Smart Meetings | Page 287 of 602 | Corporate Event Planning: Business Events, Meetings, Conferences

SM Northeast — From left to right: Blanca Cobb, Smart Meetings CEO Marin Bright and Michael Lyons

Did you know that body language accounts for more than 60 percent of communication? You may have the “gift of gab,” but if the movements of your body don’t match your words, then the gab is meaningless.

This is the message Blanca Cobb, MS Psy, body language expert, told attendees during her keynote at Smart Meetings’ Northeast event, held at The Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, New York, on July 11.

Attendees shuffled in their seats and checked their posture as Cobb talked about the importance of body language in daily life. According to her, people create their perception of you—whether they like you, trust you or want to go into business with you—within the first seven seconds of meeting you and it becomes difficult to shake that perception thereafter. “They’re perception of you becomes their reality of you,” she continued. Talk about pressure.

While the entire keynote was noteworthy, we’ve condensed it here for quick digestion.

It’s All Over Your Face

Facial expressions aren’t just about a smile (or lack thereof). A person’s feeling about the conversation can be read in the way they move their eyebrows, their cheeks, whether they’re blushing. These things are an indication of what’s driving that person in the conversation.

Fact or Fiction

When reading body language, it’s about context, Cobb said. She mentioned crossed arms, which is often misconstrued as meaning something other than what it is.

“What have you heard about crossed arms in body language?” Cobb asked her audience. “Unapproachable,” “closed off” and “angry” were a few answers from the crowd. Cobb responded that it depends how well you know the person to whom you’re speaking. When meeting someone new, it’s best not to cross your arms to avoid the misperception of being rigid; if you’re meeting with someone familiar, the issue of arms crossing doesn’t matter much.

Another common misconception is not looking a person in the eyes as you speak to them must mean you’re lying. This isn’t the case. In a meta-analysis—a compilation of multiple studies—that Cobb referenced, it was found that the break of eye contact has no causation (i.e. the eye-contact breaker probably isn’t lying.)

Through the research, it was concluded that if you were to associate the break of eye contact with lying, you’d be wrong 90 percent of the time.

The Protection Zones

There are three protection zones: the peak zone, which begins at the head and ends at the shoulders; the power zone, from the shoulders to the hips; and the pleasure zone, from the hips to the feet.

These are points of vulnerability. Peak protection zone behaviors such as, touching your hair, playing with your ear or touching the small dimple where your neck meets your collar bone, indicates feelings of vulnerability. There are several signs from the power zone that reveals a person’s nervousness, such as playing with something or playing with their fingers; a subtle facing away from the person being engaged with may reveal that one is no longer interested in the conversation. Facing away your feet reveal the same thing. “Foot tapping and leg shaking all sends a message,” Cobb said.

What Does it all Mean?

Yeah, yeah, but how does this help me in my career and personal life, you ask. Cobb said that understanding body language will not only make your career and personal relationships better but “[it’ll] increase your bottom line tremendously.”

In 2013, the Carnegie Institute of Technology conducted a study about behaviors that make people successful. What they found was that 80 percent based on communication, navigation and negotiation. Soft people skills, as Cobb called them. Factors such as your alma mater, your degree, where you live and time on the job aren’t as important as your ability to communicate effectively with your body.

Near the end of her keynote, Cobb urged her audience—as they go about their day—to not only pay attention to what people are telling them, but also to what their body is telling them. “You will enrich your understanding of people and you will enrich your relationships when you focus not only on their words but on their body language,” she said.

Just as every meeting holds the potential for great advances in understanding, relationships and wealth, every event professional could be the next superstar. Yet, according to informal research done by keynote speaker Thom Singer, 70 percent of people (by their own admission) are not realizing their true potential. Guests at Smart Meeting Midwest at Convene Chicago this week actively worked to join that top tier of performers.

Leap Higher

Singer arrived at his estimate that almost two-thirds of us could be doing better by asking 700 people if they felt they were reaching their potential in their careers, relationships and health. Why the potential gap? For a lot of people, fear holds them back—fear of failing, fear of the unknown, fear of succeeding. Others don’t know where to start or how to ask for help getting there.

The unfortunate truth is that potential doesn’t equal results, and too many people identified as HIPO never fulfill the promise.

