Conferences and Conventions

Conferences and Conventions

Books in the Series

Management of Events Operations by Julia Tum, Philippa Norton

and J. Nevan Wright

Innovative Marketing Communications: Strategies for the Events

Industry by Guy Masterman and Emma. H. Wood

Events Management 2e by Glenn A J Bowdin, Johnny Allen,

William O’Toole, Rob Harris and Ian McDonnell

Events Design and Experience by Graham Berridge

Marketing and Selling Destinations and Venues: A Convention and

Events Perspective by Tony Rogers and Rob Davidson

Human Resource Management for Events

Lynn Van der Wagen

Events Studies: Theory, Research and Policy for Planned Events by

Donald Getz

Conferences and Conventions

A global industry

Second Edition

Tony Rogers

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD

PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO

Butterworth-Heinemann is an imprint of Elsevier

Butterworth-Heinemann is an imprint of Elsevier

Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK

30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA

First edition 2003

Second edition 2008

Copyright © 2008, Tony Rogers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The right of Tony Rogers to be identified as the author of this work has been

asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

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to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise,

or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas

contained in the material herein.

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

ISBN: 978-0-7506-8544-3

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Contents

Series editors ix

Series preface xi

Forewords xiii

Preface xvii

List of case studies xix

1 A global industry 1

Introduction 1

The origins of the conference industry 2

The foundations of a proper industry 4

The industry’s recent globalisation 9

World rankings of leading cities and countries 10

Certain industry shortcomings 15

Industry parameters and definitions 22

Business tourism and leisure tourism 26

The benefits of conference and business tourism 27

Summary 30

Review and discussion questions 31

Notes and references 32

Further reading 32

2 The structure of the conference industry 33

Introduction 33

The buyers 34

The suppliers 53

Agencies and intermediaries 60

Other important organizations 74

v •••••

Contents

Summary 77

Review and discussion questions 78

Notes and references 78

3 The economics of conferences and conventions 81

Introduction 81

Conferences and conventions within the wider

tourism context 82

Factors affecting conference sector demand 83

The inadequacy of the information base 86

The size of the global conference industry 87

The value of the industry 88

Research findings 95

Summary 110

Review and discussion questions 111

Notes and references 111

4 Conference industry marketing activity 113

Introduction 113

Marketing principles 114

Relationship marketing and customer relationship

management 124

Web marketing 127

A definition of destination 130

The branding of cities and other destinations 130

Destination marketing organizations 135

Conference venue marketing 161

The branding of hotel venues 163

Overseas marketing 166

Summary 167

Review and discussion questions 167

Notes and references 168

Further reading 169

5 Conference management – an organizer’s

perspective 171

Introduction 171

A general introduction to conference organizing 172

Pre-conference planning and research 174

Budgeting and financial management 179

Sourcing and selecting a venue 184

Negotiating with venues 191

Programme planning 194

Event marketing 195

Conference management and production 197

Event evaluation 199

Summary 201

Review and discussion questions 202

••••• vi

Contents

Notes and references 203

Further reading 203

6 Conference management – a venue perspective 205

Introduction 205

Client-focused product innovations 206

Professional inspection visits and showrounds 208

Yield management and ‘REVPAR’ 210

Negotiating with clients 214

Venue case studies 215

Summary 226

Review and discussion questions 226

Notes and references 227

Further reading 227

7 A people industry 229

Introduction 229

The importance of people skills 230

Education and learning, training and CPD

opportunities 235

Careers in the conference industry 244

Salary levels 245

Career profiles 248

Summary 276

Review and discussion questions 276

Notes and references 277

8 Leading industry organizations 279

Introduction 279

The activities of international organizations and

associations 280

The roles of selected national trade associations 296

An assessment of the conference industry’s

fragmentation 302

Summary 303

Review and discussion questions 303

9 Trends, issues and future developments 305

Introduction 305

Global trends and forecasts 306

Events and the marketing mix 309

Virtual versus face-to-face conferencing 310

Sustainable meetings 313

Corporate social responsibility 319

Accessibility not disability 322

Procurement 324

vii •••••

Contents

Return on investment 326

In conclusion 329

Summary 330

Review and discussion questions 330

Notes and references 331

Further reading 332

Case studies 333

Appendix A List of conference industry

trade magazines 395

Index 397

••••• viii

Series editors

Glenn A J Bowdin is Principal Lecturer in Events Planning

at the UK Centre for Events Management, Leeds Metropolitan

University, where he has responsibility for managing events￾related research. He is co-author of Events Management. His

research interests include the area of service quality manage￾ment, specifically focusing on the area of quality costing, and

issues relating to the planning, management and evaluation of

events. He is a member of the Editorial Boards for Event Manage￾ment (an international journal) and Journal of Convention & Event

Tourism, Chair of AEME (Association for Events management

Education), Charter Member of the International EMBOK (Event

Management Body of Knowledge) and Executive and a member

of Meeting Professionals International (MPI).

