customer advisory council june 20 - 21, 2012 advisory council – june 20 - 21, ... ernie garcia san...
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Customer Advisory Council – June 20 - 21, 2012
Council Members (in attendance)
Marty Balogh American Bar
Association
Randy Cross SPIE
Mark Erwin Intel Corporation
Roger Furness Audio Engineering
Society
Nicole Garbolino United Business Media
Kate Hurst U.S. Green Building
Council
Debi Irwin California Dental
Association
Catherine Mills American Dental
Association
Jodi Morrison Oracle
Felix Niespodziewanski American College of
Surgeons
Heidi Prange Society of Toxicology
Leslie Raucher Semiconductor
Equipment and
Materials
International
Karen Reul Salesforce.com Inc.
Paula Schneider American Society of
Cataract & Refractive
Surgery
Sue Sears Hamilton American College of
Cardiology
Council Members (unable to attend)
Kathy Doyle Cisco Systems
Connie Herndon American Society for
Microbiology
Wanda Johnson Endocrine Society
Sandra Toms LaPedis RSA Security
Bill Lynch National Association
for the Specialty Food
Trade
T.J. McCabe American Public Health
Association
Brenda Weaver American Geophysical
Union
Chris Wehking American Society of
Anesthesiologists
Johnnie White Cardiovascular
Research Foundation
Local Partners
Joe D‟Alessandro San Francisco Travel
John Cope The Huntington Hotel
Walden Agustin San Francisco Travel
Scott Baublitz Hilton San Francisco
Joe Curran Hotel Nikko
Michael Dunne Hilton San Francisco
Lynn Farzaroli San Francisco Travel
Mary Gallagher San Francisco Travel
Ernie Garcia San Francisco Travel
Lanie Griffin Starwood Hotels
Kathryn Horton San Francisco Travel
Tamra Howes San Francisco Marriott
Marquis
Dan Kelleher San Francisco Marriott
Marquis
Matt Kovacs Grand Hyatt
Melody Lendaro Moscone Center
Kimberly Lee San Francisco Travel
Brenda Ly Kimpton Hotels
Lysa Lewin San Francisco Travel
Deirdre Lewis San Francisco Travel
Kenley Moy San Francisco Travel
John Noguchi City & County of San
Francisco
Leonie Patrick San Francisco Travel
Wendy Ramirez San Francisco Travel
Bob Sauter Moscone Center
Dick Shaff Moscone Center
Matt Spero Grand Hyatt
David von Winkler Kimpton Hotels
Matt Stiker San Francisco Travel
Meeting Facilitator
David Kliman The Kliman Group
San Francisco Customer Advisory Council – Meeting Minutes – June 2012– Confidential 2
SAN FRANCISCO CUSTOMER ADVISORY COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
June 20 – 21, 2012
Confidential
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The Council was welcomed; goals and objectives for the meeting were
outlined. New and returning Council members and San Francisco hosts
were introduced.
Joe D‟Alessandro and John Cope, Board Chair expressed their
appreciation for the role the Council plays in helping San Francisco be a
more meeting friendly destination
Joe D’Alessandro outlined San Francisco destination highlights:
Massive infrastructure development is underway in San Francisco; the
most development since the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges were built in
the 1930s. Same Great City, with Billions in New Developments; San
Francisco has never looked more golden. Projects include:
$30 Million METREON Renovation http://www.westfield.com/metreon/revitalize/ (2012)
SF Jazz Center http://www.sfjazz.org/center (January 2013)
Exploratorium http://www.exploratorium.edu/ moves to
Embarcadero Pier 15-17 (Spring 2013)
New Cruise Terminal http://www.sfport.com/ opens at Pier 27 (2014)
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art http://www.sfmoma.org/
triples gallery size (2016)
Transbay Transit Center http://transbaycenter.org opens (2017)
Golden State Warriors San Francisco Arena Development Project http://www.nba.com/warriors/sf (2017)
Central Subway http://www.sfcta.org/content/view/273/92 to
Southeast neighborhoods (2018)
Moscone Expansion
Moscone Convention Center Expansion Tourism Improvement
District (TID) http://www.sftid.com/
Original TID always envisioned Moscone Expansion
Replaces the 0.5% of the current TID that goes toward Moscone
renovations, expansion and incentive buy-down fund
Current 0.5% expires in 2013
Modeled after current TID
Proposing to start in 2013, total TID % on hotel folios will be 2% (vs.