How can you get unstuck from the high middle? Pair all that potential with education and action. The intersection of those three things is where achievement lives, Singer says. He advocates focusing on plans, passion, purpose and people.

Plans: Goal setting is essential. If you don’t know what success looks like, an opportunity might sit next to you, and you won’t recognize it. That doesn’t mean the goal is the only possible satisfactory outcome, but it sets a trajectory that can get you where you need to be. The journey opens opportunities. But you must set the direction.

Passion: If you love what you do, you can work through the hard parts and get to the important stuff. Wildly successful people never hate their job—just parts of it sometimes.

Purpose: You must know more than “why.” You have to know the “because.”

People: In a gadget-crazy world, we need to get back to connecting with people. We need peers, mentors and people to help us along the way.

Growing Meeting Resources

The Smart Meeting event bathed a spotlight on an emerging meeting space trend coming to big cities everywhere—Convene. The open office away from the office concept embeds convenient, flexible, rentable spaces in commercial projects with modern design and thoughtful common-area amenities such as free Wi-Fi, abundant charging stations and complimentary healthy snacks.

Chicago will soon be home to five Convene locations, including a new 90,000 sq. ft. space in Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Building). It already has a beachhead in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston and London. Locations have also been announced in San Francisco and Miami.

Potential Energy
Are you doing these 6 things consistently every day?

Take ownership of your life.
Set clear career goals.
Work past the fear.
Connect with people.
Try new things.
Believe in yourself.

AEG Facilities and SMG merged on Oct. 1 to create the global facilities management and venues services company, ASM Global. Smart Meetings spoke with Gregg Caren, executive vice president of sales and business development, and John Sharkey, executive vice president of Europe based in Manchester regarding the merger, planner benefits and industry trends.

Smart Meetings: What does this merger mean for event planners?

Gregg Caren: Event planners are the ones who will benefit the most. What we’re doing now is providing a new value proposition to our meeting organizers that says, “If you were holding meetings with us in one corner of the world, whether it was Australia or the United States or anywhere in-between, we now have this collective network of venues all working together,” similar to how planners work with hotel properties. If a meeting planner wanted to investigate as many as 92 meeting, convention, trade show or exhibition venues, they could do that with one phone call or email.

All existing contracts are basically unaffected. It’s a new brand name and all the contracts that are in place remain in place.

SM: What percentage of all convention centers will be managed by the merged company?

GC: Of the convention centers managed by private management or professional management companies like us, we manage 85 percent of those by square footage. By number of venues it’s about 65 percent.

What was formerly known as AEG Facilities and SMG were complementary of each other and together create a strong global platform. The [convention centers] that were under the SMG banner prior to the merger predominantly were in North America. The 78 convention centers that [SMG] brought to the table, were mostly North American-based with a few scattered in Jamaica, Scotland and China.

On the AEG Facilities side, most of their convention centers are international. Four venues in North America will complement the portfolio. AEG was formerly known as Ogden and has a strong Asia-Pacific and international side. The coming together of the two really creates more opportunity for the other markets that we go after to add to our portfolio.

SM: With two offices in England, and many others globally, has Brexit impacted business and policies?

John Sharkey: At the moment, meeting planners are hoping for no disruption, but considering the preparations required if there was to be disruption. It is a waiting game, but there is a high expectation that politicians will find a way as economies have to continue to grow and trade and the handshake business is such a crucial part of the economic cycle and the leisure tourism impact.

Meeting planners still organize regional and national events as much as international events and if any business is used to logistics planning and taking care of disruption, it is our business. I would say there is a high degree of confidence that whatever the outcome, the meetings business will adapt, survive and thrive.

SM: What trends are you seeing globally?

GC: The largest trend that we’ve all been experiencing for the last few years is the socialization and the communities that are created in face-to-face meetings. We’ve seen more of a drive toward face-to-face meetings and the experience of interacting with people in a community. People want their meeting venues to feel like a Starbucks. They want to feel like they’re in a community environment where they can interact socially with professional peers and find pods around the building and ways to interact with each other that is only augmented by technology.

Years ago, architects looked at convention centers as just big brick boxes with a bunch of carved out meetings spaces. Now, they’ve got to be more interactive, more engaging and be able to handle the amount of technology that most meetings are demanding today.

