all singing a happy tune when we are in public. We will sing about how great things are, what an awesome job we have and that things are "trending up". This is what meeting and event professionals do, we make the best of the situation we are given, rise to the occasion and plan the best meetings and events we can with the tools that we are given.

Things change at the end of the night however, we all have to walk home and when we do, we are whistling past the graveyard hoping that we will not be the next casualty of an economy that seems to be getting worse, not better.

Filed Under: Event Industry, Event Planning Tagged With: event industry, events economy, events industry economy, meeting economy, meeting industry, meetings industry economy

Thoughts on the Park 51 Muslim Community Center

August 24, 2010 By Keith Johnston Leave a Comment

I typically do not weigh in on political matters here unless the pertain to the meetings and events industry and the more that I think about it, the more I am thinking that the controversy over the Park 51 Community Center does indeed impact our industry.

I notice that our industry associations are quite quiet on the issue,
probably waiting to see which way the wind blows rather than take a
stand on something that will have profound repercussions on the United
States as a country. They really should consider coming out with a statement on the issue.

Most people who read this are American, most are meeting and event professionals. As meeting and event professionals, we deal with all races, religions, orientations and personality types in our roles and we are the great integrators. I like to think that we treat all of our attendees equally and with respect, putting everyone on the same pedestal. Where are we now that this is happening, what is wrong with us.

First, lets get a few things straight:

This is not a Mosque, it is a community center that will have a pool and basketball courts.
It will have a prayer room, much like an airport has a chapel. Get this straight, it is not a Mosque (although, that is irrelevant).

Second, lets talk about the people that are building this center and do some simple math.

They are Muslim, not al-Qaida
Being Muslim does not = al-Qaida, just as being German does not = Nazi

Newt Gingrich and his wonks are going around spouting how you would not allow the Nazi’s to build next to the Holocaust Museum and I agree, that would be inflammatory, rude and disgusting.

Go back to my equations and hold that they are true:

If you would not allow the Nazis to build next to the Holocaust Museum (which we all agree on), it would then stand that you would not allow al-Qaida to build next to the World Trade Center Site.
It would also stand that if a fine group of Germans wished to build a Church a couple of blocks from the Holocaust Museum that would be fine because German’s are not Nazis, Nazi’s are Nazi’s… although they intersect.
Therefore it should stand that al-Qaida is al-Qaida, Muslims are Muslims and the two, while intersecting, are not the same.

Muslims were among the first responders on 9/11, they were among the dead on 9/11 and they are certainly among the people that were outraged by what happened on that tragic day.

Some will argue that Muslims were seen cheering after the attack…..of course there were people who stood and cheered that day, there were also Germans that cheered on the day that Poland was invaded, there were Russians who cheered after the invasion of Czechoslovakia and Japanese who cheered the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The difference is CNN, CNN was not at all of these events.

What we quickly forget is that there were also Muslims who cried that day, just as there were Germans that cried, Russians that cried and Japanese that cried.

If we continue down this path, we are becoming less American, we are becoming what we despise most, we are becoming wrong and that I cannot stand for. Just because you do not agree with it, does not make it wrong.

I am an American. I am an American with Christian Friends, with Muslim Friends, with Jewish Friends, with Gay Friends, with Straight Friends, with German Friends, with Black Friends, with White Friends, with Japanese Friends, with Italian Friends and even friends that I think are idiots. All types can be welcome in my world. All of my friends can even be in the same room together and have great conversations because we respect each other.

I am not friends with Nazis, I am not friends with al-Qaida and I am not friends with any one who would spit on the spirit of America and say that one peaceful group has less rights than another. Wake up people, this is UN-American.

Our troops fight for precisely these rights, they fight for the rights of a minority to not get squashed by the majority. They fight for the 1st Amendment and all of the other amendments that we hold dear and are so proud of. They fight for the memory of all of the lives that were lost on 9/11, even the Muslim ones.

What are we to do as meeting and event professionals if this spreads. What are you going to say when someone will not sit at the same table with a Muslim, just because they are a Muslim. What are you going to say when your organization decides to exclude Muslims from speaking at a program and what are you going to say when it spreads to another group….say Jewish people, White people or Indian people. Are you going to sit there and say “I am going to go with the group because that is what they think” or perhaps you will say “This does not concern me”.

The famous quote by Pastor Martin Niemöller regarding the failure of German Intellectuals during the Nazi rise to power sums this situation up perfectly.

“THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

Filed Under: Event Industry, Green Meetings / CSR Tagged With: Park 51 Community Center

What is in that “Preferred Vendor” contract

August 18, 2010 By Keith Johnston 2 Comments

June 24, 2011 Update- Updating info on some of the links below (some of the venues have taken the pages down… chickens).

I was at an industry event a few weeks ago and had a great conversation with a guy who shall remain nameless because this is Chicago after all. He does not need the grief and I am sure that he likes his job. Let’s just say that he is high up at a major food service provider.

One of the things that we discussed at length was the preferred relationship status of caterers and other vendors at some of Chicago’s main meeting and event spaces. My friend finally put words to what I had always known. They paid to get on the list and they paid a lot.

This is not unique to Chicago, Dave Lutz of Velvet Chainsaw has a post over at TSNN and these types of relationships are number four on his list of issues plaguing the tradeshow industry. I highly recommend the read.

