MeetingNews presents its list of the 25 most powerful people, forces and trends influencing the meetings industry in 2008.
Coming up with our list of the 25 Most Powerful was a challenge, because of the diversity of the industry. But one choice was clear: With U.S. gasoline prices averaging $4.10 a gallon and a barrel of crude oil at a record $146-plus, it's safe to say that fuel prices now dictate every aspect of meetings and events.
For Ken Deans, a Los Angeles-based trade show manager, items that used to cost $3,500 in shipping each way from L.A. to New York now cost $8,000. Peter Huggins, planner for the American Chemical Society, based in DC, noted that many of the large pharmaceutical firms are canceling travel for staff: "Speakers are withdrawing due to the elimination of non-critical travel." And fuel costs have brought the airlines to their knees.
Acknowledging the fuel-price hardship, the Internal Revenue Service this month raised the fuel mileage rate, from 50.5 to 58.5 cents. IRS commissioner Doug Shulman declared, "We want the reimbursement rate to be fair. Rising gas prices are majorly impacting Americans."
But while this represents an overall 36-percent increase over six years, it has not kept pace with skyrocketing fuel prices, which have more than doubled.
Oil tops our list of the 25 most powerful people, forces and trends shaping the meetings industry. Following are the other 24 that made the cut:
Martin Sirk, CEO, International Congress & Convention Association, Amsterdam "I don't think of myself as a particularly 'powerful' individual," said Martin Sirk, head of the International Convention & Congress Association (ICCA), "but I do believe that ICCA has become an extremely influential global community."
As head of ICCA,Martin Sirk is a symbol of the international growth of the meetings industry. The association will hold its first education and networking event in Dubai in late August. The number of ICCA members in the Persian Gulf and Middle East has grown from four members in 2000 to 14 in 2007, and Sirk expects to have 20 members in the region by year's end. "We now have over 850 companies and organizations in membership in 83 countries around the world, covering all the industry supplier sectors," he said.
Wolfgang Puck, Chef and Restaurateur, Beverly Hills, CA "Just like a painter or artist, every chef does something a little bit different to make it interesting," Wolfgang Puck said at his restaurant opening in MGM Grand Detroit. Famous for affordable, creative fine dining, Puck has raised the bar for banquet F&B, inspiring planners to ask for sustainable, local ingredients when possible. His business enterprises have saturated the meetings industry, catering (literally) to prominent venues like the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and Minneapolis' Walker Art Center, and to the convention centers of Sacramento, CA, and Washington, DC, and more. His restaurants at resorts in Atlantic City and Las Vegas are favorites among meeting planners for events.
This year, Puck was named chef of the year by the Culinary Institute of America. And, earlier this month, Doubletree Hotels began offering in-room Wolfgang Puck Estate Grown Coffee at more than 190 North American properties.
Gary Sain, President and CEO, Orlando/Orange County CVB Following on the two-decade legacy of retired CVB legend Bill Peeper is tough for anyone, but Gary Sain has been tackling that job since February 2007, when he stepped in as Orlando's tourism chief. His tenure so far has not been without challenges: The economic downturn has triggered declines in both meetings and leisure business. But Sain, with his diverse sales and marketing experience and massive budget—will be aggressively singing Orlando's praises through stepped-up promotional campaigns. The latest of these is "Creative Minds," focusing on Orlando's ability to provide unconventional meeting and event spaces—no doubt bolstered by Disney's offerings. Sain also has been trumpeting the upscale transformation of hospitality product as Orlando's next evolutionary step, as some $2.2 billion in new hotels and attractions is expected to go on-stream in the next few years.
Bruce MacMillan, President and CEO, Meeting Professionals International, Dallas Bruce MacMillan has had one global year. Under his stewardship, MPI opened a Singapore office, created a South Korean chapter, and forged partnerships with IMEX (Europe's largest meetings industry exhibition) and Reed Travel Exhibitions, organizer of the fledgling Gulf Incentive, Business Travel, & Meetings Exhibition (GIBTM), to gain more prominent positions in Europe and the Mideast. MPI overhauled its European education event, renamed it the European Meetings and Events Conference, and held it in London just before Frankfurt's IMEX for maximum exposure. And, with Reed's support, MPI piggybacked its new Gulf Meetings and Events Conference onto Abu Dhabi-based GIBTM just days ahead in Dubai.
