Source: Robin Roth, Senior Contracts Editor, Conferon, Inc.
E-Specs: April 22, 2002

We welcome your feedback! We received the following information from our client, Donella Evoniuk, Director of the National Educational Computing Conference, in response to our recent article entitled "Yay or Nay to Exclusive Contractors." We agree with her comments and encourage our clients to explore the arrangements that the hotel/convention center has with exclusive and in-house contractors at the time of site selection.

Here is what Donella shared:

As a non-profit national event approaching its 23rd annual conference, we have found that our business and the business of our regional colleagues is in jeopardy, no thanks to exclusive Internet services in cities all around the country.

We are, granted, a high-Internet use association on the show management AND on the exhibit side. However, when costs for a service that we could provide ourselves for less than $30,000 approach more than $200,000, you know that something somewhere is wrong. The company who has established this pricing is exclusive in more than 10 facilities nationwide, so nationwide "benchmarking" done by centers prior to embracing this company as an exclusive partner is completely skewed.

The statement in last issue’s article that "Some services are better off exclusive, like phone, Internet, and security services," is a reminder that the longer we believe some things are "off limits," the longer facilities will believe the bill of goods sold to them by revenue-hungry enterprises trying to make a quick buck before the technology changes. And the longer companies like this will be able to say..."Well, no one ELSE has a problem with our pricing..." the longer the situation will continue.

The real point is that when it comes to exclusives, it is absolutely paramount that those of us in the meetings business encourage each other to always ask questions and become educated about what is REALLY involved in the various services posed to us as "exclusives." Our organization is fortunate to have the ability to still pick and choose our venues because we move regions each year, and because the value of our meeting is such that cities will work hard to bring us to their community. In the future, we can and will decide not to go to a facility where this company has an exclusive.

In the post-September 11 meetings industry, where more and more reasons are being found to restrict face-to-face gatherings, let's not allow this kind of business practice to keep us from providing our attendees with the best conference environments possible. Because of this particular exclusive, we are facing the possibility of not being able to fulfill our mission as an organization and having to reach into the reserves that should be in OUR back pockets for a truly rainy day, not in an exclusive's for no better reason than sheer greed.