Frequently Asked Questions

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Who is CMA?
What is a full-service corporate meeting planning agency?
Is CMA a travel agency?
What is a 'CMP' - and what is its significance?
What's special about CMA?
Can't anyone plan a meeting or special event?
Our company already has someone who coordinates our functions.
Does CMA's involvement add to the expense of our program?
Does CMA have 'preferred vendors' and agreements with certain suppliers?
Do 'preferred vendors' provide lower rates?
Why are CMA's estimates lower, while your Programs are superior?
How does CMA compare with companies who offer similar services?
Can CMA handle all of the special requirements we have for our program?
How do we, your Client, maintain control?

Who is CMA?

Conference Management Associates is a full-service, corporate meeting-planning agency, which partners with small and medium size companies as well as international blue-chip corporations to help plan and operate corporate meetings, incentive travel programs, and special corporate events and celebrations.

What is a 'full-service' corporate meeting planning agency?

CMA is an agency that works with you to create, plan and execute virtually any type of corporate event, such as national or regional sales meetings, senior management meetings, new product introductions, employee incentive travel and recognition programs, customer incentive travel and recognition programs, special theme events and other meetings or motivational functions.

CMA has a full complement of planners who work behind the scenes to help in the development and operation of your program wherever you feel our input could be valuable. We also maintain an in-house, IATA-certified airline ticket agency dedicated solely to group corporate travel.

Is CMA a travel agency?

CMA began operations in 1971 dedicated to planning & operating meetings,incentive programs and special events on behalf of domestic and international corporations.
In 1987, CMA added an ARC/IATA appointed fully-accredited travel department to service our corporate clients' group programs.
Since then, our FIT division CMA TRAVEL also has been providing day-to-day corporate travel services, individual and group leisure travel, cruise and land vacation packages.

What is a 'CMP' designation and what is its significance?

The Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) program is administered by the Convention Industry Council -- an organization formed in 1949 that today is composed of 30 leading national and international organizations representing more than 81,000 individuals and 13,000 firms or properties involved in the meetings, conventions, exhibitions and travel and tourism industries.

Established in 1985, the CMP credential was developed to increase the proficiency of meeting professionals in any component or sector of the industry. As the foremost certification program of today's meetings, conventions and expositions industry, the CMP designation recognizes those who have achieved the industry's highest standards of professionalism.

The requirements for certification are based on professional experience and academic examination. The elite CMP community now numbers in the thousands, with representatives from every sector of the industry -- from corporations and associations to governmental and institutional organizations.

You can be certain that planners carrying the CMP designation not only have established a level of knowledge and performance necessary to qualify as a CMP candidate and subsequently to pass the rigorous examination, but provide maximum value of products and services to their clientele as well as support to the entire hospitality industry by recognizing and raising standards, practices and ethics.

Every five years CMPs are offered the opportunity to re-certify by documenting ongoing involvement in the meetings industry through continuing employment and educational upgrading. Our founder, Barry Gringorten, was one of 32 persons who sat for that very first exam in 1985 and continues to maintain his CMP designation through the Convention Industry Council's re-certification process.

What special things does CMA do?

After more than 30 years in this business, we are able to help our clients develop the exact program that meets their specific needs. For example, if you would like to develop incentive programs, CMA can help determine the number of winners you should allow for maximum motivation, how you might announce and promote the program, how to administer it, and what percent of incremental budget should be applied to the program.

When it comes to special corporate events, CMA is special. We have planned picnics at the summit of a 14,000 foot mountain and private banquets on the Eiffel Tower. We've chartered submarines. Registered conference delegates in a desert canyon. Organized whale-watching in Alaska, rafting in the Caribbean, and skiing by the Matterhorn. We led a jeep safari in Mexico and a car rally in Hawaii.

We have filled ballrooms with live camels, bears, horses, Brahma bulls, dog sled teams, bagpipers, flying saucers, blimps, stage coaches, antique cars, trains, ice skaters, trapeze artists and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on horseback! We projected a client's logo on Niagara Falls and planned a reception by the Sistine Chapel. We've staged celebrities and comedians, choirs and symphonic orchestras. From Phantom of the Opera to Beatles impersonators to the Flying Elvises, there is no limit to our creativity ... and the ability to pull it off perfectly.

As a client wrote, "CMA has been the spark that translated our general goals into the most outstanding happenings, consistently admired by our guests and envied by the competition."

Those sound like great programs, but can't anyone plan a meeting or special event?

Well, yes and no. It certainly isn't difficult to arrange for a meeting room, slide projector, lunch or coffee break at a local hotel. However, to produce a complex meeting you need to consider reservations, ticketing, billing, cancellations, audio-visual, space rental, liability insurance, speakers, ordering and auditing food & beverage, signage, entertainment, licensing, fire laws and safety codes, union regulations, dispute resolution, security, weather contingencies, waiver clauses and a thousand other details that can devastate a program if they are overlooked.

CMA anticipates every facet of a complex event -- leaving nothing to chance.

OK, planning an event can be complicated, but our company already has someone who coordinates our functions.

Great. Virtually all of our clients do. Sometimes the company will have a full-time meeting planner, sometimes meetings are delegated to sales administration or human resources or a travel department. Sometimes a senior executive and staff are assigned the task of planning a corporate event.

Whoever has the responsibility, CMA is their best resource. Think of our team as a temporary extension of your company's team. We work with your staff to attain maximum efficiency and creativity; we save them money so they become even more valuable to their company; we free up their time so they can take on more responsibility. Then we quietly stand in the background when they get the recognition they deserve. After all, it's their program, not ours.

Won't CMA's services add to the expense of the program?

