"Conference centers offer a 24-hour meeting experience that does not begin or end in the meeting room, but promotes the exchange of knowledge, in the dining room, at the coffee break, and throughout the property," says Neil Pompan, president of the International Association of Conference Centers (IACC), based in St. Louis.
Technology is a key tool conference centers use to differentiate themselves from other venues and make this exchange of knowledge happen. "Conference centers have more up-to-date technology, generally," than a hotel typically offers, says George Odom, senior director and head of meetings consulting for Advito, a Dallas-based travel management consultancy. "LCD projectors and screens, Wi-Fi, built-in sound centers—conference centers have all the AV built in, because they're built for the meetings [market], while hotels are designed to be as flexible as possible."
But "technology doesn't just mean projecting a better image," says Pompan. "Technology touches everything. Hotels provide technology on demand. Conference centers don't wait for you to ask for the technology you need to have a productive meeting."
Tech Today
"Technology used to be simply AV, but that's old thinking. Wireless and wired high-speed Internet access, combined with wireless printing, is a very big deal," Pompan adds. "You need a wireless environment with high-speed access, you need communication throughout, you need touchdown stations throughout for attendees to plug in their laptops, log on to the property website, and print on demand. The facility's website will even give you instructions where to go to pick up your printout."
Eric Terry, vice president for sales and marketing at Benchmark Hospitality International, in The Woodlands, TX, agrees. "There's a huge demand for bandwidth in the room," which conference centers are well equipped to address. "If you put 30 people in a room and they all want wireless connections, you have to have robust connectivity."
He also finds that the objection to laptops in meetings is diminishing—"There's a lot less focus on producing paperwork and more movement towards green," he says. "At many meetings I see today, as people walk in, they get a USB jump drive with all the materials."
Terry is also seeing changes in audiovisual technology. "At our newer conference centers, like The Heldrich Conference Center in New Brunswick, NJ, depending on the size of the room, there's a big plasma TV in lieu of LCD projectors. People find it easier and more convenient; you don't have to turn out the lights, for example."
Steve Giblin, president and COO of Dolce Hotels & Resorts, in Montvale, NJ, says, "We're interested in Hi-Def wireless connectivity from your laptop to the permanent large screen; and we're looking at putting in 60- to 70-inch screens built in to the meeting rooms."
Of course, conference centers are still prepared to deal with presenters who arrive with old-technology needs, like slide or overhead and opaque projectors. And "high touch" service can be as important as high tech.
"Planners are looking for support and help. For example, we can assist clients in the production of their events, with old tech, like sound and lights. We can shoot video, offer editing services on the fly, and at the end of the three days, produce a highlights—or lowlights—video," says Terry.
The Wireless Meeting
Conference centers are catering to the all-you-can-eat wireless access planners and delegates expect. "In meeting rooms now, everyone wants to look at the same PowerPoint on every laptop. At our recently renovated property in Basking Ridge (NJ), we have free wireless throughout the building, so you can be sitting at the lounge and have a glass of wine with your laptop," says Dolce's Giblin. And in terms of cellular access, "There are boosters throughout the building, so no matter what your provider is, people can connect at all times."
Such services aren't just for the meeting rooms. With the ergonomic furniture, real desks, and high-speed wired/wireless access conference centers offer, "You could set up a remote office in your guest room," says Pompan.
Conference centers are also moving to support the growing meetings trend of "blended learning," where traditional-format classroom learning blends with online instruction. "We're seeing a lot more WebEx and videoconferencing going on, so people attend and participate in real time," says Pompan. Most conference centers are offering flexible, portable systems rather than room-based solutions, like Cisco's $350,000 TelePresence. "We have teams of people on property helping facilitate that process, to operate the camera equipment or whatever needs to be done," says Terry.
To provide peace of mind for the security-minded, Giblin says the IT staffs at Dolce conference centers "can also set up virtual private networks (VPNs), temporarily while you're at the property." Based on secure socket layer (SSL) technology and sturdy firewalls, Giblin says even federal agencies find such security "good enough for government work." "We host many, and many do [set up VPNs]," he says.
