ROUND THE TABLE WITH BAPCO

Seven members of the Belgian Association of Professional Conference organisers met at the Regus Skyport Meeting Centre @ Brussels Airport and held a round-table discussion with seven Convention Bureaux in Belgium on the potential for future co-operation. BAPCO had already held a similar event with hoteliers.

The 3 hour session was moderated by professional trainer, Mark Hongenaert who did a great job keeping these independent-minded talkative professionals in order and on track. He started with an ice-breaking session of speed dating so that each PCO met each CVB individually. Then they broke up into mixed teams to do some work identifying samples of best-practice between PCOs & CVBs and exchanging ideas on how to develop this co-operation.

Some difficult subjects came up like the status of Convention Bureaux who have members and take commissions on business, thereby bringing themselves into conflict & competition with PCOs. These destinations would have to realise that in future PCOs would choose venues which had genuinely neutral & independent CVBs, and avoid the others. What in fact should be happening, especially for overseas bidding, is that the PCO & CVB work in close partnership, and not against each other.

There was plenty on the positive side and all the ideas which came up were distilled into two inter-linked concepts:
    •     The need for 1-2 meetings a year between PCOs & CVBs to look at specific themes - a new-style bid book; best-practice and working together to bring more business to Belgium.
    •     Each meeting would be hosted by a different CVB giving them the chance to invite their local politicians to meet BAPCO members and hear/learn about the importance of the industry from the private sector.

Gent CVB and Annick Debels has offered to organise the first of these meetings in Gent in June 2007 on the theme of the new-style bid book, and this will be followed by Antwerp in November 2007. Let’s hope Wallonia gets its act together for 2008.
(article by Bruce Taylor in BBT online).

photos by Bruce Taylor