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CVB
Opens
Sochi to the world of conventions, workshops, conferences, congresses and
events.
_________________________________________________
Mission:
To
create the Conventions and Visitor Bureau (CVB) - a non-profit public
organization aimed at strengthening competitiveness of Sochi in the domestic
and international markets by the way of developing conventions business
business.
Objectives:
· to involve
enterprises and public organizations of the city, as well as Russian and
international professional associations into promotion of information on Sochi
as an attractive destination for business events and conventions,
· to provide
professional training, with consideration of international experience, in the
field of meetings planning, convention services and operations, strategic
development of conventions business in Sochi,
· to develop,
with consideration of international best practices, the quality standards
of conventions services and operations
and to apply them throughout the city,
· to
establish and develop contacts with organizations that plan conventions, events
and meetings, to attract and place their orders with the CVB
partner-enterprises, and to provide assistance necessary to prepare and stage
the events,
· to collect,
process and distribute promotional and contact information about Sochi as an
attractive destination for business events and conventions and about services
offered by CVB partner and their capacity to host conventions or other events,
· to promote
positive public attitudes, hospitality and motivation of different Sochi
organizations and the community for the development of Conventions business.
“School
of Kitaigorodskaya in Sochi”, Private Educational Establishment Gymnasium
“Business School”, Sochi subsidiary of Moscow International University
Supervisors:
Petroun
Inna, Dr Pedagogy, Vice-Director in International Programmes of SsMIU
Michoulina
Svetlana, Dr Economics, SsMIU
James
Connolly, USA, CDC expert in Sochi (May2000)
Serguei
Arefiev, Director of “Sacta Travel” travel agency in Sochi
Address:
40
Tchekhova St., Sochi 354 068, Russia tel/fax (007 8622) 93 56 92
e-mail:
schoolok@blacksea.zzn.com
Director:
Elena Tchertkova
Partner-Organizations:
Travel
Agency “Sacta Travel”
Research
and Fitness Training Centre-Hotel “Yourist”
Boarding
House “Olympijsky”
Boarding
House “Neva”
Chamber
of Commerce, Sochi
Sochi City Council
Sochi Administration
Department for Science and Education, under Sochi Administration
Russian Association of Travel Agents
The
project is open to all other organizations for cooperation and partnership
Period
of the project: June 2000 – July 2001ã.
II.
Background information:
2.1. At the
stage of preparation for setting a CVB in Sochi, some practical steps have been
taken by Sochi Business School and Sochi subsidiary of Moscow International of
University within the program of “Didactic Conventions Bureau” developed by
“School of Kitaigorodskaya in Sochi”. This work (see Attachment 1) was
carried out in the following areas:
§
Training of the future CVB staff:
§
Attracting and providing services to business events and
conventions in Sochi
§
Collection, processing, distribution of information on Sochi
and the Black Sea region in Internet, establishment of contacts:
§
Equipment and documentation:
§
Public awareness
§
Feasibility analysis for setting the CVB in Sochi
2.2. A number
of Sochi organizations have adequate infrastructure and occasionally provide
services to events and conventions that use their facilities. The most
convenient venues are located in the "Dagomys" hotel, the
"Olympijsky” boarding house, the "Radisson - Lasurnaya "
hotel, the "Zvezdny" hotel,
the "Zjemchuzjina" hotel, the "Raduga" spa complex, the
“Neva” boarding house, the "Zapolyar’ye" spa complex, the
"Odiseya -Lazarevskya" hotel, the Winter Theatre, the
"Festivalny" theatre, the “Yourist” research and fitness training
centre-hotel.
2.3. The
travel agency “Sacta-travel” has partnerships and an on-line catalogue of the leading business enterprises within
the on-going travel fair of Sochi. This
catalogue can be used as a Sochi
conventions business portal.
2.4. In
1999-2000 there appeared a number of Sochi web pages in the Russian language.
2.5. The
Department for Science and Education, under Sochi administration, organizes
annual conferences. From time to time international projects bring workshops to
Sochi.
2.6. The
Russian Association of Travel Agents encourages the idea of making an
organization like CVB in Sochi with the purpose of fostering the positions of
the travelist companies in the city and promoting Sochi to the international
markets in the conventions business.
2.7. The City
Council, the City administration and the Chamber of Commerce give importance to
the strategy of developing conventions business in Sochi.
III.
