Identifying best practices,opportunities and barriers in meeting planning for Generation Y

The purpose of this study is to identify best practices, opportunities and barriers when planning virtual and hybrid meetings for a Generation Y audience (1979–2000). Using a modified Delphi technique, an expert panel of meeting professionals completed four rounds of the Delphi to determine group common consent. The panel of experts who participated had planned traditional, virtual and hybrid meetings for associations, corporations and/or government groups. Resulting recommendations for best practices for virtual meetings included offering shorter sessions to remote participants and providing easy to use technology; opportunities included gamification and interactive components; and barriers included perception of effectiveness and attendees preoccupation with technology. For hybrid meetings, best practices included adding social networking components, and providing positive feedback to participants; opportunities included incorporating interactive components and including challenging but solvable games; and barriers included perception of fun and keeping material challenging enough.     

Virtual and Hybrid Meetings for Generation X: Using the Delphi Method to Determine Best Practices,Opportunities, and Barriers

This study identifies best practices, opportunities, and barriers for marketing and planning virtual and hybrid meetings for Generation X (36 to 49 years old) within the United States. Utilizing a modified Delphi method, a meeting professional panel contributed to four rounds of the Delphi to determine group consent. For virtual meetings, best practice recommendations included having planners collaborate with meeting content designers, including interactive experiences, and including interaction with live experts. For hybrid meetings, best practices identified included real world examples, providing easy to use and convenient technology, and having planners collaborate with meeting content designers. Opportunities and barriers for virtual and hybrid meetings were also identified     

Meeting Planners' Use of the Internet to Plan Group Meetings

Abstract

Despite the fact that hospitality web sites are proliferating and opportunities to complete sales transactions via the Internet increase daily, no research exists on meeting planners' use of the Internet to plan group meetings. Guided by Hoffman and Novak's (1994) Model of Planned Behavior this study focused on determining what variables are related to a meeting planners' intent to use and current use of the Internet to plan group meetings. Three hundred sixty-two planners of the Chicago Chapter of Meeting Professionals International were surveyed via a faxed instrument. Planners' attitudes, beliefs about norms, and perceived behavioral control were found to be significantly related to their usage of the Internet. Additionally, results confirmed that meeting planners view the Internet as having positive qualities and benefits in planning group meetings and that it is a cost effective planning tool.     

An Analysis of Cruise Ship Meetings

Abstract

Cruise ships have become one of the many options for corporate meeting planners when faced with a decision regarding a destination for meetings and incentives (employee rewards). In the past five years, all major cruise lines have unveiled mega cruise ships to attract a piece of the more than $20 billion corporate meeting and incentives market (Buia, 2001). But how much interest really exists among the meeting planners in holding their meetings aboard cruise ships? Are cruise ship meetings really comparable to meetings planned in land based meeting facilities? This paper explores the meeting planners' perceptions and interests in cruise ship meetings.     

Understanding the Role of Local Food in the Meeting Industry: An Exploratory Study of Meeting Planners' Perception of Local Food in Sustainable Meeting Planning

The growth in socially conscious and sustainable business models has fueled the promotion of green meetings. This fact-finding article explores the viability of sourcing local food to the meeting industry through an investigation of current meeting planning priorities and sustainability values. The results show that there is a viable demand by meeting planners for locally sourced food, that meeting planners have the contractual flexibility on food selection, and that there is a willingness to pay a price-premium for local products. However, an increase in the knowledge of the benefits for both meeting planners and meeting/event attendees is needed to encourage the use of local foods.     

An examination of green intention: the effect of environmental knowledge and educational experiences on meeting planners’ implementation of green meeting practices

Environmental sustainability has become an important concern in staging meetings and events. This paper introduces the Convention Industry Council's Green Meetings Report and goes on to investigate whether prior knowledge and educational experiences related to environmental sustainability are influential factors in planners’ commitment to engaging in ecologically friendly behavior. Using a nine-point questionnaire, 278 delegates at North America's largest one-day event for meeting planners were sampled. Regression analysis showed that the intention to implement green meeting practices is positively influenced by both prior knowledge of and educational experience with greening practices. In particular, educational experiences were found to be a strong influential factor contributing to meeting planners’ intention to implement green meeting practices. By providing operational definitions of knowledge and education, it proves that knowledge gained by an unstructured format was less effective than the impact of education on green intention. Accordingly, this study not only highlights academic discussions on environmental knowledge-building through formal education but also derives managerial implications for the meeting and event industry by outlining ways to incorporate continuing professional education in sustainable meetings and events. A range of ideas for the content of that professional education is presented, along with the possibilities for e-learning.     

Characteristics of a Meeting Planner

ABSTRACT

This is an exploratory research project about meeting planning professionals. Survey responses were collected from 288 meeting professionals in an Internet based survey. The results found a significant difference in perception of minority representation in the industry. The study also found that career counselors are not making students in high school or college aware of meeting planning as a profession, so therefore, they are not studying it in college. People instead are finding out about it in nontraditional ways, such as learning on the job, friends and co-workers. As a result, top skills listed that are needed to succeed included personality or character traits rather than skills that could be learned.     

