Week 9: Business Travel

Business Travel

According to the U.S. Travel Association, in 2018, international and business travel spending was $327.3 billion (U.S Travel Answer Sheet, 2018). Of that amount $135.9 billion was for meetings, events, & incentives, and that means that business travel is a significant part of the hospitality and tourism industries. It is worth noting that U.S. travelers alone took 463.6 million business trips in 2018, and 38% of that was for meetings and events (U.S. Travel Answer Sheet, 2018). These numbers are expected to continue to rise in the next several years.

Source: (U.S. Travel Answer Sheet, 2018)

Business and leisure (bleisure) travel is growing. Bleisure travel is one extends a business trip (either before or after the event) in order to spend some time in the area. In 2017, Booking.com reported that 49% of their survey respondents had extended their business travels to incorporate leisure activities (30% of people would accept a lower paying job if it meant traveling more for work, reveals Booking.com for Business, 2017).

As people travel for business, they may also be interested in the surrounding area, its culture, and events. That’s why hotels often have racks of brochures in their foyers and booklets in the hotel rooms. Visitors want to know what they can do in their off hours.

Business Activities

Most people are familiar with conferences, but there are many other types of business gatherings. To avoid confusion, we will review the different types of meetings, workshops, and gatherings in order to identify connections with the hospitality and tourism industry. While there is some structure and differentiation between these gatherings, the lines are blurry. The activities are usually named by the entity providing the gathering, and they may differ from the definitions below. These will be presented in alphabetical order.

Banquets

A banquet is a formal celebration for a company or organization. Banquets may be small, intimate affairs, or large gatherings in connection with a conference or convention. There is generally a theme that is displayed at the dinner tables, on the menus, and throughout the dining room. People are often invited to a banquet and attendance is controlled through the hosting group.

A banquet lasts for one meal, usually dinner, but there may be lunch banquets. Meals may be plated or buffet style. There may or may not be speakers, and there may or may not be a meeting.

Source: Wikipedia Commons (Mk2010, 2019)

Colloquiums

A colloquium is a formal academic gathering led by a professor, instructor, or lecturer. Each colloquium is focused on a single topic. Similar to a seminar, there is generally a question and answer (Q&A) period at the end; however, unlike a seminar, the Q&A may turn into a discussion session. While seminars may be large, colloquiums are smaller, and participants often know each other because of the topic. Colloquiums generally last a few hours, at most.

Conclaves

Conclaves are private, often secret meetings. The most famous conclave is when the new pope is chosen. Some organizations may hold conclaves, and in those situations, attendance is by rank, role, or invitation only. Conclaves may be a few hours or several days.

Conferences

A conference is a formal gathering centered around a company, organization, topic, or interest. Conferences usually last more than one day, but they are shorter than a convention. Within the conference are sessions that may be workshops, trainings, or seminars.

Conferences are most often held at facilities that can hold their anticipated attendees, so they can be small or quite large. Some conferences are held at hotels with conference rooms large enough for the entire group to gather and smaller rooms for the simultaneous sessions.

A conference often has at least one keynote speaker, and that session may be called a plenary. A plenary session is one that all participants are expected to attend. The keynote speaker is an expert in the field and is chosen to draw people to the conference.

Conferences require a great deal of planning and attention to detail. These details include monitoring the budget, catering, lodging, registrations, flight, ground transportation, vendor solicitations, session presenters, check-in stations, and so on.

Source: Flickr (doe-oakridge, 2017)

Congresses

A congress is a group of crows or ravens, of course. (By the way, a large group of starlings is called a murmuration, and to see one in person is amazing!) A congress is also a large group that meets regularly and makes decisions through debate and voting. There could be hundreds of attendees, with attendees representing the members of the group. There may be simultaneous sessions, similar to a conference, with the difference being that all presenters and keynote speakers are from within the group. A congress may last several days.

Conventions

A convention is a large gathering of people with a shared interest, which can be career-related or related to leisure activities. Conventions are often scheduled annually as a way for those interested to reconnect. Similar to conferences, conventions may have keynote speakers and simultaneous sessions. Conventions last several days and are generally held in a large facility such as a convention center or large hotel.

