A message from your HBAA Chairs“A huge thank you to everyone who joined us at our recent HBAA Forum held at the Crowne Plaza Stratford Upon Avon on 19th July.

With no Glastonbury this year we wanted to bring the festival vibe to the event so we hope you enjoyed the additional festival touches and took away key learnings to share within your own businesses.

It is important to bring people together, to exchange ideas and to learn from each other. The industry possesses some exceptional talent and the HBAA Annual Forum provides opportunities to innovate in processes and to be creative in supporting the development of people.

We had great fun welcoming our many newcomers through our selfie challenge, it was fantastic to see the room buzzing as we got #ForumFest underway. Thank you to Crystal Interactive for supporting with this networking icebreaker, and with our App this year.

We took your feedback from last year and extended our campfire sessions, so everyone had more opportunities to interact informally with fellow members, whilst discussing the topics that matter to your business. And we also found time to raise money for our charity partner Beyond Food!

#ForumFest really came alive at during the evening – a potent mix of wonderful weather, great food and drink, live music and a dance-floor: thank you all for posting your images and thoughts to our social channels.

A special thank you to David Chapple for facilitating the day,to all the great organisations who sponsored the event, to the Crowne Plaza Stratford-Upon-Avon and to our very own Events Committee who yet again delivered a terrific event for our members.

Whether you made it to Forum Fest or not, we hope this supplement provides an insight to the day, and we hope to see you all at our Members Meeting on 9th November.” Louise Goalen, HBAA Chair and Louisa Watson, Venue Chair

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RFPs: The Elephant in the RoomMention transient RFPs and you’ll be met with groans from agencies, hotels and clients alike, but they are an integral part of our industry. We invited those at the forefront of this crucial business process to share their thoughts on the topic.

(Appearance left to right) David Chapple - Centaur Media (facilitator) Jason Gutteridge - Countrywide Hotels. Gareth Warnock - Principal Hotel Company. Sian Sayward - Inntel. Julie Shorrock - HRS.

When asked the question how many agents use Lanyon, it became quite apparent that hotels and agents are using different tools and is one of the reasons that RFP season is a challenging time for all parties.

Jason commented that moving from a large hotel group to a smaller hotel group, he’s seen the difference in number of RFPs. Smaller hotel groups are having to go and find the RFPs whereas larger groups have them land at their door.

The audience was asked what Hotels considered their most important value add and the result was WiFi. The Agents on the panel disagreed with this answer suggesting that their client consider WiFi a given that they would rather free parking or additional refreshments.

As a key takeaway, here are the panellists top tips:

Jason – ensure that for smaller properties you have the right person filling out the RFP to support in driving the business to the property and to compete successfully against the larger groups.

Gareth – asked for support from agencies and their clients for the coming RFP season. Operating and employment costs are continuing to rise and hoteliers can’t afford to keep rates the same.

Sian – spend time on pre-planning. Have pre-RFP discussions with hotels and set the levels of expectations including what’s anticipated in terms of uplift. We should be working together to help grow the industry. The effort that goes into planning will make the end process much easier.

Julie – when you receive RFP, answer as competitively as you can, but ensure you’re answering exactly what is being asked. Read it thoroughly and if you have any queries, pick up the phone to clarify any queries and then submit what exactly as requested.

VisitBritain – Adding Value to Support International Event GrowthPresenter: Jamie Ades

VisitBritain plans to create stronger partnerships with the UK business events sector, and help grow the UK’s share of the international MICE market. So what can VisitBritain do to support the growth of events within the UK?

Whether you’re an agency or a venue, you can apply for funding from VisitBritain via the Convention Bureaux for up to £20k government money to support the destination in a bid to win a specific corporate event. If you have a UK based client with the potential to grow their events in the UK through bringing in overseas delegates, you can also access funding via your local convention bureaux. VisitBritain’s focus includes the newly launched Business Events Growth Programme and they are running a programme of industry workshops to help the sector’s skills and expertise development.

Download the full VisitBritian presentation here.

Venues4Millennials Led by Sinead Heneghan and Aoife McCrum

By 2030, millennials will represent over 75% of the meetings and events workplace. How can venues prepare for these so-called “selfish” and “lazy” event planners? How can speedy and motivated millennial event planners get what they want from a venue? There are two sides to every story and Sinead and Aofie joined us to try to dispel the myth of millennial stereotypes and look at what it is important to them when choosing a venue. It’s all about the experience.

Food – ensure there’s flexibility and variety available with plenty of healthy options. Try creating food experiences rather than traditional lunches.

Technology – use social media and showcase your people on it to promote your property. Using video technology allows people to choose you before they meet you. Live availability options means millennials don’t even need to pick up the phone to book.

Sustainability – create a ‘green team/person’ and give them the relevant training - ensure it’s someone that has an actual interest in sustainability as this will inspire them to carry out a great job. Other ways to tick the sustainable box is to source menus locally and seasonally to save on food miles. You may be asked by clients; What does being sustainable mean? What steps are you taking to ensure we’re looking after our environment? Ensure your teams have the knowledge behind your policy to share this with clients when asked.

Download the full presentation here.

