The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel set up a spectacular outdoor event for MicroVention at the beautiful Salt Creek Beach. Credit: MicroVention

As competition among destinations intensifies as the meeting industry continues to regain its health and vitality, California ranks high on the wish lists of many planners because of its broad appeal to attendees and Mediterranean-type climate — sunny days with little rain year-round. California offers an unusually long list of options from San Francisco, San Jose or the wine country of Napa and Sonoma counties or the central coast of Monterey County to Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Diego to the south.

“We always get good feedback when we hold a meeting in California,” says Carol Waring, marketing communications manager at Tustin, California-based global medical device company MicroVention, which holds about 10 meetings a year in the Golden State. “And a lot of that has to do with the weather and timing. A lot of the times we bring people to California, people from the East Coast or other parts of the country who are coming in from rain or snow. And they just enjoy coming to sunny Southern California. Simple as that.”

Puttin’ on the Ritz

Waring, in concert with her meeting planning staff and Cathy Demyanovich, MicroVention’s senior director of corporate communications, work together as a team to make their vision come alive for their sales meetings, many of which have been held at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, a 396-room beach resort located south of Los Angeles in Dana Point.

Her last meeting there was a week-long sales meeting last May for more than 100 attendees.

Why do her team and her attendees like The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel so much that they keep going back?

“Besides the beautiful location and the coastal views, the No. 1 reason would just be the quality of their service,” Waring says. “The hotel has a quality staff, a phenomenal group of people that always deliver quality service. They understand our high expectations and give us tremendous support. They fulfill every request we make, and they are consistent. It just comes down to the fact that they understand our needs.”

One of those needs — just the right amount and configuration of meeting space — is perfectly met by The Ritz-Carlton, Waring notes. The hotel has more than 26,000 sf of indoor conference and banquet space.

“Because of the type and amount of meeting space the hotel has, we can have our general sessions in a space that is appropriate, even if there are multiple meetings going on at the same time,” she says. “So depending on what kind of meeting we’re having, we can get the space we need to do the kinds of sessions that we do. For example, for some meetings, we might have rotating training sessions that require a particular configuration of space. And we can always find that at The Ritz-Carlton, no matter what else is going on in the hotel.”

MicroVention also does what it calls meet-and-greet networking sessions, themed dinner and recognition events as part of its major meetings. “We always have a number of things going on during our meetings,” Waring says. “It’s not just a matter of meeting sessions or training sessions. There’s also socializing and entertainment. And we always find what we need at The Ritz-Carlton.”

Of particular importance for a number of her meetings are recognition dinners that pay tribute to salespeople and support staff. “We do a nice formal dinner,” Waring says. “And at The Ritz-Carlton, we do those dinners in one of the ballrooms or the Pacific Promenade. And depending on the weather, we do some our meet-and-greet events outdoors. And all of those are just great venues for the events.”

Although the amenities and level of service she gets at The Ritz-Carlton often help create highlights of individual meetings, “the real highlight of our meetings there is just that it’s such a beautiful location,” Waring says. “It’s also a great escape for our attendees, because the property is a little bit secluded. It’s just a nice place to be.”

For her higher end meetings, such as sales meetings, MicroVention offers activities such as golf, which is played at the nearby Monarch Beach Golf Links, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and located on the same dramatic bluffs over the Pacific Ocean that give The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel its spectacular perch.

The Ritz-Carlton spa also is popular with MicroVention’s attendees. “It’s a really nice spa, and they offer some great treatments,” Waring says, who also praised the fitness center. “It’s nice,” she says, “to be looking out over the ocean while you’re on a treadmill or one of the other cardio machines.”

Despite the hotel’s luxury amenities, it is the service that keeps MicroVention coming back.

“The thing that is really special about The Ritz-Carlton is that they make you feel special, no matter who you are,” Waring says. “For example, when you walk into the lobby, they know your name, and they really make sure that you feel welcome and that you understand that you’re important to them. They make you feel like they know you and consider you important.”

Additionally, she says, the hotel is well-maintained and consistently kept up to date. And, as a planner, she feels she has a trusted venue that always contributes to the success of her meetings. “The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel is just a class act,” Waring says.

San Jose

Although not as well-known a meeting destination as San Francisco, San Jose — the de facto capital of Silicon Valley — has emerged over the last few years as a go-to option, especially, not surprisingly, for technology companies.

BlogHer, whose customers are women in social media and especially female bloggers, chose San Jose for its three-day 10th anniversary meeting earlier this year for more than 3,000 attendees.

The company, now located in Belmont, California, and which has been acquired by SheKnows Media, wanted to return to its Silicon Valley roots for the important event, explains Lori Luna, vice president of events operations.

“There were several important reasons that San Jose was right for this event,” Luna says. “One important one was that their convention center was newly renovated. And it was almost as if it was perfectly designed for our conference. It just ideally met our needs for general session space and breakouts and our expo, which had more than 100 exhibitors and used about 35,000 sf of space.”

Another factor was the convenience of having three airports that attendees could fly into — San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco. “That meant that people had multiple options, depending on where they were coming from,” Luna says.

Especially important was the fact that San Jose offered a hub of four major flag hotels that were perfectly situated around the convention center. The headquarters hotel, The Fairmont San Jose, and the Hyatt Place San Jose/Downtown are just a block away, while the San Jose Marriott and Hilton San Jose are connected to the convention facility.

“That kind of infrastructure and convenience is pretty rare,” Luna says. “And for us, for a very important event, it was just perfect.”

Because the meeting celebrated BlogHer’s 10th anniversary, the company went all out to make it special.

Iconic female blogger Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of The Huffington Post, was brought in to headline a general session. “We don’t do traditional keynote speeches,” Luna says. “We have interviewers who turn it into a dialogue.” For Huffington, the interviewer was superstar social media guru and former chief evangelist of Apple, Guy Kawasaki.

Actress and activist Kerry Washington, who appeared at another general session and was interviewed by a popular female blogger, was another highlight of the meeting.

And at another general session, popular female comedian Tig Notaro, another star of social media, interviewed one of the founders of BlogHer.

Another major highlight of the meeting was a closing night outdoor dinner and dance party staged in a parking lot and sponsored by McDonald’s.

“Our closing night event was spectacular,” Luna says. “McDonald’s, which brought in a semi truck full of stuff, decked out a local parking lot to the point where you would never have known it was a parking lot if you had seen it. It was just amazing. McDonald’s also secured Rev Run from the legendary rap group Run DMC, and he was spinning records for about an hour or so for a four-hour dance party, which was just fantastic. People had a great time.”

Unlike many companies that have continued to reduce their meeting budgets since the recession, BlogHer management believes in making the investment to create memorable meetings that motivate their people to optimal job performances. And the San Jose celebration exemplified that.

“We like to say that we go all out for this meeting, as well as for our smaller ones,” Luna says. “And it has everything to do with our sponsors — like McDonald’s for the San Jose event — who partner with us to do our meetings. They are a huge element of our conferences and events. And we are very transparent about the fact that they subsidize the price of our registrations so that people can afford to attend. If we did not have such amazing relationships with our sponsors, I don’t think you’d see this ongoing investment that we make.”

In addition, Luna says, her history and relationship with San Jose also contributed to the success of her 10th anniversary meeting.

“I am very fortunate to have a very strong relationship with the San Jose convention center,” Luna says. “I am on their customer advisory board.”

Luna also worked closely with Team San Jose, the innovative entity that combines the resources and services of a CVB, convention center, hotel partners, and dining and entertainment providers under one roof.

“They have a different approach from most CVBs,” Luna says. “Their model of having everything coordinated by a single entity means that you get a higher level of service, because you’re not going to the CVB for one thing and the convention center for another thing and the hotel for a third thing. And that makes things so much easier for me as a planner.”

‘Disney Magic’

Monica Wihongi, chief communications officer at Close to My Heart, a scrapbooking and paper sculpting company in Pleasant Grove, Utah, had never experienced a Disney meeting until she hosted a 2011 event at Disneyland Hotel at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. The 973-room property has 136,000 sf of meeting space, including exhibit space.

After selecting Anaheim as the destination for the 2011 meeting, Wihongi selected Disneyland Hotel after it submitted a successful bid as part of the RFP process.

“But when we went back this year, it was specifically because of the Disneyland Hotel,” she says. “One of the main issues for us was the logistics of how well the space Disneyland Hotel has worked out for our event. For example, having everything close together with a big box convention facility was a huge plus for us.”

Another important factor was that Disney’s space is carpeted. “That is very unusual, and carpeting is usually a huge expense,” Wihongi says. “But with Disney, the carpeting is included with the space.”

Yet another key was the impact Disney’s renowned production and staging capabilities could have on the company’s general session. “Our general session is a huge factor at the meeting,” Wihongi says. “It’s where we unveil our next year’s product line, and we want to create excitement. And what I loved about Disney is that the stage is built in. All of the sound equipment and lighting and rigging are part of the ballroom space, so you don’t have to build all that from scratch. And again, that kind of permanent setup is extremely unusual.”

Disney’s extraordinary capabilities enhanced three major highlights of her meeting this year, Wihongi says. “The first was our general session. This was the first time we really made it into a production. We had Disney actors mixed in with corporate officers and managers, including our CEO. And to be able to bring that kind of talent together to unveil our new products was extremely entertaining and fun, and very memorable for our attendees. It brought the Disney magic, but it wasn’t what I would call “Disneyfied.” It was very much about Close to My Heart. It just had the production caliber of Disney.”

A second major highlight was a visit by 100 company representatives to World of Color, a water and light show at Disney California Adventure Park. “We did an exclusive private VIP viewing just for our top leaders,” Wihongi says. “We had Disney escorts and our own private section for viewing. And dessert. And it was a very special experience.”

The third major highlight was the company’s awards gala in Disneyland Hotel’s main ballroom.

“Our awards gala is very important, because that’s where we recognize our top salespeople, top recruiters, top teams,” Wihongi says. “At Disney, we had a dinner and then entertainment throughout the evening. The staging and lighting were just beautiful. It was an event that made everyone feel special, especially those getting recognition. They were made to feel like movie stars.”

In addition to the hotel itself, Wihongi has high praise for the production arm of Disney.

“That’s another one of the main reasons we continue to go back, because Disney represents an all-in-one package,” she says. “You don’t have to go through so many vendors. You have one contact person who deals with everything, from F&B to AV and sound. It’s a great collaboration, and you don’t have to deal with all the various elements of the meeting as separate things. And based on my experiences, I feel like the Disney people are extensions of my team.”

Another reason Wihongi says she and her team like Disneyland Resort so much is “the Disney philosophy of how they treat their employees and the whole culture of the company. It’s very close to the culture of Close to My Heart. I’ve been with the company for 22 years and a lot of our staff also have amazing longevity. And I found the same kind of longevity and experience at Disney. People go there, and they stay. And you get a family feel. So the synergy between our staff and the Disney staff was also very important to us. And now we’ve continued to work with the same people through multiple meetings, so we have really gotten to know them very well — and they us. So you really do feel like you have a team. They get us.”

And based on her two experiences so far, the level of service at Disney is second to none — including the catering staff. “They have been phenomenal,” Wihongi says. “They are very caring and it isn’t just about serving people food. We had a number of special requests, such as from people who are diabetics or who have celiac disease. And they were very thoughtful in dealing with all of those special requests.”

The end result of her successes, Wihongi says, is that Close to My Heart just signed a new three-year deal that will take the company back to Disney in Anaheim and also to Orlando — after they return again next year to Disneyland Resort for an already previously scheduled meeting.

“Disney is just a perfect fit for us,” Wihongi says. “And you really do feel the Disney magic.”  C&IT

Christine Duffy is president and CEO of Cruise Lines International Association. She formerly served as president and CEO of Maritz Travel, one of the world’s largest M&I travel management companies. www.cruising.org

With a growing cruise industry (Cruise Lines International Association projects 21.7 million travelers will cruise in 2014) and exciting new ships and itineraries to the most interesting places in the world, it is no wonder that more businesses are realizing that meetings and incentives at sea are a viable option for corporate gatherings.

