March 2006
Best Practices: On-site temp staffing
Professional temp staffing management enhances customer experience at ADA events
By Cathy Chatfield-Taylor

When nearly 32,000 delegates convened at the 146th American Dental Association (ADA) Annual Session and Technical Exhibition, Oct. 5–9, 2005, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, one thing Logistics Manager David Cantalupo didn’t have to worry about was whether all 325-plus temps were wearing shoes.

“In the past, it was an ongoing feeling of burden, to keep track of temp staff, track their hours, and handle and manage the situation if someone was out of position or someone wasn’t wearing shoes,” Cantalupo said of his experience prior to joining ADA (www.ada.org) two years ago. “At an on-site meeting, I have large-scale issues and VIPs to deal with. I don’t have time to micromanage things.”

That’s what Pro-Show President Lee Nold is there for. Nold’s Oakland, CA-based company, Pro-Show National Event Staffing Management Co. (www.pro-show.com), has managed temp staffing for ADA events for four years. From identifying how many workers are needed to perform specific functions to training temps in the 10 principles of customer service, Pro-Show ensures that on-site event staff performs as professionals.

“They’re the first impression of the association when the attendee or exhibitor comes through the door,” says Nold. “We bring those temporary employees together as an ADA team.”

Work on ADA’s annual session began at the post-meeting wrap up in 2004, where Pro-Show got feedback on what did and didn’t work. Noting isolated instances where positions may have been understaffed, Nold developed a new order form for this year’s meeting to help ADA departments communicate what positions they need to fill.

 “We’ve gotten more consistent information. Now we go beyond, ‘We need three people in this area,’ to identifying a job title and job description, how many hours they’re needed, and who they report to,” Cantalupo says.

Nold also developed a detailed schedule in grid format to indicate when and where temps would be deployed.

Pro-Show leverages its experience staffing an average of four shows a month in cities nationwide to deploy experienced temps at ADA meetings. Having established relationships with staffing agencies in each locale simplifies the recruiting process. In Philadelphia, Nold negotiated agreements with three agencies to provide the more than 325 temps at competitive pay rates.

Temp positions were divided into registration and programs. Within the programs area, five zone managers oversaw temps who monitored the meeting rooms. A registration manager oversaw three supervisors, who watched over temps running the registration desk. Management and supervisory positions were filled by three Pro-Show employees, including Nold, plus six of the local staffing agencies’ experienced managers.

Temps also filled roaming “Ask Me” positions and show-office clerical staff functions. To cover the contingencies of understaffing, no-shows, quitters or poor performers, Pro-Show kept an extra 10 percent of the total temps on standby.

Pro-Show charges a flat management fee for the event staffing service, which includes negotiating with staffing agencies, training the temps, managing the workforce on site, and auditing and coding bills using ADA accounting codes. Using Pro-Show frees up the 176 ADA employees on site to take care of their customers.

“The attendees benefit by having peak-performance temp staffers,” Cantalupo says. “It elevates the experience for everyone.”