Meeting News - December 21, 2009 - Cover1

REVERSING PERCEPTIONS FICP’s new direction p.6 MILKING MEETING VALUE Dairy assn. boosts attendees p.14 PLANNERS’ CHOICE AWARDS Top mtg. spaces, places p.27 Outstanding in every way. MeetingNews w w w. M e e t i n g N e w s . c o m December 21, 2009 MeetingNews VantagePoint Mtg. Business, Not Rates, Rebounding HelmsBriscoe chief operating officer Greg Malark this month spoke with MeetingNews senior editor Jay Boehmer to discuss the site-selection firm’s outlook for meeting buying in 2010, the company’s international growth plans and why it will remain a buyer’s market for some time. MeetingNews: What does 2010 look like for the meetings market? Greg Malark: We believe as far as the number of meetings is concerned, the demand has flattened out. We are no longer seeing a decline in the number of meetings we are looking to hold. Some of the meetings are smaller, and we antic- Leaders Push McCormick Place To Lower Costs Shaken By Losses, Chicago Vows Change By Jay Boehmer fter two major conventions last month ditched Chicago in favor of other locales, the city is undergoing a top-to-bottom review of its costs and value proposition to meeting HelmsBriscoe COO Greg Malark planners as it seeks to cultivate a reputation as an ipate that to change. We think that affordable convention destination. That mission we’ll see the demand side of the has found urgency in the upper reaches of city leadCCTB’s Tim Roby business bounce back fairly quickly, ership, putting pressure on city officials, the probably the midpoint of 2010, but McCormick Place exhibition center and local unions—which combined people are value shopping, so the are cast as the triumvirate of inflated convention costs—to make Chicago rates that customers are paying conventions more affordable. The Society of the Plastics Industry last month announced that it would continued on page 46 host its next National Plastics Expo in 2012 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, shunning its decades-long home at By Michael B. Baker seek to prove their value to members. Nearly four out of five meeting planners use convenMeetingNews research showed corporate meeting McCormick Place. SPI said NPE is tion and visitors bureaus for at least some assistance in planners slightly less likely to get assistance from CVBs one of the top five manufacturing organizing events, according to a MeetingNews survey than their independent or association counterparts. Git trade shows in the country, and of 200 planners, and the bureaus’ role in corporate Rossell, director of strategic sourcing for meetings man- attributed the “dramatic shift” to meeting planning in particular is on the rise as organi- agement technology supplier StarCite, said StarCite fre- cost, noting that after a “a systematzations look for ways to cut costs. The bureaus also are quently uses the bureaus as an extension of the sourcing ic comparison of possible venues” it more aggressively courting corporate business as they team. However, Rossell finds that to be an exception determined that the venue change would net $20 million in savings to among corporate planners. Most Meeting Planners Use CVB Services “We do rely on them, but a lot of the event’s planners, exhibitors and Frequency of contact with CVBs for assistance when planning a meeting our clients rarely work with them,” attendees. Just days before SPI Convention Bureaus’ Aggressive Tactics Attract Even Corp. Planners continued on page 48 Volume 33/Number 14/$10.00 continued on page 50 Research MN 22% Never 13% Always 20% Often 45% Sometimes Source: MeetingNews survey of 200 corporate, association and independent meeting planners

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - December 21, 2009

Meeting News - December 21, 2009
Contents
Newsmaker
Viewpoint
Meetings Spotlight
Association Watch
Construction Cites
Event Profile
Meeting People
Dateline: Mississippi
Dateline: Las Vegas
West Regional
Planner’s Choice Awards
Travel Dashboard

Meeting News - December 21, 2009