Convention Bureaus 4.0.

A leap into the future of Convention Bureaus

I agree with the saying that “prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future”, and this is especially the case when it comes to our industry, primarily due to its complexity and heterogeneity. The fundamental difference between public, public-private and private convention bureaus can in detail be rather large, but overall they are mostly all on the same mission – improving the visibility of their members and enabling the development of meeting destinations through effective marketing.

This year we’ve carried out a series of interviews with the industry’s leading representatives, who normally have to face questions on the future of convention bureaus. For your reflection and consideration we’ve combined the most interesting ideas and proposals into the following ten trends.

Before we list them out, however, it’s helpful to give you some information provided by IT giant Oracle that set out that since the year 2000 as many as 52% (more than half!) from a list of the five hundred largest companies in the USA have collapsed because they did not properly adjust to the digital age.

We live in a period of mushrooming convention bureaus operating in a highly competitive environment and facing a series of challenges that are spurred by rapid digitalization.

Their method of work as we know it today is not comparable with that of ten years ago. Here you can read about the trends, keywords and new professions that I believe will come to shape future convention bureaus.

1. Smart specialisation

The era of every meetings destination applying itself to every market is definitely over. Competition has become so great that only smart specialization in one of the destination’s products, the one that is strategically etched into its DNA, is the clear option. Smart specialization, or ‘clustering’ (the old name, but it goes just as well for the same story), is a mode of integration and performance that has proved to be extremely useful in terms of adding benefit and improving the competitiveness of participating partners.

Keyword: Smart specialization / New Profession: Cluster Coach

2. A Culture of Co-working

Convention bureaus need to create an ecosystem and support environment for the whole community. An awareness of community interests over the interests of individual members will be at the heart of bureaus of the future. It will be a new culture based on cooperation, mutual assistance, and knowledge sharing, rather than on lobbying, elitism, and forms of Masonic congress lodges. Closing borders and creating impossible conditions for entry will be the death knell for our community of the future.

Keyword: Co-working / New profession: Community manager

3. Local Event Incubators

Smart destinations modeled on start-up accelerators encourage the formation of local events that are tied to a specific destination for the long term. In putting this in place, a destination becomes independent of current conditions in the international marketplace and in selecting and development events there will be professional Meeting Designers on hand to help, who with their set of tools will be able to identify the projects’ key benefits.

Keyword: Events Incubator / New Profession: Meeting Designer

4. ‘Off the Beaten Track’ Marketing

The greatest consumer of available capital for innovative marketing are the large business events or trade shows, so much so that it seems that destinations have become hostage to their extremely costly marketing formats. In terms of presence, marketing of this kind is driven by a sense of ego – just think of the form and format of the imagery in the sumptuous stands. If you are very well informed and aware of your target group, however, there are a plethora of other, more effective marketing channels: direct, digital or guerrilla are all at your disposal.

Keyword: Off the Beaten Track Marketing / New profession: Chief Strategy Officer

5. Convention Bureaus as Media Houses

The key competency of Convention Bureaus is the preparation of credible, high-quality and entertaining information for its partners and potential clients. As a rare source of independent information, this feature is a perfect match with the world’s new media reality. The great advantage of such thinking is in an effective building of relationships with customers, which cannot be replaced by any other marketing tool in B2B marketing.

Keyword: Content Marketing / New Profession: President of Content

6. Crowdselling Communications Networks

Smart convention bureaus are nowadays already developing their own distribution networks through which they communicate with their potential clients. The basis for this is in a good database of customers supported by sophisticated digital marketing, with all of a destination’s stakeholders included in the system that is based on the principle of a platform for mass financing, creating a form of crowdselling communication platform.

Keyword: Crowdselling Communication / New Profession: Interventionist

7. Pop-up Convention Bureaus

The future will reveal time-limited, ‘Pop-Up’ convention bureaus that will be formed for a short time only and even for a specific project. Their work will not be limited by high fixed costs, as their aim will be highly project-oriented. In certain destinations, they may even present serious competition to the traditional convention bureaus.

