Industry Confidential

Check in every issue for the unfiltered thoughts of our guest writers and contributors as they discuss the hottest topics in sports tourism. Join the conversation by tweeting us: @pushsports

In this issue, our guest writer discusses the subject of conference optics.

When will it end?

Year-end and year out, we finish attending conferences with a feeling of quantity over quality. As we work through the first stage of our post-pandemic sports tourism reboot, now is the time to change many aspects of our industry. I’m hoping we start with a switch on conference experience by moving to a post-conference feeling of quality over quantity.

I have a full understanding of what it takes for a conference to be successful. From destination bid fees and in-kind services to variety in exploring a destination’s assets, expectations on room night pick up, and sponsorship fulfillment. Conferences and trade shows are a huge undertaking, and they are a massive sales and marketing tool on all sides of the sports tourism industry.

As they can be a game-changer for many of us in developing new business opportunities, they too can become a pitfall in several ways if we, as an industry, are not careful moving forward.

The majority of conference attendees are from small to mid-market destinations. Among this segment of our colleagues, most represent government entities or are at minimum funded by tax dollars. Over the past ten years, we have witnessed more scrutiny for return-on-investment measurement, both internally and externally. Some Destination Marketing Organizations and Sports Commission have a sales process and room night quotas that must be met on a monthly and annual basis. Based on budget, those destinations dependent on conference appointments to meet and discuss new and repeat business must showcase results.

Thus far, in 2021, I have attended five conferences on the State and national levels. At each conference, I have encountered colleagues who have no idea what lies ahead during appointment sessions. They cannot describe the next steps for bidding opportunities, future event development, or discuss growth opportunities at their organization. Maybe it is too early in our industry reboot, and their organization fell on hard times during the pandemic, so they are biding their time to wait and see. No harm in that approach if that is right for them. But then why attend a conference if you are not ready? This brings me to my next point.

Our industry is starting to get up in its years. What happens as you get older? Well, you begin to slow down. That is exactly what our conferences should do as the party must end. Those that can attend a conference without having to contribute financially...even if they are at a stage with nothing new to offer or have no events to bid out...still show up. Sure...networking by creating and maintaining relationships is essential, but you also have to contribute in some way. To be clear, we all have to contribute in some way. We must give back. Though attending just for the party? Hmmmm. That’s where it becomes a challenge for the rest of us—the rest of us, with quotas to meet.

On the destination side, it can be common to adhere to a travel approval process. Finance, Administration, even a municipal or County Clerk of the Court may need to review and approve travel requests. Often it is required to include the conference schedule. This is primarily due to double-checking per diem requests with meals that the conference provides as a portion of a registration fee. However, when a City or County Administration employee reviews conference schedules that display parties, open days with activities like golf, spas, beer tours, and more, it causes issues back home that can turn ugly and political.

Let’s remember, those on the destination side are paying conference registration fees with tourist development tax dollars, paying for travel to attend a conference on tourist development tax dollars, on a weekday while being paid a salary for that day with tourist development tax dollars, to drink booze and sightsee on what, that’s right...tourist development tax dollars!

This is an accident waiting to happen.

Now, I’m not saying remove it all. Creating and maintaining relationships are the name of the game. Though, we, as an industry, have to be smarter about optics. Is including a day with no real content and only tours the wise thing to do? Does a conference have to be four days long? Can it be two and a half days and allow those that wish to make plans with clients and colleagues to come in early or stay later and build activities on their own? I think so.

The current buzz is that most who have been traveling the conference circus are exhausted. Work is piling up with event planning, conference follow up, not to mention local initiatives.

Our industry needs to be smarter about optics and more strategic about networking opportunities that count and can show a return on investment. Those that do will have stability, longevity, and a leg up on those that do not.