That's not all. MPI has enacted an alliance with Messe Berlin, organizer of the ITB Berlin travel trade show, in creating the inaugural and back-to-back ITB Asia show and Asia Meetings and Events Conference this October in Singapore.
Paul Kennedy, Group Exhibition Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions, Surrey, England Managed by Paul Kennedy, Reed Travel Exhibitions runs the formidable European Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition (EIBTM) industry trade show held annually in Barcelona. In the last couple of years, however, RTE has entrenched itself in two potentially huge meetings markets: China and the Middle East. Attendance at the second annual Gulf Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings Exposition (GIBTM), held this past April in Abu Dhabi, grew by more than 30 percent. In China, the CIBTM expo—canceled this year because of the Summer Olympics—has the potential of becoming the country's top industry show. Add to these the longtime Asia-Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo (AIME) and the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) Exhibition, and RTE has a powerful show line-up. Kennedy is also a high-profile figure for Meeting Professionals International, having just completed his service on the 2007-08 international board of directors executive committee, and representing the first-ever European winner of two MPI awards in 2000 and 2004, respectively.
Ben Bernanke, Chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve, Washington, DC Dollar not going as far as it used to? Home values plummeting? In the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis—the worst financial disaster to hit the nation since the Great Depression, according to Time magazine—one man has been the focus of U.S. economic policy: Ben Bernanke.
Bernanke, head of the U.S. Federal Reserve, has taken plenty of criticism as he navigates the country through uncertain financial waters, but he also deserves some credit for keeping the economy chugging along. Hotel investment remains strong this year, and when Bernanke stated, "The risk that the economy has entered a substantial downturn appears to have diminished over the past month or so," as well as promised to strongly resist inflation at a June conference at MIT, the dollar rallied back.
David Marriott, Senior Vice President of Global Sales, Marriott International, Bethesda, MD While most if not all hotels now participate in the green movement, Marriott International, with just over 3,000 hotels throughout the world, trounced its competition in this arena by making a brand-wide move. Just this past April, the company rolled out a five-pronged approach to saving the planet that included in part, a pledge to creating ways for both guests and employees to contribute. As part of that last element, Marriott said it would roll out a group-specific leg of the program and it quickly delivered on that promise.
By the way, who can forget the unpopular move that got David Marriott on this list for the first time last year: the revamping of independent meeting planners' commissions? In 2007, we said other hoteliers were likely watching what would happen to Marriott as a result of this move, yet none have followed suit.
Richard Branson, President and Founder, Virgin Group, London Perhaps the highest-profile celebrity and business executive to embrace alternative fuel sources for the aviation industry, Sir Richard Branson in February completed the first 747 biodiesel test flight, offering the meetings industry a sip of hopeful optimism that air travel won't die along with fossil fuels. Branson has pledged $3 billion to fight global warming over the next decade, funneling all profits from his travel firms—such as the Virgin Atlantic airline and Virgin Trains rail network—through a new investment unit called Virgin Fuels. Though the test flight was conducted on a fuel mix of coconut and babassu oil, Branson and environmental leaders have said that algae would almost certainly be the basis for future commercial aviation biofuels.
Deborah Sexton, President and CEO, Professional Convention Management Association, Chicago Since taking control of PCMA three years ago, Sexton has turned the organization into a multifaceted, major industry player. Among her most recent accomplishments was the establishment, in the association's strategic plan, of a focus on research; a new vice president overseeing that task has been hired. PCMA has also revamped its website to include much more industry research, as well as user profiles and a "people page," making its online presence very much about the organization's backbone: its members. In addition, Sexton has seen to it that PCMA help cut through industry clutter by fostering collaborations—about 13 and counting—with other meetings associations.
