Jan 16
Ashley ChalmersMember News, Tips for Meeting Planners advisory council, meeting experiences, meeting ideas, meeting planner feedback
Eight members of the ConventionPlanit.com Meeting Planner Advisory Council met recently at The Donovan House in Washington, DC to discuss current issues facing the meetings industry and how online search directories such as ConventionPlanit.com can help address them.
ConventionPlanit.com Staff and Advisory Council Members at the November Meeting
Some of the issues included:
- Demonstrating the Value of Meeting History – Providing a hotel with historical data from previous meetings is essential in negotiating room blocks, rates, and food and beverage costs. “Everybody complains about not having the history of hotel room pickups and meeting attendance, but nobody does anything about it,” one planner said. “Just once I want a hotel to come to me with this information – I always have to hunt it down myself.” Other planners shared similar experiences, and their common wish is for hotels to be more proactive about providing this information. As electronic information-sharing in common formats becomes more common, this should improve in the future.
- Unauthorized Third-Party Housing Companies Selling Non-Refundable Rooms – This is a lightning-rod issue for many planners, who often see their room blocks erode and subsequent attrition fees assessed as association members book rooms outside the block. These unauthorized companies often launch aggressive marketing campaigns to association members, making it sound like they are the official housing provider. Attendees that book the rooms find they are non-refundable and sometimes cannot reach the companies by phone. Meeting planners agreed that strong communications to prospective attendees warning them of these tactics is necessary, plus legal action against these companies if appropriate.
- “Resort Fees” – Resort fees that typically cover Internet access, spa use, and other amenities are increasingly common. The problem is that government employees cannot usually be reimbursed for these fees when they attend a meeting, and planners noted that the fees are often non-negotiable. Their wish is for hotels to better understand the effects of these fees and be more willing to negotiate them if needed.
- E-Blasted RFPs – Some companies e-blast RFPs out to numerous properties with little regard for qualifying them in advance. This wastes the time of hotel salespeople as they respond to RFPs that don’t match what their properties offer. It leads to complacency that can cause them to not respond to viable RFPs that could bring them business. ConventionPlanit.com pre-qualifies properties to ensure that only those that are a strong potential match receive the RFPs, dramatically increasing the success rate for hotel proposals.
- Hotel Proposals Lacking Necessary Information – When planners send out RFPs, they need all the information requested in order to do an apples-to-apples comparison of prospective properties. The planners agreed that hotels are not doing themselves any favors by not providing complete information – it forces them to follow up and spend extra time getting information that should have been provided in the first place. When RFPs are submitted through ConventionPlanit.com, incoming proposals are checked to make sure they are complete to save planners the hassle of chasing down information.
“This discussion was extremely valuable for both the planners and our staff,” said ConventionPlanit.com Principal and Co-Founder Katherine Markham, CHME. “We found that much of what we are already doing helps to address many of these concerns, and it helps spark ideas for new solutions we can launch in the future.”
We are always looking for fresh faces to contribute to our council! If you are an avid user of ConventionPlanit.com and would like information about joining the Meeting Planner Advisory Council, please contact Katherine Markham, CHME at katherinem@conventionplanit.com.
What improvements would you like to see on the site?
Jan 09
maureen-pickellTrade Shows hotels in San Diego, meeting experiences, pcma, San Diego
I am off again…this time to cover the 2012 Convening Leaders event in San Diego this week. 
As luck would have it, my plane touched down early enough on one of those glorious mornings where the fog has just lifted and the sun is still muted enough to present the downtown skyline as an impressionist painting.
Palm trees and Bird of Paradise lining the avenue from the airport to the harbor set the stage for what should be an energetic and progressive meeting at the San Diego Convention Center.
ConventionPlanit.com supplier partner, the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, is opening its arms and welcoming everyone as attendees reconnect with PCMA BFF’s or find new ones.
The Welcome Reception at the Manchester Grand Hyatt was truly an “Emergence of the Senses.” From the sumptuous cuisine to the sights and sounds of the innovative Mass Ensemble’s exotic blend of art, sculpture and music – everyone’s senses had no choice but to emerge energized for the days ahead.
