Bookings: Luring Heads to Beds

The economic downturn has forced show managers to view their attendees differently. Instead of working to get as many as they can onto the showfloor, the goal now simply is to get qualified buyers to the show. This focus on quality over quantity means the destinations that host the shows are on their own in a way they haven't been for several years when it comes to accomplishing their well-known goal of landing “heads on beds.”

And, even though many destination managers said they have yet to feel the impact of the economic downturn and that their visitors numbers have remained consistent, several convention and visitors bureaus are changing their marketing plans in an attempt to help meeting and convention planners bring more people to the shows – and, in turn, to their cities.

The changing economy, along with the nearly across-the-board slide in show attendance, means less funding for CVBs. Most CVBs are funded by bed taxes, and, without attendees in those hotel rooms, revenues are lower and budgets are slimmer, leading some to rethink how and whom they market to.

Mark Vaughan, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer for the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, said Atlanta has started to feel the effect of lower attendance at shows and conventions. He added although the ACVB's citywide tax revenues are down, its tax district – the revenues it gets from the district of 20,000 hotel rooms it collects taxes from – still is out-performing the market, leaving them in good shape.

“We've had to watch a few things,” Vaughan said. “We've ... not filled (some vacant staff) positions, and we went through a time when we encouraged people to take time off, but nothing drastic.”

Fewer show attendees – Tradeshow Week's most recent Quarterly Report of Tradeshow Statistics reported attendance at the Intl. Woodworking Machinery & Furniture Supply Fair, held Aug. 20-23 at Atlanta's Georgia World Congress Center, dropped 22.4 percent, from 24,886 in 2007 to 19,314 in 2008 – combined with some big industry meetings scheduled in 2009, means Atlanta has had to market itself a little differently than in years past. The GWCC will host Meeting Professionals Intl.'s 2009 MeetDifferent conference Feb. 7-10 and the Expo! Expo! Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions and Events' Annual Meeting & Exhibition Dec. 8-10, 2009, so expectations of how many visitors the city can deliver are high.

“We've got two … huge industry events next year,” Vaughan said. “We've redeployed marketing efforts over … to those events, (and) as you well know, that takes a tremendous fiduciary responsibility on the destination to host those.”

With all that responsibility, what can Atlanta and other tradeshow destinations do to help show managers and meeting planners get attendees to desire to visit the destination and attend the shows?

“We will do customized Web sites for them to push out to their attendees,” Vaughan said, “or, they can link right to what's going on in Atlanta from show management's Web site as well.”

Atlanta isn't the only destination to utilize the Web to market the city, either. According to Brian McCartin, vice president of convention tourism and sales for Travel Portland (Ore.), the city's convention and tourism bureau, Portland must try a little harder to excite show management into booking the destination and getting attendees to want to come.

“I've always had a very strong focus and emphasis on ... our convention services team here to try and really help assist – whether it be a tradeshow planner, meeting planner (or) whoever it might be – in bringing the community together to ensure that they feel very comfortable and, in turn, deliver a great event,” McCartin said. “With that comes the whole marketing aspect to help ensure that attendance is as strong as it possibly can be.”

He added that in Portland – which will host the Oregon Assn. of Nurseries' Yard, Garden & Patio Show Feb. 27-March 1 and expects about 14,500 attendees, and the Oregon Restaurant Assn.'s Northwest Foodservice Show March 29-30, which anticipates around 15,000 attendees, both at the Oregon Convention Center – marketing techniques vary from show to show, but they, like Atlanta, utilize those same Web tools.

“We developed an electronic newsletter format that we will tailor to the needs of the organization that they can send to their delegates as often as they wish,” McCartin said. “It can look and feel like it's coming from them if they choose to do that.”

He added if show management is willing to give Travel Portland access to their members' e-mail addresses, the CVB will send out e-mail blasts to help build up awareness about the destination and excitement over the upcoming event.

