Conference Facilities

A convention is a meeting of members of a business or a professional group, such as dentists, booksellers or language teachers. It is held to exchange information in the field and consider other business of the organization. A typical convention lasts three or four days and includes business sessions, workshops and seminars, professional exhibits and special events. The facilities required for the convention are extensive. A large auditorium or hall is usually necessary for group meetings and events such as banquets. In addition, smaller rooms, probably of a variety of sizes, are required for workshops and seminars. An exhibit area, with adjacent loading and storage facilities, is almost always provided as well.

Attendance at conventions runs to a thousand or more people. In fact, a figure of three or four thousand is not unusual. In some cases the attendance is even higher and the facilities of more than one hotel are required. Attendance figures normally include only the people who actually register for the convention and do not take into account wives or other relatives or friends who may accompany the group members.

Until recently most conventions were held in one of a few large cities that were also transportation centers. In the US such cities as New York, Chicago and Washington D. C. were typical locations for conventions. Other popular cities for conference meeting are Paris, Tokyo, Moscow, Rome and some other European capitals. The growth of the airline industry has made the convention business a worldwide enterprise. Conventions are held every year in a greater variety of places than ever before. Many resort hotels nowadays have complete convention facilities and most new city hotels have also been designed with the convention business in mind. Even some motels have facilities for group meetings.

The convention business is very profitable for the hotel industry. A convention guarantees a good occupancy rate for the hotel over a period of at least several days. In addition, the special exhibit and meeting areas are rented by the sponsoring organization for a fee, and the people attending the convention also generate more business in the hotel’s restaurants, bars and shops. In many cases the business and professional people who are members of the sponsoring group are accompanied by their families, and this means still more business for the hotel. For most people, in fact, a convention is a combination of business and pleasure, a chance to get away from the usual daily routine. This is one of the major reasons behind the increasing shift of conventions to resort areas.

A hotel that handles conventions has several specialized people on the staff, perhaps the most important of whom are the salesmen who are responsible for bringing in the business. Most of them have special contacts among the groups that sponsor conventions. Negotiations for a convention may take place over a long period, particularly today, when the sponsor have numerous choices and can shop around for the best bargains. Standard arrangements include reduced room rates and the lowest possible fee for other facilities and services that are required. The salesmen must coordinate their efforts carefully with their requirements for space in the hotel.

Many hotels also have a special manager to handle all the particular arrangements that must be made once the convention has been booked into the hotel. Conventions follow a general pattern, but they always create special problems because each one differs in detail from all others. All the arrangements must be coordinated with other departments of the hotel. The front desk must prepare for a surge of arriving guests and the housekeeping department must make sure the rooms are ready when needed. The food and beverage service and the maintenance and engineering staff must also do their parts. The installation of the exhibits may require mechanical and electrical work, and loading and unloading equipment may call for an additional work force. If a banquet is to be served, as it usually is, the menu must be planned; tables, napery and table silver must be provided and set up. Experienced banquet waiters must also be on duty.

A banquet is a large formal luncheon or dinner that is customarily followed by speeches and/or a ceremony. A banquet is often the final event of many conventions. Other banquets are sponsored by local groups for special purposes, such as presenting awards, honoring an individual, or raising funds for a political campaign. Hotels that are equipped to handle conventions generally attract banquet business as well, but any hotel with a sufficiently large dining room, ballroom or meeting room can attract banquets. The arrangements for preparing the banquet are normally the job of the banquet manager who is sometimes responsible for the sales effort as well.