‘The Value of Agencies’ Panel session

(Appearance left to right) Guest facilitator Hamish Reid, Dubai Business Events. Jemma Peers - Top Banana. Lindsey James - Capita Travel and Events. Ellis Salsby - Ellis Salsby Ltd. Angie Mason - Absolute Corporate Events.

Our agency panel session provoked the most feedback from our audience of any of the sessions. On this occasion we didn’t have enough time to cover all the questions raised by the audience but here are some of the points that were raised:

How venue-finding should be marketedVenue finding is essentially a free service for clients but care should be taken in how it’s marketed. Agencies should be open about the commercial models they use and how remuneration is gathered in order for clients to recognize their value and be seen as providing expertise and a consultative approach.

Creating new experiencesVenues should support agencies in bringing the events to life. They need to be more savvy in how to deliver memorable experiences and in creating better experiences for the audience. Venues should be more emotive than tactical in the responses to clients. In five years time, it’s felt relationships will still be important but will be more technology led.

Booking toolsIt accepted that online meeting tools are increasing part of the future for smaller meetings. This is a positive move as it leaves agencies able to add value for more complex events and invest time in developing their clients.

Carry out the relevant research The panel suggested that venues should do their research into the agencies they want to work with; do they have a client base that is appropriate for their property? Agencies don’t get inspiration from promotions and rates, they get their inspiration from travelling and getting out; Instagram and Pintrest are really useful for understanding what people are experiencing. Agencies want to see something different that will add value to what have they done before, so venues should be let them know about new things they’ve tried - facilities, services and features utilised at other events. Consultants want to see and experience a venue. Virtual tours are an area where it’s considered that venues need to up their game - virtual tours are the next best thing to a visit and can make a big difference in the decision-making process.

Top tips from the panel on what can venues do to stand out

• Collaborate • Respond• Listen• Differentiate yourself

Feedback from Campfire sessionsThere were some really lively and thought-provoking discussions during our campfire sessions. Here are just some of the key outputs.

Campfire: Commercial Models• Don’t sweat about the 10%, think about the 90%.• Open lines of communication between agency and

venues.• Commission is here to stay. • Commission is not a DIRTY word, it’s sensitive and

emotive.

Campfire: Ethics, Transparency, Behaviours• Transparency clause in contract.• Aligning your personal values with your company. • Identify and share guidelines on companies to work

with or note!• Ask the ratio of male and females at an event. • Having clear lines of communication. • Is it legal? Is it safe? Is it offensive?• Understanding corporate boundaries and ethics.• Learn from sharing experiences.

Campfire: Service Tech - The Guest Experience• Understand expectations of the client • Don’t assume anything • Design a questionnaire • Understanding technology requirements in advance • Is tech perceived to be more important that it

actually is?• Appropriateness• Infrastructure

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this or any of our events, so please share via any of the below channels:

HBAA Executive Office, MSS - Portland House, 1 Coventry Road, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 9BX

executiveoffice@hbaa.org.ukhbaa.org.uk

@The_HBAAHBAAHBAA

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Campfire: GDPR 8 weeks on• GDPR = Better engagement

although less reach • Don’t panic • Confusion

Campfire: Fam Trips: Etiquette and Best Practice

• Quality Buyers / Send Buyers• Collaboration – what’s the

purpose?• ROI• No Tick Box • T’s & C’s – Charge for no show?• Fee to charity for cancelling• HBAA on tour

• Junior / new • Venue finders• Visit regions

• Venue v Destination – Collaboration not competition

• Sell the location • ROI• Joint FAM trips

Campfire: Recruitment, Development, Retention

• HBAA to engage with universities and training programs to influence and drive content that is relevant

• Promote the industry more broadly schools, other sectors etc.

• Recruitment is an issue • Pool is too small• Improve perception of the

industry• Need to invest in the people • Different quality of entrance to

university • Recognition is important > Invest

in people, time and money • There is an issue with

recruitment – the right attitude is essential

Campfire: Online Meeting Tools• Qualify how we work• Agency / Client differentiation • On-line is past of the whole

solution • Connectivity • Fragmented• Personalisation • Momentum• Progression • Willingness for success• Strategize

Campfire: Social Media ROI• Learn who your audience is • Identify the correct platform for

your message • Building relationships • Think before posting #socialfilter • Not as bad as we thought!• Quality over quantity • Less about ROI more about

Brand building • Credible relationships with

collaborators

Campfire: Women in Leadership• Single traveller table lead the

journey • Flexibility • Listen and Encourage • Empowerment • Be kind to yourself and enjoy the

positives

Campfire: Wildfire• HBAA network for insider info on

agency business • It’s all about relationships

SAVE THE DATES

08 Nov 2018

Agent Engagement Meeting

London

09 Nov 2018

Members Meeting

London

11 Jan 2019

AGM / Kick-Off / Dinner

London

Guest speaker - Marc Hogan

Download Marc’s follow up articles here:Aide Memoir Emotions and Decision Making Edit your Editor

The ‘quite funny’ guy

View full gallery of the day and our dinner on our website or visit our Facebook page.

A huge thank you to everyone who supported our fundraising for Simon Boyle’s latest initiative - Cook4Life where we successfully raised over £4,000 through your generous donations.