Sep 20
Ashley ChalmersMisc Tidbits, Trade Shows cvbs, hsmai affordable meeting, town crier
If a town crier sounds like something straight out of an historical novel, you may be surprised to know your town or city may have one! The American Guild of Town Criers is spreading the word about this ‘honorable position’.
The Annapolis, MD town crier (Squire Frederick) even made an appearance at HSMAI’s MEET National show earlier this month!
Katherine Markham, CHME, ConventionPlanit.com's Co-Founder, poses with Squire Frederick at HSMAI's MEET National
Historically, the role of the town crier was to spread the news of the day. The job has changed a little – according to Squire Frederick’s website, town criers celebrate a city’s rich history, achievements and struggles for liberty and civil rights for citizens.
Town criers across the country are available to make appearances at events. They’ll pose for photos, too. Check out Squire Frederick’s website for more information.
May 27
Ashley ChalmersTrade Shows hsmai affordable meeting
If you are planning on attending HSMAI’s Affordable Meetings West show this June in Long Beach, CA, be sure to visit your friends at ConventionPlanit.com!
We will be in Booth #622 on June 15 – 16 with lots of great time saving tips to show you!
Will you be at Affordable Meetings?
Suppliers, we want to see you too!
Sep 27
maureen-pickellPlaces to Stay, Tips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows cvbs, hsmai affordable meeting, meeting planner help, meeting planning services
According to Christine Shimasaki, Managing director of empowerMINT.com, DMAI and Loren Gold, Executive vice President of the Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau…it can!
Whether a planner is arranging a meeting for 10 or 10,000 attendees, responsibility for finding the right hotel or venue can be complicated if you are not familiar with the destination. Tapping into the local knowledge of an expert from the CVB can save both time and money. In addition, CVB’s maintain important post-event information which can assist planners in negotiating future meetings.
Highlights of working with CVBs:
- Ability to research all options- they are the “eyes and ears” of the planner
- Relationships with CVB experts help diffuse potential problems
- Obvious substitution for an onsite inspection
- One stop shop for rates/dates/space availability
CVB’s are non-profit organizations which are funded through various municipal taxes. Therefore, there is no charge for their services. After determining your key objectives, they can consolidate your specifications and source these RFP’s to the proper service provider.
Another important service (and one that cannot be duplicated elsewhere) would be the Post-Event Reports. The pick-up history of your conference is important information that will aid you in engaging the interest and cooperation of your next destination. The PER will aid in the negotiations by helping that city measure total revenues associated with your business and thus the economic input for the community. And, having information regarding the history of a meeting can help get the planner the best deal possible!
Several “Myths” surrounding CVBs:
- Do CVBs send your leads to all hotel members? No, best practices recently instituted for DMAI members ensure that the leads go only to the appropriate facilities.
- Are CVBs only interested in large meetings? No, most CVBs even have Small Group Specialists to handle meetings with 100 rooms or less.
CVBs exist solely to direct business to their destinations. They are in business to provide planners with local advice and expertise. Let them simplify your life by simplifying your job!
The above information was adapted from a presentation by Christine Shimasaki, Managing director of empowerMINT.com, DMAI and Loren Gold, Executive vice President of the Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureauat HSMAI’s Affordable Meetings National.
Sep 14
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows Face to Face Meetings, hsmai affordable meeting, technology, virtual meetings
A virtual meeting component can be incorporated into your next meeting…and doesn’t require a significant budget. It is a great way to enrich a successful face-to-face meeting by attracting a larger audience.
These tips will help you develop a strategy that will help you get started and evaluate the cost:
1. Strategy
- Include virtual aspects into everything: it should be an extension of your online presence.
- All departments on board: a successful virtual meeting component requires the support and participation of your entire staff to generate involvement and usage – especially the technical team, who will be invaluable in making usability seamless for attendees.
2. Design
- Be realistic: make sure the features you are offering are what your users want, and know how to use – ask them.
3. Marketing
- Use social media to create a strong buzz: promote the virtual component on Twitter, an event blog, Facebook, or even create YouTube video clips to highlight speakers.
- Start early: engage the community several months prior to the event by offering how-to video tutorials and previews, and promote the virtual meeting on all online and hard copy show materials.
4. Production
- Work out the logistics: will you have onsite video? Will all or some of the sessions need to be broadcast? The amount of production equipment desired will factor into the overall cost. Keep in mind that each session broadcasting video should have a staff member to monitor live question streams from virtual participants.
5. Facilitation
- Assign specific roles: notify staff members of expectations, and be specific about the activities they are required to handle.
6. Support
- Create a virtual help desk: must be open during hours of virtual conference. If the conference is international, a 24-hour help desk may be helpful.
7. Administration
- Be thorough: if face-to-face sessions are counted for continuing education, be sure to receive approval for the online versions.
The above information was adapted from a presentation by Lance Simon, VP of Business Development with iCohere, Inc. at HSMAI’s Affordable Meetings National.
Sep 09
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows hsmai affordable meeting, meeting education, meeting industry
It’s day 2 of HSMAI’s Affordable Meetings National and the usual ConventionPlanit.com crew is busy learning lots of new information and showing the website to meeting planners!
Be sure to check back tomorrow – I’ll be sharing some of the great information from the education sessions, including how to measure ROI, how to market meetings and events, and an in-depth look at where the industry is headed.
Here are some pictures from the tradeshow floor of the CP gang!
