Using Fresh Eyes To Enhance Your Conference Business: The Value of Hosting a Peer Review

    e-Communiqué
Fall 2005 Published exclusively for members of ACCED-I

USING FRESH EYES TO ENHANCE YOUR CONFERENCE OPERATION:

The Value of Hosting a Peer Review
- Sue Nunan, Director, Stanford Conference Services (snunan@stanford.edu) and
Jeff Marson, Marketing/Sales Coordinator, Stanford Conference Services (jmarson@stanford.edu)

Being immersed in the daily business of servicing

our conference clients and meeting organizational
goals, it’s challenging to step back and objectively
contemplate the state of our operational
effectiveness, while also developing a vision for
our future growth. This is precisely why Stanford
Conference Services, a division of Stanford’s
Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE), hosted
a peer review (otherwise known as a “visiting
committee”) several months ago. The following
recaps the step-by-step approach we undertook to
derive the greatest value from our visiting
committee experience, and is intended as a
reference for other college/university conference
departments seeking similar unbiased feedback
from their industry counterparts.
Shirley Everett (head of table) is  joined by members of the Stanford Conference Services/R&DE Visiting
  Committee and Sue Nunan (blue jacket, white collar).

Setting clear objectives for our visiting committee review

In 2003, Shirley Everett, Associate Vice Provost for Stanford’s R&DE, first hosted a visiting committee, comprised of
hospitality industry leaders, to analyze operations and to identify potential income sources for three of the divisions
under her charge: Stanford Dining, Student Housing and Stanford Conference Services. Among the committee’s
recommendations was the establishment, in Stanford Conference Services, of a new Marketing/Sales Coordinator
position. This position was recommended as a way to generate new conference business, both from within the
University and from external groups. As a result, the Marketing/Sales Coordinator position was launched in December,
2003.

To build upon the strategic value derived from the 2003 visiting committee, Ms. Everett invited a new visiting
committee to Stanford in April, 2005, to focus exclusively* on analyzing the operational dynamics and marketing/sales
strength of the Stanford Conference Services team. (*Note: over the next two years, Stanford Dining and Student
Housing will be hosting their own visiting committees). Specifically, this year’s visiting committee was asked to:

Review the Conference Services “Marketing and Sales Plan,” marketing collateral and sales infrastructure.
Determine how to best integrate the new marketing and sales functions into the Conference Services
environment to achieve optimum sales growth.
Conduct a competitive price analysis on the housing/meal/meeting room fees charged by the major competitors
of Stanford Conference Services.
Offer innovative ideas for reaching specific target audiences with expanded products/services and special
promotions.

Forming a professionally balanced and experienced committee

http://www.acced-i.org/imis_web/StaticContent/3/Pub/octdec05/peerreview.htm[5/20/2010 3:33:48 PM]

Using Fresh Eyes To Enhance Your Conference Business: The Value of Hosting a Peer Review

Foreseeing that quality recommendations could only come from having quality committee members analyzing our
facilities, R&DE and Stanford Conference Services invited - and received acceptances - from the following industry
professionals who agreed to serve on our 2005 visiting committee:

Susan Adler, Director, Yale Conference Services

Debbie Cook, Manager, Conference Services, University of Colorado at Boulder
Paul Horngren, Director of Purdue University Conference Division
Jacqueline Martin, Sales Manager, Asilomar Conference Grounds
Grace Markum, President, Crown American Hotels

Providing committee members with a thorough pre-visit orientation

To provide the committee members with the necessary tools for understanding our business model, R&DE/Conference
Services distributed pre-visit binders to each of the visiting committee members containing:

Overview of R&DE
Overview of Stanford Conference Services, including a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
threats)
Organizational structure of Conference Services
Conference Services sales/marketing overview and SWOT analysis
Current product/service offerings and pricing
Contact and biographical information of R&DE/Conference Services team members

Having committee members experience our facilities

In addition to providing written orientation materials, R&DE/Conference Services orchestrated the visiting
committee’s itinerary (Wednesday - Friday) in a way that would impact the members with the full flavor of Stanford’s
meeting facilities: sleeping accommodations at Stanford’s SLAC Guest House (an R&DE operated hotel), with daily
meals provided by Stanford Dining and Stanford Catering, including a five-course “Chef’s Table” at Stanford’s Linx
restaurant.* In addition, committee members toured Stanford’s housing, dining and meeting room facilities, while also
listening to presentations by key R&DE/Conference Services staff members. (*Note: all committee members were
reimbursed for their travel, housing and meal expenses, with their time being donated by their respective
organizations).

