“Medical meetings are one of those hallmark groups you really want to go after,” says Tom Noonan, president and chief executive officer at the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Authority. “There are a lot of them out there and they are a high-rated piece of business.”

As the largest segment of the meetings market — representing about 23 percent of all meetings and conventions in the U.S., according to the CEIR Index 2006 Edition, produced by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, medical meetings are in high demand among destinations. To bring in the business, cities are leveraging their medical infrastructure, appointing boards of medical professionals as marketing liaisons to healthcare organizations, and designing convention centers with medical meetings in mind. Here's a closer look at what some of the leading cities are doing to attract healthcare meetings.

philadelphia

Local Healthcare Leaders Advocate for Meetings

MEDICAL MEETINGS are big business in Philadelphia. About 38 percent of all conferences that come to town are healthcare-related, representing, by far, the city's largest segment of meetings business. The bounty is due, in large part, to the CVB's concerted effort to leverage Philadelphia's medical community to bring meetings to town. “Our medical community is a huge tool for us,” explains Jack Ferguson, executive vice president at the Philadelphia CVB.

For years, an arm of the CVB called the Greater Philadelphia Health Care Congress has served as a liaison between the region's healthcare community and the medical societies and associations that might consider Philadelphia for meetings. The congress, made up of representatives from area hospitals, universities, and medical institutions, reaches out to medical associations and encourages them to come to Philly. The congress may also assist groups in planning and marketing their events. Many of the members belong to associations themselves or are well known in their fields, so they are respected and influential advocates for the city.

Earlier this year, the CVB created a new division, the Greater Philadelphia Life Sciences Congress, which is charged with a similar task, focusing on the biotechnology and life sciences areas. The congress helps groups find speakers, locate venues, and build attendance by providing access to the local medical community.

Philadelphia's central location between New York and Washington is a big plus in building attendance. About 90 percent of the medical groups that meet in Philadelphia report higher attendance numbers that they've had in other cities in previous years, says Ferguson. Also, 80 percent of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the country are within 90 miles of Philadelphia, which makes it a hotbed for pharmaceutical meetings.

boston

Hynes Keeps Doors Open for Medical Meetings

BOSTON REALIZED IT HAD A GOOD THING going with the Hynes Convention Center in terms of attracting medical meetings. In fact, the popularity of the Hynes among medical groups played a big role in the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority's decision to keep the center open after building a new convention center, says James Rooney, executive director, MCCA. “Medical meetings are a cornerstone of what's happening at the Hynes, so it certainly was a deciding factor,” he says.

Initially, the MCCA was planning to close the Hynes after the much larger Boston Convention and Exhibition Center opened in 2004. But feedback from customers, mostly medical groups, showed that many preferred the Hynes. “For some meetings of 5,000 to 10,000 people, the Hynes is ideal,” says Rooney. “It's got a great location and it's got the right number of meeting rooms for events of that size.” This year, in fact, the Hynes set a record for medical conferences, hosting 23 events — 28 percent of all of its meetings.

As the home of the top medical school in the country, Harvard Medical School, as well as some of the nation's best hospitals, Boston has a large healthcare professional community that associations can draw on for speakers and attendees. “We have a strong demographic base to call upon in the medical and life sciences areas,” says Rooney. Many physicians who were educated in Boston, but practice elsewhere, like to come “home” to Boston for meetings.

“There are a lot of people in the hospitals and the academic institutions here in Boston who are active in the boards of these associations,” says Rooney. Boston does not have an official body to work with the medical community, like Philadelphia does, but CVB staff does work with key medical leaders to attract business to town.

orlando

Morphing into a Medical City

ORLANDO HOSPITALITY officials are hoping a new medical development in the city proves to be a major draw for medical meetings. Three projects are slated at Lake Nona, including the Burnham Institute, a biomedical research facility; the University of Central Florida Medical School; and a veterans' hospital.

“[The new development is] going to create more interest in Orlando from a medical standpoint — more attendees, more continuing education, more medical meetings,” says Orlando/Orange County CVB President Gary Sain. Combined with Orlando's great weather, amenities, and hospitality infrastructure, the new medical “city” at Lake Nona will drive what Sain calls “medical tourism” — people coming to Orlando for medical meetings and bringing their families for the attractions.

The Lake Nona development will help establish Orlando's reputation as a medical city, not just a tourist spot. The CVB is hoping that reputation will draw healthcare professionals to live and work in the area, giving Orlando a medical community that will, in turn, help lure meetings.

“We are morphing into a world-class medical city,” he says. “That's why I'm bullish on the medical market and why we are going to be putting additional emphasis on it.”

Not that Orlando has had problems in attracting medical meetings over the years. According to the Healthcare Convention and Exhibitors Association, Orlando has ranked as the most popular destination for healthcare meetings over the past 10 years, attracting an average of 50 conferences with more than 300 attendees per year. Overall, about one-third of the meetings that come to the convention center or hotels are medical. In addition to Orlando's more obvious charms (weather, attractions etc.), its great airlift and diverse hotel package with options for any budget and any type of meeting are appealing to medical groups, says Sain.

baltimore

Partnerships Spread the Word

THE BALTIMORE AREA Convention and Visitors Authority has forged marketing and sales partnerships that could result in bringing more medical meetings to the city.

