The Scope of DMCs

Each year, ADME surveys its members to capture information about DMC activity. Here are some of the highlights from the 2006 survey:

• Total Annual Spending by all ADME members is $355,788,866.11
• Total programs completed by DMCs: 21,065
• Average number of programs annually per company: 128

In the past year, 88% of ADME members increased their volume of business compared to the previous year.

Not unsurprisingly, the average lead time ranged from 74 days for a U.S. corporation to 220 days for an association. International corporations had a lead time of 94 days and incentive houses an average lead time of 123 days.

The average group revenue showed little difference between a small and medium size group with a significant increase for a large group:

• Small group average revenue - $24,352.31
• Medium group average revenue - $31,310.00
• Large group average revenue - $82,600.36

We'll share more of the survey results in an upcoming post. How does your DMC compare?

Corporate Meeting Planners and DMCs

Meeting News surveyed 413 meeting planners -- including 216 corporate meeting planners. The full results of this survey will be published in their upcoming issue on September 24.

One question on this survey was: How often do you contact a DMC in your meeting location for services or information?
21% said always
29.5% said sometimes
50% said never

Is our glass half-empty or half-full?

"There are times when corporate planners do one day training meetings or legitimately do not have a need for a DMC so why would they call? When a planner does upon a DMC, the dollar volume and amount of services provided is large and vast and that is the impact DMCs make on the meetings industry," noted Ilene B. Reinhart, DMCP, CMP Partner, ACCESS Destination Services, and ADME president.

Another way of looking at this issue would be to ask the corporate planner who DO use DMC services how much time and effort they save while improving the quality and impact of their meetings. Perhaps an industry survey will ask this question in the future.

Welcome to the 11 newest DMCPs!

We're delighted to welcome the newest class of Destination Management Certified Professionals to our ranks. With these 11 new DMCPS, our total number of Destination Management Certified Professionals is now 110.

To earn their DMCP certification, each candidate needed to demonstrate their experience in the destination management field and complete an exam that was held on August 15, 2007, in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information about DMCP certification, the next exam scheduled in New Orleans, LA on February 21, 2008 and how to enroll, check out our website.

Congratulations to:

Beverly Brin, DMCP
Director of Operations
Ultimate Ventures
Dallas TX

Robert Carey, DMCP
President
PRA Destination Management - Palm Springs
Palm Desert CA

Susan Carey, DMCP
Vice President
PRA Destination Management - Palm Springs
Palm Desert CA

Erica Hesley, DMCP
Director of Product Development
Ultimate Ventures
Dallas TX

Amy Johnson, DMCP, CMP
President
PRA Destination Management Atlanta
Atlanta GA

Iris Langanke, DMCP
Owner/Director of Operations
PRA Destination Management Orlando
Kissimmee FL

Francine McKanna, DMCP
President
PRA Destination Management Las Vegas
Las Vegas NV

James Myers, DMCP, CMP
President
PRA Destination Management
Irving TX

Jeffrey O'Hara, DMCP
President
PRA New Orleans
New Orleans LA

Mary Swift, DMCP
Senior Program Manager
CPS, Inc.
Orlando FL

Elizabeth Watson, DMCP
Principal
PRA Destination Management San Francisco
San Francisco CA

My ADME Silent Auction Experience

So often, in the spirit of charity…and personal enjoyment…I purchase exciting weekend packages at industry silent auctions, only to have them expire before I get the opportunity to enjoy them. This one sounded different….2 nights at the Ritz Carlton, airport transfers, show tickets with transportation to the newest Cirque Show, The Beatles, LOVE, and dinner with transportation to Smith & Wollensky. As I inserted a rather large figure to the bottom of the “Las Vegas Package” form at the ADME silent auction in Palm Springs, I vowed to take advantage of this mini vacation before the expiration date brought with it another disappointment. At home, I filed the envelope containing all the goodies neatly away; as I do all the others, in a desk drawer at my home office.

I don’t know if it was the daily emails and telephone calls from my ADME friends and board members or the conspicuous blank pages on my calendar over the long Labor Day holiday weekend that jarred my memory of the ADME silent auction purchase. Whatever it was, I pulled the envelope from the drawer to have another look.

Here it is, Monday, August 27….can we really make this happen by Friday? My first call was to the hotel. The woman who answered the phone at the Ritz Carlton in Lake Las Vegas sounded as excited as I was that we were coming to Las Vegas. After a short time on hold, she returned to tell me we were confirmed on the Club Level. Now for the flight….a quick call to Southwest Airlines and we were booked on a direct flight from Nashville to Las Vegas. Even though we were flying out in 3 days and over a holiday weekend, the fare was so low; it didn’t make sense to use points. With my flight in place and a hotel confirmation, I felt confident that even if the rest of the package fell short….we were going to have a great spa weekend in Las Vegas.

My third call was to AWG Destination Management in Las Vegas, the DMC who organized the package donated to the ADME silent auction. Time was of the essence, so I left a message in the voicemails of both Alan and Alene Waxler. Although I was sure they could arrange for my transportation, getting the tickets to The Beatles LOVE, on such short notice, might be challenging….and it was. Their operations manager, Laura Devine, was just that….DIVINE. She kept me updated every step of the way and ultimately came through with tickets which were waiting for me at Will Call. As a DMC, I knew the hoops she had to jump through to make this happen and can hear the excitement in her voice when she delivered the news.

Although I know it’s not the first time, I must say it’s been such a long time since I was on the receiving end and actually experienced what it felt like to be one of those “incentive program attendees” who we all work with so often. All I had to do was show up and a car was waiting to take me on my next excursion, which I knew was flawlessly arranged by my destination management company.

I’ve learned two things from this experience:
1. No matter how expensive the silent auction package may seem at the time, it’s well worth the investment….if you use it.
2. By sharing my first hand experience as not only the provider, but the receiver of destination management services, I can convince any client how important it is to use a DMC.

Rhonda Marko, CMP, CMM, DMCP
President & CEO
Destination Nashville