When I stepped into my role at CLIA, coming from Maritz Travel, I immediately saw the potential for the cruise industry and the M&I market to work more closely together and mutually grow their market segments. This is a big focus area for me, and I’m pleased that there is more recognition than ever before that a cruise ship is the perfect venue for business meetings and events — large and small.

Personalized Programs

I’m also excited to see that the cruise industry is actively cultivating the meetings and incentive market with new onboard amenities, conference facilities designed specifically for meetings and events, and new and advanced technological capabilities. The cruise ships of today — and tomorrow — have become dynamic facilities for companies to reward and enrich their meeting programs and incentive offerings. It’s hard to imagine other locations or facilities that can offer such a superior experience — one that helps to build camaraderie among attendees as well as company loyalty.

What I’ve also seen is that when it comes to planning a meeting at sea, customization is a big factor, with cruise lines, including small luxury ships and river cruise companies, working closely with meeting and incentive planners to create highly personalized programs to meet their needs.

And, at a time when more companies are expanding globally, so too is the cruise industry with more cruise lines catering to the global market and easily meeting the demands of multilingual and multinational planning and accommodation for incentive and meetings-incentive hybrid programs.

All-inclusive Pricing

Key among the reasons why cruises stand out with corporate groups is the incomparable value they offer and the ability to create a meeting or event that is truly distinctive. A cruise is generally less expensive and more inclusive than a land-based program — an important factor in a recovering economy. One rate covers meals, onboard activities, taxes, gratuities and entertainment. This allows planners to have a firm grasp on their budgets, and makes planning a sea-based M&I program much easier and less time-consuming — especially for larger groups.

Depending on the line, planning group programs is a one-stop process with group sales departments, dedicated group planners and onboard meeting and incentive staff to handle all group needs. Options for cruises are extensive, with cruises available in every part of the world, of every length (from two days to two weeks or more), and in every price category.

Cruise Lines Offer More in 2015

This is an exciting time for the cruise industry with the debut of cruise ships that rival the imagination. More and more cruise lines are creating revolutionary experiences with new, state-of-the-art spaces, adrenaline-rushing onboard activities, elegantly appointed and newly designed staterooms, game-changing technology, groundbreaking venues, gourmet dining options and Broadway-style entertainment. River cruising, specialty cruising and luxury cruising are also growing in popularity for executive retreats and incentives. Most important is passenger satisfaction, which at 96 percent is the highest in the travel industry.

Cruising Commitment

The M&I market is so important to CLIA that we have established a Meetings, Events & Incentives (ME&I) Task Force made up of the major cruise line members focused on developing a strong relationship with the meetings and incentive industry. Some 24 MPI Chapters in the U.S. and Canada are aligned with CLIA cruise line members to help their planners have a better understanding of what the cruise industry can offer them. We are also assisting our cruise line members in being more active with other trade associations, such as PCMA and SITE, and in having a presence at incentive industry functions and trade shows such EIBTM, IMEX and ITE.

When I first started at CLIA I saw that there were clearly many meeting planners and meeting professionals who had no idea what the cruise industry was all about. I believe we’ve changed that view with increased numbers of meeting and incentive events being held on cruise ships, and I’m confident that this trend will continue to grow. 2015 will be an exciting year for the cruise industry and a wonderful opportunity for the meetings industry to take advantage of the incomparable value and excitement that can only be experienced on a cruise. C&IT

While many third-party planning companies promote themselves as being “full service,” it’s rare for any company to be equally strong in all facets of event planning, which often call for widely different skill sets.

Compare negotiating hotel contracts to designing and executing teambuilding events, for example. Indeed, “the caution is trying to be too much of everything to everybody,” says Laurel Coote, CMP, CMM, founder of Torrance, California-based Pick My Brain Consulting, a strategic meeting and event planning company. Coote, who previously owned The Laureli Group for 10 years, advises independents to “identify the two, three or four things that you or your organization do really well. You might be able to plan catering and do teambuilding, but perhaps you really love managing content and speakers for corporate training events. So find what you love and do that especially well.”

“Identify the two, three or four things that you or your organization do really well. You might be able to plan catering and do teambuilding, but perhaps you really love managing content and speakers for corporate training events. So find what you love and do that especially well.” — Laurel Coote

It’s the diverse niches in the planning field that allow the market to support a growing multitude of independent planners. Specializations, which range from types of organizations to types of meetings to aspects of the planning process, allow third parties to stand out and be more than just another full-service planning company.

Collaboration, Not Competition

Moreover, independents can sometimes rely on each other’s strengths in an atmosphere of collaboration as opposed to competition. “We have a number of partners locally, and on a national and global scale, that we will reach out to and partner with,” says Cathy Palmateer, CMP, president of San Francisco-based Meeting Resource Group. “I think that those friendly competitors that are out there and those partners we find an opportunity to work with understand that each of these programs has a number of different elements to it, and there may be aspects of that program that some are more skilled and better served to deliver on than others.

“For example, am I going to take on décor in a ballroom? No, I’m going to rely on one of my décor companies in San Francisco to take care of that. To use an old phrase, it takes a village.”

In that ideal situation, independents not only can collaborate, but also refer clients to colleagues who have the availability to take on certain projects. That allows the referrer to avoid simply saying “no” to a client’s business, and in a sense still meet their needs. But that sort of option only comes with being well-connected within the third-party community.

“If I meet an independent planner I really try to get to know them,” says Jennifer Squeglia, CMP, owner of Warwick, Rhode Island-based RLC Events. “That way, if somebody comes to me for help with an event and I’m not available, I feel comfortable saying, ‘I’m not available; however, this person is.’ For instance, I just had a client who is doing an event next March, and I told them upfront I will do all the preplanning, but I can’t be onsite. So I worked with another independent planner whom I trust and respect, and she’s going to cover it onsite for me. That’s why it’s important to keep my relationships current.”

In a different case, a referral is based not on availability, but rather skill set. “Sometimes you get requests for things that are outside the scope of what you feel you can do well,” Coote says. For example, my company is not a teambuilding company, but we do it. Some teambuilding requests are not a problem, and we’ll formulate it, but other times it makes sense to say to the client, ‘You need to go to a specialist teambuilding company because they have it all. It would be far too labor intensive for us to do it and would cost you more.’ ”

That kind of honesty ultimately promotes long-term relationships with clients. They will realize the third party puts client results above personal revenue, and thus feel more secure about trusting the third party with future projects that are a better fit.

Flexibility

Of course, independents need not continue passing on projects that are outside their scope; in some cases, they can develop specializations in response to client needs. “When the HCP (healthcare provider) spend reporting became very big, we developed special departments focused just on that,” notes Jean Johnson, CMP, chairman, president and CEO of Caledonia, Wisconsin-based Meetings & Incentives Worldwide Inc., a family-owned company that has grown to 160 employees and 20 clients over the last two decades. “A big part of our success is that we’ve always been very flexible, so as our clients have grown and changed, we’ve always grown and changed with them.”

Service flexibility is key to keeping a flow of work, especially during gaps between regular projects from long-term clients. “I have two types of clients,” Squeglia explains. “Larger corporations, where I’m a part of their existing meeting management team, will supply me work during the peak times when they need help. And then there are clients that don’t have existing meeting planning teams who bring me in to handle specific meetings and projects. I have a very flexible model; I did work for one company that just needed somebody to manage the registration database and rooming list and that’s fine; I’m happy to do that, too.” Naturally, small-scale projects, when executed well, can lead to larger projects and regular planning work from that client.

Client Integration

Regular work can lead to the client perceiving the independent as part of the in-house team, a coveted kind of relationship for many third parties. “If they have a corporate events department, then my company is seen as an extension of that,” Coote explains. “And if they don’t have in-house event management, then my goal is to plant myself as their source. I aim to put myself out there as one of them, so that all the people I touch on their behalf think I work for them (in house).”

There are several aspects to integrating with a corporate client on that level. One is typically some degree of face-to-face interaction, despite the fact that the project often can be accomplished strictly through phone and email communications with the client. “Sometimes they ask you to come in to see how you work; clients have asked me to sit in their office for a few days a week for a period of time,” she notes. While in-person meetings or face-to-face work may be logistically inconvenient for the independent, it’s an opportunity to get better acquainted with the client’s culture, brand and staff demographics, which furthers the goal of integrating with the team.

Align With Core Values

Another step to that goal is observing the client’s core values. Coote had Amgen as a client for about 10 years, and “it was really important to them that their vendors aligned with their seven core values in the way their employees did. The values include compete and win, but also respect one another and work in teams. So it was a very collaborative environment, and not only would I need to be respectful of them, but so would they with me.” The result was a “level playing field” between vendor and in-house team. She describes that relationship as “the best of both worlds,” allowing her to work “within the corporate structure” while retaining the freedom that comes with being a vendor. “If I can’t align myself with their values, then they might not be the best client for me. There are times when you need to say to the client, ‘We’re not a good fit anymore, it would be better for you to work with somebody else.’ As an independent you have the option to say no. As a corporate employee it’s not so easy.”

Strategic Approach

A third aspect to integrating with an in-house team on a long-term basis is to become versed in the state of the client’s business and their goals. The independent is then in a position to strategize site selection, contracting, theming and other meeting details in the context of the client’s broader business needs. Toward that end, “I like to read their annual reports and white papers,” Squeglia notes. While this kind of activity is often strictly speaking unnecessary to the project at hand, “to me it’s time well spent because it’s going to make me a better partner to them,” she maintains.

Building connections to stakeholders within the client organization is also a route to this “education.” “I would say that with 50 percent of our accounts, we have direct contact with stakeholders (e.g., a V.P. of marketing), and then there’s a smaller percentage of clients where we’re dealing directly with staff that supports the C-suite,” says Palmateer. “Not only does (that connection) improve the effectiveness of the project at hand, but it also gives us a far broader understanding of the intent and goals of the meeting as well as the long-term objectives of the company. When you are sitting down in front of the decision-makers that do have a direct line to the stakeholders, it allows you to see the global picture, as opposed to being removed as an independent contractor working in silos with two or three different point people.”

When Squeglia is able to get that “direct line” to the C-suite, she takes the opportunity to get their perspective on ROI for the meeting at hand. “One of my questions is, what do you want these people to say after the meeting’s over? How do you want them to feel? I love hearing that directly from the CEO. That really helps me to deliver better service to them.”

‘High Touch’ Communication

A fourth aspect to immersing oneself in the client’s organization is maintaining regular contact between projects. Palmateer generally reaches out to or meets with clients on a quarterly basis, even for those clients who only work with her on their annual meeting. “I like to ensure they are getting the service they need from the hotels, and see if there’s anything we can do to complement or support their efforts. I’m a firm believer in ‘high touch’; we stay in very close contact with our clientele.”

The contact need not be about business, strictly speaking. Says Squeglia, “I always express my gratitude and never take their business for granted, even the clients I’ve had for the eight years I’ve been in business. When the meeting is over I take the time to send out handwritten notes saying ‘thank you for your business.’ And I make sure I show appreciation to everyone on the team, even the person that handles the RSVPs; that’s a big job, too.”

Toward cultivating the relationship, she also lets clients know she is always available to answer the offhand planning question. “I may have a client who asks me, ‘We’re trying to find a good private room in Boston to do a dinner, can you help us?’ Well of course I can, and I wouldn’t charge for that. So I want them to see me as a resource not just for the particular event but for anything they might need” in their planning work.

A Village of Planners

There truly is a “village” of independent meeting planners out there, especially since in-house teams were pared down during the recession, and in many cases left in that streamlined condition. And while the village allows for collaboration and strategic referrals among its well-connected members, capitalism is still at its core, and when possible independents will want to secure long-term, exclusive relationships with clients. Integrating with clients’ organizations serves that end, via occasional face-to-face interaction, observation of core values, knowledge of overall business direction and regular contact. The less “independent” from a client they are perceived to be, the longer the relationship is likely to last. C&IT

Miraval Resort & Spa features immersive equine experiences by Wyatt Webb in which participants work with specially selected horses.

