Chapter 9

An Introduction to the
Meetings Industry

Hospitality Today
An Introduction

Eighth Edition
Defining a Meeting

• The Convention Industry Council (CIC) describes

a meeting as an “event where the primary
activity of the participants is to attend
educational sessions, participate in discussions,
social functions, or attend other organized
meetings.”
• In turn, the CIC defines an event as “an
organized occasion such as a meeting,
convention, exhibition, special meeting, gala
dinner, etc. An event is often composed of
several different yet related functions.”
Slide 2
Meeting Planners

At large, complicated events, meeting planners

are essential for such tasks as:
• Arranging all necessary transportation
• Booking hotels to house and feed the delegates
• Reserving convention centers to hold the
meetings and trade shows
• Contracting with audiovisual and satellite
services to record and film the guest speakers
or produce and broadcast the presentations

Slide 3
Types of Meetings

• Association meetings
• Corporate meetings
• Trade shows/expositions
• Social events

Slide 4
Types of Associations

• Trade groups, such as the American Medical

Association (AMA)
• Social groups, such as the American Association
of Retired Persons (AARP)
• Labor unions, such as the Teamsters or the
American Federation of Labor–Congress of
Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
• Service associations, such as the Junior Chamber
of Commerce (Jaycees) and the Rotarians

Slide 5
Association Meetings

• Virtually all associations hold at least one annual

meeting when the entire association gets together
to elect officers, set budgets, and plan activities.
Many associations meet more frequently.
• Attendance at association meetings is voluntary,
so association meeting planners must pay special
attention to site selection and social programs.
• The need for adequate exhibit space is another
important characteristic of association meetings.

Slide 6
Types of Association Meetings

• Annual meetings
• Regional meetings
• Board meetings
• Educational seminars

Slide 7
Corporate Meetings

• Corporate meetings are often mandatory.

• Thus corporate meeting planners typically do
not need to take as much care to promote the
meeting or plan special social programs as do
association meeting planners.
• As a rule, corporate meetings are smaller and
don’t last as long as association meetings.
• For that reason, they usually require much less
lead time.

Slide 8
Types of Corporate Meetings

• Management meetings
• Training seminars
• Sales meetings
• New product introductions
• Professional and technical meetings
• Incentive trips
• Stockholders meetings

Slide 9
Trade Shows/Expositions
• Trade shows, also known as expositions, usually
take place at convention centers, at exhibit halls,
in exhibit space in hotels, or in public arenas.
• Trade shows are sponsored by trade associations,
private companies who are in the business of
organizing trade shows, or by governments.
• Trade shows can be part of a convention or
association meeting. When they are, they can
represent a significant amount of revenue for the
sponsoring convention/association organization.

Slide 10
Types of Trade Shows/Expositions

• Industrial shows
• Wholesale and retail trade shows
• Professional or scientific exhibitions
• Public or consumer shows

Slide 11
Social Events

• On regular intervals throughout our lives we

reach milestones that we wish to celebrate,
including births, baptisms, bar and bat
mitzvahs, birthdays, engagements, weddings,
anniversaries, and retirements.
• Many planners specialize in promoting these
social events.
• These planners enjoy knowing that one
successful event can lead to a lifelong social
relationship spanning generations.
Slide 12
Social Event Venues

• Hotels
• Private clubs
• Wineries
• Resorts
• Small event centers

Slide 13
The Role of Civic and Government Organizations

• Almost every city has a convention and visitors

bureau (CVB) or a chamber of commerce. These
are nonprofit organizations whose job it is to
market their destinations.
• Virtually every country in the world has a
Department or Ministry of Tourism that often
includes a division whose function is to attract
meetings and conventions.
• In addition, states and counties often have their
own tourism departments.
Slide 14
Where Meetings Are Held

While hotels are the most common site for

meetings, they can be held almost anywhere,
including:
• Conference centers
• Cruise ships
• Amusement parks
• Castles

Slide 15
Virtual Meetings

• “Virtual meetings” are becoming more popular

as the technology continues to improve.
• Some hotels offer telepresence suites in their
meeting rooms. Telepresence is a system that
attempts to simulate a face-to-face experience
by using half a conference table facing high-
definition screens.
• Of course the biggest advantage to virtual
meetings is that they are very inexpensive.

Slide 16
The Meeting Planning Process

• Planning the meeting itself

– Objectives
– Scheduling
– Format
• Choosing a location
• Choosing a facility

Slide 17
Objectives

• Business
• Educational
• Social
• Any combination of the above

Slide 18
Scheduling
• One of the two critical scheduling issues to
address is the amount of time needed to
achieve the meeting’s objectives.
• The other critical scheduling issue is
determining the dates of the meeting.
• Meeting planners should be careful to pick a
time that does not conflict with another
meeting that might require the presence of or
attract the same delegates. They should also
avoid religious and national holidays.

Slide 19
Choosing a Meeting Site
• Are the guestroom accommodations adequate?
• Are the computer connections and Wi-Fi
adequate?
• Can the meeting rooms be set up in a variety of
styles?
• What types of amenities are offered?
• Are the meeting rooms adequately soundproofed?
• Are the audiovisual facilities adequate?
• How far are the meeting rooms from the
guestrooms?
Slide 20
Event Technology

• Before the meeting, an event website is created to

provide information about the event, create buzz
about the event, and help people register for the
conference. The website should be mobile-friendly
so that people can access and navigate it easily with
a phone or tablet.
• During the meeting, the event facility should have
enough bandwidth for all attendees.
• After the meeting, planners can gauge the success
of the event by distributing online evaluations and
surveys to attendees and by monitoring social media
feedback.
Slide 21
Meeting Planner Tasks:
Before the Meeting

• In order to arrange for the best

accommodations and transportation at the
lowest prices, meeting planners must be superb
negotiators and diplomats.
• They need a high degree of specialized
knowledge in order to arrange superior food
and beverage service and social events—often
in an unfamiliar location.
• They must be able to foresee likely mishaps or
delays and do everything possible to prevent
them from marring the event.
Slide 22
Meeting Planner Tasks:
During the Meeting

• Meeting planners often arrive at a site a day or

two in advance, to ensure that all of the
elements they have negotiated and contracted
for are in place.
• Once the event begins, the planner will be
under a great deal of pressure to keep things
moving smoothly.
• Meeting planners must be flexible enough to
drop other tasks in order to resolve new
problems that come up.
Slide 23
Meeting Planner Tasks:
After the Meeting

• Equipment and exhibit booths must be packed

and shipped.
• Invoices from hotels, restaurants, and other
facilities must be checked and settled.
• The meeting must be evaluated from the point
of view of the attendees, the sponsor, and the
exhibitors in order to provide feedback for
future meeting planning.

Slide 24
Meeting Planning Careers and
Related Careers

• Meeting planner or coordinator

• Exhibits manager
• Hotel sales or catering manager
• Hotel convention services manager
• Careers in convention and visitors bureaus
• Careers in tourism departments
• Exhibitors or exhibit designers

Slide 25
Slide 26