Developing Content and Planning an Effective Meeting
Matt Riley, NCRA Senior Director, Professional Development
Matt Riley
• Senior Director, Professional
Development
– Meetings
– School Support
– Continuing Ed.
– Testing and Certification
Learning Objectives
• After this seminar, you will be able
to:
– Understand the basics of hotel
negotiations and the current state of
the hospitality industry.
– Effectively focus your content planning
efforts.
– Successfully handle the administrative
aspects of hosting a convention or
seminar.
Bonus Objective
200
WPM
Hotel Negotiations
“In business as in life, you don't
get what you deserve, you get
what you negotiate.”
-Dr. Chester L. Karass, Author
Your state sees record convention attendance!
Hotel Negotiation Basics
• Who is handling your site
selection and contract
negotiation?
• What are your challenges?
• What do you want to learn?
Hotel Terminology:
A Crash Course
• RevPAR: Revenue per Available
Room
• ADR: Average Daily Rate
• Occupancy
• Transient/Leisure Travel
• Business Travel
The Background
Issac Colazzo, VP of Performance,
Strategy, and Planning
The Outlook
What Does This Mean?
• Book your contracts as soon as
possible.
• As the financial picture brightens for
hotels, negotiating will become
more challenging.
• Business that hotels found attractive
in the past may be reevaluated.
• Relationships and history still
matter.
Tips for Negotiating in a
Tough Market
• Understand your negotiating
position.
• Prioritize and know your goals
coming in.
• Cultivate an air of transparency and
ask questions to get to win-win.
• Consider carefully before spending
your negotiating capital on
“flexibility.”
Common Negotiation Points
Item
Description
Negotiation Tips
Room Block The number of rooms
that the group is
obligated to fill.
The history of the
event is key here. Also,
generally 15-20%
slippage may be
allowed before
attrition.
Dates
The dates over which
the event will be held.
May be flexible in
negotiation.
Groups tend to
underestimate how
important flexibility
here can be to the
hotel.
Rates
The nightly room rate.
Negotiated rates may
very for attendees vs.
staff, key volunteers,
etc.
Common Negotiation Points
Item
Description
Negotiation Tips
Space
The meeting space
Hotels value an even
the hotel is obligated ratio between
to hold for the group. meeting space and
sleeping room block.
Room Rental
Any fees paid by the This should normally
group in exchange for be waived unless the
meeting space.
meeting space needs
vastly outweigh the
room block.
F&B
Minimum
A minimum
obligation the group
agrees to spend on
food and beverage.
This is a balancing
act. Too low and
hotels don’t want the
business. Too high
can be disastrous.
Other Concessions
• 1 comp per 40 room nights
• Room upgrades and amenities
• Comps/discounts: A/V, F&B, spa,
parking, wifi, etc.
• Group rate available pre/post
• Anything (within reason) that will
make your event more successful
and better-attended
Questions?
Content Planning
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me
and I remember. Involve me and I
learn.”
-Benjamin Franklin
Instructional Design
Analyze
Design
Develop
Implement
Evaluate
Source: Core Competencies in Association Professional Development, ASAE, 2005
Instructional Design
• Analyze
– Identify the need, the target audience,
and the delivery model
• Design
– Determine learning objectives,
sequence/structure, pre-requisites,
etc.
– Create course description.
Learning Objectives
• After this seminar, you will be able
to:
– Understand the basics of hotel
negotiations and the current state of
the hospitality industry.
– Effectively focus your content planning
efforts.
– Successfully negotiate the
administrative aspects of hosting a
convention or seminar.
Key Design Principles
• The motivated learner incorporates
information and concepts more effectively.
• Active participation by the learner tends to
result in higher quality learning.
• Problem solving fosters both motivation
and involvement.
• Repetition and reinforcement aid
retention.
• Rewards and positive feedback help to
promote learning.
Source: Association Educator’s Toolkit, ASAE
Instructional Design
• Develop
– Flesh out presenters, written
materials, exercises, etc.
• Implement
– Execute the plan.
• Evaluate
– Test the learning objectives.
– Collect feedback for the future.
Instructional Design
Analyze
Design
Develop
Implement
Evaluate
Source: Core Competencies in Association Professional Development, 2005
Emerging Trends in Adult
Education
• Learner-centric education
• The “flipped classroom”
• Gamification and game-based
learning
• Peer-to-peer
learning
Questions?
PollEverywhere
• Mobile polling software – make
those mobile devices your friend!
• www.polleverywhere.com –
25/50/100 responses for
free/$19/$79 per month.
Crowd Mics
• Turn attendees’ phones into mics.
• Bandwidth-intensive, make sure to
test this one.
• www.crowdmics.com – free to try,
negotiable up to $400 per event.
Catchbox
• Throw-able microphone.
• Especially good for breakouts; Avoid
meal/drink functions…
• Models for both wireless lavalieres
and standalone.
• www.getcatchbox.com - $500-600
Questions?
Administration
“The Devil is in the details, but so
is salvation.”
-Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, USN
Types of Credit
Credit Type
Defined By
Measures
Formula
Continuing
Education
Units (CEUs)
ACCET
(Universal)
Formal
0.1 CEU = 1hr
learning based
on hours.
Professional
Development
Credits (PDCs)
CAPR (NCRA)
Activities that
contribute to
prof. dev. but
don’t count as
CEUs
0.25 PDC per
activity (varies)
Technology
CEUs
CAPR (NCRA)
CEUs within
the area of
technology
Same as CEU
Certification Requirements
NCRA Credential(s)
RPR, RMR, RDR, CRR,
CBC, CCP, CRI, MCRI,
CMRS
CLVS
Credit(s) Required per
Cycle
3.0 total credits, at
least 2.0 of which
must be CEUs
1.0 CEU
Trial Presentation
1.0 CEU within the
Professional
category of
Certificate, Realtime
technology CEUs
Systems Administrator
Certificate
Approval Types
Type
Program
Type
Post
Cost
Pre-Approval Fixed Date Application
and Time (at least 60
days prior),
may list
CEUs
Attendance
Report
(within 30
days after)
$150/200
application
fee, no fee
for timely
attendance
report
PreOnQualification Demand
Application
(at least 60
days prior),
may list
CEUs
Individual
CEU Credit
Request
$150/200
application
fee, $40/50
credit
request fee
No Approval
Nothing,
may NOT
list CEUs
Individual
CEU Credit
Request
$40/50
credit
request fee
Any
Pre
www.ncra.org/ceuforms
DEADLINES!
• Pre-Approvals/Pre-Auth.: due at
least 60 days prior to the first day of
the event.
• Cancellations: due at least 30 days
prior to the event, 50% refund of
fee.
• Attendance Reports: due within 30
days after the last day of the event.
• Late Fee: $15 per day
For Each Session
• Title
• Date, Start/End Time, and Number of
Hours
• Presenter
• Presenter’s Bio/Resume/CV
• Course Description including learning
objectives
• More Information Means Faster
Approval
Questions?
Do’s and Don’ts
Seminar
Realtime
May - ish
Check in
mail
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
Matt Riley
mriley@ncra.org
800-272-6272