These two definitions offered by BussinessDictionary.com assess teambuilding from an employer perspective, accurately describing both the grouping of individuals in a corporation and how the group is expected to perform:

1. The philosophy of job design in which employees are viewed as members of interdependent teams instead of as individual workers.
2. The ability to identify and motivate individual employees to form a team that stays together, works together and achieves together.

Companies often need help with the second description, which may include not only motivating the team but also helping the group and individuals within it break through challenges that hold them back.

“There’s nothing wrong with just having fun. Teambuilding can certainly support fun.” — Ira Almeas

Teambuilding is an art, and corporations frequently turn to independent companies and their facilitators for programs specifically designed to coalesce individuals into effective teams. These programs range from a few hours in length to multiday experiences, from physical challenges to more cerebral exercises. They may explicitly build teams with a goal of greater productivity or they may focus on bonding employees to foster better communication and support. Teambuilding programs can be part of a larger meeting or a standalone endeavor. They can be a dynamic part of an incentive reward experience and also of corporate giveback programs.

Where to Start

The task for companies is to find the right programs for their groups.

When Aimee DiCicco, senior vice president of sales at FedEx Office in Dallas, Texas, wanted a program for her sales leadership team (seven managing directors and two officers, including DiCicco), she turned to Four Day Weekend, an improvisation-based organization that had previously worked with larger FedEx Office groups. The goal of the one-day workshop was to create a more efficient and productive team dynamic via new skills gained through creative improvisation exercises facilitated by Four Day Weekend.

David Wilk, the founder and president of Four Day Weekend, explains the core philosophy of FDW’s approach as one of offering a “Yes and…” scenario in a “No but…” world. “Our success is based on collaboration because we know that what we accomplish as a group is far better than what we may come up with individually. Our philosophy works because it teaches a person the value in making teammates look good. The bottom line is that if I make you look good, and you make me look good, then we all look good.

“ ‘Yes and…’ takes your idea and makes it our idea,” Wilk says. “Everyone has buy-in, and we only succeed if we succeed together.”

Before the workshop, DiCicco’s group didn’t fully understand how improvisation could improve outcomes, but they emerged from the experience enlightened and eager to apply what they learned. What they learned was a new way of thinking and doing. “They learned,” DiCicco says, “to think openly, build each other up and build on each other’s ideas. They learned to look not for the ‘no’ but for the ‘yes,’ and that we win only if the team wins as a whole. They learned that there are no bad ideas and that choices with the highest probability are the goal.”

Perhaps the biggest takeaway, DiCicco says, is that they learned how much team members stifle creativity by shutting each other down unintentionally.

A teambuilding program is only effective if the skills and attitudes learned translate back to the workplace, and Four Day Weekend delivered. DiCicco calls the workshop highly successful. “Team decision-making, problem-solving and conflict resolution were the biggest skills we were looking to improve upon as a team,” she notes. “By improving on each, we ended up with better outcomes and better morale, which automatically leads to better performance.”

As with any program, DiCicco notes, it’s a process, and the team has to continue to reinforce what was learned. “You have to keep implementing the skills and putting them into practice,” she says. “It is easy to lapse back into old ways of thinking and doing things.”

Mindful and Challenging Experiences

Teambuilding experiences aren’t just for members of a single company. They’re also for leaders and managers of far-flung companies who come together in a program and take what they learn back to their respective organizations.

Jamee Natella, founder and executive producer at Blueyed Pictures, a Los Angeles-based commercial and corporate media production company, enhanced her life and work skills in a teambuilding experience, which she arranged with fellow members of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), Malibu chapter, in May.

The group met at Miraval Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona, known for its wellness and life-in-balance programs such as the Equine Experience, founded and facilitated by Wyatt Webb, author of several books including It’s Not About the Horse (Hay House, 2003).

“Wyatt Webb is the real deal, Natella says. “When you first meet him, he’s sitting on a stool in front of a horse. He starts by saying, ‘There are two things we’re not born with: fear and self-doubt.’ Let’s just say he had me at fear. At the time I met him I was at a crossroad with the direction in my life. He gave me his book What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do: Common Horse Sense (Hay House, 2006). As he states, ‘It’s just common horse sense.’ It helped me understand what I really wanted and needed to move forward. He left a lasting impression on me.”

The YPO group took part in several of Miraval’s programs. “In addition to the Equine Experience, the group participated in the Mindfulness at Miraval lecture with Leigh Weinraub, the guided hike/scavenger hunt, Quantum Leap II, low ropes and zip-lining,” Natella says. “I wanted to give this retreat the entire mindful experience. After all, this is what makes Miraval stand out compared to other resorts.

“Initially, the goal was to create an ‘only in YPO’ experience. I was trying to center the retreat (on) our theme for the YPO year: Now is the Time. I wanted to create activities (in which) I thought I could accomplish not only the theme but also break the mold of what we do each day. These are all activities that take participants out of their comfort zone, help with teambuilding, focus on building trust and therefore deal with fear and self-doubt.”

None more so than the Equine Experience, during which participants have to complete various tasks with horses. This program turned out to be transformational for members of Natella’s group. “During the equine activity,” she says, “one of the women approached the horse and couldn’t achieve the task Wyatt had given her. This woman is usually in control emotionally. To complete the objective, she ended up breaking down her emotional barriers and becoming vulnerable. I had always known this participant to be a very powerful woman letting out little emotion. Being the organizer of the event, I was a little concerned as to what the outcome would be.

“After many tears, she walked away thankful. Throughout the rest of the retreat, we saw her transformation into the woman she truly is instead of the woman she had created in order to run a powerful company. To me, being vulnerable showed more power than the facade she had created. It was after she broke down her emotional barriers that the horse connected with her and she completed the exercise.”

As Webb makes clear in his books and as facilitator of this experience, it’s not about the horse. “Horses can’t verbally communicate,” Natella says. “Therefore they react to human emotions and actions. When this participant was guarded, the horse sensed this. After she acknowledged her fear and self-doubt, the horse trusted her and the exercise was completed. The horse, along with Wyatt, helped to facilitate her emotional transformation.”

The experience can be more challenging than it initially seems. “I noticed a change in the group immediately after the second participant in the equine activity,” Natella says. “The first person approached the horse and completed the exercise right away. When the second person could not complete the task, I noticed that the group started paying closer attention to the exercise, realizing it may be more difficult than first expected. The exercise was different for each person. I suppose it’s about how one feels when approaching the horse and what he or she is willing to confront. You must be bold and take risks.”

In fact, many of the team activities offered at Miraval require participants to challenge themselves. If they can do that, the results can be powerful — and lasting.

“If participants believe in their own power and exceed their expectations — living life freely, leading by example and trusting their gut — it creates a more wholesome environment for self-expression,” Natella says. “The activities at Miraval encourage participants to say what they feel and build team cooperation and trust. After completing this program, all participants became closer. I heard that when they returned to work, situations that had been difficult before were looked at in a different light and became easier to resolve.”

For Natella, the highlight of the Equine Experience was seeing participants break through their emotional fears and barriers. “It was incredible to see the transformation in each individual,” she says. “People tend not to change their inner self unless they are faced with difficult situations or are in a terrible place in life. Wyatt has a way of accomplishing this with each person in a safe environment. Everyone exceeded their own expectations and built lifelong friendships.”

This was Natella’s second time at Miraval, and she says she will continue to go back. Many members of the YPO group have made reservations to return as well — which says much about the value of the experience.

Continuing to Grow

“Since Miraval, the group has continued to grow,” Natella says. “And at times of doubt, we reflect on what we learned at Miraval. I recommend the Equine Experience to all organizations looking to further their productivity and growth. As Henry Ford said, ‘Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.’ Many times a company with low productivity is not investing in its people or listening to their ideas, needs and concerns. Our company is focused on individuals, which creates more productivity and growth, long-lasting loyalty and family. Miraval has helped each YPO leader learn how important these aspects are in running a company.”

On a lighter note, it’s good to know that at Miraval, facing challenges does not mean lack of comfort. “There is one thing I would change about the experience,” Natella muses. “I wish Miraval would just give the entire bed and sheet set in the rooms to each guest as they leave. The beds were so comfortable. I never slept so well!”

She isn’t saying exactly how she would get a bed on board an airplane…

Incentive Programs

When it comes to teambuilding on an incentive trip, the paradigm changes slightly, but it’s still about creating meaningful relationships.

Ira Almeas, CITE, president of Im­pact 4 Good, based in West Orange, New Jersey, says teambuilding can be easily incorporated into an incentive trip if planners do their homework. He says it’s important to assess the objectives articulated by the meeting’s stakeholders, to know the demographics of the group and to ensure there’s a fit for teambuilding within the meeting’s time frame, theme, available space and budget.

That research accomplish­ed, Almeas believes teambuilding can work in a variety of ways to enhance incentive trips, including giving attendees a chance to let off steam, as a group icebreaker and as a means for creating new relationships within the group, especially for first-time incentive-trip qualifiers.

“I like all of the teambuilding activities we manage because we first take the time to understand the core objectives versus just seeing an activity,” he says.  Examples of teambuilding options he’s put together include creating game-show formats that allow individuals to engage in competitive fun while answering questions — often centered on the meeting content, which then gives stakeholders a way to determine if the meeting content resonated with attendees.

One optimal way to include teambuilding, Almeas says, is to pair it with a corporate social responsibility program (CSR). One memorable activity Almeas’ group facilitated several years ago involved having attendees build bee hives for a bee-farmer cooperative in Jamaica, which bonded the builders, helped the resource-strapped cooperative and gave attendees and locals an opportunity for face-to-face interaction — win-win for all.

Impact 4 Good created another program popular with its incentive groups called Rejuv-a-nation, addressing the growing concern with childhood obesity and the need to get children active at a young age. In 2013, an HR group from an international staffing company participated in the program at Bellagio in Las Vegas.

“I like the fact that this event starts off as a teambuilding activity, getting teams to better understand life balances such as intake of calories and exercise,” Almeas says. “The event is fast-paced and ends in an aha moment for teams. Afterward, a representative from a local charter school or after-school nonprofit organization briefly speaks to the group and shares with them the challenges of students in the community.

“As a surprise, the students run into the room, and together the attendees and children are paired into teams to participate in good old-fashioned field-day activities. The program showcases that being active is fun and fosters friendship. Teams earn recreational equipment as they play together, and in the end, the audience and students discover that all of the earned equipment will be donated to their school or organization. It is just a very positive activity that is life changing for some of the students and memorable for the participants.”

Then again, it doesn’t always have to be about major transformation. “There’s nothing wrong with just having fun,” Almeas says. “Teambuilding can certainly support fun.” C&IT

Memorable meetings in the Southwest happen when attendees experience firsthand a tribe’s rich culture and history. Credit: Albuquerque CVB

A conference in the Southwest draws attendees for many reasons, not the least of which are the abundance of sunshine and dramatic landscapes with the power to inspire. Affordability and easy airlift mark some destinations, while arts or a focus on wellness or Native American influences set others apart.

ARIZONA

Phoenix

In Phoenix, reliably sunny weather is matched with affordability. “The value and flexibility Phoenix offers corporate meeting groups has never been greater,” says Steve Moore, president and CEO of Visit Phoenix. “Among the top 10 airports in America, Sky Harbor consistently has the lowest round-trip airfare averages, so it’s more affordable to fly here than to other incentive markets. And our resorts compete so much for incentive business, not just against other destinations but with each other, that they stay on top of trends, such as offering activities for families or weaving desert adventures into itineraries.”

When Andrea Jung, special events planner for Northeast-based Silhouette Optical, was considering cities in which to hold the company’s December 2013 national sales meeting, Phoenix stood out for its airlift ease and weather, as well as the availability of golf, hiking and biking. “Warmer climates in the winter months are preferred by our attendees, and the opportunity to plan events outdoors was an incentive to look into Arizona,” Jung says.

