8. CIC 35, 26: Ethics, Marketing, Promotion, Publicity, Production Of Presented Materials

Question 1

In the meetings industry, one group has evolved and with that so have ethical questions about how that group receives payment for services rendered. Which group has unique ethical questions about how their fees are generated?

a. hoteliers
b. caterers
c. convention center managers
d. third party providers
e. in-house meeting managers

Answer 1

d (p. 596)

Question 2

Whistle-blowers are protected by federal law from retaliation by their employers if they work for which of the following?

a. publicly held corporations
b. non-profit associations
c. government agencies
d. all of the above
e. none of the above

Answer 2

d (p. 598) Note: The text doesn’t mention government agencies. Fourteen Acts protect whistle blowers in the U.S.; for more information go to: http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/whistle.htm

Question 3

Which of the following are parameters for selection of members for an independent audit committee?

a. the committee members cannot be part of the organization’s management
b. the committee members cannot be paid by the organization for other professional services
c. the committee members cannot be professional auditors
d. a and b are true
e. c and b are true

Answer 3

a (p. 598)

Question 4

Fair and equitable business practices related to third party meeting management agents include all but which one of the following?

a. The third-party agent may alter the RFP to help a specific bidding party win the bidding process.
b. The third-party agent should not take incentives meant for the end user.
c. The end user has the right to determine how much contact the end user will have with hotels and other venues.
d. The hotel should not contact the end user directly once the third-party agent has initiated the bidding process for hotel selection.
e. All fees should be disclosed by all parties as part of the RFP process.

Answer 4

a (p. 597)

Question 5

CVBs are often scrutinized by the media and government agencies, primarily because of which of the following issues?

a. they often behave unethically
b. they are typically reticent to fully disclose how they generate income
c. they are for-profit entities and therefore suspect
d. they represent a destination
e. they are often at least partially supported by tax dollars

Answer 5

e. they are often at least partially supported by tax dollars

39-05: e (p. 593)

Question 6

When a professional believes and has evidence that a crime has been (or is being) committed by co-workers and/or supervisors, and that person reports the act to someone in authority, that is known as which of the following?

a. a crime
b. whistle blowing
c. auditing
d. unethical
e. a conflict of interest

Answer 6

b (p. 592)

Question 7

To avoid ethical problems, many organizations have policies that control the receipt of gifts, including which of the following?

a. limits may be placed on the monetary value of acceptable gifts
b. gifts received become organization property, rather than personal property
c. gifts may be prohibited entirely
d. gifts are acceptable as long as a gift of equal value is offered by the individual recipient
e. gifts are acceptable as long as the recipient isn’t the one making decisions

Answer 7

a, b, c (p. 595)

Question 8

Areas that often create ethical dilemmas for the meetings industry include which of the following?

a. gifts
b. lawyers
c. fam trips
d. disclosure
e. loyalty programs

Answer 8

a, c, d, e (p. 593-596)

Question 9

According to the best practices suggested by PCMA’s Task Force on Third-Party Issues, hotels have an obligation to disclose any and all third-party fees generated by increased pricing to end-users, including which of the following fees?

a. rebates
b. commissions
c. incentives
d. loyalty awards
e. overrides

Answer 9

a, b, c, d, e (p. 596) Note: Item “d” may seem to be incorrect, but if loyalty awards given to a third-party are covered by increased pricing, that would also qualify as a “fee” in need of disclosure.

Question 10

If a convention center’s rental fee is being covered by a charge added to all hotel room-nights attributed to the host organization renting that center, who is responsible for disclosing this arrangement to the host organization?

a. CVB representatives
b. hotels
c. any third-party providers associated with the arrangement
d. convention center
e. meeting attendees

Answer 10

a, b, c, d (p. 596)

Question 11

If a third-party meeting management company is approached by an organization to select an appropriate meeting site, what obligation does the third-party have to disclose the name and other pertinent information about the host organization to potential sites?

a. absolutely none
b. legally, the name must be disclosed, but nothing else
c. full disclosure of the name and known information should occur before the site is obligated to hold space
d. full disclosure should occur once the space is held by contract
e. full disclosure should occur after the event is held

Answer 11

c (p. 597)

Question 12

The main provisions of SOX include which of the following?

a. executives must certify financial statements
b. insider loans are prohibited
c. destroying documents that can potentially injure the company is allowed
d. altering documents that can potentially injure an association is prohibited
e. the official auditing company cannot simultaneously provide other professional services to a publicly held company

Answer 12

a, b, d, e (p. 598)

Question 13

Establishing a code of ethics is mandated by law for all corporations and associations.

