May 16
maureen-pickellPlaces to Stay Innovention Network, jw marriott camelback inn scottsdale resot & spa, Marriott, renaissance esmeralda indian wells resort & spa
Your intrepid CP.com blogger, Maureen Pickell warmed up (literally – with temperatures averaging in the upper 90′s) for the trek to Frankfurt, Germany and IMEX with a quick vacation to California and Arizona.
First stop was ConventionPlanit.com member property – the Renaissance Esmeralda Indian Wells Resort & Spa. As a member of the Marriott Innovention Network , the excellent meeting facilities were as busy as the Spa and swimming pools. While it seemed strange to be on the grounds of a conference –centric hotel without a badge, yours truly had a great time chatting with the friendly staff and sampling the excellent cuisine.
The delicious sushi bar at the Renaissance Esmeralda
Next stop was the iconic JW Marriott Camelback Inn Scottsdale Resort & Spa. Also a member of ConventionPlanit.com, this lovely property was built in 1936, just twelve dusty miles from the small desert city of Phoenix. The daily rate back then was a mere $10-$16 a day for your room and three meals a day.
Throughout its history, guests have included Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Jack Kennedy and J. Williard Marriott, Sr. In 1967 when the owners retired, the Camelback Inn was purchased by the Marriott Corporation, becoming their first resort hotel. In the ensuing years, guest rooms increased from 100 to 453 and meeting space was added then expanded to include the Arizona Ballroom with over 19,000 square feet of meeting space.
Still nestled among stately cactus and colorful desert flowers, the southwestern ambiance has never been compromised and the Inn is the only Arizona property to win the AAA Five Diamond Award every year since the awards began. Again, as my feet naturally gravitated to the outdoor cocktail reception and buffet dinner being held during the Bayer Canada sales conference one evening, I had to redirect them to the dining patio…old habits die hard!!!
One of the tempting outdoor spaces at the Camelback Inn
Next stop – IMEX Frankfurt!
May 08
Ashley ChalmersMember News, Trade Shows anchorage, anchorage meetings, ASAE & the Center, meeting ideas, Springtime Expo
Last Thursday, the CP gang headed into DC for the annual ASAE Springtime Expo. It is a show we look forward to every year – the Education Sessions are informative and there is always an interesting Keynote Speaker, but most of all, we have the chance to say hello to many of our member properties and show meeting planners how easy ConventionPlanit.com is to use!
ConventionPlanit.com staff in our booth at the Springtime show. There was not a dull moment all day! (From L to R: Ashley Chalmers, Katherine Markham, CHME, David Markham, Illusionist Benjamin Corey, Sandy Lavery, Maureen Pickell.)
This year we had a special treat for our booth visitors – entertainment! Benjamin Corey, the Meeting Illusionist, wowed meeting planners by making a golden coin disappear and reappear and correctly guessing cards. He told attendees that ConventionPlanit.com can make their meeting planning troubles disappear with the new 24 hour RFP response guarantee!
Meeting Illusionist Benjamin Corey amazes meeting planners with his magic. He has levitation powers - wouldn't that be a fun conference keynote!
We also had a great time announcing the winner of our Grand Prize. Visit Anchorage and Alaska Airlines helped us to offer an amazing prize - a three-night stay for two at the Hilton Anchorage, including roundtrip airfare. The trip also includes roundtrip tickets for two on the Anchorage Railroad from Anchorage to Seward, a wildlife and glacier cruise for two courtesy of Kenai Fjords Tours, and tickets to the Anchorage Museum, Alaska Native Heritage Center, and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center!
Stay tuned for some in depth posts from Springtime’s great education sessions. Did you attend the show? What was your favorite session?
Apr 23
Ashley ChalmersMisc Tidbits technology
A colleague shared this image with me today and I could not help but pass it along to our readers!
It’s quite amazing to look at how widespread technology has become, especially within our own industry. What information from this graphic caught your attention the most?
Apr 09
maureen-pickellMisc Tidbits
Your intrepid ConventionPlanit.com Blogger came out of hibernation for the annual Visit Anchorage events in Colorado this past week. 
As reliable as Spring, the Anchorage team of Jim Henderson, V.P. of Convention Sales and Marlene Geils, Convention Sales Manager traveled to Boulder and Denver to sponsor 2 luncheons and a reception for area planners. This year they were joined by Alexander Wong, Corporate Sales Manager for the Hotel Captain Cook…Anchorage’s Preferred Hotel.
A longtime marketing collaborator and supplier member of ConventionPlanit.com, Visit Anchorage partnered with The Capital Grill who provided a tasty lunch. Jim and Marlene brought us up to date on Alaska’s premier meeting and incentive destination as cuddly brown bears and other door prizes were distributed to all participants.
This was just a glimpse of the royal treatment given to planners who choose Anchorage for its range of outdoor adventures and metropolitan amenities. If you are looking for a unique destination with a reasonable price tag attached, think Anchorage!!