On the security side, we manage some major stadiums and arenas where we’re hosting Super Bowls, Final Fours and other high-security events. It gives us a regular level of interaction with public safety, everything from our local police and fire departments all the way up to Homeland Security. Today, meeting planners and local municipalities need to be prepared to keep people coming in and out of venues safely.

SM: Are millennials driving the shift toward more technology or is it the entire audience and customer base?

GC: I think it’s both. Just three years ago, millennials and Gen Xers were a little bit quicker to adapt technology, but older guys like me certainly adapted thereafter because you either did that or you got left behind both personally and professionally.

Atlantic City is a hidden gem along the New Jersey shoreline, offering visitors much more than a seaside destination. As Atlantic City has gone through numerous transitions, the destination is in the midst of the dawn of a new era, drawing from its rich history to meet the demands of the future.

Atlantic City offers round-the-clock fun and excitement after the work and meetings are through. Take a stroll on the famous historic Boardwalk, bask in the glowing sun or take a dip in the Atlantic Ocean. You can unwind and dine with plentiful dining options all customized to fit your convention delegates taste buds from brand name eateries to celebrity chef restaurants. The Entertainment Capital of the Jersey Shore will have you laughing, singing and dancing all night long. Shopaholics can shop til they drop at our tax free outlet shopping, Tanger Outlets The Walk with over 100 retail stores that won’t disappoint with incredible deals and just steps out of the convention center. While in town, try your luck on the table games or slot machines at any of our seven casino resorts.

Atlantic City is made up of more than 17,500 first-class hotel rooms that will suit the perfect accommodations for your attendee’s complete comfort and relaxation. The Atlantic City Convention Center provides over 486,600 contiguous square feet of exhibit space, as well as 45 meeting rooms, ample pre-function space and all the amenities you would expect.

Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, formerly known as Atlantic City Convention Hall is Atlantic City’s first convention center and an iconic landmark to Atlantic City that was built in 1929. Home of the Miss America Pageant, it played host to the city’s growing convention industry. Boardwalk Hall has hosted an amazing list of dazzling entertainers and knockout sporting events throughout its 85 year history.

Atlantic City is 60 miles from Philadelphia, 125 miles from New York, and 175 miles from Washington, DC. Any way you look at it, Atlantic City guarantees fast-paced excitement and non-stop year-round activities. Meet AC will be happy to help you locate the right space, assist with attendance building, housing and much more.

Explore the new, along with reminiscing on the long-standing history for which Atlantic City is best known. We know that America’s favorite playground will have a special place in your heart after you visit.

Not everyone reacted with outrage when Marriott International said it will cut third-party commissions recently. The hospitality giant will reduce commissions from 10 to 7 percent for U.S. and Canadian hotel bookings starting in April. Instead, some see an opportunity for professional planners to be paid what they are really worth.

Case in point: Mike Tenholder, etouches vice president of channel and partner management, reacted with a shrug when he heard the news. “It didn’t surprise me,” he says. “The scuttlebutt has been going around for a year. I just didn’t know what form it would take.”

Tenholder equated Marriott’s decision to a price increase, similar to when airlines cut commissions to travel agents, but didn’t lower ticket prices. He predicted other hotel brands will do the same eventually. “Marriott was the first, and they got a black eye, but it will be difficult for planners to stop placing business there—because they are everywhere,” he says. And while some brands tried to gain market share by actually raising commissions in the wake of the announcement, he doesn’t see that as sustainable. “The others will follow suit at some point,” he says.

However, rather than the angry reaction that has led Senior Planners Industry Network to start a petition for commission parity and Meeting Planners Unite to launch a social media group, Tenholder sees an opportunity for independent planners. He thinks they should see this disruption to their business model as a chance to forge a more strategic relationship with customers. “Meeting planners provide more value than any commission,” he says. “It doesn’t seem fair that the traditional model has left it to the vendor to decide how much planners’ services are worth.”

