“Gary was a kind and hard-working man for meetings and tourism,” said Newt Collinson III, founder of Collinson Media and Events. “Our industry will miss him. He led Orlando, empowered his staff, and he made a positive difference for the entire hospitality business.

“On a personal level, I lost a friend,” added Collinson. “Gary was always quick to give suggestions on our Marketplace events and compliment our magazines and editors.”

Visit Orlando Chairman and Hyatt Regency Cypress Gardens General Manager Paul Tang said in a statement, “Gary was a loving son, husband and father. Our thoughts go out to the people he most cherished, Gary’s mother Elizabeth Sain, wife Pam and daughters Vanessa Sain-Dieguez (Luis) and Olivia.”

Memorial Information from Visit Florida:

A public viewing will take place from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, May 11 at Baldwin-Fairchild Funeral Home, and a celebration of his life and funeral will take place Saturday, May 12, at 11 a.m. at Northland Church. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for consideration of a donation to one of two scholarship funds established in Gary’s name:

UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management
An endowed scholarship has been established in memory of Gary C. Sain at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management for students majoring in Event Management with an emphasis in Destination Management. Gary spent his entire career in the hospitality industry and was passionate about supporting students desiring the same career path. He often spoke at the College and was a member of the Dean’s advisory board.

Destination & Travel Foundation
As an expression of remembrance and sympathy, the family requests contributions to the Destination and Travel Foundation in the name of Gary Sain. A memorial fund has been established to honor Gary’s leadership and legacy in the destination marketing industry. Destination and Travel Foundation. 2025 M St. NW Ste. 500, Washington, DC 20036.

Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium was used for the conference's general sessions in order to accommodate the conference's more than 20,000 high school-aged students and their chaperones.

Event: The National Catholic Youth Conference drew 21,000 youth to Indianapolis last November. “We talk about it as three days of catechism or teaching, prayer and worship, recreation and service,” says Gross. “We try and engage people in multiple ways in multiple levels, strengthening their Catholic identities and understanding of our Catholic faith.” The organizers found the city and host diocese such a good fit, they signed up to bring the conference back for the 2013 biennial event before the 2011 event took place.

Location: NCYC has very specific needs in a host city: covered stadium with minimum seating of 20,000 people; a convention center with 750,000 square feet of exhibit space within walking distance, if not connected to, the stadium; 5,500 quad-occupancy hotel rooms within 20-30 minutes of the center; and a diocese willing and equipped to host a group of that size. “It’s not about being in an exciting destination—not to say Indy isn’t exciting—but it’s about driveability. When attendees can bus or drive in cars and vans, we see attendance increase,” Gross says.

Return Trip: Returning to Indianapolis in 2013 has its advantages. “A lot of adults and group leaders have been once before, so for them, it will eliminate the first-time jitters; they’ll know the layout, where the restrooms are,” Gross says. It also allows the planning team to improve problems faced during the previous event.

Trade Show: The event’s trade show, called Thematic Park, was designed to be an interactive venue with a central service area to puts the event’s theme, “Called to Glory,” into action. “It showed how to take [lessons] home and replicate them at the local level,” Gross says. In the past, attendees built a Habitat for Humanity house in the exhibit hall. At this event, students could participate in sports, walk through a disability simulation, sculpt clay at the Creative Corner, or sit at a coffeehouse and listen to Catholic musicians. “It connected to what was happening in our general session in Lucas Oil,” Gross says. “It was always meant to be interactive, and never meant to be exhibit booths in a 10×10 line.”

Face-to-Face: “We draw young people from across the country, and we hear, most poignantly, that they’re the only Catholic in their community,” she says. “They come and are able to see they’re not the only Catholic. [They are] one of tens of thousands, who come together and gather once every other year, who are making the tough decision and living counter-culturally.”

Security: In response to the recent child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops developed a charter to protect young people that all Catholic dioceses in the country have to be in general alignment with. It includes background checks, training to recognize and predict signs of abuse, and steps needed to protect against any such behavior. NCYC did background checks on every speaker and performer who took the stage. “We’re still working on it,” Gross says. “Is it overkill or are we striking the right balance? It’s a major expense—not that finances make the decision—but we didn’t used to budget for this, but now we do.”

| IN GROSS’ WORDS |

When I’m on-site at an event:

I can’t live without my co-workers, including our very dedicated vendor partners. Events don’t happen because of one person. Outside of work, my husband and children. They make everything worthwhile.

