There are lots of reasons to hold a conference in one place or another.
There are lots of reasons NOT to hold a conference in one place or another.

I've attended all the ARMA Conferences from 1989 to present. I've also
served as an ARMA Board Director and as ARMA Treasurer. I am speaking for
myself.

ARMA has chosen conference sites from a lot of different criteria over
time. We used to do mid-size cities, then we would only do larger cities.
Some of that was due to the size of the Expo floor; some of that was due to
vendor demand for more "local" traffic.

The demographics of the ARMA Conference have changed radically over the
past 25 years. In years past, the location was the draw for many people;
today, it is about how much content can be delivered as quickly as possible
for the best cost possible. And we still need time for the vendors to get
traffic.

Most of the "profit" from the Conference has historically come from the
Expo floor. That "profit" is rolled right back into member services and
initiatives for the Association. A bad year at Conference means that ARMA
can do less. When I was Treasurer, we measured what it cost to provide
basic services to a member and how much of that was covered by dues
revenue. Our research found that if dues covered less than 70% of the cost
for services, a dues increase was required (because making up the balance
of the cost was going to come out of the "profit" of the Conference, which
then reduced new initiatives). If dues covered more than 75% of the cost of
services, we were in a "fat" year and we could do more projects. If the
Conference generated lower costs and higher revenues (i.e. more "profit"),
it could be a very good year and the reserves would be added to. Those
numbers may have changed since I was Treasurer, but we watched them
religiously. The point is that ARMA needs a successful Conference to ensure
that dues can stay down AND ARMA can invest in new projects, products, and
services.

In looking at venues, I'm finding $300 a night hotels rooms to be out of
reach for many training budgets. By the way, the same room in San Diego
that was around $300 a night during conference dropped to $159 a night
immediately after Conference closed -- they call that supply and demand --
and it is particularly true for a "convention center" hotel. NYC, as much
as people would find it fun to visit, would likely feature crappy $400 a
night hotels, expensive restaurants, bus rides to the Javits Center, and
$50 taxi rides to and from the airports. That isn't in the budget in my
organization for education. Some employers will also look very hard at
conferences held in "leisure" locations like Las Vegas, Orlando, or New
Orleans. (I suppose that makes Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee quite
attractive.)

The last two Chicago ARMA Conferences were not what I would have suggested.
I think we could have done better for members in Rosemont (right next to
O'Hare), with free hotel shuttles to and from the airport and a less
expensive convention center. Plenty of restaurants, no buses to the
convention center, and for the diehards, public transportation into the
city. The big city convention centers will take a meeting the size of ARMA,
but we're small potatoes and we get ignored. (If your conference rates
welcome signs from the Convention Bureau at the airport, you're likely in a
place that appreciates you.)  The big convention centers also tend to be
strictly unionized and it is very expensive for the exhibitors.

Personally, I'd be happy in Nashville, Seattle, Denver, Cincinnati or
Kansas City. I'm sure Omaha, Indianapolis or Albuquerque could show us a
nice time. Minneapolis, Cleveland, or Pittsburgh might be good venues. I'm
tossing names out there, but there are a number of considerations that are
used (these are the ones I would use):

Convention Center size (exhibit floor and session rooms), availability, and
costs
Hotel rooms near the convention center, costs at our guarantee levels --
need for buses between the convention center and the hotels (a huge cost
and the biggest complaint of attendees)
Proximity to an airport, non-stop destinations served, relative fare costs
-- and a bonus for Southwest because Southwest tends to drive the fares
down for all airlines
How many daily flights and the capacity of those flights (Cheyenne, Wyoming
is a really nice place, but no major airlines fly there)
Ground transportation options (Amtrak, other cities within 3 to 5 hours of
driving)
Attractiveness / perceived safety of the city, amenities, attractions
Regional population (population within 3 to 5 hours of drive time)
Customer base of our major exhibitors
Corporate offices in the local area
Weather considerations

From time to time, ARMA also entered into multi-year contracts with certain
venues and hotel chains. These contracts reduced costs to ARMA, but also
locked the organization in to certain locations, guarantees, and costs many
years in advance. I think the reason the future sites aren't published like
they used to be is because ARMA is being more nimble, adapting to changing
requirements, and probably trying to identify the correct time frame to
lock in rates and costs (hopefully seeking more competition for a given
year). Another good reason to look at smaller cities is that they don't
attract as many big shows, so they are hungrier.

Historically, ARMA has tried to move back and forth across the country so
that members are not flying across the entire country several years in a
row.
Canadian sites were unfortunately dropped after 9/11 due to the need for US
citizens to have passports to get there, the complications of cross-border
shipping for exhibitors, and the post 9/11 reluctance of employers to allow
"international" travel for education (with apologies to our Canadian and
other international friends who have to deal with this every year anyway).
From a purely financial standpoint for ARMA, there are also the
complications of having local banking relationships and the challenges of
currency fluctuations

For the last few years, I have self-financed my attendance using hotel and
credit card points and getting admission as a speaker. As much as NYC is an
interesting destination, it probably breaks my personal budget as I think
it would many corporate training budgets. I'd also suggest that if you are
going to a conference because it is in a "fun" city or one that you've
always wanted to visit, you might be attending for the wrong reasons. If it
looks like a junket, management is going to look really hard at your
attendance.

Hope this provides a little perspective on the challenges that are faced in
setting the location for an association conference. I'm sure there are many
other variables and considerations, but these are the issues I'm most
familiar with.

Pat Cunningham, FAI

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