‘NEW APPROACHES FOR MARKET LEADERS’
Make it happen with
INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS & CONVENTION ASSOCIATION – ICCA
THAILAND CONVENTION & EXHIBITION BUREAU
A specialist workshop for all those marketing destinations to the international meetings market
“New Approaches for Market Leaders” is an intensive seminar and workshop program designed specifically for the CVB industry. The sessions, aimed at senior and mid-level sales and marketing staff, will help bureaus respond to increasing competition in the marketplace, and to keep their destinations on the winning edge. The goal of this program is for participants to further develop themselves, as well as their respective destinations, into market leaders.
Our distinguished group of highly experienced speakers will be focusing on a broad range of competitive issues like how to find new sources of business, strategic approaches to ensuring success, strengthening sales and bidding processes and building new and powerful partnerships.
At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to improve their performance management systems, sharpen their target focus, implement creative new business practices and fine tune their bureau’s sales approach.
“New Approaches for Market Leaders” is an educational programme which has been developed through a partnership between ICCA and the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau.
Who should attend?
Convention and visitor bureau sales and marketing professionals, including top level executives, senior managers and the more experienced sales and marketing staff.
The Workshop:
* ICCA/TCEB CVB Workshop “New Approaches for Market Leaders”
* Panorama Room, Royal Cliff Beach Hotel,Pattaya, Thailand,
* October 9 and 10
* Official Hotel: Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Pattaya
The Workshop details:
* Registration fee: Euro 90.00 (ICCA member) / Euro130 (Non-member).
* Travel and accommodation on own arrangement and own account.
* Fee includes workshop materials and all F&B(coffee breaks, one lunch and one welcome reception) as indicated in this programme.
* Official Hotel is Royal Cliff Beach Resortwhich is offering accommodation at Baht 3,050 nett per room per night (single) or Baht 3,600 nett per room per night (double) at Royal Cliff Beach Hotel.
* Please make your accommodation bookings directly to Mr Michael Swart, Senior Sales manager MICE, Royal Cliff Beach Resort (email:). Early bookings are advised in view of IT&CMA 2005 and CTW 2005 being held at PEACH.
* American breakfast buffet is inclusive at all paying rooms.
* Participants will be given a Certificate of Attendance for successfully completing the two-day workshop
The Workshop programme:
(preliminary & subject to minor changes)
Sunday, 9 October
10.00–12.00ICCA DATA briefing and demonstration with online case study/ies. Participants to this session are advised to bring their own laptops and have to purchase an access card from venue. (OPTIONAL session.)
CVB WORKSHOP BEGINS
13.00–13.30 Workshop opening session by Thailand Convention & ExhibitionBureau and ICCA.
Welcome and introductions by Workshop Facilitator Gary
Grimmer
13.30–14.30 Staying Competitive in Asia Pacific and the World
Who are the regional and international competition? What are the current regional trends? Why are some destinations more attractive and more effective than others? What needs to be done in Asia to compete in the international meetings industry? What do clients want, and how does Asia rate? How to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive market.
14.30–15.10The Art of Prospecting
With twice the competition, your team may need to be working twice the number of accounts. But, where do they come from? This interactive session will explore the creative side of finding new convention leads.
15.30–16.15Planning for Success.
Working on hundreds of sales files, but you don’t know how the year will go? Need a better strategic plan to guide your long term efforts? Your marketing plan may not be up to the challenge. If you can’t forecast your success, you might not get it.
16.30–17.30 Signing business and the Productivity Pipeline.
Successful bidding involves a lot more than documents and presentations. This session will review the whole process – sometimes science, sometimes art and sometimes closing the sale. Case Studies will demonstrate the challenges and the solutions in winning and delivering an international event.
19.00–21.00Welcome Cocktails hosted by Thailand Convention & Exhibition
Bureau
Monday, 10 October
09.00–09.10 Day Two opening session.
Review of yesterday’s sessions and outlook for the day.
09.10–09.45 Trends in the International Association Market
Vienna was #2 in the ICCA DATA statistics of the top 10 cities booked by association clients in 2003. You don’t become a top player and stay there without tracking market changes. What are the major trends that will affect international convention behaviour, and how do you need to respond?
09.45–10.30Customer Relationship Management in the Convention
Industry
How and to what extent are destination sellers and suppliers using CRM - what’s working and what’s not. Case studies and feedback from the audience will reveal the current state of the art.
10.50–11.50 What Makes Associations Tick – and, What Makes them
Buy?
What do meeting planners really want, what are their fears, ambitions and needs? We’ll be developing a psychological profile here, so that we’ll know better how to approach them, and how to solve their “problems.”
11.50–12.30 The Power of Partnerships.
Case studies on local alignment (getting business and government people working together to bring in more conventions) and global critical mass (partnering with other destinations to achieve higher profile and reach.)
12.30–13.30Group Lunch at Grill Room & Wine Cellar, RCBH
13.30–14.15Winning corporate and incentive business from new and
upcoming geographic markets
Part of being more successful is anticipating and developing new emerging markets. This session will identify them, and provide practical ideas for how to engage them.
