UNIT 11 CONVENTION MANAGEMENT - IV
Structure
11.0 Objectives
11.1 Introduction
11.2 What is Post Convention Meeting?
11.3 Evaluation
11.4 Post Convention Behaviour
11.5 Key Models and Techniques
11.5.1 The SERVQUAL Technique
11.5.2 The Service Gap Concept
11.6 Importance of Uncontrollable Factors
11.7 Benchmarking and Post Convention Tasks
11.8 Internal Appraisal
11.9 Let Us Sum Up
11.10 Clues to Answer
11.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit you will be able to:
• appreciate the importance of post convention tasks,
• understand the process by which the post convention tasks should be handled, and
• know about the role of specialist review planners and their work profile.
11.1 INTRODUCTION
In the scenario of rising competition and increasing supplies it becomes imperative that all convention
planners, sponsors and all those associated with the convention be it centre or hotel managers come
together for a retrospective meeting and analyse where the faults lies and where there was room for
improvement. This kind of a meeting is absolutely essential given that everyday new properties i.e.
host venues are entering into the field and there are better prices and services being offered day by
day. In this Unit we will be tackling this issue and the seriousness of this aspect for all convention
managers. We will also be mentioning the tasks that need to be looked at when post convention
meeting are organised.
11.2 WHAT IS POST CONVENTION MEETING?
A “post-conference/convention meeting, as the name suggests is a meet ing organized after the
convention is over to make an assessment or appraisal of oneself. Here the staff has an opportunity to
critique the meeting. The purpose is not to point fingers or place fault, but to seriously evaluate the
process, the strengths an d weaknesses, good and not so good, why certain things happened, and what
was or was not done that did or didn’t help.
Other vital post meeting activities include writing the appropriate thank you notes, reviewing and
paying bills, and tipping and gift giving.
11.3 EVALUATION
A meeting is, practically, not over until it has been evaluated. The purpose of evaluation is to
ascertain whether or not the goals that were laid out during the conceptualisation phase were reached.
We had discussed the formation of goals in Unit ten, which have to be determined by the planners.
75
During the initial planning stages, the sponsor and planner determined the reasons for holding a
meeting in the first place. In evaluating the meeting, the sponsor and planner should return to these
goals and decide if they were actually met.
For instance, if a particular meeting’s main goal was to educate employees on how to use a new
computer system, the evaluation must centre on how effectively this information was conveyed.
Attendees should be asked direct questions, such as “Do you understand the new computer system
better?” and “Are you more likely to use this system now than you were before this meeting? If this
meeting had comfortable chairs, much publicity, and excellent food, but the employees did not,
understand the working of the new computer system then this convention was, strictly speaking, not
successful. In planning the next educational meeting, the sponsor and planner will want to make
specific changes to make sure that the goals of the meeting are actually met.
There are a number of different ways in which meetings or conferences can be evaluated. Smaller
meetings can be evaluated through informal methods. Comment cards and informal conversations
with the planner give attendees a chance to give general feedback. Sometimes after a meeting, a
sponsor or planner will telephone a few attendees and ask for their impression of the event.
Another method involves a focus group, which meets after the meeting, face to face to share specific
concerns regarding the meeting and to offer suggestions for improvement.
Formal methods, such as questionnaires or surveys, are more common ways of evaluating attendee’s
perceptions of the event. Questionnaires should be straightforward, short, and easy to understand. The
most effective time to distribute the survey is on-site, immediately after a workshop, convention or a
seminar. A representative from the sponsoring organization should emphasize how important the
survey is and ask attendees to complete and return it before they move on to the next event or pack up
for going home. If immediate return is not possible then the questionnaire should be mailed and
completed survey asked in return in postage - paid envelope.
Attendees usually appreciate the fact that their opinion counts and are often willing to give detailed
suggestions for improvement. Many attendees, however, prefer to simply check off their answer in
multiple- choice questions. Therefore, in order to increase the return rate, the survey should be
designed so that it can be easily and quickly completed.
Formal surveys can be tabulated by a computer company or, in the case of small sampling, by
individuals. The results will indicate what portions of the program attendees enjoyed and, even more
importantly, what portions they disliked. When the same complaint is repeated several times, then this
may be in indication that a change needs to be made in that portion of the program. Through
evaluation makes poor programs good and good programs excellent.
11.4 POST CONVENTION BEHAVIOUR
This is a combination of the attendee’s feeling after the convention is over. If the convention or the
meeting met or exceeded the expectations of the customers [satisfied the need and the want] the
response would be remembering the meeting as a positive experience and would be in all likelihood
repeated in future. What has to be kept in mind in this business is that the customer’s expectations
would be influenced by reference groups and claims made by the business. This is why it is dangerous
to raise the expectations of the potential customers or attendees through biased statements. The higher
the customer expectations, the more difficult it would be to meet them. An advertising line
summarizes it all – ‘under-promise and over-deliver’.
