A meeting planner in Washington, D.C., sees a loose bolt on her exhibit panel. She picks up a wrench to fix it and a union laborer standing nearby sees her and reports a grievance to his supervisor. A florist in San Francisco attempts to carry centerpieces up a hotel loading dock and a Teamster stops him. The meeting planner who hired the florist must pay union laborers to perform this service.

While these scenarios may seem far-fetched, they are based on actual experiences faced by planners holding events in cities with unionized labor. While union regulations vary from city to city, an understanding of the venue’s guidelines will allow you to budget and reduce your organization’s liability to union grievances.

Before contracting a hotel or convention center, ask if it utilizes a union labor force and specifically which departments are in the union. While banquet servers and bellmen may be under a union contact, conference services managers and administrators might be non-union. If the venue does employ union laborers, inquire as to whether the union contracts are expiring or up for negotiation. Labor disputes could cause a disruption in services, a strike and public demonstrations outside the venue, all of which can affect your meeting.

Your salesperson might downplay any union negotiations to make a sale or not know the full extent of disputes, especially if the salesperson is located in another state. It is best to perform further research outside the venue’s report. The official hotel guide of the Hotel Workers Union, Unite Here, provides a list of hotels that are at risk of dispute or on strike. You should also perform an Internet search on the property. Search with the venue’s name followed by the words “labor dispute boycott strike” or “picket lines protests union” to learn of any existing or pending labor disputes. You can also call the local branch of the Hotel Workers Union and ask if they are currently engaged in any labor disputes in hotels in your chosen city. Unite Here provides a list of branches per city at unitehere.org/about/locals.php.

Include a union clause in your contract to further protect your organization, even if you find that union contracts are not up for negotiation and no disputes are pending. Most force majeure clauses include strikes and labor disputes. However, it is wise to add language that allows you to cancel the agreement and receive a refund of all deposits should a dispute or strike occur within two weeks prior to the start of your event or at any time during your event.

Consider also adding a clause that requires the hotel to notify your group within 10 days after it becomes aware of any labor disputes involving the hotel and its employees. The clause should include notification of the expiration of a negotiated labor contact or the filing of an unfair labor practice charge by a union, which often leads to a dispute.

Once your contract is in place, it’s time to research the union’s regulations and uncover any additional fees that may be imposed. If you are using the venue’s exclusive service providers, they are fully aware of the regulations and will work with the local unions to ensure compliance. If you are using an outside production company, for example, make sure it has worked in the city previously and has an understanding of the guidelines.

Increased fees often come into play when your event requires union labor for longer than an eight-hour period, on holidays or weekends. Check with the venue to see what staffing guidelines are in place and how you might alter your schedule to reduce fees. For example, union servers might be restricted to three hours for a breakfast or lunch shift and four hours for a dinner shift, including setup and teardown time. If you request that the linens are placed on the tables 1.5 hours before your dinner begins so your florist can bring the centerpieces, you’ll have only 2.5 hours to set up, serve and tear down your dinner and chances are you will go into overtime. In this case, see if the florist can deliver the centerpieces at the same time the venue is setting up the overall tables.

If your program requires dedicated staff, taking them away from their regular schedule, you may incur additional fees as well. For example, if you require dedicated room service staff for your VIP executives, which means the servers would not garner gratuities from other guests, a hotel might then require a flat “attendant” fee to compensate for the lost income.

Always ask hotels if the unions will agree to negotiate fees for certain services. For example, hotels charge a certain amount per item for room deliveries, an amount that goes to the bellman as a gratuity. If you place an envelope on top of a box, that can count as two items. Try to negotiate a bundled fee based on the overall amount of deliveries. If you have a multi-year contract with the hotel or your program is generating a significant amount of revenue for the property, the hotel might be more willing to waive the fees for your group and pay the union staff out of its own budget.

By carefully researching the property’s union guidelines and strengthening the contractual language against disputes, you can successfully manage an event at any union facility.

Monica Compton, CMP, is a writer and event marketing consultant with Pinnacle Productions Inc., based in Atlanta, Ga. She has 20 years experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally.

The first step to building your block is determining your peak night, or the greatest number of rooms needed on a single night. Start by using the total number of attendees from the previous year and add or subtract a percentage based on the current agenda and registrations. Most attendees arrive one or two days in advance. To determine these “shoulder nights,” it’s important to look at your history from past years and your attendee demographics, especially taking note of international travelers. If you have attendees traveling from Europe, for example, they might arrive early in the morning, which would require reserving a room the night before. Attendees from Asia might arrive two days in advance of the meeting to adjust to the local time zone. Attendees driving to the meeting might arrive the first day of the program and not require a room the night before.

You can determine the percentage of shoulder nights needed based on the peak-night number. First, determine the percentage of shoulder-night rooms you needed last year. For example, if on the peak night, you used 100 rooms and shoulder nights required 50 rooms, the percent for shoulder rooms was 50 percent. Use this percentage to determine this year’s needed rooms. Multiply this year’s projected peak-night number by last year’s shoulder percentage. This gives you a percentage of how many rooms you need to reserve on each shoulder night.

Next, determine if you should contract these rooms with the hotel based on peak night or cumulative pickup. If you have a one-day event with a number of local attendees who do not require rooms, guaranteeing rooms on the peak night would be best. This way you are not responsible for shoulder nights that might not be picked up. Most meetings, though, work better with a cumulative pickup, which means if you don’t make your peak-night number, each and every room on shoulder nights count toward your guarantee. Cumulative pickup is usually best for multiple-day meetings where attendees are extending their stays. If your hotel is located in a resort area and the arrival or departure dates are near a weekend, attendees are more likely to add nights before or after the meeting dates.

Now that you have your room-night pattern, determine the types of rooms needed each night: kings, doubles, staff rooms, suites and government-rated rooms. Start with the room type most of the attendees use—standard king rooms, for example—and back out the rest of the room types from this number. Since suites are usually assigned to VIPs such as keynote speakers, you are less likely to need extended shoulder nights for these rooms. This is also the case for government-rated rooms that are restricted to the dates of the conference.

After your block is built, it’s negotiation time. Most hotels want to negotiate an attrition percentage, or the number of rooms they are willing to allow you to release without penalty. The attrition rate is contingent on many factors: time of year, history of your pickup from previous years, whether this is the host hotel and if there are other overflow hotels contracted, and the hotel’s current occupancy. Most hotels are willing to offer an 80 percent attrition rate. Deduct 20 percent from your total room nights contracted and determine if you can realistically fill this number of rooms.

It’s important to factor in a no-show rate when determining your attrition liability. Again, look at your attendee demographics and the previous year’s pickup. Do you have many international attendees who could be affected by flight delays? Have you awarded complimentary rooms to sponsors or customers where financial responsibility is solely your burden? Once you’ve figured out your no-show percentage, add that number to your attrition percentage. For example, if you determine that you have a 5 percent no-show rate, you must now fill 85 percent of your block to meet attrition.

It’s also important that all revenue received from a room booking counts toward your attrition commitment, regardless if someone slept in the room or not. Make sure your contract states that attrition is calculated on “revenue” rooms not “utilized” rooms. If a guest doesn’t show up, the room is not utilized, but you are still being charged one night’s room rate. This revenue should count toward your overall revenue commitment. Any deposits, pre-payments or early departure fees collected should also count toward this revenue.

