by Cecil P. Staton
ATLANTA – Every year, one of the hospitality industry’s biggest events is the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) Convention & Trade Show. It is a great opportunity for hotel owners, vendors, brands, and industry leaders to come together to network, make deals, and take advantage of AAHOA’s top-flight educational offerings. This year, we planned to hold our convention in April in Orlando, Fla., but the world had other ideas.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we postponed our event until August; however, in July, the Florida Department of Health restricted gatherings to fewer than 50 people. With our event expected to draw thousands, we needed a solution that prioritized the health and safety of our attendees while delivering the same value they expect from AAHOA. Our team pivoted to a virtual space that would allow us to offer the same great content from industry leaders as well as a virtual trade show where members could connect with vendor partners. The results did not disappoint.
So much of the hospitality industry is rooted in relationships and face-to-face connections. AAHOA’s conventions are famous for the networking, the trade show floor, and the deals that are made. One of the biggest quandaries we faced in turning to a virtual platform was if and how we could capture that crucial element of our industry and of our convention and trade show.
As with any major event, a lot of planning and preparation goes into ensuring it runs smoothly. Our team at AAHOA operated on a significantly abbreviated schedule, and I am extremely proud of the results we delivered. We reviewed numerous platforms before determining that Swapcard met our needs. This platform allowed us to create a virtual convention and trade show space where attendees could not only watch the convention but also connect directly with our vendor partners in the virtual trade show via webcam or audio.
Just like an in-person event, one must be prepared to answer questions and help attendees find solutions to any problems they encounter. We invested a fair amount of time leading up to the event educating both vendors on how to best use their “booth” and members on how to access all the features the convention offered. We also provided tech support to ensure a speedy resolution to any issues attendees or vendors encountered during the convention and trade show.
In creating content for the convention, our goal was to provide timely and relevant information about the state of our industry and the response to COVID-19. We believed that segments needed to be relatively concise but not to the point of sacrificing meaningful and informative content. Each day offered at least two hours of content during the general session, and the trade show was open before, during, and after the general session. The general session video stream was embedded in the platform which allowed attendees to continue watching as they navigated around the virtual space.
We felt the presentation of general session content was important because no one wanted to watch three straight days of Zoom calls like we’ve been doing for the past six months. This made high production values a necessity. When possible, we recorded segments in 4K video. We also worked with our production team to establish baseline parameters, such as internet connection speed and audio levels, for participants recording at home, which many did.
Because attendees watched our convention primarily on computers, we needed our production team to present the discussions and interviews in a visually appealing way that avoided the tired static template of online video conferencing. For example, just like our in-person convention general session, AAHOA officers introduced each segment independently of the moderator and speakers.
In a segment I moderated with AHLA President & CEO Chip Rogers and U.S. Travel Association President & CEO Roger Dow, we framed it like a discussion one might see on a cable news program (albeit without the faux outrage and zingers), alternating shots of the three participants and occasionally featuring all three on screen at once. The same held true for the interviews we featured, such as the chat between Mit Shah, founder of Noble Investments, and Horst Schulze, founder of Ritz Carlton Hotel Company. Because they were both in the Atlanta area, we were able to film their conversation in a hotel suite while abiding by social distancing protocols. In addition to outstanding content, I am pleased with how our team packaged and presented it to convention attendees.
There is nothing quite like the energy and excitement of large events, for they can reinforce an invaluable sense of community and camaraderie. Unfortunately, it appears that the events industry may be confined to a virtual space for the short-term. That said, it is heartening to know that AAHOA provided a unique experience that captured some of the key elements of our traditional convention and trade show.
Cecil P. Staton is president and CEO of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association.