Exposition of services
CVB
designs and provides the following services:
à) information
support to the local population, public awareness and corporativity among
the city organizations, referring to the systems development of conventions
business:
1.
Reference materials and the news bulletin, statistics of
conventions business in Sochi – provided to the partner-organizations;
2. Releases
about the most important events in conventions business of Sochi, publications
in Mass Media, presentations on TV and radio about activities of the CVB;
á)
relations with
the players in the field of conventions business with the aim of promoting
Sochi as an attractive site for workshops, conferences and other events;
1.
Participation in professional conventions and exhibitions, active
contacts with international organizations of conventions business;
2. Promotional events for professional
meetings planners (printed sales literature of Sochi, booklets, video films,
stands, promotional travels), work at exhibitions;
3.
Promotional materials about Sochi for the events participants
(brochures, videos, post-cards);
3. Services
to promote the Sochi conventions business in the Internet (developing web pages
of Sochi in Russian and English languages, electronic advertising, interactive forms of electronic marketing);
c) improvement of the quality service at
conventions and events in Sochi:
1. Stuff
training (training and distribution of teaching materials, organization of
practical training, certification);
2. Development
and implementation of the all-the city quality standards in services;
3. Organizational
and service issues of events and conventions:
-
Attraction of the conventions and
events planned by outside
organizations (distribution of sales information of Sochi as an attractive
destination of conventions and events, search for and establishment of new
contacts with organizations that plan meetings, consultancy in choosing venues
for particular events, organization of promotional and inspection visits for
meeting planners, dealing in negotiations between the meeting planners and
prospective providers or the venue and services, assistance in writing,
publication and distribution of materials on the planned events in Sochi,
booking places in advance, rent of venues and office spaces, rent of the
necessary equipment, translation services, assistance to meetings planners in
budgeting and payments to the venues and providers assistance in planning the
excursions and the social programme of events and conventions, visa support and
registration services, updates in the database and statistics on conventions
business in Sochi);
-
Initiating and preparation of
conventions and events (coordination of all arrangements,
including the choice of the theme and the form of the event, design of the
programme, invitation of the key speakers and participants, marketing the
events to the prospective participants, circulation of the adequate reference
materials for the participants, planning and arrangements of the entertainment
programme for the events, preparation of the printed matter and hand-outs,
files and badges, budgeting, attraction of sponsors, booking of transportation,
services, guides and interpreters, circulation of correspondence, invitations,
visa support)
-
Services provided to the conventions (meetings on arrival, registration,
assistance in organizational issues, organization of excursions, logistics
of transportation arranged for the
participants, coordination of the entertainment programme, organization of
protocol meetings and formal welcome, invitation of mass media, general
travelist information, organization of the office work in the Organizing
Committee, calculations and payments)
-
Services provided after the event (assessment of ROI, final payments,
reporting on the budget, recommendations to the meeting planner referring to
the next event)
IV.
Sales and marketing:
Target
groups:
1.
National
and international organizations - meeting planners and players in the
sphere of conventions business (academic, medical, business associations,
international projects, transport organizations etc.);
2.
Regional
and local organizations and travel companies interested in renting their
venues to events or conventions (hotels, spas, travel agencies, restaurants and
bars, night clubs, museums, parks, transport agencies, educational centers,
producers of souvenirs, advertising agencies, etc.)
3.
Participants of events or conventions (workshops, conferences,
conventions, forums and etc.)
The market:
1.
Domestic,
2.
Inbound Conventions (business) business.
V.
Markets and competitiveness of production
At
present the conventions market is practically not explored in Sochi. The
conventions-related services are provided occasionally by local organizations
and travel companies that have the necessary premises and equipment. However
the events have episodic nature, the standards of servicing are not determined.
The techniques of negotiations with the meeting planners are not worked out. At
present there are no specialized organizations engaged in the developing of or
promoting Sochi in this kind of business. However foreign experience proves the
necessity of creating organization of the CVB type, that advance the whole
region up to the competitive level.
It
is possible to suppose, that the competitiveness of CVB as an organization will
depend on the quality of interaction of the partner-companies based in Sochi,
on availability of personnel trained to network, on trust, common sense and
observation of common interests. Hence Public Relations is a key viability and
success factor of the projected
organization. Active and non-stop campaign in recruiting new companies to join
as partners and information support to the available CVB partners about the
results of its activities – are the deposits of competitiveness of CVB.
Aggressive
marketing of Sochi as a destination of events and conventions should be based
on wide circulation of promotional materials through all available channels.