Answer 13

False (p. 592)

Question 14

Moral standards vary from person to person and may be quite different for people from different generations or different parts of the world.

Answer 14

39-14: True (p. 592)

Question 15

According to the text, over half of the workers in the U.S. have observed unethical behavior in the workplace and the vast majority of those have reported it to someone in authority.

Answer 15

False (p. 592)

Question 16

Allegations can have as devastating an effect on corporations or associations as begin found guilty of inappropriate or unethical behavior.

Answer 16

True - p 593

Question 17

Unethical behavior is illegal.

Answer 17

False (p. 592-593, 597)

Question 18

Points earned at hotels for frequent or lengthy stays, and frequent flyer miles, are legally the possession of the person staying at the hotel or flying.

Answer 18

False (p. 595)

Question 19

A __________ trip is an opportunity for qualified meeting managers to view a property or destination in person to determine if the venue is appropriate for their meetings or events in the future.

Answer 19

familiarization (or “fam”) (p. 594)

Question 20

A __________ program is an “award” system for accumulating points or miles that can be applied towards future room nights or airline tickets.

Answer 20

loyalty (p. 595)

Question 21

A gift given just before an important decision is expected from the gift recipient is typically considered a ___________.

Answer 21

bribe (p. 595)

Question 22

Federal law established in 2002, known as the __________ - __________ Act, makes corporate accountability mandatory for public corporations, and covers non-profit associations up to a point.

Answer 22

Sarbanes-Oxley (p. 598)

Question 23

When a person has a professional relationship with one organization and is approached by a competing organization for services, the potential for unethical behavior is present and this situation could be perceived as a __________ __________ __________.

Answer 23

conflict of interest (p. 599)

Question 24

One recommendation for non-profit organizations to avoid accusations of unethical behavior is to perform an annual __________ of their finances.

Answer 24

audit

Question 25

Why are ethical issues especially critical to independent event planners?

Answer 25

Reputation is everything in relationship selling, whether true or not true

Question 26

What are some ways you can gauge whether an action you took or may take is ethical?

Answer 26

Red Face Test, compare to company ethics standards, use MPI or PCMA standards

Question 27

In what ways can FAM trips raise ethical questions?

Answer 27

Need to be decisionmaker, need to have legitimate expectation of going there

Question 28

What is the difference between a gift and a bribe?

Answer 28

Bribe-a gift intended to influence the decision

Question 29

Is it always unethical when one party in a contract negotiation changes the contract’s terms without informing the other party?

Answer 29

yes

Question 30

When can intellectual property be an ethical issue in the events industry?

Answer 30

Contract proposals that have creative content must be protected

Question 31

What ethical concerns have been raised by the growth of the Internet?

Answer 31

When inaccurate or defamatory information is shared through chat rooms, blogs, and websites

Question 32

Name three things that have influenced the development of your moral values and ethics. How might these influences differ from someone else’s influences? (ie: someone older or younger, someone from a different country, someone with different spiritual beliefs, etc)

Answer 32

Moral standards are developed from various influences: family, religion, school, work, professional organizations, life experiences, news, politics, and even pop culture

Question 33

What is the most unethical act you have ever witnessed in the workplace? What did you do? Would you do something different today?

Answer 33

Ex: Hilton PSAV call after bids were received to say they could do it for whatever the low bid was.

Question 34

How should you make a decision if your personal ethics differ from your organization’s code of ethics? What if the organization’s code of ethics seems unreasonably strict? What if your personal ethics demand a higher standard of behavior than the organization’s code of ethics?

Answer 34

Discussion

Question 35

What is the relationship between law and ethics? What is the difference between law and ethics?

Answer 35

Law sets a minimum standard of what you can or cannot do. Ethics are voluntary and sometimes represent a higher standard of behavior. Common ethical behavior help define an industry

Question 36

When does the family often take precedence in business?

