Michael Dominguez, senior vice-president and chief sales officer for MGM Resorts International, calls the new Ideation Studio at Park MGM, Las Vegas, “a labor of love.” At the unveiling of the new, 7,000-square-foot collaborative meeting space that, along with the 10,000-square-foot Madison Meeting Center, forms Park MGM’s executive meeting venue, Dominguez admitted “I’m a sales guy. I’d be happy to build more and bigger meeting space to sell, but we’re being intentional. We’re not just building space; we’re building the right space.”
MGM has more than three million square feet of meeting space and intends to build yet more. But Dominguez disclosed that 80 percent of their meetings in Las Vegas are for groups of 50 attendees or fewer, and are very often strategy meetings involving senior executives. The Ideation Studio, which officially opens next month, is designed to take those meetings to the next level through the use of new technology and behavioral science.
MGM used research from office-environment designer Steelcase to create the 10 meeting rooms and lounges that make up the Ideation Studio, starting with tables and chairs with adjustable heights so that meeting participants can be at eye level with each presenter. The reason: Research says sitting lower than the presenter makes meeting attendees feel less engaged and less likely to contribute. The rooms also have a cushioned vinyl flooring instead of carpeting to encourage moving furniture around to accommodate different set-ups, and all four walls are clad in glass so that participants are always close to an area to make notes. Dominguez said research shows that people feel vulnerable walking around other groups or to the front of the room to make notes or sketch ideas. They will, however, walk to the nearest wall.
At the front of each room in the Ideation Studio, there are two large TV screens set up to use Cisco’s latest virtual meeting technology, Webex Teams. The system allows up to 25 attendees to call in from different locations. The screens can show presentations side-by-side with an off-site presenter, and also function as smartboards that can be written on. Wide-angle cameras show off-site participants what is happening in the room.
The innovation here is that everything that appears on the screens is saved to the cloud and accessible to all the meeting participants whenever they want to refer to it. An administrator can remove or grant access to the meeting file as workgroup membership changes. Virtual participation in the meeting is device agnostic (attendees can join using any smartphone, tablet or computer), and invitation is by an emailed link.
Dominguez says the technology was chosen because it is simple, and the goal is to avoid losing momentum at the beginning of a meeting due to dropped calls and other tech snafus. MGM is the first hospitality organization to use Webex Teams, although KPMG and Deloitte are using versions at their headquarters.
Some of the ideas used at Park MGM, such as lighting and air purification systems designed to keep participants awake, are in use in all the meeting spaces. Webex Teams and adjustable furniture are currently limited to the Ideation Studio. “This is the guinea pig, we may use these ideas at our other venues in the future,” Dominguez noted.
