Conferences and conventions - Essay Example

148092 The word 'confer' means meeting or discussion by two or more people and Conference industry is about people, about their being team players and the industry is both local and globalised. Business tourism's contribution to national economies could never be overestimated. "I appreciate the very strong contribution that business tourism makes to generating high spending overseas visits and the benefits that this brings to the wider economy," James Purness MP, Minister for Tourism, June 2005. http://www.businesstourismpartnership.com/pubs/Tony%20Rogers.pdf Conferences and conventions have become parts of global industry scenario. Organising them has become a profitable business and today, even trainers to conduct conferences are available. Creating winning and appropriate conference programmes, inventing right atmosphere in suitable venues have become part of business and business houses keep a lavish budget separately for the events. Conferences enable business houses to meet the market, customers, sub-contractors, suppliers and representatives of leading businesses, even competitors. Conferences can lead to enhancement and expansions, collaborations. Present day mobility, electronic devices, communication facilities, teleconferencing etc. have enlarged the scope of conventions. They have transformed the organisational effectiveness into business performance across continents. Conference venues are taking more care by ensuring that teams get constructive feedback even after the events. Properly conducted, Conferences could be informative, inspirational, exploratory, and eventful. This does not mean that conferences are admired by one and all and there are many negative aspects. In his article, Commercialisation at Conferences, Dave Winer wrote : "Once you open the door, even a bit, for one vendor, they all want equal time, and they're entitled to it. Imho, you have to draw a hard line, a firm NO when it comes to promoting products. Otherwise you get a commercial conference," http://www.scripting.com/2005/12/26.html#commercialismAtConferences The above need not be always the case. With professional handling, conferences could be matchmakers of industries. It could also be a dynamic event if right peer groups are invited or participated through video conferencing, enveloping other groups that could not attend. Recently conferences and conventions have started extended facilities to delegate families and there is not a single economy which would say that it did not get benefited by conferences. "THE economic contribution of conferences to the Welsh economy is underscored in the financial results of the Cardiff Conference Bureau. This council initiative has won business for the city worth 1.7m during 2006" http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0300business/0100news/tm_headline=conference-business-boosts-cardiff-by--pound-1-7m&method=full&objectid=18363801&siteid=50082-name_page.html Another face of conferences is the advantage being gained by tourism industry. By placing conferences in far away venues of cultural, naturalistic and historical backdrops, many countries and business have given enormous facelift to the tourism industry. This has given way to business tourism, considered today as a major branch of tourism. Britain is an important country that has been benefited by business tourism, mainly because it is reachable from all directions and has well developed, affordable venues. are rumoured to be affordable. One of the UK advertisements says: "Vibrant, dynamic cities, elegant spa towns combining tradition with state-of-the-art facilities and cosmopolitan seaside resorts... Britain has it all" http://www.visitbritain.com/VB3-nb-NO/businesstourism/conferencesconventions/conferences_conventions.aspx Indian cities with luxurious five star hotels and much cheaper economy have provided some more major business tourism destinations, where many international conferences and conventions are held today. The wildlife sanctuaries, historical monuments, natural wonders, religious temples have all been benefited by these conferences and conventions. Conferences have given equal fillip to Paris economy. Conference business is booming for a variety of reasons today. Necessity of meeting people, having a focussed venue for special business discussions, away from the usual humdrum, where delegates could concentrate fully on conference business without being disturbed by usual demands. Charter flight companies have booming business due to conferences. Business tourism has led to investment in real estate, buildings, resorts, spas, hotels and exclusive convention venues with enormous amount of money being dedicated to it with a definite hope that there would never be a set back. Cities like Dubai, London, New York, Manchester, Berlin, Moscow and New Delhi have already become modern business hubs. Small countries like Monaco invest a tremendous amount of money for future business. Another feature of business tourism is the tradition of taking advantage of natural beauty to attract tourists with the additional fascinations of artificially created wonders. Most of the successful venues are either close to mesmerising natural sceneries, or have created their own attractions as additional power points. Today, conferences and conventions have created a global industry of their own. The origins of the conference industry are quite recent and it has been connected with business tourism and leisure tourism throughout. New trend of winning through partnerships has started in the business world. Business touring workshops are setting the trend. There are many direct expenditure benefits of conferences to the local area. In United Kingdom, conferences, meetings, conventions have created tourism benefit. Many conference venues and their neighbouring towns and cities usually become tourist centres for the convention representatives. According to a study conducted by UK National Tourist Board, with detailed figures of conference spending in the year 2001, total cost direct expenditure of one conference was 1,092,960/-. Conferences and conventions also bring benefits to human resources, and employees. "Conferences are about communication.An