By Joseph Kornik
BALTIMORE -- The future of the meetings industry isn't all that
bright and planners need to stay ahead of the curve if they're
going to be successful in the next century, according to Wayne
Burkan, president of Alternative Visions. Speaking earlier this
month at Meeting Professionals International's World Education
Congress here, Burkan said meeting attendance is likely to drop
significantly and planners need to take notice now. "Meeting
planners may experience the incredible vanishing audience and
experience will only be your asset if the future stays the same as
it is today," Burkan said. "Treat this as a warning."
According to Burkan, planners mistakenly assume the future is
going to be benevolent. "The future doesn't care about you -- it's
not for you or against you," he said. "You need to anticipate and
then take advantage of quick response time in order to get
ahead."
In order to better anticipate the future, Burkan said meeting
planners should ignore mainstream business. "While mainstream
customers are your lifeblood, you can learn a lot more about the
future by listening to your edge customers -- the ones who are
never happy or satisfied, the ones who complain," he said. "If the
future were going to be different, the edge customers would know
about it first. They are the ones constantly forcing you to do
things you wouldn't normally do."
Your mainstream customers are going to be restricted by the same
things you are, but the edge customers will always see the future
first, according to Burkan. "Customers at the margin are not
marginal customers," he said. "They are only marginal to your
business today."
Burkan points out globalization and the Internet as entities
that will most likely change the future of the industry. "We are
very good about seeing patterns and seeing things that aren't
there," he said. "Often, we miss what is there."
Burkan identifies globalization as an ongoing trend, but calls
the influx of the Internet an industry shift. "We all like trends,
but shifts stop trends dead in their tracks," he said. "If you want
to be able to see the future, you better be able to identify the
shifts."
Shifts trigger new trends, according to Burkan. And the Internet
will undoubtedly change business as we know it. "I know that the
current services aren't going to cut it in the future," he said.
"Everybody's striving for quality and excellence -- that's now the
baseline standard."
Burkan is the author of "Wide Angle Vision: Beat Your
Competition by Focusing on Fringe Competitors, Lost Customers and
Rogue Employees." To order, call (800) 236-7323.