She has more than earned her spot on this list with these and other initiatives—entirely different programs than those that got her here last year.
Steven Hacker, President, International Association of Exhibitions and Events, Dallas While railing against the airlines for slashed service and increased prices has become a national pastime, most people haven't figured out what to do about it other than complain.
But at a meeting last month, Steven Hacker oversaw a move by the IAEE board to create a task force charged with developing best practices for managing trade shows and events with struggling air carriers. The group will be evaluating every possible ramification of key issues relating to the airlines and security issues at airports on the exhibitions and events industry.
Meanwhile, as he did last year,Hacker continues to focus on Asia-Pacific. IAEE has collected information about changes to the work of trade show liaisons helping Chinese nationals come to events in the U.S., and it is making that information available to its members.
Serge Simard, Vice President of Food & Beverage, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Toronto Serge Simard, vice president of F&B at Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, has led the chain to offer one of the industry's best programs for local, sustainable, and organic food options. Fairmont has also responded to the wave of interest in green and environmentally friendly events with a comprehensive program called Eco-Meet. The program provides a meetings structure that "encourages maximum waste diversion and environmental awareness for conference delegates." It also provides personalizable options, such as local and organic gourmet menus, disposable-free food and beverage services, and ways to make an event carbon-neutral. The program, available at all properties in the brand, is designed to meet the needs of corporations that are beginning to mandate environmentally responsible procurement throughout their operations. "Our guests are very savvy, experienced diners, and they also are becoming more conscious of how their choices affect the planet," Simard said in a statement at the outset of the Fairmont menu overhaul.
Roger Dow, President and CEO, Travel Industry Association, Washington, DC What with the airline industry's implosion and U.S. border crossing woes constantly threatening group travel, the industry needs a stronger voice in Washington. Enter the tireless Roger Dow, formerly of Marriott and now with the Travel Industry Association. Since 2006, the Dow-led TIA, along with partner Business Travel Roundtable, has been championing the industry's cause with policymakers, highlighting the importance of business travel on the economy; lobbying for reform of the maligned border, transportation, and homeland security agencies; and pushing for legislation that would create a national travel affairs agency in the form of the Travel Promotion Act. Pending before Congress, the legislation—which would also create a program for improving the image of U.S. travel and making visitor entry more efficient—now has the support of 202 U.S. representatives and 42 senators.
Amy Spatrisano and Nancy Wilson, Principals, Meeting Strategies Worldwide, Portland, OR Those who are interested in creating green meetings are just playing catch up to green pioneers Amy Spatrisano and Nancy Wilson. They have the book on green meetings—literally. Joint partners in their West Coast planning firm, Spatrisano and Wilson, who also founded the Green Meeting Industry Council in 2003, last year co-authored Simple Steps to Green Meetings and Events, and hospitality professors are adding the tome to their curriculums.
In December, the GMIC became a member of the Convention Industry Council (CIC), and Spatrisano has been tapped to chair the green panel of CIC's Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX). She and Wilson are redefining how the industry impacts the earth.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, U.S. Green Building Council, Washington, DC The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program may only have been on the scene since 2000, but it has redefined the way all public and most private infrastructure is conceived. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED certification, which is by earned by implementing green building design, construction and operations, now accounts for approximately 74 million total square feet of U.S. hospitality infrastructure—with nearly 24 million sf specifically comprising hotels and resorts.
Said Lauren Connolly, USGBC spokesperson, "I would say the secret to LEED's success is that it is a market-driven system, which means it really responds to what the industry is looking for. Also, the fact that it is consensus-based, its ability to evolve to meet market demands is a direct correlation to countless volunteer experts and regular individuals who offer their criticisms and comments in our public comment periods."
Next January, look for LEED 2009, which is expected to combine current commercial ratings systems into one that is "simpler, more elegant, and committed to continuous improvement."