industry has developed to facilitate the satisfaction of the objectives of face to face communication: the conference industry. Suppliers to the industry are as diverse as their clients: Conference centres, hotels, specialist intermediaries, convention bureaux, caterers, production companies, and many others - all cooperate to create the right atmosphere and infrastructure, conducive to communication" http://books.google.com/bookshl=en&lr=&id=uKDnKFv3v0YC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&sig=IhkFdjtGdR2GQUnFxYEoSzcXIG0&dq=A+GLOBAL+INDUSTRY+BY+TONY+ROGERS IT industry and its various equipments are drawn into business tourism for the use of conferences. Almost every tool provided by information technology is being used in convention venues with competitive acquirement of newer tools. In his book on Conferences, Rogers argues that most of the success of a conference is achieved by the way it is organised and handled. "Organising conference is a high pressure activity, not recommended for those of a nervous disposition. Yet, well-handled, it can be tremendously exhilarating and rewarding," Rogers (2004, p.142). For the last 15 years, hotels all over the world have been gearing up for organising conferences and conventions of very high order and today, all the noteworthy hotels plan the convention halls, exhibition area and conference auditoriums etc. while building the hotel. All hotels provide better entertainment and improved conference facilities, state of the art communication tools, and these tools get updated constantly. Conference industry depends on the organizational skills, training opportunities and occupational standards. It has its own special job requirements, especially of an administrator, sharp, unconventional, creative, computer savvy, well organised and dependable. It also requires publicity co-ordinator, and events co-ordinator. Conference industry has been criticised because it is fragmented. It is a high profile business and cannot stay under one umbrella. In Britain, public, private sectors at national, regional and local levels are functioning in this industry. International level shows many important players scattered all over the world, but doing extremely well which creates healthy future for the industry. Conference venues have to provide good organising skills, excellent food, cleanliness, good conferencing room, undisturbed and sound proof atmosphere with confidential isolation, complete noise blackout if necessary, cooperative staff, excellent and comfortable accommodation for the delegates, hassle-free check in and check out procedures, good transport facilities, road links, connections, availability of transport of all kind, at all times, good parking facilities etc. as basic necessities. In addition, video conferencing, sophisticated electronic equipments, flexibility, tact, patience, diplomacy of the staff and management, including the organisers are absolutely essential. Unless conferences are organised with a client focused approach, giving complete significance to their products, they might not become very successful. Some hotels have introduced a computerised payment system for conference groups. Asian Association of Conventions and Visitors Bureaus was established in 1983 with China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand as its full members. It aims at reaching for the full potential of Asia and its prominent cities as providers and organisers of meetings, conventions and conferences. Research and educational programmes, scientific conventions with academic background are being given priority. Benefits also include the human resource development and employment opportunities in the area, and the effect of conferences on them. Every conference is a temporary event and usually people from that particular area are used as temporary employees in the venue. Conferences need transport facilities, in house IT specialists, on contract communication specialists, usher boys, entertainment providers, and other service providers. Any needed facility for the venue and preparedness for any unforeseen eventuality is necessary and this means local human resources will be benefited throughout the conference. Many small industries and service providers live on these contracts and this will once again provide a support to the local small economy as the indirect effect of conferences and business tourism. This does not mean that there are no negative points in convention and conference world. Business houses complain that conference goers hardly achieve anything as against the enormous expenses necessary for staging a conference. Conference goers argue that much more than humanly possible is expected from them simply because they attend the conferences. They are expected to return with miraculous and advantageous results of either collaboration, or magical marketing achievements. These fantastic results, they say, is not practical to be expected from such a short time, whereas the spending organisations feel that participants are more interested in revelling than in their assigned work. Also some organisations feel that it is too enormous an expense to pay for too little an achievement. These expenses include international first class travel, luxurious stay in state of the art hotels, sometimes meeting family expenses, and as conferences usually are scheduled to coincide with Olympics, political shows, international sports events, religious festivals etc. expenses become much more than normal days in addition to mind-wandering of delegates trying to participate in as many events as possible, instead of concentrating on conference business. Conference creators have to face stiff regional competition from similarly engaged organisations and this would improve the quality of conferences and in the long run, not only boost the economy, but also will have highly competitive service and enthusiasm. As a conference destination, Manchester International Convention Centre and G-Mex Exhibition centre made the city one of UK's top convention cities, with an excellent airport, the fly in and fly-out policy, 30 million Lowry Hotel, and a range of other hotels. British Association of Conference Destinations guide business tourism