Successful Meetings magazine had the opportunity
to sit down with Mark Cooper, the new CEO of the International
Association of Conference Centers (IACC), and ask him a few
questions about the conference center industry. Cooper brings
25 years of experience in the global meetings industry to IACC,
working for both U.S. and European-based organizations. This
industry experience includes senior posts with Dolce Hotels
& Resorts, Sundial Group, ConferenceDirect, and Warwick
Conferences, as well as positions on both the European and
global boards of IACC. He has also been an active member in the
association for more than 15 years.
Successful Meetings: How has the conference center industry fared the past few
years?
Mark Cooper: Many of our members have reported that although
times have been tough, they felt they did better than many in
the broader hospitality and meetings industry. I believe that
apart from client loyalty being a key factor, there was another
important reason for this: Conference centers offer great
value, and that breeds loyalty. The flexible complete meeting package pricing cannot be beaten and,
in recent years, meeting planners have realized that they can
get the best overall venue experience and price if they use an
IACC conference center. Last year, I was sent a communication
from a significant global organization's head of procurement,
encouraging their appointed third-party agency to source
conference centers because they believed them to offer a better
return on investment. It sometimes takes economically
challenging times for this level of review to take place, and I
think conference centers will benefit longterm from this level
of interest from buyers looking for greater return on
investment.
SM: IACC has created new global committees for 2013. Why were
they formed?
Cooper: IACC needs to look differently at some of its
activities, as our members demand different things from us to
ensure we continue to offer relevant membership benefits. For
IACC to be relevant it needs greater global exposure and for us
to bring value from our rich source of global intelligence and
knowledge. To assist us in continuing the implementation of
these global strategies, there will be four committees in 2013
covering the key areas where objectives and ongoing activities
are housed. These are membership, brand development, education
and trends, and partnerships and alliances. It will be an
exciting year for IACC as our committees work together to offer
new initiatives.
SM: What are the key components of IACC's strategic focus
moving forward?
Cooper: In 2011, the association conducted an extensive review
as part of the process of succession planning, and we spoke to
members, planners, and other stakeholders to formulate the
future structure and strategy for IACC. We spent a lot of time
evaluating what members wanted and found that they want:
education, accreditation, business referral, and global
opportunities. Our plans contain all of these and more.
SM: With meeting technology evolving so quickly, what can
conference centers do to keep up with the demands and stay
ahead of the curve? How does technology help conference centers
differentiate themselves from other meeting venues?
Cooper: I am proud to say that IACC conference centers continue
to set themselves apart from the crowd by realizing what needs
to be included as standard technology/connectivity in their
packages and what exceptional technology should be provided at
a reasonable cost and with a high degree of reliability,
skilled support, and effectiveness. It is important that as an
association, we are both on-trend and also the thought leader
on future technologies in our meeting spaces. To achieve this,
we engage and collaborate with planners, operators, and
suppliers from around the world and play an important role in
innovating and leading in the conference center industry.
SM: What does the future hold for IACC?
Cooper: IACC represents the very best small to medium-sized
meeting venues in the world. Our major initiatives moving
forward include conducting global research and reporting on
trends. In our own association member meetings, we will seek to
create and foster new thinking and idea generation by bringing
together passionate people who get out of bed each and every
day to improve what they provide for their guests.
The 2012 IACC Conference was a good recent example of this. The
theme of the conference, "From Imagination to Innovation,"
flowed through the conference from beginning to end, and in the
audience there were university students from six different
countries, representing the next generation in the debates of
the day. But, it is the outcomes from meetings held at IACC
venues and how the environment is created - from the furniture
and flexible complete meeting packages - that makes the
difference and will ensure that conference centers grow in
popularity in future years.
Another positive trend for our industry is that we are seeing
an increasing number of downtown, non-residential conference
centers opening, and we expect to see the day-center concept
grow globally. IACC is also committed to establishing ourselves
in new regions such as Asia, the Middle East, and South Africa
and we are developing exciting relationships in these regions.