Jan 12
maureen-pickellTrade Shows meeting experiences, meeting industry, pcma
Well gang, how did we do with yesterday’s quiz? Here are the answers:
| The event industry is the 2nd highest generator of waste today. |
Using Technology for Green Events |
| Women now outnumber men in the workplace for the first time in history. |
Opening General Session: Tightrope to the Top; Learning the Language of Success |
| Over 40 countries are in attendance at the PCMA “Convening Leaders” Conference. |
Opening Session: Configuration of PCMA Meeting Attendees |
| Six factors that a local partner can help contribute to a successful global conference: political, reach, scientific, legacy, emotional, and financial. |
Global Meetings: The Benefits of Working with a PCO |
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Your intrepid Blogger is getting a big dizzy dodging the slot machines set up in all the Vegas hotel lobbies…yesterday’s events had me running the “gambling gauntlet” between the MGM Grand, the Bellagio and the Venetian Palazzo (all CP.com members).
It began with a General Session that awakened the audience by introducing Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. Tony’s riveting presentation focused on the customer experience that has made his company a successful distributor of shoes, clothing and happiness. Zappo’s is so customer focused that one service call (that’s right…the customer actually got a live person on the phone!) lasted 8 hours and 23 minutes.
The next session showcased a panel of hotel, airline and meeting planner experts giving examples of how to overcome market constraints for meeting success in a still weakened economy.
Some great ideas were shared with the audience – with Christie Hicks from Starwood Hotels Worldwide mimiking the airlines as she joked about unbundling the hotel experience by providing the bed at a low price, but charging extra for the sheets!
A delicious lunch was sponsored by ConventionPanit.com member – the Mexico Tourism Board – and dessert was
accompanied by a panel discussion by top industry leaders on 2011 Srategies and Vision. While these experts from PCMA, MPI, ASAE, USTA and Maritz gave us insights into where the future of meetings is heading over the course of next year…they were almost upstaged by a group of 6 students in the fields of hospitality, events and tourism who spoke in the next session – Generation Y Looks to the Future.
This panel of bright, articulate and enthusiastic aspiring professionals will be using technology to plan and extend the life of their events – but will insist on face to face meetings as a more beneficial way to learn and network.
Here is a note to our supplier members…Gen Y will not be responding to standard advertising, but instead will go online to do their business when the time is right. So you are using the best vehicle available (online advertising) to approach this market!
Then it was off to The Bellagio for the International Reception sponsored by Tourism Ireland. If it’s one thing the Irish know how to do it’s combine the elements of business and enjoyment that gave planners more than a hint of what staging an event in Ireland would be like!
Finally, the day ended with a Networking reception at the Venetian Palazzo Resort Hotel & Casino. Held outside on the pool deck, attendees braved chilly weather (no dry heat in Vegas in January!) to sample culinary delights and unique entertainment.
The pool deck!
Today “PCMA Convening Leaders” merges with the “Virtual Edge Summit”…more to come then!
Dec 22
Ashley ChalmersMember News Awards, Hilton, Marriott, meeting experiences
Congratulations to ConventionPlanit.com members The Hilton Anatole and the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront for receiving this year’s Meetings & Conventions magazine Gold Key Award!
These hotels strive for perfection in hosting events or conferences. These properties’ efforts deserve industry recognition for their professionalism, and meeting planners have answered the call by voting them Gold Key recipients.
What hotels would receive your vote this year?
Nov 04
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows crisis management, meeting experiences, meeting safety
A blizzard shuts down transportation routes across the nation, stranding attendees and exhibitors in distant cities as a convention is scheduled to begin.
A shuttle bus runs over and kills an attendee in front of a hotel.
A bomb threat empties a convention center in the midst of the busiest day of a major tradeshow.
These and other crises can wreak havoc on any type of meeting planned by an association or corporation. Even worse, meeting-related crises occur at a time when staff and volunteer leaders are already stretched to the limit with onsite responsibilities.
How does an organization respond?
Al Rickard, CAE, president of Association Vision, a Washington, DC-area communications company offers this meeting-specific crisis advice:
• Anticipate that a crisis may occur and designate a high-level executive to lead the response. Develop a plan to delegate this person’s meeting-related duties to others if needed.
• Bring the crisis management plan with you in hard copy and electronic formats and make sure key staff and volunteer leaders have a copy. Review the plan briefly before leaving for the meeting.
• Create a local media list for the city where the meeting will be held so you can quickly send them information if needed. While you’re at it, update your trade press media list. Have them loaded and ready to use on a moment’s notice.
• Create a master list of contact information for all onsite staff and top volunteer leaders, including cell phone numbers, emails, hotel information, and onsite schedules.
• Locate the nearest emergency facilities to your meeting, including a hospital, fire station, and police station and have their contact information readily available. Make sure contact information for key staff at the meeting facility and all official meeting hotels is also available.
• Develop a plan for quickly communicating with all attendees if necessary, even if they are not at the meeting facility. Twitter and Facebook can be very useful tools as long as attendees know to consult these sites to check for news and updates. Broadcast emails can be used, and hotels can also place messages on room phones.
