Poll finds associations do not offer value for money

Leanne Bell, 08 March 2010

Almost three-quarters of C&IT's online readers say their industry associations are failing to provide value for money.

In response to a poll on C&IT's website, 73% of respondents answered 'No' to the question: 'Are you getting value for money from your event industry association membership?'

AOK Events managing director Alex Hewitt said the agency was a member of ISES from 2008 to 2009, but decided not to renew membership. "Essentially, all it provided was inter-agency networking evenings which rarely presented the opportunity to meet new suppliers, let alone corporate buyers," he said.

DBMT managing director David Bottrill said he had not renewed the agency's membership of Eventia because it was not providing value for money. "We felt we could benefit from what Eventia offers us by paying individually to enter awards and attend training, so we decided to use the money we saved on membership differently to get a better return," he said.

Adding Value founding partner Randle Stonier also confirmed his agency was reconsidering its Eventia membership because he felt it had failed to protect the interests of members, promote their causes and provide sufficient education.

ISES UK vice-president communications Mike Fletcher said the board had now established a strategy to ensure members received greater benefits. "This year's board has enabled significant improvements to networking events, and we have collaborated with other organisations to bring buyers to events for our members," he said.

Eventia chief executive Izania Downie said the association offered regular free events for members, lobbied government, and represented its members' interests to third parties including BT, whose procurement process Eventia criticised last year.

"This year, we have retained our 2009 fee levels," she said. "You get out of associations what you put into them. Part of that is being actively involved in networking events and peer-to-peer work in issues that affect the industry."

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Robert Denton - 08 March 2010

This industry is almost comedically keen on its associations. Someone will probably form an organisation to address the issue.

It's almost as if associations are formed to accommodate the sheer number of egos around, rather than to address whatever actual issues there may be.

Antony Hyde - 10 March 2010

What a shame so many of your readers appear to have a poor view of our industry associations at a time when membership could well be one of their most important investments. Associations offer focal points for the industry as was demonstrated last weekend at MPIs EMEC event in Malaga. Hundreds of members came together to network, form partnerships and above all educate themselves through a diverse range of keynotes and seminars. As a global association we have an opportunity to affect change across the whole industry, providing real benefit for members.

At a local level, the MPI UK and Ireland Chapter has worked tirelessly over the last couple of years to clearly demonstrate the benefit of membership. This includes more than 30 free events per year \(excludes Christmas and summer parties) on topics ranging from "the Great Venue Rate Debate" and "The Event Industry is Changing Are You Ready"; to this week's "Social Networks for Meetings Professionals."

As an association we engage with our members, seeking their input for our activity. Last year there was a clear demand for more regular networking opportunities, which led to a doubling of the number of events in our calendar, including the addition of our monthly MPI and a Pint evenings.

Has all this effort made a difference – we certainly think so, with 12 new members in January, more than that in February and attendance at events ranging from 50 to 100 people. But, like all organisations members get a certain amount for zero effort but to really benefit they do have to at least show up occasionally, read the magazine or engage with the rest of the membership.

Interestingly – as a final point, when we recently asked our members if they were happy with their membership \(which I appreciate is not quite the same as the question asked by CIT); 52% said they are very happy or happy with their Membership, with 31% content and only 13% not happy.

Anthony Hyde, President MPI UK and Ireland Chapter and head of corporate sales, Barbican

Kursha Woodgate - 12 March 2010

We are all taking a hard look at costs in the current economic climate and so it is not surprising that people in the meetings sector are beginning to question what return they get from investing in membership. However, whilst we would all have certain expectations of networking opportunities, training, sharing best-practice and discounted services from association memberships, there is an element of investing some of your own energy into your membership to truly reap rewards. This might be a combination of attending events, being involved on social networks or simply feeding back to your association what it is you are looking for from membership.