Make sure your contract includes an “all reservations considered” clause. This allows any room that can be attributed to your block to count towards your overall pickup, regardless of the reservation’s origin. Attendees who book outside the block and reserve their rooms on travel sites such as Expedia and hotels.com would not book at the hotel if it weren’t for your meeting. These rooms should then count toward your block. At the conclusion of your meeting, provide the hotel with your final attendee list and ask them to perform a room audit, cross-checking the names with all reservations in its system. Any names matching your list will be added to your block.

Negotiating an extended cut-off date is also important if your delegates are late to register. Most hotels ask you to submit your final rooming list 30 days in advance of the start of your meeting. After that date, they release the rooms to the general public. Negotiating down to 21 days in advance gives you a little more than a week extra to get your room reservations in.

If you have allocated shoulder nights for extended stays, ask the hotel to honor your group rates for a minimum of three days before and three days after the start and end dates of your meeting. Chances are they will honor the rate past this; it helps if you are a repeat client, have a multi-year contract or a strong history of filling your block.

There are a myriad of additional concessions that help you reduce costs, from complimentary room nights to suite upgrades to a discounted staff room rate. While you probably want to ask for as many concessions as possible, determine which are most important to your program. If you have a significant number of VIPs, upgrades to club level and complimentary amenities might be most important. If your meeting requires extensive audiovisual equipment, negotiate a discount with the in-house provider.

If your agenda is filled with food and beverage functions, ask for a discount after a minimum revenue is met. Get creative. Many hotels own vehicles or work with a transportation supplier and will extend complimentary airport transfers for your staff and VIPs. If the property is expansive, request the use of golf carts to get around the meeting space. If your program has large exhibits and substantial shipments, request a discount on handling fees.

Building your block and negotiating concessions is much easier with detailed records from year to year. Track your group’s history and save pick-up reports. The more proof you can offer as to your block’s performance, the more likely the hotel will offer discounted rates and minimal attrition commitments.

Monica Compton, CMP, is an event specialist with Pinnacle Productions Inc. based in Atlanta. She has 20 years experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally.

Taxes
Canada’s Foreign Convention and Tour Incentive Program  offers reduced tax incentives for international groups that hold their meetings in the country. For rebate information, requirements and forms go to the FCTIP website.

Passports
Passports are required for any air travel outside the U.S. and its territories. They’re no longer cheap (for adults, $135; for kids under 16, $105), can take up to two months to process, and first-timers must apply in person. For forms and info, go to travel.state.gov/passport.

Mobile Phones
The new iPhone 4S is a world phone. It can be bought from AT&T, Verizon and, for the first time, Sprint. Even if you get your iPhone 4S from Verizon, whose CDMA network is incompatible with the GSM networks used in most other countries, you’ll still be able to make calls overseas, either through Verizon or by inserting another carrier’s SIM card. Whatever mobile phone you use, you should call your wireless provider to make sure it is ready to make and receive calls in a foreign country. You can also check with your carrier for the exact rates in the countries where you’ll be traveling. Calls will be charged on a per-minute basis. For subscribers with U.S. cell phone service, domestic voice, text message or data plans do not apply when traveling in another country. SMS text messaging is typically the cheapest way to communicate with people in the country where you’re traveling and also with people back home in the U.S.

Attendee Info
Create your own international tip sheet for attendees and include with event information.

Online Resources
The State Department posts current travel warnings and alerts on its site at travel.state.gov, which also has passport information. While the customs process has become more streamlined there are still certain restrictions and requirements. For specific dos and don’ts, choose “Tips for Traveling Abroad” on the international travel page. Lonelyplanet.com is also a useful site for international travelers. Users can click on the world map for information on global destinations, including crime and practical concerns.

<< Return to International Understanding

With goals and objectives at the forefront, next look at audiovisual requirements, speaker needs and traffic flow, taking into consideration participant safety, comfort and accommodation for people with disabilities. If your program includes a food and beverage function, review your meeting room’s access to this service and decide if you will need these functions outside your meeting room or included within.

When deciding on a room setup, keep in mind three principles to guide choice of configuration:

1. Set to the long side of the room. For a rectangular room, placing the speaker on the long side will put more of the audience closer to the presentation. If you are lacking space or using rear-screen projection, you may have to set the stage on the short side of the room to be more space efficient.

2. Minimize straight-row seating. Set chairs in a semi-circle or herringbone (V-shape) to give the audience the best view of the presentation. With straight-row seating, you can only see the people next to you and the backs of heads of those in front of you. A semi-circle set enables viewing between persons.

3. Avoid center aisles. The center of the room is the best viewing of the presentation and should not be wasted on an aisle. A center aisle would be necessary if you have entertainers entering or leaving through the center of the room.

With these principles in mind, it’s time to choose the ultimate setup for your meeting.

Theater or Auditorium Style

This is the best setup for a large group where writing is not necessary and food is not served. Chairs are set in rows facing the speaker, stage or focal point of the room. Remember that a standard meeting room chair is narrower than most people’s bodies. Ask the hotel or venue not to set the chairs touching side-by-side and allow at least 2 inches between (4-6 inches for optimal comfort). This reduces the capacity of your room because not all chairs are used. You may not have a choice in chair spacing, however. Capacity restrictions and fire codes can dictate space between chairs, distance between rows and the number and width of aisles. Some hotels may use chairs that interlock to meet spacing requirements. Ask what the hotel’s regulations are up front and to provide diagrams of the various setups available. A last-minute change of setup due to fire code regulations can cost additional man hours.

Schoolroom or Classroom Style 

This setup is best for meetings where attendees need to write or use a computer. It allows for minimal interaction between attendees and is best used for lectures and training meetings. Chairs are set at 6-foot or 8-foot tables facing the presenter. Standard seating is three people per 6-foot table and four people per 8-foot table. To allow for more workspace between attendees, ask the hotel to reduce this to two chairs per 6-foot table and three chairs per 8-foot table. This setup is most optimal for breakout sessions where entertainment is not used and thus center aisles create the best access for attendees entering and exiting the room.

Conference Style  

This format is ideal for smaller groups where attendee interaction is a main objective. Seated around tables, participants have a direct view of their colleagues to facilitate discussions. Specify what type of table arrangements you need based on the objectives of your meeting:

1. Boardroom: One solid, rectangular table that can be an existing table in a hotel meeting room or created by putting together 30-inch tables. This setup is best for a board of directors meeting with heavy discussions as participants are in closest reach to each other.

2. U-Shape: Tables are arranged in a horseshoe, which is ideal for meetings that need to facilitate discussion between attendees but also include an audiovisual presentation set at the opening of the “U.”

3. T-Shape: Best for a panel, presenters or lead management that needs to sit at the top of the “T” and direct the discussion down the length of the tables.

4. Hollow Square: Best for meetings that do not require an audiovisual presentation. If the hotel has serpentine tables, request a rounded hollow square setup to maximize seating on the ends. If these are not available, straight tables can be placed at an angle creating an angled hollow square setup.

5. Multi-Sided Shapes: Multi-sided shapes such as a diamond or octagonal are best for larger groups of 20 or more. They comfortably seat nearly every attendee at the end of a table and provide direct sight and voice communication to participants.

