May 2003

Best Practices: Entertaining idea

INFOCOMM endorses official DMC for off-site events

By Cathy Chatfield-Taylor

Exhibitors who want to go beyond a hospitality suite can entertain clients at an underwater dinner with sharks, a Harley-Davidson biker bash or a rock-and-roll reception. That’s just a sampling of creative suggestions for special events from PGI, Official Destination Management Company (DMC) for INFOCOMM 2003, to be held May 31-June 6 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL.

“There’s been a trend toward exhibitors having hospitality events, parties, business meetings and other off-property events,” says Jason McGraw, Vice President, Expositions and Conventions, for the International Communications Industries Association (ICIA), Fairfax, VA. “We’ve gotten calls from exhibitors asking if we know someone who can help.”

McGraw previously referred exhibitors to the convention and visitors bureau, whose members include local DMCs. Now he’s offering a value-added service by appointing an official DMC for off-site events. Exhibitors who want to entertain clients can get help from a reputable company endorsed by show management.

“We’re very careful about the vendors we pick,” McGraw says. “They have to have a lot of resources and a solid track record of delivering a quality service for us to make them an official contractor.”

An Alexandria, VA-based event and communications agency with offices in nearly 30 U.S. cities, PGI was designated as INFOCOMM’s first official DMC because it has a strong presence in Orlando. In fact, the whole idea came from a long-time colleague, Rick Dobson, who is Senior Vice President, Exhibitions and HRT (Housing, Registration & Travel), for PGI.

Dobson pitched PGI’s ability to help companies achieve their objectives for interacting with clients by custom designing and managing off-site events. “Anything that enables exhibitors to be more successful at an event is beneficial to the show manager,” Dobson says. “There’s no down-side risk, only up-side potential.”

For the association’s endorsement, PGI gives show management a 10 percent rebate in cash or in-kind services. That will be a new revenue stream for ICIA. But, McGraw is quick to point out, “We’re looking at it as a value-added service, not a revenue or profit center.”

As with any non-exclusive show service, exhibitors are free to shop around for a DMC, but Dobson maintains they’ll get greater value from the official provider. “The fact that we are rebating to show management doesn’t mean that we are not price competitive,” he says.

It’s uncertain how many of INFOCOMM’s 550 exhibitors will take advantage of PGI’s service. “The ball is in the court of PGI,” McGraw says. “We gave them our endorsement, a press release and space in the manual like any other official contractor. They’ll have to hustle to get the exhibitors’ business.”

PGI Orlando Senior Account Executive Rick Galipault reports that at least one exhibitor who never entertained clients off-site before has called to inquire about the possibilities. A few weeks out, he’ll call selected exhibitors to pitch PGI’s services.

“My tagline is, ‘What if you had more to show for your client entertaining than a hard-to-explain expense report?’” Galipault says.

INFOCOMM clearly has a new champion for maximizing exhibitor ROI.

Cathy Chatfield-Taylor is a freelance writer/editor. E-mailcathy@cc-tunlimited.com.