Peter Stockmann, President of International Association of Conference Centres (IACC) Americas, announced the release of two video clips on content-rich topics related to the meeting experience. The videos, based on IACC’s third Thought Leader Summit and subsequent white paper Creating Compelling Meeting Experiences at IACC’s 30th annual conference, include two customer-related topics: Achieving Owner and Customer Satisfaction, and Eliminating Customer Sacrifice.
Thought Leader Summit Panelists (left to right): M. Theresa (Terri) Breining, Principal, The Breining Group LLC and Former Chairwoman of the Board, MPI; Bob Dean, CPA, Director of the Americas, Profiling Online, Certified Professional in The Experience Economy; Amy Wickenheisser, Hotel Manager, Hamilton Park Hotel & Conference Center; Facilitator: John Potterton, VP Education, Professional Convention Management Association; Richard Flanagan, Psychologist, Consultant, Co-Author of The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning: How to Turn Training and Development Into Business Results; Andrea Sullivan, President, BrainStrength Systems; Jeff Vredevoogd, Director of Education Solutions, Herman Miller Inc.
According to John Potterton, CMP who facilitated the event, “these two videos will help viewers understand the difference between a variety of customer experiences – customer sacrifice, customer service and customer surprise.”
Broadcast live and webcast around the world from the Kellogg Center at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, the first 10-minute video, Achieving Owner and Customer Satisfaction, features Amy Wickenheisser, Hotel Manager at Hamilton Park Hotel & Conference Center, who says her owners “are very interested in customer feedback.” The results of the feedback are measured, compared and ultimately tied to revenue production.
Also featured in the video clip, Jeff Vredevoogd, Director Education Solutions at Herman Miller, Inc. comments on the “six aspects of space which are critical to the success of any facility design: adaptable, social, resourceful, healthful, sustainable and stimulating.”
In the second video clip, Eliminating Customer Sacrifice, Potterton notes that, “Customer sacrifice is the pain or annoyance a customer endures when buying or using a product or service.” According to panelist Bob Dean, Director Americas for Profiling Online, “Customer satisfaction doesn’t necessarily lead to customer loyalty, but eliminating customer sacrifice does, and it can actually lead to customer surprise.”
The diverse panel included an authority on fully engaged adult learning and conference design; an expert on breakthrough learning; a member of the Steering Committee of the much-anticipated “Project Meeting Architecture;” a designer of furnishings and meeting spaces; a seasoned planner at an IACC conference centre and a guru on incorporating social media into the meeting experience.
According to Potterton, the purpose of the summit was “to help conference centre professionals and meeting professionals raise the bar on the meetings and events they create within their own organizations, to give them new knowledge on how to create compelling meeting experiences that engage participants, and to assist them in transforming meetings in a way that drives business results.”
IACC plans on releasing 14 videos in total focusing on different topics related to the meeting experience. These two video segments are available online: Achieving Owner and Customer Satisfaction at http://bit.ly/nHAIu3 and Eliminating Customer Sacrifice at http://bit.ly/sNAzB5.