Phoenix Marriott Tempe at The Buttes offered what Jung needed in a hotel. “I liked that the Marriott had a trail for walks and hikes. Also, just the trek to and from the meeting space was seen as a positive — a chance to stretch legs and get some fresh air,” Jung says. “I found this property of all that I sited to meet most of our needs. It’s the perfect marriage of resort and conference center. The close proximity to a major airport was a bonus for attendees and a cost savings for Silhouette. But the property doesn’t feel like an airport hotel due to its location in the buttes; it was quite nice, peaceful.”

From the start, Visit Phoenix smoothed the way for Jung. “My contact at the CVB, Chris Robertson, assisted me in site visits. He oversaw the setup of the site tours, transferred me to and from locations and made recommendations for ground transportation if necessary. He also worked well with my Conference Direct contact, meaning my RFP did not get sent out to every Arizona property, only to those that fit our needs.”

The hotel staff also helped. “Tamra Carter, the event manager, and her team were hands-on from day one, working with each other and me to make the meeting a success,” Jung says. “In doing so, they made me look like a rock-star planner! They were always available when needed. The culinary team exceeded my expectations in quality, creativity and service.”

It’s easy to stand out when things are going well, but staff members who shine in the face of challenges can save the day, as Jung learned when there was a problem related to the in-house AV. “Fortunately, it was only one person,” she notes. “The AV support team was amazing and made up for this person’s lack of attention to detail and poor listening skills. I noticed this from the start and should have received a quote from an outside company; however, the staff at the Marriott listened to my concerns and rectified the situation immediately.”

What Jung hadn’t counted on were cool December evenings. Quick changes had to be made for one evening event, and both the hotel and Allied PRA Arizona, which supplied décor and production needs, were agile enough to quickly kick the backup indoor plan into action.

Challenges aside, Arizona was a great match for Jung’s group of 80, and she’s already creating an RFP for 2015. “There are many great properties in Arizona and the Phoenix area in particular,” she says. “I hope to be meeting there again in February.”

“There are many great properties in Arizona and the Phoenix area in particular. I hope to be meeting there again in February.” — Andrea Jung

Scottsdale

Nearby Scottsdale, Arizona, has similar attributes but its own vibe.

Libby Crooker, V.P. of international support for Minnesota-based Anytime Fitness, brought 2,100 attendees to The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort in September for the company’s annual conference — its largest to date. She says Scottsdale was an ideal location thanks to ease of travel into the city and close proximity of hotels to the airport.

“Our goal was to have a resort property that we could essentially take over and fill with our company culture,” she adds. “The Fairmont Princess, which recently expanded its meeting space and could accommodate most attendees, was a perfect fit, and neighboring Scottsdale Marriott at McDowell Mountains partnered to handle the overflow.”

Crooker had high praise for the Fairmont staff, noting that the culinary and banquet team provided “fantastically healthy food,” important to a fitness organization’s attendees, and each meal was served “with a strategic plan in place so that there were no long lines and the food was always warm and fresh.”

The staff also kept Crooker’s budget firmly in mind. “Michael Saam, the resort’s director of adventures and experiences, was particularly helpful in working within our budget to create the right amount of ambience and activity. His assessment of our needs proved to be right on the money — literally.”

Although all located in the Southwest, Scottsdale properties are not mono-themed. The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, for example, celebrates all things Scottish, bringing a wee bit of the British Isles to the Sonoran Desert and creating a memorable place for meetings, especially those that include golf. Or surfing challenges on the super-cool FlowRider. Or VIP Scotch tastings in the 160-bottle Scotch Library, overseen by highly knowledgeable, kilt-wearing Scotch Ambassador Guy Sporbert. In addition to Scottish ambience, the 732-room resort with 200,000 sf of indoor/outdoor meeting space now offers vastly increased Internet speed and improved access to high-def video, high-quality voice and high-data-rate wireless channels via mobile devices, thanks to a $1 million technology upgrade.

It may surprise planners to know that there are moderate lodging options in tony Scottsdale. The Saguaro sits at the edge of Old Town, the city’s original downtown and now a lively district melding history, art, a trendy food scene and a little bit of kitsch. The 194-room Saguaro provides 10,000 sf of meeting space and a sort of festive Mexican motel aesthetic enhanced by complimentary Wi-Fi, handcrafted furnishings, an inviting restaurant and a recently refreshed expansive pool area where groups can get social.

If gathering at an offsite restaurant fits the agenda, there’s Citizen Public House in Old Town, a hip eatery with gastropub cuisine and a highly creative beverage program. Groups can choose an 18-seat semi-private alcove, 12-seat table or the restaurant’s hidden gem, a private upstairs 30-seat speakeasy.

Sedona

Jennifer Wesselhoff, president and CEO of the Sedona Chamber of Com­merce & Tourism Bureau has one question: Who wouldn’t want to meet in the most beautiful place on earth?

“Sedona is a premier destination with world-class accommodations, fine dining, top-notch amenities and a special energy that attendees feel the moment they arrive to red-rock country,” she says. “Attendees won’t deny the ultra-eclectic feel of Sedona, and we guarantee that they will feel rejuvenated and inspired long after they depart.”

The city, with 46 hotels, resorts and motels and 50 restaurants, is ideal for groups of 400 or fewer. Sedona is a favorite with outdoor enthusiasts, art lovers — there are more than 80 galleries — and groups with a spiritual bent.

Tucson

Arizona’s second-largest city is an out-of-the-box destination with range and depth in terms of activities, culture, dining, accommodations and meeting venues.

“Tucson is breaking the tired mold of a traditional site selection,” says Brent DeRaad, president and CEO of Visit Tucson. “Tucson’s offerings are a little out there and provide a welcome change from the unoriginal. Planners are looking for meeting sites that inspire and rejuvenate their delegates. They want to experience places that are a bit off the beaten path. They want to see jaw-dropping natural surroundings and make the kind of powerful connections that stir the imagination and inspire creativity. They want authentic experiences that are memorable. They get all of that in Tucson.”

They also get more than 205,000 sf of space at the Tucson Convention Center.

NEW MEXICO

Albuquerque

Albuquerque is experiencing solid growth and continued popularity with groups that appreciate the sunshine, evocative landscape, history and rich cultural influences. The city offers 16,508 hotel rooms, 923,834 sf of meeting/function space, and its 600,000-sf convention center is wrapping up a $22 million renovation. Additionally, Albuquerque has invested more than $300 million in hospitality developments, including hotels, offsite venues and attractions.

Just outside the city, 20 minutes from the airport, Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa is part of the Santa Ana Pueblo. The resort features 350 guest rooms and 83,000 sf of meeting space, 50,000 of it outdoors. A new covered attached patio is currently being built off the Santa Ana Café.

The resort’s worthy Tamaya Horse Rehab Program, available to groups, provides shelter and care for horses abandoned and suffering due to drought and ongoing economic challenges. The teambuilding/CSR basic program requires at least two hours and includes attendees helping to care for horses or build shelters for them. Large groups can add a full-on team rodeo fund-raiser, and companies can adopt and name one horse, then follow its recovery post-meeting — win-win for all.

OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma City

Affordable, low-key Oklahoma City is a top choice for Lauren Warkentine, director of operations at Computer-Rx, a software company serving independent pharmacies nationwide. Its 2014 Idea Exchange drew nearly 700 attendees in April; the meeting is scheduled to convene in Oklahoma City through 2018.

“In downtown, the hotels, food, nightlife, shopping and sites are all close and easily accessible,” Warkentine says, noting attendees don’t need a car, a huge plus for planners. She says the area is walkable, safe and provides visitors and their families a range of things to do. Bricktown, the area’s entertainment district, is an attendee favorite.

Warkentine calls the city an excellent partner. “Everyone involved has always taken great care of us and made sure we had what we needed. We’re on our fourth year and our event continues to be a huge success. A lot of that is the fact that the city is a partner; they take our business to heart and they make it affordable for us to continue here.”

One thing she has changed in four years is relying more on the CVB, which she says consistently goes above and beyond. “We lean on the CVB mainly for communication within Oklahoma City. They provide us marketing material, coupons, VIP packages for guests, promotion around the city and more. They work with us in the early stages to make sure we have hotels and other items we need prior to the event, and constantly check in to ensure everything is on track.”

Idea Exchange is based at Cox Convention Center and Renaissance Oklahoma City Convention Center Hotel, connected by skybridge. “The service of the hotel is always exceptional,” Warkentine says. “The location is fantastic to the convention center and all downtown locations, and there are shuttles so customers can easily get around.” As for convention staff, they’re “always available and provide us cellphone numbers so we’re never searching for them. They bring us coffee or drinks throughout the day. We even had one staff member take a call while off-shift and at home. Instead of being ignored, our question was answered and we got the help we needed.”

Computer-Rx has clients across the country but is headquartered in Oklahoma City. Warkentine says planners should give her hometown a chance. “It’s a wonderful city with a lot to do for attendees. It’s affordable, safe and a great venue for an event. Most people just don’t know all that Oklahoma City has to offer. Take the time to experience what Oklahomans are so passionate about!”

SOUTHWEST NEWS

In Scottsdale, Talking Stick Resort has expanded its casino-level lounge, Palo Verde, with two multicolored LED staircases activated by motion, deejay booth for live entertainment, oversized couches and seating for more than 100 guests.

Tucson’s Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa completed a $35 million refreshment of its public spaces and all 487 guest rooms. The 60,000-sf conference space and the resort’s banquet amenities received significant upgrades. One striking new feature in the hotel lobby is a living wall, displaying an array of plants; outside, the resort’s Sonoran Desert Walkway, a partnership with the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, gives guests an up-close look at yucca, agave, flowering cacti and other natural elements of the Southwest desert.

The Hilton Sedona Resort & Spa unveiled a new lobby, its focus on relaxation and rejuvenation. The Living Room area encourages social gatherings. New restaurant SaltRock opened in September at Amara Resort & Spa in Sedona.

In New Mexico, the Santa Fe Convention Center, with 40,000 sf of indoor meeting space, added high-density Meraki cloud-based Wi-Fi hotspots so now more than 100 people can connect per hotspot. Next: upgrading the bandwidth to be able to grant online access to as many as 960 people in the ballroom. C&IT

Christine Shimasaki, CDME, CMP, is the managing director of empowerMINT.com and the Event Impact Calculator for Destination Marketing Association International. She previously served as executive vice president and chief strategy officer for the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, as well as a distinguished career in sales with Marriott.

Imagine this: a corporate attendee is sitting in an airport on their way home and someone asks, “How was your time in (blank) city?” and the attendee responds, “I could have been in any city, and it wouldn’t have mattered. They are all the same.” They are stuck in the airport-taxi-hotel-taxi-airport rut and are never able to get an authentic taste of the destination. Not exactly the experience a meeting professional aspires to — especially when the meeting’s success is tied to the attendees’ desire to return for next year’s meeting.

Meeting Experiences Drive Attendance

People are no longer interested in attending just a meeting; they are looking for a complete and total meeting experience: A meeting experience where all five senses are engaged and attendees leave not only gaining professional insight, but feeling that their time was well spent and filled with lasting memories.

“People are no longer interested in attending just a meeting; they are looking for a complete and total meeting experience.”

Even if a meeting is held in only one location, it doesn’t have to restrict their experience. There are many ways a planner can infuse local flavor during the course of the meeting to give attendees a real taste of the destination and thus create a positive meeting experience.

10 Ways to Infuse the Local Flavor of a Destination

Arts and culture.
We know attendees are looking for authentic cultural experiences and taking advantage of a destination’s arts and cultural offerings will help to reveal and enhance the underlying identity of the destination. Museums are a reflection of their community and what makes them unique. Try hosting a portion of your event in a local museum’s lobby or exhibit area. Museums are happy to rent out part or all of their space for meetings and conferences, and attendees will be thrilled to see a little of the local culture.

Food and beverage.
Infusing the local flavor with unique food and beverages provides attendees a taste of the destination and will help to create an overall memorable experience for attendees. Each destination is unique in not only location but in the tastes and flavors it offers.  Chefs located in hotels and other meeting venues are adept at utilizing locally grown fare to capture the flavor of the destination. Meeting attendees can find local flavor in everything from banquet dishes to unique craft cocktails.

