Frequently Asked Questions
Q:
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Why is the ACCP Annual Meeting in November this Year? |
A:
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In early 2019, ACCP signed an agreement with the Sheraton Dallas Hotel to hold the 2020 ACCP Annual
Meeting. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the live meeting was cancelled. To avoid significant cancellation penalties,
ACCP negotiated with the hotel to reschedule the meeting for 2023. However, the Sheraton Dallas Hotel did not have
availability in October or even September 2023. The only available Fall dates for a group of ACCP’s size were November 11–14, 2023.
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Q:
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How Does ACCP Determine Meeting Locations? |
A:
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Convention planning is a complicated endeavor. ACCP’s Annual Meeting is typically held in October. Situated in the fall
academic semester, this date also avoids overlap with many other national pharmacy conferences. October is also one of the
most popular months for conventions in general. This makes securing a location/venue for the ACCP Annual Meeting even more
challenging. Here are some of the factors that influence the selection process:
- ACCP’s annual meetings require a large amount of meeting space. Finding a large hotel that has all the space needed is
rare and finding one that is willing to rent that space to one group is even rarer. The amount of meeting space offered
is directly tied to the number of sleeping rooms an organization can guarantee.
- ACCP signs hotel contracts with substantial financial obligations that guarantee the hotel a certain amount of revenue
generated from sleeping rooms reserved and food and beverage minimum requirements. If a hotel does not think an organization
brings enough sleeping rooms or provides enough catering events for the requested meeting space, they will decline booking the
convention to bring in a better revenue-producing organization.
- If a hotel that can house all ACCP events under one roof is not obtainable, then a convention center with a headquarters
hotel package must be considered. Most convention centers are owned and/or managed by the city in which the venue is located.
The city’s goal is to use their convention center to bring in large conventions, better known as city wide conventions,
that fill up all the hotels in the area surrounding the convention center. Therefore, most cities have a booking window for
smaller groups (like ACCP) where they must wait until eighteen months before the convention to rent space at their convention
center. This drastically reduces the number of locations that ACCP can consider and shortens the planning time for staff, speakers, etc.
- ACCP needs a city that offers a decent sized international airport with a variety of economical daily flights in and out to
all areas of the country on all airlines.
- ACCP attendees come from all over the United States. Moving the conference around to different zones of the country allows everyone
the opportunity to benefit when the event is held in their area of the country.
- The majority of ACCP Annual Meeting attendees fly in and do not rent a car. Therefore, having dining and entertainment options within
walking distance of the meeting venue is also a determining factor.
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Q:
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How Does Your Hotel Reservation Affect the ACCP Annual Meeting?
(Booking within the ACCP Block) |
A:
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- ACCP has contracted hotel rooms at discounted rates on your behalf. If contracted housing obligations are not met, ACCP must pay substantial
penalty fees to the hotel. This could require ACCP to increase registration rates in the future to cover such penalties.
- ACCP can monitor attendance through the room block. When attendees stay within the block it enables ACCP to be better prepared to host a successful
event and helps with cost containment.
- ACCP's business value to a city is measured by the total number of sleeping rooms booked inside the contracted room block and money spent on
other hotel services. Booking within the block helps ACCP to maintain strong business value, which is critical to negotiations with future cities
and cost-containment efforts.
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Q:
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Will the ACCP Annual Meeting Move Back to October in 2024? |
A:
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YES! In early 2018, ACCP signed an agreement with the Phoenix Convention Center and Sheraton Phoenix Downtown to hold the 2021 ACCP Annual Meeting. Due
to the COVID-19 pandemic, the live meeting was cancelled. To avoid substantial cancellation penalties, ACCP negotiated with both venues to reschedule
the meeting for 2024. Thankfully, both the Phoenix Convention Center and the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown had availability over the dates of October 12–15,
2024.
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SAVE THE DATE!
2024 ACCP Annual Meeting
October 12–15, 2024
Phoenix Convention Center / Sheraton Phoenix Downtown
Phoenix, AZ