investment — as Albuquerque recently learned. While the city’s aviation leaders had attended the Boyd Aviation summit before, they’d never participated as hosts. It made a world of difference. And with airlines having suffered in the economic downturn, the tim- ing “couldn’t have been more perfect,” said Jim Hinde, director of the City of Albuquerque Aviation Depart- ment, to show off the city’s aviation history and New Mexico’s future as a commercial spaceport. “The immediate and major benefit to us,” Hinde
said, “was to be able to bring together airline CEOs and top hitters in the aviation industry, network, and spin that off in different economic opportunities.”
investment and impact on the local economy. “One thing we always struggle with as bureaus is that it’s hard to get apples-to-apples comparisons on value,” Benedick said. “This tool gives us a baseline that is consistent, reliable, and robust.” While national studies like the Economic Signifi-
Christine Shimasaki
‘These are sophisticated calculations.’
cance Study are essential in creating standardized parameters to judge the economic impact of meet- ings and events, Shimasaki said, they’re expensive, become outdated quickly, and are difficult to apply to local markets. “Quantifying the economic value of an event is what DMOs are passionate about,” she said. “We really need to educate people who
A BETTER BASELINE As the country and the world continue their slow emergence from recession, CVB and DMO leaders will need to continue identifying different economic opportunities and fight for every line item of funding — which is where bottom-line, dollar-driven value truly becomes part of the equation. Even in good economic times, the importance of articulating and quantifying the overall impact of meetings and conventions to local stakeholders remains constant. “There is a greater desire by everyone to really understand the economic impact of what they’re doing,” said Christine
“Shimo” Shimasaki, CDME, CMP, managing director of the
EmpowerMINT.com program for Destination Marketing Associations International (dmai), which last year intro- duced a new tool called the Event Impact Calculator. “We’re in an era where more sophistication is required for invest- ments of any kind of dollars.” For years, Denver measured the value of its meetings and
events by the size of the room blocks they generated, accord- ing to Rachel Benedick, vice president of sales and services for Visit Denver. But as Internet deals flourished, attendees increasingly began booking rooms outside contracted hotels, and businesses would report strong sales without linking the increase to convention attendees. Something had to be done, Visit Denver realized, to connect the dots between meetings and the local economy. So last year, the bureau began using the Event Impact Cal-
culator, joining more than 80 other DMOs that have adopted the tool, which, instead of focusing solely on direct spend, esti- mates the economic impact of an event by looking at revenues, job creation, and economic stimulus. The calculator draws data — updated yearly — from eight sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Oxford Economics, the CIC’s Economic Significance Study, and dmai’s own historical database. Users input event type, industry focus, duration, and year of event; number and type of attendees; and any available informa- tion on event costs and contract values. They get back a comprehensive estimate of the return on
56 PCMA CONVENE MAY 2012
are making decisions about investment dollars, from Capitol Hill to the city council, to support the ongoing growth of the industry.” Shimasaki added: “We’ve never had the ability to really
articulate the impact on jobs or to easily quantify local taxes, because these are gray areas. These are sophisticated calcula- tions, and it’s not one number [for every CVB]. Past studies came up with a per-delegate-spend number, and now we have the ability to get way beyond that.” Early adopters say the ability to quantify hidden areas
of revenue has been the biggest benefit to using the Event Impact Calculator. “Our leadership and stakeholders have always understood that meetings are a critical part of our economy, but a lot of the information we had before came from surveying visitors,” said Nikki Moon, vice president of convention sales for the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau. “The calculations that we’re coming up with now are not as random as a visitor survey might be. They are very specific and very quantifiable.” And all of that goes back to the No. 1 lesson that the
industry has learned during the years of the Great Reces- sion and the AIG Effect: Meetings are a big deal — but you can’t assume anyone else knows that. “I’m passionate about this,” Albuquerque’s Lockett said. “The meetings industry has become so important from an economic standpoint to our community. It’s not even close to what it was 10 years ago. You cannot get corporations to relocate to your destination unless it’s a desirable place to be — and you need people to experience it. We are aggressive about going after groups that will have long-term benefits to our community.”
.
Corrie Dosh is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn. ON THE WEB
+
› Read Convene’s comprehensive report on CIC’s Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy study at
convn.org/economic-study.
› Learn more about DMAI’s Event Impact Calculator at
convn.org/dmai-impact.
PCMA.ORG
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