People who have settled in the area.
Infusing a meeting with the destination’s flavor doesn’t have to be limited to the farm-to-fork movement. Many local flavors also come from the people who have settled in the area. For example, in Minneapolis, the city’s historical roots can be traced to its Scandinavian roots, and the city has been moving toward a “New Nordic” culinary experience

Utilizing local vendors.
Planners looking for goodie bags or small party favors can infuse local flavor by utilizing local vendors. Not only will they be supporting local businesses, but attendees also will be able to get a sample of something popular in the destination.

Community project/corporate social responsibility.
A unique way to infuse the flavor of a destination is to offer a community project as part of the overall meeting program. Planners can look for projects unique to the destination as well as one that connects with the organization’s overall mission.

Spousal programs/offsite excursions.
Planners have been hearing this for years: Attendees and their spouses are looking for more authentic experiences and moving away from generic programs. Attendees want to experience the flavor of the destination through all of the senses. Every destination has arts and cultural offerings that are unique to the destination. One trend that is sure to excite attendees and spouses is having a local docent guide them through private tours, such as walking tours, behind-the-scenes museum tours and even ghost tours.

Music and local events.
Infusing the flavor of a destination doesn’t have to be limited to just one of the senses. Many destinations are known for their unique sights and sounds as well. For instance, Nashville is known for its country music, and New Orleans is known for its jazz. However, each destination has its own unique music and events. Planners can journey to offsite events or hold meetings at a venue offering music unique to the destination.

Get active.
There also is a perception that meetings have to be inside. Try holding breakout sessions outside and present meeting content in an unconventional way, which will really help to create a lasting impression on attendees. Meeting attendees are thus able to take advantage of the beautiful outdoor weather, taste local flavors of the destination all while being presented with meeting content in a unique and memorable way.

Speakers.
Tapping prominent, local speakers is a great way to enrich the overall meeting experience for attendees. By tapping into local experts or motivational speakers who present programs in alignment with the organization’s overall mission, attendees will gain professional insight and will learn what makes the city unique. Another option for planners is to have local docents or guides come and talk to smaller groups to share insider tips and things to do in and around the destination.

Agritourism.
Agritourism is the growing trend of travelers heading out to farms, ranches or farmer’s markets for a real taste of the city and the unique foods grown in the region. There are a growing number of planners taking advantage of this trend by having an offsite excursion or event at a local farm or ranch. Attendees are able to visit a working farm where they can taste locally grown fare, go on hay rides, work their way through corn mazes or pick fruit directly from the vine.

CVBs Help Create Memorable Meeting Experiences

A lot of information planners need can be found on the Internet, yet only the most popular tourist-driven options will come up when you do a generic search. A planner has to know what they are looking for before they can search for it. How do you find out about and, more importantly, get access to the resources you need to infuse your meeting with the destination flavor? The local convention and visitors bureau (CVB) sales professional is your ultimate destination guide.

As local experts, the CVB not only will help you find out how to infuse the destination’s flavor into your meeting, they also will help you gain access that you may not normally get.  The CVB has in-depth knowledge of their destination and knows what makes it unique. Therefore, when siting your destination(s), involving the CVB from the very beginning will ensure your meeting is infused with the destination’s flavor and character, which will ultimately contribute to its success.

No organization has stronger connections and better destination knowledge than the convention and visitors bureau. It is the CVB’s mission to help you find not only the right fit for your meeting, but to help create the best meeting experience for attendees.

To reach out to CVB experts at more than 135 top meeting destinations, visit www.empowerMINT.com. C&IT

Union Station A Wyndham Grand Hotel in Nashville is a glowing example of a repurposed historic venue.

Location, location, location. It’s a common theme among planners, but there is only so much space in highly desirable downtown areas of captivating, easy-to-reach cities. Hoteliers have taken a new tack to address this shortcoming, converting previously commercial spaces and historic buildings into funky hotels with a backstory and unique pre-built décor, and with all the amenities of a traditional hotel.

While easily adaptable spaces such as former homes and civil spaces have long taken on new life as accommodations, many new hotel openings today highlight increasingly non-traditional spaces, from airport hangars to prisons to hospitals. The trend offers meeting planners many of the things they need most in one package: an automatic unique setting preferably without extra costs for décor and typically located in prime downtown locations of walkable, historic cities.

“The older spaces tend to have more vertical spaces, which is beautiful as well depending on what you’re doing.” — Patricia Alonzo

Back to the Future

Renovating historic spaces into hotels isn’t an entirely new concept, but the number of conversions is rising every year. Nearly one-fifth of Kimpton’s buildings started out with other uses. The Marriott chain uses repurposed buildings for 10 to 20 percent of one of their brands and has an entire line devoted primarily to strikingly unique historic conversions — the Autograph Collection. Properties such as St. Ermin’s Hotel in London is part of the portfolio as is the Union Station Hotel – Autograph Collection, Nashville’s former railroad terminal.

When it opened in 2007, after nearly 30 years of preservation, planning and persistence, the Union Station Hotel was one of the first of a new wave of hotels that prized its historic origins and thoughtfully incorporated those elements into a modern setting. While the guest rooms highlight many original features, such as 18-foot ceilings in the fifth-floor signature rooms, some of the best historical touches are in the hotel’s 12,000 sf of meeting space, which includes the original train entrance lobby and the mayor’s meeting room with original stained-glass window, fireplace and walnut paneling.

Today, hotel newswires are thick with reports of unique or covetously located repurposed hotels. One of the most sought after sites was The Old Post Office in the nation’s capital. Donald J. Trump’s organization was the  ultimate winner. The Trump International Hotel, Washington, D.C., is scheduled to be completely transformed by 2016 into “one of the finest hotels anywhere in the world,” said Trump, president and chairman of the Trump Organization, at the groundbreaking ceremony in July 2014.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redevelop one of this country’s most historic buildings, and we will spare no effort to ensure that the hotel…lives up to the legacy and integrity of this iconic landmark,” said Ivanka Trump, executive vice president, Trump Hotel Collection at the ceremony. “Our commitment to historic preservation and long history of redeveloping landmark properties is reflected in our design approach, which is inspired by the legacy of this great structure and executed in a manner that captures the sophistication and luxury of our brand.”

In April in Stockholm, one of the most striking art nouveau buildings opened — the 1910 Ateneum school for girls, envisioned in sleek new Scandanavian style as the 92-room Miss Clara, with artisanal wood and leatherwork throughout and two meeting spaces for mid-sized groups.

Shortly after, in June, Le Méridien brand debuted its new Le Méridien Tampa in the city’s 100-year-old federal courthouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The $26 million renovation created 130 guest rooms and 4,000 sf of meeting space, including a grand ballroom. The hotel has incorporated the original marble and terrazzo lobby into its signature Le Méridien entrance experience — The Hub.

In 2015 in Columbus, Ohio, a more than $20 million renovation of the historic LeVeque Tower, the tallest building between New York and Chicago when it opened in 1927, will include a 47-story, 155-room Marriott Autograph Collection and, later in the year, The Foundation Hotel will debut in the 1929 Detroit Fire Department Headquarters. The Aparium Hotel Group will transform the one-of-a-kind space into a 100-room hotel with a “Detroit State of Mind.”

More for Less

Planners are increasingly finding that the built-in extras of these venues provide them with more for less. Hotels built in historic venues automatically make guests say, “Wow, that’s cool!”

For Nicole Wei, corporate senior marketing manager for Waltham, Massachu­setts-based data management company Actifio, it’s all about the wow. “We’re a very innovative company, and we wanted to find a place that’s very different, not your typical Marriott ballroom type of place,” she explains. “I’m always looking for a place that’s out of the box and is striking for folks, especially when they’re coming from overseas and are used to something different than your average American hotel.”

Due to her location in Waltham, Massachusetts, 15 miles outside Boston, The Liberty Hotel was an easy choice for internal attendees, but also provided the something extra she wanted to provide for external attendees. She held her 2012 and 2014 annual kick-off events for the company salesforce and global customer partners, some of whom arrived from as far away as Dubai and Australia, at The Liberty.

“I think people were pretty much bowled over,” she said. “Their jaws dropped. When you check in, you roll into this rotunda with music bumping, and people are taken aback by the place. It makes it more fun and laidback. They loved it: the hotel in general, the atmosphere, the vibe,” she continues. “It’s funny with folks checking in with their kids and others are walking around with drinks, and local folks know now it has that vibe, but professionals, especially in the tech industry, are not used to that. It’s kind of a boutique hotel, but at the same time, it’s a Starwood.”

“Anytime you have a building that’s been restored or changed, you get to keep some of the history, so it’s not just a cookie-cutter hotel,” says Candace Barrow, director of operations for Nashville, Tennessee-based Safe Step Walk-In Tub Co. Barrow recently conducted a meeting for sales and call center managers to discuss a new product at the Renaissance Denver Downtown City Center Hotel, which was constructed in 1915 as the Colorado National Bank and now has 6,000 sf of meeting space.

In addition to small historical touches, the hotel has preserved key aspects of the original banking business. “One of my favorite parts was the history wall, with original letters about the architecture and some of the deals they made,” says Barrow. “It was interesting and unique and gave people something to talk about besides business. They also had the original bank clock, and the whole space was beautiful, just gorgeous. I really liked the architecture; the marble columns were still there, and three of the meeting spaces are actually bank vaults. We will definitely be going there again.”

Due to the incredibly unique setting, Kaitlyn Morrell, manager of volunteer services at Gresham, Oregon-based Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center, holds her annual volunteer recognition dinner for around 150 attendees in Blackberry Hall at Edgefield, which has served as the county poor farm, tuberculosis hospital, jail, insane asylum, and nursing home and rehabilitation center. “McMenamins (the parent company of Edgefield) is a favorite among Oregonians!” she says. They also operate a 1915 elementary school in northeast Portland, a 1939 Catholic schoolhouse in Bend, a 1922 Masonic Lodge in Forest Grove and a 1908 Old West saloon in Centralia as hotels.

“We were looking for a local venue large enough to host our group, but fit within our budget, and Edgefield is always the perfect choice,” Morrell explains. “We love the unique artwork and design of Edgefield. Additionally, Blackberry Hall is very versatile for setup, with several entrances, and you can set up the room in a variety of ways. With historic hotels, you have to evaluate the space first. Depending on the artwork, lighting and overall layout of the room, you might become inspired to think outside of the box when planning a conference, meeting or special event.”

Bringing the Outside In

Though many planners assume that historic spaces will be dark and cramped, historic commercial buildings that have been converted into hotels often provide the exact opposite atmosphere.

“It was so nice to be in a beautiful place that was open and airy,” says Patricia Alonzo, global manager of creative connection at New York City, NY-based global marketing and communications company Y&R, about her experience at Rocco Forte’s Hotel de Rome, the former Dresdner Bank built in 1889 in Berlin, Germany.

“It was nice to feel like you were outside and not stuck indoors. What tends to be the case with these meetings is that you’re in this nice city, but you feel like you’re locked in a dungeon. It messes with the flow and the overall ambience and the energy you want in the room. When you’re cooped up, you lose focus and all you’re thinking is: when is my next break, when can I step outside.”

The former Dresdner Bank has made a name for itself as a light-filled meeting space that brings the city in so that attendees feel like they get to see the city even when they are in sessions. The 3,000-sf ballroom was once the cashier’s hall and opens to the city with windows along the 30-foot-high ceilings and to the sky with a glass room. When the season permits, receptions on the rooftop terrace heighten the experience further.

“This hotel was chosen by our travel department for its great space and amazing location, and the grand ballroom was like the cherry on top,” says Alonzo. “It was super spacious, had everything we needed, and, even nicer, it has a glass ceiling, which is a huge, domed space. It was hands down the best meeting room I’ve had. It lent itself to everything: when sunny, it shined in bright and felt invigorating, and it was even nice to feel like the rain was falling on top of you. You felt like you were one with whatever nature was offering, and the space was super versatile and more than enough space to segment as we needed.