Banquet Style 

This setup works best for meetings that require food and beverage service and where participants are asked to break out into small groups. Setup includes 60-, 66- or 72-inch round tables with chairs around the entire table or only on one side—a crescent-round or half-moon setup. If your function includes a speaker or audiovisual presentation, the crescent-round setup allows for better viewing of the presentation while still facilitating discussion between attendees.

Combination Setups  

For large conventions with a quick turnaround between meeting and meal functions, consider combining a theater-style setup with banquet tables at the back of the room. Attendees can easily move from one function to the next without major changes to the room setup.

No matter what setup you choose, remember to consult with your conference services manager on what setup has worked the best in his or her facility and any challenges that need to be overcome such as columns restricting sight lines or fire marshal restrictions. Facilitating a learning environment in accordance with your meeting’s objectives should take top priority. The more comfortable the room can be for attendees, from the width of the chairs to the temperature in the room, the more likely they will learn and interact on a higher level.

The common excuse is “I don’t have the time,” or “my manager isn’t going to read the report anyway.” But it begs the following questions: How will your manager learn about the meeting’s success? How will the organization appreciate your abilities and the planning skills required to pull all of the complexities of meeting planning into a spectacular event?

A post-con report summarizes and showcases every element of your work, and demonstrates the results of the meeting. It provides hard data to determine if a meeting should continue to be held, improved upon or eliminated. Armed with a solid report, you can better manage and control your overall meeting systems, discovering new ways to improve the speed and flow of details.

You need to record the history of each event. How many of us can remember the details of a meeting we planned a year ago? What did the evaluations tell us? What did the focus groups and committees report to us in the post-con meetings? What were the final results of our financial report? Did we achieve our goals? How did we market the meeting? A post-con report provides the facts when we reopen the file to plan for the following year.

The report answers the tough questions you may be asked about the success of the meeting, as well as the areas requiring improvement: What was the return on investment for the organization, the stakeholders and the meeting planning department? Were the attendees satisfied with the meeting and why? Was the location convenient to attendees? What were the highlights of the location? Can the failures be fixed? What aspects of the meeting worked? Should the organization retain or eliminate the meeting? In order to persuade change and move others into action, the report should summarize information and facts, not emotions.

Components of a Post-Con Report

1. First, determine who will read your report and what information is important to them. Will it go to senior management, board members or volunteers? Perhaps you will be the only reader. Whoever else sees it may not be interested in the extensive detail you deem important. Simply ask what they would like you to report on after the meeting is complete. Once you know your audience, begin to develop an outline for the report. As you collect the data, place it in a folder right away.

2. Match the culture of your organization. Does your audience prefer a one-page summary in a memorandum format, a long document with appendices and color charts and graphs, or a five-minute PowerPoint presentation? If you’re covering all the areas below, be sure to create a cover page with your name, date, the meeting name and your organization’s brand.

3. An executive summary contains the most important elements of the whole report, offering conclusions and highlights from the material that follows. While it is the first, and maybe only section your audience will read it should be written last. It needs to contain original material. Do not simply copy sections from the report and place them in the summary.

4. Listing the names, roles and responsibilities of the meeting planning staff is critical in order to showcase your team’s talents and abilities. Also, it is wise to include detailed timelines, demonstrating the hours and coordination involved in the work you do.

5. Many organizations use volunteers. Listing their names, roles and responsibilities highlights their contributions to the overall meeting.

6. The meeting agenda needs to be summarized in a short paragraph reviewing the theme and the program plan. The detailed agenda is placed in the appendix.

7. Demographics may be of particular interest to your organization. Answer the following questions: Was there an increase or decrease in the number of attendees, and why? Where did the attendees come from? Are attendees members? If not, why not? Was there minority participation or participation from any other group that may be of importance to the organization? How did attendees hear about the meeting?

8. There are numerous types of evaluations for every part of a meeting. An overall evaluation communicates the attendees’ impressions of the entire event. Specific evaluations for speakers, special workshops or receptions, the trade show, vendors and meal functions can be designed and individually summarized in this section. A summary of issues surrounding contracts and negotiating points is quite helpful when you are considering whether or not to return to a property or city in the future. Notes pertaining to vendors and third-party suppliers offer a plethora of information as well.

9. Having risk and crisis management plans in place is critical. Was the crisis management plan implemented? Much of this information is confidential and cannot be released to all of your readers. Ask the major stakeholders where certain information should go. Highlight critical situations within the report. The detailed plans are to be placed within the appendix.

10. Include a summary of face-to-face, post-con meetings. There are two types of face-to-face meetings: formal and informal. It is human nature to be quite frank and direct when speaking with a meeting planner one-on-one. When the same person is in a group meeting, they evaluate who is in the room and are careful with their statements. Conducting post-con meetings with the site representatives, exhibit company, board members, executives, meeting planning staff and planning committee members is traditional.

11. Marketing documentation such as publicity materials, photographs, press clippings, magazine articles and social media impressions, as well as a list of reporters in attendance is critical for your marketing strategy for next year.

12. The budget report begins with a summary of the overall financial strategies followed by a listing of procedures, activities, a savings chart, a spend management report and the buying decisions of attendees.

A post-con report reflects the overall meeting strategy—the big picture supported by the data. You need to write and present post-con reports regularly to demonstrate that the meeting planning is truly a profession, not just set a set of skills.

Michele Wierzgac, CMM, is an experienced business leader and speaker, focusing on helping people build their business skills, especially in marketing, personal branding and leadership. She presented a two-part session on creating a post-con report at Rejuvenate Marketplace. To learn more about Wierzgac, visit micheleandco.com.

I agree. However, in the faith-based and trade show arena, a drop of 25 percent or more of the attendees due to some unforeseen occurrence could have fatal implications for a sponsoring organization. Here are a few questions you need to answer to determine if you should consider cancellation and interruption insurance:

➤ Does your show/event generate a significant amount of your annual revenue?

➤ Would a sudden, last-minute and significant (5 percent or more) downturn in attendance substantially impact your organization’s financial status?

➤ Could your organization cancel an event and not be significantly affected by the loss of profit?

All of these questions relate to the financial viability of the sponsoring organization. For those unfamiliar with this type of coverage, it protects your revenue—not your profits.

Here’s an example, based on a very realistic scenario: You produce an annual event with 2,500 attendees. Each registrant will pay $500 for registration. Your event has a trade show component; 150 exhibitors each pay $2,500. And don’t forget your sponsors: Add another $500,000. Between all of the above, you’ll generate $2.125 million in revenue. Your profit will be based on the difference between what you spend to produce the show and your revenue—an estimated $1 million.

Close to the start of your program, there is a health issue—say swine flu or SARS. Remember SARS? Your host city has a high number, or the highest number of documented cases. A renowned medical agency publicly recommends, “Don’t go there because there’s a chance you may get sick.” It isn’t an epidemic, but suddenly your attendance starts falling. You’ve already contracted and committed based on 2,500. Now it may be 1,700 or as low as 1,200. Your revenue projections now look like you may break even at best. If you had purchased an event cancellation/interruption policy, you can now get a good night’s sleep.

Here’s why: The insurance will protect your top-line revenue. You’ll be able to pay your bills, protect your income and remain financially intact. A claim of this magnitude will take a while to settle and requires an enormous amount of documentation and substantiation.