Terri Breining, President, Concepts Worldwide, San Diego Longtime industry leader Terri Breining is more than just the head of a 27-person independent planning company. She is also chair of the Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) Commission and a teacher of meeting planning at San Diego State University. This year, Breining co-authored Return on Investment in Meetings & Events and celebrated the 20th anniversary of Concepts Worldwide. As part of the celebrations, she organized an internship program called "20/20 Vision for the Future," which will give 20 university students from around the country the opportunity to acquire hands-on meeting planning experience in a corporate environment.
A few of the leading trends Breining said she sees impacting the meetings industry are the inclusion of corporate social responsibility into meetings; the necessity of measuring the effectiveness and success of meetings; the growing acceptance of the need for standardization; the integration of technology before, during, and after meetings; and the changes brought on by a multi-generation workforce. "To be part of the evolution of the meetings industry is indeed a great privilege, and what's even more exciting is that we're far from done in our evolution, which means there's plenty more to learn and plenty more to contribute," said Breining.
Jack Phillips, Chairman, ROI Institute, Birmingham, AL The author of 50 books, ROI Institute chairman Jack Phillips added more to the list this year: Return on Investment in Meetings & Events, which he co-authored with Terri Breining (see above) and Patti Phillips. He also published a six-book series on developing ROI evaluations, implementing the ROI methodology, and showing the value of a variety of functions and processes. Meeting planners, stressed over how to quantify their value to financially minded executives, have found his guidance invaluable, and his partnership with Meeting Professionals International has propelled the industry further in proving the strategic benefits of meetings management.
Colin Rorrie, President and CEO, Convention Industry Council, Washington, DC This year, the Convention Industry Council appointed Colin Rorrie, former president and CEO of Meeting Professionals International, as president and CEO. Rorrie led the association as it selected a new management group and welcomed new member groups, including the Travel Industry Association.
CIC now has 34 member organizations from the meetings, conventions, exhibitions, and hospitality sectors. Signature programs like the Certified Meeting Professional designation and APEX continue to grow. There are over 14,000 CMPs, with another 500 signed up for the next certification exam. Looking forward, Rorrie noted that organizations should take a hard look at what types of meetings they plan to have in the future: "Do more work up front, interviewing attendees in order to determine what types of meetings are important to them."
Rossi Ralenkotter, President and CEO, Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority Tourism in Las Vegas may have slowed because of the slumping economy, but Rossi Ralenkotter and his bureau won't be lying down. Not when the Las Vegas Convention Center is getting an $890-million overhaul and modernization, and not when the city is expected to have a 180,000-room hospitality inventory in five years that will need to be filled. Sin City is also 4 million guests shy of the goal of attaining 43 million annual visitors by 2010, with two years to go, and more international visitors beckon due to the weak dollar and the recent landmark group travel agreement between the U.S. and China. Figure Ralenkotter to play a major role in driving Chinese meetings and business tourism in the U.S.; he was appointed to the U.S. Department of Commerce's travel and tourism advisory board by secretary Carlos Gutierrez.
Ray Burger, President and Founder, Pineapple Hospitality, St. Charles, MO When hotels want advice on how to "green up," they go to Ray Burger. As a Certified Hotel Administrator and Master Hotel Supplier with over 30 years of experience in the lodging industry, Burger knows the supply side of things. His company, Pineapple Hospitality, which advises hotels on green practices, is a vendor partner of the Florida Green Lodging Program, a member of Boston Green Tourism, a member of the New Hampshire Sustainable Lodging Program, a member of the Green Meeting Industry Council, and an Energy Star partner. Pineapple also offers green products, such as Green Key Card, a recyclable and biodegradable alternative to the traditional plastic hotel keycard.
Burger is a past member of the American Hotel & Lodging Association's Environmental and Engineering Committee; in 2007, his company launched the green certification programs EcoRooms & Eco-Suites, and founded and co-hosted the first Green Hospitality Conference, in Dallas. With planning for the 2008 conference under way, Burger is optimistic about the future: "The meetings industry is going green—the only question to be answered is, 'How green and how fast will it occur?'"