Mar 26
Ashley ChalmersNews convention industry council, green meetings
Professionals in the meeting industry have access to the very first green meetings and event standards in the areas of Audio-Visual, Communication & Marketing Materials, Destinations, Exhibits, Food & Beverage, On-Site Office, and Transportation. The American Society for Testing and Materials International (ASTM) has published seven of nine sustainable meeting standards.
The standards, produced as a partnership between the Convention Industry Council’s Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) and ASTM, were initially conceptualized by the Green Meetings Industry Council (GMIC) in discussions with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Publication of the standards comes after a period of in intense development since the project was initiated in 2008.
The APEX/ASTM standards are comprised of nine individual “sector” standards, covering all facets of event planning and management. Seven of the nine have been published with the Accommodations standard currently undergoing final balloting through ASTM and the Meeting Venue standard being prepared for publishing:
• Audio-Visual
• Communication & Marketing Materials
• Destinations
• Exhibits
• Food & Beverage
• Meeting Venue
• On-Site Office
• Transportation
• Accommodations
The 9 Standards
Each of the standards will address specific sustainable elements: staff management and environmental policy, communications, waste, energy, air quality, water, procurement and community partners.
Much of the work and research behind the initiative was a result of the work done by the APEX Green Meetings and Events Practice Panel, consisting of 300 planners, suppliers and sustainability experts from across nine time zones. ASTM International provided comprehensive input, review and feedback from its technical experts, engineers, materials scientists, and sustainability experts across the globe.
The standards are available for individual purchase at the cost of $40 – $46 each through ASTM International in both electronic and paper options. After the ninth standard on Accommodations is complete, all nine will be collected into a single specially-priced compilation at a cost to be determined once the final Meeting Venue and Accommodations standards are published. Additionally, ASTM members may select one free Volume of standards with their membership dues that will contain all nine standards. The modular design of the nine standards gives planners and suppliers the flexibility to choose the mix of resources that are relevant to their operational footprint.
For more information on the standards, ordering information and a complete list of the volunteers that contributed to the project, visit http://www.conventionindustry.org/StandardsPractices/APEXASTM.aspx
What do you think of this new sustainability program? Would you be willing to pay in order to access the information?
Mar 06
Ashley ChalmersPlaces to Stay, Tips for Meeting Planners divine deals
Did you know ConventionPlanit.com members offer special meeting savings for planners who use the website? Head over to Divine Deals and see for yourself! You can even find deals by searching for the month of your meeting.
New deals are posted often, so make sure you check for updates.
Check out the Divine Deals on ConventionPlanit.com.
Feb 23
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners meeting planner help, RFP, rfp response organization, rfp valet
One of the most tedious jobs for a meeting planner is organizing RFP responses from hotels.
Hotels often send information to meeting planners in their own formats, can forget to include pertinent information for the planners, and on occasion, send a proposal with the wrong organization’s name on the top…and the list goes on!
What is a crunched-for-time meeting planner to do? Ask ConventionPlanit.com to help, of course.
ConventionPlanit.com now offers meeting planners RFP Organization.
We compile hotel responses for you in an easy to read spreadsheet so you can compare Apples to Apples (instead of Apples to Bananas). You identify the important criteria for the spreadsheet, and we do the rest!
I highly recommend using this 100% free service to compile your RFP responses for any meeting planner short on time.
And if you find your self wondering what’s the catch? Well, there isn’t one…it’s our way of saying thank you for using our website!
To get started, submit your RFP here and mention the RFP Organization Tool.
What do you think…will you use this new service? What other service would you like ConventionPlanit.com to offer meeting planners? Post a comment and share!
Feb 10
Ashley ChalmersNews advisory council, meeting planner feedback
This is the latest in a continuing series highlighting members of the ConventionPlanit.com Advisory Council, comprised of meeting professionals and others in the meetings industry who help shape ConventionPlanit.com to meet the needs of the industry.
Dawn Young
Workshop Coordinator/Meeting Planner
Bechtel Corporate Project Controls
Frederick, MD
Dawn Young, new member of the ConventionPlanit.com Meeting Professional Advisory Council, has a challenging job.
As Workshop Coordinator/Meeting Planner for Bechtel Corporate Project Controls, where she has worked for four years, she plans more than 100 corporate meetings and workshops each year across the globe. What makes it especially tough is that she must book the meeting venues sight unseen.
That’s why ConventionPlanit.com is such a critical tool for her in her job.
“I like how ConventionPlanit.com is a one-stop shop,” Young says. “That’s what I need. The search engine quickly identifies potential meeting sites, and each listing is structured with key information that I can easily compare. The photos that are usually included in the listings are also extremely helpful, since I usually cannot visit the site in advance.”
Her favorite part of meeting planning is the early phase of designing a meeting. “At the beginning, all things are possible and the process is creative,” she says. As part of the creative process, Young often visits the “Stellar Tips” section of ConventionPlanit.com, where she can find meeting tips that others have discovered and used successfully.