14.15–15.00 Strategic Focus: Reading Economic Conditions for Successful Targeting
How do world, regional in national economic fluctuations affect levels of business? This session will explore that connection and offer insights to help you “read the market” and plan sales and marketing efforts accordingly.
15.00 - 15.30The ICCA Advantage – Sales tools for successful destinations.
Time to tune up and make sure that your team is making the best use of ICCA’s sales and marketing resources.
15.50–16.30Working with PCOs
Bureaus are destination sellers, and sometimes, too, are PCO’s. In many cases, if the bureaus market the product, the PCO’s deliver it. This session will explore the symbiotic relationship that exists between bureaus and PCO’s, and how to strengthen it for the benefit of the destination.
16.30–17.30 Open discussion Forum
Moderated by Gary Grimmer, with all speakers
participating.
17.30 -Seminar closes. Certificate presentation and group photo.
Thank you for your participation.
END OF CVB WORKSHOP.
Evening at leisure and on own arrangement.
ICCA acknowledges the sponsorship and support of
And our Official Hotel Royal Cliff Beach Resort
The International Speakers:
Anchor Speaker/Workshop Facilitator
1. Gary Grimmer, CEO, Gary Grimmer & Company,Melbourne, Australia.
Chief Executive Officer, Gary Grimmer & Company, January 2004 to Present.
Gary Grimmer & Company is an international convention industry management and consulting firm (additional information available at
Chief Executive Officer, DOME (Data on Meetings and Events), January 2004 to Present.
DOME is an international, not for profit research foundation that is developing global standards and information resources for the meetings industry (additional information available at
Chairman of ConventionWorks, October 2003 to Present.
ConventionWorks is a global convention industry consultancy that has been formed by recognised industry leaders from Australia, Dubai, Hong Kong, London and the United States (additional information available at - website currently being developed.)
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Chief Executive Officer, Melbourne Convention & Visitors Bureau, (MCVB) November 1995 to December 2003.
Directed Melbourne’s destination sales and marketing corporation. MCVB produced over $60 million in annual sales. It had a budget of $5.5 million a year in 2003, and 30 full time staff, plus offices in London and New York. Primary target market was international conventions. Melbourne is a city of 3.5 million people, with over 17,000 hotel rooms, 30,000 gsm (330,000 gsf) of exhibit space in its primary facility and 234 international direct service flights arriving weekly.
Accomplishments:
Increased Government Investment – Guided development of Victorian Major Business Events Strategy – 2002 and successfully lobbied government for $6 million in special funding (over four years) to increase MCVB’s sales and marketing effort.
Increased Industry Investment – Worked with local hotel industry to gain support for one of the world’s first CVB commission programs (commencing July 2002.) Achieved $1.8 million in private funds, cash and in-kind, for use in matching new public funds.
Achieved Top World Rankings – Developed more focused sales strategies and sales management systems. Brought Melbourne from 29th place into the top 10 international convention cities in the world for three of the past 5 years, and top 20 for the other two years. Melbourne ranked 2nd in the world in 2000, and 3rd in 2001 for total international convention business on the books for future years (ICCA rankings.)
Promoted Convention Centre Expansion – Lobbied the Victorian government and provided technical assistance and consultation on a proposed $350 million, 5,000 seat plenary space expansion to the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre. Announcement expected in April, 2004.
Developed AIME – Guided development of the Asia Pacific Incentive and Meetings Expo (AIME), the largest meetings industry tradeshow in the Asia Pacific. Managed the operational outsourcing process and negotiated licensing agreement with Reed Travel Exhibitions in 2000 to further grow and internationalise the show. AIME was a major component of MCVB’s convention development strategy, proving to be the source of approximately half of all future bookings over time.
Created New Industry Measurement Techniques – Became Chairman of DOME in 2001 (Data on Meeting and Events) the world’s leading international meetings industry research foundation. Led development of the DOME/EMS (Events Measurement System) designed to remedy the historical weakness in the industry’s ability to develop accurate events impacts data. The system measures a given convention’s room use by hotel and night, and airline use by sector and class of service. DOME/EMS will help MCVB maximise its commission earnings, and provide a range of benefits to various segments of the industry. Also negotiated a licensing agreement with OAG (the Official Airline Guide) and led development of DOME/OAG, a suite of airline service related data products available on-line. DOME/OAG is creating ways for the meeting industry and the airline industry to develop more mutually beneficial and commercially rational engagements. This is helping MCVB, and other destination promoters, to gain more airline support for its marketing efforts.
Led Development of Strategic Alliances and Strategic Plans – In addition to developing a strategic plan for MCVB, helped facilitate the development of Great Wine Capitals of the World, BestCities.net and CVBInc. and their formal strategic plans. Great Wine Capitals of the World is an alliance between ten cities, such as Bordeaux, San Francisco and Melbourne, which will help Melbourne to co-brand itself as one of the world’s premier wine tourism destinations. BestCities is an alliance between eight cities, such as Vancouver, Copenhagen, Cape Town, Dubai and Melbourne, which will help Melbourne to co-brand its service excellence, cross promote, and share market information and best practices know how. CVBInc is a start-up commercial collective of convention bureaus from around the world. Its mission is to help its member bureaus to form a distribution channel, develop globally branded goods and services, save money through collective procurement activities and to form a united response to major global industry issues.