“What makes our group different is the fact that, coming from an agency and being an entire group of creative folks, there’s something really beautiful with attention to detail and the style of that era,” she continues. “It’s a source of inspiration. The older spaces tend to have more vertical spaces, which is beautiful as well depending on what you’re doing.”

Joelle Novak, project manager for Doylestown, Penn­sylvania-based Alamo Pharma Services, also found that natural light at the Hotel Monaco in Philadelphia, located in the landmark Lafayette Building built in 1907, a huge plus for her 50-person, four-night new product training meeting. “We used the larger ballroom on the first floor or downstairs, and I loved it because there are windows,” she said. “It gave it that little bit of something when you want natural light for conversations and role-playing. Everybody, as soon as they walked in, said, ‘Oh, this is the coolest hotel.’ ”

Looking Back to Look Forward

The repurposing of historic buildings into hotels has picked up in recent years, and we can expect this trend to continue.

For meeting planners, these renovations mean that an old building doesn’t  mean cramped meeting spaces and dark rooms, but rather a way to check off many of their most important venue criteria all in one neat, often centrally located and fascinating package. C&IT

At the Mirror Lake Inn Resort and Spa, the possibilities are endless — including an atypical setting for meetings.

For most meetings, a major flag hotel in a downtown setting in a good-sized city makes perfect sense. Among other things, such a selection brings convenience, familiarity and a range of nearby options that serve attendees well. But there are some meetings that, by definition, require a more remote, serene environment, such as executive retreats or small leadership conferences.

And for those events, there is often no better destination than spectacular lakeside resorts along one of America’s beautiful waterfronts, with a long list of enticing options spanning the country.

‘Remote and Laidback’

When Honeywell Industrial Safety looks for a venue for its four-day midyear sales and marketing conference held each July, office manager Judy Lewis prefers what she calls “a more relaxed atmosphere.”

This year, she chose the 271-room Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, Wisconsin. The locally owned, 130-year-old resort has a shoreline that spans two miles of Delavan Lake and features 32,000 sf of meeting space, an 18-hole championship golf course, a full-service Calladora Spa, and three onsite restaurants. Other amenities include a tennis court, lawn games and variety of water sports. Popular lakeside activities include yoga and volleyball.

In terms of R&R, Lake Lawn Resort fit the bill perfectly.

“For this particular meeting, which takes place in the summer, we always look for a hotel that is more remote and laidback,” Lewis says. Honeywell Industrial Safety wants a property “that is conducive to networking and getting to know each other. We also want a place where everything we need is on-property and our attendees stay on-property — not a hotel in downtown Chicago, where there are so many distractions,” adds Lewis.

Free time for attendees is built into the meeting agenda in order to foster rest and rejuvenation. “We always have our meeting sessions end early in the afternoon,” Lewis says. “Then we have dinner at 6:30, so people also have some free time in the evening to relax. On the second day, we did a teambuilding event at the hotel, right on the lakefront so people could relax and be together as a group. And that event included a kayak relay race on the lake.”

The hotel also built a lakeside bonfire every night. “Some attendees also participated in fishing off the pier, and others took boats out on the lake,” Lewis says. “There were also some people who came in a day early and played golf. We also have runners in our group and there’s a path along the lake that’s very nice. And you can also ride a bike along the path.”

For fun, Lewis hosted a casino night in a ballroom. “Everybody really enjoyed that,” she says.

She also staged an outside, lakeside dinner on the last night. “The hotel did a really nice job,” she says. “That was definitely one of the highlights of the meeting.”

After the meeting, Lake Lawn Resort generated very positive feedback from attendees. “Everybody really liked the hotel,” Lewis says. “They said this was our best meeting ever. So based on that feedback, we’ll definitely consider going back.”

The Lakes of New York

Jessica Tamburrini, CMP, is senior meeting planner at Victor, New York-based Constellation Brands Inc., whose prestigious wine and beer brands include Robert Mondavi, Kim Crawford and Corona. When she wants a venue that is nearby but removed from distractions, she opts for the 134-room Inn on the Lake Resort & Conference Center at Canandaigua Lake, one of New York state’s fabled Finger Lakes. For small groups of management executives, Inn on the Lake offers eight luxurious lakeside jacuzzi suites. The property features two dining options, The Shore Restaurant and The Sand Bar Lakeside Bar & Grille, as well as a lounge and fitness studio. A special amenity is a lakeside tent for special events, such as receptions or lakeside dinners.

Nearby offsite venues include the New York Wine & Culinary Center, Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack, and Bristol Mountain Ski Resort.

In recent years, Inn on the Lake has become a go-to venue for Constellation Brands. “I am just one of the meeting planners for the company that uses it,” Tamburrini says. “A number of our other planners also use it as a venue. I personally use it over the course of the year as many as a dozen times.”

Why is the hotel so popular?

In addition to meeting the precise requirements for a number of her smaller meetings, Tamburrini says, the old-school lakefront offers a unique and charming ambience. “It’s an inn rather than a hotel,” she says. “It has old wood finishes, for example. The rooms are very simple, but they’re very quaint.”

The fact that Inn on the Lake is a quaint, laidback resort in a fairly remote location is perceived as a clear benefit for a number of her meetings, Tamburrini says. “We want to keep people engaged in the meeting and have fewer distractions, so it’s very convenient to have everything we need right there at the inn and be located on a nice lake. It’s a self-contained environment, so there’s really no need to go offsite.”

“We want to keep people engaged in the meeting and have fewer distractions, so it’s very convenient to have everything we need right there at the inn and be located on a nice lake.” — Jessica Tamburrini

It also offers a serene setting with fresh air for attendees on their breaks. “You can take a walk on one of the paths around the lake,” Tamburrini says,  and relax and enjoy the scenery.”

Yet another benefit of Inn on the Lake — and a feature that Constellation Brands requires for all of its meetings — is that the hotel’s restaurants and bars stock the company’s brands, such as Mondavi wines and Corona beer.

For her most recent meeting, Tam­burrini used the nearby New York Wine & Culinary Center for a cooking-based teambuilding event led by a trained chef. For after-hours recreation, she bought out the upper deck of the  Canandaigua Lady for a dinner cruise on the lake.

“Another unique aspect of the Inn on the Lake is a great outdoor bar/restaurant area that generates a lot of buzz for happy hour,” Tamburrini says. “They also have a beautiful tent right on the lake that holds about 250 people. So we used the tent for some nice evening dinners, which we have done before.” The tent is perfect for refreshing lakeside receptions, she adds.

All in all, she says, Inn on the Lake offers the perfect mix of amenities for a relaxing, enjoyable meeting.

Another prized lakefront resort location in New York state is Lake Placid, site of the 1980 Winter Olympics. A meeting planner, who wishes to remain anonymous, selected for her executive retreat the Mirror Lake Inn Resort and Spa. The locally owned property on Mirror Lake features three dining establishments: The AAA Four Diamond The View Restaurant; the casual Taste Bistro and Bar and the indoor/outdoor pub at the Cottage Café. Each afternoon, the hotel offers afternoon tea and chocolate chip cookies. It also features a world-class spa and salon.

Like the other planners we interviewed for this article, the planner chose a remote, quiet venue for her meetings because of their high-end nature and need for relaxation, since her attendees often work in a high-stress environment. Many of the 131 units spread among three buildings and seven acres feature stunning views of the lake. In addition, guests can enjoy the resort’s private beach or cruise on Mirror Lake in style using one of the boats that the resort provides on a complimentary basis.

‘A Spectacular Place’

Every year for the last eight years, Kimberly Egelhoff, meeting planner for Abercrombie & Fitch in New Albany, Ohio, has used the Basin Harbor Club on Lake Champlain in Vergennes, Vermont for one of the company’s most important meetings — its annual three-day retreat each October for about 300 regional and district managers from all over the world, with about 30 percent of attendees arriving from outside the U.S.

Set on 700 acres, the 128-year-old, family-owned Basin Harbor Club, which is open seasonally from early May through late October, features four guest houses and lodges, as well as 77 individual cottages that dot the scenic shoreline. The resort includes an 18-hole golf course, clay and Har Tru tennis courts, a fitness center, four restaurants, water sports and nature trails. It also boasts a Wine Spectator Award-winning wine list.

Like the other planners, Egelhoff says a major reason for her use of the property is its peace and quiet.

“There are actually a lot of reasons why we like it so much,” Egelhoff says. “But one major one is logistical. We can take over the entire resort, which we do. And we can do anything on-property that we want. They are very accommodating. And no matter what kind of crazy thing we come up with to do, they accommodate us every year and make it happen.”

For example, as a teambuilding exercise, Egelhoff’s attendees have built soap box derby cars and raced them down a nearby hill. She also has staged a resort-wide scavenger hunt based on the TV show “The American Race.”

Boating on the lake is a particularly popular free-time activity. A number of attendees also manage to get in a round of golf.

The R&R aspect of the meeting in a secluded, relaxing location is very important to attendees, Egelhoff says, because immediately after the meeting comes the holiday season, the busiest and most stressful time of the year for attendees.

“They could not love the place more, because they really get away from everything right before a very stressful time,” Egelhoff says. “It also gives them a chance to be with their peers and relax and just enjoy how beautiful the place is, especially at that time of year.”

As a planner, Egelhoff also raves about the service she gets every year from Basin Harbor Club.

“In addition to the location, the people at the venue are the most important part of any event,” she says. “And the staff at Basin Harbor Club are the best, bar none. And that’s true of both the owners and the staff. I absolutely love them.”

In fact, the property is so spectacular that attendees often go back on their own. “We’ve even had people get married there,” Egelhoff says. “It’s just a gorgeous property that holds a special place in our hearts. It’s just an ideal setting for a meeting.”

‘A Well-Kept Secret’

For 25 years, Dallas, Texas-based Marvin F. Poer Company, a privately held property tax consulting firm, has been holding its most important annual meeting, a conference for its senior management and top salespeople from 14 U.S. offices that draws about four dozen attendees, in a resort setting. One reason: a golf tournament that has become a much-anticipated tradition.

For the company’s most recent meeting, Anne Lucas, executive assistant to the CEO, chose the AAA Four Diamond, 405-room Resort at Squaw Creek, located near Squaw Valley. The  resort, operated by highly respected Destination Hotels & Resorts, features a golf course, tennis courts and spa.

“In the past, we have been to the south (shore) of Lake Tahoe and stayed at Harrah’s,” Lucas says. “So we wanted to go back to Lake Tahoe. Everyone loves the location. But nobody knew about the north shore. It’s a well-kept secret.”

The North Lake Tahoe CVB assisted Lucas in finding the property. “We worked with a gentleman named Jason Neary, and he did a great job for us,” she says.

The site selection is especially important to this particular meeting, Lucas says. “One reason is that the average tenure with the company of attendees is probably 25+ years. And they are all of our senior leaders from around the country. The meeting only takes place once a year and part of it is a sort of reward. It’s also the only time of year where everyone gets together. It also includes our golf tournament and awards banquet, which are very significant events for us. So when we take all of that into account, we just want to do it in a very nice place.”

At Resort at Squaw Creek, about 30 of the 48 attendees played in the opening day golf tournament. Others went to the spa or just relaxed in the refreshing mountain setting.

A highlight of the meeting was a lakeside dinner at Garwood’s, an upscale restaurant serving a mixed menu of contemporary cuisine. It features a private dining room. “It’s known for its spectacular setting,” Lucas says. “You can watch the sun set over the lake. And we also chartered a boat for an hour-long cruise before dinner.” Garwood’s also catered the food for the cruise. We just had a great evening,” Lucas says.

The awards banquet, hosted at the hotel, was another highlight of the meeting.

Both Lucas and her attendees gave the Resort at Squaw Creek top marks for its performance.