If the convention services are repeatedly purchased with positive results or better still if the
convention services exceed expectations then the business is bound to develop.
The satisfaction process can best be judged by keeping in view the following factors:
The product The Satisfaction Factor The Outcome
• Tangible Perception of the attendees Satisfied
• Elements Experience
• Service Tourists attitude and Partially Element Expectations Satisfied
• Role of Uncontrollable Factors such as Dissatisfied Agents Power breakdowns etc.
76
11.5 KEY MODELS AND TECHNIQUES
There are a number of models and techniques used in service industries in relation to quality and
customer satisfaction. Several of these have been applied to tourism by various authors. Let us see if
these can be applied to MICE as well.
11.5.1 The SERVQUAL Technique
The SERVQUAL scale was first introduced by A. Parasuraman, [Link] and [Link] in an
article titled “A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its Implications for Future Research”,
Journal of Marketing Research, 49, p41-50, 1985. They attempted to develop an instrument that
would measure service quality across a range of service industries. They stated that service quality has
five dimensions:
• Tangibles: physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel
• Reliability: the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately
• Responsiveness: willingness to help consumers and provide them with prompt service
• Assurance: knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence
• Empathy: caring individualized attention that is provided to customers
Although this model is for the service industry it can be very aptly applied to the MICE industry as
well. Let us see how:
• The tangibles in this case would be the convention hall, its physical features and its general decor
etc., the office equipment provided like the Overhead projectors, screens, Fax machines,
computers etc and the smartness of the personnel catering to the attendees.
• Reliability would include aspects like the promises made and the final product delivered. For
example the locale of the convention centre and the kind of environs it is located in all would lend
creditability to the convention centre and the managers involved.
• Responsiveness of the employees to help the attendees or delegates in terms of a crisis or an
unusual circumstance like maybe more delegates coming than anticipated and looking after their
accommodation and their seating arrangements all would go in this.
• Assurance in terms of the quality of the product supplied and the confidence in executing the
entire set of process suitably would also indicate the level of services provided
• Empathy in attending to the delegates special requests and meeting the ir demands that can be
sometimes a little hard on the convention managers all go in making the centre a big success. For
example the request of a slight alteration in the excursion program if any or in the hotel room
facilities or room view etc.
11.5.2 The Service Gap Concept
This concept is based on the idea that dissatisfaction in services is caused by gaps between
expectations and perceived outcomes. Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry identified five such potential
service gaps:
• Differences between consumer expectation and management perception of the consumer
expectation
• Differences between management perceptions of consumer expectations and service quality
specifications
• Differences between service quality specifications and the service actually delivered
• Differences between service delivery and what is communicated about the service to the
consumers
• Differences between consumer expectations and perceptions of the quality of the service received.
Suppose we apply this concept to the convention business.
77
In advertising a convention centre attendees are often shown seated in relaxed comfort in spacious
convention halls. They are attended by elegant and smart personnel who look as if they would be
great problem solvers. The reality is however very different. The point is that the marketing is
educating passengers about a level of service, which might be beyond the capacity of the convention
managers to deliver all the time. This rosy picture might occur when the personnel are on their peak
performance, there ar e no untoward incidents and all attendees or delegates are relaxed.
The aim therefore should be to create realistic expectations in the minds of the customers otherwise
when evaluating the convention it is going to be a disappointment for the organizers of the event or
meeting.
11.6 IMPORTANCE OF UNCONTROLLABLE FACTORS
A major problem for the tourism industry including MICE is that of factors influencing product
quality or customer satisfaction that is outside the control of organizers or managers yet it leads to a
lot of dissatisfaction. These include:
• Inclement weather such as unseasonal rains or any other natural disfunctioning of the intended
scenario.
• Strikes that effect tourists such as air strikes or any other strike that may harm the smooth
functioning of the convention.
• Harassment of tourists by touts, beggars and traders
• Poor infrastructure in the country
• Poor hygiene, sanitation or disease in the host country
• The unrealistic expectations of the tourists, a point we have discussed before
• The sometimes unruly behaviour of the tourists or hosts of a particular destination
• Government bureaucracy and bureaucratic features such as visa restrictions and arrival and
departure problems.
While evaluating the convention or a meeting adequate care has to be taken in for these dissatisfaction
levels as they might impinge on the total appraisal by the customer or the delegate. These things are
beyond the handling of the convention managers and they have to be resolved in a fashion that is both
tactical and empathic so that the customer is soothed and does not carry a totally negative image of
the event.