I communicate using a radio, texting, and, occasionally, email. We also hold daily face-to-face briefings for our highest level group leaders.

I am most inspired by the young people who attend our youth conference and the adults who bring them.

I most miss my children. (I’m blessed that my husband is a member of our organization and so he is usually present at most of our events.)

I learn the most from doing. I’m a hands-on learner.

Gross tells us why the success of NCYC is about more than a job in A Closer Look.

Planner:

Event: Apologia Live, a faith-based retreat for homeschool moms, drew 200 attendees to the Westin Atlanta Airport Hotel March 23-24. Speakers included Pam Tebow and popular authors and speakers in the homeschool arena. “We chose Atlanta because it is centrally located in the Southeast and has a large population of homeschoolers,” says Corson. The next retreat will be in Big Lake, Alaska, in October. 

How do you recruit, train and reward volunteers? Long-time supporters of the ministry volunteer to help with registration and other details. “We do on-site training on how to check attendees in, and we reward them with a discounted registration fee,” says Corson.

Social Media: We partner with bloggers within our market who do giveaways before the event, tweet and blog during the event, and write a review post after attending the event.

What’s your favorite planning tool or resource? “Google Calendar—I keep everything on there for all our travel and trips,” she says.

How did you get into meeting planning? Corson always wanted to be in event management. “I landed a job as a marketing intern in college that allowed me to assist the show manager of a large convention,” she says. “From there I just continued on in meeting planning.”

What’s your best advice for a fellow event planner? “Preparation and check lists are a planner’s best friend,” says Corson.

When I’m on-site at an event,

I can’t live without Westin Heavenly beds.

I communicate using my iPhone and a smile.

I am most inspired by good customer service. It makes me happy.

I most miss my three kids!

I learn the most from conflict that is handled well.

Having trouble keeping up with all the social media tools? Watch the “Social Media Made Easy” recorded webinar.

1. Media Tablets and Beyond: Tablets will continue to permeate the business world, and IT managers need to prepare for how an organization will use them and how its members will, too.

2. Mobile-Centric Applications and Interfaces. Windows, icons, menus, and pointers are being replaced with touch, gesture, search, voice and video. Apps are becoming simpler to create and operate, and HTML5 will also provide a long-term model to address cross-platform (iPhone versus Android) issues.

3. Contextual and Social User Experience. Contextually aware products and systems link mobile, social, location, payment and commerce. (Think geo-location–based apps). What’s next: augmented reality.

4. Internet of Things. This concept describes how, as the Internet expands, physical items become more connected to it (example: TVs). The products will have embedded sensors, image recognition and near field communication (NFC) technologies.

5. App Stores and Marketplaces. Gartner forecasts that by 2014, there will be more than 70 billion mobile application downloads from app stores every year.

6. Next-Generation Analytics. Analytics is growing along three key dimensions: embedded analytics, real-time data analysis and complex data acquisition.

7. Big Data. The size, complexity of formats and speed of delivery exceeds the capabilities of traditional data management technologies. New ways to acquire and store data are emerging.

8. In-Memory Computing. Besides delivering a new storage tier, the availability of large amounts of memory is driving new application models. As cost and availability of memory-intensive hardware platforms reach tipping points in 2012 and 2013, the in-memory approach will enter the mainstream.

9. Extreme Low-Energy Servers. Low-energy servers are built on low-power processors typically used in mobile devices. They are becoming more common for non-complex tasks.

10. Cloud Computing. Cloud computing, which is storing materials in Web space instead of on computer hard drives, has the potential for broad long-term impact in most industries. Companies including Oracle, IBM, SAP and Microsoft are introducing or improving cloud products.

Tell us what technologies you use when planning events.

