Inside IACC

One-stop shopping sounds like too simple a concept to be offered for something as complicated as the meeting planning process. But that’s what the member properties of the International Association of Conference Centers strive to provide.

Unlike the other 30 organizations that belong to the Convention Industry Council, the umbrella organization that watches over the meetings industry, St. Louis-based IACC was not founded to support a particular group of people with their own raison d’etre. Instead, it was created to support a facility concept: the purpose-built conference center, designed to facilitate consistently top-notch meetings. Members are mostly owners, general managers, on-site conference planners and others who help run IACC properties.

Small but strong

Launched in 1981 with 22 member centers, IACC currently has 319 active member facilities throughout the world, 205 of which are in North America -- a very small percentage of all the meetings properties available. But people who embrace the concept of a “true” IACC-approved facility are passionate about the service and space they provide.

“It’s a specialist organization,” says executive vice president Tom Bolman, IACC’s top staff person since 1986. “Just like you go to a cardiologist for your heart, we think you should go to a conference center for a meeting to get the best result. We help our members provide the most productive environment available anywhere for small meetings, averaging 25 to 75 people.”

Some -- like Dave Arnold, CEO, East Coast, of PKF Consulting in Philadelphia and an expert on conference centers -- argue the passion is being lost as ownership profiles have changed from small companies to larger entities, such as real- estate investment trusts. These owners demand more return for their investments through weddings, leisure travelers and other nonmeetings revenue.

“If I was one of them, I’d probably do the same thing,” says Arnold. “But over time, it compromises the whole conference center concept.”

To shore up the ideals at the heart of IACC, in 2004 the association partnered with Bare Associates International, a Fairfax, Va.-based mystery-shopper organization, to keep an eye on the continued quality of the member centers. The first four-year period -- the honeymoon, according to Bolman -- just finished. “We’ve transitioned to what looks like a long-term marriage,” he says.

Following the rules

What sets the IACC properties apart is the association’s set of Universal Criteria (found here), a series of 34 strict quality standards that facilities must continuously meet to belong. Bare’s inspectors use the criteria to measure each facility’s compliance.

No center has been dropped as a direct result of the audits. “Members that were determined to be less than 100 percent compliant are now on the Schedule of Remedies; they are expected to become compliant with the criteria they missed within the time allotted on the schedule,” Bolman explains. Four or five centers chose not to renew their memberships before being audited, as they realized they would not pass.

For instance, the 326-room Scottsdale Resort & Conference Center, a Benchmark Hospitality property, no longer is an IACC member, even though 14 other Benchmark properties are and Burt Cabanas, the company’s chairman and CEO, strongly continues to support the concept. One issue as the inspections began was the fact that the facility used skirted tables that did not comply with the Universal Criteria.

“We are not IACC-certified because we do not have permanent meeting rooms set up,” says David Reed, the resort’s director of sales and marketing. “We are probably one of a handful of conference centers in the country that don’t fit IACC criteria. It hasn’t hurt us much, having the wrong type of tables.”

A bargain at any price

One of the most important of the Universal Criteria is the complete meetings package, or CMP, which defines the concept of one-stop shopping. All member centers must offer and actively promote a package plan that includes meeting space, continuous refreshments, conference services and basic conference technology. Residential centers also must include guest rooms and three meals a day; nonresidential or “day” centers just include lunch. A planner choosing an IACC facility is quoted one price; the room rate will sound high, but once all the elements provided in that rate are factored in, it can be quite economical.

The complete meetings package allows conference centers to control costs in a way hotels do not. When a center is sold out for a meeting, knowing attendees will eat three meals a day there lets the property manage supplies and staffing more efficiently. IACC further supports this practice by mandating that 60 percent of the total revenue (70 percent for day centers) must come from meetings.

As part of the audit process, Bare Associates is checking centers’ sales practices to make sure the CMP is being offered consistently. The inspector pretends to be a meeting planner, and if the salesperson doesn’t offer a package option within the first few minutes, the facility might not pass that part of the inspection.

Built for results

In order to create this perfect meetings environment, the Universal Criteria list that governs design gets very technical.

Consider the chairs: Centers must have enough ergonomically designed chairs on hand so at least 60 percent of all meeting space can be set up using them. These seats must have arms, swivel and tilt synchronously, allow height adjustment, have a rounded or waterfall edge on the front of the seat pan, and have a minimum width of 18 inches and a minimum depth of 16 inches. The seat height must be adjustable within the range of at least 15.5 to 20.5 inches. The seats and backs have to be upholstered or constructed of Pellicle or similar material, and the bases must have a five-prong design with casters.

That attention to detail also is applied to the lighting, tables, climate controls and wall surfaces.

In the next few months, a task force will recommend ways to strengthen the technology requirements. Currently, mem-
ber centers must have the following:

* Built-in amplified sound in conference rooms of 1,000-plus square feet;

* Phone outlets, simultaneous Internet connectivity and adequate electrical outlets in all meeting rooms;

* Flip charts, microphones, and
image- and video-display equipment included as part of the CMP; plus

* A computer and projection equipment in the main meeting room.

IACC centers also are required to have A/V technicians on call.

On topic

Every spring, some 400 representatives of IACC’s centers come together at one of the organization’s signature properties. Last year, the conference was held at the new 248-room Heldrich in New Brunswick, N.J.; this year, at the end of this month, they’ll meet at the 401-room Zermatt Resort & Spa in Midway, Utah.

The association’s current president of the international board is Peter Stewart, director of operations for the MGSM Executive Hotel & Conference Centre near Sydney, Australia. The president of the North American chapter’s board is Neil Pompan, CMP, who is COO and CFO of Brielle, N.J.-based EMCVenues, a site-selection resource that specializes in conference centers.

“IACC has been the center point in my career for many years,” says Pompan, who worked for JPMorgan Chase, Benchmark Hospitality and Omni Hotels before joining EMCVenues. “It has given me the ability to have a clear perspective on how the industry changes and evolves. It has also served as means to build a large and dynamic industry network.”

Like most associations these days, IAAC has tapped into two popular topics: How to bring in and serve younger people, and how to help meeting planners produce “green” events.

Early in 2007, an associate position on the board of directors was created to represent the needs of younger generations; a second associate position was added in January. Currently filling those spots are 26-year-old Emily Heckaman, a conference services manager for the University Place Conference Center & Hotel in Indianapolis, and 24-year-old Melissa Bell, a conference manager at Toronto’s BMO Financial Group Institute for Learning.

One action that has come from creating the two associate board positions was the Emerging Trends Task Force, which produced a white paper on mentoring and marketing to younger members.

Also resulting from bringing youth onto the board was the formation of the Green Task Force. The eight people on that committee have been charged with finding ways to educate IACC members and meeting professionals about becoming more environmentally responsible, creating resources on how to develop green programs, finding properties that already follow responsible practices and helping IACC incorporate green efforts into its internal operations and programs.