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Mr. Guaracino
Diversity Issues
Top Ten Tips to Booking Gay and Lesbian Meetings (From a Straight Woman!)
By Jeff Guaracino, Vice President, Communications, Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp
The gay meeting and convention market today
There are conventions for gay doctors, gay lawyers, gay journalists, gay civil rights leaders, gay financial planners, gay square dancing associations, gay scientists and technical professionals and annual meetings for gay employee groups representing Fortune 500 companies including Microsoft and Disney. There are more than 80 gay and lesbian associations that can be booked as a group meeting or convention. More, this business is often booked just a year or two out and is perfect for generating short-term business.
Of course, there are also conventions that have nothing to do with being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. It may be a convention or meeting for real estate agents or endocrinologists. However, the opportunity may exist to influence the decision to come to your destination in the first place and the chance to increase attendance at the convention because your hotel has reputation as gay-friendly.
"The GLBT convention market is still in its embryonic stage and is developing towards infancy," said Jack P. Ferguson, senior vice president of the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau. "The GLBT convention market is considered very niche at present compared to traditional sources of business: corporate, association, trade show and SMERF."
Ferguson said that there are two significant challenges facing sales forces: the lack of education on how to identify and market to the GLBT meeting planner and the lack of permanent contacts and offices. It is hard for mainstream CVBs and hotel sales organizations to go after the business because GLBT convention planners are mainly volunteer-driven and hard to reach.
This is the fundamental problem. The hospitality industry is hard pressed to find the names, address and meeting schedules of GLBT groups. GLBT meeting organizers, most of whom do not work within the hospitality industry, do not yet have the knowledge or skill set (and vice-versa) on how to work effectively with sales teams of CVBs and hotels. Another challenge to booking gay meetings and conventions is that often times the planners are volunteers. Volunteers change too frequently or have already decided on where and when they are going to send their business.
Some tourism professionals predict that the GLBT market will eventually find a home within the social, military, educational, religious, fraternal (SMERF) market. As more global companies organize GLBT employee groups, more corporate sales jobs will include the GLBT market.
Until that time, a valuable resource is the Gay & Lesbian Convention and Visitors Bureau (www.glvcb.org). The GLCVB is the very first step in solving the problem of the lack of readily identified GLBT meeting planner meeting contacts. Invented by Community Marketing, the GLCVB is positioned to help bridge the gap between the gay community and CVBs. This is a significant step in helping the gay and lesbian meeting develop. The GLCVB will serve as an educational organization helping both sides of the industry.
Working with the GLCVB offers a gay market insight and communications tools to define the approach to the gay and lesbian market, especially meeting planners, tour operators and travel agents. The GLCVB works with sales organizations to establish goals based on the latest research and market forces. The GLCVB has a strong stable of assets that includes email newsletters, a gay and lesbian tourism directory and an unrivaled database.
The role of gay marketing towards mainstream meetings and conventions
Ferguson advises that the industry should not limit its efforts to just the gay meetings and conventions. Members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community are already participating in conventions regardless of the topic of the meeting. It may be a convention of real estate agents or dentists that will bring gay and straight attendees. Depending on the type of association you are hosting as a convention, gay and lesbian people can make up anywhere from a conservative 5 percent to more than 50 percent of the delegates.
Veronica Torres, diversity convention sales manager of the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, is the perhaps the most successful CVB sales woman in the country. Each year, she is responsible for booking more than 8,000 hotel room nights attributable to the GLBT market. She has proven that a straight woman can reigns queen. She has set the bar. She has proven that through hard work, a dedication to learn about the market and a fabulous personality anyone can book GLBT convention and meeting business. Here are her ten tips to booking GLBT business.
Construct a Plan. Write out specific goals that you would like to accomplish and set a timeframe. Develop a model that fits your organizational structure and your overall goals. Write a mission statement to keep you focused. Your plan should answer questions like do you want to be a top GLBT convention city? Or, how many room nights do I want to book from the GLBT market? If your budget supports it, start first with GLBT research to help identify your potential market share. Do not construct a plan without first speaking to your local gay chamber of commerce, if you have one in your city, or members of the local gay business community and hotels that share your vision. Whatever your plan is, stay focused.
Identify your top 25 accounts. Research if your city has already been a host for a GLBT convention. For the past 30 years, national GLBT associations have been meeting mostly without the help of a CVB or hotel sales staff. If they have already been to your city, invite them back. Identify the conferences that you would like to host based on what your destination can offer. There are educational conferences, sporting events, health conferences, military conferences and general GLBT meetings and conventions. My advice is to use the Internet to help you narrow the list. Often times, you will find out lots of information just from the Web including the time of year of the annual conference, average room rate and organizational information. Assuming you have already partnered with your local GLBT community, consider developing relationships with the leadership in the national GLBT community.
