What to Expect at a Conference Center

Glen Cove Mansion Hotel and Conference Center (www.glencovemansion.com), one of the longest-operating conference centers in North America, has been servicing serious corporate meetings since 1968. Just 30 minutes from New York City, it was built as a country house estate in 1910 on Long Island’s North Shore. In the 1960s, the mansion was transformed into one of the nation’s first dedicated conference centers, a new concept in meetings that came over from Europe. Today it is an International Association of Conference Centers-certified property with 55 wooded acres, 29,000 square feet of dedicated meeting space, 187 deluxe guestrooms, complete fitness and recreation amenities.

“Glen Cove Mansion Hotel and Conference Center helped establish the small meetings industry within the United States,” said Tom Bolman, executive director of the International Association of Conference Centers.

The 24-hour meeting space is still a must for serious corporate gatherings, as it was when we started in 1968. Groups need to know they can meet late into the night, if necessary, and not break their meeting’s momentum.

Today corporate groups have condensed meeting length as well as leisure time, so every minute invested in a conference really counts — and the space is theirs to use into the night, if called for.

Groups still love the benefit of natural light in meeting rooms, a conference center innovation, and “outdoor meeting rooms” are a huge plus. Terraces, gardens, spacious lawns and even wooded glens serve as meeting rooms today as sometimes a change in environment reinvigorates a group.

As cliché as it sounds, ergonomic chairs remain a must for ongoing comfort and support — especially for meetings that linger well beyond 5 p.m. The suburban experience so many conference centers offer remains critically important too — close to major transportation arteries yet at a distance from urban distractions. With condensed meetings today, not a second can be misspent on a night out in the city, or its aftermath.

Behind the Scenes Service

Anticipatory service and immediate response has always been important and a characteristic of conference centers. Planners need to know that if equipment malfunctions, it’s immediately corrected or replaced so meeting pace isn’t impacted. If they have unanticipated needs that arise during the conference, these are seamlessly addressed. This was an important truth about conference centers in the beginning and it’s doubly true and important in 2010.

New Dining Needs

Customers still like the idea of buffets, as they offer high perceived value and enable meetings to break for meals when it fits the timeline of the conference. When bottom line pricing is being scrutinized, a la carte meals just don’t make sense to most customers today. A buffet offers flexibility to guests, allowing them time to check in with the office, with home, etc. and respond to emails, phone calls, etc.

In demand today are healthy meal options on buffets, with many more requests to accommodate vegetarians and vegans, so conference centers have responded with lighter, less caloric selections, more greens and greater low-fat protein choices. Sugary beverages are a thing of the past.

Cutting-Edge Technology

Gone forever are the days of overheads and slide projectors. Yet meeting groups are still looking for the basics in the conference room, such as LCD projectors, flip charts, TV/DVD players and a podium with microphone. These items are included in the typical Complete Meeting Package(CMP), whereas they weren’t initially 40 years ago.

In the conference center and throughout the hotel component of the property, groups are demanding the most up-to-date wireless Internet technology on the market. Strong cell phone reception is also key, which suburban or even more remote centers need to be mindful of. No one today can afford not to be connected to the office, to customers, or even to family while away at a meeting.

Close to Home Locales

Senior level programs that may have opted for resorts in the past are staying closer to home due to cost and time savings. On the other hand, entry level managers receive more intensive and longer training than in the past. The mid-management level has reduced its frequency of corporate meetings and training.

A Changing Customer Mix

Forty years ago, we were an exclusive corporate meetings facility seven days a week. Today, with changing lifestyles and fewer executives willing to be away from family on the weekend, we now welcome transient guests and social groups, including weddings, which we do a lot of here on Long Island’s historic Gold Coast. I think you’d find this to be the case at most IACC facilities today … this change is not unique to the New York area.

Teambuilding Trends

Teambuilding is an interesting phenomenon in our industry. It has gone from the high & low ropes courses, to unique teambuilding programs such as team-bonding sessions on the racetrack, to socially responsible initiatives with groups cleaning up neighborhoods or helping build Habitat for Humanity homes, to being incorporated into the daily meeting agenda at the conference center when budgets are incredibly tight.

Overall, though, teambuilding is still a highly respected initiative and our experience teaches us that as budgets come back, so do teambuilding programs. Corporate groups universally see the value in bringing people together as a unified team.

The Complete Meeting Package

The CMP was an innovation of the conference center industry and for many years was sacrosanct — not to be altered. But times and business conditions change and the CMP has had to adapt and become more flexible, especially over the past decade. Today, modified CMP’s are offered to accommodate tight budgets and changing corporate needs. Deletions and additions can be made to the CMP to accommodate an individual group’s requirement.

The package generally includes: accommodations; three healthy and bountiful meals a day and continuous refreshment breaks including gratuities; dedicated meeting space with ergonomic seating and non-glare conference tables; and an audiovisual package, including screen, flipchart and markers, VCR/DVD and monitor, LCD projector, whiteboard and markers, and podium. Other features generally include a sound package, including amplifier and speakers, wireless high speed internet access, 24-hour access to an executive business center, and conference rooms set to the customer’s specifications, with specially designed chairs, pads, pens, water and candies. A dedicated conference planning manager assists in all aspects of planning and executing a program.