Meeting professionals know that finding the right destination partner is often the first step in executing a successful event. To learn more about how destinations can help planners stay on top of the industry’s biggest trends, Skift Meetings sat down with James Jessie, chief sales officer for Travel Portland. Here are three key pieces of advice he has to share for the year ahead and beyond.

Manage Costs by Going Back to Basics

Meetings and events are more expensive now than ever before. It’s a reality for the industry, but I recommend returning to basics to reduce costs.

First, all taxes are not equal in every destination. Take a closer look at the bottom line and you may find major savings. For example, Portland has no sales tax, which can result in huge savings that aren’t readily visible in the early planning stages.

Also, it can really help to have some flexibility in your dates so you can approach destinations during their shoulder season when leisure travellers aren’t driving up hotel rates and their venues have more vacancies.

Finally, it’s obvious but bears repeating — the larger the group and economic impact, the more likely you can negotiate with destinations to get subsidies to bring your event to them. Reach out to local tourism offices, especially Convention Visitor Bureaus or Destination Marketing Organizations early in your planning process. Our job is to make your job easier, so let us help. We know our destinations and we know the programs that may be able to provide financial incentives. And we may even know some hidden gems that provide great value in terms of off-site meetings and events.

Ensure Your Partners are Ready to Deliver on Safety

In regard to safety and security, it is paramount to every event anywhere. This is universal to every attendee so it is important and should be part of your early discussions with any destination.

Make your needs known early and be sure your venues can accommodate them. We find most often that people just want to know there is someone there keeping them safe, and that can be as simple as making sure people see security personnel so they know someone is monitoring security and is available to respond.

At the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, we make sure our planners meet their security team and understand how they manage safety. We help our clients communicate these safety measures to attendees if necessary.

The other part of the question is making sure attendees feel welcome. I think that has a lot to do with what happens outside of your events and that can be difficult for planners to control. Destination selection can play a big role here too. You want your host to share the values of your delegation or at the very least not stand in contrast to them. Portland is a very welcoming city to all walks of life and that is very apparent to people when they get here. Just being yourself — whoever you are — is a big part of our culture.

Find a destination that truly wants your delegates and organization, not just your business, because nothing makes someone feel more welcome than knowing they are valued, wanted and appreciated.

Capitalise on Destinations with Leisure Appeal

Although we have a new word for it with “b leisure,” the concept has been around forever. It’s called delegate appeal and it’s very important to planners who want to host well-attended events.

Simply put: People are more excited by meetings and conventions in destinations they want to visit for leisure. If this weren’t true, every city would just build its convention centre by the airport, right?

Likewise, most of us are influenced by our partners and family. If you have a great convention in a great destination and your partner or family wants to come too, it’s a big motivator.

To capitalize on this, choose destinations that have leisure appeal beyond just the business interests of your core delegate. We know that Portland’s renowned culinary scene is a draw for meetings and conventions, but we also know leisure travellers love it as well. We know our city is family friendly with lots of activities to keep families and partners busy during business meetings, but also offers tons of options for them to experience the city together after the name badge comes off. We’ve developed resources and destination guides to make it easy to experience Portland authentically outside of the meeting rooms and convention halls.

People want to feel like they know a destination after visiting so we encourage planners to offer real Portland experiences that have a sense of place here. Many of those experiences are draws for families, so we encourage planners to promote that as well. It can be a powerful marketing tool to drive attendance. It’s good for both the event and the destination so I encourage planners to look for destinations eager to help with this.

Introduction

3 Ways to Get Ahead of 2024 Megatrends

1. Remote Work Leaves Lasting Impact on Business Events

2. Creativity Shines Through in a Sea of Bland AI-Powered Event Marketing

3. The Climate Crisis Disrupts More and More Events

4. Organizers Are Held Accountable for Event Sustainability

5. New Normal in a World of Polarizing Politics

6. Event Costs Reach a Tipping Point

7. Data-Driven Event Planning Becomes the Norm

8. Hybrid Events Thrive in New Formats

9. Events Focus on Being Safe Spaces for All

10. Glamour Cautiously Returns to Incentive Travel