Indicators show that meetings and conventions is still a growth industry. How can entrepreneurs tap into and help grow the sector?

The meetings industry has been a hotter than usual topic lately. Take Halifax, for example. Last year the headlines were dominated by a wrestling match between the city and province over the funding for a new convention centre to replace the aging and smallish World Trade and Convention Centre built in 1984. Fredericton recently opened its new downtown convention centre in January, although its genesis was still fraught with community angst during the planning phase. 

Naysayers believe convention centres are risky developments that can become white elephants built and maintained at taxpayers’ expense. Some point to a
lethal combination of a lingering U.S. recession and advancements in technology that make face-to-face meetings obsolete. 

Proponents see convention centres as economic development engines, which is why they’re traditionally built and operated by public authorities in downtown cores rather than in less-expensive industrial park or suburban locations. Take Fredericton’s recent experience. “We placed our convention centre downtown by the waterfront, so there’s a transfer effect into the Beaverbrook Art Gallery for off-site receptions, as well as into our downtown for gift shopping and restaurants,” says David Seabrook, the manager of Fredericton Tourism. “We wanted a physical location where the economic transfer is maximized.”

But the question remains: Is this a dying industry? 

According to Meetings & Incentive Travel magazine, the Bible for Canada’s meetings, conferences, convention, and incentive travel industry (MC&IT), the sector is worth $20 billion annually. And while Atlantic Canada hasn’t been as diligent in tracking its share of that market in dollars, according to Destination Halifax, the destination marketing organization that attracts visitors to the Halifax area, the meetings industry is worth $80 million a year to Nova Scotia’s capital region. 

Brenda Walsh, who sells Newfoundland and Labrador as a destination to the meetings industry, says the MC&IT market in her province is strong, and growth continues year over year. “Last year we surpassed totals for 2009 by approximately 10%,” she says. “The outlook remains robust, with confirmed business showing another good year in 2011.”

In 2010, Saint John hosted 248 conferences and meetings attended by 23,589 delegates who booked 20,055 room nights. It was an increase of 22 events compared to 2009. Conventions and meetings were worth $8.8 million to the city’s economy in 2010. “As far as food and beverage numbers, this could be fairly substantial as well, when you factor in the larger national conventions that could spend as much as $50,000 to $100,000 alone just at the hotel,” says Shawna Dickie-Garnhum, the sales manager for Saint John Destination Marketing. “I don’t see the conventions and meetings market as a dying industry at all. If you’re gathering information from the other Atlantic Canadian cities, I think you’ll find that this market is quite substantial.” 

Skeptics also believe there has been a downward trend during the recession because meetings were getting smaller in terms of delegate numbers, but in fact there were actually more meetings and events occurring. “With our convention centre opening, we’re seeing the opportunity for larger events unfold,” says Seabrook. “The centre will have a positive impact because our capacity to deliver larger events with more delegates using multiple hotels is increased. So in raw terms, we expect it to have a positive economic effect.”

This puts Fredericton in the game for larger meetings the city wasn’t able to host before. “I think there was a bit of a sense that things like Go To Meetings and online technology and teleconferencing was going to diminish the meetings market, but I think these things are cyclical,” says Seabrook. “After a couple of years of restraint, the pattern tends to be to discover that meeting face-to-face has value, and that the industry comes back around.”

Charlottetown is also betting on the future with a new convention centre slated to open in 2013. Jo-Ann Thomsen, who markets the Island to the industry, has already seen interest from clients who previously had to bypass the city. 

Scott Ferguson, the president and CEO of Trade Centre Limited, which operates Halifax’s World Trade and Convention Centre, agrees there are no trends showing a decline in meetings. “If anything, technology is proving to be an asset to meetings,” he says. “It’s able to connect people in different ways at meetings, so in fact it has become an enhancement.”

In a world where communication is so easy and anonymous, face-to-face is still key to building relationships on which businesses thrive. According to the International Congress and Convention Association, 8,000 meetings happen annually, and there’s no trend information that suggests those numbers are decreasing. “I think because the meetings industry isn’t as high profile as some sports, many people don’t understand the business component of it,” says Ferguson. “The first layer is that it’s lucrative, business-wise, because of the tax and job generation. Beyond that is being strategic in who we’re going after, and that means partnering with sectors that we [as a province] are going to invest in. Some benefits are tougher to measure, so we need to create a clear score card that doesn’t just focus on taxes and jobs, stay-overs, and pre- and post-activity, but other benefits we can identify and measure on an annual basis.”

And that’s what competitor destinations do. For example, Montreal beat out Guadalajara, Mexico, to host the World Information Technology and Services Alliance 18th World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) in 2012. Described as the Davos of IT, Montreal wanted to host the WCIT to support its IT sector. Why? Because the conference attracts 3,000 international delegates and 50,000 trade show attendees. But the big plus is high-profile attendees like the CEOs of IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, HP, Hitachi, Samsung, LG, Airbus, Boeing, and Toyota, as well as such people as Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and the head of China Telecom, which has 500 million customers. 

