Huntsville, Alabama
Although group fam tours provide economies of scale, they have to be more general to accommodate more people. So for meeting planners, the Huntsville/Madison County Convention and Visitors Bureau “prefers to do individual or small group fams to really focus on the needs of the participants,” said Charles Winters, executive vice president.
Sales staff connects with planners at trade shows and solicits appropriate groups. But before arranging a fam trip, the CVB talks extensively with planners to make sure the event is a good fit for Huntsville and vice versa, Winters said. That’s because the CVB wants to “overdeliver” on expectations, he said, not overextend itself.
“Throughout the process, we listen; we ask, ‘What are your needs, and what are your wants?’ and we listen,” Winters said. “They tell us, and it’s our job to make everything work.”
However, it’s also important to know when to pass on an event that isn’t a good fit, he added.
“We will never host the Republican National Convention or the Olympics, and we don’t need to try,” Winters said with a laugh.
Fam tours vary greatly for each planner, but the CVB usually showcases the Von Braun Center, an indoor arena, meeting and performing arts complex, as well as the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, where groups can hold events under a Saturn 5 rocket, and attendees can try out spaceflight simulators, Winters said.
Just next door to the space center is the Huntsville Botanical Garden, and downtown boasts event space at the Huntsville Museum of Art, Alabama Constitution Village and the EarlyWorks Children’s Museum, he said.
Rochester, Minnesota
Although the Rochester Convention and Visitors Bureau does both group and individual fam tours, it’s about 80 percent individual trips, said executive director Brad Jones.
“No two events are the same, so we can cater more to the direct needs of that event and be more specific with what we’re showcasing,” Jones said.
The CVB averages about eight individual fam tours each month, Jones said, and usually one group trip per year. Oftentimes, the group fam will spur several individual fams for people who want details that they didn’t get on the general group trip, Jones said.
“When we bring people here, and they actually kick the tires, we end up booking or partnering with that person almost 70 percent of the time,” Jones said. “We know that to move the discussion to the next level, they have to get here; they have to see it and feel it.”
Although it’s fun for planners to experience the VIP side of things during a fam trip, it’s important for planners to “see things through the eyes of an attendee,” Jones said. He also recommends that planners be clear about what they want to see and how they can best use their time. Jones said the CVB also tries to bring in planners during a similar event so they can see how a venue could be used or even talk to that event’s planner about the experience.
The CVB usually tries to include a stop at the Mayo Clinic campus and introduce planners to the history and culture of the world’s largest nonprofit; the CVB also likes to take planners on a trolley tour of the city “to give them a lay of the land,” Jones said.