to a large extent. American Society of Association Executives provides immense service to its members, apart from two annual conventions, educational programmes and publications. "Today, it has over 23,500 members worldwide who manage approximately 10,000 trade associations, individual membership societies, professional organisations and not-for-profit associations, which, between them, serve more than 287 million people and companies" Rogers (2004, p. 228). There are unavoidable criticisms too: "They are too expensive. They are filled with boring panels. They are all about speeches and not about conversation and argument and learning and meeting. They do not capture the expertise of the crowd. They enrich the organizers at the cost of both the "talent" and the "audience." They are filled with commercial pitches" http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/01/29/exploding-the-conference-business/ Business tourism is improving national economies and Britain is one of the best examples. In a similar such event, Edinburg was benefited in an impressively big way. "And it means that the value to the Capital's economy is worth around 100 million more than event managers originally considered it to be, meaning more recent economic impact estimates have been substantially undervalued". http://business.scotsman.com/media.cfmid=1921662006 In the above research, it is also concluded that level of spending of delegates has multiplied by 75% raising the city's business tourism income from 200 million a year to more than 300 million a year (ibid). Business tourism figures of Britain show the following estimated value: 1. Conferences and Meetings: 7.7 billion in 2003. 2. Exhibitions and Trade Fairs: 2.04 billion annually. 3. Incentive travel: 165million annually. 4. Corporate events: Around 1 billion annually. 5. Business travel: 6 billion per annum in 1998. http://www.businesstourismpartnership.com/pubs/BACD%20tourism.pdf There has been 53% growth in business industries, and total trade receipts influenced by conferences etc. is beyond 100 billion. Business tourism employs people more than 530,000 people both directly and indirectly (ibid). Emeritus Professor Iain McNicoll says UK business tourism expenditure is in the region of 15 billion per annum, give or take a few billion. http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/E4AD6AF2-61DC-47A1-9846-A433839EF5DC/0/BriefingPaperBusTour0304.pdf Raising standards and competitiveness is necessary to keep Britain as a stage for conferences and this is a winning business for Britain. Business Tourism in Australia show the following details: "Business events generate annual expenditure of $17.36 billion, and create 214,000 Australian jobs; More than 316,000 business events were held across Australia in 2003, involving 22.8 million participants; the average daily expenditure of an international meeting or conference delegate was $554. International business accounted for $1.86 billion of overall business events expenditure in 2003. Domestic events accounted for $15.5 billion in 2003". http://www.tourism.australia.com/BTEvents.asplang=EN&sub=0368&al=101 We also have to consider the all important issues of environment, because without sustainable tourism, the region might be adversely affected. Hence, misuse of natural resources, extensive and unlimited use of vehicles and other pollution-capable modes of transport and any kind of direct or indirect harm to the nature should be given prior attention and planning, so that huge events do not spread ecological imbalance and pollution in the area. Business tourism could be conducted only in safe and ideologically suitable political atmosphere. Communist rigidity might not allow conferences for fear of spying, and dictatorships might not allow free media, journalists and delegates from other country. There will be ideological issues that might spoil the entire atmosphere. Hence, political conduciveness is one of the prerequisites of the conferences. There is no doubt that conferences help in widening the spheres, possibilities and business contacts. They help economies, support many adjoining areas like hotel industry, tourism, business, marketing, education and academics etc. Trade shows and exhibitions have become part of conferences. They create world of opportunities. Conference venues sometimes provide continuous professional assistance and act as a contact point to their regular clients. They also act as agents to various customers, providing them daily service. They spread the spirit of business. Another area where conferences are becoming acutely necessary is environment. As environmental decisions are across sovereignty and borders, conferences and conventions are absolutely necessary to take collective actions. There had been a recent explosion in conference business. Even technology is depending on conferences today for advancement and marketing. Companies do not buy products without attending information sessions any more. BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Rogers, Tony (2004), Conferences and Conventions, A Global Industry, Elseveir, ONLINE SOURCES: 1. http://www.scripting.com/2005/12/26.html#commercialismAtConferences 2. http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0300business/0100news/tm_headline=conference-business-boosts-cardiff-by--pound-1-7m&method=full&objectid=18363801&siteid=50082-name_page.html 3. http://www.visitbritain.com/VB3-nb-NO/businesstourism/conferencesconventions/conferences_conventions.aspx 4. http://books.google.com/bookshl=en&lr=&id=uKDnKFv3v0YC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&sig=IhkFdjtGdR2GQUnFxYEoSzcXIG0&dq=A+GLOBAL+INDUSTRY+BY+TONY+ROGERS 5. http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/01/29/exploding-the-conference-business/ 6. http://business.scotsman.com/media.cfmid=1921662006 7. http://www.businesstourismpartnership.com/pubs/BACD%20tourism.pdf 8. http://www.businesstourismpartnership.com/pubs/Tony%20Rogers.pdf 9. http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/E4AD6AF2-61DC-47A1-9846-A433839EF5DC/0/BriefingPaperBusTour0304.pdf 10. http://www.tourism.australia.com/BTEvents.asplang=EN&sub=0368&al=101 11. 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