What’s your travel forecast for the coming year?
Technology keeps getting better and better, creating easier ways to book rooms. As everyone gets more mobile, small group and individual bookings are last minute. There’s been a real surge in speed with handheld devices and tablets, and we expect it to grow dramatically as prices go down, especially on tablets, and more people use them.

How is the economy changing booking patterns?
There will be continuous and various types of promotions by hotels to convince visitors to book in advance, which allows hotels to be more efficient and plan rates. You’ll see more incentives to make consumers change their behavior. There will be more rate differentiation between those who book and pay in advance, which will include the ability to make changes, and another for last-minute bookings, which won’t include any refunds on cancellation. Rates will also encourage travelers to stay longer.

Does this hold true for meeting space as well?
There’s no question that it applies to meeting space. Meetings and groups are booking short. There will be a push in terms of the negotiation process; rates will be different depending on length of stay and other factors.

What other changes do you expect?
The check-in process is changing due to technology. The front desk will disappear. The long lines when your group arrives at the same time will be eliminated. Consumers are getting used to doing more check-ins themselves. They are self-printing their airplane bordering passes; rental cars have self-check-in devices. There’s an app for room keys, allowing hotel guests to open their room using their phone; you’ll see this expanding, along with consumers selecting their rooms online. They’ll be able to head straight to their room as soon as they arrive. That’s great for travelers and produces cost savings for hotels. Hotels need to interface with entire systems and that is taking longer than in other areas of travels, but it’s on the way.

Do you see hotel rates going up overall?
The economy has been going sideways for an extended period of time. There will be a slow rise in demand [for hotel space] because not a lot is coming on the market. Rates are going up in bigger cities, but are expected to stay the same in second-tier cities and smaller markets. We’ll see increases in 2013, and we are telling travelers to book as far in advance as possible. Hotels won’t be slashing rates at the last minute. Planners, especially, should make plans earlier rather than later.

What’s in your crystal ball?
I see much more personalization. When someone books through the meeting planner’s software program, more preferences will be remembered and responses will be custom tailored to the individual. They’ll be offered rooms with what they want. This gives travelers more confidence that their travel provider knows them. They’re more comfortable working with them.

What about air travel?
The tremendous amount of consolidation means there’s less competition, which means rates will continue to go up. All rules have been tossed out the window. There are no more round-trip rates. Instead of system-wide rules, now it’s airline-to-airline delivering to capacity. Major airlines are becoming like discount carriers. There will be even more creativity in adding additional charges where they can. There are lots of other ways they haven’t gotten around to yet to maximize income. They’ll charge more for an aisle seat or a window seat. You’ll see more marketing…advertising on the backs of seats, on the airport shuttle buses, everywhere. Luxury-type airline travel in this country is a thing of the past. American Airlines going bankrupt means they can now compete and go head-to-head with Southwest, which has more routes as a result of its merger with AirTran. So fewer services, more fees, pricing skirmishes between online sites and airlines. Also, more packaging, which is more popular outside the U.S., with airfare, hotels and cars included in one price. Providers working with net rates can move a lot of product and hide bottom-line pricing.

What incentives are being offered to lure preferred customers?
What they’re doing with business travelers is splitting them up. They’re getting priority in lines, luggage off quicker, extra freebies. Some airlines may do premium seating, but you’ll no longer see the days of a higher percentage of staff to passengers. It’s a pay-for-what-you-get system, like the latest in the car industry—the toll device. It’s another way to charge you for extras.

What are your favorite travel resources?
Obviously, I use getaroom.com and I think kayak.com is a great site. Our big push now is on the vacation rental side for those who need a lot of accommodations. We’re adding things like condo hotels in New York City, as well as studios to three-bedroom apartments. We’re using more flash sales for lodging to excite consumers to take advantage of short-term offers. It’s a way for vendors to push aspirational products, and these opportunities lift the boat for the entire industry.

How does this apply to meeting planners?
If they have attendees who are arriving earlier or staying later, they need resources for them. We have commission-type programs for planners. We put them on a different URL to track bookings and the planner can earn extra inventory.

What frequent flyer advice do you have?
I rarely travel the same airline both ways. You can find better fares and convenient times by using different carriers. I make sure I am a premier member of all clubs, including car rental companies and all hotel groups. I love credit card programs. You get travel bonuses, double miles, triples miles, etc. It becomes a battle the consumer is winning.

