Meeting Planner Perspective

"The CVB Factor", written by Brian Doty

As the workload for the meeting professional continues to increase, savvy meeting professionals are looking for efficiencies to successfully complete their work without adding significant costs to the bottom line. One of the smartest options available has been around for quite some time—the convention and visitors bureau or CVB.

While CVBs serve as a marketing agent for a city or geographic region, many offer a variety of programs that are designed to make doing business in their represented area easier. Most of these services are provided to the meeting professional at little or no cost. These services help the meeting professional in a variety of ways. The services range from site selection to housing management and registration staffing.

The primary advantage of using a CVB is that the staff is familiar with the area. When a meeting budget gets cut, the first line item that hits the chopping block is the site visit. Therefore it is advantageous to work with the CVB as they are familiar with the area and can make solid recommendations on the services available in the area. The CVB staff will have close relationships with the venues and other vendors allowing them to communicate your needs effectively.

The meeting professional should take advantage of the mission of the CVB. CVBs are designed to market their region for the express purpose of driving the local economy and tax base. If you need help driving attendance to your program, reach out to the CVB. They have the talent and resources to assist you with attracting attendees and are willing to provide collateral and will assist with mail campaigns.

If you are worried about attrition in multiple venue housing blocks, many CVBs offer housing management. They can receive your attendee hotel requests and process them in accordance with your contracted room block requirements for each property. Several CVBs have added internet applications to make this process easier for the attendee and provide the meeting professional with reports via the web on demand.

If you are finding that your workload has increased and your budget has been reduced, I would definitely recommend establishing a partnership with the CVB in your meeting city. They will be glad to help and in the end, you will be glad you called as you will be able to once again flawlessly execute a meeting with fewer resources.