1.5% currently)
1% to San Francisco Travel, 1% to Moscone
32 year term
San Francisco Customer Advisory Council – Meeting Minutes – June 2012– Confidential 3
TID will raise approximately $500 million for Moscone Expansion
Working with City to include language that ensures City
commitment to funding levels
2012 Attendance Record Breakers Award
Presented to:
Debi Irwin and California Dental Association with 17,255 attendees
Randy Cross and SPIE with 19,561 attendees
Moscone Expansion
Mark Schwettmann and Tamara Dinsmore gave a high level summary of
what was heard at the previous programming sessions:
“Bottoms in seats”
“Additional flexible meeting space”
Tamara reviewed the project‟s Mission Statement and comments that
were the basis for the day‟s discussions.
Mission Statement:
Be a world class iconic convention center that enhances the
experience of convention goers, establishes San Francisco as the
premier convention and destination city and, in doing so maximize
positive economic impact in San Francisco
Previous groups cited the following key attributes needed in a Moscone
expansion:
750K – 1M square feet of equitable, contiguous space, same level
same height and 500K – 750K square feet meeting space
“Westfield” style food court http://www.westfield.com/sanfrancisco/
Kitchen double the size of existing and satellite kitchens
Connections to all buildings above and below ground
Additional loading bays, docks and back of house space
The Council was asked to think of the day‟s discussions as “blue sky” and
“blank slate” and to “think big” regarding potential expansion possibilities
for Moscone; the following comments were offered;
General
Need for more contiguous meeting space
Keynote speaker room/general session space seating 45,000
High ceilings in the exhibition spaces, not limited by archways and
columns
Flexible large divisible space suitable for banquets, expos, concerts,
large and small meeting rooms
Don‟t forget about marshalling areas
Appropriate areas for registration; not long and narrow but
contiguous so registration is not broken up
San Francisco Customer Advisory Council – Meeting Minutes – June 2012– Confidential 4
Networking spaces with Wi-Fi; both in and outside of meeting rooms
offering inviting warm spaces, nooks, etc. (hotels cited as leading
the research/execution of this i.e.: Link@Sheraton)
Abundant places to plug in and charge. Attendees have multiple
devices requiring mid-day charging - what about inductive
(Wireless) charging?
Better accommodation of the movement of people within and
between the facilities, a combination of inside and outside
movement, i.e. bigger corridors inside, bigger sidewalks outside
Windows in meeting spaces would be great, keep people happier
and healthier while at shows, views, biophilia, etc. easy access to
outdoors but that keeps attendees in/near the building
State of the art ability to effectively regulate HVAC in all spaces
Complimentary Internet in the entire campus including meeting
rooms (now offered at Moscone)
Provide water in meeting rooms or portable water coolers at or in
between rooms; bottled water is expensive, pitchers of water are
viewed as unsanitary
Spend the money up front to ensure air walls are high quality,
properly fit and function and provide acoustic separation (note,
walls were improved in the recent renovations)
Upgrade the acoustics, HVAC noise is too high, recently attendees
in Esplanade Ballroom needed to move tables closer so attendees
could hear each other
Opportunities for branding, digital signage, massive amounts of
blank canvas for branding
Office space for show managers
Lots of power for flexible spaces
Food & Beverage
There are pros and cons to the “Westfield” food court model. The
main interest is getting people into the building and keeping them
there
Give attendees a full range of options within the building,
customized so they get the F&B they want
Shift to a new generation of attendees accustomed to having
customized options
Food court style is OK provided it‟s quick and there is familiarity to
what‟s offered and prices must be reasonable
The concept of dinners and banquets are outdated
San Francisco Customer Advisory Council – Meeting Minutes – June 2012– Confidential 5
Is Moscone West considered a good model for future expansion?
Yes, but it is hard to move people to The West from North and South
Planners don‟t want to dilute attendance
Better to have space directly connected to North and South
West is restricted by elevators for certain uses of the upper floors
The West‟s Second floor public space is great; lots of glass and light
What would you include in the 25-year Master Plan?
Tempting to chase giant shows, but there are relatively few of them
Another large hotel would help layering/mixing of groups and offer
more committable room blocks
There are not enough decent meeting rooms in the hotels close to
Moscone
Build a hotel adjacent to Moscone and create a „campus‟ feel with
at least 1,500 committable rooms
Ideal headquarters hotel needs to be big block for planners to get
allocation of comp rooms and suites, etc.
Ideally, connect all space underground to adjacent hotels
What about hybrid events?
About half the Council members are currently producing hybrid
events and this is definitely a growing industry focus
New meeting rooms need to accommodate highest quality A/V
needs of virtual and live events
How well does closing Howard Street work?
