When the Democratic National Committee announced Philadelphia as its host city for the Democratic National Convention this July, the City of Brotherly Love celebrated. While city tourism officials took a victory lap, groups planning to meet this summer in Philadelphia may have had these famous lyrics by The Clash rattling around in their heads: Should I stay or should I go?
Meeting Professionals International (MPI) decided to go. MPI had originally planned to host its 2016 World Education Congress (WEC) in Philadelphia, but its original space became displaced, and a proposed alternate space didn't meet the organization's needs. MPI decided instead to host WEC from June 11-14 in Atlantic City, NJ, but there was one potential problem: Atlantic City is 65 miles from Philadelphia International Airport, the nearest transportation hub.
That would have been a deal-breaker for some groups. For MPI, however, it was an opportunity. "Our goal when we're producing WEC is that our attendees have the opportunity to learn from the risks that we're taking," says MPI Senior Director of Events Matthew Marcial. "Selecting a destination like Atlantic City, which is not a tier-1 city, may not be the first choice for many, but we wanted to demonstrate what's possible for other meetings and show planners that [tier-2 and tier-3] cities have a lot to offer their attendee base."
Atlantic City's destination marketing organization (DMO), Meet AC, made it easy by including a transportation solution and incentive in its bid: It offered to provide free airport transfers for WEC attendees via ground shuttle from Philadelphia International Airport to WEC's host hotels: Harrah's Resort, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, and Golden Nugget. Arrival shuttles will run hourly all day on June 10 and 11 and departure shuttles all day June 14 and 15.
"In terms of the basic logistics, once our attendees actually register for the conference they're sent a link to the transportation company to make a reservation," Marcial explains. "They put in all of their travel details and receive a confirmation that a shuttle will be sent when they arrive. And, of course, their flight information will be monitored on a regular basis for any travel updates or issues they may experience."
As MPI executives discovered for themselves, the hour-long ride from the airport to Atlantic City goes quickly. "We had some concerns at first. But then we as a planning team got to experience it," Marcial continues. "When we went for our first visit it was seamless in terms of the travel time. We've been numerous times since and there have never been any issues with traffic. Once we experienced it and saw how the destination was prepared to handle it, we became very comfortable bringing our group of planners into Atlantic City."
To make the ride as quick and enjoyable as possible, Meet AC plans to serve beverages on board the shuttles and will show an original video it is producing to entertain attendees en route to their hotels.
"Hosting MPI is very special. When you're showcasing your destination to so many meeting planners who are visiting your city for the first time, it's obviously very important to put your best foot forward," says Meet AC President and CEO Jim Wood. "You want attendees to have a great experience so they can make an informed decision to possibly book a future meeting or convention in your city somewhere down the road. And that experience includes transportation."
Although it won't know until June if its transportation plan is a success, MPI already has learned several lessons that can help planners facing similar airport-transfer conundrums. The first is the importance of DMO negotiations.
"The planner needs to decide what's most important when they're selecting the destination and negotiating with the DMO," Marcial says. "For us, certainly the logistics of getting over 1,000 planners into Atlantic City was a concern, so they were able to address that for us with a solution. Many times the destinations already know what their challenges are and have solutions ready to overcome them; it's just a matter of negotiating those things up front."
An even more critical lesson is the importance of clear attendee communication. "The biggest takeaway so far is just getting the word out and communicating to your attendee base as early as possible," continues Marcial, who says MPI has been aggressive about communicating to attendees and prospective attendees how easy it is to get to Atlantic City by plane, train, and automobile. "Because the earlier you can get ahead of attendees' concerns, the better off you'll be."