Debbie Welder, newly elected president of the National Business Travel Association’s Chapter Presidents Council, is ecstatic with results of the Leadership Summit held in Reston, VA, in November. The leadership conference, open to all members of the local NBTA affiliates, focuses on developing leaders and equipping them to meet current challenges.
Debbie Welder, newly elected president of the National Business Travel Association’s Chapter Presidents Council, is ecstatic with results of the Leadership Summit held in Reston, VA, in November. The leadership conference, open to all members of the local NBTA affiliates, focuses on developing leaders and equipping them to meet current challenges.
“As we face economic uncertainty, chapters are looking for new and innovative ways to boost membership and provide value,” says Welder, who is also travel director for CHG Healthcare Services. “The Leadership Summit offered them the resources to achieve these tasks as well as help build lifelong relationships. Attendees had multiple opportunities to discuss best practices with their peers in other chapters via break-out sessions and interactive workshops. We exceeded our registration goals and topped attendance from previous years. This is a true indicator of the high commitment and passion the local chapter leadership teams possess.”
“I cannot begin to tell you how proud I was of all the Chapters that participated,” says Tim Nall, outgoing president of the Virginia BTA, which hosted the event. “Given the state of the economy and the many demands that are placed on everyone within their own careers, to have so many individuals take the time to attend the Summit is really amazing. It truly is a testament to the quality of the people we have leading these chapters.” Nall is current secretary-treasurer of the CPC.
If there were awards (there weren’t) for the furthest distance traveled to attend, it would have gone to two delegates from Hawaii BTA and a third from Alaska BTA: Tiara Peltola, travel manager at Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation in Anchorage; Leslie Cho, sales manager for the Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu; and Tammie Kotani, corporate travel coordinator for The Queen’s Health Systems, also in Honolulu. All three gave thumbs up for the value they received and declared it was worth the trip.
Cho, as outgoing president of Hawaii BTA, says she is hard-pressed to narrow it down to what was most valuable, as you can’t put a “priceless!” on just one thing. It is invaluable for incoming presidents to get them off to a strong start, but was equally important for her, she says, as she finishes her term. There was so much information presented, that she and the incoming vice president, Kotani, attended different workshops to glean all they could to share with their membership in their next meeting.
“All of the sessions were extremely informative and educational,” reports Peltola, who is president of the Alaska BTA. “I appreciated the fact that they were all very interactive and not us just sitting there listening to a speaker. Mark Levin was a great facilitator during the general session.” Levin drew praise from many of those attending. A recognized professional speaker who specializes in leadership training, membership development and strategic planning for association leaders, his topics ranged from “It’s ALWAYS the Economy” to “Tapping Into Time-Challenged Professionals” and “Ten Things You Can Do to Assure the Success of Your Chapter.”
He offered “real solutions to real chapter issues,” says Dawn Biela-Kramer, director of business travel for Xona Resort Suites and member of the Arizona BTA. She went home, she says, with “many useful best practices to incorporate immediately.”
“Our list of take-aways from Mark Levin’s presentation on membership development is three pages long!,” says Cindy Gillen, president of the Chicago BTA and national director of procurement and travel with BDO Seidman. “Chicago BTA looks to the NBTA Chapter Leadership Summit each year to help set the tone for next year’s chapter growth. New services, new programs, new speakers. At the Summit we learn and share with other chapters and the NBTA national organization on how to better serve our current members, and attract more. The summit is two days chock-full of great ideas and best practices.”
It was much the same story for Tampa Bay BTA’s president, Leanne Turton, corporate and leisure travel sales manager with Intercontinental Tampa. “In reviewing my notes from Leadership, a few key items I brought back [from] the Mark Levin presentation were:
• “E-mails sent to non-members need to show an enticing subject line to catch their interest; something like “Thought you might be interested.”
• “It became clear that folks join professional organizations to be recognized, to be educated, and for personal advancement.
• “Most important: it reminded me that our monthly luncheons need to have a written agenda so we won’t forget important items like introductions of new members and guests, board member updates, GR Liaison updates and recent accomplishments.”
The challenges Levin addressed are being faced by all associations, not just business travel organizations, points out Rick Wakida, who holds vice presidents’ chairs at both the Silicon Valley and Bay Area BTAs. “Increasing and retaining membership, fundraising and succession planning; all have been exacerbated by the current economic environment. The ensuing questions and discussions amongst the delegates demonstrated that through sharing best practices and brainstorming, the chapters can help each other.” Wakida who is global travel manager for Blue Coat Systems, offered a list of ideas he collected from such discussions as proof:
• A couple of chapters had Travel Industry Chairs that provided updates at the start of each meeting to help keep members up-to-date on industry events.
• Some chapters had company memberships where you pay for two memberships and up to four people from that company could attend meetings.
• Hawaii has an annual FAM that members qualify for based on annual meeting attendance and community service.
• Levin mentioned 3-2-1 surveys to solicit feedback — 3 questions, each with 2 answers and takes 1 minute to complete — and also recommended an automated response be sent thanking them for participating in the survey, posting the results later on the web site and then sending an email as a reminder to check for the results on the web site.