There’s a reason we don’t drive without insurance: risk. Ask yourself how much risk you’re willing to accept for your denomination, organization or company. The premium for this type of coverage is expensive. You have to plan for it, budget for it and apply for it each time you want it. It may not be best for everyone, but this is where you need to do your homework, assess your risk, discuss the upside and downside, and be prepared to live with your decision.

Industry associations—Meeting Professionals International, Professional Convention Management Association, etc.—have researched numerous providers and options and will serve as a great first step in determining which is best for you. So, take the time to make a well-informed decision.

By Larry Anderson

A plush bed with a high, pillow-top mattress may be a welcome sight for a busy meeting attendee at the end of the day, but for a little person, the luxurious bedding now featured in many high-end hotel rooms represents something else entirely. It’s an obstacle.

Marge Carlisle, a member of the conference management committee of Little People of America (LPA), says the trend toward higher beds is just one challenge little people face when traveling to a meeting or convention. Other issues include towels located out of reach (on a towel rack high on the wall), shower heads adjusted for a 6-foot-tall person that spray water over the head of a little person, an out-of-reach registration desk and mobility challenges such as 6- or 8-inch steps that are difficult for a little person to maneuver.

Carlisle and other members of the LPA conference management committee do on-site inspections and negotiate contracts to ensure that facilities for the national conference are accessible to the organization’s attendees, which can fill up to 700 rooms. “When they have high pillow-top beds, it requires us to have the hotel provide a stepping stool for each room,” says Carlisle. A hotel might have to provide 300 or 400 stools to accommodate conference attendees. They also have to build stairs to provide elevated access to the registration desk.

Accommodating meeting attendees that have such special needs, which are often centered around a physical disability, requires meeting planners to embrace the idea that each person, whether disabled or not, is an individual with a special set of needs.

A person with a disability faces numerous obstacles when attending a meeting. How can I maneuver the narrow aisles of the airplane? Can I handle the unwieldy door at the hotel? Will my wheelchair fit between the tables in the meeting room?

A blind person might be puzzled by a reference to a PowerPoint slide. A deaf person might struggle in the dim auditorium light to see a sign language interpreter. The needs may not always be obvious, says Carlisle. “Consider the weight of the bathroom door, the ease of swing, if it is easy to open or close. It might need to be propped open [during an event].”

Meeting planners are more likely to face these issues and others related to accommodating disabilities in coming years. Nearly 24 percent of the total U.S. population will be disabled by 2030 (assuming incidence rates by age remain the same), according to a Harris Interactive study commissioned by the Open Doors Organization. More than 15 percent will be severely disabled.

“What are their abilities?” asks Jani Nayar, executive coordinator of the Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality (SATH), an organization that seeks to raise awareness of the needs of travelers with disabilities. “What are their disabilities? What can he or she do or not do? Can the attendee get up from a wheelchair, take a few steps, stand up a few seconds, move from a chair to a seat?”  She adds, “You have to make sure you know what their abilities are. Don’t assume anything.”

The ADA and Beyond
Fortunately, many obstacles for anyone in the United States have been removed because of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which recently marked its 20th anniversary. The act specifies design requirements to make public buildings and facilities, including transportation facilities and meetings venues, more accessible. Also, the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986 requires airlines to accommodate persons with disabilities, whether at the ticket counter, on the concourse or on the airplane.

Planners should incorporate an assurance of ADA compliance in any venue contract for protection in case a problem subsequently arises with regard to accessibility, says Laurel Van Horn, research director of the Open Doors Organization. The Chicago-based organization’s goals are to teach businesses how to succeed in the disability market and to provide direct support to people with disabilities. “While hotels and other establishments typically say they are ADA-compliant, many in fact are not,” adds Van Horn.

Whenever possible, the planner should conduct a site visit in addition to asking specific questions. Possible problem areas include parking and drop-off points, routes to the building entrance, the actual entrance, routes to meeting space, the meeting space itself and restrooms. For overnight accommodations, planners should ask about accessible guest rooms (including how many have roll-in showers) and assistive technology (such as all-in-one visual notification kits and strobe fire alarms for those with hearing loss or portable shower benches for persons with restricted mobility). Also of concern are facilities such as restaurants, says Van Horn.

Public restrooms are an area where hotels and other meeting facilities often fall short related to compliance, especially in the case of older properties, says Van Horn. Instead of a full-size wheelchair stall, they may have an ambulatory stall with a raised toilet and grab rails on both sides — a configuration that works for older persons and those using crutches or a walker but not for people with no ability to stand and pivot from a wheelchair. There also may be a lack of lateral transfer space beside a toilet (often blocked by a sink), high mirrors, soap and towels out of reach, sinks too low to roll under and door latches that require tight grasping or twisting. And it’s not a case of one-size-fits-all, says Carlisle, who notes that a “handicapped” toilet is taller to accommodate a wheelchair user but is too tall for a little person to use.

Planners should also be aware of unenclosed staircases or escalators in public areas that could pose a hazard to persons with vision loss. During a site visit, look for a nearby natural surface or grassy area that could provide a service dog relief area, Van Horn suggests. Also, some doors are too heavy to open (5 pounds maximum pressure is allowed), and other doors swing in and block wheelchair access.

Logistical issues are a big part of accommodating persons with disabilities, and you have to consider the smallest detail. For example, it’s important to make sure a hydraulic lift on a transportation vehicle can handle a traveler in a specific wheelchair, says Nayar. The lifts have a capacity of 600 to 700 pounds. Some electric wheelchairs weigh 400 pounds or more. Depending on the size of the traveler and whether they use other heavy equipment, such as an oxygen concentrator, the lift may not be able to handle the wheelchair. “You need all the information beforehand, so it is not a surprise,” Nayar says. “Also, always get the dimensions of the wheelchair.”

Karen Wolffe of the American Foundation for the Blind urges planners to ensure that a venue has Braille and large print signage for restrooms, exits, room numbers and other locations such as the cafe, cloakroom, lounge, registration area, emergency exit or medical supply station.

The ADA is a difficult law to enforce, says Eric Lipp, executive director of the Open Doors Organization. “Sometimes accessibility shortcomings can be overcome by old-fashioned customer service through individual attention to each guest and their specific needs,” he says.

Accommodation also requires communication, both during an event and before. Sadly, not all barriers are physical; attitudinal barriers are everywhere. Often, service personnel treat a person with a disability as if they cannot make decisions for themselves. Instead, they ask questions of a companion, says Nayar.

Pre-Event Planning
Accommodating persons with various special needs requires planning ahead, starting months before an event. Pre-event promotional materials should request that attendees who require accommodation for a disability contact the organizer with details of their specific requirements. But Wolffe notes that a brochure should be sent electronically in order to be effective for people without sight or with severely limited sight.

Elizabeth T. Spiers of the American Association of the Deaf-Blind suggests setting up a section on a registration website for people to state their needs. “As the date gets near, you need to set a deadline by which people need to respond,” says Spiers, who recommends allowing a month at least to arrange interpreters or other services — the more time the better. Planners may want to contact a sign language agency, a computer-assisted real-time captioning (CART) company, or someone to provide assistive listening devices or systems in order to find out how much time they need. “It is often more expensive to provide accommodations at the last minute,” she says.

“If you are working with a person who has both a vision loss and a hearing loss, it becomes a little more complicated,” says Spiers, whose organization services people with both vision and hearing losses. One deaf or hard-of-hearing person with low vision may need his or her own interpreter, while another may rely on his residual hearing and prefer an ALD (assistive listening device) or CART services. A fully deaf-blind person may rely on tactile signing and need an interpreter who can sign into his or her hands.