Joan L. Eisenstodt, Eisenstodt Associates, Washington, DC With more than 35 years in the business, Eisenstodt has been an executive member of Meeting Planners International, the American Society of Association Executives and the Center for Association Leadership, the Professional Convention Management Association, the Convention Industry Council, and so many more. She was one of the first four recipients of the Pacesetter Award from Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International and the Pyramid Award from the International Association of Conference Centers, both for her contributions to education in the meetings and hospitality industries. She is an inductee in the Convention Industry Hall of Leaders, the meetings industry's highest honor.
In 2006, she was named Planner Partner by the National Speakers Association, and in 2008, she was honored by the PCMA Education Foundation for her lifetime achievement as an educator in the hospitality and meetings industries.
As she accrued her recent honors, Eisenstodt was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. But that hasn't stopped her from continuing to moderate MiForum, MeetingNews' online community; blog at the MeetingsCollaborative; and contribute to numerous other industry lists while keeping up her consulting clients. Eisenstodt continues to challenge the status quo—from the inside.
Ray Bloom, IMEX, Frankfurt, Germany In six years, IMEX, the trade show for incentive travel, meetings, and events held in Frankfurt, Germany, has gone from a fledgling competitor of Reed Travel Exhibitions' EIBTM, as well as the Motivation Show, to arguably the most important show in Europe, if not the world. This April, IMEX, launched by Society of Incentive & Travel Executives veteran Ray Bloom in 2002, welcomed more than 8,500 buyers to Messe Frankfurt. Approximately 42 percent were hosted buyers, and of these, long-haul buyers had tripled in number from the previous year.Bloom has formed partnerships with the International Congress & Convention Association to foster participation from associations (Association Day) and with Meeting Professionals International to engage young talent (Future Leaders Forum). Bloom promises that IMEX 2009 will offer its exhibitors a chance to use green energy.
Social Media The power of consumer generated media (CGM), created when anyone talks online about something, lies in the belief that word-of-mouth testimony is more credible than any other form of endorsement.
In February, Meeting Professionals International launched social media inititatives, collectively called MeetDifferent, at its Professional Education Congress in Houston. And, the meetings industry has two major planner user groups: MiForum (hosted by Nielsen Business Media, the parent of MN) and MeCo. Add new industry blog, the MeetingsCollaborative; planners and suppliers staking out real estate in Second Life; and innumerable MySpace, FaceBook, and LinkedIn pages and blogs, and the industry is entrenched in CGM. Whether it all makes sense is anybody's guess, but it's clearly the future.
Christine Duffy, President and CEO, Maritz Travel, Philadelphia During her 2005-2006 term as chairwoman of Meeting Professionals International—when she arguably oversaw more new initiatives that any other chair in MPI history—Duffy often spoke of the need for those in the meetings industry to have a seat at the table.
Today, as Duffy continues to build upon her importance in the field, she's being invited to an increasing number of tables and gaining even more recognition. Most recently, Duffy was tapped to the Philadelphia CVB's board of directors. The bureau's president called Duffy's industry expertise "unmatched in the country." No small praise for this big-thinking executive, who founded MPI's Women's Leadership Initiative.Also one of St. Louis Business Journal's 25 Most Influential Business Women, and on the influencers list of MN sister publication Business Travel News, Duffy doesn't appear ready to sit anything out.
Christopher Nassetta, President and CEO, and Steven Goldman, President of Global Development and Real Estate, Hilton Hotels, Beverly Hills, CA There aren't too many people who could shake up a whole industry with one move—even this list's power players earned our nod through a series of efforts. But Nassetta and Goldman did that last month, when each yanked one leading executive away from Starwood Hotels' W brand. Essentially the driving forces behind both W's innovative concept and its successful spread across the world, those two brand leaders are now expected to catapult Hilton in both the luxury and lifestyle hotel segments.
Sure, Hilton already has inroads into the luxe market, with its Conrad and Waldorf=Astoria brands, but you can bet the company will soon make a much bigger splash in the niche and in the all-important lifestyle arena.
Hosted buyer programs
that offer career-enriching accredited education with industry experts and pre-scheduled one-on-one appointments with destination suppliers
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