Meetings, Incentive, Convention, and Exhibition Evaluation Practices: An Exploratory Study among Destination Marketing Organizations

Abstract

This exploratory investigation benchmarks evaluation processes employed by for-profit and not-for-profit Louisiana-based destination marketing organizations. In February 2008, selected National destination marketing organizations were interviewed and findings added in our survey development. Findings indicated that 85.7% conduct evaluations; however, the respondents’ interpretation of the term “program evaluation” varied, and many lacked the knowledge and skills required to collect objective data. Study results may be used to develop mechanisms to overcome constraints to conducting defensible assessment. Additionally, the data collected may assist in the development of a parsimonious yet robust post convention/meeting/events (post-con) survey to be used by destination marketing organizations to obtain a sustainable differential advantage.