LiveCon & Visit KC discuss a new era of citywide events

There is no doubt that all events are looking, feeling and engaging different these days.?But it’s a different level of different when it comes to citywide events.?LiveCon is managing housing needs for various events and we can tell you first hand that it’s officially a new era.?Don’t take it from us though; LiveCon President, Jason Rudoy sat down with Nathan Hermiston of Visit KC to comment on the concept of Citywides in 2022.?

What’s different now vs. pre-pandemic?

Nathan: From a meeting actualization standpoint – the decision to attend an event has never been more noticeable, meaning, conferences that many people attended in the past, the respective attendees are looking at their schedules, looking at their investments, and being more conscious with whether to attend or not. Attending the large citywide conventions in the past used to be standard procedure, but after nearly 2 years in a pandemic, there is less “FOMO” and more analyzing the true business need to be at these events and if they do attend, do they need to attend the full time or can they cut the trip by a day or two.

From a sourcing and bidding process, we have seen a significant drop in citywide sourcing, especially in the association space. We believe this is primarily because of two primary issues. One being many of these groups re-booked their next future open years with the very cities they were forced to cancel with. An organization with a convention that was supposed to have happened in 2020 pushed their meetings to those next open future year, so a convention we may have been tracking to bid on for 2024...well, now their next open year might be 2026. Further, we are seeing a lot of groups delaying their future opening year sourcing until they have one or two major events under their belt in a post-pandemic setting. Many organizations are seeing wild fluctuations with their attendance and meeting formats, and they simply do not have the information they need to properly source their future needs. So now, that RFP that we may have been tracking for 2024, that is now looking at 2026…..well the group may not be sourcing that for another year or two as they regroup themselves. It is just pushing everything back, and while I do think there will be significant pent-up citywide demand coming, I cannot with any degree of confidence tell you when a regular cadence of sourcing will open up so to speak. Meanwhile, suppliers must just keep working, maintain those relationships, and position your destination as best they can for when those opportunities do start coming in more consistently.?

How important is it to successfully manage the various housing blocks that are part of the event??

Nathan: Critically important. For hotels, room block management is one of the most important aspects of operating their hotels. Related -having that room block history and a week by week booking pace report that can be shared with partners is so critical because it allows your suppliers to be able to work with you on the fly as unusual trends may start to emerge as your group draws closer.?We stress to our sales and services team to get accurate room block history and identify significant variances from what the group is requesting or contracted with to what the group has actualized with in the past. Are the shoulders held correctly? Why are they contracted for 3 peak nights when their history only shows 2 peak nights? For the hotel partners, your group blocks are one piece of a multiple layered puzzle the hotels are trying to piece together every night to maximize their inventory.?

If you have to offer advice to any planner looking to successfully execute a citywide event, what would that be?

Nathan: Make sure your convention center and the headquarter and primary overflow hotel or hotels are secured first. Once those are secured, you can market the meeting with high confidence knowing the “tent poles” of your event are contractually secured and a good logistical experience will be had by all. After that, make sure your meeting is delivering the content your attendees desire and creating the marketplace your vendors want to be at. It is more difficult these days to attract attendees as we come out of the pandemic and getting people to invest their time is harder than it was before, so ensure the basics are covered – venue, hotels, content, marketplace – those are going to drive what is or is not considered a successful event.?

When do you reach out to an organization to help plan and execute the larger housing needs?

Nathan: The housing process never has a perfect start time as securing and analyzing historical room block pick up should be taking place even before the group is contracted, but once contracted, the rubber really starts to hit the road about 15-18 months out for traditional citywide groups. The housing bureaus will want to ensure all the contracts are signed, the terms and conditions are confirmed so everything can be built and loaded into the housing system. Hotels will start selling rooms on the open market 12 months out, so that 3-6 months before is an ideal time to ensure all the details are locked in. Now the actual housing may not open up 12 months out, but that gives you some time to ensure any last details are ironed out and rooms and room types are properly held. Once the housing is built, the organization can decide when to launch housing, and building some marketing messaging around that to generate excitement can be important to drive those reservations.?