CIC OKs APEX Housing and Registration Standards

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 10/10/2005

The Convention Industry Council board of directors has unanimously approved the most recent set of industry practices developed by the Accepted Practices Exchange's Housing & Registration Panel. According to Juli Finnell Jones, CIC vice president, the housing standards' primary aim is to streamline the exchange of data, especially between event organizers and housing facilities.

In the final housing and registration report, accepted practices, templates, form development and management instructions are outlined for three forms used throughout the industry: the event registration form, housing form and rooming list. The panel also developed accepted practices for housing-related terminology.

Deborah Sexton, president and CEO of the Professional Convention Management Assn. and co-chair of the Housing and Registration Panel, said APEX would generate efficiency by enabling organizers and their partners to focus more on the strategic development of events, and less on the forms they have to use. That should also lead to a perception of the events industry as a more significant player in the world of business, rather than as "the party-planning people in marketing departments," she said.

Although APEX practices have also been approved for terminology, history and post-event reporting, and event specifications, it's not over yet. Still in development are standards for requests for proposals, meeting and site profiles (both to be completed this month), and contracts (December).