Led Heritage Product Development – Organised and Chaired the effort to establish Melbourne’s Golden Mile Heritage Trail, a self guided walking trail that interprets the city’s history and development from 1835 – 1880. Raised $150,000 for use in marking the trail and developing interpretive materials. The Golden Mile is now the city’s most broadly significant and comprehensively interpreted heritage product.
Chief Executive Officer, PortlandOregon Visitors Association (POVA), Portland, Oregon, USA, January 1993 to November 1995
Directed Portland’s convention sales, tourism marketing and visitor services corporation.
Accomplishments:
Led Development of a Formal Destination Strategy – Established framework, liaised with government and private industry and masterminded creation, promotion and adoption of a five year Destination Development Plan for Portland. The plan outlined productivity goals, convention centre expansion and hotel development needs, investment requirements and funding sources and established a model for 10 year economics impacts and return on investment projections.
Increased Sales – Implemented new strategies and management processes and grew sustained booking levels to a record 240,000 room nights booked per year.
Led Development of Global Benchmarking Tools – Serving as Chairman of the International Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus Foundation in 1994, led the reengineering of bi-annual surveys so that they would support and conform to international standards that were being developed. As a result, bureaus have begun measuring in uniform ways, allowing them to benchmark their performance against each other and in relation to international averages.
Chief Executive Officer, Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB), Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, February 1986 to January 1993
Directed Albuquerque’s convention sales, tourism marketing and visitor services corporation.
Accomplishments:
Increased Sales – Set strategic direction to focus on larger citywide conventions instead of the city’s traditional approach to the small group market. Achieved a 150% increase in convention sales productivity over time, from 80,000 to 200,000 (+) room nights booked per year. In 1991, Albuquerque was ranked as the 7th highest performing city in America in terms of hotel occupancy, and one of only 12 cities with growing occupancy.
Increased Yield – Yield per available room grew by 18% despite a citywide inventory growth of 31% during tenure. Hotel revenues consistently grew three times faster than the rate of growth in the local economy in general.
Increased Private Investment – Led development of new cooperative marketing efforts and achieved a 220% growth in private revenues from $0.374 to $1.2 million per year.
Increased City Investment – Developed ROI models and lobbied the city to commit to a 33% growth in public support from $1.7 to $2.3 million per year.
Lobbied Major Changes to the Albuquerque Convention Centre Expansion – During first year, significantly influenced development planning. The project plans called for a 9,000 sqm (100,000 sqf) centre with a construction program that would preclude future expansion. Developed a case, with expert advice from national industry leaders, and worked with architects on proposed development program revisions that would increase its size, make it expandable and enhance its marketability. Lobbied City government to test the feasibility of the altered footprint, and their eventual agreement led to significant design and construction improvements to the $55 million project.
Lobbied State Legislature to Secure Marketing Funds - Achieved legislation to restore a 50% earmark of rooms taxes for use in convention and tourism marketing.
Led Development of New Image Campaign - Named New Mexico’s “Marketer of the Year - 1991” by the American Marketing Association, for national award winning “The Art of Albuquerque” advertising campaign.
Founded IACVB’s International Standards Committee – In 1988, established and Chaired the original Standards Committee for the International Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus (IACVB). The committee established global convention sales and financial reporting standards that still form the basis of annual benchmarking activities between bureaus.
Co-founded MAGNIFICO! Albuquerque Festival of the Arts – Helped create and lead development of the arts festival to establish new arts tourism product in the city, and to support the branding of Albuquerque through the Art of Albuquerque Campaign.
Vice President, Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, Boston, Massachusetts (GBCVB), USA, March 1983 to January 1986 and Director of Communications, September 1981 to March 1983
Directed agency’s advertising, public relations, publications, membership, visitor services, administration and operations, budgeting, marketing planning and political affairs programs.
Accomplishments:
Lobbied State Government to Expand the Hynes Convention Centre – Led the lobbying effort that convinced the State to release $3 million in design funds that got the project moving. Developed economic case for the expansion and managed the public relations and governmental relations programs that helped bring the project to fruition.
LEADERSHIP POSITIONS
Member of the London International Convention Centre Commission, 2004 – Present.
Chairman of DOME (Data on Meetings and Events), 2001 – 2003.
Co-founder and Member of the Board, BestCities.net, 1999-2003.
Chairman of the Business Events Council of Australia, 1999-2000.
Founded and Chaired the Standards Committee for the Australian Association of Convention Bureaux, 1998 – 2003.
Co-Founder and Chairman of Melbourne’s Golden Mile Heritage Trail, 1996 to 2000.
Chairman of the Board, International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus (IACVB), 1995-1996.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees, IACVB Foundation, 1994-1995.
Co-Founder and Member of the Board of Directors, MAGNIFICO!, Albuquerque Festival of the Arts, 1990 – 1992.
Member of Board of Directors, IACVB – 1989 – 1997.
Co-Founder and First Chairman, Tourism Association of New Mexico, 1987-1989.