Specialists: Taking Fams' to Another Level

By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 7/10/2006

Groups that typically plan tradeshow industry fam' tours — convention and visitor bureaus, and operators of convention centers and hotels — frequently turn to specialized firms to help promote their unique destinations.

From destination management firms that have their fingers on the pulse of a respective city to public relations experts that can best describe attractions, the involvement of these groups helps bureaus and venues refine tour logistics so they could create the ultimate experience for meeting planners and journalists.

The destination management firm Shackman Associates New York has assisted in several aspects of fam' trips for New York hotels and NYC & Co., the city's convention and visitors bureau.

Company President Karen Shackman said that, depending on the fam' tour's budget and which hotels are involved, the 16-year-old firm's "involvement can be a great deal ... or very limited." The company's fam' services have included organizing elaborate forms of airport transportation, scheduling sightseeing trips during "the best times" and utilizing the most appropriate transportation in getting around the city.

"We really have our finger on the pulse of the city," Shackman said. "We try to create the mystery of New York for (attendees) so they want to come back."

The firm, which has nine full-time staffers (including those with the Shackman Events division), in recent years has been involved in about three to four fam' tours a year.

Another destination management firm, Visitours in Louisville, Ky., is often asked by local hotels to provide airport meet-and-greet transportation and organize site visits during fam' tours.

Company President Mike Kleine-Kracht said hotels appreciate the 30-year-old firm's involvement because it "lends credibility to the destination."

Visitours also works hand in hand with the Greater Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau. The company has a full-time staff of four and frequently works with as many as 18 independent contractors.

And let us not forget about public relations officials, the groups that are contracted to keep the steady stream of sound bites running for bureaus during fams'.

One such group, Shreveport, La.-based, 10-person Williams Creative Group, has been involved in press fam' tours — some for the Louisiana Office of Tourism — for more than a dozen years.

Andrea Arnold, Williams Creative vice president, said she enjoys participating in the trips to give journalists the chance to see aspects of the state that are "hard to describe even with the most eloquently written news release."

Recent fam' trips that Williams Creative has been involved with included Mardi Gras and coastal wetlands tours.

Darienne W. Mobley, Loui-siana Office of Tourism assistant secretary, said groups like Williams Creative are invaluable.

"A contracted public relations firm understands that you use activities such as a fam' tour ... to drive home a focused, particular message, theme or notion," she said. "They are great at taking multiple activities from an agency and unifying that message or notion directly or indirectly."

For example, Mobley said, during one of the Louisiana Office of Tourism's Mardi Gras press fam' tours, Williams Creative "made sure the participants not only saw rebuilding, but experienced the fun that Louisiana offered both before and after the storms, things that have always been in (state advertisements)."

And sure, fam' tour attendees are learning on the excursions — but so are the PR firms.

Micaela Whalen, associate account executive for Las Vegas-based Preferred Public Relations & Marketing, said fam' tours by one of the group's clients — Las Vegas Meetings by Harrah's — are "very educational" for Preferred.

"When I'm sitting there, I learn things too," she said.

Amy Dosa, sales marketing manager, Las Vegas, for Harrah's Entertainment, said the tours have help Preferred "really come to understand our business and what our objectives are."

Dosa added, "It always helps for them to have face time."

The Williams Group and Preferred, of course, are paid for their involvement in fams, but Kleine-Kracht and Shackman, who comp' their fees for their services, said the opportunities fam' trips provide are priceless.

Shackman, for one, said the networking and marketing benefits of her firm's free involvement in fam' trips — notably exposure to new clients and mention in attendees' stories about New York — are well worth the effort.

"We're creating an extraordinary New York experience," she said.

Kleine-Kracht said the tours are "an investment. Sometimes you have to spend money to make it. We've chalked that up to sales; that's how I look at it."

He added, "We hope we get future business, because the hotel is basically showing to the invitees of the fam' that we are the preferred vendor."

Kleine-Kracht and Shackman also agreed that qualified attendance is one of the most appealing aspects of being involved in fam' tours.

Shackman said it's essential that all parties involved in the tours "take it seriously."

Kleine-Kracht agreed, noting, "The critical thing about all fams is about having a qualified group."