Conventions to adapt.

Smaller events, going digital key to new normal

When people arrive at the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals’ events at the Convention Center this fall, they will probably be wearing masks.

Seating will be spread out to ensure social distancing, and organizers will set up hand sanitation stations and hand out badges with antimicrobial lanyards. Sessions and events will also be split between indoor and outdoor spaces.

“I want to be able to say to the world HFTP had the safest meetings,” Frank Wolfe, the association’s CEO, said during a Zoom press conference Wednesday.

The Austin-based organization postponed its exposition and conference in San Antonio from June to October, and is moving several other events to the area. Wolfe said he is expecting at least 4,500 attendees, down from around 6,700 the combined events may have drawn if not for the coronavirus pandemic.

Negotiations are also underway to offer a hybrid conference with virtual options such as an online trade show.

“Our plan is to make it a twin as much as possible of the faceto-face event,” he said.

As the coronavirus pandemic upends travel and mass gatherings, event planners and organizers are questioning what the future of conventions will be. Many conferences have been canceled, and others have shifted entirely online.

It’s unclear when people will feel safe on a crowded airplane or in a packed room again. Those working to reschedule conventions and plan future gatherings are seeing projected attendance numbers vacillate, as people opt

to stay home or wait to see where things will be in a few months.

Organizers are also evaluating how to alter programming to comply with safety recommendations. How much space will be needed for social distancing? How should networking be handled? Will they be able to host receptions and buffets. Will breaks between sessions need to be longer to allow for cleaning?

In San Antonio, scrapped events and hotel bookings are wreaking havoc on the city’s budget and straining Visit San Antonio, a publicprivate nonprofit that markets the area to convention planners.

About 23 citywide conventions and 28 smaller programs had been canceled as of last week, representing about 157,000 room nights and an economic punch of $97 million, said president and CEO Casandra Matej.

The organization recently cut its budget by about 30 percent. Officials furloughed about half of its staff and instituted pay cuts for the rest.

The city budgeted $60.9 million from the hotel occupancy tax from March to September, but now it is projecting revenue of $20.3 million, according to Deputy City Manager María Villagómez.

Sales tax revenue is also projected to be $128.5 million during that period, down from an estimated

$182.4 million.

To help curtail the losses, the city furloughed 270 employees in early April. Most of them — 244 — worked at the Convention Center and Alamodome, said Patricia Muzquiz Cantor, the city’s director of convention and sports facilities.

Nearly 95 events were scheduled at the Convention Center from March through September, and so far 29 have been canceled, 24 postponed and 41 remain on the books. No events scheduled for 2021 through 2025 have been scrapped or pushed back, Cantor said.

Convention center officials have purchased freestanding hand sanitizer units and added handwashing signage at the Convention Center, among other measures.

Custodial managers and supervisors underwent training on improved cleaning procedures, and the venue is screening staff, vendors and contractors for potential coronavirus exposure before they are allowed inside.

Sanitation of high-touch areas has increased, and city staffers are working with event organizers on social-distancing measures and spacing, Cantor said.

At Visit San Antonio, staff members are encouraging planners to postpone rather than cancel conventions. Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals is one of three groups that have rescheduled major events in the area.

The organization derives the bulk of its budget from the hotel occupancy tax and another chunk from a tourism public improvement district that took effect lat year. Receipts from both funding sources may be down as much as 30 to 40 percent this year, representing a potential loss of up to roughly $14 million, a spokesperson said.

But there are still conferences planned in the near future, though the events may look quite different.

Forty-eight major conventions are scheduled for the rest of the year, representing about 245,000 room nights and $174 million in economic impact, Matej said. None of the big events next year have been canceled, and in the last few weeks Visit San Antonio has started receiving new leads for future conventions.

“That, to me, looks bright,” Matej said.

Most visitors to San Antonio are from other parts of the state — one estimate puts vacationing Texans at 70 percent of the city’s annual visitors — and leisure travelers are expected to start coming back before conference-goers. Visit San Antonio is developing a relaunch campaign with a “stay-cation” component and working with its partners to come up with packages and discounts, she said.

As for conventions, there are questions about what the future may hold.

“The planners themselves don’t know what their programs are going to look and feel like,” Matej said. “A lot of our groups are in a wait-and-see phase.”

She expects it to take several years for the industry to fully recover.

“We can’t make up for the business we’ve lost,” Matej said. “That’s the hard part.”

The pandemic is accelerating the digitization of some events, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, said Sherrif Karamat, president and CEO of the Professional Convention Management Association. The trade organization represents the business events industry.

Training, education courses and board meetings may work better online. But organizers can use digital resources to expand a group’s audience for in-person events — for example, by focusing on interactive sessions and showing off the convention’s host city.

“This is the hospitality industry’s golden opportunity,” he said. “If we allow fear of digital events — if we think it will cannibalize face-to-face events — we will have missed a big opportunity.”

In the short term, cities will focus on smaller events, “stay-cations” and leisure travel, Karamat said. As companies allow more employees to work from home, that may lead to a rise in meetings and conventions.

“We underestimate our need as a species to connect on an emotional level, on many levels, in person,” he said.

Photos by Tom Reel / Staff photographer In a scene unlikely to be repeated soon, unmasked participants cluster at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference and Bookfair at the Convention Center on Feb. 4.

Safety signs were were posted in February at the Convention Center. Officials have purchased free-standing hand sanitizer units.

Tom Reel / Staff photographer Elizabeth Clark from Pittsburgh signs in at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs at the Convention Center. This year 23 conventions were canceled, contributing to a $97 million impact on the city. From page C1