eRFP Best Practices Program Generates Great Conversation!

By Sue Heley CMP, CMM

Lunchtime on October 8 at the Hilton President-Kansas City was the place to be!

Upon arrival, 40 industry professionals were greeted by members of VISIT Phoenix. We enjoyed learning, or refreshing our memories, about venues and services available in that beautiful city. Thank you to VISIT Phoenix for sponsorship of our program.

Participants also filled a table with toiletry donations for Rose Brooks Center, the KCMPI chosen philanthropy for the year. During lunch, Joan Dougherty, Rose Brooks Center, shared a powerful story about the women, children and pets whose lives are affected so positively by the services the center offers. Perhaps for the next program, we should collect pet-related items? Rose Brooks has one of the few, or perhaps the only, location in Kansas City where women and children escaping abusive situations are allowed to take their beloved non-human family members with them.

Thank you to the Hilton President-Kansas City for hosting the luncheon program! While attendees dined on a delicious meal and enjoyed the beauty of locally purchased, sustainable autumn table centerpieces (which would become a savory soup later), Ms. Sher Wolfe, Director of Sales, spoke for a few minutes about the history of the hotel, renovations and future plans. We are lucky to have such an iconic hotel in our vibrant downtown area.

Now on to the meat of the program (although the balsamic chicken entrée was superb, as was the service provided by the catering and banquet staff) ...

Amidst a high-energy room, filled with networking conversations, our own KCMPI Vice President of Education Rob Wilson, president of Meeting Evolution, was introduced to lead the educational content for the day. Rob presented information on the following industry standards, as well as provided the Convention Industry Council website as a reference for additional information:

1. Single Facility RFP

2. Housing and Registration

3. Event Specification Guide

4. Post Event Report

Lively conversation ensued as both the planner and supplier perspectives were highlighted and possible solutions were discussed.

• Hotel chains are creating entire departments that do nothing but receive and distribute eRFP leads to the proper sales personnel for response.
• Planners tend to "overuse" eRFPs, for example, requesting proposals from 10 hotels in each of 10 cities along the East Coast, and the sheer volume being received by the venues makes it difficult to respond in a timely manner.

Rob closed the session with a slide of some well-known eRFP industry tools and noted which systems were APEX compliant and which were not.

The one-hour time frame flew by, and left us wishing we had a lengthier opportunity for this hot topic.