Conventions play a major role in the hospitality industry. As professionals plan their travels, there’s a lot of specifics event planners need to keep in mind.
Corporate conventions usually take place in the same location every year. For example, if you’re a tech company that is located in Silicon Valley, a lot of your corporate conventions will probably take place in Silicon Valley. It’s very different from association conferences.
Think of my dentist. We have dentists that are located all over the United States. The association that hosts the annual meeting for these dentists will probably want to rotate where the location of the convention will be.
For example, one year it will be in the Northeast and, the next year, it might be in California. It is very important to choose a location that is appealing to people. Because if you, as a dentist, decide where you might get your annual education or training, you might prefer to go to a place like Hawaii over a cold place in the winter, like Detroit.
So, a lot of associations think very carefully about which locations they select and, the destinations work closely with the organizers to attract them. There is also seasonality in terms of days of the week. If we think of conventions, the most popular days for conventions to be hosted are usually Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Those are peak times. A lot of the venues, such as hotels and convention centers, will be very busy during those times.
The reason is that if you are attending a convention as part of your profession, you want it to take place during working hours, during the working day. You might have to travel to that convention.
If I’m based here in New York and I need to go to a convention in Florida, I might want to leave the day before. So by starting your convention on a Tuesday, it means you give people travel time on Monday. By ending on a Thursday, it means, again, they can travel home on Friday, and they still have their weekend.
Many conventions will also take place anytime between March to May and then again between September to November. Staying away from the main holiday periods. You want to make sure you host a convention at a time when a lot of people are around, not when they’re all traveling or when they’re on vacation.