“We do a post-conference survey on every aspect of the meeting,” Lucas says. “And the comments we got on Resort at Squaw Creek included things like ‘The accommodations and food were excellent,’ ‘Golf was superb,’ and ‘This was the best annual meeting I’ve been to in years with the firm — excellent choice.’ ”

Lucas’ positive feedback echoes the sentiments of most attendees who have had the opportunity to retreat to serene lakeside resorts for a healthy dose of renewal and reinvigoration. C&IT

The 11th hole at the River Course at Blackwolf Run, Kohler, Wisconsin, one of the two award-winning golf destinations associated with The American Club.

When a planner looks to stage an engaging recreational activity for internal meeting attendees, he or she can be in the more advantageous position of knowing specifically what would appeal to the group, through personal acquaintance with many participants and the corporate culture. But when the attendees are external to the company, such as clients, vendors or sponsors, it is typically best to look for an activity that has broad appeal, and in corporate America, golf has always been that “safe bet.” A tournament, as opposed to a casual outing, can make the time on the greens even more alluring with the prospect of prizes, or at least bragging rights. It’s a more intense, competitive experience that often serves as a meeting’s recreational highlight.

A Real Draw

The first step is to select a resort that is not only a capable tournament host, but a real draw for the external audience. Golfers will often look to play an exceptional course, and any non-golfers in the group will want a good selection of free-time options, whether spa, tennis or fine dining. Katie Malone, senior director of marketing for the Greater DC Region of Brookfield, one of the country’s largest commercial real estate companies, found such a destination in Kiawah Island Golf Resort, located on a barrier island a few miles from Charleston, South Carolina. Brookfield’s annual corporate client event draws about 65 attendees, nearly all of whom participate in the tournament. Having teed-off at renowned courses such as Whistling Straits and Pebble Beach Resorts, attendees would not be impressed with just any course, but “they love golfing at Kiawah, and they particularly love the Ocean Course because the scenery is hard to beat,” Malone observes.

One of only four courses to have hosted each major PGA championship, the Ocean Course boasts more seaside holes than any other course in the Northern Hemisphere, with 10 right along the Atlantic. “I look at what our resort options are every year, and I pick a few that I think would fit our clientele and the way we’re trying to entertain them,” Malone explains, “and (Kiawah Island) definitely fit the bill.”

Great Golf Courses

Course quality and status are naturally criteria for the Golf Channel Amateur Tour (GCAT), which features one-day tournaments for members (currently totaling about 7,000). “A named course or resort with prestige certainly has a better chance of doing well (in terms of drawing attendance),” says Frederick (Drake) Schunck, regional director of GCAT events. Part of the tour’s “selling point” is the many “great golf courses that we can get players on, such as La Cantera, Pinehurst, Homestead or Barton Creek,” Schunck says. A second aspect is to ensure the course is in top condition, and Schunck suggests relaying that desire to the resort. “The communication between the host golf course and the meeting planner or tournament coordinator is probably the most important thing. The local pro or director of golf helps make sure the course is in good shape,” he says. “That to me is what players really enjoy. It’s paramount to people having a really good time.”

This summer, the GCAT was held at La Cantera Hill Country Resort, in San Antonio, Texas, where players teed-off on the world-class Resort Course, a PGA Tour stop for 15 years. La Cantera is also home to the 18-hole Palmer Course, designed by the legendary Arnold Palmer.

Also key to GCAT participants having a good time is that they play their own ball all the way through. Participants compete in flights composed of players within about four handicap points of each other. Overall, they vary widely in experience level, from 20-plus handicap to 10-plus handicap to scratch golfers (those whose average score for a round is par or better). Nonetheless, a scramble format is eschewed in favor of individual stroke play. “That’s very unique when it comes to tours of this level,” Schunck says. “If you’re a mid-90s shooter you don’t expect to be counting every single stroke.” But the idea is to approximate a PGA tour experience. “We announce everybody on the first tee. They exchange scorecards, just like you would do at a PGA tour event. They go out in threesomes, and they’re battling it out to see if a guy who’s a 20 handicapper can perhaps shoot a 95.”

An advantage to individual stroke play, one that corporate planners might well consider, is that players get a feeling of personally facing the challenges of a renowned course. “We find that if somebody’s going to play a really nice or prestigious course like Pinehurst No. 2, they like to play their own ball,” Schunck explains. Corporate golf events are typically about building camaraderie, and that can certainly arise with a scramble where everyone places his or her ball where the best ball is. “Our event’s a little different because we think of those scramble events as outings; ours we consider tournaments.” Individual stroke play can of course make the pace of play slower than a meeting schedule can accommodate. Thus, some groups opt for a modified scramble (or shamble), where each player hits a tee shot, the best one is selected, and the hole is played out from that position individually. The best of the four scores is kept.

Face Time on the Green

Participants of a charity golf tournament held by Fort Worth, Texas-based Range Resources play a shorter version of a scramble due to the number of golfers: 144 on each course at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. Mystic Rock is a PGA Tour tested, par 72 course high atop the Pennsylvania Alleghenies, and The Links is a par 70 course with views of Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands. Customers and vendors of oil and gas company Range Resource Appalachia have participated in the tournament at Nemacolin for five years in a row, and well more than 100 participate in clay shooting at the same event, notes Merilee Domanick, executive assistant with Range Resources, who plans the event. Attendees are grouped into two foursomes on each hole, creating a convivial atmosphere. “The vendors want to network with our people,” says Domanick. “They bring three people with them, and they pay for a fourth person from our company to play with them; they put on the registration form who they would like to golf with,” she explains. “And we do our best to match them with that person. So let’s say someone who does production gas marketing wants to golf with someone from production gas marketing here; he’ll put that name on the registration form. Oftentimes they’ve already talked to each other and they want to golf with that person, and we match them up if at all possible. If not, we at least try to match them up with someone from the department they’re doing business with.”

“With five hours on a golf course, you get to know someone pretty well,” remarks Malone. “We bring clients and Brookfield colleagues from all over the country, and you’re not always able to see them (in person), so it’s a great time to form those relationships and continue them. We have at least one Brookfield person in each foursome so they can get time with their clients.”

Similarly, the Green Bay Packers place one current or alumni player in each foursome at the annual Golf Invitational for the team’s corporate sponsors, creating a five-person scramble. “We try to mix it up so the same group isn’t getting the same player every year,” explains Tammi Schroeder, the Packers’ partnership services coordinator. The event has been hosted for 12 years at Blackwolf Run, a 36-hole, Pete Dye-designed golf complex in Kohler, Wisconsin. “We have two premier players every year at the golf outing, and each of those premier players receives a donation to a charity of their choice,” says Schroeder. “We have registration at 8 a.m., and we do a VIP autograph session with the two premier players for all of our clients who are golfing, so each person can come through with an item to get autographed. And Goodwill, who is our presenting nonprofit sponsor, also receives a donation toward their nonprofit.”

Branding Opportunities

Branding has always been integral to corporate golf tournaments, and the Green Bay Packers Golf Invitational features the event logo at each hole along with sponsor branding, e.g., “this hole presented by American Family Insurance.” The leaderboard presents another branding opportunity.

At Mystic Rock, “they have a huge leaderboard because this is a championship golf course,” notes Domanick, “and we bring a very large banner and they hang it up for us on the leaderboard. We offer our registrants the opportunity to get their name up on the leaderboard if they’re one of the first eight to get their registrations in. So we have eight companies that get their name up there, and they like that.”

Gift branding is yet another option. Kiawah Island Golf Resort is “more than willing to co-brand any item I want to purchase,” Malone says. “The Kiawah logo or Ocean Course logo would be in one place, and our Brookfield logo in another place, whether it’s a hat, shirt, sweater or accessory.”

Brookfield de-emphasizes the competitive aspect to tournament play by not keeping score or offering skills contests with prizes. “What happens on the course stays on the course,” Malone quips. “It’s not your traditional tournament. We just want them to have fun.”

Yet this approach is also founded in an understanding of what motivates participants. “They really just want to play the course,” she says. “And when you implement some of those (competitive elements like scoring and prizes) it might be a little distracting for them. To be out there on a beautiful, challenging course is their enjoyment.”

In contrast, the Green Bay Packers Golf Invitational is steeped in the competitive environment of professional sports and includes numerous skills contests, offering raffle prizes for the two longest putts and two longest drive holes, a closest to the pin, and a “beat the pro” contest.

Lasting Memories

At the end of the day, planners want a golf tournament to be a memorable experience, and scores and prizes tend to create that experience only for the winning players and teams. A simple way to promote lasting memories for all players is through photography. Since the opportunity to tee off with a Packers player is one of the main attractions of the Invitational, the commemorative photography highlights that aspect. “We have a photographer that goes around and takes photos of each foursome with their current or alumni player,” Schroeder says. “We get those done as soon as we can and then go get them printed right away and put it in a photo frame. Prior to the players going out, each Packers player will sign four frames. So whatever foursome they join, we put that photo in the frame, and the participants get that as a keepsake.”

“Each Packers player will sign four frames. So whatever foursome they join, we put that photo in the frame, and the participants get that as a keepsake.” — Tammi Schroeder

The Range Resources tournament is complemented by more extensive photography. “We take pictures all day, put them into a PowerPoint presentation that we run at dinner,” where the prizewinners are also announced, Domanick explains. Just like all aspects of a tournament, the approach to keepsake photography is tweaked over the years. “Two years ago I had a photographer come in to take shots of each foursome and frame them. And I found that some participants liked it and some didn’t; some didn’t even pick up their pictures,” she relates. “So we stopped doing that and instead started putting their pictures on slides and downloading all the PowerPoints onto flash drives. And then as soon as we get clear on the money that we’ve raised for charity, I have thank-you letters sent out to each company, giving them receipts of what they spent for tax purposes, and I include the flash drive with all the pictures. They love it because they get to see their friends and random shots throughout the day of them taking swings and putting.”

When tournament participants are external to the host company, it is often especially important to impress them with a great experience. A top-level course, a tournament format suited to their skills and preferences, branded gifts and event photography all factor into creating that experience.

But there is a much more fundamental factor that determines the quality of the time on the greens, Malone suggests. “I think the key to having a successful golf tournament is to have golfers. I know that sounds odd, but when you have people who play sporadically, they don’t enjoy it as much. And when someone’s not enjoying it, it can make it a little frustrating for that player and those around them. But when everyone plays golf and enjoys it, and you give them a good course, they’re in heaven. It makes an impression that lasts a long time.”

Malone’s observation is an astute one from the perspective of ROI: Staging a tournament is an investment of money and time, particularly if done properly on an upscale course. And if attendees are not that serious about the sport, it’s best to think twice about whether to make that investment. There is no doubt that golf will appeal to a wide swath of attendees, but an elaborate tournament should arguably be reserved for groups who, like Brookfield’s clients, are true aficionados. C&IT

A wine-tasting experience at Sunriver Resort in Oregon.

Denice Waldhuetter, vice president of PEC Meetings Company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, never underestimates the power of keeping attendees well fed. “Food and beverage is such an engaging entity of every occasion,” she notes. “(We’re always asking) How can we make it unique? How can we make it different?”

One way her company makes meal functions stand out is by creating a series of interactive food and beverage stations where attendees can observe their meals being prepared, choose their seasonings and do a little sampling to help them decide what they would like to eat. She also says that placing food stations in strategic locations on an exhibit floor can help move traffic through the show floor. “They’ll head for the food,” she explains. “It is definitively the driver.”

Waldhuetter describes another interactive element her company is using. “We are doing a coffee station where we’re having a barista at the station. We can’t have a barista preparing every single cup of coffee, but they’re there engaging people. They’re talking about where the beans are from and how they’re roasted, and people are absolutely loving it.”

She’s also seeing a trend toward chefs making themselves available to interact with guests. She says the chefs may engage the customers by leading them to one of the food and beverage stations and describing how the dish is being prepared. “People love having the ability to speak one-on-one with the chef.”

“People love having the ability to speak one-on-one with the chef.” — Denice Waldhuetter

Waldhuetter says that groups are moving away from having formal sit-down dinners unless there’s a specific reason for it, such as a presentation by a keynote speaker. She notes that this is especially true when a goal of the event is networking. In that case, having a series of food stations makes it easier for attendees to interact.

