by Joe Sullivan
The Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corp. is getting close to $1 million a year from the city to bring events to Knoxville's new convention center. But there's room for doubt about how effectively this money is being spent.
A paucity of convention bookings is what raises the question marks. A list of KTSC bookings shows only four conventions with a total of 4,200 participants booked into the convention center for a total of eight days during 2004. While the totals rise to five conventions with 6,500 participants over 16 days in 2005, they drop to one convention with 250 participants in 2006. Since most organizations pick their convention sites at least three years ahead of time, it will be a challenge to improve upon these numbers.
Lack of an adjacent headquarters hotel, a discount air carrier and visitor attractions are all handicaps that the KTSC has to overcome in selling Knoxville as a convention destination. The KTSC's president, Gloria Ray, also says it has been handicapped by excessive charges for meeting room rentals and the like by the firm that manages the convention center, SMG. Just last week, though, the city, SMG and the KTSC agreed on a formula for discounting these charges based on the tax revenues that any given convention figures to generate.
"It's going to help a lot," Ray says. "For one event, it reduces the charge for chair rentals from $42,000 to $10,000, which makes sense in comparison to other cities."
But comparisons to other cities also raise questions about how well the KTSC is positioned for making convention sales and about its marketing. Consider:
* Knoxville is one of the few cities in the country where the organization responsible for convention sales doesn't have the word convention in its name. In most cities, that role is performed by a convention and visitors bureau. But Knoxville's CVB was folded into the KTSC when it was formed in July, 2002, as an amalgamation of the CVB and the Knoxville Sports Corp. In other cities, convention centers handle their own sales and marketing. But while SMG has a sales staff of its own, its sphere is limited to events occurring within the next 14 months. Mainly, those consist of consumer shows and other local happenings. That leaves it up to the KTSC to pursue conventions.
* Convention sites are mostly picked by professional meeting planners, and many other cities exhibit at the trade shows and advertise in the publications of the principal organizations in the field. Those are Meeting Planners International and the American Society of Association Executives. MPI's Rick Robeshaw reckons that 75 to 100 CVB's are planning to exhibit at its conference in San Antonio in January, but "we haven't seen anything from Knoxville." The ASAE's monthly magazine Association Management is a mainstay for convention center advertising. Its advertising coordinator, Terra Berthau, says, "Knoxville has advertised in the past." But the KTSC hasn't.
"We've shifted some money away from travel and shotgun advertising," Ray says. The emphasis instead is on getting groups that "meet our profile" to visit Knoxville at the KTSC's expense. "These are groups that, if we can get them to see it, we think we can get the business," she says.
The KTSC does still exhibit at trade shows for meeting planners hosted by the Tennessee Society of Association Executives and by two associations of religious organizations. And it advertises in the magazines Successful Meeting and Meeting News. The ads stress Knoxville's central location within a day's drive or a three-hour flight of 75 percent of the U.S. population without making much mention of what's here. But the KTSE's Matt Seamons says, "Everything we do [in our ads] tries to drive people to our website."
Highlighted on the homepage of the KTSC web site (Knoxville.org) is the prompt, "Meeting Planners Click Here!" When they do, they are greeted most prominently by an article headlined "Why Did Honda Hoot and Church of God International Choose Knoxville?" The article extols Knoxville as the "perfect destination" for Honda Hoot's 21,000 motorcycle enthusiasts for several reasons, including Chilhowee Park. "The park offers ample space and amenities, including its two-story exhibition hall, for the hundreds of event vendors, concessions and demonstrations." In heralding that the Church of God International has brought 20,000 young people to Knoxville for its annual winterfest since 2000, the article says that "the group uses the 24,000-seat Thompson Boling Arena for its meeting." The article is accompanied by a picture of the Knoxville Convention Center but makes little mention of it.
In explaining the KTSE's marketing strategy, Ray says, "We don't focus on the convention center. We focus on the market categories that would use a convention center, a Merchants Road Expo, Chilhowee Park or a hotel. The convention center is our crown jewel, but if you have a group that does not need that facility you would be foolish not to pursue that business."
Ray's renown for bringing sports events to Knoxville when she headed the Knoxville Sports Corp. thrust her into a much broader set of responsibilities as head of the amalgamated KTSC. In addition to the $1 million the KTSC gets from the city for selling the convention center, it also gets $2 million from Knox County for attracting all types of events to Knoxville and promoting tourism.
Ray is ebullient about the organization's overall progress. "Our leads are up, the new business being signed is up. Everything is increasing at unbelievable rates," she says. Where the convention center is concerned, she says, "We've got groups that we know will come in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010." But she won't name any because "it would be premature to announce them."
We eagerly await announcements that will make her claims more believable.
October 23, 2003 * Vol. 13, No. 43
© 2003 Metro Pulse
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