During a Meeting
Accommodations for disabled persons during a meeting can include something as simple as designating enough time for breaks and between sessions to allow persons in wheelchairs to navigate the restrooms, elevators, etc., especially if such facilities are limited in number. Planners also should be sure there is enough space for wheelchairs to move freely between tables and to maneuver and turn. Open spaces scattered throughout a room allow attendees in wheelchairs to position themselves as they like.

Carlisle suggests that meeting planners accommodate disabled persons with as little separation as possible from the rest of the group. For example, anyone riding in a wheelchair accessible van to a conference outing misses out on the conversations and networking opportunities happening on the bus where everyone else is riding. “Find a way to include people in as much as possible without segregating them from the group,” she urges.

A major obstacle for wheelchair users is the availability of ground transportation, or lack thereof. Holding meetings on-site or at an adjoining facility can save time and money, as well as wear and tear on attendees. Multi-day conferences should be held on full-service properties, Van Horn recommends.

The arrangement of the room, lighting and seating should ensure that deaf persons can see sign language interpreters or CART captions; space should be reserved in the front of the room for these persons. To the extent possible, interpreters and CART operators should be provided with a copy of presentations in advance. At a minimum, a list of specialized terms and proper names should be provided, says Van Horn.

If there is a directory, the information should be available in an accessible format. There also could be helpers available to answer questions and to direct blind people to registration, meeting rooms, restrooms, dog guide relief areas, etc., says Wolffe. “One of the most challenging issues [for blind persons] is the use of PowerPoint slides by many presenters,” Wolffe says. “If presenters don’t have their materials available in braille or in a large-print version, they should describe for the sight-impaired everything that is shown visually — pictures, cartoons, graphs, etc. Presenters should avoid saying ‘look at this’ or ‘see what I mean’ while pointing to a slide or some other pictorial cue. Without sight, it is impossible to follow.”

Don’t Be Shy
Lipp says planners shouldn’t hesitate about asking meeting attendees beforehand what they need. “Don’t be shy,” he says. “You’re not saving any heartbreak by being shy. All you’re doing is putting yourself and that person in a bad situation. You should ask them to communicate what they need.”

Carlisle suggests a goal of providing accommodations that make a person as independent as possible. “We don’t want to be asking people to do things; we want to be as independent as everyone else,” she says. A simple example is locating the salt and pepper shakers nearer the edge of a large table rather than in the middle where a little person (or otherwise disabled person) couldn’t reach it.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section, offers a document on evaluating the accessibility of a meeting site here.

By Larry Anderson

A person with a disability faces numerous obstacles when attending a meeting. How can I maneuver the narrow aisles of the airplane? Can I handle the unwieldy door at the hotel? Will my wheelchair fit between the tables in the meeting room? A blind person might be puzzled by a reference to a PowerPoint slide. A deaf person might struggle in the dim auditorium light to see a sign language interpreter.

Meeting planners will more likely face issues related to accommodating disabilities in coming years. Nearly 24 percent of the total U.S. population will be disabled by 2030 (assuming incidence rates by age remain the same), according to a Harris Interactive study commissioned by the Open Doors Organization. More than 15 percent will be severely disabled.

To address disability concerns, meeting planners should embrace the idea that each person, whether disabled or not, is an individual with a special set of needs. Planners should know as much as possible about each attendee and their specific disabilities, especially if they will be involved in any group activities or team-building events.
“What are their abilities?” asks Jani Nayar, executive coordinator of the Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality (SATH), an organization that seeks to raise awareness of the needs of travelers with disabilities. “What are their disabilities? What can he or she do or not do? Can the attendee get up from the wheelchair, take a few steps, stand up a few seconds, move from a chair to a seat? You have to make sure you know what their abilities are. Don’t assume anything.”

The ADA and beyond
Many obstacles for anyone in the U.S. have been removed because of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which specifies design requirements to make public buildings and facilities, including transportation facilities and meetings venues, more accessible. Also, The Air Carrier Access Act of 1986 requires airlines to accommodate persons with disabilities, whether at the ticket counter, on the concourse or on the airplane.

Planners should incorporate an assurance of ADA compliance in any venue contract for protection in case a problem subsequently arises with regard to accessibility, advises Laurel Van Horn, research director of the Open Doors Organization. The Chicago-based organization’s goals are to teach businesses how to succeed in the disability market and to provide direct support to people with disabilities.

“While hotels and other establishments typically say they are ADA-compliant, many in fact are not,” adds Van Horn. “Whenever possible, the planner should conduct a site visit in addition to asking specific questions.”

Possible problem areas include parking and drop off points, routes to the building entrance, the actual entrance, routes to meeting space, the meeting space itself and restrooms. For overnight accommodations, planners should ask about accessible guestrooms (including how many have roll-in showers) and assistive technology (such as all-in-one visual notification kits and strobe fire alarms for those with hearing loss or portable shower benches for persons with restricted mobility). Also of concern are facilities such as restaurants, says Van Horn.

Public restrooms are an area where hotels and other meeting facilities often fall short related to compliance, especially in the case of older properties, says Van Horn. Instead of a full-size wheelchair stall, they may have an ambulatory stall with a raised toilet and grab rails on both sides — a configuration that works for older persons and those using crutches or a walker but not for people with no ability to stand and pivot from a wheelchair. There may also be a lack of lateral transfer space beside a toilet (often blocked by a sink), high mirrors, soap and towels out of reach, sinks too low to roll under and door latches that require tight grasping or twisting.

Planners also should be aware of unenclosed staircases or escalators in public areas that could pose a hazard to persons with vision loss. During a site visit, look for a nearby natural surface or grassy area that could provide a service dog relief area, Van Horn suggests. Also, some doors are too heavy to open (5 pounds maximum pressure is allowed), and other doors swing in and block wheelchair access.

Karen Wolffe of the American Foundation for the Blind urges planners to ensure that a venue has braille and large print signage for restrooms, exits, room numbers and other locations such as the cafe, cloakroom, lounge, registration area, emergency exit or medical supply station.

The ADA is a difficult law to enforce, says Eric Lipp, executive director of the Open Doors Organization. Sometimes accessibility shortcomings can be overcome by old-fashioned customer service “through individual attention to each guest and their specific needs,” he says. “A lot of people with disabilities have lived with them their whole lives, and a lot of them are flexible in terms of how they are accommodated.”
Accommodation also requires communication, both during an event and before. Sadly, not all barriers are physical; attitudinal barriers are everywhere. “Often, service personnel treat a person with a disability as if they cannot make decisions for themselves. Instead, they ask questions of a companion,” says Nayar.

Logistical issues are a big part of accommodating persons with disabilities, and you have to consider the smallest detail. For example, it’s important to make sure a hydraulic lift on a transportation vehicle can handle a traveler in a specific wheelchair, says Nayar. The lifts have a capacity of 600 to 700 pounds. Some electric wheelchairs weigh 400 pounds or more. Depending on the size of the traveler and whether they use other heavy equipment, such as an oxygen concentrator, the lift may not be able to handle the wheelchair. “You need all the information beforehand, so it is not a surprise,” he says. “Also, always get the dimensions of the wheelchair.”

