the cvb exec

Mark Thompson, CMP

For the betterment of our communities
Fall 2010

MARK THOMPSON, CMP, is the director of the Plano Convention & Visitors Bureau. Mark is past chairman of the Texas Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus and is the most recent recipient of the Texas Travel Industry Association’s highest honor, their “Tall in Texas” award.

MPG: How did you get started in this business?

In 1986, after I finished college (Missouri State), I got a job with a printing company that had the Tyler (Texas) Chamber of Commerce as a client.  The chamber was starting a more aggressive push to attract conventions to Tyler and they asked if I would be interested in starting a CVB.  Most people not involved in this industry have no understanding of how important a CVB can be to the development of a community.  That was me, but I accepted the challenge and hit the ground running.

Any mentors?

I’ve been fortunate to have a number of mentors – Nanci Liles with the Abilene CVB, P.W. McCallum in Grapevine, Steve Moore with the Phoenix CVB, and Doug Harman formerly with the Fort Worth CVB – all have shared valuable nuggets of information.  Nanci and I have been in this business for the same number of years and she has always been the one person who I’ve been able to call and talk about the industry and about my personal life.

Is there one thing about Plano that people are surprised to learn?

Actually, there are a couple.  The first thing that most people don’t know is how big we are.  Plano has a population of over 270,000 people, making us the 9th largest city in Texas.

Secondly, many people aren’t aware that Plano has a historic downtown with museums, art galleries, restaurants and antique stores.  It’s served by the DART light rail, which makes it very convenient.  Our newest area of town is the Legacy Town Center, which is home to our largest convention center hotel.

People perceive Plano as just a suburb of Dallas, a bedroom community, but it’s so much more.

Has the role of CVBs changed during your career?

Whether we’re called a DMO (destination marketing organization) or a CVB, we are really an extension of a meeting planner’s staff, a hotel’s staff and our other industry partners’ staff.  We don’t have a product; we simply represent our community and its products.  Our job is to bring people together and provide the best possible service that we can for meeting planners and their attendees.

Over the 25 years that I have been involved, the biggest change has been with our technology.  It has forced us to work in a totally different way.

What is the most common misunderstanding hotels have about the role of the CVB?

I’ve been in three cities in my 25-year career and there appears to be a belief that the bureaus and the hotels are in competition.  That is the furthest thing from the truth and it’s a perception that I don’t fully understand.

We are all here for the greater good.  Hotels and attractions should be working hand in hand but sometimes people seem to be territorial - these are my clients.  If we can’t make sure that our clients have a great time, a memorable time, experiential times, then they are not going to come back.

What services do bureaus provide that people may not know?

Actually, many meeting planners are unaware of most of the services we provide.

If I were a planner, the first thing I would do is go to the bureau and say, “I am thinking about having a meeting in your community, how can you help me?”

Here are a few examples.  We can present your RFP to the vendors who best fit your meeting’s requirements.  We can help with your media communications and press releases, and we can provide videos and other materials to help promote your event.  We can help with registration, free name badges and housing assistance.  Our bureau can attend the event prior to coming to Plano, at no cost, to do “attendance builders” that help attract more attendees here for their next year’s meeting.

Basically, I think most CVBs are open to any suggestion or request that a meeting planner might have, but please know that we have the right to say we can’t do some things.  We are operating as a business, too, so we have to do what makes sense for everyone.

Share your thoughts about the future of this industry including the impact of technology.

In general, I think that people will always want to meet face-to-face.  People want to do business with people they know and like.  Meetings may tweak their format, size and frequency, but the future will include face-to-face.

I heard a statistic recently that blew me away.  It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners.  TV took 13 years to reach 50 million viewers.  It took the Internet only 4 years to reach 50 million and, within one year, Facebook added over 200 million users.

I believe that we all must take a hard look at how we market our destinations and how bureaus can best help meeting planners market their events.

How is technology going to affect the face-to-face meetings industry?  At a conference I just attended, the planner encouraged everyone to tweet about the meeting.  Tweet your reviews of the sessions and the speakers.  Tweet your questions to the moderator so they could be presented to the panel.  I’m not the brightest person when it comes to technology, but I know we have to hire people who know what they are doing.

Any closing thoughts?

The industry is forever changing and it is up to all of us as destinations, as meeting planners, as hoteliers and as industry leaders to stay current, to stay connected, and to understand that we are here for the betterment of our communities.

It’s also important that we don’t get caught up in the “what’s in it for us” mentality and instead focus on what’s in it for our partners and what’s in it for our clients – the planners and their attendees.  They are the ones that are going to be saying or perhaps tweeting, “We just had a great time at our meeting in Plano!”  

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