Young places a high value on leadership and organizational skills and says she would urge young people looking to enter the profession to learn these skills. “The ability to multi-task is a must,” she observes. “A meeting planner must work well under pressure and be able to deal with unexpected problems.”
As a mother of three “very active” children, Young can apply her skills in more than one area of her life. “In my free time I am bouncing around from the baseball fields to the softball fields to the basketball courts,” she says.
Despite her busy schedule, Young claims she “would not trade my job for another,” but admits that someday she “would like to have my own company and plan meetings on much larger scales to challenge myself.”
Learn more about the ConventionPlanit.com Advisory Council Members, or comment on this post if you are interested in joining the council.
Feb 06
maureen-pickellTips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows Event Industry Networking, overseas meetings, pcma
According to PCMA Convene’s 20th annual meetings market survey, 48 percent (up from last year’s 44 percent) of planners report that they will hold meetings outside the United States in the future.
As a result, PCMA is dedicated to presenting programs that will provide necessary tools for their members’ continued growth and success.
Many planners attended the “International Meetings: Finding the Right Partners” session at PCMA’s 2012 “Convening Leaders” Annual Meeting to identify different types of partners available and attributes to look for in selecting the best resources for planning international events.
For example, did you know? 
- The Chinese expect you to live by their rules.
- A welcome reception outside the U.S. can have drastically different meanings:
- Japan – a snack and a drink
- Thailand – a buffet dinner
- India – a full , sit down dinner
- Philippines – a night long fest with ballroom dancing
- In Turkey, “English speaking staff” could mean they master only a few words.
- In Morocco, female staff does not work after 8PM.
- In Brazil, medical equipment is challenged at customs and normally gets stuck.
- In India, they sew the AV screens per the specifications just before the session.
- In Europe, coffee is served with a cookie (which is a quarter of the size of a U.S. standard cookie!)
- In some countries, tips are paid BEFORE the work.
Attendees also learned that the following partners can provide the tools necessary to combat the nuances of a country’s culture and business processes:
- PCO /Professional Congress Organizer - Companies or individuals specialized in organizing events on behalf of a client organization. They coordinate aspects from contracting the meeting venue to marketing the event
- DMC / Destination Management Company – Provide professional services requiring extensive knowledge, specializing in the design and implementation of activities and program logistics.
- Tourist Board/CVB – Nonprofit organization that promotes tourism and encourages groups to hold events, conventions and trade shows in its destination.
- Shipping Agent and Customs Broker – A third party hired to handle moving goods to and from an event. Company providing customs clearing services to shippers or goods between countries.
- Interpreters – A group of people responsible for translating program materials into foreign languages.
- Fiscal Representative – A company retained to represent your organization’s VAT needs and ancillary tax related obligations in the country where your event will be held.
The key takeaway is to recognize that there is no standard formula; each country is unique with differing cultural norms and business methods. Check and double check – then still be prepared for surprises.
Be aware that the main challenges are linked to different routines, terminology, and food and beverage. And remember, it may be possible to avoid a small “international incident” by serving the right sized cookie!
For more international meeting information, be sure to visit the Global Tips section of ConventionPlanit.com.
Jan 30
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners meeting planner help, rfp valet
Submitting RFPs through ConventionPlanit.com can now mean more business for independent meeting professionals.
That’s because ConventionPlanit.com is now offering free listings on its site to independent planners who submit at least three RFPs through ConventionPlanit.com.
“We recognize that association and corporate meeting planners with fewer internal staff resources than they used to have are increasingly turning to independent planners for help,” says ConventionPlanit.com Co-Founder Katherine Markham, CHME.
“So our site now helps these professionals connect. We also know that independent meeting planners have tight budgets, so they are always looking for free exposure opportunities like this.”
Independent meeting planners who submit three RFPs through ConventionPlanit.com will receive a free one-year Ruby level listing. Those who submit 10 RFPs will receive a Sapphire listing, and planners who submit 20 RFPs will get a Diamond listing.
Each higher listing level offers more features to display information on the site.
“Since we implemented our 24-Hour Response Guarantee for RFPs submitted through ConventionPlanit.com, we’ve seen a remarkable increase in the use of our three levels of RFP services,” Markham said. “Using our site for RFPs is quick and easy and removes the burden of follow-up from busy meeting planners. We make sure that connections are made and that planners receive the proposals they need on a timely basis.”
Planners can select meeting sites on ConventionPlanit.com and with a single click distribute an attached RFP to all them. Or they can fill out an RFP form on the site.
Those that want a higher level of service can choose the RFP Valet® program, where ConventionPlanit.com executives will help them narrow their search and provide additional follow-up services.
“All these services are free to the meeting planner and they all feature the 24-Hour Response Guarantee,” Markham explains. “There are no commissions or hidden fees – we simply connect planners and meeting sites and let them negotiate their own deals. Our compensation comes from the listing fees that hotels, resorts, convention centers, CVBs, and other suppliers pay to be part of the site.”
Meeting planners can click here to learn more about the ConventionPlanit.com RFP services.
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