VENUE

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VENUE DESTINATION MARKETING SURVEY
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Objectives

• About the Survey and Respondents Key Findings
• Citywide Definitions
• Marketing Budgets, Operations and Strategy
• Marketing Support to Clients
• Supply and Demand, Hotel Rates
• Venues and Services Green Initiatives
• Challenges and Opportunities

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About the Respondents and Results

• Conducted in January 2007
• 135 respondents
• 40 are ACME members
• 62 are with venues 28 CVBs 10 hotels and
  other
• Findings broken out for venues, CVBs and all
  respondents together
• More venues are taking over all their own
  marketing (becoming similar to CVBs)
• Average Hotel Room Rate in Room Blocks 135.34

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Key Finding and Themes

• More of everything
• No standard definition of citywide
• On average, CVBs market 19 months out
• Top three success metrics
• 1.) Total number of booked hotel rooms
• 2.) Total economic impact
• 3.) Hotel community occupancy levels
• Conventions and exhibition attendance grew by
  growing by about 2 percent in 2006.

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Key Finding and Themes

• Average Marketing Budget Venues 735,733
  CVBs 3,523,312
• Over 50 of venues and CVBs bring community
  leaders into the bid process
• Over 50 of venues and CVBs maintain and
  incentive fund
• 60 of venues and 93 of CVBs provide show
  producers with some type of marketing support
• Hotels hold the key rates are rising supply
  tight in many markets

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ACME Member?
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Organization Type
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Definitions of Citywide Event

• Uses more than three hotels.
• More than 100,000 attendees.
• A single event which utilizes more than 2
  hotels.
• All hotels in the city are being used for one
  event.
• A meeting that utilizes more than 2 hotels and
  the convention center.
• Broad appeal to all residents in city and
  surrounding community.
• An event that utilizes a large majority of
  sleeping rooms, convention space and
  entertainment venues within our city.
• A group utilizing the Convention Center and two
  or more hotels.

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Definition of Citywide Event

• An event using the primary convention center and
  at least 2 downtown hotels.
• 2,500 rooms or more peak night.
• An event that requires more than 50 of hotel
  room inventory.
• Uses more than 5 hotels.
• An event that utilizes one or more "clusters" of
  hotel facilities to house participants.
• A convention center user requiring the use of
  multiple hotels for its housing needs no strict
  definition as to how many hotels, but would state
  that its more than 2 or 3.

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Definition of Citywide Event

• City wide event fills all of the hotels not just
  convention hotels. All hotels include limited
  service.
• A group that uses the convention center and
  more than 3 hotels properties.
• An event that impacts all hotels throughout the
  city/county.
• City sponsored, open to general public.
• Multiple hotels used.
• Any Event that uses 3 or more hotels for their
  program.
• 600 rooms x2 nights peak, at 2 hotels in
  convention district, using convention center.

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Definition of Citywide Event

• An event that books hotels conference rooms
  "Citywide.

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Number of Citywides

• Average 21 shows
• Median 14 shows
• High 120 shows
• Low 1 show
• (excluding 0)

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Booking Window Controlled by CVB Months Out
Note Excluding 0
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Who Markets the Overall Destination
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Who Markets the Convention Center
16
Who Develops the Convention Centers Creative
Marketing Materials
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How is Success Measured?
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Marketing Budget Size (Excluding High)

• Venues
• Average 735,733
• Median 250,000
• CVBs
• Average 3,523,312
• Median 2,173,458
• All Respondents
• Average 1,756,536
• Median 500,000

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How Marketing Budgets are Spent
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Which Mediums Drive Most Leads
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Which Mediums are Receiving More Spending (10)
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Online Marketing What are You Doing?
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Online Marketing Which Activities Provide Best
Leads
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Online Marketing Comparison (All Respondents)
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Have You Shifted Any Print Budget Online?
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Do You Involve Local Community Leaders in Bids?
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Are You Undergoing a Re-Branding?
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When was Your Last Re-Branding Process?
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Minimum Hotel Room Night Requirement

• Average 876
• Median 600
• High 3,000
• Low 150

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Do You Maintain Incentive Funds?
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How are Incentive Funds Allocated?
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What is the Source of the Incentive Funding
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Average Number of Salespeople

• Venues
• Average 4.1 full-time
• Median 3 full-time
• Average 1.1 Part-time
• Median 1.0 part-time
• CVBs
• Average 7 full-time
• Median 5.5 full-time
• Average 1.2 Part-time
• Median 1 part-time

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How are Sales Territories Set Up
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Do You Have a Satellite Marketing Office in
Another City?
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Satellite Marketing Office Staff and Budget

• Venue
• Average 251,200 2.9 staff
• Median 150,000 2 staff
• CVB
• Average 707,500 4.3 staff
• Median 600,000 3 staff

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Has Free Exhibition Space Been Offered at Least
Once in the Past Year?
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Hotel Supply, Rates and Revenues
Survey results match historical supply growth and
rate / revenue trends.
Source ACME, Tradeshow Week Research, Merrill
Lynch
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Do You Provide Attendance Marketing Support?
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What Type of Attendance Marketing Support CVBs