Worked well for lunches and evening events, others have used
Taylor Street
Weather can be an issue when it rains (need to build up floors)
Tents can be a challenge on warm or still days, need enhanced
ventilation
Wireless can be a challenge
Offers free flowing space between buildings
What kind of neighbors might be symbiotic to Moscone?
Convenience retail such as Walgreen‟s
Branch of a museum shop is clever but not a necessity
Most planners don‟t want attendees to leave the building during
business hours, but they don‟t want to make Moscone Center a
shopping mall
A well designed spaces for meeting planner supplies
San Francisco Customer Advisory Council – Meeting Minutes – June 2012– Confidential 6
How do you move people quickly and conveniently back and forth
between new or existing venues without putting people on a bus?
Some shows have as much as 48% international attendance who
generally use public transit with ease
How do you balance the desire to keep people captive while benefitting
from the urban location?
Can you draw in the character of the city without losing people
The primary thing – keep people immersed in the content with
flavor of the city
Other
Benchmark against other national and international centers such as
ExCeL London www.excel-london.co.uk and Messe Munich
www.messe-muenchen.de that offers central causeway for food
and circulation as well as exhibition space that can be divided into
20,000 square foot blocks
Great example of the wrong way to expand is the expansion of
London Heathrow, there are dangers in piecemeal additive
approach; must be prepared to take major portions of the building
out of service
Focus on the customers‟ experience, provide anything that brings
fun, comfort and excitement, Virgin is a great example
The Council was thanked for their input and reminded that they will be
part of an ongoing dialogue as the project develops and progresses.
New Arena
Rick Welts – President of the Golden State Warriors and Michael Hallmark,
Principle Future Cities joined the meeting to discuss the development of a
new world class state of the art arena on Piers 30 – 32; the following
outlines their comments:
13 acres allows development of flexible use space in additional to
the arena
San Francisco has never had a world-class arena
Additional space (“330 site”) located across the street
Remarkable site in shadow of Bay Bridge
17 - 19K seats designed for NBA and concerts, shows and
convention support
Public access offered 360 degrees around the arena
Outdoor 40-45K square feet programmable space with video
Opening in 2017 in time for 2017/2018 NBA season
24-month construction time period plus additional year for
infrastructure improvements on the pier
San Francisco Customer Advisory Council – Meeting Minutes – June 2012– Confidential 7
$400-500 million project; 100% private funding
Retail, entertainment and restaurant venues will be included similar
to LA Live project
Blocks of tickets for groups will be available
Guest party suites available for 12 to 100 (or more)
The Council offered the following feedback regarding the Arena
Use of the arena as general session space is sometimes
problematic; often need to make the arena space smaller and this
is often costly
Outdoor high tech programmable space is highly desirable
Often there are sound quality issues in arenas
Need VIP areas overlooking the floor/stage area for 300 - 500
people
Blocks of tickets for groups will be available including VIP suites for
groups
ICW (in conjunction with) business could be key users of arena
Ensure party suites are well located (not in “nosebleed” sections)
Design ability to convert suites into breakout rooms
Ensure concourse space is large enough for receptions
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Sales Deployment Models
Joe D‟Alessandro and John Reyes asked the Council to think about
current best practices regarding City Wide Sales Model and
recommendations to enhance San Francisco Travel‟s citywide sales
processes. The Advisory Council was asked provide feedback based on
citywide customers‟ needs and desires.
The citywide sales cycle was broken into 6 subsections:
Relationship Building
Proposal
Site Inspection/Tentative
Stage
Closing
License
Event Management
Relationship Building
Sales person must understand the customer‟s specific business and
must be focused; “can‟t crank out contracts”
Be a proactive advocate who understands inner workings of the
whole city
Provide customers with proactive information; don‟t wait for
customer to ask
“Don‟t stalk me”; but be a proactive consultant
San Francisco Customer Advisory Council – Meeting Minutes – June 2012– Confidential 8
Don‟t forget to sell and service to repeat meetings customers
Mine data on customer‟s website
Proposals
Don‟t assume all attendees are alike (i.e.: not all doctors are
wealthy)
Provide comprehensive information in proposal including but not
limited to: room commitment, hotel locations, shuttle costs,
Moscone etc.
Advise who else is in the city, provide information regarding how
other groups fit together, discuss options to move groups to
accommodate more
Offer more discounts (Center rental, F&B etc.) based on total
economic impact
Customized proposal presentation; ask planners what format they
want (paper, digital etc.)
