You know you’re up against it while bidding for a major convention and your competitor rolls in Nelson Mandela to spruik for their city.
Life for those who bid for conference business is rarely a walk in the park. And unfortunately the only time their work is acknowledged is when a major piece of meetings business is won, although that is often not even the case. Invariably the venue or city and sometimes even government is applauded for their efforts.
Says head of the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre’s bid team, Alison Gardiner (pictured above), it often feels as if the bid manager is living in a parallel universe.
Bid managers have the responsibility of facilitating the hundreds of strands of information that comprise a competitive bid to secure a meeting to their city that might be three to seven years away. It’s a nerve-wracking business because of the large stakes involved, and a process often akin to that of winning an Olympic Games – without the supporting budget.
It’s their task to gather together the necessary support from the host association, local and state government, develop strategy and then implement it to a fixed timetable. They often have to go through national rounds of selection where the various Australian cities will vie against one another for the right to bid for the event. Sabotage, underhanded business practice and good old-fashioned back-stabbing are not unknown in this cut-throat business.
“We use the term ‘herding cats’ a lot in this business and it certainly helps to be something of an adrenalin junkie,” says Ms Gardiner, an MBA graduate and qualified interpreter in French and Spanish.
“One of the bigger challenges is that we have firm deadlines to gather proposals and budgets and it certainly becomes stressful when deadlines are missed. It’s then a matter of taking a deep breath and pressing on.
“Especially with scientific meetings, the people who are in decision-making positions on the host association are invariably highly busy in their professions and we need to work around this.”
The job requires a high level of intuition with regard to the politics that invariably infests the national and international associations. With bids for conferences attracting, say, 1500 delegates, it’s not uncommon for the bid to cost anywhere between $30,000 and $50,000, with larger conferences sometimes running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and no guarantee of success.
Costs include flying and accommodating site inspections for organisers (usually in business-class), the preparation of bid documents, corporate videos, sending bid team members overseas to lobby at related conferences, hosting functions, and thank you gifts.
“We obviously need to look really closely at the bid as sometimes we’re being included in a shortlist simply for appearances when the event has already been given to a city.
“We sometimes will walk away from a bid when it’s clear there is no level playing field.”
She says the scientific association members are particularly partial to the hospitality extended during the bidding process.
For the bidding team, the most challenging scenario is when there is a general assembly election for a bidding city. This is where sometimes up to 250 office bearers have a vote and the bid team are in a situation akin to the Olympic Games where a large number of individuals need to the canvassed, and voting blocs identified.
“We have procedures with primary and secondary voters and it’s my job to understand how this all works,” Ms Gardiner says.
“We need to be aware of how one city might be played off by another and be wise to being manipulated. These days national and international associations are very aware of the economic value their event is to a city and often it is a case of ‘show us the money!’.
“In many of the Asian countries, there are huge financial incentives to secure the business and this is an ongoing challenge. One has to be ever open to adjusting the bid as the ground shifts during the process. The strategy development and implementation is the really exciting part of this business. We have a win rate in excess of 60 per cent, which is excellent given the level of competition.”
Ms Gardiner says that Australia’s reputation for organising and delivering world-class meetings in clean, unpolluted cities goes a long way to securing international association meetings.
“We have great assets and conferences are by no means solely won on the financial strength of a bid.
“The international associations see Australia as a good place to engage with the Asia Pacific. Blue skies, good transportation and great service from the venues helps skew the business our way. But nothing comes easily.”
Selling Melbourne in the dead of winter as the ideal destination for the international conference of Zonta, a service organisation for professional women, was something of a challenge, especially when Cairns was a contender.
Running the Melbourne bid for the local Zonta region was Beryl McMillan, director of community relations at St Leonard’s College, a co-educational independent school in Melbourne.
“In the bid process we acted with all the conviction that we had already won the bid,” she explains.
“We were enormously helped along the way by the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau with advice and information on a whole range of items.”
The Zonta conference is a long six days with a busy professional program and many social events, so the bid team had to demonstrate that Melbourne and the convention centre were up to the task, especially regards to the catering.
“When the Zonta president visited for a site inspection, we were able to introduce her to the Lord Mayor and some of his officials.
“At that meeting the mayor offered us a civic reception for the delegates and the promise that a flower garden bed would be dedicated to Zonta in St Kilda Road for the duration of the conference, conditions permitting.”
The Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau worked closely with Beryl McMillan’s committee to draw up the bid document and then travelled to a Zonta meeting in Chicago to personally make what turned out to be the winning presentation.
Among the innovative measures offered were pre- and post-conference touring which had Zonta delegates and partners enjoying home hospitality right across Australia from local Zonta members.
“With the assistance of the Melbourne bureau we were able to demonstrate that we could put on the best Zonta conference ever – which is exactly what we achieved,” Ms McMillan said.
Number of bids submitted:
On average the Sydney Convention & Visitors Bureau will submit 56 bids during a financial year. During the 07/08 financial year the SCVB submitted 74 bids.
In 2006/2007 Melbourne Convention + Visitor Bureau submitted 73 and in 2007/2008 92 bids.
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre submits on average 55 bids a year.
How many bids are successful:
SCVB: 71 per cent
Melbourne: 70 per cent
Brisbane: 65 per cent-plus
Convention business in hand:
Sydney: 80 events secured from now until 2014 worth an estimated $604,492,047
Melbourne: More than 23 conventions have been secured for the new Melbourne Convention Centre, bringing more than 50,000 delegates valued at more than $327 million.
Brisbane: the centre is currently holding bookings for 72 international conferences and 228 conventions in total.
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