Some conference centers offer a virtual "Get Smart"-style "cone of silence." "People like defense contractors demand a secured meeting room. We have sound-deadening technology and can lock Internet access in or out," says Benchmark's Terry.
Green, Comfortable Meetings
Technology can not only make the meetings industry more efficient, it can make it greener. For example, according to Benchmark Hospitality, more than 80 percent of RFPs, proposals, and contracts are now delivered and returned online, saving countless trees. And "water purification is not necessarily what people think of when they think of technology, but I see a move away from bottled water to reverse-osmosis water purification at conference centers," says Pompan.
Conference centers are also using technology to offer a greater level of control to meeting planners, delegates, and speakers. Interactive lecterns that let speakers control the entire space, turn up or down the lights, raise or lower sound volume, and control equipment like DVD players or projectors via a built-in touch screen are becoming common in conference centers. Also popular are handheld controls in meeting rooms that let the meeting leader control lighting, sound, and window shades via a remote.
Such ease-of-use technology at conference centers starts before guests even check in. Benchmark offers 360-degree online tours so delegates (and planners) can preview the facility. "We [use] a product called Passkey," adds Dolce's Giblin, "where we put out the seminar and web address; people make reservations over that. It also allows you to make dinner and spa appointments before you get there. When you check in, you're literally just picking up a key."
Using technology to improve delegate comfort is also growing. A number of conference centers, like the IACC-approved ones at the DoubleTree Bethesda (in MD), Wyndham Peachtree (in Atlanta), and an executive conference center to open in January in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, are using guest and meeting room purification systems from Pure Rooms (www.purerooms.com) that sanitize through "ozone shock" and air filtering. They claim the process eliminates up to 99 percent of harmful particulates. "Delegates breathe easier, so they're more productive," says IACC's Pompan.
The Connection Conundrum
Meeting planners may find some technology trends irritating. The Benchmark study says that laptops, formerly banned in the meeting room, are now actually being encouraged, to maximize learning or help the meeting go green by cutting use of paper.
But in today's age of overextended employees, the arrival of laptops can mean the departure of attention to the meaning of the meeting. So despite the all-you-can-eat wireless access his company offers throughout its facilities, one conference center IT director told SM, "A lot of meeting planners want us to charge for wireless access in meeting rooms or lock it out altogether, so people will pay attention to the training."
Banning the buzzing BlackBerry, or at least telling delegates to "set your phone to vibrate," as they say in churches and movie theaters, might be another step. Although in today's immediacy-driven, Internet-addicted age, you might as well try to hold back the sea.
STATE OF THE ART IN TEXAS
The brand-new AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center at the University of Texas at Austin (www.meetattexas.com) is a shining example of the technology today's centers offer.
The facility boasts downlink capability to bring in external media sources and content, and uplink capability to allow external media sources to pick up content feed from conference center sessions. Meetings can also link to the University of Texas IT network to access academic resources and experts.
Throughout the facility, flat-panel LCD message boards direct conferees to meeting spaces, while information screens show how the building is doing on environmental and sustainability standards.
There's wireless access throughout, with both wired and wireless Internet connectivity via a dedicated high-speed connection in all meeting rooms.
The 300-capacity amphitheater has a 12-panel wall of audiovisual screens for multimedia presentations, with screen segmentation, picture-in-picture, and other video features. There's even a "speaker confidence panel" so the presenter can see screens without turning around.
All classrooms offer built-in rear and frontal LCD projection, smart lecterns to control presentation, climate, and lighting, and sound systems with amplified audio. Seven of the classrooms have personal data ports for Ethernet connection, and a power connection wired for each seat.
Room key cards act as a charge card for dining and services. Guest rooms offer flat-panel, HDTV LCD screens utilizing AT&T's U-verse TV programming via fiber-optic technology. Guest rooms also offer high-speed wired Internet connectivity and plug-in panels for personal electronic devices such as laptops, iPods, and digital DVD and game players.
The rooms also offer Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephones with screen displays that provide Internet content over the phone (weather, stock reports). These are customizable for meeting-specific functions like speed dialing or conference calling.
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