According to Tenholder’s calculations, sourcing is only 10 percent of the work most planners do for companies. Their wealth of experience and data insights are where they really add value in controlling costs and enhancing the final experience. “This is a golden opportunity to shift their role to working as advocates of the customer rather than as an agent of the supplier,” he says. In this scenario, charging the customer for work done—rather than being paid a percentage of business booked by the venue—would bring more transparency to the transaction and help to communicate the value delivered. This model could come in the form of a management fee based on per/person stats or a bundled price. “This removes the hocus pocus,” he says.

Leveraging Tech Tools

The event technology executive sees digital tools as a way to magnify the value planners bring. “Planners can use automation for tactical tasks and focus their time on being strategic on behalf of customers,” Tenholder says. “The ultimate success of the event is the end goal regardless of commissions.”

If properties continue to cut commissions and planners need a quick way to book rooms without conference space or F&B, start-up companies such as Stay22 offer real-time, Expedia-like options for booking individual hotel and Airbnb nights with a split commission model.

As the sky has become the limit when it comes to hotel amenities—think professional sports team-level gyms and gourmet wine and cheese tasting in the lobby—more properties are adding resort and, now, urban fees to their bills at checkout. But those charges, which are often listed as redeemable for drinks in the bar, dry cleaning, Wi-Fi or faxing, are not set in stone. Some planners are finding that proactively addressing these charges up front can save them, and their guests, from surprises later.

To find out the best way to approach negotiating fees as part of a package, we turned to Walt Galanty, president of AIM Meetings and Events in Alexandria, Virginia. He has been watching the industry change from a sellers’ market to a buyers’ and back again many times in his 40 years in the industry. He had these tips:

Speak up

“Those fees are 100 percent negotiable,” Galanty says. He often gets the fee to be optional. Attendees who do use the fitness center, want a newspaper and want a food-outlet credit each day can pay the fee and get those benefits, while attendees who don’t want such things can pass. You don’t know if that is an option if you don’t ask.

Go item by item

“Make sure you get maximum value for whatever amount you do pay,” Galanty suggests. “So, if the fee is $30 for the fitness center, basic internet access and a Starbucks coffee for each person, tell them to charge half that amount and they can keep the Starbucks because you already have coffee breaks. The property will almost always take that deal.” This is where knowing your attendees, and what they value, can come in handy.

If you pay for it, use it

If the hotel is going to charge for that coffee or continental breakfast, make sure attendees can conveniently use the amenity they paid for. “If I use a property with a free hot breakfast, I ask them to set up a station near my meeting space,” he says, even if he has to pay an additional fee per-person. “$13 a head for set-up is better than paying $30 for a full breakfast elsewhere.” Sometimes getting a good deal just requires doing the math.

Rob Carey is a business journalist and principal of Meetings & Hospitality Insight, a content marketing firm for the group-business market.

Writing contracts and negotiating terms with suppliers can be tricky. How do planners protect themselves and their attendees from cancellations? Are attorney fees included? In a recent Smart Meetings webinar, veteran hospitality contracts attorney Lisa Sommer Devlin shared some tips for creating win-win contracts. Here are the contract clauses you shouldn’t do without.

It’s All in the Name

It’s critical to have the full legal name of the party (or parties) who will be writing the check. Unless a party is named, there is no binding commitment. Avoid using the name of the event as the contracting party; it is not a legal entity, and therefore cannot be held responsible if something goes wrong.

Room Block and Rates

Be sure your contract includes a dollar figure and a clearly agreed-to rate of increase from the start. Avoid “no attrition” or “best-rate” clauses. They are not legally required and may make the enforceability of the contract questionable and more complicated.

Function Space

It’s common in the industry for customers to add a clause saying function space cannot be changed without the hotel’s agreement. But hotels often resist this because they want the flexibility to accommodate everyone and make the most of their function space.

To get around this, Sommer Devlin recommends focusing on the size of the space—asking for a room with a certain ceiling height to accommodate X number of people—and being flexible with other details of the space.

Damage Clauses

When it comes to damage clauses, it’s always best to agree on a formula or dollar amount upfront rather than argue about it later. Sommer Devlin says it’s better to negotiate amounts at the beginning rather than adding extra terms later. The amounts must be reasonably related to actual damages to be enforceable.

More: Webinars from Smart Meetings

Dispute Resolution

It’s always good to include a dispute resolution provision in the contract. Without one, you might find it very difficult to come to an agreement after the dispute has happened.

