The Professional Conference Organizer, sometimes Professional Congress Organizer, is often referred to simply as a PCO (but may also be described as an event management company). In the; USA the term PCO is not widely used and reference is more likely to be to an Independent Meeting Planner, while a Destination Management Company (DMC) may also fulfil some of this role I (see description of a DMC below). Multi-management firm is another term used in the USA with a similar connotation i.e. a company offering complete turnkey organizational support for a meeting, including administration and meeting management services.
Employed to assist in the organization of a conference, the PCO's role can include researching and recommending a suitable venue, helping to plan the conference programme including the social programme, marketing the conference and handling delegate registrations, booking accommodation/ho using for delegates, planning an exhibition to run concurrently with the conference, producing a budget and handling all of the conference finances. The PCO is normally paid a management fee by the client organization, calculated on the basis of a registration fee per delegate (with a guaranteed minimum number of delegates) or on the estimated staff costs required to manage the event (number of staff needed x number of days x amount per day). PCOs may also charge a commission to the conference venue (usually 8-10 per cent of the value of the conference to the venue itself), as well as a commission on accommodation bookings and on other services provided, although the trend is for greater use of a management fee and less reliance on commissions.
Bellow is shown a typical portfolio of services offered by a professional conference organizer:
Typical portfolio of services offered by a professional conference organizer (PCO)
• Venue selection, booking and liaison
• Reservation and management of delegate accommodation
• Event marketing, including the design of conference programmes and promotional materials, PR and media co-ordination, presentations to committees and boards
• Programme planning, speaker selection and briefing
• Provision of an administrative secretariat, handling delegate registrations, recruitment and briefing of conference staff, co-ordinating delegates' travel arrangements
• Organization of exhibitions/expositions, including sales and marketing functions
• Advising on and co-ordinating audio-visual services and the production of the event, including the provision of multilingual interpretation and translation services
• Planning the catering for an event, liaising with chefs, conference and banqueting staff, and independent catering companies
• Arranging social events, tour programmes and technical visits
• Arranging security cover and advising on health and safety issues
• Recording, transcribing and producing the proceedings of meetings for publication, arranging poster sessions, processing of abstracts
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• Preparation of budgets, managing event income and expenditure, generating revenue through sponsorship, exhibitions/expositions and satellite meetings, handling VAT and insurance issues
• Preparation of contracts with venues and other suppliers. Source: Association of British Professional Conference Organisers
Similarly exist other intermediary agencies/companies:
- Venue finding agency
- Conference production company
- Incentive Travel and Incentive Travel House
- Destination Management Company
- Corporate Event Company
- Business Travel Agency
- Exhibition Organizer etc.
E-Travel Intermediaries
A third party that offers intermediation services between two trading parties is called an intermediary. The feasibility of intermediation as an industrial sector depends upon whether it adds any extra value to the original service that is tradable directly between the producer and the consumer.
Traditionally, travel agents exercised a great deal of control upon the trade given that the travel suppliers like hoteliers, airliners, and attraction owners, found it unviable to reach the customers directly. Likewise, even if the customers so wanted, it was difficult for them to fetch the prices and product features of competing services providers, make meaningful comparisons, and purchase the best offering. Middlemen like tour operating companies fulfilled another important function: the function of risk transfer. This means that these agencies promised some sort of relief to travelers from the various travel related risks. For example, when you go on a complicated international itinerary, you need not worry about visa formalities, airport transfers, local transportation, hotel rooms, excursion coupons, travel insurance, food, language barriers, tour guidance, etc if you prefer to make use of the service of a tour operator rather than preferring to go alone. A related value addition provided by the tour operation was the intricate bundling together of a long chain of products and services that constituted the holiday experience.
With the advent of the internet, possibilities opened up for the customer to do most of the aforesaid without the help of an intermediary. Despite the value addition provided by the intermediaries, the lack of authentic and real time information at the reach of the customers made them vulnerable to the intermediaries. In the recent times, customers are increasingly being enabled by technological advancements to overcome this inherent bias that worked against their interests so far. This new wave of revolution is called disintermediation: the removal of intermediaries in a supply chain. This means buyers bypass the middlemen in order to buy directly from the service provider and thereby pay less.
Yet, disintermediation is not a one way trend: in the more recent times, new intermediaries have come up to the fill the opportunities created by disintermediation. Most of these new intermediaries provide what is known as the information overload reduction function. For example, imagine that all the fifty five airlines that operate between points A and B have their own direct booking facilities and a customer wants to find the best airline in terms of a number of variables. One option for him is to visit the fifty five websites, read the fine print, make a comparison chart, and make the decision. Another option for him is to visit a travel search engine like Kayak.com and specify your criteria. The latter simplifies the task of the customer a lot. The new generation intermediaries like Kayak.com are examples of re-intermediation.