Research your city. Take a very close look at what your city has to offer, both gay and of gay interest. Find your own uniqueness that sets you apart from your competitive cities. You will soon discover what will draw conventions and tourism to your destination. Consider all the important factors to any convention planner such as weather, accessibility through a major airport and hotel availability. What are the gay attributes of your destination? Do you have an annual gay pride festival? Do you have a "gayborhood" with gay-friendly shops, restaurants and nightclubs? Is that neighborhood close to a hotel or the convention center? Signature events in your city will help draw more people. Create a gay calendar of events. Try to use what you already have going on to attract visitors. Is your local GLBT community active in city affairs and politically influential, helping you to support the effort. Does the local GLBT community contribute to the city? In Dallas, the Dallas Tavern Guild not only creates events but enhances parks and other attributes of the destination. Identify your gay-friendly hotels. Get them excited about your efforts and the plan to which will eventually bring them business as well. Be sure to ask if they are really gay-friendly or just in it for the business. Remember, gay travelers need to feel welcomed.
Bring your community together. Host a community leader breakfast, lunch, dinner or happy hour, anything! Invite all your local supporters in the community, anyone from City Council, store owners, non-profits, chambers of commerce, pride coordinators, hotel representatives, local bar owners, churches, whoever supports your GLBT community. Form a "City Ambassador Group" that will help you solicit, support, host, and perhaps, fund your efforts to attract more GLBT convention business. It's a great system when you have a strong group of 10-15 supporters. My advice is to not go it alone.
Education. This is a crucial step. You need to educate your community on how convention tourism affects them. Convention business brings economic rewards to nearly everyone in your city from the cab driver to the local bar, gay or straight. I like to tell my Dallas community that "EVERYBODY eats at the table." My main message is that if we all work together, we all make money, we all educate then we all can give back. Help your community understand what your plans are. Remember, gay tourism is still considered controversial and there are many misunderstandings about this market. Trust me, I am a gal from Texas! There was lots of education that had to happen. To help keep a dialogue open, hold quarterly meetings to update your stakeholders with numbers and statistics that you compile. Show them the Return on Investment. Again, use business statistics every chance you get. Also, be sure to educate yourself by networking with colleagues in the tourism industry who are in the business of gay tourism.
Develop strategic alliances with major corporations in your city. Dallas has over 13 Fortune 500 companies in the city. More than half have a vice president of diversity and community relations and most major companies have gay employee groups who meet semi-regularly. Get to know those people! Major hotel chains have GLBT representatives. Get to know those people! There are also less obvious allies that can be very important to your efforts. These are people who may have resources, both financial and in-kind, that can help you achieve your goals. They can be local beer distributors, non-profit organizations, gay community groups, gay bars and shops. Get to know these people.
Research all your local GLBT chapter associations and establish relationships with them. Develop a spreadsheet with every GLBT organization in your city from AIDS research centers to gay pride festival coordinators and black tie dinner organizations. Find out who serves on the local boards of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Design Industries Fighting AIDS (DIFFA), Lavender Law and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), to just name a few. Make friends with these leaders and attend their events to support this diverse community. Remember, these are the organizations that will work with you to organize their local conferences and meetings and pitch national conferences for your city as well.
Meet with national GLBT associations convention planners. Most of the national associations have offices in Washington, D.C. and on the West Coast. Go on the web and find out who they are. Almost every National GLBT association is listed. They all have national conventions. Get to know them. Stay organized and attend some of their trade shows. Any local tourism/convention tradeshows are always key to attend as well. Try to become key destination partners. Networking is key.
Host media and convention planner familiarization tours. Invite your clients, existing and potential, to see your city. Organize a three or four day trip with your local community supporters and show off your city and your hotels. Try to schedule this trip around the time of an annual GLBT event in your city to show off your gay pride. Many local pubs, restaurants, hotels and airlines would love to have the media visit their establishments. Publicity is very important component to getting the word out about your destination's efforts.
Book the business by having a passion for what you do. It is not an easy market but it is a fun market. Support your community and have fun. It's not work when you love what you do! Lastly, stay informed by subscribing to all gay related magazines and be sure to read your local "rags" because this is a fast changing market. To book the business you must be aware of the opportunities and the issues in this community.
Jeff Guaracino is VP of communications for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC). He manages national and regional communications, the visiting journalist program, content development and corporate communications. Jeff specializes in communications programs to African-American, Hispanic, Canadian and gay and lesbian travelers. The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) makes Philadelphia and The Countryside® a premier destination through marketing and image building. Mr. Guaracino can be contacted at 215-599-2290 or jeff@gptmc.com Extended Bio...
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