More tomorrow….
Nov 16
Ashley ChalmersMember News, Tips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows Event Industry Networking, meeting experiences, meeting ideas, national conference center, social media, Twitter
Please enjoy the following guest post from our friend Sarah Vinning with the National Conference Center, who hosted Event Camp DC earlier this month!
Seven. It’s the total number of Event Camp conferences that have been held in the past year.
The Event Camp series is a concept that first started with Jessica Levin, a meeting planner, and a few friends on Twitter who had the idea to host a bar camp for event professionals in New York City. Its intention was to offer meeting and event professionals an opportunity to come together in an unstructured format without a pre-planned agenda and “just be,” as Levin describes it.
The main selling point behind every Event Camp is that each one is different in its own unique way.
Conference organizers make decisions such as venue selection, conference format, if there’s a virtual component and the content (unless the organizers follow the peer conference concept in which attendees determine what happens).
“I’ve been to one, they’re all the same,” is not applicable to these conferences. Over the first weekend in November, there were two Event Camp conferences held over the same dates across the globe – Event Camp Vancouver and Event Camp East Coast (also referred to as Event Camp DC due to The National Conference Center’s proximity to the Nation’s Capital).
Event Camp East Coast was a genuine peer conference where the attendees reveal in a round table discussion their area of expertise, what they want to learn during the conference and how they hope to get there. The purpose of a conference like this is to ensure attendees learn what they intended to get out of the conference.
On the first night of Event Camp East Coast, we wrote topics we were interested in learning based on our own interests and expertise. Then, the conference committee established an agenda that was posted on GoogleDocs that night. Sessions included improv for eventprofs, exploring why some events sell out and others don’t, online community management, hybrid events and the impact on attendance and face to face shyness epidemic – making events warming.
For Event Camp Vancouver, the conference ball-game was another story. Their agenda was established prior to the conference and posted on their website, which can be an easier sell for someone when approaching their supervisor about attending. It also helps them set personal expectations prior to arriving.
Vancouver had a virtual component like Event Camp Twin Cities did for attendees who couldn’t attend. The pre-determined sessions at Event Camp Vancouver included the future of hybrid, what does fair trade mean and how do we find it in our sourcing, room for thought, think before you eat, defining yourself and your brand in the age of social media.
Throughout the entire conference, attendees played Get Your Green On, a gaming app based on sustainability that was initially built for GMIC’s 2011 conference; the app presents attendees with green challenges and they can earn as many points as possible by performing different acts of green.
The Room for Thought at Event Camp Vancouver, a green space designed for participants to have a place to reflect and rejuvenate. Photo provided courtesy of Greenscape Design & Decor.
The sessions in Vancouver and in D.C. had differences but prove for an interesting case study.
Session topics at Vancouver were pre-determined while those at D.C. were created on-site, yet there was clear overlap: brain-friendly food for meetings, where we’re going with hybrid and the future as well as improv.
With unique organizers for both Event Camps and unmatched conference formats, it’s fascinating to see perhaps we’re all influencing each other through social media in the #eventprofs community and as a result, we’re interested in similar topics within the industry.
To find out more about Event Camp conferences, visit EventCamp.org.
Thank you to Sarah for writing this post for us! To contact Sarah with questions about these events or the National Conference Center, please call 703-724-6263 or email her at svining@conferencecenter.com.
Oct 31
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners florida hotels, Marriott, meeting experiences, meeting ideas, team building
Do you roll your eyes at the thought of participating in a team building activity, or do they send you into a planning frenzy to find an out of the box activity for your group? 
Us too…until we came across a unique idea from the Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort.
Now your group can participate in a customized flash mob!
Flash mobs have become the latest craze and are popping up everywhere from TV shows like Modern Family and Glee to YouTube videos. (In case you are wondering what a flash mob is, it is a large group of people in a public place who suddenly break out into a synchronized activity, usually a dance).
