| SUBJECT CODE |
: DHM 478 |
| SUBJECT NAME |
: CONVENTION MANAGEMENT & SERVICES |
| SEMESTER |
: 3 |
| CREDIT HOURS |
: 5 |
| SCHOOL |
: School of Hospitality and Tourism Management |
| COURSE |
: Diploma / Diploma in Hospitality Management |
OBJECTIVES
At the completion of this course, the students should be much better prepared to:
Describe the scope of the convention, meetings and trade show
industry in terms of types of meetings, who holds meetings, and
emerging types of meeting facilities.
Explain the steps in developing a marketing plan.
Describe considerations in the organizational design of a
sales department, and outline how a sales office interfaces with other
departments.
Identify characteristics of association meetings that are important for selling to the association market.
Identify characteristics of corporate meetings that are important for selling to the corporate market.
Describe SMERF groups and explain how to approach selling meeting services and products to them.
List and describe the steps in making a personal sales call.
Summarize the process of planning an advertising strategy and
describe how public relations and publicity can help a property reach
meeting planners.
Describe the elements of a letter of agreement or a contract and distinguish between those elements.
LEARNING OUTCOME
Week 1
Identify the organizations involved in the advancement of professionalism in the convention and meetings industry.
Describe the various types of meetings hosted.
Identify the different types of organizations that hold meetings.
Describe the various types of meeting facilities.
Describe trends in the convention and meetings industry,
especially the role of third-party meeting planners and the increased
use of technology.
Week 2
Distinguish sales from marketing.
Describe key features of a marketing plan.
Explain the function of property analysis, competition
analysis, and marketplace analysis in the context of conducting market
research.
Explain the function of target markets and positioning in the context of developing a marketing plan.
Explain how objectives and action plans are developed as part of a marketing plan.
Week 3
Identify factors to consider when organizing for convention sales.
Describe typical sales and marketing staff positions, and
outline the roles of regional sales offices and independent hotel
representatives.
Explain how to manage the efforts of the sales team in terms
of establishing standard operating procedures, conducting sales
meetings, assigning account responsibility, and evaluating the sales
effort.
Explain the various filing systems and records maintained by a sales office.
Describe technological applications for a sales office.
Week 4
Identify factors that association meeting planners consider when making a site selection.
Describe the different types of association meetings.
Identify characteristics of association meetings that are important for selling to the association market.
Identify who typically decides where to hold an association meeting and those who may influence that decision.
Describe the tools salespeople use to locate associations and to find information about the meetings associations hold.
Week 5
Identify factors that corporate meeting planners consider when making a site selection.
Describe the different types of corporate meetings.
Identify characteristics of corporate meetings that are important for selling to the corporate market.
Identify who typically decides where to hold a corporate meeting.
Describe the tools salespeople use to locate corporations and to find information about the meetings they hold
Week 6
Describe the nonprofit organizations market and explain how to sell meeting services and products to it.
Identify SMERF organizations and explain how to sell meeting services and products to them.
Summarize sales considerations for selling meeting services
and products to the following markets: government agencies, labor
unions, incentive meetings, insurance meetings.
Week 7
Understand and relate Convention management terms and activities in Chapter 1 until 6.
Week 8
Explain the steps in making a personal sales call.
Explain how to conduct telephone selling effectively in meeting and convention sales.
Describe the convention and meeting sales techniques of sales
blitz selling, trade show selling, selling with convention bureaus, and
site inspection selling or familiarization tours.
Week 9
Describe how hospitality companies use print media and technology to advertise.
Identify the purpose and types of collateral materials hospitality companies use in advertising.
Explain how to conduct a direct mail campaign.
Summarize the process of planning an advertising strategy.
Describe how public relations and publicity can help a property reach meeting planners.
Week 10
Describe the purpose of negotiations between meeting planners
and hospitality properties, and outline how to prepare for such
negotiations.
Describe the elements of a letter of agreement or a contract and distinguish between those elements.
Explain how contract standardization and the use of multiple-meeting contracts are changing the meetings industry.
Week 11
Identify factors to consider when determining who coordinates hotel service to groups.
Describe the duties and responsibilities of a convention service manager.
Describe the duties and responsibilities of various convention service staff positions.
Identify issues related to the transfer of responsibility for
servicing a group account from a hotel salesperson to the convention
service manager.
Describe the role of the convention service manager in meeting planning, execution, and evaluation.
Week 12
Describe the ways in which meeting attendees make reservations at the hotel that will host their meeting.
Identify factors that hotel staff takes into account when
assigning rooms to meeting attendees and managing room blocks, and
describe the importance of good check-in/check-out procedures.
Describe how computerization facilities front office guest service.
Week 13
Explain the purpose of a pre-convention meeting and the function of a key personnel roster.
Describe the format and uses of the specification sheet prepared by the convention service manager.
Describe the format and uses of function sheets in servicing conventions and group meetings.
Week 14
Understand and relate Convention management terms and activities in Chapter 7 until 12.
Week 15
Identify factors that convention service managers consider before assigning function space to meeting planners.
Identify various meeting room setups and describe when each is commonly used
Identify different types of food service and service-related issues related to food functions.
Identify control issues related to food functions.
Describe service and control issues related to beverage functions.
Describe post-function activities for both food and beverage
functions, and compare large properties with small ones in terms of
in-house coordination.
Week 16
Summarize factors in the decision about which audiovisual requirements to service in-house and which to outsource.
Describe types of audiovisual equipment and their uses.
Identify issues related to providing audiovisual equipment and services.
Week 17
Describe types of admission systems used for meetings.
Identify special services properties sometimes offer meeting groups.
Describe programs that hospitality properties offer for guests and children of meeting attendees.
Week 18
Identify the types of exhibits and describe the usual ways of assigning exhibit space.
Describe the duties and responsibilities of key trade show personnel.
Identify the elements of exhibit planning.
Explain exhibit billing procedures and the shipping and receiving concerns of exhibitors and properties that host them.
Week 19
Explain how hospitality properties handle billing for conventions and meetings.
Describe typical procedures for conducting a post-convention review.
SYNOPSIS
This
course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of
convention sales and service and strategies in managing as well as
operating a successful convention department.
Semester & Subjects
Calendar & Timetable
Video Seminars