Another difficulty in relation to quality and attendee satisfaction is that different delegates will have
different attitudes, standards and prejudices. Often their satisfaction is based on subjective views
about an issue which is important to them and which they judge in their own unique way. For example
some delegates may find people of the host city rude and unfriendly or they may find the city too
expensive or dirty or too hot or cold. All these are subjective opinions and are based on the personal
thinking of the tourists and expectations of the tourists. It is difficult to see how the tourism industry
can effectively respond to such views in concrete terms and how far can these be effectively evaluated
by the post convention managers.
There is clear evidence that there are national differences in the expectations of the business travellers
from industrialised countries and from the underdeveloped countries. For example German business
travellers are very environmentally conscious than the rest of the travellers. These national differences
are of great importance and significance so far as the tourist expectations are concerned. There are
also national differences in the supply side in terms of the quality of the product offered. The different
quality standards can cover such elements of the product as:
• Fire safety standards in the convention centre,
• Interpretation techniques in the venue, and
• Technical competence and the attitude of the technical staff etc.
78
Any convention centre that has fully researched quality issues should be in a position to set quality
standards which can be regulated and monitored and which meet customer requirements. This is
called benchmarking and this is usually a post convention phase. The benchmark standards have to be
set over times and will be adjusted to meet the growing quality expectations of the consumers.
11.7 BENCHMARKING AND POST CONVENTION TASKS
Apart from the quality issues there are a number of tasks that need to be done operationally too other
than researching customer satisfaction. The various committees that are there would do a number of
post convention tasks that are a necessity. For example:
• The registration committee would prepare a report regarding the total number of delegates
registered, the amount paid to them as TA or DA, to handover of the remaining bags and other
material etc. to the secretariat or the management along with an analysis of the feedback gotten
from the participants.
• The accommodation committee settles the bills with the hotels etc and files a report in relation to
the experience gained and the activities done
• Similarly the transport committee, entertainment committee and the reception or the protocol
committee also do the remaining jobs and file their reports.
• The academic committee analyses, evaluates, and vets the academic deliberations, prepares the
proceedings and in case they have to be published the work gets lengthened.
• The steering committee takes stock of the entire event and suggests further follow up action to the
organization if required. It also suggests future course of action.
11.8 INTERNAL APPRAISAL
Avery important but most of the times neglected aspect of the post convention meeting is the
appraisal of the staff who made or broke the convention. A letter of appreciation to the volunteers,
members, and chairmen of the various committees should be undertaken by the organizers of the
convention. This is not only a way of thanksgiving but also a method of motivating them for future.
This exercise will not be complete till the organizers also identify the staffers who did not perform to
their utmost and could have done better. Infact there should exist a system of continuous appraisals
for the staffers associates with the convention management. A continuously consistent performance
should be adequately rewarded in the form of incentives or any other monetary benefits. This would
keep the motivational level high. After every convention there should be a meeting of the top
convention managers with the front staff and all the personnel involved in the running of the
convention so that there is clear cut understanding of the level of work and service required. Those
who have performed exc eptionally as well as those who have performed poorly should be highlighted.
It should also be seen to that the staff was properly trained or not in performing what was expected
out of them. If not then there should be training sessions and seminars conduc ted for those who
require them. These kind of training sessions are very critical in today’s business because as
competition hots up it will be the only distinctive advantage that one convention centre will have over
the other. Proper updated staff is always an asset to the company and should be seen as an investment
rather than as expenditure. If sophisticated equipment is being used then this kind of training is a
must.
Check Your Progress
1) What does On-Site-Management involve?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
79
2) What is the significance of On-Site-Registration?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
11.9 LET US SUM UP
In the preceding three units we have dealt extensively with convention management. We have tried to
explain all the fine details of convention management and its implications in the business. In this unit
we have dealt with the post convention aspects of the convention holding. In the process we have
understood as to how post convention tasks today are critical for the success of the convention centre.
In this era of stiff competition no business can afford to have a laid back attitude. What is required is
continuous evaluation and self-rating in order to become better than the last time and exceed visitor
expectations. The key word here is not customer satisfaction but customer delight as this is what the
times demand. In this context post convention evaluation becomes the best tool for understanding
where one failed and how should one rectify it to become better.
11.10 CLUES TO ANSWERS
Check Your Progress
1) See Sec.11.3 for your answer.
2) Read Sec.11.7 and answer.
Activity
Prepare a simple questionnaire as a researcher. Visit any component of MICE segment. Try to identify
the satisfaction level of participant.
80