FORT SMITH — The Fort Smith Advertising and Promotion Commission recently subscribed to a service that helps more accurately measure the economic impact of convention center events on the community.
The commission is using a program offered by Destination Marketing Association International that incorporates Fort Smith’s unique economic factors to calculate how much money a convention center event generates within the community.
The program departs from the current industry standard of using national spending averages to calculate how much revenue a convention center generates in and around the city. Convention Events Director Sherry Scorby said the traditional calculating method doesn’t account for the differences between cities.
“Let’s face it, Newark, N.J., and Fort Smith aren’t going to be the same,” she said.
The commission has theresponsibility to city directors and the public to accurately show the value of conventions and other events held at the downtown convention center, commission Executive Director Claude Legris said. Just showing the profits and losses of an event is not enough, he said. Showing ancillary revenue gives a truer picture of the impact an event has on the community.
“And [the event impact calculator] is the best way to do that right now in the industry,” he said.
Legris said when the commission subscribed to the service two months ago, he submitted about 20 pieces of economic information about Fort Smith that were used to set up Fort Smith’s calculator program.
According to the association’s website, the economic information requested of subscribers includes a city’s local, state and federal tax rates; prices at local restaurants, retail stores, recreation sites, and for transportationand lodging; and sales, wage and employment data. The calculation also includes nationwide survey data and statistics on travel habits and meeting planning.
All that information thrown together forms a calculation basis that is specific to Fort Smith, Legris said.
The program was demonstrated for commissioners during their monthly meeting Tuesday.
The commissioners made up a fictitious event and provided numbers to enter into the computer for such things as the event duration, number of overnight attendees, daytime attendees, lodging room rate, visitors per room and the percentage of attendees flying in for the event.
Within seconds, the program displayed totals that the fictitious event generated: $1.6 million in the community, $150,000 for the event organizer and $473,000 for exhibitors. It also displayed numerous detailed breakdowns in graphs, tables and charts.
“It costs us $2,500 a year,” Legris said. “It’s probably the best investment we’ll make allyear long.”
Legris said the calculator provides a more accurate picture of an event’s impact on the community, and convention center officials can use it to look at the impact of events over a few months or a year.
Scorby said the calculator can be used to help the commission determine whether a group planning an event in Fort Smith qualifies for grants that it can apply toward its marketing costs and rental fees.
She said the convention center easily prepared an analysis of Western Arkansas Ballet’s planned event when prospective sponsors wanted to see what the economic impact of the event would be.
The Destination Marketing Association International, which has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., is a resource for destination marketing organizations, according to its website.
The association introduced the event impact calculator in September 2011, according to an association news release.
Legris said the only other subscriber to the event-impact calculator in Arkansas is the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. Calls to the visitors bureau for comment Wednesday were not returned.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 09/27/2012