Answer 36

Some international situations and countries place family above all other contacts

Question 37

Why is cultural familiarization important?

Answer 37

Recognizing the influencing factors (religion, family, etc), recognition of attitudes (toward genders, sexual orientation and display, caste systems) and study of protocol norms for that culture can help guide

Question 38

What should corporate ethical guidelines include?

Answer 38

Conflict of interest statement, perquisites (perks) and gifts guidelines, policies and expected procedures for best practices, including travel expenses, whistle-blower protection, decion-making on company impact and representation

Question 39

What is the meaning of R.S.V.P. on an invitation?

Answer 39

Respondez, si vous plait

Question 40

In what circumstances are women presented to men?

Answer 40

Women are presented to ambassadors, ministers, chief of state, royalties, dignitaries of the church.

Question 41

What is the purpose of a Receiving Line? When is it not used?

Answer 41

Allows the guests to meet the function host(s) and honored guest(s)

Question 42

What is the appropriate form of address for an ambassador?

Answer 42

Mr. Ambassador or Madame Ambassador

Question 43

When more than one national flag is displayed, which is the place of honor?

Answer 43

The flag’s own right, or the observers left

Question 44

Is the place of honor at the table to the left or right of the host?

Answer 44

The seat of honor is to the right of the host, second most important seat is on the left

Question 45

What are 6 things to consider when marketing for a foreign environment?

Answer 45

Cultures/customs
Countries/regions
Languages
Perceptions and attitudes
Time zones
Reasons for participating

Question 46

What is the difference between ‘cultures’ and ‘customs?’

Answer 46

Culture: behaviors/beliefs of a society
Customs: Practices or habits of a group of people

Question 47

When would you send out promotional material that is only written in English?

Answer 47

When the emphasis is on or the requirement is English speaking only.

Question 48

What role do political or diplomatic relations play in the marketing of events?

Answer 48

Serves for introductions

Question 49

What problems can ‘perceptions’ have for international audiences?

Answer 49

Perception of value, cultural norms, nationality suspicions

Question 50

Definition of marketing?

Answer 50

The process of identifying human wants and needs and developing a plan to meet them

Question 51

What should a marketing plan answer?

Answer 51

Is there demand for the event, what is the value proposal, how much competition and can you compete?

Question 52

What questions help you define your target audience?

Answer 52

Who are past and potential attendees?
Are there distribution channels that haven’t been considered?
Why will they attend?
What are their demographics?
What other types of events do they attend?
Is your event competitive?
Where do they get their information?

Question 53

What are the four P’s?

Answer 53

Product, Price, Place, Promotion

Question 54

When planning internationally, name a 1) terminology difference and a 2) program structure difference.

Answer 54

1) Ex: fish bowl, audience reaction team, buzz group, colloquium, pow-wow, conclave
2) Ex: Islamic country breaks 5 times for prayers, Mediterranean and Latin country siesta after lunch, if folks are traveling, give more downtime for site-seeing.

Question 55

What is the difference in “Simultaneous Interpretation and Consecutive Interpretation?

Answer 55

Simultaneous interprets what is being said at the time, consecutive gives a break for the interpretation to take place.

Question 56

How can local customs impact a program?

Answer 56

What to eat, timing and pacing of program

Question 57

How might you ‘segment’ your target audience?

Answer 57

By why they are there, region, demographics, etc

Question 58

Definition of Ethics-

Answer 58

A system of moral standards or values

Question 59

Why the emphasis on Ethics?

Answer 59

Can ruin personal/business reputation
Can financially impact business/company
Doesn’t have to be true to have impact

Question 60

PCMA’s Principles of Professional and Ethical Conduct

Answer 60

Approach with highest professional/personal conduct
Negotiate agreements in good faith
Respect regulations of all contact organizations
Encourage continuing education
Refrain from causing damage-self/others
No personal gain/conflict of interest

Question 61

Consecutive vs Simultaneous Interpretation

Answer 61

CIC Ch 6

Question 62

Marketing:

Answer 62

Identifying human wants/needs
Demand? 
Value Proposition? 
Competitors? 
Effective delivery of promise?

Question 63

Answer the following questions:

Answer 63

Who
Why
Demographics
What else do they attend
Value
How to reach