One of these partnerships is with the American Society of Association Executives. BACVA signed a three-year agreement with ASAE to become its strategic marketing partner, meaning that Baltimore will be promoted at ASAE events, on brochures, and in marketing materials. The partnership positions Baltimore to land future ASAE conferences, exposing the city to ASAE members, including medical association executives.

It has also formed a sales partnership with the Fort Worth (Texas) CVB. The two bureaus agreed to share salespeople who sell both destinations, encouraging multiyear contracts where the group books both cities. One of the shared sales reps is focusing on medical meetings. Additionally, Baltimore and Forth Worth are working on adding a third bureau into the mix, most likely a West Coast city. The three shared salespeople will try to sell the cities to associations for three straight years, one in each city.

In terms of attracting medical groups, Baltimore has a competitive advantage — Johns Hopkins University, says Tom Noonan, president and CEO of the BACVA. As one of the best medical schools in the country, Johns Hopkins gives the city a “great medical backbone. We can draw speakers from there as well as attendees,” he says. “It gives us a big advantage over destinations that don't have that major hallmark hospital system.”

Noonan also touts Baltimore's tight convention package. “I don't know of many cities that have a harbor with a convention center on it, surrounded by hotels, restaurants, bars, and shopping.” Having 5,000 rooms within walking distance is desirable, says Noonan, because organizations can save on shuttle costs. “That's a big concern for medical associations.”

chicago

Mccormick Place West Built With Medical Meetings in Mind

“THE NEW BUILDING was built with medical meetings in mind,” says Mark Theis, executive vice president at the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, talking about McCormick Place West, the new 720,000-square-foot addition to McCormick Place, which opened August 1. The building, which has 400,000 square feet of exhibit space, a 100,000-square-foot ballroom, and 61 meeting rooms, is “meeting room-centric” and has flexible space — two qualities that are requirements for most medical meetings.

Roughly half of the 71 conventions booked at McCormick Place West to date are medical meetings. Chicago has long been a popular destination for medical meetings — second, in fact, behind Las Vegas in 2006, according to HCEA.

The bureau hopes to set itself apart from other cities in the competition for medical meetings with a new customer-service strategy. “We want to be about more than just dates, rates, and space,” says Theis. “We want to act as a marketing consultant to our customers.” Chicago contracts with a third-party company to survey incoming groups and attendees to understand the likes, dislikes, and demographics of the group. The information allows the bureau to customize the experience in Chicago to the group's preferences. For instance, if a medical association is coming to Chicago and the profile shows that attendees like going to museums and they like architecture, says Theis, the bureau would then work with the group to arrange activities — perhaps an architectural boat tour or a function at the Field Museum. “Our whole [marketing] approach is moving away from the spray and pray, where you just spray everything out there and hope something catches,” he says.

In the past year, CCTB has employed this approach with several medical groups, including the Radiological Society of North America and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

san diego

Escorting Planners on Site Inspections

SAN DIEGO IS ONE of the five most popular destinations for healthcare conferences, according to HCEA, and the destination benefits from a diverse selection of hotels — from downtown hotels to upscale properties in LaJolla or Carlsbad. Medical organizations like the diversity of having 10 to 20 good hotel options for their meeting as opposed to just a handful in other destinations, says Steve Schell, vice president of sales and services at the San Diego CVB.

To assist groups in finding the right meeting venue, the bureau offers an online RFP service called iLead. The CVB sends out proposals to hotels based on the needs of a particular group, and then the hotels respond to a dedicated Web page that the meeting planner can access. “The planner can then navigate the proposals, look at what the hotels are offering, look at the pictures, rates, videos, everything — all from this one Web site,” says Schell. The planner narrows the list down, and from there, the CVB offers a site inspection service where they meet with planners and escort them on site visits.

Oh yeah, and then there is that sunny San Diego weather — a big draw for any group. Of course, in today's highly regulated world of medical meetings, resort can be a dirty word if the venue is considered an environment not conducive to education. But that has not hurt San Diego because the meeting hotels have an abundance of meeting space, says Schell, and are clearly appropriate for education.

Top Ten Destinations

THESE ARE THE 10 MOST POPULAR CITIES FOR MEDICAL MEETINGS OVER THE PAST DECADE. THE NUMBERS REPRESENT THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF HEALTHCARE MEETINGS WITH MORE THAN 300 ATTENDEES EACH CITY HOSTED ANNUALLY.

Source: Healthcare Convention Exhibitors Association

1	ORLANDO	51
2	CHICAGO	40
3	WASHINGTON, D.C.	37
4	SAN DIEGO	36
5	NEW ORLEANS	32
6	SAN FRANCISCO	27
7	LAS VEGAS	27
8	ATLANTA	23
9	BOSTON	23
10	PHILADELPHIA	18