This document discusses quality issues in managing meetings, incentives, conferences, and events (MICE). It defines quality and customer service, and identifies stakeholders like the client organization, delegates, venue, and conference organizer. It evaluates their roles in ensuring quality, like the organizer communicating requirements and the venue providing facilities and service. The document also discusses measuring quality through evaluating aspects of the event from different perspectives, and using feedback to improve future events.

1. Chapter 9
Quality Issues
for the Operations and
Management of MICE Events
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2. Objectives
1. define and identify the concepts of 'quality' and 'service'
2. evaluate current organisational practices in the provision of quality
service for a convention or meeting
3. identify the stakeholders in the provision of quality customer
service for a convention or meeting
4. determine the issues relating to service provision for each of the
major stakeholders for a convention or meeting
5. establish methods of measuring quality service in MICE
organisations
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3. Introduction
• This chapter focuses on quality
issues and suggests several factors
that a required within convention
and meeting organisations.
• The ‘quality’ element needs to be
quality’
constantly integrated into the
responses to the questions
attached to this chapter.

4. Outline
1. Quality and customer service in
MICE industries
2. Quality and the role of PCOs
3. Quality and the role of the venue
4. Evaluating quality customer
service
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5. Introduction
Quality Management and Service Quality
1. Ensuring a consistent quality product or service and
providing continuous customer service.
2. Ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction for
both the client organization and the delegates or
participants who attend the event.
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6. The quality service models
Client
Organization
Quality Quality
Delegates &
Venue Customers Conference
Organizer
Quality
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7. Quality and Customer Service
in Convention Management
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8. What is Quality?
• Quality management involves making sure that the product or
service on offer is delivered at the right time and at the right place
and meets the customer’s requirements.
• Quality management and its implementation are important in today’s
MICE industry.
• Worldwide, delegates expectations are continuing to rise, and
successful venues and conference organizers are addressing these
rising expectations and driving them even higher.
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9. Basic principles in quality management
1. Management leads the way
CEO must communicate to the team a clear vision
statement that demonstrates a commitment of quality.
2. Agreement of customer requirements
Customer driven policies and produces should be
developed
3. Development of leadership skills
To provide growth, continuing and stability
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10. Basic principles in quality management
4. Recognition that staff are the key
Develop its HRs, from Recruitment, selection process
through to training and development, performance
appraisal and career development.
5. Plan for quality
Forecast business should be planned. Ready to react to
any changes as and when required.
6. Measure for success
Profit and Loss, Evaluation form, Preset Standard,
Feedback should be provided to the staff.
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11. What is Service ?
• Traditionally, the term “service” has been difficult to define
because of its intangibility
• A service is an act or performance offered by one party to another.
Although the process may be tied to a physical product, the
performance is essentially intangible and does not result in
ownership of any of the factors of production. (Lovelock and Wright, 1999)
• Service is an economic activity that creates value and provides
benefits for customers at specific times and places, as a result of
bringing about a desired change in – or on behalf of – the
recipient of the service.
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12. What is Service ?
• Service is not just giving customers
bigger and better facilities; it
involves the way these facilities are
given to them.
• Smiling, friendly faces talking about
the conference and meeting
facilities are far more conducive to
an enjoyable hospitality experience
than just a bare meeting room or
venue set up for event.
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13. What is Service ?
In the MICE industry, quality management and customer
service go hand in hand with service quality influencing
the customers’ overall attitude about the service delivery.
customers’
This attitude can be formed by a number of successful
experiences.
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14. What is Service ?
• Service and the provision of service
within a convention or meeting consist of
both TANGIBLE and INTANGIBLE
• TANGIBLE COMPONENTS
– Provision of a meeting or convention rooms,
comfortable seating, adequate lighting,
audiovisual equipment, morning tea, lunch
and so on.
• INTANGIBLE COMPONENTS
– How service is provided and directed at the
conference delegates in order to satisfy
their needs, eg. Welcoming smile and
cheerful manners
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15. Evaluation of the service
1. Reliability
2. Tangibility (facilities)
3. Responsiveness
(Helpful, Provide prompt service)
4. Assurance or trustiness
(involved knowledgeable, polite)
5. Empathy (Caring)
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16. Potential Gaps in service Quality of MICEs
Customer needs CUSTOMER
and expectations
1. Knowledge Gap
Management definition
of these needs
MANAGEMENT
2. Standards Gap
Translation into
design/delivery specs
3. Delivery Gap
Execution of 4. I.C.Gap Advertising and
design/delivery specs sales promises
5. Perceptions Gap 6. Interpretation Gap
Customer perceptions Customer interpretation
of product execution of communications
7. Service Gap
Customer experience
relative to expectations
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17. Potential Gaps in service Quality of MICEs
Knowledge
1. Knowledge gap (IN)
Can exist when there is a difference between what conference
organizer of service believes the customer expects and the
customers actual needs and expectations
Standard
2. Standard gap (IN)
Can occur when there is a difference between, for example,
the venue management’s perception of the conference
management’
organizer’s expectations and the quality standards established
for the service delivery by the venue or other suppliers.
