types of events,” she says. “I source through DMCs because they know the best vendors to work with in their area. Unless you go to a destination over and over again, it’s almost impossible to get to know the vendors.” Her groups are so active that Leto uses her conference reg- istration packet both to collect the health data required by her DMCs and to notify her participants about the physical demands of each activity. Sometimes even those steps are not sufficient to guarantee a safe event. “We did a Navy SEAL basic training program several years ago on the beach in San Diego,” she says, “and we had to have an ambulance on standby. Tat was the only way I could get our environment, health, and safety department to agree to that event.” Leto won’t even consider extreme sports such as rock climb- ing or bungee jumping. Rather than test her company’s insur- ance coverage, she strives for novel ways to challenge groups that have been there and done that. “We recently did an ice-carving contest at an event in Jackson
Hole, Wyoming,” she recalls. “Te guys were really arrogant, as they always are. Tey thought, oh, this is going to be a piece of cake. Well, with just a chisel and hammer, it is so much harder than you realize. Tey had a great time, but they were surprised at how difficult it was. You’ve got to get them engaged, inter- ested, and interacting. Ten they love it.” Leto’s perpetual quandary as a dedicated wrangler of active
groups will sound familiar to many veteran meeting planners. “We’ve done all of this great stuff over the years,” she says with a smile, “and now I’m running out of ideas! Te biggest challenge is, what do I do next year?”
CURBING THE COST As someone who makes her living by helping meeting planners answer that very question, Rachelle Stone says DMCs face a sim- ilar challenge as they try to accommodate the growing interests of active groups without busting their budgets. “Where a group may have done only two activities in the
past, now it’s three or four,” she says. “To keep their costs down, we try to base things on a minimum of, say, 20 guests; but they’re coming back with, ‘Can you base it on a minimum of 6 or 10?’ When you’re looking at some of these out-of-the-box activities, and you’re working with smaller numbers, it still costs the same in labor and time and effort to produce it.” For groups that can’t afford the full Mission: Impossible ad-
venture, Stone suggests popular but less expensive team-building activities such as BYOB, short for blend your own bottle. A pro-
“You’ve got to get them engaged, interested, and
interacting. Then they love it.”
fessional sommelier guides the groups through the steps to name their vineyard, design their custom label, and blend their own bottle of wine from seven varietals. Te wines are judged and later served to the groups at dinner. Even corporate social responsibility (CSR) options are tak- ing on an adventurous flavor. Stone’s Miami DMC currently offers a dune restoration program and a Habitat for Human- ity–like half-day project on a nonprofit miniature horse farm for children who have lost a parent or sibling. In the near fu- ture, Stone hopes to offer a state-sponsored CSR program that enables groups to help out with the seasonal sea turtle hatch and migration. Jim Ruszala says internal communication and involvement
with a broad range of program participants, rather than a mere focus group, remains key for meeting planners looking to do more with less in the new active-meetings landscape. “I would never suggest that an organization sponsor 10 or 15 activities in an effort to strike the interest nerve of everybody,” he says. “It’s hard to sustain that with budgets. You have to get more familiar with the preferences and desires and interests of your participants so you can take that number down from 10 or 15 activities to 4 or 5.”
INPUT ON OUTPUT Changing times demand new approaches. Ruszala says it’s no longer sufficient to poll attendees after the event. Meeting plan- ners should also reach out before the event to involve participants in the design stage. “While every organization is unique,” he says, “a lot of organizations fail to recognize that every participant is unique, too.” “Getting those insights from attendees can validate whether
it’s a good idea or a bad idea,” he says. “Positive and negative is one way to look at it, but you also have to look at the intensity. If I’m really excited about something versus fairly excited about something, there’s a notable difference there. Intensity is a big deal in identifying the emotions, the motivational appeal, and the value as it applies to participants.” Simply being asked to contribute beforehand can be a strong
Opposite, clockwise from top left: Releasing tension on the archery range; shooting the rapids; finding common ground through geocaching; up a creek—with paddles.
www.elitemeetings.com
motivator in some organizations. “When people realize you’re asking them,” Ruszala says, “they become more involved. Tey become more and more connected, even if they don’t know what it will look like next. It’s not enough simply to have a travel incentive program. You need to get peo- ple involved upfront. When they have a sense of ownership and pride in the activities program, it carries over into your business meetings and social events.”
25
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124