As the foodie trend has taken off with the proliferation of celebrity chefs and popular television cooking shows, attendees have become savvier and more health-conscious than ever before.

Travis Taylor, executive chef at Sunriver Resort, A Destination Hotel in Sunriver, Oregon, explains. “We’re seeing group requests focus on dishes made from healthy foods that cater to a range of dietary needs. (We’re offering) more diversity, more options on a buffet, more snack-throughout-the-day options vs. a 30-minute lunch window. We’re also seeing groups putting food selection vs. price as the primary driver of their menu planning. In years past, groups were very price sensitive and would care less about the food they were offering than the price. Today, that’s changed, and we see meeting planners and group heads selecting a menu based on diversity and their groups’ dietary needs.”

Thinking Outside (the Meeting Room) Box

Andrea Strauss, president of Classic Conferences in Hackensack, New Jersey, came up with a creative setting for an opening night food and beverage reception she planned for a pharmaceutical company’s national sales meeting in February. The event had 1,800 attendees and was held at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel in Orlando. The group bought out the 758-room Swan as well as two-thirds of its sister property, the 1,509-room Dolphin.

Strauss worked with the hotel to have her event on the causeway that runs between both properties. “The property is really big, and I felt that it was a great way of tying both properties together so they’re treated as one property,” she says. She wanted to hold the event outdoors since the attendees would be spending their days indoors in meetings. “The hotel was great in working with me on this,” she added, noting that not all properties would have been up to the challenge of bringing in the power, lighting and other elements that would be required to host the event. The theme she chose was a wine and art festival, and since the group was so large, they also arranged to use the Lakeside Terrace at the Swan for additional seating.

She notes, “This was not an inexpensive evening, but it was so worth it. I basically had one big, clean canvas, and that’s what I had to work with, so I had to bring everything in. We had all kinds of food stations and highboy tables, and the food and the wine was indigenous to Florida. It was really nice.” She also booked a variety of “walk-around entertainers,” including musicians, caricature artists, palm readers and a stilt-walker. Strauss did another event for the group at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which she said was fantastic, but with the causeway party, she was able to avoid the cost of arranging ground transportation.

Proof of the success of the causeway party came on the group’s evaluation forms. “It was the highlight of the trip,” Strauss notes. “I honestly thought it would be Hollywood Studios, and it wasn’t. That’s a really big endorsement. I think they should do them more often.”

The Local Focus

Waldhuetter says that the farm-to-table (also known as farm-to-fork) concept continues to be popular at food and beverage events. “I don’t think it’s anything new, but it’s trending in an upward way. People love to know that their food items at a specific location have been grown and prepared locally. They like to learn a little bit more about these artisans that have prepared these foods, and it just makes it a much more engaging experience.”

“It has been taken to a new level,” explains Rick Shell, executive chef at Suncadia, A Destination Hotel in Cle Elum, Washington. “Today, many of our conference diners are travelers and desire and demand local ingredients. Staying true to local growing seasons goes a long way with ensuring menu continuity. If possible, onsite gardens, no matter how small or large, add a strong presence to ensure that food practices and quality are adhered to. Having your fingers in the dirt gives you more respect for the product that you work with, and in return, gives the guest a great dining experience and memory.”

Josh Berry, executive chef at Stowe Mountain Lodge, A Destination Hotel in Stowe, Vermont, puts a unique twist on locally sourced foods. “Here at Stowe Mountain Lodge, we are experimenting and seeing success with ‘globally local’ menu items. Guests come to Stowe Mountain Lodge to experience the best in Vermont cuisine. We provide a unique dining experience by using products from Vermont purveyors and farmers, but then making them interesting with the addition of an exotic, far-away spice blend.”

He shared an example. “I love seasoning New England venison with Ras el hanout, a Moroccan spice blend. The warming spices in the Ras el hanout (cinnamon, clove, cardamom, ginger, mace) foil the gamey flavor of the venison, and it works perfect! (We do) the same for our local cheese displays with our groups. We also grind fennel into our mustards for that little something special. Star anise is blended into our fruit chutney, or Italian white truffle is added to Vermont Mac & Cheese. This is not the fusion cuisine of the ’90s; this is the enhanced local cuisine of our times.”

The Balancing Act

While the trend is toward offering more healthful menu choices at meetings, not all attendees are on board with that idea. “Our company has found that we do have to offer healthier items,” Waldhuetter notes, “but on our evaluations, people are still going to complain if they don’t have their bacon-wrapped water chestnuts. We certainly want to meet all the needs of our attendees, and one of the things we’re looking at, too, with the less healthy options, particularly on breakfast buffets, is that we’re requesting that the hotels cut the doughnuts and pastries in half. Individuals that are more health conscious, but don’t necessarily want to cut out a nice jelly-filled doughnut, can have an option of tasting it or having a little morsel of it.”

Tom Garcia is vice president and general manager of Eaglewood Resort & Spa in Itasca, Illinois, an IACC-certified conference center that is part of the Benchmark Hotels & Resorts portfolio. “The experience that we try to create is unique, creative, memorable and thoughtful,” he says, adding that for coffee breaks, for example, they are using fewer processed or prepackaged foods. We’re putting things out that are warm from the oven that are good for you, that are creative, such as vegetables that are grilled. We’re doing fun pizzas with beet crusts, or tamale crust pizza. We’re trying to give our guests a little bit more excitement when they come to the break.” His team is now developing a concept for fruit sushi to be served at breaks. “Instead of it being fish in the sushi, we’re going to put things like papaya or kiwi for color, or maybe banana. They’ll be wrapped up in our seaweed and laid out just like sushi, and we’ll maybe add a strawberry coulis or some type of coulis that will add the flavor so that it not only looks good to your eyes but you feel good about eating it.

“What we try to do is that thoughtfulness, like the superfoods or the antioxidants. We try to make sure the proteins are there and the healthy fats. There’s a lot of labeling that we do here. We want to be very transparent to our guests and keep up with healthy trends. We want foods that are healthful and high in flavor. For locally sourced, sustainable food, we try to bring the story to the table: ‘This is our region. It’s a local item. Here’s how we’re preparing it.’ ” He noted that in the future, Eaglewood would like to take this transparency a step further by labeling items with their nutritional content.

While offering healthful choices is undeniably important, Garcia also acknowledges that some groups still want their sweet treats. “We still have fun stuff. If somebody says ‘We’ve really got to have M&Ms or we really need to have some gummy bears,’ I tell our chef, ‘Just make it small.’ They’re still there, just not in large containers.”

Addressing Special Requests

Waldhuetter says that there is a growing need to address food allergies. “It is definitely something we have to pay attention to every day now. There were always food allergies, but this has really escalated in the last three to four years.” She says that her company learned how to handle this issue the hard way. When they were working on a convention for 3,000+ attendees, the registration form asked attendees if they had any food allergies. What PEC got back, instead, was a list of every food item the attendees didn’t want to eat. “So what we do now is when we’re asking for a food allergy, we term it better.” They now ask attendees if they have a doctor-diagnosed food allergy and list the top five, such as peanuts, lactose, gluten, etc.

They also ask attendees if they want a vegetarian option. “Otherwise, we will be inundated at the time of the event,” she describes. “If we’re going to do a food buffet or do passed hors d’oeuvres or a food station, we are going to have meatless options.” As for any attendees who may have any other special dietary requests, it is up to them to make their needs known.

In response to the high demand for gluten-free menus, PEC recently did a buffet that was all gluten-free. She said that it spared the expense of having to prepare two versions of each dish, and they were able to do it without compromising the quality of the food.

As Shell explains, “With today’s busy lifestyles and work schedules, food preferences, diets and food allergies must be on the forefront of menu writing and development. We pay attention to these diets and dining habits when writing our culinary menus. We also take it a step further…by creating special dietary and allergy menus for our guests to order from. This creates a sense of respect and confidence for guests in their dining requests and shows that we are comfortable and equipped to handle such requests.”

Keeping It Fresh

Garcia stresses the importance of keeping menus fresh and exciting for the benefit of repeat guests. “We’ve got about a 60 percent return rate on our guests that come back. They want to see new things. You have to keep thinking of the next thing.

“Our key is really putting thought into the food and giving creativity back to the chef. My chefs study. We read a lot of literature. We attend shows. This year, we’re doing the James Beard in December. In our company (Benchmark), we’ve created what’s called the Culinary Council. It’s a group of five chefs that brainstorm.” He explains that the chefs come from different regions of the U.S., so they represent different types of cuisine. “(We tell them) ‘Let’s see how we can put all of this together and share it with our other properties throughout our portfolio.’ ”

I’ll Drink to That!

Trends in cocktail receptions also change with the times. Waldhuetter likes to make cocktail receptions interactive and engaging by creating a specialty drink that is indigenous to the area where the meeting is being held. “For instance, if we were in Arizona, we might do something with cactus juice. In Wisconsin, we’re known for what’s called an Old Fashioned. We also create ‘sippers’ — they’re just in a smaller glass. It’s more of a taste, and if they enjoy that type of cocktail, they can have the bartender make them one.” She adds that it’s a good way to reduce waste because attendees won’t get a full-sized drink unless they really want one.

Waldhuetter notes another trend that ties in with the popularity of locally sourced products. “Another thing we’re doing is highlighting a local distillery. There seems to be more and more distilleries and craft beers, of course, that are popping up. So we will oftentimes have the brewer or the distiller on hand who will be doing a tasting also talk to them about the process of distilling. However, we are finding that in more and more states that you can’t free pour the liquor. You’ve got to mix it with something.” She adds that she has done this at offsite venues, but that it would be up to the hotel as to whether they would allow a vendor to bring outside liquor in. “It depends on the depth of the contract.”

Waldhuetter also notes that martini luges (ice sculptures used for dispensing drinks) also are trending back. “We do a lot more lately with hyping the brand of the company (sponsoring the event). What we are also doing tons of now is an ice beer wall. It could be any dimension, but it’s carved, but in sections that are put together, and the beer goes into holes. People can self serve, pull the ice cold beer out of this bar, and there you go, once again engaging them. It’s such a unique way to bring people together.”

She explains that there’s a side benefit to using a company-branded martini luge or ice beer wall: People love to post photos of it on social media. “You can even have an interactive occasion through Instagram where people upload their picture of them at the ice beer wall with their beer bottle and everybody that participates can be put into a raffle to win a prize. It gets the company name out there in this particular city at this particular venue. It ties into the branding.”

Food and Beverage Minimums

Waldhuetter also is passionate about protecting her clients’ bottom lines by paying particular attention to how the hotel’s contract terms for food and beverage minimums are handled. She explains, “Many hotel contracts have a food and beverage (F&B) clause that requires a group to generate a minimum amount of food and beverage revenue through the course of the meeting. The food and beverage clause goes on to state that if the minimum amount of revenue is not generated, the group is responsible for making up the difference. The food and beverage clause will require the shortfall plus the tax.”

She advises how to handle this clause. “Do not agree to a contract that requires monetary damages based upon lost revenue. In the case of a breach, food and beverage damages should be based upon lost profit. If a group signs a contract with a $50,000 minimum, but only realizes $40,000, the hotel has lost the benefit of the $50,000. However, it does not make sense to pay for the full amount of $10,000 (difference between the minimum and the actualized expenditures). Despite the shortfall, the hotel never had to order the food, pay any staff to prepare it, or serve it.

“Calculations for damages should be based upon the amount the hotel did not realize minus any expenses that would have been incurred if the minimum had been met,” she continues. “A large number of hotels agree that 35 percent is the profit margin on food and beverage. Therefore, a group should only agree to pay 35 percent of the shortfall.”

The Taste of Success

The food choices offered can have a significant impact on an attendee’s satisfaction level with an event. “There is no doubt that our conference diner is a much more savvy and food-educated individual,” Shell notes. As Garcia explains, “We want them to leave feeling good about everything that happened (while they were here), including the food and beverage experience. He adds that the concept of people gathering together to share a meaningful dining experience dates back for years, if not centuries. “It’s called breaking bread.”  C&IT