As noted by others, ARMA has been looking closely at the venues over the next several years. Used to be that the venues would be booked as much as ten years out, but I think that approach is changing to allow opportunities for new venues. Places like Vegas and Chicago may need a little more lead time, but I think / hope we'll see a return to some of the more modest locations that are less expensive.

If memory serves, when ARMA shifted 2013 from Orlando to Vegas, the plan was to go to the Gaylord in Nashville a couple years down the road. The deal with Gaylord was something like "buy 2, get 1 free" in order to drive traffic to the new Gaylord site in DC. My understanding was that Orlando was not seen as an optimal location for attendance based upon a recent Conference and the change was made.

The Conference is a very difficult set of variables to balance. The window for Conference is generally September through the end of October. The end / beginning of the US Federal fiscal year (and the shenanigans that seem to go on every year now) add complexity. You have to have a venue that allows sufficient space for the Expo and the education sessions, a hotel that has the right capacity (with a rational minimum guarantee) and a decent room rate -- and reasonable costs for catering and meeting space (with appropriate incentives to reduce the overall cost), and you need a location that people want to visit. Another factor is the cost to the vendors for space and set up. Places like Chicago, San Francisco, Vegas, and NYC are killers in that regard. The choices are made years in advance and meeting planners have to lock in fair prices that reflect the value of the venue and the expected market for meetings. That's the hard part. I can recall a few
 conferences not that long ago where the ARMA Expo was at capacity, which drove decisions towards larger venues. That trend seems to have reversed, and more venues are open to ARMA.


Personally, I'd like to see us return to places like Denver and Nashville, where ARMA is treated a lot better by the local convention center and costs are lower than the big cities. Heck, Kansas City would be interesting. I'd love to go back to San Antonio. If left to me, I'd like to see room rates below $200 (all in), a convention center close enough to walk to (or attached to the hotel), and some good places to eat within a few blocks or a short cab ride away (I think San Antonio is the clear winner there.). Toronto and Montreal were very nice cities and I'd love to see Conference in Vancouver, but travel to Canada is much more challenging than it was in the past, and I'm afraid that ARMA will likely not return there with the "big show". I hope I'm wrong on that.


While the Conference and Expo are still a big part of ARMA's revenue (and the success of the Conference is a factor that keeps dues from increasing), ARMA recognizes that revenue diversification (and changes in educational presentation) are critical to the success of the organization.

My opinions and thoughts only... not representative of ARMA and the Board.

 
Patrick Cunningham, CIP, FAI
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"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier." 
-- Colin Powell

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