• Identify and brief a few staff who are not at the meeting on the crisis management plan and provide them with all critical information. They can be valuable assets in a crisis since they can work remotely away from the crisis scene.
• Take advantage of having your top leaders together in one place and meet as needed to develop response strategies. But make sure you designate a single spokesperson.
What crisis prevention strategies do you use for your meetings? Have you encountered a crisis at a meeting? How did you or the organizers react?
Nov 02
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners Event Industry Networking, meeting experiences, meeting planner feedback, meeting planner help
It’s a general consensus that networking is essential in the meetings industry…
…it’s the value-added aspect to a meeting that attracts attendees – and helps them build relationships outside the formal education sessions.
But networking is mainly for extroverts, right?
Not always.
Plenty of people are introverts (including lots of people in the meetings industry), and can network successfully – with the right strategies.
Vinay Kumar, a self-described introvert and first-generation immigrant from India, has written about the ways he has successfully leveraged networking to get ahead in the association community.
He runs Vinay Kumar Associates, a firm focused on helping small businesses & associations increase profits and productivity.
His mission is to help build healthy businesses and healthy relationships.
“Lacking the gift of the gab, I am poor at making small talk,” Kumar says.
“If you were to look up the words quiet, dull, and boring in Webster’s, you’ll probably find my picture right next to them. Furthermore, being on the quiet side, one of my biggest fears in taking a client out to lunch is what if we have total silence and I don’t know what to say. Yikes! Talk about sending chills up my spine!”
He offers these tips to fellow introverts:
1. Be clear on what’s comforting to you.
If you don’t like hanging out at the bar, then don’t take your clients there. Your discomfort will come through.
Also, I only ask individuals out to lunch with whom I am comfortable. If I do have to take someone out to lunch and I have a strong feeling it’ll be uncomfortable, I’ll ask a colleague to join me, someone whom I feel will get along well with the client.
2. Plan something unique and memorable.
When I discover someone likes Indian food, I’ll often take ‘em to some hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant that sells tasty Indian cooking, a place a non-Indian would probably never discover or go on their own.
3. Always be on the lookout for your client’s challenges – professional and personal.
Over 15 years ago, one of my clients had adopted a daughter from overseas who was having trouble learning English. Once I understood the challenge, I realized it’s very similar to what my daughter had faced. To help her learn, we had purchased a series of cassettes, which had helped her immensely. As my daughter didn’t need them anymore, I hand delivered them to my client, and they helped her daughter immensely, too.
Today, even after all these years, every time I run into this client, she makes it a point to update me on her daughter’s progress and thanks me for the tapes. She still remembers. I feel happy that I made a difference, and it’s been good business too.
4. Send hand written thank you cards by snail mail.
They are so rare these days, making them even more special. In today’s time where nearly everything seems to quickly become a commodity, standing out from the crowd becomes an increasing challenge. Sending out handwritten cards helps you stand apart and makes you memorable.
5. Send information that will be of interest to your clients.
By snail mail whenever possible and with a short handwritten note saying something like, “Hey Myron, thought this might be of interest to you – Vinay.”
It demonstrates to clients you’re thinking of them, which you are. By the way, this doesn’t have to be just business-oriented. It can be of a personal nature also.
The key is to be authentic and from the heart.
6. Send white papers and articles that you have written.
If you haven’t written any, I urge you to do so.
It’s one of our top-secret weapons to sales success, especially for us introverts. In the end, no matter how much you and the client like each other, the client has to find business value in the relationship.
Of course, many such relationships turn into lifelong friendships. First, however, is providing the business value. By sending out such materials that you have written, you are positioning yourself as the expert in the field, and that’s something we introverts do so well. So leverage it to the max.
“Look, my fellow introverts, we may not be the life of the party,” Kumar says. “We may not be the ones going to games screaming for our teams, and we may not be the ones who can easily ‘wow’ folks at a gathering.
But when people know you can help solve their problems, that they can count on you, that you’ll take the time to truly listen, they’ll be heard, and you take the time understand their challenges and then help them solve them, you’ll be well on your way to making your relationships strong, baseball tickets or not.
The key to success is to continually add value to other’s lives. As you do that, many will do the same for you. That’s the key to success and fulfillment.”
Are you an introvert? What are some of your personal networking strategies?
Oct 28
Ashley ChalmersTrade Shows meeting experiences, meetings quest
Not even the severe weather in the Mid-West earlier this week could keep meeting planners from attending the Meetings Quest Minneapolis Show…
…and from visiting their favorite search engine, of course.
Despite the windy weather, ConventionPlanit.com’s Maureen Pickell had a busy booth at the show and met lots of friendly meeting planners.
They were blown away with the ease and usefulness of ConventionPlanit.com!
Next up on the tradeshow circuit for ConventionPlanit.com is Meetings Quest Chicago on November 16. Let’s hope Mother Nature cooperates with everyone’s travel plans!