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18. Potential Gaps in service Quality of MICEs
Delivery
3. Delivery gap (IN)
Can occur when there is a difference between what is
specified for the service standard and what is actually
provided.
provided
Internal
4. Internal communication or Marketing gap (IN)
Can occur when there is a difference between what the
conference organizer or a venue’s advertising and sales
promotion staff think are the features of the convention or
meeting product, its performance and service quality level, and
what the company or venue is actually able to deliver
deliver.
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19. Potential Gaps in service Quality of MICEs
Perception
5. Perception gap (EX)
Can occur when there is a difference between what is actually
delivered and what the client organization or delegates
perceive they have received.
Interpretation
6. Interpretation gap (EX)
Can occur when there is a difference between what the
service provider's (e.g. PCOs) communication efforts actually
promise and the customer (e.g. Client Organization) thinks was
provided by the communication
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20. Potential Gaps in service Quality of MICEs
Service
7. Service gap (EX)
Can occur when there is a difference between what the
customer expects to receive and their perception of the
service actually delivered.
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21. Quality and the Role
of the PCO
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22. Quality and the Role of the PCO
• The PCO needs to ensure that both the venue selected and
suppliers selected are able to cooperate and supply the
quality of service required by the client organization.
• Therefore, PCO must have the role as the following:
• Communication skills
• verbal communication skills
• written communication skills
• Partnerships
• The PCOs and the venue
• PCOs team members
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23. Quality and the Role of
the Venue
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24. Quality and the Role of the Venue
• The expectations and the process for providing quality
customer service for these are the same – that is, the
customers ultimately want the best service they can obtain wile
the venue, with their range of facilities are ideally placed to
facilities,
provide such service.
• Venues encompass a diversity of departments. There is thus a
need for venue managers to ensure high levels of interaction
between managements and staff and among staff.
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25. Differences in service quality
provided by the venue
Technical quality - what is delivered?
Functional quality - how is it delivered?
Process quality - judged during service
Output quality - quality after service is performed
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26. Customer interaction
• is an integral part of the core
service provided by the
conference venues,
• Staff and management make
contract with client org. as well
as individual delegates.
• The communication process for
a venue’s convention
department can be considered
as an exchange mechanism.
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27. Customer interaction
1. Service encounters or “moment of truth”
moment truth
• Interactions between the service providers and their clients
can occur at several levels
2. Customer and service interaction
• mindful that they represent not only the client org but also
their delegates
• moral, political, social and psychological power over each
other
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28. The service delivery system
• Front stage
• Area most commonly associated with the provision of
customer service
• Staff contact point (advertising, promotion, brochure, conference kits)
• Back stage
• Is an area that delegates seldom see and have little
involvement in,
• Maintenance, engineering, AV support
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29. Evaluation quality
customer service
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30. Evaluation quality customer service
• A post-convention review of the
conference organizer, venue and other
suppliers involved is of great
importance.
• It provides the opportunity to review
how the delegates, the conference
organizer and the client organization
perceived the conference, venue’s and
the provision of service quality.
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31. Evaluation quality customer service
include:
Areas of evaluation should include:
1. the site and location of the event
2. the venue, its facilities, F&B services, etc.
3. the convention itself, e.g. program contents, speakers,
marketing, social activities, for instance
4. the individual sessions, e.g. topics, clarity and
presentation of the topics, achievement of objectives,
etc.
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32. Evaluation quality customer service
• These previous areas of evaluation for the MICE
event should be from the perspective of these
relevant parties:
1. the perspective of the delegates
2. the perspective of the venue and other supplier
3. the perspective of the PCO
4. the perspective of the client organization
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33. Delegates
• Feedback on their
perception of quality of
the event and the level
of delegate satisfaction
• The questionnaire should
cover items such
accommodation, FB,
details of event etc.
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35. The Venue and other supplier
• The evaluation of the venue should be undertaken
“in-house” with the key team
• Comments from the staff should be obtained as to
how the event could be improved
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36. The PCO and the Client organization
• Both PCO and Client org to go over event
• They should also compare what actually happened
against the plan
• E.g. Budget figures, number of delegates and so on
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37. Summary
• Quality management and the provision of service quality within
MICE events are key to ensuring that high levels of customer
satisfaction are achieved by both the client organization and the
delegates to an event
• In order to ensure a process of quality management for MICE
event, conference organizers need to be aware of not only the
management principles for introducing such a system but also the
role of the stakeholders in the provision of the event
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38. Question and Answer
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