The 2008 WCIT generated $3.6 billion in business, according to Marie-France Polidori, the international business development manager for the Montreal Convention Centre. “We looked at what it brings to the industry, which is a focus on Montreal, that will help promote even better some of our real commercial objectives,” she says, “one of which
was to consolidate our position as a centre for IT.”

“We aren’t only here to generate economic spinoff, we’re here also to generate intellectual spinoff,” adds Polidori. “For example, sometimes the end objective for a medical congress is to showcase the city for that science and for future scientists who might be interested in practicing in Montreal. The first objective is to have the meeting, to fill the hotels, but there are also other objectives that meet a long-term vision for the city.”

What are the opportunities?

To understand where opportunities exist, entrepreneurs need to grasp and differentiate between the components of the industry. For example, an incentive travel program isn’t simply a fun time, it’s a reward earned by a company’s top performers or key clients. They have worked hard to earn a place on the incentive, so companies want them treated to an incredible experience that will inspire them to work as hard in the future. 

While an incentive is more active and mobile, a conference or meeting has a more formal structure, which typically keeps it based in a convention centre or host hotel. That doesn’t mean the program doesn’t go off-site for social or team-building events or allow time for delegates to explore on their own.

Opportunity exists for local entrepreneurs who can provide an exclusive, upscale, one-of-a-kind product or authentic experience. Potential suppliers must keep an open mind. They can work with the event planner or host property, or both. There’s the potential to take a group to a unique venue. There are opportunities to provide locally made, high-end products as speaker’s gifts or to include in delegate bags or as pillow gifts. 

For groups in the meetings sector that have booked space for their business sessions at a convention centre or hotel, they’ll likely want to go off-site for at least one evening. “With our groups, a lot of them go looking for unique venues and events, such as lobster boils on the beach,” says Mary Ellen Davies, the director of sales for Rodd Hotels & Resorts. While Rodd can accommodate groups on the beach at its Crowbush Cove Golf Resort on Prince Edward Island’s north shore, staff can also take groups to such popular spots as the Charlottetown Driving Park for dinner. 

Elizabeth Newman is the vice-president of sales and marketing for Halifax’s RCR Hospitality Group, which hosts 1,700 groups a year at RCR’s array of restaurants and such venues as Pier 21 and Cunard Centre. Her company also works with Parks Canada, which doesn’t allow exclusive arrangements for its sites, so anyone who meets the criteria to respect the heritage of the venues can work with the vast collection of historic spaces in the Parks’ portfolio. 

Newman says that offering an “authentic and memorable” experience is key with visiting groups. Locals can not only supply venues and experiences but also everything from decor for trade shows to product for tables. 

“As much as we think we’re going to change things, it never fails when groups come to Halifax—they want to eat lobster,” says Newman. “That said, people’s tastes are becoming more refined and discriminating, so if you’re doing any gala dinners there are opportunities, particularly with local wines, to pair them with regional food. We’re working more and more with local producers, and we’re going to be working more closely with the folks at the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market developing menus featuring their products.” 

Ryan Dunne, the director of food and beverage at The Fairmont Algonquin in St. Andrews By-the-Sea, N.B., also works with local restaurateurs. Some groups opt for what’s known as a “dine-around.” The hotel planner will book space in a group of restaurants that delegates can walk to and have dinner at or arrange for a “progressive dinner,” where delegates eat a different course in each place. When it comes to payment, the planner will either pay the restaurant directly or have the cost added to the hotel’s master
account. 

Opportunities also exist for those who understand changing lifestyles such as healthy fare. For example, Fairmont launched a new “lifestyle menu” that focuses on nutrition, not diet. The traditional coffee break has been replaced with “nutrition breaks.” Coffee is still available, but it’s often organic and fair trade. Special dietary requests are one of the new minefields of the industry; people’s palates are not only more refined but they’re also peppered with food allergies and sensitivities. In the last five years, special meal requests at The Algonquin have risen by 20%. 

“You have to pay a great deal of attention to special requests,” says Newman. “For example, when we’re doing lobster we have to be very careful because there are so many seafood allergies.” It’s no longer enough to offer a meat alternative that suits vegetarians; the kitchen must also be prepared for vegans, as well as those who are gluten-free or diabetic. 

Changing lifestyles mean that traditional corporate team-building activities are also shifting. Instead of taking groups to a ropes course, where they work to overcome obstacles, participants are opting for such activities as the Culinary Institute of Canada’s boot camps, held at P.E.I.’s Holland College, where corporate teams work together to prepare meals for each other.

Opportunities exist for those who understand how to present their product or service as an experience to hotels, venues, and convention salespeople who in turn can sell that to clients. And remember, authenticity is key. “The opportunity exists for locals to get involved,” says Elizabeth Newman. “The groups don’t just want professionals,” she says. “They want to deal with local producers.” That could mean you.