WHERE to Next? Meeting Destination Tips!

We were talking to our friend Marcus Johnson, from the Reno/Tahoe Convention Visitor’s Bureau about franchise convention destinations the other day and he mentioned a great article from the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) that we thought we’d pass along.

Leverage your Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) or Destination Management Organization (DMO) to Make Your Meeting Come Alive

5 Ways Your Destination Enhances, Impacts and Differentiates Your Meeting

1. The Destination Influences the Decision to Attend. Today’s meeting attendees are acting a lot more like leisure travelers. In fact: 82% of attendees say they factor the destination into their decision whether to attend a meeting.
   How the CVB Can Help: CVB professionals will assist you in understanding the ways in which your meeting is influenced by the destination and then put this powerful information into action to increase attendance.
2. Align the Goals of Your Meeting with Destination Appeal. By establishing your meeting objectives and revealing you attendees’ preferences, you have the opportunity to pursue and market the activities and opportunities within the destination that support your meeting goals and are sure to entice your attendees.
   How the CVB Can Help: Your meeting goals, your own meeting’s history and your attendee demographics are a great place to start a conversation with your destination expert. Think of your destination sales professional as the gateway to the city’s offerings.
3. Understand the “Destination Specific” Value of Your Meeting. All meetings are not created equal, and a meeting’s value can vary depending on the destination in which it is held. Learn the value of your meeting. This type of knowledge is power as it relates to negotiation.
   How the CVB Can Help: The CVB knows the destination specific value of your meeting and many will utilize Destination Marketing Association International’s Event Impactor Calculator to provide you with detailed information. They can help you understand the true value of your program to increase your negotiating power.
4. Enhance Your RFP by Making it Destination Specific. Every destination is different and historical demand, seasonality, transient demand patterns, arrival/departure sequencing, citywide and special events and need periods/cancellations all can affect your RFP and the responses you receive. Be sure you understand how destination demand affects your event.
   How the CVB Can Help: Your destination sales professional will help you understand the destination’s unique demand factors and adjust your standard RFP to make it destination specific and broaden its appeal.
5. Accessing Destination Resources Will Set Your Meeting Apart From the Rest. All travelers crave what is indigenous and authentic to the destination they are visiting, and meeting attendees are no different. Infuse the local flavor of the destination into all aspects of your program.
   How the CVB Can Help: Your CVB destination expert will help you find a home-grown chef, a local charity to support, and a literal plethora of destination businesses who are like-minded and can support your meeting options in the city. The sky is the limit!

I hope you found a few useful tips for choosing (and negotiating) your next franchise convention destination. And if you have fabulous or unique destination recommendations, we’d love to hear about them—we’re thinking about creating a franchise specific most popular event locations list!

More soon….

Katrina

P.S. If you’ve not used this resource, empowerMINT.com from DMAI, it’s a terrific starting point to find your destination expert. And if Reno/Tahoe is in the mix for your next convention (Have you been there? It’s absolutely gorgeous with everything you could possibly need and more!), we know Marcus Johnson would make is easy and have you looking like a rockstar! Here’s his CVB WIFM (What’s In It For Me 🙂 ) & Tip List. It’s fantastic!