The world economy, its affect on business travel and ways of coping with tightened budgets preoccupied presenters and attendees at NBTA Canada's March conference.
The world economy, its affect on business travel and ways of coping with tightened budgets preoccupied presenters and attendees at NBTA Canada's March conference. Many sessions took direct looks at how the world has reached this point and one — a video conference beaming presenters in the UK to the audience in Toronto — demonstrated a possible solution.
"The sessions," said Mila Tzur, who works in corporate procurement at APOTEX Inc. "were very interesting, however a little depressing due to the current financial situation in the world."
Depressing notes began at the opening general session with Diane Francis, editor-at-large for the National Post. While the economy was news to no one, some of the details were. "I didn't realize that the former New York Attorney General was on to AIG and AIG's move to Britain was to avoid USA regulations," said Richard Pescatore, market manager of AMTRAK, afterwards.
"It was interesting to learn that in Canada to buy a home, the buyer must have 25 percent cash down and proof they can pay back the loan; while in the United States there was no requirement to have a minimum down payment or proof they have the money to pay back the loan," added Flodine Lee, corporate travel manager of JELD-WEN Inc.
But solutions, including Washington's role, also got their fair share of attention. "President Obama clearly understands the value of travel to the economy, especially in terms of the jobs that travel supports," assured C. Stewart Verdery Jr., NBTA's federal strategies consultant. "He also has been a master, during the campaign and since taking office, of using appearances in different locales to build connections across constituencies and excite his followers. ... The travel community has to help him make the case that travel is just as essential to a business as advertising or IT equipment."
"In Canada, we also need to be proactive," said Anne Thornley-Brown, president of Executive Oasis, observing that business travel, conferences and incentive travel in the country have suffered earlier blows from the 9-11 terrorist attacks and from SARS. "It's time to work together and proactively communicate our value and encourage Canadian organizations to continue travelling and meeting. In unity, there is strength."
"During the conference I learned that many companies are avoiding travel freezes by relying on information technology to automate cumbersome travel and expense processes to reduce costs," said Michael Spivack, regional account executive with Concur. "Face-to-face meetings are the best way to show customers and prospects how much you value their relationship, and set yourself apart from the competition."
Yet not all sessions at the conference were in fact face-to-face. Paul Tilstone, chief executive director of the Institute of Travel and Meetings (ITM), and Jamie Hindhaugh, BBC's head of sourcing and ITM's chair-elect, addressed their audience from the UK via video conference. Their gambit was "not to convince travel managers that video-conferencing should replace travel, but to illustrate the effectiveness of available equipment and the value of managing travel and meetings through people."
At ITM, video conferencing is also viewed in terms of its value in practicing corporate social responsibility (CSR), said Tilstone. "Our own internal policy encourages home working without continuing past official working hours, a base for CSR standards. A side benefit of working from home is reducing impact on the environment, which also reduces cost."
Their demonstration proved perhaps more thorough than planned. With Tilstone and Hindhaugh sitting behind their desk on the other side of the Atlantic, there was an interruption in both audio and visual. Instead of an ensuing atmosphere of awkwardness and unease, it gave the meeting attendees time to regroup, collect questions and continue the meeting as soon as service was restored — in a very short time.
From the buzz following the presentation, it was obvious that the majority remained convinced that face-to-face meetings are critical to healthy business. "There is no doubt that the advancement in video conferencing technology will change the future of business travel," stated Sharlene Ketwaroo-Nanoo, strategic sourcing travel analyst with Canadian Tire. "However, no amount of advancement in this area will change the need to travel for those who need to be physically present in business locations. It will be interesting to see how much of an impact this and similar technologies will have on business travel as a whole and how companies will react to investing in such technology."
"Video conferencing is a great tool and a very useful addition to ways of communicating. However, I don't think it will replace travel, as meeting in person still has a significant need in some industries," stated Mila Tzur, associate, corporate procurement for APOTEX, Inc.
But this is no longer a matter of just managing travel and meetings, but of managing the interaction between people. According to Tilstone, the key ingredient to a successful meeting is to establish rapport. He cited the development of e-mail communications from its early formats, which resembled formal written letters: "Now e-mail has become conversational; after the first exchange, they are sans salutation or signature.
"That's called building rapport," he said.
Attendee responses demonstrated that the adaption process is underway, even as the debate continues. "The video-conference at NBTA Canada went well and demonstrated that it is a reasonable alternative to travel, but I do not see it replacing many meetings, especially when it is a sales meeting," said attendee Jude Draper-Cocuzzo, regional sales manager for ABC Corporate Services. "Video-conferencing would be beneficial for internal company meetings when all the participants know each other and have a need to both communicate and view the participants. It is one step beyond the long-utilized teleconference. As a sales manager, I use teleconferencing as my preferred means of holding a meeting that does not require my appearance at the customer site. Internally, it is a means of conducting meetings weekly and works well.
"Webcasts are a second choice within my current position and used to train both internally and our customers," she continued. "If the teleconference and/or webcast is not appropriate, it probably means travel to the customer is in order. ... The only benefit I see to video conferencing is the ability to observe body language and I cannot justify the additional expense for that one benefit. I have not personally found a requirement to conduct a video conference and do not see doing so any time in the near future."
Responding after the conference to Draper-Cocuzzo's assessment, Tilstone observed that "in many companies internal meetings account for a considerable percentage of travel and so moving to technology for these meetings would actually reduce travel significantly."