Competitive package cost of the conventions services offered by Sochi companies
is an important strength in their competition against Moscow organizations, yet
80 % of all conventions and conferences in Russia take place in the capital. By
preliminary estimations, Moscow prices are almost twice higher than the prices
for holding an event in Sochi, including the air fare for Moscow - Sochi -
Moscow flight per 1 participant. Sochi needs reliable statistics and professionally conducted promotion to attract some
portion of Moscow events.
Intensive
professional education and practical training of apprentices and employees is
the key to upgraded professionalism in
the conventions field, as well as a pre-requisite of Sochi’s competitiveness.
The existing deficit of information, communication problems, inadequate
equipment of the venues and shortage of
cooperation among local providers of organization and services cause complains
from participants and planners of conventions. Often the meeting planners do
not strive for / require a better quality, as they are guided by their own
misinterpretation of the operations and services in the field.
The
main critical factors of quality improvement in organizing and servicing of
events are:
- Circulation / mailing of information packages
should be made in advance, through all available channels, regular releases
should be fed to Mass Media;
-
Design of the circulated information and invitations should
be very attractive;
-
The theme of the event must evoke interest and be urgent; the logo of the event should be
promoted;
-
The event’s web page must be published on-line and regularly
updated;
-
Transportation issues: tariffs should be obtainable well in
advance, travel discounts for the
participants must be negotiated, and direct flights between the generating
regions and the destination should be in place;
- Plenary sessions should be conducted in an
interactive mode;
- Some
famous, outstanding speakers should be invited;
- Participants
should work also in smaller sessions, and their conclusions should be
summarized during plenary meetings;
- Planners of breaks for the participants
should take into account their need to have a rest and to communicate;
- Coffee breaks should be conveniently
arranged;
- Registration of the participants should be
prompt, handouts provided at registration should be informative, attractive,
timely and translated well;
-
Organization of excursions or technical visits should
encourage the participants to communicate with each other;
-
The quality of interpretation at international meetings is
vital;
-
Agreements on holding future meetings and negotiations on their budgets should be
achieved;
-
Walking areas, cafes, bars, shops should be within a walking
distance from the venue;
-
Security should be guaranteed;
-
Correspondence that is addressed to the participants must be
delivered;
-
Entertainments and social events after sessions in the
evenings should be planned;
- Convenience
of hotel rooms, cleanness of the rooms and public areas, opportunity to stay in
a single rooms – those must be guaranteed;
- Services like an alarm clock, telephone, fax,
e-mail, video must be available;
-
Transfers from the place of residence to the venue should be
available (if they are at a distance);
- Feedback
of the participants on quality of the event should be analyzed;
- Distribution
of proceedings, calls for future events in Sochi should be circulated
among the participants.
The
competitiveness of CVB will be visible when:
-
due to its efforts a dozen of
large events (not less than 100 participants)
are held in Sochi and reviewed in Mass Media;
-
smaller seminars and workshops become regular customers of
the venues of partner-companies;
-
there is a demand for CVB’s training and placements both at
the entry level (students), and on the side of professional staff of the venues
in Sochi,
-
there are requests for a number of future events to be held
in Sochi;
-
there are repeat customers-planners.
VI.
Marketing
plan
The CVB’s marketing activities and
closely associated with marketing of venues, partner-organizations and Sochi as
a destination. Those activities include the production and development of:
1.
Releases about every event that
takes place or is scheduled in Sochi, their publication in mass media of Russia
and abroad;
2.
TV and radio interviews and talks about the CVB’s activity;
3.
A logo of the CVB and its house
style – reflecting the attractive image of Sochi as a destination for
conventions and conferences;
4.
A complete package of data on
the available venues for conventions, workshops and seminars, on their
facilities, rent rates, equipment available for hire, pricelist of services,
including interpretation/translation. This information should be published in
Russian and English at the web pages of the CVB, interactive marketing is to be
developed and monitored thoroughly;
5. Publication
of the collected information (see item # 4) in the CVB format in Russian and
English for distribution among meetings professionals;
6. Circulation
of booklets attracting events to Sochi;
7. Participation
in conferences of meeting professionals, of conventions bureaus; active contacts contributing into promotion
of Sochi in the markets of conventions business;
8. Making video materials, stands, participation
in travel exhibitions;
9. Promotional trips for the professionals;
10.
