'Meeting' current economic challenges.
Event planners are finding creative ways to hold down costs.

June 9, 2008
Publication: Indianapolis Business Journal (IN)
By Della Pacheco

With gas prices near $4 a gallon and food costs rising, meeting and event planners face the following challenge: meet client expectations, but do it on a tighter budget. And in some cases with less time to plan.

Corporations used to book venues years in advance, but now many reserve space just three or four months ahead, said Amanda Cecil, president of the local chapter of Meeting Professionals International.

"The ones most affected by the short bookings are hotels and venues," said Cecil, who teaches in IUPUI's Tourism, Conventions and Event Management program. It also puts pressure on meeting planners who "basically take what's left over."

"Because they're booking short-term now, they're picking up the scraps of what's left," Cecil said. Sometimes the "scraps" save money for meeting planners.

Nadra Woerner, director of sales and marketing for Hilton Indianapolis, says if the hotel has an opening that needs to be filled, planners may have more negotiating power. She's seeing more short-term bookings than at any time in the 21 years she's worked in the industry.

"It used to be that people booked years in advance," she said. "Sometimes now we do contracts for tomorrow or next week. It's crazy some of the short-term business we do."

Hotels scrambling to fill space often send "hot dates" e-mails to meeting planners offering additional perks for booking short-term.

Tammy Wiley, owner and president of Indianapolis-based Professional Conventions and Meetings Inc., says hotels and other convention venues might offer a cocktail reception or upgrades to suites for VIP guests to lure in last-minute clients.

All agree that collapsing the timeframe for planning puts even more pressure on those involved to clearly communicate needs and expectations.

"The biggest fault on both sides is not asking enough questions," Woerner said.

Companies focused

Dallas-based Meeting Professionals International released its annual trends study, "Future-Watch 2008" in March. According to the survey, inhouse meeting planners are finding that workloads are increasing, necessitating a shift in duties. More planners are focusing on developing meeting strategies. Easier jobs are being outsourced.

This has benefited independent firms like PCMI, Wiley says. "Many companies don't have someone internally to plan an annual conference or trade show and, if they do, their desk is already full."

For one-time events or meetings, outsourcing makes financial sense. "They don't have to pay benefits or taxes and they get top-notch services as they need them," Wiley said. MPI found that, although less than one-fifth of meetings business is predicted to be outsourced this year, the total will represent a 13-percent increase in volume over 2007. Cecil sees the trend as a partnership that "plays on one's strengths."

Other ways companies rein in costs are shortening the length of meetings, moving to regional sites and using technology to eliminate travel. Cecil says "there isn't a lot of fluff in meetings today."

"It used to be you would have a day to network or play golf," she said. "Meetings now are being driven by educational content and shortened time spans." Attention is also being given to accommodating the meeting demographic. "If there are a lot of young people with children, then meetings probably aren't being held on weekends," Cecil said.

Building awareness

Cecil said misconceptions exist when it comes to the profession. "If you ask anyone what an accountant does, everyone knows what they do," she said. "People think that meeting professionals plan weddings or parties and don't understand that it's big business"-a business that requires skills ranging from logistics to contract negotiations.

She's seeing more people entering the field earning certification and degrees. Since she's been at IUPUI, the program has grown from 70 students to more than 400. Most are still women who are looking for alternative scheduling to balance work and family. Many work from home.

Wiley and her staff of seven all work exclusively from home offices-a conscious decision to hold down operating costs.

"We had an office, but we go to visit our clients, they don't come to us," she said. "By cutting overhead, it allows me to pay my employees more and create a better working atmosphere for them."

She also hires temporary workers to cover busy times, like the recent Indy 500 festivities. Most are teachers who want to earn extra income during the school break.

While Wiley's degree in organizational leadership and supervision from Purdue University didn't specifically prepare her for a career as a meeting planner, those skills have proven valuable to her as a business owner.

Certification as a meeting planner puts Wiley at the top of the list when requests for proposals are sent out, she says, but when she's looking to hire someone, "time in the field" and personality are the most important criteria.

"The hospitality industry is so much about touch and feel," she said. "It's about trust. Event planning is a rapport- and confidence building type of industry."

She advises women wanting a career as a meeting professional to get on-the-job experience. "You can't just come in and be a planner," she said. "Start as a project, catering or convention-services coordinator in an assistant role. Get experience, build your resume and then time and experience will move you into management roles.

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