Editor's Note: This is the third in a series of articles on the Experient Breakfast - a recurring forum for meetings and association executives to "simply talk about what's on their minds, and learn from each other without any structure imposed on them," according to Experient Senior Vice President of Strategic Sales Bill Reed. The Experient Breakfasts have become so popular that they're no longer organized only around industry events. To learn more about Experient Breakfasts scheduled for the rest of the year, contact an Experient representative or go to www.experientinc.com/breakfast to request an invitation.

Keeping Meetings Whole
Naturally, the economy's impact on meetings dominated the conversation. Many Experient Breakfast participants said they are challenged to reach more potential attendees while having fewer resources to execute initiatives. Among the ideas discussed to build attendance:

• Increase the number of regional events, with the expectation that people will come to an event if travel costs are less. It was agreed that a maximum drive time of four hours was appropriate with this strategy. This could also offset the reduction in airlift affecting some host cities.
• Charter planes for specific areas and market this option through the meeting Web site.
• Offer tiered pricing and aggressively market a one-day registration rate to address travel costs and the issue of time poverty.
• Offer attendees the option to stay three nights for either a lower hotel rate or a lower registration fee.
• Invite representative samples of membership to participate in face-to-face focus-group discussions to ensure meeting content is relevant.
• Include links to your Web site in all electronic attendance-building initiatives so you can track open rate, response rate, click-through behavior, and, ultimately, show ROI.
• Combine meetings.
• Move last day to cancel registration to 48 days prior to opening day to cut down on cancellations.

Staffing Solutions
To avoid or defer layoffs, organizations are considering:

• reduced work schedules, and furloughs of two to three weeks without pay
• outsourcing as a viable option, especially when people leave the organization and are not replaced due to a hiring freeze. One participant shared the example of a staff member whose spouse was transferred and was therefore looking to relocate and work remotely. The association was not able to facilitate the virtual office in this individual's role. As an alternative, the employee resigned and started a small business with her former employer as her first client. This allowed the employee to start her business with less risk. On the association side, leveraging the relationship shifted the costs from fixed (salaries and benefits) to variable (percentage of sponsorship sales).

Revenue Generation and Sponsorships
More organizations seem to be outsourcing sponsorship solicitation. Companies that offer this service have more qualified staff with sales skills and experience than untrained association personnel making these calls.

• The merits of outsourcing to a larger versus a smaller organization were discussed. Some felt that the larger organization would have greater sales expertise and a larger sales force to produce more call activity in a shorter window. Others had success using a smaller company that was better able to understand the association's industry.
• The belief that sponsorship sales efforts can be accomplished using online technology was debated. It was argued that technology could efficiently process transactional activities (contracts, payments), but cannot make customized sales pitches. And customization of sponsorship packages is key in today's environment.

First-Time Attendees
When it comes to creating positive experiences for new members and first-time meeting attendees, some of the simplest ideas are the best, including:

• first-timer ribbons
• a special lounge for first-timers that includes games, a career fair, and message boards
• a first-timer's reception (especially successful if the executive committee attends)
• a discussion by a panel of experienced professionals on "What I wish I knew when I started in the industry."

Buyer and Seller Relationships

• Now is the time to support the hotels that were flexible with you even back during their good days.
• The group pondered why the term "partnership" is so overused in our industry. A partner provides financial support and commitments when things are good and bad. There is nothing wrong with being a vendor, so let's get back to what many relationships are in our industry. One can be positive and friendly without being a "partner."
• It behooves suppliers to find out exactly what form of communication works best for the buyer.
• Wait to sign future hotel contracts until 2009 annual meetings and other events happen to determine how attendance is going to be affected.
• Participants reported more double bookings of meetings than in the past. If you can actually change dates or shift patterns, make certain the association benefits from the "discomfort." Ask for every concession you can think of: reduced F&B, additional room upgrades, comp rooms. In one case, the hotel agreed to a $100,000 credit.
• One group will only book its HQ hotel if the hotel agrees to make a $10,000 donation to the organization's foundation.
• Ask hotels for reduced rates ($10 to $20 less) for students, just as you would for a government rate. Work through a housing bureau and message boards to match roommates and manage room sharing. Also, offer less expensive alternative housing options, such as hostels, dorms, and two- or three-star hotels.

Exhibitor Strategies

• Offer exhibit-space draws at the convention for the next year's event, tied into a point system based on longevity, size, money spent, and other considerations.
• Enable exhibitors with a lower point total to improve their position in the space draw by buying points, similar to airline miles.
• Reward strong vendors you trust with a longer contract in exchange for a rate freeze.
• Increase exhibitors' satisfaction by assigning a staff member to make face time with them while they are at the event.
• Communicate with the person who is actually at the trade show and also with the booth-arranger and decision-maker who may be back at the headquarters office.
• Provide information in bullet points in printed materials sent to exhibitors.
• Drive qualified buyers to an exhibitor's booth. Assist in matching attendees to exhibitors by using an on-site texting service that notifies an attendee that someone would like to meet up with them.
• Instead of exhibitors giving out "schwag," suggest they give out coupons to the association bookstore or educational event.
• As an alternative to the traditional treasure hunt with a map or bingo card, one planner now uses a service that can provide a virtual treasure hunt that helps create a better match between attendees and exhibitors who really need to see each other.
• Exhibitors who cancel rooms at the last minute due to lower attendee numbers put the association at risk; the exhibitor sub-block is often a root cause of attrition. One organization requires that any exhibitor wanting a sub-block must sign a document that shifts the accountability for filling that block from the association to the exhibitor. If the organization comes through with fewer rooms than blocked, resulting in attrition penalties, it passes that cost on to the exhibitor for each room it did not fill.

Green Meetings

• Most are not mailing programs anymore. Some are not even providing a traditional program on site and are giving out DVDs instead. Send e-mail blasts informing attendees of this change, and e-mail a PDF to those who complain.
• One participant is recycling banners after the show into conference bags to be sold at the next event.
• Make it very difficult to avoid registering by any means other than online. Some are offering discounted registration rates if you register online; another is offering a drawing for prizes, with winners getting a discounted room rate or comp rooms from allotment.
• Refraining from mailing registration materials (badges, credentials, tickets) saves shipping dollars but requires additional on-site expenses for more equipment, including self-service kiosks.
• Offer handouts on USB drives (as loading all handouts onto the USB is labor intensive, it was suggested that this might make a good volunteer activity).

Social Networking
Social networking will continue to increase in popularity, because attendees want to maximize their time on site and it enables them to set up networking opportunities and appointments prior to arriving.

• If members have varied levels of experience with social-networking tools, start with the leadership of your organization. If they do not have a profile, build a mock profile for them so they can experiment on how it is used. Many reported that it was hard to get consensus among the leadership group until they all knew what they were talking about. Once the non-tech leaders could touch and use the functionality, they were less resistant to it. After they had experience, they easily committed to implementing its use.
• Facebook is perceived as the preferred platform for personal use, while LinkedIn is better for professional use.
• A lesser-known tool, Ning (www.ning.com), can be set up inexpensively and customized for particular audiences.

The Experient Breakfast participants weren't so mired in present realities that they didn't consider upcoming possibilities - including what the classroom of the future might look like. There was consensus that the industry needs to think beyond the traditional theater-style seating configurations and be receptive to cutting-edge set-ups.
As being open to new ideas comes naturally to this group, that sounds like a piece of cake. With a side of hash browns.

Michelle Russell is editor in chief of Convene.