Mtg. Standards Move Forward
<B>Mtg. Standards Move Forward</B>
By Chris Davis
The Convention Industry Council, after several years of preparation and discussion, has begun to determine and create the voluntary meetings industry standards that form the backbone of its Apex Initiative.
The umbrella group of 29 industry organizations has created panels to analyze and develop standards for industry terminology and post-event reporting, with approved practices expected to be made official by year-end. By the end of the summer, as many as four more panels--covering requests for proposals, résumés and work orders, meeting and site profiles and possibly housing--will be created, though their work is expected to be more complex and not reach full fruition until late next year, at the earliest. Work on the seventh and last panel, contracts, is anticipated to be both the most complex and contentious of any, and will not begin for at least another year.
The CIC also has raised $600,000 for the five-year initiative and hopes to raise $1.3 million more, said president and CEO Mary Power. But after years of debate, feasibility studies and changes in executive leadership, headquarters sites and even the name of the organization, the CIC now can point to actual movement on industry standards and practices itself. "We're not doing this for a warm and fuzzy greater good," said Tom Bolman, chairman of the CIC board and executive vice president of the International Association of Conference Centers. "There are tangible financial benefits for everyone."
The first two panels--terminology and post-event reporting--are led, respectively, by Patti Shock, tourism and convention department chair at the Harrah College of Hotel Administration of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and William Peeper, president and CEO of the Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau. The two will lead conference calls and online discussion groups about their topics with volunteer participants and chapters of member organizations. Once proposed standards are agreed upon, they will be forwarded to the overseeing nine-member Apex Commission and, if approved, to the full CIC board of directors for final approval.
Since the industry topics of the first two panels were chosen specifically for the lack of contention they are likely to provoke, this process should be relatively smooth. The later topics, however, are anticipated to include far more negotiation. "There will be times when, though they may agree in principle, no one will want to admit that another's form is the best," Power said. "But that's why we bring everyone to the table in discussion groups: to convince your peers that yours is the best solution."
While there has been some skepticism about the willingness of all corners of the industry to accept the standards voluntarily, Power anticipates an aspect of peer pressure to assist in getting folks onboard.
"The skeptics, at least, aren't saying this won't work; they're questioning how it will work," Power said. "We have to talk about the practical applications and benefits. If you're a meeting planner holding an event at a Marriott, you have to do all the specs, send them to the hotel and they'll redo them on their own forms. Then, if you take the next meeting to a Hyatt, you have to start all over. With buy-in, there will be less chance of error and saved manpower.