The Big Easy made it look easy, successfully hosting two major medical conventions back-to-back in February and March. “We're thrilled with the outcome,” says Sue Sears Hamilton, senior director, Annual Scientific Summit and i2 Summit at the American College of Cardiology, Washington, D.C., which brought 26,253 attendees to New Orleans in March. It was the largest convention held in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005, and it came less than one month after the Health Information and Management Systems Society brought 24,100 attendees to the city.

But behind the scenes, it took months of hard work, careful planning, and soul searching by association planners and executives to pull off these major events and help New Orleans get its groove back.

A Moral Dilemma

“There was both a legal and a moral/ethical question I had to ask myself,” says Stephen Lieber, president and chief executive officer at Chicago-based HIMSS, recalling the decision made in December 2005 to hold the 2007 annual convention in New Orleans as planned. Lieber, who had visited New Orleans just weeks after Katrina, didn't think the association had legal grounds to cancel the meeting (even though the city had given them an out). “Could New Orleans have fulfilled its obligations under this contract? My honest answer was, 14 months out, yes,” says Lieber.

“Then there's the moral/ethical question,” says Lieber. “If I believe that the city can put the conference on, shouldn't the organization do its part in helping the rebuilding effort? The immediate answer to that was yes.”

So it was on with the show.

The next order of business for both associations was marketing their event to members and easing their concerns.

The marketing of the convention for HIMSS began in earnest in January 2006 when Lieber invited about 50 exhibitors to tour the city with him. “They saw the same thing that we did — that the infrastructure was intact — and they came away very reassured,” he says. It was critical to get this early feedback, he adds, so there wouldn't a negative buzz about New Orleans at the 2006 meeting in San Diego.

Over the next 13 months, HIMSS sent regular mailings and communications out to members through various channels to update people on the progress in New Orleans, answer questions, and let them know about all the successful events that took place, such as Jazzfest and the National Association of Realtors convention.

“It was a PR battle. I became an expert in levy construction,” Hamilton jokes. Like HIMSS, ACC sent out regular updates and communicated that the city was open for business and thousands of conventioneers had visited the city and had a great time. Throughout the period, there were lots of questions, but few at either association demanded a venue change. “Over the whole period, I got maybe one or two letters saying, ‘I can't believe HIMSS is going there,’” she says.

Airlift: A Major Concern

By far the biggest concern both associations had was airlift. After Katrina, the airport was running at about two-thirds capacity, and this year it's up to about 75 percent. “I was very concerned about the airlift because it's still not 100 percent,” says Hamilton. She and Stephen Perry, president and CEO at the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau, made their case to the executives from four major airlines for adding more flights. Perry talked about how important the meeting was to the city and the hospitality industry and Hamilton told the executives that airlift was the one thing about coming to New Orleans that kept her up at night. “It's not the program, it's not the logistics, it's how the hell am I going to get people there,” says Hamilton.

HIMSS also had regular meetings with airline representatives and CVB officials to discuss airlift needs, explains Lieber. The executives all agreed to add flights for both groups.

Hamilton sent registration statistics every week to the CVB, which shared the information with the airlines. Periodically, Hamilton would get e-mails informing her that flights had been added. It wasn't perfect, as attendees had to deal with multiple connections, but it beat the alternative.

Hamilton also worked closely with area hoteliers, meeting with them on a regular basis to keep the lines of communication open. “I wanted no surprises,” says Hamilton, like guests being walked or services falling short of expectations. “I was very firm from the get-go and it really worked for us.” Hoteliers also obliged in room block changes.

Because two hotels in ACC's original block, the Hyatt and the Fairmont, are still not open, ACC had to block another 1,200 rooms. Many of the downtown hotels in the block picked up rooms, while the rest were booked in nearby Metairie and around the airport. Organizers also provided attendees with a list of smaller hotels and bed-and-breakfasts around the French Quarter that attendees could book if they wanted to. “We were a bit [more spread] out than we normally are, but we knew going in that we would have to do that, so it wasn't a surprise,” says Hamilton.”

Along with airlift, Lieber was also concerned about “human capital” since New Orleans lost half its population to Katrina. In reality, he discovered, the population of the metropolitan area is roughly the same, so he found staffing levels at hotels, restaurants, and other services to be adequate. There were plenty of cabs, enough airport shuttles, good hotel services, and, for the most part, no long lines at restaurants.

Says Hamilton: “The city is back in business, but it's in transition, so you have to accept the fact that you may have to wait a little longer in restaurants — and don't expect room service in 10 minutes.”

The ACC convention drew 1,000 people fewer than the previous year's meeting in Atlanta, but grant support and exhibitions made up for the deficit. Plus, that decrease follows a typical attendance pattern as many members tend to go every other year, says Hamilton. The HIMSS convention pulled about 700 fewer attendees than it normally does, because of airlift, Lieber says.

At this point, airlift would be the only obstacle for a bringing a meeting with more than 25,000 attendees to New Orleans, says Lieber. But as more meetings come back and airlines schedule more flights, that concern will disappear.

ACC attendees had no complaints, says Hamilton. “I never got any feedback that anybody was angry about waiting for anything. The incredible thing about this meeting was people's support of the city. They were proud to be there,” she says — proud to help out the hospitality industry and the city. “It was really quite a magical experience.”

Countering Crime Concerns

“We realized that we had to overcome some of the prejudices against the city,” says Sue Sears Hamilton, senior director, Annual Scientific Summit and i2 Summit at the American College of Cardiology, Washington, D.C., which met in New Orleans in March. “There were reports of security and crime that were dreadfully exaggerated. There's always been crime in New Orleans,” she adds, just like there's crime in all major American cities. At one meeting at the association's headquarters in Washington, D.C., when the question of crime in New Orleans came up, she had to remind people that there were four murders over the weekend in Washington. “I couldn't guarantee there would be no crime, but I could make sure we had in place some measures to make people feel comfortable,” she says.

Hamilton contacted the city's police chief and made arrangements to have additional police around the French Quarter. They also put notices in the conference bags to remind people to be careful and use common sense when out in the city, as they would in any major city.

ACC had no problems with crime, nor did the Health Information and Management Systems Society, which brought a convention to the city in February. The crime that is occurring in New Orleans is gang- and drug-related and is happening in areas that are not near conventions, says Stephen Lieber, president and chief executive officer at Chicago-based HIMSS. “Yes, the statistics are high, but we ran into no issues in the central business district. It was a non-issue for us.” HIMSS didn't request additional police in the convention corridor and Lieber says he didn't notice an overwhelming presence of police on every street corner, which would change the atmosphere of the city and indicate that crime is a problem. “Crime is not a reason not to select [New Orleans] at all.”