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INSERT INTO `wp_posts` VALUES (7,1,'2015-10-13 15:45:41','2015-10-13 15:45:41','[mk_page_section bg_color=\"#ffffff\" border_color=\"#ffffff\" full_width=\"true\" padding_top=\"0\" padding_bottom=\"0\" top_shape_color=\"#ffffff\" bottom_shape_color=\"#ffffff\" sidebar=\"sidebar-1\"][vc_column border_color=\"#ffffff\" css=\".vc_custom_1473177697729{margin: 10px !important;}\"][mk_layerslider id=\"7\"][/vc_column][/mk_page_section][mk_page_section bg_color=\"#ffffff\" sidebar=\"sidebar-1\"][vc_column width=\"2/3\"][mk_fancy_title tag_name=\"h1\" color=\"#d6a461\" size=\"30\" line_height=\"97\" font_weight=\"bold\" txt_transform=\"none\" margin_top=\"30\" margin_bottom=\"6\" font_family=\"Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua, Palatino, serif\" font_type=\"safefont\"]MAKE YOUR VISION A REALITY[/mk_fancy_title][vc_column_text css=\".vc_custom_1516503168238{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}\"]Strategic Meetings &amp; Events produces goal driven, corporate events that integrate your company\'s sales and marketing message into every aspect of the program. We create experiences that leave your target audience thinking, feeling and remembering the information that is most important to you. With a worldwide scope and an infinite amount of talent, creativity and energy, SME is a global corporate event management company that redefines excellence in everything we do.\r\n\r\nSupporting your sales goals with corporate events is so much more than executing logistics or hosting the same sales meeting or incentive trip year after year. Our strategic planning experts will take your vision and build a comprehensive plan to achieve your goals, drive your sales cycle and make your programs more cost efficient. And we’re told that we are delightful to work with. How great is that?[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider size=\"10\"][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" color=\"#211551\" size=\"25\" font_weight=\"bold\" margin_top=\"30\" margin_bottom=\"6\" font_family=\"none\"]\r\n<h2>Discover Strategic Meetings &amp; Events</h2>\r\n[/mk_fancy_title][vc_column_text css=\".vc_custom_1517941052491{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}\"]\r\n\r\n[gallery size=\"full\" mobx_row_height=\"600\" link=\"file\" ids=\"10100\"]\r\n\r\n[/vc_column_text][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" color=\"#211551\" size=\"25\" font_weight=\"bold\" margin_top=\"30\" margin_bottom=\"6\" font_family=\"none\"]\r\n<h2>Comprehensive Corporate Event Management</h2>\r\n[/mk_fancy_title][vc_column_text]Strategic Meetings &amp; Events professional planning experts become your extended team. Our sole focus is your success, specifically as you define it. The process is often filled with long hours, a myriad of changes and tons of pressure. Why not work with a team who thinks of everything, tracks the details, manages your spend and keeps you smiling even when you’re exhausted?[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text align=\"center\" animation=\"fade-in\"]\r\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https://strategic.events/category/news-flash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">News Flash</a></h2>\r\n[/vc_column_text][mk_blog style=\"grid\" column=\"1\" image_size=\"full\" post_count=\"3\" disable_meta=\"false\" pagination=\"false\" cat=\"493\"][/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1/3\"][mk_padding_divider size=\"30\"][mk_social_networks size=\"medium\" style=\"simple-rounded\" border_color=\"#000050\" bg_color=\"#000050\" bg_hover_color=\"#ffffff\" icon_color=\"#ffffff\" icon_hover_color=\"#000050\" align=\"center\" facebook=\"https://www.facebook.com/StrategicMeetingsEvents\" twitter=\"https://twitter.com/SME_Events\" pinterest=\"https://www.pinterest.com/strategicmeetingsevents/\" instagram=\"https://www.instagram.com/strategic.events/\" linkedin=\"https://www.linkedin.com/company/strategic-meetings-&amp;-events\" youtube=\"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsuJ-F1Ot1zSc1ccpj_DzXA\"][vc_wp_search][vc_separator][mk_padding_divider size=\"15\"][vc_single_image image=\"1125\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" onclick=\"custom_link\" img_link_target=\"_blank\" css_animation=\"appear\" link=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-meetings-events-global-corporate-event-management/tastebuzz/\"][mk_blog style=\"grid\" column=\"1\" image_size=\"medium\" post_count=\"1\" excerpt_length=\"0\" pagination=\"false\" cat=\"40\"][vc_single_image image=\"10091\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" onclick=\"custom_link\" img_link_target=\"_blank\" link=\"https://strategic.events/sme-social-media-channels-connect/\"][vc_column_text