A MONTHLY DIGEST TO INFORM, ENLIGHTEN AND HUMOUR MEETING PLANNERS February 2006 Edition
VOL. 4 ISSUE 1
Photo courtesy of Renaissance Centre des Congrès et banquets
Conference centres
What you need to know BY LEO GERVAIS
T
here probably does not exist a seasoned event planner who has never worked on an event in a hotel. But it’s a fair guess that many have never worked with a conference center. A conference centre can generally be defined as a fullservice hospitality entity that specializes in accommodating small- to medium-sized meetings as its first order of business. Sometimes, the term “convention centre” is used interchangeably with conference centre, but in reality a convention centre is designed primarily for large groups, large association meetings, trade shows and other events. Conference centres normally accommodate groups in the 20- to 300-person range. Roughly 50 percent of all meetings held at conference centres are for groups of 35 people or less, according to the Professional Convention Management Association. Conference centres are a booming enterprise: In the U.S., 2004 saw a 7.5 percent revenue increase and a 9 percent increase was forecast for 2005, according to specialists PKF Consulting in their 2005 edition of Trends in the Conference Center Industry. Their survey also showed 47.5 percent of all
conference centre groups met in 2004 for the purpose of training or continuing education. Other meetings focused on management planning (20.4 percent) or professional conferences (18.2 percent). Some hotels might argue that they do the same thing. Luis Ribeiro, the Director of Sales and Business Development at the Centre Mont-Royal in Montreal says there is a major distinction between hotels and conference centres. “We are a true conference environment – we are in the meeting business,” he said. “We have real laminated surfaces, ergonomic chairs – sometimes called 8-hour chairs by people in the industry – and many other amenities you don’t find in hotels. There are very strict criteria to be a member of the International Association of Conference Centres, and to meet them is very exacting. We consider Centre Mont-Royal a fivestar establishment.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
PLEASE SEE INDEX ON PAGE 4