What specific advice can you offer meeting planners?
Two things. One, make sure you have a little card in your wallet with your frequent numbers and credit card call-free numbers, so you can easily take it out and see them all—and always make sure you sign up for notifications by cell phone or text so you get important messages. Two, bring food and extra batteries.

What technology tool do you always travel with?
I always take my laptop and my Blackberry for email. I have a spare charger about the size of a credit card with three to four full charges for all my devices. Also, I have a Kindle, which I love especially when I’m with my wife and kids.

What else do you always pack?
An empty plastic bottle, which I fill up with water when I pass security. Who wants to pay $3 for a bottle of water? Two big bags of trail mix, a swimsuit and goggles, shorts and T-shirts and jogging shoes to exercise. The best way to see a city is to jog around.

What do you do to relax?
I work out always. That’s why I bring my gym clothes.

Dr. Woodring and his wife, Donna, are heading to Texas to settle near family.

Members of the meetings industry, including many of the faith-based  community, celebrated one of its most active leaders, educators and promoters last month after the announcement of his retirement at the end of the year.  Dr. DeWayne Woodring, CMP, CEM, stepped down as executive director and CEO of the Religious Conference Management Association Dec. 31, after a 30-year career with the organization.

Praised as a visionary by associates, Dr. Woodring not only helped raise the profile of religious meetings, he influenced the growth of professionalism within the meetings industry as a whole. “My whole life changed when I became a meeting planner,” he said in a recent video. “Meeting planners are among the finest people on Earth.”

Dr. Woodring served as chairman of the Convention Industry Council, where he was one of the original founders of its Certified Meeting Professional program, now the accreditation standard with this specialized field. In 1994, he received the highest honor in the meetings industry when he was inducted into the Convention Liaison Council Hall of Leaders for his distinguished contributions.

Dr. Woodring’s industry service was wide-ranging. He was a delegate to the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism. He also served on the International Curriculum Advisory Panel of George Washington University. As an industry advocate, he contributed to the passage by the U.S. Congress of the bill exempting qualified nonprofit organizations from taxation on exhibits. Later, he helped bring about an agreement with the music industry to lower the cost of music licensing and the exemption of religious organizations using music in worship settings.

Frequently called upon to lend his professional expertise to industry organizations, he served on numerous boards and committees, including the Marriott Customer Leadership Forum, the Customer Advisory Board of Red Lion Hotels and Inns, the International Association of Conference Centers Japan, and the Nassau/Paradise Island Advisory Board. He was also an advisor for the building of the Charlotte Convention Center, the Savannah Convention Center, the Puerto Rico Convention Center, and the expansion of the Indiana Convention Center and RCA Dome in Indianapolis. He served on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for International Meetings and the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association, and was a long-time participant in the American Society of  Association Executives.

Dr. Woodring’s activities extended beyond this country and outside the meetings industry. He has overseen major international conventions and seminars in venues in Africa, Asia, South America and Europe (his travels have taken him to 136 countries). Through his leadership in philanthropy, he saw RCMA donate $700,000 in the past six years to the United Nations World Food Program. He also served for decades as chaplain of the Defense Orientation Conference Association, as one of 60 business professionals in the U.S. chosen by the Secretary of Defense to visit U.S. military establishments and exchange views with key defense personnel, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

A tribute to Dr. Woodring permanently resides in the Hall of Leaders in the Washington, D.C. Convention Center and Chicago’s McCormick Place, along with those of other honorees including Conrad Hilton and J.W. Marriott.

Dr. Woodring’s career accomplishments, his 80th birthday and his retirement were celebrated in a final night gala Jan. 27 at the RCMA World Conference and Expo in Kansas City, Mo.

Rev. Harry Schmidt is the new executive director of RCMA, moving up from his position as RCMA board vice president. Replacing him is Melvin Tennant, CAE, president and CEO of Meet Minneapolis, Official Convention and Visitors Association; it is the first time a supplier has held that position in the organization.

You can view the video interview with Dr. Woodring here.