Co-Founders Katherine & David Markham giving website tours…
Frequent guest-blogger and traveler extraordinare Maureen Pickell & David…
…Maureen & me hanging out at the booth
Jun 14
Ashley ChalmersNews hsmai affordable meeting, meeting attendance, meeting experiences
Our friends at HSMAI and Affordable Meetings polled attendees of their recent Mid-America show, and found that 49% percent of the meeting planners feel increased pressure to show metrics and statistics to portray the success of events.
Meeting planners said the most common measurement indicators are:
- event evaluations/satisfaction surveys
- net revenue
- attendance size
- room night count
- sponsorships
- ability to stay within budget
- rate of repeat attendance
- level of responsiveness to client needs
- increased service per attendee per dollars spent
Meeting planners also listed their top five factors for venue selection:
- size of the meeting space
- guest room cleanliness
- customer service
- location of the venue
- price
As a meeting planner, do you agree with these trends? What is most important to you? How are you achieving these measurement indicators?
Thanks to htrends.com for sharing this information with us!
Sep 16
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows attendee interaction, hsmai affordable meeting, meeting ideas, social media
Affordable Meetings National Day 2 – keynote speaker Scott Klososky takes control of the audience with engaging and useful social media tips and tricks.
If you weren’t lucky enough to attend, we’ve got some of the highlights for you (we took lots of notes) -
Live Q&A: Screens posting Twitter feeds for an educational session are becoming popular, but Klososky’s method, we felt, was more effective. Attendees text messaged questions to a specific number and code, which would then appear on the presentation screens. Klososky flipped his presentation to view and answer the live questions in between segments.
We felt this was more effective because:
- The internet at the convention center could not control the posting speed (which was slow, of course, considering the large number of people using the server)
- Attendees could interact specifically with one another; Tweeting questions to a general hash tag for an event can become confusing if it is used by too many attendees. What if attendees are tweeting to the same hash from several educational sessions? It is difficult for attendees and presenter to quickly interact with one another.
Social Media is the most democratic form of communication: Klososky noted that never before have users had so much control over the information we receive. If we don’t find something interesting or important, we don’t share it. The media has lost control over the information we receive and deem valuable. The media has no choice but to embrace the new, democratic communication we have, and create thorough content to compete.
Useful Websites: Klososky shared some very useful websites for our industry. Here are a couple –
- Addictomatic.com: enter your event name, company name, etc. to see what people are saying on social media websites. Very helpful from the brand control standpoint as well as from the user standpoint.
- Namechk: Enter a username or vanity URL into the search field, and the site pans virtually every social networking and bookmarking site checking for availability. Even if you don’t use all of the sites, it is a good idea to reserve your usernames just in case.
Sep 15
Ashley ChalmersNews, Trade Shows Event Industry Networking, hsmai affordable meeting, Keep America Meeting, meeting education, meeting industry
Last Wednesday and Thursday, we attended HSMAI’s Affordable Meetings National Show in Washington, DC.
The show was attended by over 2,000 meeting planners on the first day!
The education sessions throughout both days of the show were of the highest quality. Our personal favorites include Jonathan Tisch and Scott Klososky’s keynote speeches (more on Klososky in our next post).
Jonathan Tisch inspired us to fight for the meetings industry! He shared a video of how far the Keep America Meeting campaign has come and encouraged audience members to contact their Senators in support of the Travel Promotion Act. Ironically, the bill was passed the very next day.
Tisch shared that Loews hotels have adopted the mantra “value is the new luxury.” We think the saying is reflective of the trends across the entire industry – Affordable Meetings National was the perfect place to gather and discuss them!
Apr 09
Ashley ChalmersMember News, Misc Tidbits, News, RFP, Tips, Tips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows economy, hsmai affordable meeting, meeting industry, meeting planner feedback
You may remember a recent post asking some questions about the general feel of the meetings industry currently.
Our friends at HSMAI’s Affordable Meetings Mid-America and JSpargo were wondering the same question, and conducted a survey of conference attendees to get some answers.
Here are some of the highlights —-
1. Majority of event planners expect no more than 10 meetings this year, with most expecting 1-5. (This is comparable to last year.)
2. Budgets for events have decreased, but the majority of respondents reported that this decrease is moderate (10% reduction at most).
3. Most use a social networking service (#1: LinkedIn; #2: Facebook; #3: Twitter).
4. Customer Service is the most important booking factor by far (Price, Location and Size of Event Space were consistent factors).
We are happy to hear such positive information and minimal budget decreases, and hope this is a continuing trend. Kudos to the associations and companies who are continuing to keep meeting!
Planners — do you agree with the survey respondents?
Hoteliers — how will this information play a role in your day to day operations? Is it comforting to hear the number of meetings planners will be involved with is generally the same?
Mar 27
Ashley ChalmersMisc Tidbits, News, Trade Shows economy, hsmai affordable meeting, meeting ideas, meeting industry, Tips for Meeting Planners
With so much news surrounding the meetings industry lately, how are we supposed to keep up?
Here are a few highlights for you to stay in the loop –
1. HSMAI’s Affordable Meetings Mid-America show is next week…April 1-2 in Chicago. It’s not to late to register!
2. Sign the Petition to Keep Meeting…if you haven’t done this yet, it only takes a moment. Be sure to pass the link along to friends and family; do your part to help the industry!
3. There is a fantastic volunteer event in the DC area for hoteliers. Spread the word, register to help, or donate to the cause.
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