As the group travel market continues its slow but steady return to health, what will your company be doing to remain competitive? The economy is improving, but the key thing is, meeting plan- ners are still working in a short-staffed environment.While there are organizations that are adding staffers, they are still not back at full strength—even though the meetings they are producing are quickly rebounding.We’ve added new services, faster delivery, and easier ordering so planners can count on us to get what they need with less work and ease their concerns. Our website now allows users to see what products will look like with the colors they select and with their logos placed.
What is your company doing to help planners meet their goals for sustainability andcorporate social responsibility? pc/nametag is offering planners more green choices—and “green” is a mul- tifaceted animal. It’s not just recyclables; it’s products that canbe recycled, prod- uctsmade fromrecycledmaterials, prod- ucts that weigh less and use less fuel, and products that can have additional uses after the event. Sustainability is a tweak- ing process, and if everyone does a lit- tle, it canhave a major impact. Most people want to do something;
however, there are greater costs and sometimes ramifications that onewouldn’t expect. For instance, organic cotton resulted in higher rates of malaria in Africa because fewer pesticides were used. Many products from Asia promise one thing and deliver another once inspectors leave. Some products travel back and forth across the ocean before they reach the market. pc/nametag has made an effort to have more and more products made here in the United States to reduce fuel costs, assure our customers of the compositionof the materials, and promote fair wages. Planners are only willing to pay a certain amount more for
green. By providing short delivery times—for example, a few days for tote bags—we prevent clients from having to guess three months in advance how many attendees they will have and to waste thousands of dollars in excess totes and higher freight costs. Getting North Americans back to work is also part of the picture.
80 pcma convene January 2011
How are younger CVB andmeeting professionals changing the industry? Which of these changes do you appreciate, and which would you prefer didn’t happen? The digital age is the major difference. The younger profes- sionals are more electronically oriented and use social media and broadcast transmission more. But the senior planners are only a few steps behind. All of this can make us better mar- keters in getting people to our meetings, and better educators in providing attendees and non-attendees with the knowledge they need. One thing I have noted is that younger people don’t value relationships as much, and while that can seem to be more effi- cient in the shorter term, in the long term senior planners know that when you need to get the job done, relationships will come through. Social-media rela- tionships help that, but can’t replace it— which is why meetings continue to grow.
What innovations in the realm of social media/networking and technology in general will your company be pursuing in 2011 and going forward? Massive improvements to our website will make the shopping experience even better. Easier searching, more product information, and the ability to “see
before you buy” with your colors and logo are just some of the improvements that have been made and that will continue to be made. Videos showing how to do things have been added, as have educational blogs, tips, and advice. Being able to transmit images, confirmations, and track-
ing numbers allmake shopping by the planner easier and plan- ning registration more relaxing. Many other new online improvements are in the works. Additionally, we keep mak- ing progress in our social-media sites, and look forward to great progress in this area.
LITTLE STEPS: “Sustainability is a tweaking process,” saidNick Topitzes. “If everyone does a little, it can have a major impact.”