Pre-event planning
Accommodating persons with various disabilities requires planning ahead, starting months before an event. Pre-event promotional materials should request that attendees who require accommodation for a disability contact the organizer with details of their specific requirements. But Wolffe notes that a brochure should be sent electronically in order to be effective for people without sight or with severely limited sight.

Elizabeth T. Spiers of the American Association of the Deaf-Blind suggests setting up a section on a registration Web site for people to state their needs. “As the date gets near, you need to set a deadline by which people need to respond,” she says.

Spiers recommends allowing a month at least to arrange interpreters or other services — the more time the better. Planners may want to contact a sign language agency, a computer-assisted real-time captioning (CART) company or someone to provide assistive listening devices or systems in order to find out how much time they need. It is often more expensive to provide accommodations at the last minute, she points out.

“If you are working with a person who has both a vision loss and a hearing loss, it becomes a little more complicated,” says Spiers, whose organization services people with both. One deaf or hard-of-hearing person with low vision may need his or her own interpreter, while another may rely on his residual hearing and prefer an ALD [assistive listening device] or CART services. A fully deaf-blind person may rely on tactile signing and need an interpreter who can sign into his or her hands.

During a meeting
Accommodations for disabled persons during a meeting can include something as simple as designating enough time for breaks and between sessions to allow persons in wheelchairs to navigate the restrooms, elevators, etc., especially if such facilities are limited in number. Planners should also be sure there is enough space for wheelchairs to move freely between tables and to maneuver and turn. Open spaces scattered throughout a room allow attendees in wheelchairs to position themselves as they like.

The arrangement of the room, lighting and seating should ensure that deaf persons can see sign language interpreters or CART captions; space should be reserved in the front of the room for these persons. To the extent possible, interpreters and CART operators should be provided with a copy of presentations in advance. At a minimum, a list of specialized terms and proper names should be provided, says Van Horn.

A major obstacle for wheelchair users is the availability of ground transportation, or lack thereof. Holding meetings onsite or at an adjoining facility can save time and money, as well as wear and tear on attendees. Multi-day conferences should preferably be held on full-service properties, Van Horn recommends.

If there is a directory, the information should be available in an accessible format. There could also be “helpers” available to answer questions and to direct blind people to registration, meeting rooms, restrooms, dog guide relief areas, etc., says Wolffe.
“One of the most challenging issues [for blind persons] is the use of PowerPoint slides by many presenters,” Wolffe says. “If presenters don’t have their materials available in braille or in a large-print version, they should describe for the sight-impaired everything that is shown visually … pictures, cartoons, graphs, etc. Presenters should avoid saying ‘look at this’ or ‘see what I mean’ while pointing to a slide or some other pictorial cue. Without sight, it is impossible to follow.”

‘Don’t be shy’
Lipp says planners should never hesitate to ask a meeting attendee before hand what they need. “Don’t be shy,” he says. “You’re not saving any heartbreak by being shy. All you’re doing is putting yourself and that person in a bad situation. You should ask them to communicate what they need.”

When asked why, in the current economic climate, San Francisco is moving forward with a major addition to its Moscone Convention Center, Leonard Hoops wastes no words. “Contiguous exhibit space,” says Hoops, executive VP and chief customer officer for the San Francisco CVB, and the man who’s been overseeing the convention center expansion project for the past two years. “Moscone has been running between 70-80 percent occupancy, and the feeling was, how do we do something ASAP about expanding because the destination is leaving money on the table.”

Hoops and his team then asked their current clients what would work best. “We said ‘Would you like us to consider an entirely new site and build a brand new building, from scratch, with all this contiguous space?’” he says. “No one said yes, given where we’d have to build it. But they still wanted contiguous space —and a lot more of it.” The result: Moscone East, a proposal to add 104,000 square feet of contiguous space to the existing facility (adjacent and connecting to the center’s current South Hall) that could be sold either on its own or as part of an overall convention center package. “It’s been endorsed by the bureau and the task force on expansion, and the city planning commission gets it next,” says Hoops. “We’re pretty confident that if we build it they will come.”

TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Indeed, despite the challenging economy, many destinations seem equally confident, forging ahead with both their concepts and actual construction on convention centers, hoping for a “Field of Dreams” outcome. Our list of projects planned or in motion stretches across the continent and up and down the size and cost scale, from Pasadena and Phoenix to Philadelphia and the Big Apple. Faith-based groups in particular should be happy to hear that the building boom isn’t confined to major cities. Orange Beach, Ala., recently opened a medium-sized center and Las Cruces, N.M., and Bartlesville, Okla., are doing likewise.

In Northern Kentucky, plans to expand the 10-year-old convention center at Covington Landing along the banks of the Ohio River are up against many of the challenges faced by CVBs around the country. “A big part of our expansion plan is that so many of our planners want to stay here,” says Tom Caradonio, president and CEO of the Northern Kentucky CVB. “They don’t want to go elsewhere, but they are growing.”

Plans call for the addition of a 32,000-sq.-ft. ballroom and another 18-20 breakout rooms to accommodate groups that keep returning to the destination. “Faith-based groups often need to accommodate a big session and need good-sized breakout rooms,” he says. “They like to come here because they are more than the big fish in a little pond — they are the fish.” CVBs traditionally have to go hat in hand to get the dollars needed from local and/or state governments. In Northern Kentucky, the request for expansion funding is now before a second governor and administration. “We want them to look at our ability to generate business,” says Caradonio. “If the state gives us $52-55 million, we can pretty much get $81 million back in pretty quickly.”

In Estes Park, Colo., the YMCA is investing money and planning aplenty in its Core Development Project (for details, see below). “The project will enhance the same experience we have given to conferences for the last 102 years,” says Kent Meyer, president and CEO of YMCA of the Rockies. When completed in May 2010 the YMCA will offer space for 4,000 guests on nearly 900 acres.

But given tight budgets and a still wobbly economy, convention center scenarios can prove a minefield. Reports out of Nashville, for example, have the new Music City Convention Center running nearly a year behind schedule, raising concerns about cost-overruns and penalties with a half-dozen groups already booked for 2013. Elsewhere, officials seem happy to have dodged the recessionary bullet by virtue (or the sheer luck) of having started the extensive and expensive planning process sooner.

“Am I happy that things got planned and approved before the economy softened? Sure,” says Amy Huntley, director of convention sales and marketing for the Tulsa, Okla., CVB. “We had some delays but we’re elated that it will be done in January and turn out exactly the way we wanted.” Plans for the Virginia Beach Convention Center, which attracts a fair amount of faith-based bookings, were under discussion as early as 2001. “While we’re not insulated from the economy we were fortunate,” says Virginia Beach CVB VP of convention sales and marketing Al Hutchinson. “I’d rather have a building open right now than try to get a consensus to build one.”

That said, even San Francisco’s enthusiastic Hoops understands the wisdom of a reality check. “One caveat to our plan is a full ROI analysis (due this month) before formally signing off on it,” he says. “Assuming the ROI is significant then it gets a little more steam behind it.” And while the Moscone plan was hatched well before the economy tanked, the downturn has nonetheless tempered the sense of urgency for many of its cheerleaders. “We don’t expect to get out of planning and the various city processes until the end of 2010, and we won’t see a shovel in the ground until 2015,” says Hoops. “We’re now thinking about a 2017 opening, and that’s the timeline we’re essentially on.”

