Here’s how to earn your CEU hour. Test Time Once you finish reading this CMP Series article, read the following material:
“Convention Centers: Unraveling the Mystery,” a chapter from Professional Meeting Management, Fifth Edition, available at the CMP Series link below (or Chapter 14 in the print edition, pp. 197–212).
To earn one hour of CEU credit, visitwww.pcma.org/convenecmp to answer questions about the information contained within this CMP Series article and the PMM5 chapter.
The Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) is a registered trademark of the Convention Industry Council.
Communication—Now More Than Ever All of this feeds into what Evoniuk says should be the No. 1 area of focus for planners who are pursuing a meeting at a center that is still being built: communication. “It’s critical to have an open and transparent dialogue with the operations aspect of the facility, not just your salespeople,” she said. “Develop a relationship early enough in the process so that you have an open communication channel throughout the planning and construction phase.” For example, if you establish a robust dialogue early, it will
be easier to request timelines for different stages of construc- tion, or to collect a list of all the things you’re concerned about, and have those concerns addressed ahead of time. Last fall,
Philadelphia—where Evoniuk serves on theCVB’s customer advisory board—handled this in a proactive manner. “They sat down with all of us,” Evoniuk said, “and asked [regard- ing the Pennsylvania Convention Center], ‘What are the things that can sidetrack us? What should we be looking out for?’” Evoniuk said that the group of 15 meeting planners gath-
ered together there were able to run through a huge list of questions and issues to look out for, and the building was able to proactively address those things. She said: “That’s a great best practice for any planner.” One way that communication will be easier is if the new facility is a replacement for an existing center, rather than a continued on page 58