 Spotlight Feature: Planners Talk Budgets
By Timothy Herrick, Editorial Director
The state of the economy remains top of mind for the meetings industry. Destination and Facility executives might agree that a buyer’s market atmosphere persists, but Planners have their own stress when it comes to budget. There is more pressure to improve the Return on Investment of a meeting and Planners must know where to use their scalpels: when can a budget item be trimmed or even removed, and which line items are vital organs, where cutting could threaten the entire event. At the ASAE Springtime Expo 2011, held April 28th at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C., we talked to Meeting Planners about their budgets, what to cut and what to not. Although all planners seem to be coping with tighter budgets, how they cope is very different. What is cut and what is left alone depends on the type of event and the attendees the meeting is there to serve.
 Maureen Thompson, Director of Events, Association of School Business Officials International
You don’t want to cut down the program content, or the technology used. What food items offered during the breaks can be a place to save money. For instance, you can just have coffee for instance, because everybody is still filled from breakfast. Food & Beverage has the most wiggle room in how you can reduce or cut costs, but look at the in-between breaks and the snacks offered, not the actual meals. If you can cut a little in a lot of places that can accomplish your goals.
 Andrea Berry, Director, Outreach and Events, Aircraft Owner & Pilot Association
Most of our attendees pay for out of pocket, so food is something that can’t really be cut. They’re coming to socialize and the quality of the food is an important part of the events. Food is what we get the most feedback on. You have to pick the right destination and we’ve been lucky, alternating between the East and West coast. The destination is a real draw and we haven’t seen reductions in attendance so we’ve been lucky and haven’t had severe cutbacks. The easiest cutback can be marketing, because you can use things like social media to market and that lowers the cost compared to print.
 Kathleen O'Driscoll, Operations Manager, National Trade Productions Inc.
I can only speak for trade show and exhibition floors. Amenities and decorations, such as floral arrangements, those have been the first to go. Exhibitors are going lean and mean, but there are two schools of thought. For some exhibitors it is better to have a large booth, to show you have strength and resiliency in tougher times. They feel customers need to see that. Other exhibitors just go with a smaller booth. The size of the booth reflects the amount of sales people. If it is a small booth, they won’t be sending as many people. A significant number of companies are choosing not to attend an event, than to shrink the size of their booth.
 Kelly A. Gull, Manager, Faculty Programs, American Society for Microbiology
The presentation technology is very important. We do a lot of posters, but also the speakers need the presentation technology, especially the internet connection. You can’t cut that out or even reduce it, but I am looking for technology to be part of packages and not pay for it ala carte. I handle the educational content. Education is why the people attend the meeting, so you do not want to cut anything that diminishes that content.
 Lashawn Maloy, Director of Conferences & Member Services, Association of Defense Communities
The area you can save money is on the room rental fee for the meeting space. That item has the most wiggle room when it comes to booking the meeting. If you can bring in the numbers for the hotel room and the meals, at least for my meetings, than you negotiate the meeting space fees in your favor, sometimes the meeting space can be free. We are also cutting down some of the food. Instead of a full wet bar, just serve wine, but of course, you can call it a wine tasting and it can be just as successful.
 Vickie Clancy, Meeting Planning Specialist, NeighborWorks America
We’re a government organization and budgets are still being cut so we are looking for cost savings at every level. More attendees are paying for the meetings out of pocket, so you don’t want to reduce the content. You need a destination that will partner with you so that you can offer appealing price points to attendees. The recession may be getting better in some sectors, but in the government meeting category tight budgets will be with us at least through this year.
 Beverly A. Litsinger, President, Association & Meeting Management
If you have to cut, food & beverage is the easiest place to save some money. What you don’t cut is the marketing. You have to continually find better ways to market your meeting. Our meetings haven’t had the same budget cuts because we provide good content and we market aggressively. You can’t rely on the same attendees coming back every year, you have to market to new attendees to grow the meetings.
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