Meaningful Experiences

This page is dedicated to class assignments from the SDSU’s Payne School of Hospitality’s Hospitality and Tourism Management, Meetings & Events Program. Throughout the program, various courses work to provide students with experiences we can display on our e-portfolio to show some of what we have learned along the way towards our professional development.

Professional Association Participation

Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), Canada West Chapter holds a free webinar series called "Student Insight Series" with the goal of teaching students about the various elements of the Business Events Industry as well as allowing students to see the things from the perspective of professionals currently engaged in the industry. I signed up to participate in one of the webinars and was not disappointed.

I entered into this webinar with three goals relating to the Hospitality and Tourism Management Competencies in mind:

1) Networking: To make a good impression and connect, via LinkedIn, with at least one of the panelists.

2) Interpersonal Communication: To speak up during the Q&A segment and actively converse with another attendee.

3) Self-Development: To try and process what is being said, quickly enough to have constructive questions for the Q&A segment. This is particularly important to me, because I am often processing the information received for some time after the event and have follow up question after the event has actually ended. I will try to be more “present” and intentional with my processing.

The Panelists

Moira O’Brien, the Director of Sales for McCormick Place Convention Center since 2015.

Matt Radenbaugh who has worked in hotel sales for 20 years, and is currently with the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park.

Murray Ryan, a 30-year veteran of meetings and events, currently works for Encore as Director of Global Accounts.

Jen Salerno is owner of JTS Connect, which provides live, virtual and hybrid event host/emcee and moderating services.

Lindsay Woike the Manager of Meetings and Event Experiences with Institute of Food Technologists where she applies her 10+ years of hospitality industry experience.

"Negotiating the best contract and how to maintain lasting relationships"

Summary:
Though the event was only one hour, the panelists were able to provide their various experiences in contract negotiations, since the pandemic has begun and how it compares to the pre-pandemic era. They explained that the Cancellation and Force Majeure clauses are more closely evaluated. There is a general understanding that the risk of cancellation is higher, now. This has brought most parties to work to find cancellation terms which all parties feel are fair. Some organizations have decided that if a certain percentage of your attendees cannot make it to the event, your client will be allowed to cancel. Others will work to re-book a group over and over to help accommodate changes due to the pandemic. Also, room blocks are affected by this issue. The hotels are more willing to keep the room block open for as little as 14 days prior to the event date, as opposed to closing it 30 days prior. This is because of situations where people want to attend certain events, but are not yet sure if they will be able to take time off of work, due to staffing issues. The example they gave us was a medical conference, where doctors don’t know if they will be able to take time off for the the conference unless the week or two before. So more people are having to book at the last minute. In general, most businesses in the hospitality industry must work to be incredibly flexible and fair, in order to continue building relationships with one another. This has led many to work together (on either side of the Contract) to be creative and find ways to make things work best for all parties involved. It’s become a more intricate collaboration than before the pandemic.

Reflection:
I enjoyed the event and participated in the chat. I did ask a couple of questions, but they were not asked of the panelists. I think that I may have waited too long to submit my questions and we had already moved on to the next topic. Also, since questions were being submitted in the chat only, during the event, I was not able to make much of an impression or help myself stand out. I believe that I could have done so, if the event had been live, but the online dynamic is always a little difficult to navigate. I do not believe that I succeeded in achieving Goal #1 (networking) at all. Goal #2 was a partial completion: I asked questions and tried to converse with other attendees, but it was all via chat, so I don’t feel that I succeeded in improving my interpersonal communications, today. As for Goal #3, I’m pretty pleased with the fact that I did come up with a strong question, during the course of the event. I was just a little off in my timing, so I missed the topic. It’s an improvement, still.