Keyword: Pop-Up Convention Bureau / New Profession: Fusionist

8. Start-up Accelerators

Accelerators of start-up companies associated with the meetings industry are an integral part of a destination’s success stories – business mentoring, co-working spaces, start-up capital for a new creative PCO, DMC, Incentive agencies…any of these could accelerate the development of destination and will soon become a reality in our industry for its new development breakthroughs.

Keyword: MICE Start-Ups / New Profession: Start-up Architect

9. E-Logistics and Open System Solutions

Cloud computing , open source software, big data, the internet of things and the internet of the future, built-in smart systems, smart convention centres...all of these are fast becoming a reality in our industry, which is increasingly driven by e-logistics.

Keyword: E-logistics / New profession: Data Specialist

10. Creative Junction

Convention bureaus of the future will become creative junctions that will be driven by innovation and the competence of their partners, not by the scale of their capacities. In doing so, the values of openness, inclusive community, connectedness and involvement in various local and global political and social networks with a similar way of thinking will take on a key meaning.

Keyword: Creative Hubs / New Profession: Creative Thinkers

Several bureaus around Europe are already making steady movements in the directions outlined above, particularly so the Scandinavian destinations. By their structure, knowledge and use of technology, however, many bureaus are still deep in the analogue age and for that reason some additional fields have been listed and that were recognized by our co-speakers as being essential for the immediate transition from the analogue to the digital era.

Structural areas: PIECE TOGETHER

The foundation for a successful transition to phase 4.0 is to ensure the appropriate structure and infrastructure of your Convention Bureau. Through discourse, five structural areas have been identified that are the basis for any further development of a destination:

1. Transparency of Membership: Clear entry requirements for admission to the Convention Bureau, based on measurable and comparable criteria.

2. Quality Assurance: Through transparent standardization of members’ quality the congress offer can be assured.

3. Independent Presentation of Destination: Providing neutral, objective and professional information about the congress offer.

4. Managing the Destination: Caring for the load capacity of a destination and balance of the business members’ objectives against the public interest.

5. Fair Trade: Objective and fair arrangements between buyers and congress facilities providers.

Marketing fields: FORWARD THINKING

Among the countless destinations in the meetings industry sector, visibility is of primary competitive advantage: ‘Meeting planners have no other chance to identify us as the right choice, if they cannot differentiate us from other destinations’.

Nearly every meetings destination is fighting desperately for the attention of meeting planners. Today, a superb service is a given, so the sealing of a deal will hang upon whether the destination is different from the others and if a good story behind it has been created. Meeting planners are buying into a lifestyle, which is why you should immediately consider the kind of marketing activities that will keep you not only in the game but ahead of it.

Marketing Must-do's:

1. Big Data Marketing: As we operate in the organisation market, collecting data on customers is the first step to even begin with for marketing. Data on customers needs to be systematically collected at all points at which you come into contact with them.

2. Content Marketing: Using content marketing you will be able to offer meeting planners the stories of the destination, which are highly important for them. As a result, your customers will reward you with loyalty – and buying.

3. Content Marketing Platforms: Content marketing needs to be adapted to the entire digital marketing ecosystem. For starters, this includes the advanced web open source anchor, responsive design, profound analytics and integration with social networks.

4. Social Media Marketing: Social media and content marketing are nowadays a winning combination, as they are boosters of your destination stories. Surprisingly, many destinations are completely passive, or even inactive, in this sphere.

5. Direct Marketing: On a database of recorded activities a series of direct marketing activities, which do have an effect on the B2B market, can also be carried out.

I am often asked how I imagine the future of Convention bureaus to be. Usually, I tell them that we should start to learn from the best start-up companies that invest heavily in new knowledge and products. If you are able to sell more quality and more valued services, customers will be more satisfied, thereby the profit will also be higher.

Without setting out these basic activities, surviving as a Convention Bureau in the competitive market will be a challenge. Above all, you will need to know how to listen and to have your own ideas.

The meetings industry is changing irreversibly – and fast.

Meeting design thinking is penetrating deeper and is changing the culture of events and destinations. Therefore, it is already necessary to start thinking about new business models for the future, today.

Read more on: KONGRES MAGAZINE