The MIA has been made aware of apparent students making enquiries to venues and conference organisers with event briefs that don’t actually exist. Presumably the people responsible are attempting to gain experience and insight into how the industry works, which we all welcome, but this approach is wasting valuable time and therefore costing money. We are warning our members to be vigilant of event briefs that don’t quite sound genuine; they could turn out to be too good to be true.
One of the cases we have been made aware of was an enquiry for a big brand client Christmas party for 1600. The venue that reported this to the MIA is already actively engaged with many local schools, colleges and universities and happy to support education however they have quite understandably taken exception to being led to believe that this enquiry for 1,600 people was genuine.
Another destination has reported that in the last 10 days they received 10 calls from students pretending to be customers asking for quotes.
The point is that for an event of these proportions quotes are tailored to the individual enquiry and so this type of call is just an unfair waste of the venues time.
Approaches of this kind are not elements of responsible educational coursework or research. Rob Davidson, Senior Lecturer in Business Travel and Tourism at University of Westminster, was asked for his opinion on a particular case, he said, “No responsible lecturer would give their students such an assignment, knowing that they would be taking up the valuable time of events professionals.”
Students wishing to learn more about the meetings and events industry should be asked to contact the MIA direct on 0845 230 5508 or email info@mia-uk.org.