Exhibitions

Exhibitions are for people to show off or highlight something, and in the business world, these are also called trade fairs, trade shows, or vendor fairs. An exhibition is generally related to a specific industry. An exhibition may last for one or two days, and presenters will have booths for displays; however, at some exhibitions, there may be educational or demonstration workshops. Attendees come from the industry looking for new ideas and technologies. Depending on the size of the event, an exhibition may be held in a large conference hall or in a small venue.

Galas

A gala is a large formal dinner gathering that may include live entertainment and award presentations. It is similar to a banquet in that it is one meal; however, a gala is often more refined and formal attire would be expected. Attendance may be open to all, or it may be for a specific group of people. The size depends on the purpose and hosting organization, so a gala may be large or small and intimate.

Meetings

There are many types of meetings (e.g., teams, boards, organizational, department-specific, staff, safety, committee, and stockholders), and they all are designed to share information to keep everyone on the same page. Meetings commonly have agendas that guide the structure of the meeting, and meetings are typically documented with official minutes (or notes containing pertinent information) that are then reviewed and approved at the following meeting. One person is designated to lead or chair the meeting, and many meetings use defined rules (such as Robert’s Rules of Order Links to an external site.) to determine procedures.

Source: English Wikipedia (Parlirules, 2008)

Meeting participants are determined by the type and purpose of the meeting. Some meetings may be informative, and participants will be passive recipients of the information (e.g., safety meetings), while other meetings may have everyone engaged (e.g., team meetings). Generally, meetings are short lasting from 1-2 hours; however, some may be longer. Meetings are held wherever is most convenient for the attendees, and work-related meetings are most often at the workplace.

Retreats

A retreat can be anything that allows members of a group to get to know each other. As such, a retreat is generally thought of as a team-building activity. In Latin, retreat means to “pull back,” and so most retreats are held away from the work place so that participants can be disengaged from their day-to-day work. Retreats are generally more than an hour and less than one day, and a meal is often included (because eating together brings people together); however, some corporate and more formal retreats may last several days and include a variety of activities. Retreats can be used for team-building activities, brainstorming activities, or goal setting. At least one person leads the retreat; however, it is common for the lead to be shared so that everyone has an opportunity to be engaged.

Seminars

A seminar is usually designed for participants to learn something. There is a specific topic for the gathering. Unlike a workshop, a seminar is designed for more passive learning from a speaker or a group of speakers. Most often, seminars are presentations with slides to keep the participants focused. One example is TEDTalks. Normally, there is a section at the end of a seminar for questions and answers (Q&A). Often participants take notes so that they are prepared for the Q&A at the end. Because of the lack of interaction between the presenters and the participants, seminars may be quite large. Because it is passive learning, seminars are usually short lasting only a few hours.

A seminar may be part of a larger conference or other event. In academia, upper-division and graduate courses are often offered as seminars using the same type of presentation followed by Q&A format.

Source: TED Blog (McManus, 20091)

Symposiums

While a symposium is similar to a conference, it differs in that a symposium is smaller and for experts to discuss a clearly defined topic. The experts will present their project, papers, or proposals, and there will be discussion centered on those topics. Symposiums are generally smaller than seminars and last a few hours.

Trainings

As its name implies, a training is designed to teach a specific skill or body of knowledge. There is usually a leader and a specific focus for the training. Trainings generally last a few hours and may include interactive, hands-on activities; however, trainings can span multiple days, if needed. The size of the group depends on the content, and it may range from a few people to a hundred.

Workshops

Generally, a workshop is designed to teach, learn, or produce something, and, therefore, it is an academic gathering. Workshops can be individual sessions within conferences, or they may be small gatherings with a specific purpose. Participants are usually actively engaged with their learning. The length may be a few hours, a day, a few days, or an entire week.