Site Inspection
Chicago and Boston are cited as providing very effective site
inspections
They provide a spiral bound printed booklet with pictures of venues,
hotels etc. and contact information; very effective and useful
Austin provides electronic itinerary compatible for all digital devices
http://austintexas-iapp.org/acvb/austinitinerary/two/
Provide drivers who are former police officers; they are very
knowledge about the City
Send advance person to hotel to ensure they‟re on time and ready
for customers; “make it like clockwork”
No 2 hour + lunches (but some like long lunches to break up the day
and provide some down time, ask what is right for them, “know thy
customer”)
“Be my advocate”, ensure DMO sales or CSM contacts are on site
inspections to ensure that hoteliers “don‟t kidnap” planners and
overwhelm them with meaningless information or waste their time
During Moscone site inspections, it‟s helpful to have overview first
which shows a schematic (similar to what the Hilton uses); this helps
the planner to get their bearings
Share information regarding technology and loading docks
Be transparent regarding Union contract timeline and hot buttons
Closing & Licensing
San Francisco does great job in closing business quickly when a
client communicates “ the need for speed”
Some customer cited a “pain point” that Moscone charges a fee/
commission on customers advertising/banners
San Francisco Customer Advisory Council – Meeting Minutes – June 2012– Confidential 9
Moscone will develop new method which won‟t “nickel & dime”
the customer (i.e. line item with one fee)
Moscone planning to charge for ads on LED panels and Council
stated this is OK and reasonable
Some centers charge for stages in ballroom; planner are OK to pay
for resets and complex sets but not for basic set ups
Center exclusives at Moscone are limited to F&B and telecom, not
on internet or Wi-Fi
Some cities don‟t do Letter of Intent and go right to contract
Some want to sign years in advance, but can‟t give large deposits
No standards in place regarding what the meaning and content of
a letter of intent
Ensure files are updated to indicate changes in staff
Event Management
Convention Services team must be empowered to make decisions;
San Diego does it well; they are empowered, know the building well
and are engaged appropriately (“no stalking”)
Ensure that when a commitment is made, follow through is
imperative, “make it happen without fail”
Pre-con kick off with Convention Services team important
Moscone event manager assigned for entire event (day and night);
don‟t hand me off; “having one person is great”
Sales - Account Management
When asked if Council members prefer a single sales contact or an
account management team approach; the following feedback was
provided:
Most prefer a single point of sales contact, but regional and home
office teams do work well for some planners
Regional sales office teams are the face of the DMO at industry
events such as local MPI, PCMA chapter meetings which are
concentrated with association and corporate customers
Not realistic for one regional person to attend all site inspections
with customers in San Francisco
Some cited concern that regional sales team may not know city as
well as someone based in San Francisco
Key Industry Issues and Trends
The Council discussed industry trends and issues facing their organizations‟
meetings and conventions; the following summarizes their comments:
Federal regulations and other changes in the medical world is
impacting meetings, downsizing of trade shows; however,
attendance at conventions remains relatively steady
San Francisco Customer Advisory Council – Meeting Minutes – June 2012– Confidential 10
Expect that Pharma code will begin to impact dental industry
FDA approval process takes too long; this has created a trend
which forces attendees to go to Europe and South America for
training and to attend meetings and shows
Many attendees prefer smaller sub-specialty meetings
Show organizers are seeking ways to make large meetings “feel
smaller”
Science and engineering shows are feeling the impact of “anti-
science” political movement; government funding may be
impacted
Toxicology shows and meetings are growing
ABA‟s smaller meetings are growing; San Francisco has been
considered a “relative bargain”, but now hotel rates are “zooming”
skyward
Oracle developing “conference within the conference” (self
contained in hotels vs. at Moscone during Open World) to provide
enhanced networking
Need to prove stronger ROI to sponsors; continually challenged to
find new ideas for sponsors
Need to attract younger generation attendees and make shows
relevant to them
Budgets are generally flat year after year
Airfares are generally reasonable now
Hotel rates in San Francisco are high when measured against Los
Angeles; many groups increasingly attracted to LA, especially in
audio industry
Exhibitors concerned about increased costs to hosts events
Many exhibitors downsizing to smaller booths
ABA exhibitors are traveling less; many attendees don‟t understand
hotel and convention center cost structures (vs. retail and
restaurant etc.)