The reasonably priced packages at the resort range from a choreographer to teach a dance to some or all of a group (maybe the Executive Committee learns a dance to surprise their group!) to inclusion of a videographer and even customized t-shirts.
If the video becomes a viral success, Marriott will even invite the guests back for a free stay!
Interested? Post a comment for more information.
Oct 12
Ashley ChalmersTrade Shows imex, meeting experiences, meeting trends
This week several members of the CP team have headed to Las Vegas for the first ever IMEX America! We can’t wait to hear about all of the networking and learning going on at the event.
Until our staff has time to send us some updates, the IMEX team has shared a few updates with us from the 2020 Fast Future Research session. Director of the study, Rohit Talwar, shared the following popular trends among Gen Y and Gen Z conference attendees:
- short keynotes and breakouts: kept to 15-20 minutes followed by breakout opportunities with the speaker
- action-oriented formats like speed networking and meetings
- more time spent in Q&A with presenter (prefer this to occupy majority of session)
- shorter sessions repeated more frequently
- one-on-one access to creators of new products and services
Are these methods appealing to you as an attendee? As a show organizer, have you incorporated any of these practices into your meetings or do you plan to?
More on IMEX throughout the week!
Aug 03
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows attendee interaction, meeting experiences, meeting ideas
As the meetings industry emerges from the economic downturn, all organizations are putting more focus on strategies to drive attendance and manage costs.
At a Bisnow event held in Washington, DC, four association CEOs offered some of their best ideas in these areas.
The executives who led the session and the ideas they delivered include:
Julie Coons, President & CEO, Electronic Retailing Association
- Build community by driving attendees to the exhibit show floor by offering more activities, food, and networkingthere. Make your meeting space a “cocoon” where members can see everyone.
- Every industry has its rock stars – use them as speakers instead of paying for outside speakers.
Craig Purser, President and CEO, National Beer Wholesalers
- Make sure your meeting focuses on your mission. It should be like a seven-course meal rather than a country buffet – everyone will come away saying they enjoyed a “great meal.” Also, ask members what they want to consume before you set the menu.
- Pay attention to the “next generation customers” in your association and make sure you meet their needs.
Howard Nusbaum, President and CEO, American Resort Development Association
- Set up a “speed dating” session where members (customers) sit in an area of the exhibit hall and give exhibitors a chance to do a series of 10-minute presentations.
- Create “councils” that represent certain segments of individuals and have them plan activities at the meeting to personalize the involvement of members. This is especially useful for trade associations where the organization, not the individual, is the member.
- Associations are like churches and the CEO is like the minister – members are coming to your association to feel better about themselves. You have to give them a spirit of success.
All of them urged attendees to be bold, demonstrate leadership, and not be afraid to “blow up programs” and try new approaches.
Jul 20
Ashley ChalmersNews, Trade Shows ASAE & the Center, meeting experiences, meeting guru, st. louis
Have you seen or heard about The Meeting Guru popping up at event industry functions lately?
What’s he all about? Is he a real meeting guru?
We went straight to the source to find out the scoop.
The guru is an elaborate marketing campaign for St. Louis during the months leading up to the ASAE Annual Meeting, August 6-9, 2011, at the America’s Center® convention complex in St. Louis.
“The inspiration for The Meeting Guru was Michael Scott’s character on the television show The Office,” explains Brian Hall, Chief Marketing Officer for the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission. In the show, Michael Scott plays the role of the boss, who Hall describes as “arrogant and cocky but oblivious to the fact that he is a bumbling idiot. We wanted to create a Michael Scott-like character that people would enjoy laughing at.”
We found The Meeting Guru to be most similar to “Ace Ventura,” one of our favorite Jim Carey characters. His exaggerated body language and eyebrow raise are spot on! (All righty then!)
Yours truly and CP Sales Director Carol Mills had the distinct pleasure of chatting with the Meeting Guru at the Springtime Expo in April
The Meeting Guru has been patrolling the meetings industry, promoting his “book,” The Meeting Guru: The Quintessential Guide to Successful Events.
At every turn, there he is, with a Mr. Spock-style raised eyebrow, an all-knowing smirk and even his own entourage.