• Public relations support 96
• Adding event information to the CVB and/or venue
  web site(s) 96
• Liaison with city, state, regional affiliated
  groups or government agencies 83
• Enhanced signage in airport(s), around the city
  before the event 79
• Hotel discounts/rebates 63
• Emails to potential local attendees 58
• Venue discounts/rebates 58
• Mailings to potential local attendees 46
• Entertainment, sports, cultural event or facility
  discounts 42
• Assistance securing event speakers, keynoters
  42
• Cash payments/rebates/marketing support fees 38
• Travel and/or lodging incentives, discounts 29
• Advertisements for the event paid for by the CVB
  or venue 25
• Marketing to international attendees 13

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What Type of Attendance Marketing Support Venues

• Public relations support 87
• Adding event information to the CVB and/or venue
  web site(s) 71
• Enhanced signage in airport(s), around the city
  before the event 58
• Liaison with city, state, regional affiliated
  groups or government agencies 52
• Emails to potential local attendees 45
• Venue discounts/rebates 42
• Mailings to potential local attendees 39
• Hotel discounts/rebates 29
• Entertainment, sports, cultural event or facility
  discounts 29
• Assistance securing event speakers, keynoters
  19
• Advertisements for the event paid for by the CVB
  or venue 16
• Marketing to international attendees 16
• Travel and/or lodging incentives, discounts 16
• Cash payments/rebates/marketing support fees 13

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What Type of Attendance Marketing Support All
Respondents

• Public relations support 89
• Adding event information to the CVB and/or venue
  web site(s) 81
• Liaison with city, state, regional affiliated
  groups or government agencies 67
• Enhanced signage in airport(s), around the city
  before the event 65
• Venue discounts/rebates 49
• Emails to potential local attendees 46
• Hotel discounts/rebates 46
• Mailings to potential local attendees 38
• Entertainment, sports, cultural event or facility
  discounts 33
• Assistance securing event speakers, keynoters
  30
• Cash payments/rebates/marketing support fees 22
• Travel and/or lodging incentives, discounts 21
• Advertisements for the event paid for by the CVB
  or venue 19
• Marketing to international attendees 14

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Budget for Attendance Marketing Support

• Venues
• Average 85,333
• Median 50,000
• CVBs
• Average 137,000
• Median 25,000
• All Respondents
• Average 112,781
• Median 27,500

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Did the Convention Center Raise Hall Rates in
2006?
45
Will Hall Rates Rise Again in 2007?
46
Does the Venue Offer No-Compete Clauses
47
Have New Services Been Offered by Venue or CVB?
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New Services Being Offered by Venue or CVB?

• Besides attendance promotion, some of the most
  common relate to convention centers and these
  include
• Adding or enhancing business centers
• Expanding greeter, concierge and VIP desk
  programs
• Offering a single point of contact for all
  services
• Online housing
• Expanding special taxi and bus departure areas
• Valet parking at the venue
• Video conferencing services
• Wireless internet
• Streaming video for attendance building

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Has Your City Instituted City-Wide Green
Initiatives
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Does the Venue have Green Initiatives?
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Have Green Initiatives Helped Win Business?
52
Has Lack of Green Initiatives Lost Business?
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Are You Going for LEED Certification? (Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design)
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Biggest Challenges

• Besides concerns about being a second or third
  tier city, budgets, exhibition space size and
  quality, and number of hotel rooms, the main
  challenges are
• Available dates everyone wants the same
  window for dates
• Breaking through to reach decision makers
• Building destination awareness or trying to
  change perception
• Getting meeting planners to visit the market
• Helping event planners to market the destination
• Differentiating from competition having a
  unique message
• Third-parties that are between the client and
  the venue/destination/hotels
• Venue and CVB relationships

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Biggest Opportunities

• Marketing affordability and safety especially
  in second tier markets
• Continued economic development
• New hotel development, new venues and expansions
  
• Healthy hotel tax revenues
• Enhancing customer service
• Online marketing initiatives
• Customized, customer-specific marketing
• Strong face-to-face marketing and meetings
  industry

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Biggest Challenges are the Opportunities
Branding, reaching event planners, hotel issues
and forming a cohesive group of citywide
partners Survey respondent quote Developing
and communicating those one or two key
descriptors that define our city's great overall
appeal and attractiveness as an attendance draw.
As hotel transient business has picked up, the
availability/size of room blocks has also become
more challenging.
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About the Survey

• All ACME Members will be sent a full copy of the
  survey in March
• The full survey has more information than in this
  PowerPoint
• QA

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About Michael Hughes

• Associate Publisher Director of Research
  Services, Tradeshow Week
• As head of Tradeshow Weeks Custom Research,
  Michael produces proprietary research, consulting
  and marketing projects for leading exhibition
  industry organizations around the world. He
  works closely with exhibition industry leaders,
  corporate exhibitors, entrepreneurs, investors
  and real estate developers to provide high-value
  strategic information, analysis and
  recommendations. His clients include nearly all
  industry leaders in every segment of the industry
  as well as leaders in the investment and
  consulting community. Michael is frequently
  quoted by major newspapers and national magazines
  such as The Chicago Tribune The Los Angeles
  Times Newsweek The New York Times and The Wall
  Street Journal. In January of 2003, he was
  selected as a Person to Watch by mins btob
  newsletter. Since 1999, Michael has been a
  presenter at over 60 industry conferences. He is
  also the research director and editor of
  Tradeshow Weeks syndicated Executive Outlook
  research surveys.
• Tel [phone]
• Email mhughes_at_reedbusiness.com