Convene - May 2017

innovative meetings

BREAKOUT

They Get It

Jacuzzi has had help in reimaging its International Dealer Conference: BI WORLDWIDE (BIW), a Minneapolis-headquartered global engagement agency.

“They are really wonderful partners,” said Jacuzzi’s Patrick Williams. “They understand who our dealers are and what the intention of the meeting is. Even as we’ve changed the role of this meeting over the last three to four years, they have absolutely been agile throughout.” Just as important: BIW is good at grounding Williams’ flights of fancy in hard details. “They’re really effective at organizing resources, or organizing best practices to say, ‘Okay, Patrick, you’re trying to run workshops.

We have two other clients in different states who try to run workshops similarly. Here’s the amount of time or space you’re going to need for them. Here’s what you can expect from a budgeting perspective. Here’s the way we would move people.’”

Innovative Meetings is supported by the Irving Convention & Visitors Bureau, irvingtexas.com.

In Nashville, Sundance attendees arrived on the first day of the conference, Jan. 13, and had their awards program that night, followed by a marketing program the following day. Jacuzzi attendees arrived that second night, when there was a social event for both groups. Over the next three days — Jan. 15–17

— everyone participated in content sessions and activities together. The wrap party was on Jan. 18, the Jacuzzi marketing program and awards were on Jan. 19, and everyone departed on Jan. 20.

“The feedback has been wildly positive,” Williams said. “Our dealers have said, ‘ You’ve brought in this breath of fresh air — people who I haven’t met before but whose lives and businesses and careers are very similar to my own.’”

3 SOAKING I T IN Not that Jacuzzi has
turned its back completely on its previous
conference model. There are still lots of fun
things for attendees to do, but they’re richer,
more singular. Williams calls them “iconic
experiences.” In Panama City, there was a
meet and greet with Buzz Aldrin. This year
in Nashville, the awards nights were staged
in the Country Music Hall of Fame, while
the wrap party was at the city’s legendary
Ryman Auditorium — “the mother church
of country music,” Williams said — with
private performances by Grammy-winning
songwriter Luke Laird, and John Rich of the
superstar duo Big & Rich. There was also a
Jack Daniel’s tour; Jacuzzi bought a barrel of
the famous Tennessee whiskey and gave each
attendee a bottle from it, garnished with a
custom label.

“That’s some of the things that we haven’t
lost — those nice touches that make our deal-
ers feel special,” Williams said. “At the same
time, we’ve absolutely elevated the level of
business content of this meeting.”
As the 50/50 split among attendees in
Anaheim demonstrated, not everyone is
thrilled with the new direction of the confer-
ence. But a lot of Jacuzzi dealers seem to get
it. As this year’s show wrapped, one of them
came up to Williams and thanked him. “He
said, ‘Patrick, I’ve been in this business more
than 25 years. It takes a lot to teach me some-
thing, and you’ve taught me a lot in the last
couple years,’” Williams said. “And then he
said, ‘ You’ve also made me a lot of money.’” .