the meeting planner

Ellen Forsythe, CMP
Communication, laughter and respect!
Winter 2009

Ellen Forsythe, CMP is the director of education and meetings for the Texas Veterinary Medical Association.  Based in Austin, TVMA was organized in 1903 and its membership includes over 3,500 licensed veterinarians practicing throughout Texas.

MPG: What attracted you to this business?

It was not something I planned.

In 1985, I was a newly divorced mother of two looking for a job to support my family.  I answered an ad for a receptionist at the Texas Veterinary Medical Association.  David Lancaster, the executive director of TVMA in those days, offered me the job.

At that time, part of the receptionist’s duties included working with their trade show.  I got excited about the opportunity to put some energy and research into looking for companies that wanted to reach our veterinarian audience.  Marketing the show became a real passion for me and within a couple of years it doubled in size and TVMA created a position for me as trade show coordinator.

Did you have any mentors?

Sally Yaryan was the meeting planner for TVMA.  I feel like I apprenticed under Sally.  She was very detailed and was a tough negotiator.  In fact, she always used her own wording in our contracts and the hoteliers cringed when they saw her coming.  She taught me well and when she left I told my executive director that I wanted her job.  He agreed.

What are the most important skills needed to be a great meeting planner?

Number one is to be a good communicator.  Be forthright and clear about what you want and what you expect.

Second is to have a good sense of humor.  Laughter is great medicine for us all and I inject it into almost everything I do.

Thirdly, it’s important that everyone shares a mutual respect and treats each other like they want to be treated.

Tell us about your site selection process.

Our Board of Directors has wanted to be more inclusive of the veterinary college and their students that are prospective TVMA members so they have been leaning towards meeting close to College Station.  We also try to stay near where our biggest hub of membership is located - Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Austin.

How is the economy affecting your association and its meetings?

We have not been affected directly, yet, but I have heard from some of the larger supplier companies to prepare for a decrease in their sponsorship levels.

Our large meeting is a regional conference with Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and New Mexico.  Several years ago, we regionalized our meeting by the request of our industry partners.  What I’ve heard is that the other veterinary meetings across the country are experiencing about a 20% decline in attendance.

Like everyone, I’m not sure how the economy is going to affect our association.  I hope our attendees want to spend their money at Texas meetings but it has become more economical for our vendors to go to the large national meetings that are based in Las Vegas and Orlando.

Some organizations have expressed a concern about the negative perception of using resorts or luxury hotels for their meetings.  Is that a consideration for your association?

I have not yet been asked to scale back but I can see it coming.  The only meetings we do in a resort type setting are the small executive committee planning retreats and they typically have been able to get sponsors to help offset the cost.  We have another group that does a summer meeting that includes families and they like to be at resort properties or around a park.  I think next year we are going to New Braunfels so at this point, the issue hasn’t affected our meeting planning.

Our fiscal year is July 1 to June 30 and we were already trimming our budget last summer before the economy fell.

From your years of experience working with hotels, what advice would you like to share with the hotel community?

What impresses me and our membership the most is good customer service. 

I don’t think that all hotel training programs are created equal or perhaps the people they are hiring are just not happy folks.  The hotel’s staff must be taught the importance of good customer service.  Sometimes I don’t think the staff understands that they can make or break someone from coming back. 

How has technology affected your meeting planning?

As far as communicating or marketing to our members, it is just so much easier than in the IBM Selectric days.

Information about our meeting is just a few computer clicks away and our online registration has freed up meeting planners to focus on other important meeting details.  Online registration has simplified things so much, such as not having to process credit cards.  We now print only one promotional piece and the rest is all e-blast.  We can customize each e-blast to highlight different parts of the meeting.

Look five years ahead and what changes do you see taking place with the meetings industry?

The economy is going to drive it all and we are slaves to it.

We will need to find new and innovative ways to serve our members.  They are small business owners and time is money so they can’t afford to be away from their businesses for long periods.

One of our challenges is that the veterinary pharmaceutical and nutrition companies are offering complimentary continuing education to our members which directly competes with our association.  I see the industry moving in that direction because they can get more bang for their buck and they have a captive audience. 

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