Meanwhile, we’ve cobbled together an update on what’s happening around the industry, divided loosely into four geographic regions. For more information on project timelines and final ETAs, please contact the individual CVBs themselves.

EAST
In Boston, the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center is in the midst of an $18 million expansion and renovation that will upgrade the facility’s technology and add up to 30,000 square feet of retail space.

After years of discussing the idea, New York authorities recently gave the green light to a $436 million makeover of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The multi-tiered project, which could begin as early as 2010, includes $391 million for a top-to-bottom renovation and $39 million for an expansion of 100,000 square feet, roughly 40,000 of that as exhibit space. Mid-June 2010 is the groundbreaking target for the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center’s $7 million dollar multi-phase renovation and improvement project.

Work continues on the major expansion and renovation of the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. The revamped center will feature more than 1 million square feet of space in seven halls and 73 meetings, including 700,000 of that as contiguous space for exhibits. The $170 million Lancaster County Convention Center, in conjunction with the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square, opened this summer with 90,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, including a 45,000-sq.-ft. exhibit hall.

In Toronto, Ontario, the new $46 million Allstream Centre at Exhibition Place opened this year with 160,000 square feet of versatile meeting and exhibit space, including a 44,000-sq.-ft. ballroom and 20 second-floor meeting rooms.

MIDWEST
Battelle Hall, the Greater Columbus (OH) Convention Center’s showpiece function area, is undergoing a $40 million facelift that will deliver it expanded, revamped and renamed the Battelle Grand. When completed by year’s end the new ballroom will be Ohio’s largest, running about 52,000 square feet on the main level, with almost 25,000 square feet more on the mezzanine. In Cleveland development continues on the new $425 million Medical Mart & Convention Center, a meetings and trade show facility designed specifically for the health and medical industries. With a finish date in 2013, the multi-building project will include 120,000 square feet of permanent showrooms, 300,000 square feet of exhibit space and 100,000 square feet of flexible meeting space. The Sharonville Convention Center, 15 miles north of Cincinnati, will more than double its meeting space to about 115,000 square feet by 2011.

Des Moines, Iowa, recently gave the go-ahead to a $42 million upgrade and expansion of Veterans Memorial Auditorium. In Wisconsin’s Dells the Chula Vista Resort has wrapped up a $200 million renovation and expansion that includes a 200,000- sq.-ft. Exposition and Sports Center. Meanwhile work is wrapping on the Tulsa Convention Center’s new $50 million renovation and expansion, which will add 52,000 square feet of space (including a 30,000-sq.-ft. ballroom), 13,600 square feet of pre-function space, seven meeting rooms and an onsite kitchen by year’s end.

A pair of meetings projects is keeping South Dakota in the news. The Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City has opened its new addition, a $25 million arena for conventions, conferences and special events with 27,000 square feet of exhibit space and seating 7,500 people. The $47 million, 140-room Lodge at Deadwood, a jointly funded project by the town of Deadwood and Regency Hotels, remains on target for a year-end opening with a convention center that features16,000 square feet of meeting space.

SOUTH
Construction is underway in North Carolina on the new riverfront Wilmington Convention Center, which is expected to open in September 2010. Included among the center’s overall 107,000 square feet of space: 63,000 for meetings (30,000 in an exhibit hall); a 12,000-sq.-ft. ballroom; eight breakout rooms; and 15,000 square feet of pre-function space with river views. The $192 million Raleigh Convention Center, meanwhile, opened in late 2008 with 150,000 square feet of exhibit space, 30,000 square feet of meeting space and a 32,000-sq.-ft. ballroom.

Big changes are in the works for the Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) Convention Center. For starters, about $7.5 million has been set aside for the Rivoli Theatre, a new 802-seat performing arts center that will include a black box theatre, art gallery, offices and pre-function space. Groundbreaking is tentatively set for autumn 2010. An expansion of the center’s exhibit space (to 250,000 square feet) and meeting space (to 100,000 square feet) is currently in the early planning stages. In Greenville, S.C., the Carolina First Center recently debuted a $22 million revamp. The facility’s new highpoints include 280,000 square feet of exhibit space and 60,000 square feet of meeting space (15 rooms).

Daytona Beach has finished the $76 million expansion of the Ocean Center Convention and Entertainment Complex. The center’s gain: 100,000 square feet of exhibit space and 30,000 square feet of new meeting space, boosting the interior total to 205,536 square feet. Size still matters, but bigger isn’t necessarily more practical in today’s construction plans. Tiny Orange Beach, Ala., for example, just opened its first meeting facility, the Conference Center at the Wharf. The 27,000-sq.-ft. center includes a kitchen, the usual tech bells and whistles, and an 18,600-sq.-ft. exhibit hall for 2,000 reception or theater-style and 1,500 for banquets.

Texas gets a major meetings boost this fall with the opening of the new Irving Convention Center at Los Colinas. The $133 million, 275,000-sq.-ft. facility will include a 50,000-sq.-ft. exhibit hall, 20,000-sq.-ft. ballroom, 20,000 square feet of meeting space and an 800-space parking garage. In Austin, the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center has opened on the University of Texas campus with three restaurants, 297 guestrooms, 40,000 square feet of meeting space and a fitness center.

WEST
The new Phoenix Convention Center has risen following a $600 million, multi-phase expansion and renovation. Highlights of the revamped facility include more than 502,000 square feet of exhibit space, three ballrooms (119,000 square feet total), more than 150,000 square feet of meeting room space (100 rooms) and a 21,000-sq.-ft. IACC-accredited conference center.

In New Mexico, the city of Las Cruces is spending $26 million to build its first-ever convention center located at New Mexico State University. The new 55,000-sq.-ft. center, set to open in late 2010, will feature just over 30,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 15,000-sq.-ft. exhibit hall, six breakout rooms and a 9,300-sq.-ft. ballroom. The Santa Fe Convention Center in northern New Mexico opened late last year with 40,000 square feet of flexible space and a 500-car underground parking garage.

The Pasadena Convention Center unveiled its $150 million expansion earlier this year, which added 55,000 square feet of exhibit space, a 25,000-sq.-ft. ballroom and several environmentally green upgrades. The Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center just finished an $8 million sprucing up of its public spaces and lighting technology. This past summer also saw the debut of the Santa Clara Convention Center’s new $37 million dollar expansion. The 22,400-sq.-ft. addition, which includes the new Mission City Ballroom as well as lobby and pre-function space, brings the Silicon Valley meeting facility to 302,000 square feet total.

In Bellevue, Wash., the Meydenbauer Center opened its new Executive Conference Suite this summer with three meeting rooms and 2,500 square feet of flexible space. Colorado’s 900-acre YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park is wrapping up its $40 million Core Development Project expansion and facelift. When completed in May of 2010, the revamped resort bordering Rocky Mountain National Park will add a 34,000-sq.-ft. assembly hall with meeting space for 1,200 and dining for 600, three new LEED-certified lodges (200 rooms total) each with four meeting rooms and outdoor patios. The YMCA project comes on the heels of two recently completed facilities, the $1.3 million Legett Christian Center and $1.4 million Mootz Family Craft and Design Center.

In British Columbia, Canada, the Vancouver Convention Centre opened its new West Wing facility this past spring. The new addition — 223,000 square feet of exhibit space, 52 meeting rooms (60,000 square feet) and a five-story, 55,000-sq.-ft. ballroom — nearly triples the size of the waterfront facility.

