Dr. Kimberly Severt is the principal investigator for a Convention Industry Council (CIC) study to quantify the time and cost inefficiencies of the flow of information in the event industry.
The Rosen College Professor has been selected by the college’s Dick Pope Sr. Institute for Tourism Studies to research how planners and suppliers exchange event specifications. The study, funded by Gaylord Hotels, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts, hopes to pinpoint solutions that increase accuracy and efficiency in the transfer of the information.
“Despite all of our technical advances, this is largely still a manual, paper, e-mail and even fax-based process, with a high level of input and rekeying. Even though they’re widely accepted, these business processes are frequently inefficient and inaccurate,” said Kimberly Meyer, founder and principal of Chicago-based Meetings Analytics and chair of the CIC’s APEX Technology Advisory Council.
After gathering data from the funding hotels, Dr. Severt will examine a variety of meeting and event types from the initial input of data through the culmination of the event.
Her findings will be released by the conclusion of the Spring 2011 semester.
The Dick Pope Sr. Institute for Tourism Studies was established in September 1979 in the College of Business Administration of the University of Central Florida, through a $25,000 donation by the Orange Blossom Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association. The funds for this donation were collected at an annual Roast and Toast of the Association, which honored the late Dick Pope Sr., then the owner of Cypress Gardens and the first commercial tourist entrepreneur in Florida.
The Institute’s mission is to improve the quality of the tourism product and increase the benefits of the tourism industry to the State of Florida and the local Central Florida community. For more information, please contact Robertico Croes, Ph.D., (407) 903-8028 or robertico.croes@ucf.edu.