css=\".vc_custom_1518218071438{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}\"]\r\n\r\n[gallery link=\"file\" size=\"full\" mobx_row_height=\"400\" ids=\"10130\"]\r\n\r\n[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider size=\"60\"][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=\".vc_custom_1518027141126{background-color: #211551 !important;}\"][mk_fancy_title color=\"#ffffff\" size=\"28\" margin_bottom=\"0\" font_family=\"none\" align=\"center\"]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\"><a style=\"color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-planning-movement-social-media-groups/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Strategic Planning</a></span>\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/join-the-strategic-planning-movement/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Movement</span></a></p>\r\n[/mk_fancy_title][vc_column_text align=\"center\" css=\".vc_custom_1523482712231{margin-bottom: 0px !important;padding-right: 5px !important;padding-left: 5px !important;}\"]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https://strategic.events/join-the-strategic-planning-movement/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">The Strategic Planning Movement\'s goal is to help the event industry and its dedicated professionals to evolve into a more sophisticated form of planner; specifically, strategic planners.</span></a></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https://strategic.events/join-the-strategic-planning-movement/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Without this change, we will continue\r\nto exist in the darkness of the misconceptions around what we do, why events are held and our perceived value. By banding together and becoming strategic in our professional vision, brand and goals, we create the pathway to a brighter future, elevating the way we are perceived, illuminating the power of strategic events and the critical role\r\nwe play in their creation.</span></a></p>\r\n[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=\"1/2\" css=\".vc_custom_1518027164805{background-color: #211551 !important;}\"][vc_single_image image=\"10157\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" onclick=\"custom_link\" img_link_target=\"_blank\" link=\"https://www.facebook.com/groups/740077079531864/\"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=\"1/2\" css=\".vc_custom_1518027173263{background-color: #211551 !important;}\"][vc_single_image image=\"10156\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" onclick=\"custom_link\" img_link_target=\"_blank\" link=\"https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8652469\"][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=\"40px\"][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" tag_name=\"h5\" color=\"#211551\" size=\"25\" margin_bottom=\"0\" font_family=\"Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua, Palatino, serif\" font_type=\"safefont\" align=\"center\"]Sign up for SME\'s News Flash[/mk_fancy_title][mk_subscribe placeholder_text=\"Email Address\" button_text=\"GET UPDATES\" list_id=\"4d28f79a44\" space_between=\"2\" subscribe_size=\"medium\" btn_bg_color=\"#211551\" btn_text_color=\"#ffffff\" btn_border_width=\"0\" btn_border_color=\"#211551\" input_bg_color=\"#ffffff\" input_placeholder_color=\"#211551\" input_border_width=\"0\" input_border_color=\"#211551\" btn_hover_bg_color=\"#ffffff\" btn_hover_text_color=\"#211551\" btn_hover_border_color=\"#211551\" input_focus_bg_color=\"#211551\" input_focus_placeholder_color=\"#ffffff\"][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" tag_name=\"h5\" color=\"#211551\" size=\"25\" margin_bottom=\"0\" font_family=\"Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua, Palatino, serif\" font_type=\"safefont\" align=\"center\"]RSS Feeds[/mk_fancy_title][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" tag_name=\"h6\" size=\"20\" font_weight=\"bold\" margin_bottom=\"0\" font_family=\"Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua, Palatino, serif\" font_type=\"safefont\" responsive_align=\"left\"][category_specific_rss_menu][/mk_fancy_title][/vc_column][/mk_page_section][vc_row fullwidth=\"true\" css=\".vc_custom_1469113826042{background-color: #211551 !important;}\"][vc_column][mk_button dimension=\"flat\" size=\"large\" url=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-meetings-events-global-corporate-event-management/contact-strategic-meetings-events/\" target=\"_blank\" align=\"center\" fullwidth=\"true\" margin_bottom=\"6\" margin_right=\"0\" bg_color=\"#211551\" btn_hover_bg=\"#d6a461\" btn_hover_txt_color=\"#211551\" action=\"``mailto:Christy.Lamagna@strategic.events``\" type=\"``submit``\" value=\"``Send\"]Contact us to discover the perfect fit for your company’s event goals.