Risk management is the process of identifying, assessing, communicating, and controlling the exposure to risks and determining how to minimize or eliminate those risks, according to Naomi R. Angel, a law partner with Howe & Hutton, Ltd. The onus is on the planner to gather this safety and security data, starting with the request for proposal (RFP). A request for the Risk Management plan for the facility and municipality should be included, and then used as part of the site selection process.

Clear communication is the key to developing a comprehensive plan for your specific event. “It’s about asking the right questions from the get-go,” says Sandy Biback, a certified meeting planner and instructor of a risk management course at Centennial College in Toronto. How many of us ask pertinent questions before booking a venue? For example: Where will the group meet outside if the hotel needs to be evacuated?

Does the venue provide a one-page information sheet about safety/security that can be included in your own plan? If your event could be considered a security risk, have you discussed your concerns with the venue? If so, have they discussed extra security with you? Directed you to the police? If there are other groups meeting at the same time that could attract protestors, how does the hotel plan to handle your group?

Creating your plan

You should start by organizing a risk assessment team. Suggested participants might include association executive board members and chairs, audiovisual manager, billing manager, convention service manager, engineering manager, fire department liaison, food & beverage manager, front desk manager, exposition company manager, facility security director, insurance broker, police liaison, public relations manager, speakers bureau representative, transportation manager and outside suppliers such as the band or disk jockey, décor and florists. Ask each of these participants to compile a comprehensive list of risks associated with your meeting or event. Your next step is to create a formal, written emergency action plan on how to handle each of the potential risks.

The plan needs to address what will be done by whom, when, where and how, and should be integrated with the event facility plan. While you may use a master format, it should be updated or customized for each event. Here are some of the points that need to be included:

• Individual internal and external roles and responsibilities (e.g., event staff versus facility staff, structure of authority, task assignments including alternate personnel, etc.)
• Threats, hazards and protective actions (e.g., range of emergencies the organization is prepared to handle based on an event-specific threat assessment, media plan and spokesperson protocols, etc.)
• Notification, warning and communications procedures for the range of emergencies that might occur
• Key contact lists, including emergency responders, key facility responders, assigned staff and duties, key personnel to be contacted in off-hours emergencies, and a list of all attendees and their emergency contacts
• Evacuation, shelters, accounting and shelter-in-place procedures
• Location and use of emergency equipment (e.g., fire extinguisher and AED use)
• Emergency shutdown procedures (shutdown of machines, equipment or critical systems, securing records and cash, etc.

Insuring against risk

Barbara Dunn, an attorney with Howe & Hutton Ltd., advises that one of the most effective ways planners can manage risk is to shift the risk to vendors. “An example of risk shifting is indemnification. The concept is that the organization shifts risk to the party that can best control the risk. For example, if the organization is hiring a bus company to transport attendees at their conference, the risk is that the bus will get into an accident and attendees will get hurt. In this case, the organization shifts that risk to the bus company by asking the bus company to indemnify the organization in their contract. The indemnification language states that the bus company will indemnify and hold the organization harmless (from a financial standpoint) from any claims due to the bus company’s negligence.

“Indemnification clauses should be part of every contract as there is always the possibility that the goods or service that is being purchased will cause harm to someone and the organization will be sued,” says Dunn. “By having indemnification in the contract, the organization knows that it will be protected in such circumstances.”

Dunn also advises that planners should do all they can to make sure the risk never happens in the first place. That means meeting planners and their staff are ensuring the safety of their attendees before, during and after the event.

Before the event, planners should use a comprehensive site inspection list to check the facilities to be used for the conference. Special attention should be paid to pathways and lighting. Planners should ensure that extra signage and personnel are present to ensure the safety of attendees. Often this means having security and personnel stationed in key entrance and exit areas to facilitate traffic.

After the meeting, planners should follow up promptly on any complaints of safety problems or issues. Any problems should be thoroughly investigated and then followed up with the person who reported the problem.

Dunn also recommends risk retention insurance. “When an organization purchases insurance, it is agreeing to ‘retain’ the risk (up to the dollar amount of the deductible),” she explains. “Everything in excess of that deductible is covered by the insurance company.”

General commercial liability insurance is often referred to as GCL or CGL, or errors and omissions insurance. This insurance is the backbone of any organization’s insurance coverage; it protects against personal injury or death among other things. For example, if an attendee who slipped and fell at its meeting sues the organization, this liability insurance would cover the cost of defending the lawsuit along with paying any damages awarded against the organization.

As with the indemnification provision, it is important to have the organization’s lawyer and insurance representative involved in the review of liability insurance to ensure the organization is getting comprehensive coverage. Of particular concern is the list of exclusions, i.e., those items that are not covered under the policy. Liquor liability claims are typically excluded from general commercial liability insurance. Given the risk, meeting planners should ensure that their organizations have obtained an endorsement or rider to have such claims covered under the policy.

Directors and officers liability insurance is another type of insurance in which the directors, officers and other key personnel are protected by insurance in the event they are individually named in a lawsuit. Property and casualty insurance covers equipment and other property owned by the organization against fire, theft or other damage.

Event cancellation insurance protects the revenue and costs associated with the organization’s conference if the meeting has to be canceled entirely or shut down earlier than scheduled due to weather problems or transportation strikes. Groups that had to cancel spring meetings in Mexico due to the government orders surrounding the H1N1 outbreak benefited greatly from having event cancellation insurance in place, says Dunn.

Assessing security risks

Security was a high priority at a conference in Philadelphia last August for a non-profit association composed of local societies researching their Jewish genealogy. There were two major areas of concern — the health and medical needs of attendees and threats from outside groups. The participants were predominantly older and many had special physical, hearing and dietary requirements. A venue was selected that would enable the group of approximately 800 people to meet in distinct areas separate from other groups. As part of the risk assessment plan, all attendees were asked to indicate special needs on their registration forms and each respondent as contacted to ascertain specific
requirements.

Since the Consulate General of Israel was scheduled to speak at the conference, the Philadelphia Police Department’s Dignitary Protection Unit, Homeland Security Division, was also involved both prior to and during the conference. The conference was held shortly after the murder of a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and a warning had been sent to the group that several people would be picketing the hotel, protesting the group’s religious affiliation.

The conference concluded with no incidents, attributed in large part to the security coordinated by Captain Walt Smith, Commanding Officer, Homeland Security Unit/Domestic Preparedness Division. Even if your event does not have a high-risk profile, Captain Smith advises meeting planners to coordinate their events with local agencies. “I would suggest that every stage of planning — from notifications and evacuations to risk management — includes communications with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

“Successful prevention or mitigation of potential terrorist-related attacks and natural disasters requires pre-planning, which is critical for successful emergency response. By partnering with law enforcement agencies in the early planning stages, you’ll have a better understanding of the overall threat, including recent crime information as well as potential threats directed towards either the event or the facility. Although, not every event will result in an emergency situation, communication with law enforcement agencies in the early stages of event planning will result in a safer more secure event environment, in addition to increasing public/private partnerships for the safety of all.”

Bonnie Wallsh, MA, CMP, CMM, chief strategist of Bonnie Wallsh Associates, LLC, Charlotte, N.C., is a presenter at Rejuvenate Marketplace.