Arecord number of meeting planners and travel industry representatives came to Little Rock, Arkansas, September 27-29, for the sixth annual Small Market Meetings Conference. Attendees engaged in five hours of one-on-one marketplace meetings over two days and heard from a stirring motivational speaker and other travel industry educators.
“It’s about relationships in the travel and meeting industries,” said Joe Cappuzzello, president and CEO of the Small Market Meetings Conference. “This gave them the foundation to start those relationships. After having that initial discussion, meeting planners went home and, hopefully, will make that follow-up call later.”
Delegates had opportunities to interact outside the marketplace to keep the relationship building going at meal functions, sightseeing tours and entertainment events.
“I love this conference because it inspires me with new ideas,” said Barbara Kiker, a travel agent and meeting planner with Barleigh Travel Collection in Springfield, Virginia. “I love the idea of not just booking the ‘A’ cities but also the ‘B’ cities because of their value and the exciting things to do there. I love this format. It puts me in touch with people I would never get to meet.”
Jodie English Brown, director of sales at the 1886 Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, couldn’t agree more.
“I look at trade shows to generate leads. It’s my job to book them, especially when I most need the business. The ideal lead is for midweek, February. That’s a slower travel time, and I got a lead this morning. The client has 100 people to bring and said he would have never thought of coming to Arkansas before he heard my presentation.”
Rita Corbinook of the Conference Resource Center in Bay Point, California, was impressed by how well suppliers were prepared to greet planners.
“It created organization and focus for a very quick, productive meeting so you get a snapshot of a property and information for follow-up,” she said.
John Koon of JEK Consulting in San Francisco, nicknamed “The Godfather” of SMMC because of his frequent attendance, was on a “fishing expedition,” too.
“I’m planting seeds right now,” he said. “Each time I attend a conference, I get educated and meet buyers who want to do business. That makes me want to come back.”
One attendee said travel and meeting sales are a process.
“You can email and send videos all you want, but it’s face-to-face connections that really start things off on the best foot,” said Amy Schmidt of Visit Wichita, who wanted to meet planners targeting smaller cities like hers.
Another delegate said she’s busy trying to meet the needs of a client that loves variety.
“I have a medical group with 50 physicians who want to go somewhere different every four months for their board meeting,” said Brenda Glass, director of sales for Site Search out of New Port Richey, Florida.
The conference drew meeting planners from a wide variety of organizations, but all had the same purpose: finding new meeting sites.
“Sometimes it’s good to learn about small destinations and to make contacts outside of first-tier cities,” said Jamal Hageb of the American Bar Association. “I’m also educating myself on price points. This is awesome.”
John Gailer, from the National Dropout Prevention Center in Clemson, South Carolina, was scouting possible locales.
“We do four or five events around the country each year for educators, administrators and state departments of education where we have practitioners from everywhere present what’s working for them in dropout prevention,” said Gailer.
The Association of Air Medical Services out of Alexandria, Virginia, was represented by Natasha Ross.
“Many things our association and foundation do happen in smaller cities that I have no knowledge of,” said Ross. “This seemed an ideal place to get new information. The conference has been fantastic for me, in that respect.”
