The FICP Board of Directors recognizes that our community of meetings professionals and hospitality partners has always thrived on connection and that community needs access to peers now, more than ever. Based upon feedback from recent virtual Town Hall and Special Interest Group (SIG) Idea Exchange meetings, has developed FICP Chats.
FICP Chats will be led by FICP Board member Jennifer Squegila, CMP. FICP meetings professional members and hospitality partners are invited to these virtual conversations about the future of meetings. They can register for all three upcoming chats within TheNetwork or whichever conversation interests them most.
Focusing on Safety and Cleanliness
Thursday, April 23 | 1:00 p.m. CDT
- Cleanliness and sanitation standards of hotel rooms, meeting spaces, etc.,
- Cleanliness of transportation (airplanes, busses, cars, etc.),
- Communicating these protocols to hotel guests and meeting attendees,
- Instilling a comfort level to the potential traveler,
- And more!
Focusing on Operations and Logistics
Thursday, April 30 | 1:00 p.m. CDT
- New food and beverage service protocols,
- Taking social distancing into account when planning meeting sets, offsite activities and evening events,
- Testing for COVID-19 on-site,
- And more!
Focusing on 2020 and the Rest of the Year
Thursday, May 7 | 1:00 p.m. CDT
- What will the “third third” of 2020 look like?
- How soon will we be hosting meetings?
- What are hotels seeing?
- What are meetings professionals' stakeholders saying?
- And more!
Update (April 27, 2020): Based on the success of the first FICP Chat, an additional two have been added to the calendar for May:
Focusing on Going Virtual
Thursday, May 21 | 1:00 p.m. CDT
- What did we hear in the Spring Pulse Survey?
- How are meetings professionals adapting?
- Will smaller and/or internal meetings go virtual completely or just for the next year?
- Is hybrid a consideration to facilitate social distancing or to accommodate attendees who are not yet comfortable travelling?
- What is the meetings professional role with virtual meetings?
- How can hospitality partners support?
- Can site visits / planning visits be conducted virtually? Share tips on how to do this successfully?
- Can in-house AV teams offer equipment / robust internet connectivity for “hybrid” meetings (where some attend in-person and others virtually)?
- Can DMCs / production companies facilitate virtual presentations?
- Can speakers present virtually – what is the impact? Definitely requires a different skill set – are they as engaging virtually?
The Future of Meetings – Booking Group Business in the Future: The RFPs, Proposals and Negotiations Before Going to Contract
Thursday, May 28 | 1:00 p.m. CDT
- It used to be “everything is negotiable,” but is it in this new environment? Respectful communication / partnership will be paramount.
- How will company RFPs need to be adjusted for both hotels and DMCs?
- Updating of event space needs based on “social distancing” set considerations
- Inclusions of cleaning and food service protocol requirements
- Transparent communication of expected contract clauses – who takes on the risk if someone becomes ill?
- How will a Hotel/DMC proposal need be adjusted?
- Due to new cleaning protocols – will check-in time and check-out times change? Have early check-ins and/or late check-outs gone away?
- How to communicate your safety protocols?
- Will concessions need to be adjusted? What concessions will be easier to provide? Which ones will be harder to offer?
- Will there be a limit on types of food & beverage service – do you foresee service charges and/or gratuities increasing?