Industry Meets … to Reduce Meetings
Associations Are Wary of Effort to Consolidate Events
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 10/21/2007 8:00:00 PM
Executives from various cable-industry associations say they are approaching a meeting the National Cable & Telecommunications Association is set to host today in New York with trepidation.
On the agenda: Consolidating a year’s worth of their events into two weeks, one in the spring and one in the fall.
The potential consolidation is being driven by large cable system operators, which are looking to reduce travel expenses and increase the year-round availability of executives and managers in day-to-day operations.
Association executives, speaking on background, expressed concerns about falling contributions to their groups and their causes. But they said they hope the process will be “collaborative, not dictatorial.”
Right now, there are 31 events in the 52 weeks of the year, according to the NCTA invitation. The consolidation could be built around the industry’s main convention, The Cable Show, in the spring; and its main marketing event, the CTAM Summit, in the fall.
Women In Cable Telecommunications CEO Benita Fitzgerald Mosley said she understands the needs of companies to trim the number of days their employees are out of the office at meetings.
But organizations like hers are businesses, too, she noted, with staff and office space to support with revenue generated from meetings. WICT’s gatherings are not just about money, she said, but also about celebrating the progress of women it represents, and networking with the next wave of potential executives.
“Those platforms are as or more important than money,” she said of the organization’s meetings.
Association executives like Mosley added they anticipate the company CEOs who make up the NCTA board will pursue trimming cable’s meeting calendar in a way that does not undermine the success and momentum of the organizations involved.
Among the groups whose leaders have been invited to attend the Oct. 22 meeting are the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing, Cable Positive, the Cable and Telecommunications Human Resources Association, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers, CableLabs, Women in Cable Telecommunications and the Association of Cable Communicators.
These associations have been asked to bring background information about their events to the meeting, including the revenue they generate from ticket sales or contributions and the income that is left after expenses are paid.
They are also being asked to provide the amounts they have outstanding in booking fees to venues for conventions, meetings and dinners, as well as the cancellation costs for those meetings.
The information distributed by the NCTA outlines the problem the CEOs would like to address: the 2007 calendar indicates 31 events throughout the year, from NCTA’s three-day Cable Show to in May to one-day events, such as Cable Positive’s fund-raising dinner in March.
If executives attend each of the listed events, which include non-cable controlled meetings such as the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and Expocom in Mexico, they would be in non-company meetings 88 days out of the year. And that’s without regional and state trade-association shows or events planned by for-profit entities, such as trade publications like Multichannel News or CableWorld.
Groups that could be affected by not having days or weeks of their own in which their events can be showcased to the industry include Cable Positive, Women in Cable Telecommunications, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers and the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications.
This could result in fewer meetings throughout the year, but leave business offices nearly empty during those two periods, said one long-time industry executive.
Invitees said they don’t expect to get specific marching orders on whether or how to consolidate events, during Monday’s meeting.
“My general feeling is this will be a 'look-and-see’ meeting, a chance to knock around ideas and identify push-back,” said Steve Jones, executive director of the ACC.
Another executive, who asked not to be identified, acknowledged that the many cable organizations all work for the cable operators and networks at the end of the day, and need to meet their needs. Still, “it’s not like we sit around dreaming up new meetings.”
Meetings are created to fill a knowledge void, the executive said, and have been driven by the industry’s expansion into new product lines.
Some organizations have already heeded the consolidation call, they noted. For instance, the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau moved its meeting to Las Vegas, holding it this year in conjunction with The Cable Show.
“We’ve already made the decision,” said the CAB’s public-relations executive, Chris Jones.
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