Don Getz is a Professor in the Tourism and Hospitality

Management Program, Haskayne School of Business, the

University of Calgary. His ongoing research involves event￾related issues (e.g. management, event tourism, events and

culture) and special-interest tourism (e.g. wine). Recent books

include Event Management & Event Tourism and Explore Wine

Tourism: Management, Development, Destinations. He co-founded

and is a member of the Editorial Board for Event Management (an

international journal).

Conrad Lashley is Professor in Leisure Retailing and Director of

the Centre for Leisure Retailing at Nottingham Business School,

Nottingham Trent University. He is also series editor for the

Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann Series on Hospitality Leisure and

Tourism. His research interests have largely been concerned with

service quality management and specifically employee empow￾erment in service delivery. He also has research interest and pub￾lications relating to hospitality management education. Recent

ix •••••

Series editors

books include Organisation Behaviour for Leisure Services, 12 Steps

to Study Success, Hospitality Retail Management, and Empowerment:

HR Strategies for Service Excellence. He has co-edited Franchising

Hospitality Services and In Search of Hospitality: Theoretical Perspec￾tives and Debates. He is the past Chair of the Council for Hospital￾ity Management Education. He is a Chair of the British Institute

of Innkeeping’s panel judges for the NITA Training awards and

is advisor to England’s East Midlands Tourism network.

••••• x

Series preface

The events industry, including festivals, meetings, conferences,

exhibitions, incentives, sports and a range of other events, is

rapidly developing and makes a significant contribution to busi￾ness and leisure-related tourism. With increased regulation and

the growth of government and corporate involvement in events,

the environment has become much more complex. Event man￾agers are now required to identify and service a wide range of

stakeholders and to balance their needs and objectives. Though

mainly operating at national levels, there has been significant

growth of academic provision to meet the needs of events and

related industries and the organisations that comprise them. The

English-speaking nations, together with key Northern European

countries, have developed programmes of study leading to the

award of diploma, undergraduate and post-graduate awards.

These courses focus on providing education and training for

future event professionals and cover areas such as event planning

and management, marketing, finance, human resource manage￾ment and operations. Modules in events management are also

included in many tourism, leisure, recreation and hospitality

qualifications in universities and colleges.

The rapid growth of such courses has meant that there is a

vast gap in the available literature on this topic for lecturers, stu￾dents and professionals alike. To this end, the Elsevier Butterworth

Heinemann Events Management Series has been created to meet

these needs to create a planned and targeted set of publications

in this area.

Aimed at academic and management development in events

management and related studies, the Events Management Series

• provides a portfolio of titles which match management devel￾opment needs through various stages;

xi •••••

Series preface

• prioritises publication of texts where there are current gaps in

the market or where current provision is unsatisfactory;

• develops a portfolio of both practical and stimulating texts;

• provides a basis for theoretical and research underpinning for

programmes of study;

• is recognised as being of consistent high quality;

• will quickly become the series of first choice for both authors

and users.

••••• xii

Forewords

Sue Stuart

Convention business is big business, and one of the most suc￾cessful growth industries of our age.

All over the world more meetings are being held today than

was ever thought possible. International congresses, exhibitions,

xiii •••••

Forewords

trade shows, seminars, and conventions of all kinds are being

organized.

The world has become a smaller place – horizons are widening

and new cultures being absorbed daily. As a result, in every

country competition to attract this valuable business has become

keener.

Whilst the economic benefit to be derived from business

tourism is important, meetings and conventions are about much

more than simply generating delegate spend. They also play

a vital role in business trade investment and professional

development.

Conventions generate business activity and provide a focus

for those who are interested in new investment and product

promotion. Any community hosting these kinds of events has

an edge on business development and an opportunity to benefit

from the presence of high level decision-makers and potential

investors right on their doorstep. Large events like conventions

are designed to bring the best in any given field together in

an environment where information can be shared and progress

identified. When this happens, it creates a big boost to local

knowledge and skills in any imaginable discipline.

This book provides excellent insight for individuals attracted to

enter the fascinating and ever-evolving world of conferences and

conventions. It also is an invaluable resource for lecturers and

those already working in this truly dynamic and global industry.

Sue Stuart

Chair, British Association of Conference Destinations

Chief Executive, Edinburgh Convention Bureau

Jonathan Wilson

Many pundits predicted that the internet would kill off confer￾ences, meetings and even exhibitions. After all, they argued, who

will want to spend time and money travelling to a distant venue,

to spend days being lectured at, when we could achieve the

same result, more quickly and cheaply, just by logging on at a

convenient time?

However, what these commentators forgot was that humans

like meeting each other, that we enjoy sharing experiences, in

person; and that we’d rather listen to, and participate, in a talk

in the company of our peers than in isolation in front of a PC.

Which is why conferences and conventions will be with us

for the foreseeable future, occupying an important part of the

working and leisure lives of just about anyone, in any position,

in every organization you can think of.

And for each conference or meeting there has to be an organ￾izer, or (more likely) a team – with the ability, skill and experience

••••• xiv