Meeting Planners’ Competency,Motivation, and Benefits: The Case of Korea

The role of meeting planners is essential to the successful completion of a meeting. Their involvement includes coordinating every detail of a meeting, such as budgeting, solicitation of sponsorship, preparation of request for proposals, reservation of facilities or services, translation, and interpretation. Despite meeting planners’ significance, no real effort has been made to identify their competencies, motivations, and benefits. In this study, six competency, four motivation, and two benefit domains were identified. The most important competency domain was the “ability to understand social trends and good manners,” whereas the “ability to perform foreign languages” domain was a relatively low-importance competency. Regarding the benefits, the respondents showed appreciation for opportunities to globalize and gain social recognition by becoming a meeting planner. Compared with the female respondents, the male respondents believed that they had a higher level of evaluative knowledge regarding current competency and specialized expertise.     

The Relationships of Meeting Planners' Profiles with Usage and Attitudes Toward the Use of Technology

Abstract

This study had four objectives: to obtain a personal and professional profile of meeting planners and their computer/Internet usage; to determine meeting planners' attitudes toward computer/Internet technologies; to analyze the relationships of meeting planner personal and professional profiles and the computer/Internet usage on attitudes toward computer/Internet technologies; and to determine if there was a relationship between professional certifications and meeting planners' attitudes. A mailed survey was sent to a sample of members of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and 616 completed questionnaires were received. In the data analysis, the independent variables were divided into the three sets of profiles: socio-demographic, professional, and computer/Internet usage. It was found that meeting planners in the U.S. are mostly young (30 to 44 years old) females in corporate planning who earn between $45,000 and $49,999. They have been working in their positions from 3 to 5 years, plan more than 20 meetings in a year and dedicate 90 to 119 minutes a day to e-mail correspondence. The results revealed that meeting planners are not comfortable with scheduling virtual meetings, even though they are young and were born within the computer age. Although technology is a vital part of their daily lives, this study has found that meeting planners have considerable room to improve their technological knowledge.     

The Great Halls of China? Meeting Planners’ Perceptions of Beijing as an International Convention Destination

This research focused on meeting planners’ perceptions about selecting Beijing as an international convention destination. Twenty-three convention destination site selection criteria organized into five categories were identified. It was found that, with respect to Beijing, the importance of site selection criteria has changed since the late 1990s, with meeting planners now attaching more weight to the quality of convention services, quality of convention planning assistance, and city image. The meeting planners who had previously held international conventions in Beijing attached greater importance to research and development cooperation opportunities and choice of accommodations than those who had not. They rated Beijing's performance lower on the convenience of the application process (required by Chinese governments) and government support. It was concluded that Beijing needs to improve most on the quality of convention services and convention planning assistance, and by relaxing government policies related to the holding of international conventions.     

Monitoring and evaluation practices of volunteer tourism organisations

Monitoring and evaluation are tools that can facilitate sustainable and responsible tourism planning and management in organisations through encouraging good practice and the continuous improvement of programmes. However, to date, there is limited knowledge and understanding of how, or indeed if, volunteer tourism organisations actually monitor and evaluate their programmes. The aim of this paper is to identify and critically examine the extent to which volunteer tourism organisations engage with the monitoring and evaluation of their projects. Based on a survey of 80 organisations and qualitative interviews with representatives from 29 organisations, the research found that monitoring and evaluation practices vary greatly. Participants readily accept a lack of time and resources as barriers to monitoring an evaluation, there is an assumption that any volunteer-host community interaction is positive, and despite voluntary guidelines, there is little incentive to prioritise monitoring and evaluation of volunteer programmes. A small number of volunteer organisations emerged as an exception to this overall pattern and are discussed. Discrepancies between stated importance of monitoring and evaluation and actual practices are examined and opportunities for improved practices identified.     

会议策划人(MP)研究述评

作为一种会展经济特色的工作岗位与职业,会议策划人在美国等会议产业发达国家得到了较充分的发展,并日渐成为会展管理研究领域的一个研究热点.为引发我国学术界对此研究领域的关注,推动我国会议策划实践之专业化水平的提升,文章对与会议策划人相关的77篇英文学术论文进行梳理与分析,发现在总体分布方面,呈现出近10年文章占75％、美国学者占66％、实证研究占75％等特征；在研究内容方面,可归纳为MP的分类与特征、MP的职业资格与专业技能、会址选择与会址营销、MP的满意与忠诚、MP的激励与约束等5个研究专题.在此基础上,还针对现有研究的局限与不足,提出了加强跨文化比较、重视性别差异分析等建议.     

The relationship between sense of community and satisfaction on future intentions to attend an association's annual meeting

Annual association meetings are imperative to associations because they are the biggest revenue source outside of membership dues. The constant challenge for associations is to come up with innovative ideas to create a meeting experience that can build attendance and retain members year after year. This study proposes that the psychological factor sense of community drives people to an association meeting every year. The purpose of the study is to understand the sense of community at an annual meeting among association members and whether sense of community has an influence on future intentions to attend the annual meeting. In addition, the mediating effect of satisfaction on sense of community and future intentions is examined.     