Fostering receptive and “depersonalized” interactions between the committee and staff

On Friday afternoon, the committee engaged in a roundtable forum with the R&DE/Conference Services staff
members. During this exchange, the committee presented its initial findings and recommendations, while the staff
members either asked for clarification on various points, or offered further information about our operations. With the
goal of obtaining maximum value from this meeting, the staff was encouraged to remain open to the findings, while
expending every effort to depersonalize the feedback received by the committee.

Establishing the deliverables of the committee’s final report

Within 90 days of its campus visit, the visiting committee submitted its final report to R&DE/Conference Services.
Amongst its comprehensive recommendations was a suggestion for a monthly “sales day,” whereby every team
member would become directly involved in completing a sales initiative. Other ideas centered on new product offerings
and strategic marketing approaches aimed at internal University departments and external associations.

From this experience, R&DE/Conference Services concluded that it’s essential to articulate to the committee, from the
outset, the exact observations and recommendations that are needed to make the final report an instrument of value.
Because the committee members go their separate ways at the conclusion of their review, it’s important to stress the
need for them to collaborate on the report while all are still on campus. This ensures the delivery of a cohesive and
balanced document that reflects the consensus of the members.

http://www.acced-i.org/imis_web/StaticContent/3/Pub/octdec05/peerreview.htm[5/20/2010 3:33:48 PM]

Using Fresh Eyes To Enhance Your Conference Business: The Value of Hosting a Peer Review

Win-win for both parties

As one might anticipate, it’s almost impossible to participate in a peer review of another facility without walking away
with some useful knowledge that you can readily apply to your own operation. This sentiment is clearly expressed by
the comments from two committee members:

Susan Adler: “The learning process is a two-way street; an opportunity to reflect on my own operation with new eyes.”

Paul Horngren: “Being part of a visiting committee is all about perspective. You have the opportunity to review
services, facilities, staff, etc. from a different angle and, therefore, provide the client with new and, hopefully,
improved insights.”

Summarizing key points

The visiting committee experience can reap terrific dividends for your operation, provided that you prepare sufficiently
and execute diligently. To summarize:

Be clear on the objectives that you want your visiting committee to achieve, and be sure that your staff members
realize the value of these objectives.
Invite unbiased, accomplished and respected university conference department and hospitality industry
professionals to be on your visiting committee.
Direct your committee to brainstorm for new business opportunities, services or products, and to recommend
new target markets to approach in future campaigns.
Provide a thorough overview of your operation to your committee, in advance of their visit, and allow the
committee members to experience your facilities firsthand.
Encourage open, candid and depersonalized dialogue between the committee and
your staff.
Articulate the format and contents that the committee must adopt for its final report.

In conclusion

To date, R&DE/Conference Services has seized upon the many recommendations emanating from our 2003 and 2005
visiting committees. By leveraging on the fresh perspectives and concrete suggestions put forth by both committees,
R&DE/Conference Services is poised to meet ambitious and exciting growth goals. It is our hope that our industry
colleagues will experience similar positive results by hosting their own peer reviews.

Sue Nunan can be contacted at: snunan@stanford.edu

Jeff Marson can be contacted at: jmarson@stanford.edu

< Return to Contents

©2005, ACCED-I, Reprint Permission

http://www.acced-i.org/imis_web/StaticContent/3/Pub/octdec05/peerreview.htm[5/20/2010 3:33:48 PM]