[/mk_button][/vc_column][/vc_row]','Strategic Meetings & Events | Global Corporate Event Management','','publish','closed','closed','','strategic-meetings-events-global-corporate-event-management','','','2018-04-20 18:15:01','2018-04-20 18:15:01','',0,'https://strategic.events/?page_id=7',0,'page','',0),(11,1,'2015-10-13 15:46:05','2015-10-13 15:46:05','[mk_page_section bg_color=\"#211551\" bg_stretch=\"true\" min_height=\"20\" padding_top=\"0\" padding_bottom=\"0\" sidebar=\"sidebar-1\"][vc_column][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" tag_name=\"h1\" color=\"#d6a461\" size=\"25\" line_height=\"50\" margin_top=\"20\" margin_bottom=\"0\" font_family=\"Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua, Palatino, serif\" font_type=\"safefont\" align=\"right\"]WHAT WE DO - MASTERMIND YOUR CORPORATE MEETINGS MANAGEMENT[/mk_fancy_title][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" color=\"#ffffff\" size=\"12\" line_height=\"50\" letter_spacing=\"2\" margin_bottom=\"0\" font_family=\"Open+Sans\" font_type=\"google\" align=\"right\"]HOME &gt;&gt; WHAT WE DO[/mk_fancy_title][/vc_column][/mk_page_section][vc_row][vc_column width=\"1/2\"][vc_empty_space height=\"48px\"][vc_single_image image=\"7952\" img_size=\"450x224\"][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" color=\"#211551\" size=\"25\" font_weight=\"bold\" margin_top=\"30\" margin_bottom=\"6\" font_family=\"none\"]\r\n<h2>Our International Areas Of Expertise Include:</h2>\r\n[/mk_fancy_title][mk_image src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Logistic-Grid_v3.png\" image_size=\"full\" lightbox=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"][vc_empty_space height=\"16px\"][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" color=\"#1d1848\" size=\"25\" font_weight=\"bold\" margin_top=\"30\" margin_bottom=\"6\" font_family=\"none\"]\r\n<h2>Professional Corporate Meeting &amp; Event Strategists</h2>\r\n[/mk_fancy_title][vc_column_text css=\".vc_custom_1516717811974{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}\"]Many plan. Few are experts. Our team has spent decades perfecting our craft, earning global recognition and accolades. The <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-meetings-events-global-corporate-event-management/event-strategists-team/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SME Team</a> has earned the highest certifications in the meeting, event and tradeshow industry; not because anyone asked us to, but because nothing except excellence meets our standards.\r\n\r\nOur certifications include:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)</li>\r\n 	<li>Certification in Meeting Management (CMM)</li>\r\n 	<li>Certified Tradeshow Marketer (CTSM)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=\"1/3\"][vc_single_image image=\"1928\" img_size=\"100x83\" alignment=\"center\"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=\"1/3\"][vc_single_image image=\"1927\" img_size=\"100x51\" alignment=\"center\" css=\".vc_custom_1473181400172{margin-top: 13px !important;margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 10px !important;margin-left: 10px !important;}\"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=\"1/3\"][vc_single_image image=\"1926\" img_size=\"100x100\" alignment=\"center\"][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]\r\n<h5><em>*Global certification in meeting management is designed for meeting planners and suppliers with 10 or more years of experience that want to be recognized as strategic contributors to the bottom-line of their organizations.</em></h5>\r\n[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1/2\"][vc_empty_space height=\"48px\"][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" color=\"#1d1848\" size=\"25\" font_weight=\"bold\" margin_top=\"30\" margin_bottom=\"6\" font_family=\"none\"]\r\n<h2>Full-Service Strategic Event Planning\r\nThat Achieves Your Goals</h2>\r\n[/mk_fancy_title][vc_column_text css=\".vc_custom_1516809609581{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}\"]Are your events helping drive business and shaping behavior?\r\n\r\nWhat if we told you we had a tool that would shorten your organization’s sales cycle, accelerate sales and influence what people thought, said and did? What if that tool was LESS expensive than methods you are already employing?\r\n\r\nHosting a meeting can be a costly and intensely time-consuming proposition. Organizing and producing corporate meetings.  The Strategic Meetings &amp; Events team of master strategists, cost-effectively executes world-class programs that are not only supportive of your business strategy, but ultimately turn your event budget into a business investment.