What the Millennial Generation from Around the World Prefers in Their Meetings,Conventions, and Events

The extant research relates to what the Millennial generation prefers in their meetings and events. The focus of this paper is to compare the wants and needs of Millennials from five different continents to ascertain similarities and differences. This is the largest study ever done of Millennials with regard to meetings and events. While some differences were uncovered, it was found that Millennials are a very homogeneous group. Thus, event professionals can use similar strategies when targeting this group. However, it was also found that there were some differences in specific areas and event professionals would do well to ascertain their mix of attendees by national origin and then apply the most significant findings of the research at hand.     

An Exploratory Study of Attendee Willingness to Pay for Environmentally Friendly Meetings

The study examined meeting attendees’ willingness to pay (WTP) more for green meetings. The survey data were used to measure the impact of demographic characteristics on WTP a price premium for green meetings. The ordered-probit model was used to estimate the impact of the explanatory factors on the probabilities of meeting attendees’ WTP. Analysis of marginal effects suggested that meeting attendees who were willing to sacrifice convenience associated a green meeting were more likely to pay more for green meetings. The study also found that the green meeting attendee profile was female, married, younger age, and with a high level of education, but men and respondents with higher incomes were less willing to pay more for green meetings when respondents paid their own registration fees.     

Application of Fuzzy Benchmarking Approach for Strategic Planning of Tourism Destination

The quality of strategic planning and resulting strategies is a key factor for the competitiveness of tourism destinations. Even though this is not a typical field where benchmarking methods are widely used, such an approach can be successfully applied. This article drafts a methodology for strategic benchmarking based on a quality evaluation of development strategies in tourism destinations. These strategies are evaluated by key regional stakeholders. The evaluation of fifteen selected strategies of the Czech, Slovak, and British regions has been made by an on-line application incorporating carefully defined criteria designed to operate with fuzzy data. The best strategies—as an etalon of good practice—are selected by the means of the fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. The Region of Vysocina was selected for realization of the benchmarking gap analysis towards all strategies from the etalon with the aim to identify the opportunities for quality enhancement and corresponding good practices.     

The new economy as a gateway to leisure travelling: experiences of highly skilled Indian professionals in Europe

This article investigates India’s professionals’ tourist mobilities during on-site assignments in continental Europe. The concept of experiential cultural capital is introduced to highlight the sociocultural symbolic significance of experiences of travelling for leisure enabled by one’s professional career. The study (conducted between 2007 and 2013) is based on ethnographic research online and in-depth face-to-face interviews with 76 Indian expatriates working in the information, communication and technology (ICT) sector in Brussels. This complementary approach of online and offline research enabled the observation of practices of status distinction, which deepened the understanding of Indian professionals’ tourist mobility. The data of the lived experiences of leisure travelling enabled by professional career trajectories illustrate practices of capital accumulation. In addition, they show how India’s youth, inscribed in new economy sectors, such as the ICT sector, seize the volatile opportunities offered by changing global economic and political conditions. Moreover, this research indicates how occupational identity is intertwined with particular practices of leisure travelling as the organisational culture might influence leisure opportunities. Therefore, by participating in and managing this symbolic resource of tourist mobility, professionals signal their economic success to their family and peers in order to be recognised as such.     

Managing business travel: Developments and dilemmas in corporate travel management

Work organizations today often depend on communication and interaction between persons working in geographically dispersed locations. As a consequence, business travel has increased considerably over the past few decades, and large companies and public authorities often employ travel managers to implement efficient travel routines. The present paper investigates the professional practice of travel management. Using interviews, policy documents and existing literature, it examines recent developments in this field and identifies a number of dilemmas and challenges that travel managers experience in their attempts to control travel behaviour and travel costs in their organizations. These dilemmas occur in travel managers’ relations with other stakeholders in the business travel process - travellers, senior managers, suppliers, and travel agents. An additional dilemma concerns the role of ‘virtual meetings’ (via telephone, video or the Web) and their potential to serve as substitutes for or complements to travel and face-to-face meetings.     

会展场馆选择标准研究述评——基于会议策划者视角

文章的主要目的在于对与国外会议策划者选址过程相关的实证性研究文献进行回顾,以期引起对该领域的关注,并推进我国会展业策划实践。文章通过对关键词的搜索,从外文数据库中选取1977～2012年的27篇与会议策划者选址相关的公开出版文献,对这些文献进行述评并梳理每篇文献中会议策划者的选址标准。研究结果发现,目的地及目的地酒店及会展场馆设备设施的质量和性能、成本、安全和人力资源是会议策划者最重要的选址标准。最后,针对现有研究不足提出了未来可能的研究方向,结合我国国情和文化特色从跨文化研究和利益相关者合作角度提出建议。