HOW MANY ORGANIZED FAMVISITS (AS PART OF A GROUP OF PLANNERS) DO YOU ATTEND EVERY YEAR?
3b
1to3 47%
4to6 2%
None 51%
7to9 0%
10 or more 0%
The organization I work for 12%
I pay my own way 9%
WHO USUALLY PAYS FOR YOU TO ATTEND THESE?
The hosting organization (CVB, hotel, convention center) 87%
Making a List Getting the most out of a fam requires a certain amount of research prior to arrival. First, what type of trip will this be?
“I like to know upfrontwhatmy fam is going to be like,”
Sparks said. “Is it going to be more meeting space, or is it going to be an intro to the city at large? What are my atten- dees going to experience when they get off the plane? Give me the layout up front of what my experience is going to be like.” Courtney Clements, education and meetings adminis-
trator for the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Americas Office, does a lot of pre-fam research. “Obviously space is a huge [criterion],” she said, “as well as ease of entry, both into and out of convention centers—obviously unions have a part to play in that. We work with Freeman and Champion, and it depends on if they have an office or a location there.”
‘You Never Really Know’
A year ago, Cindy Savery, CEM,CMP—meeting plan- ner for the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) —went on a fam trip to a city she didn’t know much about. What she found there surprised her.
A few of my peers told me I should look into this city. So I did my research on the web, and it looked—at least on paper—like a good fit. For a few years, the city’s CVB rep had been asking me on fams, but I had always said, “No, thank you.” So I finally went on this fam trip and fell “in like” with the city, its people, and the convention center. From
54 pcma convene February 2011
Creating a checklist to keep track of all these bits and
pieces is worthwhile. Ahaesy says that such a checklist should include all the things a planner would need to see while vis- iting the destination, such as hotel rooms, function space, and public spaces, in addition to other, less obvious items, such as travel and arrival details. “Pay attention when you arrive,” Ahaesy said, “to how
the baggage handling is, how the airport is, how long it takes to get to the venue—those little travel things.” Taking pho- tos and keeping notes, she said, can prove helpfulwhen eval- uating the destination after the trip has ended and you’re trying to summarize your impressions back at the office. In addition to the size of the convention facility, includ-
ing exhibit halls, registration areas, and meeting rooms, Sav- ery has more subjective items on her checklist. These include where the hotels are in relation to the convention center; what’s around the center itself, including shopping and din- ing; and the city’s crime rate and environmental sensitivity.
the hotels, to the shopping, to the airport, and safety issues —all these criteria, as well as cost, proved to be a good fit for ACRP.
I put this city on our list to be considered, and the board voted on it, along with two other cities, to be sited and con- sidered. Since I went there on a fam, I did not need to go on a site visit, which I did to the other two selected locations.
We put all of these on our grid, scored them, and now this city will be voted on during ACRP’s next board meeting as a possible location for our annual conference four years from now. So you never really know, until you see for yourself what a city has to offer.