“I’ll sign a copy of my book for you at the ASAE Annual Meeting,” he claims, “If there are any left!” (Don’t expect to find any).
In a series of funny videos on The Meeting Guru website under the “Guru Speakers Series” tab, the Guru delivers interesting and useful facts about St. Louis as a meeting destination, amidst a blizzard of half-baked business advice (with PowerPoint) and self-promotional one-liners.
The website also features “Guru Resources” (guess what city they are in) and a “Guru Gift Shop” (most items are “sold out”).
The website also claims that The Meeting Guru “has held event planner positions on 6 of the 7 continents.” But Hall insists “he has only planned meetings here in St. Louis because he knows better!”
“Thousands of people have visited the website and checked out the videos,” Hall adds. “The number of people who have clicked the social media sites has been really encouraging. People enjoyed the joke and thought the antics of The Meeting Guru were very entertaining. We wanted to find a way to get people’s attention in an unconventional way and put a smile on their faces.”
Hall says that in the St. Louis booth at the ASAE Annual Meeting the meeting planner wannabe will “meet with the real meeting gurus of St. Louis who are members of our Customer Advisory Group.” Together they will explain to attendees what makes St. Louis a great place to hold meetings and events.
Hall says that in real life, The Meeting Guru is an accomplished St. Louis-based actor who has appeared on television network programs.
Click here to learn more about St. Louis. “It’s cosmo without the clutter,” according to the Guru.
And, if you’re attending the Annual Meeting, be on the lookout for ConventionPlanit.com team members Maureen Pickell (a frequent blog contributor), Julie Roberts and Al Rickard at Booth #2421.
Jun 08
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners meeting experiences, meeting ideas, meeting planner feedback, prezi, technology, Tips for Meeting Planners
So, exactly what is a “Prezi?” 
We first heard about it after a member of the ConventionPlanit.com Meeting Professionals Advisory Council told us that it was one of the hot things for 2011.
It does have a cool name…and it’s free… so we thought we’d give you the lowdown.
But first, we want to clue you in on what a Prezi is NOT:
- It’s not what you call your boss or the head of your association who carries the title of “President.”
- It’s not a new device like an iPad or a Droid – although you can view a Prezi on a device like that.
- It’s not a phrase you utter in anger when something bad happens at your meeting.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, here’s the deal: A Prezi allows you to “create astonishing presentations live and on the web,” according to www.prezi.com. The website also talked about “stunning” presentations, so it got our attention.
Basically, it frees up your creative mind when you’re building a presentation, because it allows more flexibility than traditional PowerPoint presentations, and even has zoom-in and zoom-out features to examine details or view the big picture.
There’s a creative presentation online called “How to create a great Prezi” that offers a quick look at the possibilities. So we encourage you to check it out.
We even created a quick Prezi on “How We Made the ConventionPlanit Flash Back to the Future Video.” You may like that one too. It was fun and took less than an hour to create. So try one yourself and see what you think.
Like anything else in life, a basic version of the Prezi software is free, and it costs money to upgrade the capabilities. But the upgrade cost is reasonable. We’re not even getting a commission for telling you all this.
Have you created or viewed a Prezi? What did you think?
Apr 13
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners attendee interaction, Event Industry Networking, meeting experiences, team building, unique activities
Guest post – provided courtesy of AmEx OPEN Forum and written by Katie Morell.
Ahh, team building. These two words produce feelings of dread in many employees and bring up images of ropes courses and awkward renditions of Kumbaya around a fire pit.
Back when I lived in San Francisco, I worked for a company that was obsessed with team building. Instead of going to a ropes course, we went to a climbing gym. Even though I found it pretty fun, many of my co-workers did not like the idea of dangling from ropes while everyone looked at their backsides. These individuals bowed out of the activity and stood in the corner pouting…not much ‘team’ building happened that day.