Lissa Curtin, president of Central Florida BTA, says she also found that discussions with other attendees helped illustrate Levin’s points. “What I find most valuable is the time that we have meeting our counterparts in other chapters and sharing experiences. We always learn so much and come back with so many great ideas that it’s sometimes overwhelming. Like the suggestion of creating an action list with ‘no brainers’ that could be implemented easily and right away; ‘like to do’ on things that should be evaluated by the board for implementation, and ‘great ideas but not going to happen.’
“To then grid out what is needed to take on the initiative that was recommended by Levin, made so much sense,” she continues, “and will definitely help us narrow down our implementation list and focus our efforts in the right areas.” Curtin is manager of business development for Orlando International Airport.
“Once again, NBTA’s leadership conference excelled with information on how to keep local chapters vibrant and effective for its membership,” reports Dan Beale, regional sales director of Orbitz for Business. He is also vice president of education for Florida South BTA “What was particularly timely for this year’s conference was the keynote speaker, Mark Levin. He presented creative ways to build an association’s value, credibility and strengthen member services. ... His suggestions included communicating survey results to respondents in a timely manner, excluding board members (who might tend to give biased feedback) from surveys and targeting surveys to various members. His discussion also included great ideas for ‘Return On Investment’ for members and the ‘or factor’ in enlisting members to volunteer and embrace chapter resources.”
Many of this year’s attendees had participated in earlier Summits and knew the value that they would derive. Even so, they labeled the 2009 event a standout, and expressed satisfaction that their organizations had sent several delegates.
“The NBTA Chapter Leadership Summit proved to exceed my expectations again this year,” says Doug Payne, senior vice president of sales for The Travel Authority. “Our chapter (Ohio Valley BTA) budgeted for four board members to attend the sessions this year and I was very pleased with the excitement that resulted from those who were able to attend ... especially those attending for the first time. I am confident that information learned in the Summit will benefit our chapter for the upcoming year!”
“This was my fourth Leadership Summit, and it was definitely the best I have attended,” reports Denise Truso, CPC vice president and global travel manager for St. Jude Medical Inc. “The education, networking and brainstorming sessions were outstanding. These types of events are critical to the success of our local and national chapters.” Truso is chairperson of the North Central BTA.
There were five attendees from the Silicon Valley BTA, says their president, LaDonna Whitaker, national sales manager for Virgin America. “Last year at our annual planning retreat, we budgeted specifically for this annual event realizing the importance it plays in our long term strategy for the Association. Committee members for public relations, treasury and the vice president (who also is charged with by-law updates), government and I all attended. We each attended different meetings, took notes and have now combined all our notes into one document to take back and share with the board. This document, full of best practices from other BTAs nationwide, will also be used as a focal point for our upcoming 2010 planning retreat. The education and networking far outweigh the cost of the trip.”
“For the second year in a row, Florida BTA-South was able to send a good number of our Board members to the Leadership Summit,” reports Laura Herde, sales manager in south Florida for Continental Airlines. Herde, president of that local BTA, goes on to say “It truly is in a chapter’s best interest to send as many board members as they can to the Summit. It equips you with fresh new ideas as well as reinforces your commitment to your local chapter. Each board member came back with very valuable take-aways which have later been implemented in our chapter.”
Austin BTA may well have sent the largest contingent. “I believe we had a total of 10 chapter members in Reston,” says President Bill Davidson. “The board really stepped up and supported this effort. There has been a renewed emphasis this year on professional development for our members, and for us to be represented by such a great group really speaks to the efforts and success of that program. The feedback I have received was all very positive and we are really glad that we were able to get some new folks involved at the next level.” Davidson is the corporate travel and meeting services manager for SEMATECH.
And it may have set a special benchmark for first-timers like Karen Hatch, general manager of Colwick Travel and public relations chair for the Dallas/Ft. Worth BTA. “Obviously the economy has required everyone from corporate travel buyers to suppliers to re-evaluate their budgets for meetings, events and sponsorships,” says Hatch. “The Summit provided us with some valuable insight into other chapters’ best practices for getting event sponsorship and growing membership. As a first-time attendee, it was very beneficial for me to hear from other chapters on how they present the ROI from both a time and dollar perspective to folks in their regions. The speakers we heard from really inspired us to focus on the key benefits of membership and they validated what we heard from our members in a recent survey, as the three primary reasons they belong to DFW BTA. We will focus our chapter PR and communications on our programs and education, networking opportunities with industry leaders, community involvement and leadership. The Summit actually provided me with these same three opportunities to learn and grow personally, as well.”
In many cases, the lessons learned and ideas shared at the Summit are being put to immediate use. “We held our annual UBTA Board planning retreat the week after we got back from the NBTA Leadership Summit,” says Mike Cameron, president of the Utah BTA and president of Christopherson Business Travel. “We were able to incorporate several of the ideas we picked up into our 2010 UBTA Business Plan. We’re looking forward to a successful year.”
Likewise, Kelleree Conrad, outgoing president of Ohio Valley BTA, has already established her own to-do list in response to the ideas and insight gained in Reston. “The most valuable thing I took away from the Summit was using technology to our advantage,” says the director of business rental sales for Clerac LLC. “Most chapters are still lugging a box of records around and we’re going to make an effort to put our documentation in order on a flash drive, keep it in a safe deposit box and add to it each year rather than hoping someone remembers to keep the box away from flames. It all seems logical and yet I’ll bet only the secretary thinks to do this. As I move from the role of president into chairperson, I’m going to take the lead in organizing our files electronically and combining all the communications of each position to include a job description of who does what.”