Powerlist: Meeting perspectives

BY BRANDON SAWYER

A conversation about the event-planning industry with sales directors from McMenamins and the Portland Art Museum. 

Share this article!

BY BRANDON SAWYER

A conversation about the event-planning industry with sales directors from McMenamins and the Portland Art Museum.

Susan Truax
Director of Sales,
McMenamins

Oregon Business: What are your most popular venues for business events? 

Susan Truax: Kennedy School is the most popular, and it has been since we opened the doors. It’s right there in Northeast, so it’s really easy to get to. It also was the first hotel we had where all of the guest rooms had private baths. Edgefield is also really popular, considering it’s close to the airport, its size. It has the largest number of production facilities: the winery, brewery and distillery; the gardens; two golf courses. And the Grand Lodge has been growing in popularity. We can attribute a lot of that growth to the business world out there. Intel continues to grow, and Nike helps us out a lot. The fourth one is the Old St. Francis School in Bend. It’s a great space for higher-level executive retreats. A lot of people want to go over there and get some work done, but then play on the golf courses or go up on the mountain. I’d say it’s a hidden jewel. 

OB: Are a growing number of your business events from companies outside the Northwest? 

ST: Our primary base is still people within the Northwest. We have had a couple of interesting events lately where there have been different mergers and acquisitions. They’ll bring the execs from those companies out here just to show them the ropes, and we’re a pretty popular venue to showcase the region. It’s really nice to have people come from the Midwest or wherever, and meeting people on a local level.

OB: Does private-event business seem to be growing in Oregon? 

ST: I think things like Portlandia are helping put us on the map, so I do think it’s growing in Oregon in general. We definitely experienced a drop in private events during the recession. Every year it gets a little bit stronger. I think 2014 … will bring us back to pre-recession times.

OB: Do you have a strategy for hosting more business events? 

ST: We’re always looking at adding more properties. We have two projects that we don’t have on a timeline now, but they’re both up in Washington. There’s the Elks Lodge in Tacoma and the Anderson School in Bothell. We’re always looking at adding different amenities. We revamped our catering menus to have healthier options. We’ve been … looking at adding more wellness options to the meeting packages. Two of the properties have spas onsite so we can already offer things like chair massage. But moving forward, we’re trying to [offer] activities like yoga, or tai chi, or group meditation and mindfulness, or educational activities centered around nutrition, so people feel like they’ve been taken care of as an individual while they’re at their work retreat or meeting.

Bruce Goldberg

Director, Events and Catering Sales
Portland Art Museum

Oregon Business: Why are so many “unique meeting venues” like museums, zoos and historic sites hosting business events these days?

Bruce Goldberg: You’re dealing with a more sophisticated client than in years past. Their exposure to TV and magazines and the Internet has made their demand for something unique that much greater. That demand for unique venues actually spans well outside of the type of venues you just mentioned. They now include things like refabricated warehouses, parking garages and buildings in the process of development, you name it. It makes for a more interesting event when people can’t go, “Oh, right, it’s another event at that hotel in that ballroom and having that menu.” I think the clients out there are demanding it.

OB: How important are private events to PAM? 

BG: The revenue source for the museum is essential. The museum’s a nonprofit, so much like charging tickets for people to walk through the gallery, the revenue that’s generated from events goes straight to the bottom line and supports the operation of the facility. We do well in excess of 400 events a year.

OB: What types of companies and organizations book events at PAM?

BG: All manner of businesses, individuals, groups and nonprofits throughout the country who, for whatever reason, find themselves in Portland. The art museum probably is responsible for the lion’s share of the more high-profile nonprofit events. Plus, you’ve got convention business. There are a handful of large corporate clients that make use of our facility — the Nikes, the Columbia Sportswears. We have everything from small meetings to major multiday events that involve primary registration areas and breakout rooms. 

OB: Do art collections influence the event business?

BG: Yeah, but to a lesser degree than you might think. A variety of our clients will respond very positively to the notion of incorporating museum tours as part of their overall event package. For example, if somebody were planning a dinner or a fundraiser, and we suggested they give their guests the opportunity to go through anywhere from one to four floors of the CMCA wing, you’d be amazed how many people that hadn’t even occurred to. There are specific exhibits; the most recent that had a very large impact on overall business would have been the “Allure of the Automobile” exhibit about two years ago. Because that covered such a wide demographic of interests, everything from car enthusiasts to art and design students, there were people who had never set foot in a museum in their lives. And as a result, there were a lot of events tailored to appeal to that broad demographic.

OB: What are your expectations for event business at PAM in the coming years?

BG: Short of a repeat of what happened in 2008 or ’09, I think we’re going to continue to grow. There was obviously a stunted growth period from 2008-11. This last year, I think, is when the spring flowers began to blossom and people started kind of saying, ‘Yeah, we’re back.’

Oregon’s top meeting facilities ranked by total square feet of meeting space

{jumi [/includes-for-articles/Powerbook-PLUS-2012-pitch-wide.html]}