Aug 23
maureen-pickellTrade Shows ASAE & the Center, Event Industry Networking, meeting experiences
Los Angeles provided a warm welcome for delegates attending the ASAE the Center for Association Leadership’s Annual Meeting & Exposition…84 degrees and sun for Saturday and a perfect evening for the outdoor opening reception at L.A. Live. If you weren’t impressed by the delicious food prepared by Wolfgang Puck, the exuberant concert by Melissa Etheridge should have “rocked your socks off!”
Yesterday, I was accompanied by ConventionPlanit.com’s Julie on the trade show floor. We shared the floor with supplier partners such as the Anchorage CVB, the Mexican Tourism Board, the Detroit and Memphis CVBs and American, Continental and Delta Airlines among others. With extended hours and one fewer day for the Expo, planners and suppliers were making the most of this opportunity to connect.
More information to come as the expo continues!
Jun 28
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners ASAE & the Center, meeting experiences, meeting ideas, Trade Shows
Need some creative ideas for public relations at your next convention or tradeshow? The ASAE Greater Washington Network recently held a PR Idea Swap at ASAE headquarters in Washington, DC, with content and planning provided by the ASAE Communication Section Council.
One of the table discussions during the event focused on convention and tradeshow public relations. Here are some of the ideas that participants offered:
• An association of builders held a live building competition on its tradeshow floor as a way to generate interest from the media. Held over several days and complete with awards for the best design, the building competition was a draw to the show floor and allowed the association to highlight the art of the profession.
• A special exhibit sponsored by the host association can generate interest in a tradeshow. For example, the association of builders arranged to borrow a well-known exhibit that had appeared in the National Building Museum for display in its exhibit hall.
• Special displays can help attract media attention. For example, SNAXPO, the tradeshow of the Snack Food Association, featured a display of the newest and most innovative snack foods, which is always a popular draw for members of the media. The display helps reporters by showcasing the latest trends in the snack food industry.
• Another creative way to generate publicity around a convention is to utilize a captivating theme for the convention as it relates to the organization. For example, an association of funeral homes built its convention theme one year around “Survivor.”
• A national association of museums generates PR by partnering with local museums in the cities in which it holds its annual convention. The local museums often have already developed relationships with the local media, and the national convention gives the local museums a chance to hook in reporters to a broader conversation about museums, while drawing positive attention to their own museums.
• Create something unusual and attention-getting on the exhibit floor – The American Industrial Hygiene Association built a “mock meth lab” in its tradeshow to demonstrate the health and safety hazards associated with meth labs and the role of industrial hygienists in dealing with these dangers after the labs are shut down. It attracted lots of media attention. On another occasion AIHA got CNN to feature a “mold dog” from one of its exhibitors, since industrial hygienists diagnose mold problems. The dog actually searched out mold in a television studio live on CNN.
What are some of your own creative PR ideas?
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!
Jun 02
maureen-pickellNews, Trade Shows imex, meeting education, meeting experiences, meeting industry, overseas meetings
I have successfully returned from Frankfurt, but before jetting off to my next destination, I had to share some experiences from the remainder of IMEX from last week!
The Berlin Convention Bureau hosted the ConventionPlanit.com group with a breakfast and presentation. Fresh from being named the 4th most popular association meeting destination by ICCA, Heike Mahmoud took us on a slide and video tour of this exciting city. And the breakfast buffet stoked the group for a day of appointments! Vielin Dank to Berlin!!
The IMEX Daily newspaper featured an article entitled “Response time guarantee ends planners call backs” highlighting the ConventionPlanit.com 24 Hour Guarantee for RFP’s submitted to Caribbean and North American properties. And IMEX attendees actually read this Show Daily!
The first day on the trade show floor started off with the Ovation Global team giving the ConventionPlanit.com group a geography lesson based on the locations of their DMC portfolio members, and it ended with a clever game of Concentration in which the Switzerland Convention Bureau challenging our group members with matching tiles highlighting Swiss venues and events. In between we were educated by Malaysia and feted by Singapore – Singapore Slings being their traditional way to end a hectic day!
Speaking of which, Atout France (French Government Tourist Office) helped to revive our intrepid planners with their famous wine, cheese, pate and some German beer thrown in for good measure at their annual first night event. A sudden shower refused to dampen spirits at the outdoor gathering and all the French partners are to be commended for spreading around their special brand of joie de vivre!
IMEX Wrap-Up to come…
Mme. Blogger
May 24
maureen-pickellTrade Shows imex, meeting attendance, meeting experiences, meeting industry
Greetings from Sunny, Warm Frankfurt! Your intrepid ConventionPlanit.com Blogger arrived today to be ready to welcome our 16 hosted buyers to the IMEX 2010 Extravaganza!
Lufthansa provided their usual fine service, hampered only by wind shear issues that delayed the departure. At least volcanic ash wasn’t the culprit!
Beginning tomorrow with Association Day, our planners will be educated and entertained by suppliers from around the world for three days. Thanks go out to Stephanie Kreps, ConventionPlanit.com Marketing Coordinator Extraordinaire, for handing all the arrangements for the Group.
I’ll be busy setting up the CP stand and preparing for the Meet & Greet Reception at the Maritim Hotel.
Looking forward to a great week..more to come!
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