Attorney Fees Recovery

While some states provide for attorney fee recovery, not all do, so it’s important to include a clause for attorney fees in your contracts. If you don’t, those fees may come out of the money you collect. Adding a clause to cover attorney fees ensures you are made whole.

Arbitration

Sommer Devlin always recommends arbitration to her clients because it’s cheaper, faster and private (compared to lengthy and expensive court proceedings), and the arbiter is typically a retired judge who knows the law and can often find a fair resolution for all parties. It’s best to discuss with your attorney whether or no arbitration is right for you.

advanced-hotel-contract-negotiations Lisa Sommer Devlin is a Phoenix-based attorney who has practiced hospitality law for the past 25 years. She drafts standardized contracts and provides legal representation for large hotel groups, including Hilton, Marriott and Starwood.

On Dec. 8 she presented a Smart Meetings webinar that gave listeners the low down on contract negotiations. The webinar was sponsored by New York, New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. To hear an archived transcript of the presentation, click here.

Ms. Sommer Devlin did not have the opportunity to answer all the questions posed from the audience during the webinar. She provides answers to the additional questions below.

Q: What is the biggest mistake people make in contracts?

A: Two things are a tie for worst: having handwritten changes in a contract, and using a contract and an “addendum” or “rider.” Both are examples of lazy contracting that lead to confusion, mistakes and interpretation issues. Negotiate one complete contract using terms that the parties negotiate and agree upon from the contract and the addendum as appropriate, rather than having one cancellation clause in the contract and a different one in the addendum, as an example. If there are any last minute changes, take the minute or two necessary to retype the provision to make sure that the change is complete, accurate and does not have any undefined terms or ambiguities. That is far better than making a handwritten change that is often illegible, incomplete and containing undefined terms, and it is not possible to tell if both parties accepted it

Q: What is the difference between an addendum and an amendment?

A: Great question, as people use these terms incorrectly all the time in the meeting industry. An addendum is really something added to clarify a contract after it is signed, not a complete contract in itself as is so often seen in event contracts. For example, if you contract to purchase 50 bicycles, an addendum would be used to clarify that 20 will be red, 20 will be blue and 10 will be green. An amendment is a change to an existing contract. For example, the original agreement reserved 500 room nights and it is amended to make the room block 600 room nights. Remember if you amend one part of a contract to address any other parts of the contract that would be impacted as a result. For example, how does increasing/decreasing the block impact the meeting space, concessions, attrition or cancellation obligations?

Q: How are new practices like communicating by text impacting contracts?

A: Technology always advances far faster than the law. In general, you can’t use text messages or emails to create or amend a contract. There are some exceptions, but they are limited. A PDF attached to an email can be used to create a contract. I know it is convenient to text, but I do not recommend relying on it for important communications.

Q: Housing pirates are a big problem for my group. How do I stop third parties from trying to sell rooms to my attendees, especially the ones that are a total scam?

A: Education of your attendees and good room block management and housing processes are the best defense against pirates. First, figure out why your attendees may be tempted by pirates. If your housing procedure will not guarantee the attendee a particular hotel or will not guarantee that groups of people coming together will be in the same hotel, that may make those people want to reserve outside of official housing. More and more groups are requiring attendees to use official housing and book as part of the official block in order to attend the meeting, or incentivizing attendees to do so. These steps reduce or eliminates the ability for pirates to tempt your attendees. Make booking within the block just a cost of participating in the event, just like the payment of registration fees to reduce attendee’s ability so shop for lower rates outside the official block. Also, educate your attendees about the fact that there may be third parties soliciting them that are not sanctioned by your event. Avoid using words like “scam” or “fraud” as you may open yourself up to claims by the pirates, but warn them that such third parties may or may not be legitimate.

Q: In light of the Paris terrorist attacks and ISIS supposedly making threats against the US, some attendees are scared to travel. Does that constitute a force majeure?

A: No. Generally, fear of anything is not a force majeure. It is unfortunate that in our world there is always a threat of terrorism, and if fear of it allowed parties to cancel contracts without payment, no contract would ever be enforceable. While people may feel fear of terrorism more acutely after something like the Paris attacks, it does not mean that it is illegal or impossible for travel to take place. Reduced attendance can occur for many reasons, which is why most event contracts allocate which party will bear that loss in the attrition clause.