Gathering	Size	Length	Lodging	Food
Banquets	Small to large	Hours	Not usually	Yes
Colloquiums	Small	Hours	No	No
Conclaves	Small to large	Hours to days	Maybe	Maybe
Conferences	Large	Days	Yes	Yes
Congresses	Enormous	Days	Yes	Yes
Conventions	Large	Days	Yes	Yes
Exhibitions	Small to large	1 or 2 days	Maybe	Maybe
Galas	Small to large	Hours	No	Yes
Meetings	Small to medium	Hours	No	Maybe
Retreats	Small	Hours to days	Maybe	Yes
Seminars	Large	Few hours	No	No
Symposiums	Small	Hours	No	Maybe
Trainings	Small to medium	Hours to days	Maybe	Maybe
Workshops	Small	Hours to days	Maybe	Maybe

Economic Impact

According to a 2018 report by the Events Industry Council, 251 million people.9 million meetings in 2016 within the U.S. This generated $325 billion in direct spending with $167 billion encumbered for planning and producing the meeting, $120 billion for travel expenses, and $38 billion for other activities such as exhibitors expenses (Events Industry Council, 2018). It should be noted that in Oxford Economics criteria for this study, a “meeting” was considered to be a gathering of at least 10 people at a contracted venue (i.e., not within the work place) that met for a minimum of 4 hours. This would include many of the activities identified in this section.

That 2016 economic impact included:

• $845 billion of business sales
• $104 billion of taxes (federal, state, and local)
• $446 billion towards the US gross domestic product (GDP)
• $249 billion in employee labor for 5.9 million jobs(Events Industry Council, 2018)

Over half of the meeting in the 2018 report were corporate meetings; however, the impact of conventions and trade shows is significant.

Source: Events Industry Council (Events Industry Council, 2018)

The survey also indicated that the size of the meeting sector has been steadily growing since 2009. That includes an increase of participants as well as an increase in direct spending.

Source: Events Industry Council (Events Industry Council, 2018)

As may be expected, the biggest direct-spending expenses for those attending meetings are accommodations (15.0%) and food and beverage (14.7%), which is followed closely by transportation (13.1%) (Events Industry Council, 2018).

Source: Events Industry Council (Events Industry Council, 2018)

There is little data for meetings within Oregon or the Pacific Northwest; however, based on the national data provided in the 2018 Events Industry Council report, we can assume that business travel has a positive impact on our local economies. A 2019 article by Oregon Business highlighted the Pendleton Convention Center and some of the recent events there (Newman, 2019). The article pointed out the amenities that are available to travelers to the Pendleton area, and all business benefits Pendleton’s economy.

For More Information

• Events Industry Council report Links to an external site.
• Oregon Business Travel Association Links to an external site.
• Robert’s Rules of Order Links to an external site.

References

30% of people would accept a lower paying job if it meant traveling more for work, reveals Booking.com for Business. (2017, January 25). Retrieved from Booking.com: https://news.booking.com/30-of-people-would-accept-a-lower-paying-job-if-it-meant-traveling-more-for-work-reveals-bookingcom-for-business/

doe-oakridge. (2017, October 4). ETEBA Business Conference 2017 Knoxville. Retrieved from Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/doe-oakridge/37620622911

Events Industry Council. (2018, February). The Economic Significance of Meetings to the US Economy. Retrieved from American Hotel & Lodging Association: https://www.ahla.com/sites/default/files/Economic%20Signifcance%20of%20Meetings.pdf

McManus, E. (20091, July 15). Go behind the scenes of a TEDTalk. Retrieved from TED Blog: https://blog.ted.com/go_behind_the_s/

Mk2010. (2019, February 1). Golden Palace Seaview Banquet Hall (Hong Kong). Retrieved from Wikipedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Palace_Seaview_Banquet_Hall_(Hong_Kong).jpg

Newman, H. (2019, January 7). Things Get Done Here. Retrieved from Oregon Business: https://www.oregonbusiness.com/article/sponsored/item/18666-things-get-done-here

Parlirules. (2008, April 17). Roberts Rules 1st.jpb. Retrieved from Wikipedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roberts_Rules_1st.jpg

U.S Travel Answer Sheet. (2018). Retrieved from U.S. Travel Association: https://www.ustravel.org/system/files/media_root/document/Research_Fact-Sheet_US-Travel-Answer-Sheet.pdf

(2018). U.S. Travel Answer Sheet. Washington, DC: U.S. Travel Association. Retrieved from U.S. Travel: https://www.ustravel.org/answersheet

 

  Source: Velda Arnaud, Blue Mountain Community College, Pendleton, Oregon