\r\n\r\nWith SME at the helm, your global events will support and accelerate your business strategy, motivate your audience and create action-inspiring experiences designed to deliver returns by realizing your distinctive goals.[/vc_column_text][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" color=\"#1d1848\" size=\"25\" font_weight=\"bold\" margin_top=\"30\" margin_bottom=\"6\" font_family=\"none\"]How We Do It:[/mk_fancy_title][vc_column_text css=\".vc_custom_1516809790178{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}\"]We add value to every event we produce through our industry experience, partnerships and expertise.  Our negotiation acumen has saved clients hundreds of thousands of dollars – one client saved over $500,000 in one contract alone.  We partner with the most ethical and professional of vendors, leveraging our total client spend across our global network of hotels, venues, production companies, designers, and more to imbue our clients’ programs with economies of scale and a caliber of professionalism beyond what they could achieve alone.[/vc_column_text][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" color=\"#1d1848\" size=\"25\" font_weight=\"bold\" margin_top=\"30\" margin_bottom=\"6\" font_family=\"none\"]Holistic Approach To Communication:[/mk_fancy_title][vc_column_text css=\".vc_custom_1516809825508{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}\"]We view global events as a part of an ongoing process, as opposed to an annual occurrence. We create a continuous communication plan that will engage attendees, build relationships, collect relevant data and ultimately shape conference content. That means the audience will respond to your messaging and shifts in behavior will begin. If you want results, you have to inspire the change you want to see.\r\n\r\nThe process continues after the event when impressions and attendee attitudes are collected, and conference based learning is assessed. From there, key points continue to be communicated, actions measured and strategies to shape the following year’s messaging. The result is an alignment of your corporate meetings and your business strategy.[/vc_column_text][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" color=\"#1d1848\" size=\"25\" font_weight=\"bold\" margin_top=\"30\" margin_bottom=\"6\" font_family=\"none\"]The Bottom Line: Mastermind Your Corporate Meetings Management[/mk_fancy_title][vc_column_text css=\".vc_custom_1516848114372{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}\"]Clients who partner with us are able to transform their global events from expenditures into returns. Our <a href=\"https://strategic.events/essential-pillars-strategic-meetings/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strategic</a> vision and expertise translates into dollars saved, and quantifiable results. With SME’s strategic planning formula, your corporate meetings deliver, year-round.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=\"1/6\"][/vc_column][vc_column width=\"2/3\"][mk_padding_divider][vc_images_carousel images=\"7521,7522,7523,7524,7525,7526,7527,7528,7529,7530,7531,7532,7534,7535,7537,7538,7540,7544,7542,7543\" img_size=\"full\" autoplay=\"yes\" wrap=\"yes\" css=\".vc_custom_1507140165655{border-top-width: 3px !important;border-right-width: 3px !important;border-bottom-width: 3px !important;border-left-width: 3px !important;border-left-color: #211551 !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #211551 !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-top-color: #211551 !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #211551 !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;border-radius: 3px !important;}\"][/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1/6\"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][mk_padding_divider][mk_fancy_title font_family=\"none\"]\r\n<h3>Recognized By:</h3>\r\n[/mk_fancy_title][wonderplugin_carousel id=\"6\"][mk_padding_divider][mk_social_networks size=\"medium\" style=\"simple-rounded\" border_color=\"#000050\" bg_color=\"#000050\" bg_hover_color=\"#ffffff\" icon_color=\"#ffffff\" icon_hover_color=\"#000050\" align=\"center\" facebook=\"https://www.facebook.com/StrategicMeetingsEvents\" twitter=\"https://twitter.com/SME_Events\" pinterest=\"https://www.pinterest.com/strategicmeetingsevents/\" instagram=\"https://www.instagram.com/strategic.events/\" linkedin=\"https://www.linkedin.com/company/strategic-meetings-&amp;-events\" youtube=\"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsuJ-F1Ot1zSc1ccpj_DzXA\"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row fullwidth=\"true\" css=\".vc_custom_1469114783496{background-color: #211551 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style=\"text-align: left;\">Well executed meetings and events can play a critical part in a business’ success so it’s essential to partner with experts. When the smallest detail can make the biggest difference, make sure the largest decision is to partner with the best in the industry.