Sole practitioner MDs are being bought out by institutions
Last minute decision to book travel and register is the new norm;
results in rooms booked outside the official block
Hotels undercut group room block pricing on-line
Travelers know they can get cheaper pricing on-line; this is a major
cultural shift impacting meetings and shows
San Francisco Customer Advisory Council – Meeting Minutes – June 2012– Confidential 11
Homeless/Safety
Jon Ballesteros, Vice President Public Policy at San Francisco Travel and
Bevin Dufty, Director of Housing Opportunity for the City of San Francisco
joined the meeting to discuss work being done to ensure the “voice of the
customer” is heard and acted upon in the political and business world in
San Francisco; the following outlines their comments and the Council‟s
feedback:
Bevin provided his contact information and invited Council members to
contact his office at anytime:
Bevan Dufty
HOPE – Housing Opportunity Partnership & Engagement
Office of Mayor Ed Lee
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place – Room 18
San Francisco, CA 94102
Office 415.554.5646
Mobile 415.595.3213
HOPE Office is focused on:
o Continuously improving and efficiently serving San Francisco‟s
homeless population
o Ending Veteran homelessness by 2015
o Ending family homelessness
o Rapid Re-housing
Homeless population is about 6,000 per annual count
5,000 units of supportive housing in San Francisco
Community Justice Center modeled after NYC to address SOMA
Tenderloin and Union Square quality of life and misdemeanor issues
Wet housing is being introduced (doesn‟t demand that people stop
drinking)
225 chronically inebriated homeless people cost the City $13 million
annually in services; working on ways to enhance services and
lower costs
311 offers one point of access for non emergency information and
services http://www.sf311.org/
WOOF Program http://www.examiner.com/article/city-hopes-woof-
program-pairing-pups-with-panhandlers-will-be-a-howling-success
Pairing small dogs from animal shelters in pilot program with 10
people living in subsidized housing; work in teams with animal
behaviorist to train dogs for future adoption
San Francisco Customer Advisory Council – Meeting Minutes – June 2012– Confidential 12
Council comments:
ABA sees marked improvement in streetscape and homeless
population (2007 to 2010 and now)
Guests staying in youth hostels had problems in the past (muggings)
and Public Policy
San Francisco is the first DMO to have a Public Policy position
focused 100% on the voice of the visitor at the City, State and
Federal level. This is not for the hotel and travel industry
TID funding allows SF Travel to go up against the city political
infrastructure to enhance visitor experiences and focus on quality of
life issues
Send issues to Jon, he‟s able to take quick action
Focused on 6 major issues:
o Driving Moscone expansion
o Measures to address reducing cost of doing business
o Promoting infrastructure development
o Advocating enhanced international access including support for
JOLT Act http://tinyurl.com/cuv4rld and reduction in visa wait
times and visa waiver
o Supporting transportation opportunities
o Addressing bad street behavior
Asset Allocation
The Council was asked to provide their feedback regarding ways in which
San Francisco should focus its assets on customer facing activities; the
following summarizes their comments:
Many planners like regional PCMA MPI meetings because they are
smaller and offer better networking
Client dinners at large annual industry events (MPI, PCMA etc) are
deemed not worthwhile; prefer cocktail receptions which offer
better networking opportunities
Support of industry organizations (MPI, PCMA) is the “right thing to
do” and provides good potential ROI; need to be selective about
which organizations to support (PCMA & MPI cited as worthwhile)
Must focus both on booking new business while ensuring strong
focus on retaining current clients
ASAE cited as expensive and decision makers generally not present
Suppliers want to have more presence at client events; they want
more citywide business
More room nights booked, but fewer groups
TID was created to promote the city more - show the value to the
right customers - get more new appointments with new customers
San Francisco Customer Advisory Council – Meeting Minutes – June 2012– Confidential 13
One of San Francisco‟s biggest advantage is that attendance goes
up for shows here
Moscone General Comments
o Fantastic job in renovation; looks brand new; a “great use of the
$56 million”
o Hallways actually look shorter; they‟re so bright and look more
friendly and inviting
Wrap Up
Joe D‟Alessandro and John Cope, Board Chair thanked the Council
for their constructive feedback and on-going commitment to San
Francisco; these meetings energize the City and provide a real catalyst
for productive changes and improvements. The Council‟s feedback is
remarkably meaningful and helps San Francisco Travel institutionalize
meaningful changes that positively impact the visitor experience.
Actions Items and Recommendations from the June 2012 meeting
Moscone Center
Develop mutually reasonable method to charge for banners and
advertising which planners won‟t consider “nickel and diming” their
budgets
San Francisco Travel
Copy Bevin Dufty‟s office on all incoming groups resumes to create
communication pipeline to ensure that City agencies are aware of
major group events
Jon Ballesteros will provide model letters, emails and talking points for
use by planners and show managers to advocate for political action
and changes
Keep lines of communication open to clients regarding TID Funding
and Moscone Expansion, solicit feedback from clients regarding these
issues
Provide time during future meetings for one on one meetings with
Council peers
Share names of fellow Council members who are Moscone 3 building
users with Sue Sears Hamilton