Webster’s Dictionary defines negotiation as “the act or process of having a discussion in order to reach an agreement.” Makes sense, but what does it really mean? According to veteran hospitality attorney Lisa Sommer Devlin, “Negotiating is about bargaining power. The more the other party needs your business, the more they will be willing to compromise.”

More: Master Win-Win Negotiations for Your Contracts

Lawyers say that a good deal is one in which both sides feel that they gave more than they wanted to give. That’s usually the sign of compromise. And after all, compromise is at the heart of every negotiation.

So how do you master the art of give and take? You’ll need to be open to accepting that you really can’t win ’em all. But with a little finesse, patience and preparation, you might find you get what you need. Here are six tips to get you started.

1. Do your homework. It seems obvious, perhaps, but most negotiators fail at this critical step. Being prepared means not only knowing exactly what is important for you and your attendees, but also knowing what the other side wants and why they want it. Being prepared leads to confidence, which is key to negotiating wins.

2. Ask (skillful) questions, especially about changes. Suppliers should be able to explain everything in their contract, and the cost should make sense. If something doesn’t make sense, it’s perfectly reasonable to get clarification. Don’t walk away until everything is clear.

3. Be a good listener. It’s not enough to ask questions; it’s just as important to know how to listen—actively. Active listening means you are paying close attention not only to the words being said, but also to the nuances between the lines: the emotions, energy and tone, for example, of the conversation.

4. Be thorough. When it comes to negotiating, it’s all in the details. Devlin recommends planners note dates, rates and space, at minimum, when starting negotiations, “along with a list of concessions you must have and those you would like to have. If you have specific contract terms that you expect, share them with your RFP, not after the business is agreed upon.”

5. Be flexible where possible. “Flexibility is always a plus,” Devlin says. “[For example], if you can be flexible on dates or event pattern, you will have more opportunity to get better deals.”

More: Win at Negotiating AV Services with Hotels

6. Keep the other side in mind. “[For instance], try to find terms that help your budget without hurting the hotel’s bottom line. A $10 room rate reduction is a hard cost to the hotel, while a room upgrade (depending on availability) has less cost,” Devlin says. This can often be the biggest challenge for planners in negotiating.

Behind any successful room block, there’s an entire process operating behind the scenes, what Adam Briggs, senior vice president of operations for ConferenceDirect, calls an “event housing cycle.” Day four of Streampoint Solutions’ Event Technology Week was focused on achieving your room block goals. Here are some takeaways from the day.

More: Trends from Day One of Event Technology Week

Identify If You’re in the Right Place

Being in the right location is a key to a successful room block. Many event professionals run their events in rotation: some prefer to remain in the same city, while others rotate through a handful yearly. To maximize efficiency, look at where your attendees are coming from. Ask yourself a few questions.

Where are my attendees?
How far do they travel to get there?
Is the trip worth their time?

Not only is the question of region important but also their financial sensitivity. Learning how cost conscious your attendees are will aid you in determining where to host your events.

Don’t Be Afraid to RFP

There are cost benefits in knowing your destination, but there are also benefits to taking the initiative to find a better deal. When rates begin to creep up and service starts to suffer, don’t fall into the trap of letting comfort keep you there. No matter how familiar you are with a city, it never hurts to RFP. A better deal may await.

The Only Protection is What’s in your Contract

According to Briggs, contracts may be the most important aspect of the housing process. Corporations aren’t prepared for every contingency and lack of preparation can potentially leave you with fewer rooms than agreed upon or maybe none at all. Unless you have protections built into your contract, there may be nothing you can do in the case of an emergency, leaving you at the mercy of the other party.

More: 7 Critical Tips for Contract Clauses

Attrition rates are one of the more important aspects of a contract. While many do put attrition clauses in their contract, there is one distinction that many do not make: cumulative calculation vs. night-by-night. A night-by-night attrition clause may leave you with fees, as you could fill all your rooms on peak nights, while having to pay fees to make up for the slower days. Cumulative calculation looks at the total pick-up, regardless of individual room nights.