In my eyes, the precise issue is not that vendors pay to be on a preferred vendor list, the issue is that vendors and venues treat these deals as a dirty little secret and act like they are ashamed of it. There is zero transparency. The simple act of hiding the agreements means that there could be dirty dealing going on and when this is the case, it is the end user (meeting planner) that gets the shaft. When you are forced to use a select group of vendors, from a very small pool, you will end up getting sub-par service and paying more. Because these are sweetheart deals, the venue and the vendor really don’t care if you are happy because both have a lock on the market.

The worst thing about these deals is how they try and sell them to the meeting or event professional; “We chose them because they provide the best service”, “They met our strict criteria”…. blah, blah, blah. In fact, perusing a few websites, this is how some venues describe their preferred vendors:

Superior in their field, these industry experts have been
hand-selected to complement and enhance your occasion.
The XXXXX Museum requests that clients select a caterer from the
following list, created to provide a selection of professional, reliable
caterers that are familiar with the constraints of working in a museum
environment.
Our Preferred Caterers have been selected for their excellent
cuisine, attractive presentation and attention to detail.

I am in marketing, I know spin. This is to spin as tornado is to breeze.

What makes matters worse is that we as meeting and event pros accept these answers with a grin and a nod because we know the truth. We always have. We have been programed to simply accept. We put up with it because the venue is perfect, the client wants the venue, the venue is across the street from the conference hall, there are thousands of excuses why we must have the venue. We know we are going to get screwed and we just take it.

Here is how my friend described his companies deal with some venues here in Chicago. His company requested to be put on venue A’s preferred vendor list. They filled out the requisite paperwork, they had a few meetings and then they were told to make a donation on top of turning over a percentage of the gross from the catering sale. This was not your typical donation, it was a pretty lofty sum, for some locations I was told that this sum was somewhere north of five figures.

After this is done, it is never mentioned again, until it is time to pony up and pay the piper to remain on the preferred vendor list.

So, what do we do as meeting and event professionals? You can try and not use the venue, but that is not always an option or the next venue has the same deal going. You can try and bring in your own vendor but this may not be possible or the penalty cost may be prohibitive. All tough choices and none of them good.

The winning bet is to demand that we see the fine print, demand that we see the contracts and how preferred vendors are chosen. Do I really think that this is going to happen? No, I don’t. In all likelihood, it will never change.

An even better solution would be for the venues to actually be transparent and say, “Yes, you must use our preferred vendor. Our preferred vendors are companies that have made a financial commitment to the venue that helps us meet our goals every year, that is why they are preferred” – Bam, end of story, I get that. I fully understand that stand alone venues and non-profits like museums need to make a living above the front door take and memberships to keep going. Times are tough and we can all appreciate that.

So, in the end? What can I do? What I can do is shine a little light on the process and help meeting and event pros understand why their food costs are so high at some venues. Information is key.

I submit the following preferred caterer agreements for your inspection. The City of Norfolk one is not too bad, only 15% of the gross. The one that really caught my eye was the one from the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. They get thousands up front, a percentage of the gross and then, if the client stays a client of the caterer, the caterer has to continue paying a percentage of all future deals. That is a pretty steep bargain. These are smaller venues as well, I would love to see a major venue’s agreement.

Here are two venues and their preferred vendor agreements:

Venue 1:

Attucks Theater in Norfolk.(Removed the link, they removed the page)

15% of Gross Revenue must go the venue (city)

PDF Agreement Here (They removed the link, I guess they are ashamed)

Venue 2:

Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts/ Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art

Requirements:

Qualified candidates will pay the annual $1,250.00 Presidents Club Membership fee and provide a $5,000.00 in-kind contribution for an annual listing to be renewed July 1 of each fiscal year.

Financial Consideration

Preferred Caterer will bill SCC for each contracted in-house event. SCC will pay Preferred Caterer within 30 days of receipt of invoice.
Fifteen days after close of each month, Preferred Caterer will submit copies of its food service net revenues from SCPA and SMoCA rental clients and will pay SCC 15% of gross revenue.
If Preferred Caterer refers a rental client to the SCPA or SMoCA, Preferred Caterer will pay 12% of gross revenue.
If Preferred Caterer acquires a client from its association with the SCC and provides food services off-premises, Preferred Caterer will pay SCC 10% of the net of taxes and rental equipment, labor reimbursement, and service charges.

PDF Agreement Here

Now you know why costs are the way that they are. Now you know why a
pot of crappy coffee costs $47.00.

You cannot believe that the caterer is not passing these increased
costs on to their clients. If they tell you they are not, think about
this. The next time you are at a Hockey Game and a beer costs $9.00,
where do you think that your money is going?

Another thought; I have only discussed caterers, Venues are also
collecting on A/V companies, decor companies, Internet providers, the
balloon guy, liquor companies, transportation companies, event
companies, photographers and more (not to slight any of these folks,
everyone needs the business).I will leave it to you to do the math.

When you book a venue and you wonder why the room rental is so cheap,
now you know. You are paying for it in the end, you simply didn’t know
it.

Let’s Also Be Fair

There are some reasonable venues out there. In Henderson, TX, the Henderson Civic Center charges preferred vendors $100.00 per year. I doubt that even covers their administrative costs for paperwork. Blackberry Farm in Cupertino, CA charges $1000.00 per year to be on there preferred caterer list. That to me is reasonable as well.

I also think that every deal in this post could be reasonable, they would all be reasonable if we were made to understand why a Pepsi is $10.00 and why a carton of orange juice arrives with a 300% mark-up.

Meeting and event planners just want to understand, is it too much to ask?