At the recent ABPCO annual conference in Liverpool, members seemed genuinely fired up by the event and I heard many comments on how much they had benefitted. It was even followed by a very lively discussion on ABPCO's LinkedIn group where several members joined in following my advice in the social media session! Those members certainly seemed to be making the most of it - one LinkedIn convert even secured a piece of business by getting more active on the network, so a very tangible benefit from that event at least.

Rob Allen - 16 March 2010

As one who was originally very sceptical about the merits of joining a trade association, I have to say that I've been consistently impressed by Eventia's effectiveness in representing the industry at times when a lone agency voice would have been insignificant and ineffectual.

This has included dialogue with university groups, the Chartered Institute of Procurement, the European Associations' Alliance, and most recently, dialogue in the House of Commons following President Obama's banning the use of recovery funds for conferences. Not forgetting the progressive collaboration with other events industry bodies, to create sector-wide alliances.

It's astonishing and sad that there are still companies that only interpret value in terms of immediate cash savings or benefits, and are unable to see the broader value of an industry pulling together to raise its profile and increase corporate spend. The press cuttings alone from Eventia's national media coverage should demonstrate the benefits to of maintaining a vocal representative body - not just for one company, but for the events sector as a whole.

And even if you only focus on the provision of instant value for money, this isn't the medium to list the many 'exclusive member rates' and privileged access opportunities available to members for a host of events and services, but a quick scan of www.eventia.org.uk would win that argument hands down as well.

It's interesting that all those who have given their time and energy to support Eventia have found the investment to be immensely rewarding, whereas those who lob stones from the sidelines are the very people who cry the loudest for 'industry representation' when legislation or external issues threaten their livelihood.

Rob Allen

Chief Executive

TRO

Mark Taylor - 18 March 2010

Eventia is focused on creating a sustainable future for the UK events industry; to raise the importance and profile of the events medium as a key component in the marketing communications mix, and to promote professionalization throughout the industry.Associations are formed to offer services that individual organisations cannot: 1. Only an association has the clout and ability to speak to clients on behalf of the entire industry. Whilst others just voiced their disapproval with the way that BT seemed to ‘fast track’ an agency to its events’ roster, Eventia met with and is working with BT to resolve and clarify these issues. A single company would not have been able to achieve this. 2. Associations lobby government - when Obama banned the use of recovery funds towards conferences Eventia spoke to John Greenway who spoke in the house about the value and importance of events. 3. Associations can help clarify legislation and defend our industry from unnecessary legislation – as demonstrated recently by Eventia's meetings with HMRC on behalf of the industry over the changes to TOMS/VAT legislation. HMRC is now listening to our concerns and have requested further meetings with us on the matter. It has now been raised to a European level and there is a real possibility of some movement on the issue. 4. Together with the other associations in the University Liaison Project, we are supporting the future of our industry by collaborating with Universities to ensure that the courses developed match the requirements of our industry. If we are fixated by the question ’what’s in it for me?’ we will never engender the widespread recognition our industry so rightly deserves. Mark Taylor, Head of Events, BI

Douglas O'Neill - 25 March 2010

I have found reading your article quite interesting and would like to know more about those surveyed. It appears a bold statement with little evidence to support it. Have your findings been based on a very limited number of replies? To make a sweeping statement that 'Associations do not offer value for money' does a discredit to all the hard work that many people put in to make associations successful; including associations like Eventia, ISES, HBAA, ITM to name but a few.

My personal experience of associations that are connected to this industry has been that they deliver a huge benefit to those who are willing and able to commit time and effort and deliver a significant return on investment. For example the HBAA delivered a Code of Conduct which has been endorsed by many agencies and hoteliers as good practice, they also produced a Kite Mark for the operation of Billback accounts which has lead the market. Both of these have provide ROI. It HBAA also continues to grow its membership.

The ITM has statistical evidence that 87% of their members rate their membership as good value for money or better than good. They hold a fantastic annual conference and events throughout the year which scores a value for money rating of 97%.

These are just two examples of how associations do deliver value for money.