Making and publication of the promotional materials about Sochi for the
participants of conventions (brochure, video, cards);
12.
Information about the activity of CVB spread among its
partner-organizations: through sharing with them a part of advertising
materials produced by the CVB; through publication of reference and statistical
materials and regular news issues for the partners.
The
production operations of CVB can be divided into 5 types:
1.
Activity
inside of CVB office.
-
strategic planning,
-
marketing researches,
-
marketing strategies,
-
pricing,
-
coordination of interaction with each partner,
-
recruitment of the additional staff,
-
information management,
-
shared financial administration of the CVB’s activities,
-
scheduling of events,
-
resources management,
-
office-work, including statistics,
-
Releases and publication of the reports.
2. Interaction with partner-organizations
-
informing organizations of the CVB’s activity,
-
assistance in marketing,
-
updates of information about the partners,
-
coordination of interaction among partners,
-
development of a data bank,
-
public relations,
-
correspondence, mailing,
-
planning of events,
-
analysis of the feedback, and statistics,
-
design of requests for grants to host events and to obtain
resources,
-
legal suuport, lobbying,
3.
Services
related to particular events.
-
information support,
-
preparation of the printed information,
-
planning the schedule of contracted activities,
-
booking of services, including accommodation and
transportation,
-
assistance in arranging catering services,
-
management of mailing, support in correspondence,
-
making questionnaires, interviewing participants,
-
filing, documenting,
-
handling complaints and solving problems that occur,
-
meeting participants on arrival, registration, sales and
seeing off, transfers,
-
optional events and social events on the program (excursions
and etc.),
-
ROI analysis;
4.
general
information support on-line and in printed copies
-
information updates and technical development of on-line and
printed promotion of Sochi and the Black Sea region,
-
information updates and technical development of on-line and
printed promotion of the CVB and its partner-organizations,
-
electronic interactive marketing,
-
correspondence,
-
analysis of trends in conventions business,
-
design; taking and using pictures as illustrations,
-
lobbying of Sochi .
5. Development
of professional human resources.
At the stages
of negotiating with meeting planners, initiating an event, providing services
to events scheduled it is important to consider the following key questions:
- Who
is interested in the event? (concerns of the organizers, concerns of the
participants, geography of the participants, languages of the participants)
- What
kind of event is planned? (status of the event, quantity of the participants,
aims and objectives of the event, occasion or urgency of the event in view of
the current situation, desirable emotional atmosphere, uniqueness / repeated
meeting, etc.)
- When
should it be called? (season, duration, remote dates/ urgency)
- Where is it best to conduct this event?
(requirements to the venue and accommodation of the participants)
- Why is the event conducted? (why the
meeting - not correspondence?)
-
How
is this event connected with the overall development of organization it is
planned by: should it be open, formal or friendly, aimed at training or working
out of new approaches?
Having
answered the above questions, the CVB is capable to plan particular services
for maximum satisfaction of the planner (see. III.8). The CVB’s departments or
subdivisions specialize in “training events”, “conferences and congresses”,
“international events”, “entertaining events, shows”.
The CVB when
planning and scheduling conventions, is guided also by the City Calendar of
Events: this allows to add more value to the contents, planned itineraries,
impressions and contacts.
As
experience and professionalism of the staff develops, some part of the CVB’s
functional tasks can be taken over by the venues. Thus the city will obtain its
reputation of a nice destination for high quality conventions and events, while
the venues will gain their regular audiences.
IX.
Project Management
In
an initial period the CVB’s strategies are developed by the Administration
Board (Directors or authorized executive staff of the partner-organizations),
which assembles at least once in 3 months
for discussing plans and
strategiesof developing conventions business in Sochi.
The Manager and Chief Assistant perform all
executive office work on a full time basis. They have to fit the following
requirements: experience in Conventions business, fluency in English language,
skills of business correspondence,
marketing and public relations, creativity.
