Project Attrition

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Project Attrition

• Presenter Name
• Presenter Title
• Presenter Employer

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Project Attrition

• Made possible by generous support from the
  meetings, conventions
• and exhibitions industry. Lead contributors are
  the foundations of
• Meeting Professionals International (MPI)
• American Society of Association Executives (ASAE)
• Professional Convention Management Association
  (PCMA)
• American Hotel Lodging Association (AHLA)

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Attrition is

• The difference between the actual number of
  sleeping rooms picked-up and the number agreed to
  in the terms of the contract.

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Project Attrition is

• An initiative developed by the Convention
  Industry Council designed to help educate the
  meetings, conventions and exhibitions industry on
  attrition while pursuing solutions to minimize
  the impact of the problem.

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Project Attritions Components

• 1. Case Study Resource an ongoing industry
  resource providing relevant case study
  information
• 2. Educational Tools planning templates and
  timelines designed to assist the event organizer,
  the convention visitors bureau (CVB) executive
  and the hotel executive in minimizing attrition
  potential 
• 3. Industry Research a two part industry-wide
  research study of looking at practices of the
  event organizer and the attendee/exhibitor.

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Project Attritions Components...Continued

• 4. Technology Review an analysis of the
  available technological resources for the
  industry.
• 5. Long-Term Recommendations a series of
  long-term recommendations on the attrition issue
  will be reported to the APEX Housing and
  Registration Panel.
• 6. Legal Considerations for Event Management a
  review of approaches in dealing with the risk and
  the burden of attrition in event contracts.

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1. Case Study Resources

• A repository of over 90 case studies is at
  www.conventionindustry.org
• Case studies are organized into 3 categories
• Associations
• Corporations
• Exhibitions
• AND, they are catalogued with
• Name of Event Host
• Name of Meeting
• Issue Faced
• Solution Identified

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2. Education Tools

• Event organizer timeline for events with a signed
  contract
• Event organizer timeline for events without a
  signed contract
• Hotelier timeline for events
• Convention Visitors Bureau Timeline for Events
• Decision Matrix

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3. Industry Research

• Purpose of the Current Study
• formalize a snapshot of the attrition situation
  to provide an accurate assessment of the breadth
  and depth of the problem
• evaluate the potential value of certain measures
  for analysis

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Methodology

• 2200 event planners were invited to participate
• the survey was offered to a large cross section
  of events
• 342 event planners completed the online
  questionnaire
• the process yielded a convenience sample

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Survey SampleBreakdown by Event Type
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Survey SampleBreakdown by Block and Sponsor Type
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Survey Findings

• The percentage of groups assessed attrition fees
  rose to 32 in 2002/2003
• The percentage of these groups assessed attrition
  fees in 1998 was 4
• 41 of events with multiple hotel blocks were
  assessed attrition in 2002/2203

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More Survey Findings

• Establish a formal plan to Cope With Attrition
• Involve Leadership in the Plan
• Offer Online Housing Registration
• Combine Event and Housing Registration
• Shorten Time that Room Block is Open
• Conduct a Room Audit
• Use Outside Housing Company
• Require Attendees to Pre-Pay Hotel Room

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Even More Survey Findings

• 52 of respondents have a formal plan 80 who
  have a formal plan feel it is successful
• Events with shorter housing registration period
  had an average of 93 pickup Events with longer
  periods had an average of 84 pickup

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Even More Survey Findings

• The average gain from room audits resulted in an
  average increase of 5
• 91 of respondents who asked their attendees to
  pre-pay hotel rooms were successful in getting
  them to

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Accomplishments

• Determined that attrition is a problem
• Created a repository of case studies
• Published several educational tools
• Suggested possible solutions to minimize
  attrition fees

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• Questions

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More Information

• More information on Project Attrition,
• including a free copy of the complete
• report, can be found at
• www.conventionindustry.org