Next, we went to a nature preserve. This time I was uncomfortable. I already have a difficult time with the concept of zoos—I’d rather just watch lions and tigers on Animal Planet. But on this particular day, I remember riding in an open-air wagon and staring into the eyes of a 1,200-pound water buffalo. Mrs. Buffalo was sitting less than 10 feet away from me and there was nothing but air separating us. I recoiled and urged the driver to go faster. I don’t exactly remember much ‘team’ building with that experience either, seeing that it took me about 30 minutes to calm down from my near-death experience.
So how do you plan an event that will cater to your entire team?
According to Kate Nasser, a.k.a. ‘The People-Skills Coach’ and president of CAS, Inc., a consultancy for corporations, governments and mid-sized businesses based in Summerville, New Jersey, it is important to determine an objective before diving into a team-building activity.
“Team building can be fun and boost morale,” she says. “It can also be designed to help address a work or communication problem.”
‘Fun’ team building
If you want your activity to strengthen bonds between employees, ask them what they want to do, suggests Nasser. “Expect that you will get diverse views, but know that they will be more engaged if the activity represents their definition of fun.”
Ropes courses and water buffalo aside, my former employer did execute one effective team-building activity. The objective was to strengthen bonds with our organization and it worked…and cost nothing.
We all crowded into a conference room and in the middle of a table sat a stack of index cards. We were instructed to tape one index card to each other’s backs and grab a pen. For the next 20 minutes, we rotated from person to person, writing something nice about them on their index card.
At the end, we all reached around and grabbed our cards to see more than 20 positive messages about ourselves. I hung mine on my bulletin board and so did many of my colleagues.
Nasser recommends going to a bowling alley and breaking up into teams. “It is easy and cheap—just make sure to bring small prizes to make it even more fun,” she suggests, adding that books such as Team Games for Trainers and The Big Book of Team Building Games are also filled with ideas.
‘Problem solving’ team building
If there are problems within a team, first sit down with employees individually to find out what they would like changed, Nasser recommends.
“Hold conversations with the promise of confidentiality,” she says. “Most teamwork problems are rooted in a lack of respect for diversity or communication problems.”
If respect is the issue, Nasser recommends this exercise: Have each person bring a photo of themselves doing something they love—something that reflects who they are as a person. Then, go around the table and have each person explain why the photo makes them happy or proud. “Make sure these are not work-related photos,” she says.
Play 20 questions—after someone describes their photo, give each person around the table the opportunity to ask for more information. At the end, “people will be talking to each other like human beings—this works really well.”
Another option is to instruct each member of your team to take a personality indicator test. “I recommend the Keirsey Temperament tests,” Nasser says. “Everyone can take the test, print off the results, and bring it to a team building meeting. Then everyone can guess each other’s type. It is a very insightful exercise.”
Once finished, participants then list one or two effective ways others can communicate with them. “To make it really fun, print up a sign for your desk that alerts others on how to communicate with you. For example, mine would be ‘Give me the big picture and get to the point.’”
Mar 18
maureen-pickellMember News, Trade Shows meeting education, meeting experiences
Again sticking close to home, your traveling ConventionPlanit.com Blogger headed down the mountain from Breckenridge on 3/16 to attend the Meetings Industry Council of Colorado Educational Conference and Trade Show in Denver.
Instead of getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day, an enthusiastic audience of over 700 planners and suppliers convened to find new and innovative ways to get the business of meetings done.
The Denver Convention Center did a great job of welcoming the group with a tasty continental breakfast and a perfect climate controlled environment…not too hot or too cold. Other Centers with break out rooms approaching the temperature necessary to cure meat could take a lesson!
Educational sessions covered topics such as the Meetings Industry: State of the Economy, The Power of Service – How to Provide Customer Service that Rocks! and Mastering Magical Persuasion. (Check out a future e-Alert for more on this subject.)
ConventionPlanit.com Colorado members Denver CVB, Colorado Springs CVB, Lowes Denver Hotel, and the Keystone Resort & Conference Center exhibited while the Anchorage CVB sponsored a Massage Therapist to help ease the strain of viewing over 120 booths on the trade show floor.
All in all, the one day event was an enervating mix of education and networking that had everyone departing on a “Rocky Mountain High!”
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