Senior
(tourism and conventions planning )students (aged 18 - ) are
recruited as trainees to perform some activities of the CVB, and after their
placements periods they can be invited to serve as full time personnel of the
following profiles:
- Assistant Manager in quality services
-
Assistant Manager in Marketing
-
Assistant Manager in Communication and PR
- Technical
Assistant Manager in e-business and e-commerce
- Accountant
The Manager
and Chief Assistant design the personnel’s job specifications and description,
organize practice and training of potentially capable students in CVB’s
operations. Entry level jobs in service areas, catering, hospitality and
office procedures are also manned through training programmes of senior school
students and junior university students (aged 16-18).
has
the characteristics and principles of a virtual organization:
|
Characteristics |
Principles |
|
Modularity
Each module
is an event, for which the temporary micro-group is responsible |
Principle of Openness-Close
For an outside organization the
organization is a single body (close), while its performance is based on
flexible modules inside (open). |
Heterogeneity
The kinds
of activity are different, in each module there are special requirements
to the performers of particular tasks |
Complementarity
Skills that
the performers of tasks possess supplement other personnel’s skills, and,
through interaction the participants constitute a rather professional team. |
|
Rotation Tasks and
duties are assigned for a particular period, relating to a particular event.
Rotation can be inside a module or between modules. |
Transparency
The
Consumer or customer of the services does not care about how the work on the
project is organized. What matters is the quality of service. The project is
peculiar "black box". |
X.
Finances
Most
of CVBs abroad have the “consolidated” budget, in which 50 % of the remedies
comes from membership fees of the partner-companies, and 50 % - from the budget of the city or a taxes that tourists
pay.
However
at present the project of creating the CVB in Sochi can be feasible only if it
is supported by grants, sponsorship, commission, contributions by
partner-organizations (equipment, supplies, office space, etc.)
To
start the CVB it’s necessary to arrange the following:
- Office
space (not necessarily in the city’s centre),
- Office equipment: 2 computers, 1 color
printer, fax, telephone, phone line and access to the Internet, Internet
Address, software for office activities and work in Internet, Xerox, stitching
equipment,
- Paper, folders, stationers, fill- up cartridge
for the printer, paper for fax,
- Office furniture,
- Salaries of full-time and part-time
personnel,
- Overheads,
- Business trips, including study trips and
participation in professional conferences,
- Registration of the organization and its
title, logo, letterheads, business cards, forms,
- Mail and correspondence expenses
- Membership fees for joining the IACVB and
MPI,
-
Publication of adverts/sales literature
-
Etc.
Since
June 2000 the travel company “Sacta Tour” (Sochi) provides placements for CVB students within this
project. Their assignment is to assist the company in its mission of organizing
the World Congress of Police Force in Sochi in August 2001.
Sochi
Department for Science and Education, under Sochi administration, provides
placement for CVB students within this project – in arrangements of the
All-Russia Conference in Education.
This
start is a powerful drive for further development of contacts with meetings
planners on behalf of the CVB partner-organizations. It is envisaged that each
partner-organization will seek opportunities to provide placements for CVB
students and networking with other partners in building on the Calendar of
Events.
XII.
Risks, gains, expected results
The risk factors might be:
- Lack of finances to start the work of the
organization,
- Insufficient qualification of personnel,
- Insufficient motivation of trainees,
- Shortage of trust in the community,
policy of waiting and doubt of the potential members,
- Lack of support from local authority powerful
associations,
- Passive Board, partners observing only their
own vested interests,
- Cancellation of a big order on which lot’s of
efforts and money spent,
- Recession in travel,
- Costs of the promotional materials and their
mailing does not pay back by the services provided within more than 1 year,
-
Considerable difference of prices at the stage of planning
the event and the stage of its actual organization, due to inflation or pricing
policies,
-
Bad quality of services at the most important events,
-
Bad image of Russia as a destination of conventions-
produced by events staged in Moscow, SP., etc
To prevent
the factors of risk it is necessary:
1) To think carefully over the financing
mechanism,
2) To think carefully over the mechanism of
monitoring the quality and approaches,
3) The preparation period should be done in the
form of a project,
4) Conduct a permanent work in Public Relations
sphere,
5) To start the project activity with creating
all necessary conditions for office
work and communication,
6) To start activity of office from developing
the promotional materials of Sochi for the professionals of Conventions
business (on Russian and English) and from establishing of contacts among the
enterprises of city concerning the publication of these materials,
7) One of priority directions in office activity
is to make a presentation of Sochi in
Internet, attracting all partners to this work, placement of their web pages on the CVB site,
8) To work out the criteria of the quality,
9) To work out high requirements in selecting
the staff and trainees to promote professionalism - to seek training of the
employees abroad at similar organizations, realization of an international
course of training of the CVB professionals and meeting planners within the
framework of the project,
10) To conduct marketing research and
to translate the foreign textbooks about the Conventions business into Russian.
Please note, that the above document is
a working draft