In Cleveland, future attendance figures may rise, despite whatever turns the economy might take, once the Cleveland Medical Mart and the new convention center open in 2011 and 2012, respectively. But for now, according to Kelly Brewer, vice president of sales for Positively Cleveland, the local CVB, working with the show managers helps not only to bring in more attendees, but also to bring in those quality buyers – a must-have if you're the one running the tradeshow.

“What we've noticed is … if we work together (with the show organizers) to reach their target audience, whether it's through concentrated telemarketing blitzes that we do for them or a series of cooperative marketing with certain electronic messaging, it usually works very well, and they get a little bit of both (quality buyers and quantity of attendees),” Brewer added.

As an example, Brewer said, Positively Cleveland will work with some of the biggest shows they have booked in the next couple years to set forth a marketing plan that hopefully will bring in high attendee figures. He said from April 25-30, Cleveland's Intl. Exposition (I-X) Center will host Interwire 2009, No. 181 on the most recent Tradeshow Week 200, and, from April 26-29, 2010, the I-X Center will welcome NA 2010 – The Material Handling & Logistics Show & Conference, which was No. 182 on the Tradeshow Week 200 for the 2006 show. For both of these shows, Brewer said, the CVB plans to do what it can to help grow attendance.

“We're really working hard with them to grow (The NA Show) in 2010,” he added. “We have been working with them and the state of Ohio to reach … a different … area of potential supply and logistics buyers, not only in Ohio, but also in the contiguous states around us.”

So what does Cleveland do to assist show managers to bring in a greater quantity of quality buyers?

“We'll get on the phone and spend two days and try to reach 6,000 or 7,000 potential new buyers to get on the tradeshow floor for them,” Brewer said. “Additionally, we would co-partner with (the show) – whether they produce a piece or we produce it – and they do (the piece) for e-mail blasts and other things like that.”

He added the CVB also will purchase various lists in order to reach out to secondary industries, which, he said, may not be in the show's core wheelhouse, but still may have people with an interest in attending the show.

Getting attendees interested is the hook, but adding value is the line and sinker, and value can run the gamut from hotel amenities and low-priced transportation to discounted attractions and city-hosted special events.

“It's (about) being creative with value,” said Rachel Benedick, associate vice president of convention sales at Visit Denver, the city's CVB, “like, what can the hotels add? What kind of perks can they (give)? If it's a Residence Inn, ... they'll get a free, full breakfast every morning with their rate. So there are different things that they're focusing on to try and add value.”

Benedick added that Visit Denver works with its clients to see what resonates with them, then communicates that back to the hotels. Some of the other added-value offerings Visit Denver and its hotels have worked out include a flat rate for single-double occupancy versus a tiered rate, free in-room Internet and continental breakfasts for show attendees only.

McCartin said Portland also adds value with its free- and low-priced light rail system, which doesn't charge passengers inside the central city.

“If you're at a hotel in downtown Portland and you want to get to the convention center or even right to any of the surrounding areas, it's free within the central city,” he added.

Atlanta, Vaughan said, gives its visitors value through its CityPass, which offers admission to six of Atlanta's biggest attractions for one price – $69 – and is valid for nine days. The CityPass tickets include entrance to the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola, Zoo Atlanta, CNN Atlanta and two option tickets, good for either the Fernbank Museum of Natural History or the Atlanta Botanical Garden and the High Museum of Art or the Atlanta History Center.

“You get some optional attractions after that, and there's a few value adds in there as well,” Vaughan added. “But, it's not a 'one-size-fits-all,' because some people would rather that folks spend their time on the tradeshow floor than (on) added attraction.”

Cleveland also offers its attendees a discount on attractions, Brewer said, in the form of its Plus Pass, which, like Atlanta's CityPass, is a multi-attraction pass used during two, three or five days and also has additional coupons for area attractions not already included.

But when it comes to working directly with show managers to get – and keep – attendees into the destination, Brewer said, the city must offer more of an allure. To do this, he added, Cleveland is working with NA 2010 to put together a special, city-hosted event on the last night of the show.

“They'll have another exhibit day the next day, and the idea is we want to try and keep people here for a very special event, so they'll get back to the tradeshow floor the next day,” Brewer said.