Meetings & Conventions Magazine 

Convention Industry Council Releases 

White Paper on Room-Block Poaching 

by Sarah J.F. Braley | January 28, 2015 

The Convention Industry Council has developed a white paper and tool kit tackling room-block poaching. The suite of resources aims to help meeting professionals prevent businesses from actively recruiting their attendees and exhibitors away from their established block and to lessen the impact if poaching should occur. To explore the issue, the CIC's Accepted Practices Exchange initiative assembled a work group chaired by Michael Dominguez of MGM Resorts International and MaryAnne Bobrow, CAE, CMP, CMM, CHE, an independent planner. In research conducted with the CIC's pool of Certified Meeting Professionals, the organization found that 73 percent of respondents had meetings that had been targeted by poaching, yet the majority of them (71 percent) had not developed prevention or mitigation best practices. APEX then examined the issue from the perspective of stakeholders such as event organizers, hotels, housing bureaus, destination marketing organizations, and industry associations to create definitions and resources. The tool kit provides an overview of the issues, implications for stakeholders, a list of state attorneys general, and guidance and resources on how to handle the issue. Find the tool kit and resources here.