Not at all. Costs of our services are virtually self-liquidating. Vigorous negotiating on your behalf and CMA's expertise honed over three decades of assisting corporate programs means that we can help produce your program at a lower cost. You tell us your budget, and we will help you create a world-class program without ever exceeding your limits, including our services.

You'll never need to increase your budget for CMA to partner with you. Just advise us of your budget and we will integrate our fees into the total cost estimate. We are able to do this because of our 30 years of experience -- we know what to purchase, how to purchase, what to eliminate and how to streamline. Many of our cost-saving techniques are applied on site through careful monitoring and ongoing negotiations for the best prices for you.

This helps explain why, in over 30 years, CMA has never exceeded a client's budget, while delivering Programs of the highest quality, consistently praised by our clients and their guests.

Does CMA have 'preferred vendors' and agreements with certain suppliers?

No! Our allegiance is to our customers, not to vendors. We don't strike any deals with vendors that would bind us to them, or that would confine us to pre-negotiated rates.

Since 1971 CMA has developed 'favorites' -- suppliers nationally and around the world with whom we we've worked over the years -- who have proven to be reliable, safety-conscious, congenial, reasonably priced, and who offer superior products and services. But since every Program that we undertake is unique and customized, we set out to re-qualify each prospective vendor to ensure that their standards have been maintained and they best meet the specific parameters of each specific Program

This means, that CMA has the freedom to select the best and most appropriate suppliers from the entire pool of available vendors, for each and every aspect of your program, at great rates negotiated specifically on your behalf.

Wouldn't 'Preferred Vendors' provide CMA with lower rates that could be passed on to your clients?

A vendor becomes 'preferred' when it kicks back rewards to its loyal customers in exchange for high volume purchases -- by means of commissions and overrides, complimentary product, trips, merchandise and gifts. By not limiting our options for our clients, CMA is always open to the best deals available at the time. We negotiate with vendors on each occasion and, more often than not, CMA will bring them in at rates far lower than 'preferred supplier' contracted rates.

Is this why CMA's cost estimates are almost always lower, while your Programs are superior?

Yes. Our loyalty is to you, our client. We always fight for the best deal for you while respecting the rights of each vendor to earn a respectable profit and stay in business.

Also, we don't own or manage hotel or resort properties. We don't own or manage our own airlines. We don't own or manage our own cruise ships. We don't own or manage a ground tour company. And we don't maintain a warehouse of merchandise and premium gifts. If we did, our corporate mandate would require us to steer you to our own products and services, even if they were not in your best interests.

It makes sense that if we aren't obligated to contract only certain vendors, we are free to sign up the best for you, and the best for 'your best'. We'll contract airlines that provide the most convenient itineraries at the lowest fares. We'll leverage the most upscale resorts within your budget. We'll arrange activities and tours that appeal to your guests and that are well managed and intriguing.

How does CMA compare with companies who offer similar services?

We like to think that CMA has no equal. Our programs are exceptionally creative. When we present a new concept to a client we always hear that the program was "the best one ever". To keep your programs fresh, to keep your attendees focused, CMA really does try to develop a unique approach each time we work for you.

Secondly, our small centralized operation with few management layers and low overhead tends to make our pricing lower. You get real value for dollars spent. This means that CMA is able to produce world class, 5-star events -- less expensively.

Also, our focus is entirely on corporate groups. CMA's travel agency operates exclusively for our clients' group programs. We do not get involved with day-to-day corporate travel. We do not wholesale merchandise.

Finally, we have maturity, wisdom, resources, staying power and financial strength with no corporate debt. We have more than thirty years of demonstrated results. Your program is assured in our hands.

I appreciate CMA's experience, and your focus on customer satisfaction, but can you handle all of the special requirements we have for our Program?

We've been labeled "creative geniuses", "financial wizards" and "masters of detail".

We're big enough to produce any event, anytime, anywhere in the world, as we have since 1971.

Yet, we are exclusive enough to deliver personal service to you. As a preferred client of CONFERENCE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES your program receives constant attention. Everyone at CMA becomes familiar with your program, since internally, we use our "total team" approach to control the development and quality of all aspects of the process.

And finally, one cannot stress Experience enough. There are many pitfalls in producing a major event. You need lots of experience on your side and we challenge you to find any other professional agency that compares with our corporate programs, our creativity, our professionalism, and our dedication to our clients.

How do we, your Client, maintain control?

CMA will sign a formal Agreement with you outlining a tentative schedule of events and inclusions for all proposed land and air arrangements.
We'll provide you with a detailed line-item cost estimate for all Program elements.
During the months of planning, you are free to propose any changes to the Program that you wish to make--upgrading, downsizing, adding, eliminating--to any elements of the Program. You can change the destination or change venues or change the number of expected attendees.
For each change, CMA will generate a revised line-item cost estimate for your consideration. Since we expect changes to occur and consider them a part of a dynamic program-planning process, there is never a CMA fee incurred.
You, our client, dictate policies, CMA executes them. We make recommendations and you make the decisions--from final selection of destination and hotel, right down to menu choices.
CMA will assign a small team of highly experienced professional travel directors to assist your staff on site, and to ensure that all elements materialize perfectly as planned. Once again, changes that you might wish to make on site are your prerogative.
The final billing will be accompanied by a final line-item summary that can be grouped into as many categories as you request.
CMA is dedicated to keeping you informed of all planning aspects at all times. By keeping you abreast of all issues and decisions you will be assured that everyone is working together and all issues are addressed.

Moreover, CMA's style is to work politely and respectfully when communicating with you, your associates and, especially, your valued customers and guests.

We have won accolades for our flexibility and our ability to maintain professionalism at all times, especially on-site during the excitement of the Program when new demands can suddenly arise.

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