</p>\r\n[/vc_column_text][mk_clients style=\"column\" column=\"2\" gutter_space=\"8\" count=\"-1\" orderby=\"title\" bg_color=\"#ffffff\" bg_hover_color=\"#dd9933\" border_color=\"#d8d8d8\" height=\"120\" autoplay=\"false\" margin_bottom=\"0\"][vc_empty_space height=\"20px\" css=\".vc_custom_1468436513292{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 10px !important;margin-left: 10px !important;}\"][/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1/3\"][vc_empty_space height=\"48\" css=\".vc_custom_1473980160682{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 10px !important;margin-left: 10px !important;}\"][mk_testimonials style=\"boxed\" count=\"-1\" order=\"DESC\" orderby=\"title\" slideshow_speed=\"10000\" testimonials=\"1880, 1878\"][mk_testimonials style=\"boxed\" count=\"-1\" slideshow_speed=\"11000\" testimonials=\"1876, 1874\"][mk_testimonials style=\"boxed\" orderby=\"rand\" slideshow_speed=\"12000\" testimonials=\"1872, 1870\"][mk_testimonials style=\"boxed\" orderby=\"rand\" slideshow_speed=\"13000\" testimonials=\"1868, 1866\"][mk_testimonials style=\"boxed\" orderby=\"rand\" slideshow_speed=\"12000\" testimonials=\"1378, 1376\"][/vc_column][/mk_page_section][vc_row][vc_column][mk_social_networks size=\"medium\" style=\"simple-rounded\" border_color=\"#000050\" bg_color=\"#000050\" bg_hover_color=\"#ffffff\" icon_color=\"#ffffff\" icon_hover_color=\"#000050\" align=\"center\" facebook=\"https://www.facebook.com/StrategicMeetingsEvents\" twitter=\"https://twitter.com/SME_Events\" pinterest=\"https://www.pinterest.com/strategicmeetingsevents/\" instagram=\"https://www.instagram.com/strategic.events/\" linkedin=\"https://www.linkedin.com/company/strategic-meetings-&amp;-events\" youtube=\"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsuJ-F1Ot1zSc1ccpj_DzXA\"][vc_raw_js]JTNDc2NyaXB0JTNFJTBBZmJxJTI4JTI3dHJhY2slMjclMkMlMjAlMjdWaWV3Q29udGVudCUyNyUyQyUyMCU3QiUwQXZhbHVlJTNBJTIwMy41MCUyQyUwQWN1cnJlbmN5JTNBJTIwJTI3VVNEJTI3JTBBJTdEJTI5JTNCJTBBJTNDJTJGc2NyaXB0JTNF[/vc_raw_js][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row fullwidth=\"true\" css=\".vc_custom_1469115404041{background-color: #211551 !important;}\"][vc_column][mk_button dimension=\"flat\" size=\"large\" url=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-meetings-events-global-corporate-event-management/contact-strategic-meetings-events/\" target=\"_blank\" align=\"center\" fullwidth=\"true\" margin_bottom=\"6\" margin_right=\"0\" bg_color=\"#211551\" btn_hover_bg=\"#d6a461\" btn_hover_txt_color=\"#211551\"]Our clients deserve the very best and you do too, contact us today.[/mk_button][/vc_column][/vc_row]','Clients','','publish','closed','closed','','clients','','','2018-02-20 21:36:09','2018-02-20 21:36:09','',7,'https://strategic.events/?page_id=15',0,'page','',0),(17,1,'2015-10-13 15:46:38','2015-10-13 15:46:38','[mk_page_section bg_color=\"#211551\" bg_stretch=\"true\" min_height=\"20\" padding_top=\"0\" padding_bottom=\"0\" sidebar=\"sidebar-1\"][vc_column width=\"1/3\"][/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1/3\"][/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1/3\"][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" color=\"#d6a461\" size=\"25\" line_height=\"50\" margin_top=\"20\" margin_bottom=\"0\" font_family=\"Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua, Palatino, serif\" font_type=\"safefont\" align=\"right\"]OUR TEAM[/mk_fancy_title][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" tag_name=\"h3\" color=\"#ffffff\" size=\"12\" line_height=\"50\" letter_spacing=\"2\" margin_bottom=\"0\" font_family=\"Open+Sans\" font_type=\"google\" align=\"right\"]HOME &gt;&gt; <strong>OUR TEAM</strong>[/mk_fancy_title][/vc_column][/mk_page_section][mk_page_section][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=\"48\"][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" tag_name=\"h1\" color=\"#211551\" size=\"25\" font_weight=\"bold\" margin_top=\"30\" margin_bottom=\"6\" font_family=\"none\"]\r\n<h2>Meet The Strategic Meetings &amp; Events Team</h2>\r\n[/mk_fancy_title][vc_column_text]Founded in 2001, Strategic Meetings &amp; Events is comprised of a dedicated team of talented event <a href=\"https://strategic.events/event-strategist/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">strategists</a> who have collaborated with a diverse group of clients across the globe. 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font_type=\"safefont\" align=\"right\"]CONTACT US[/mk_fancy_title][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" tag_name=\"h3\" color=\"#ffffff\" size=\"12\" line_height=\"50\" margin_bottom=\"0\" font_family=\"Open+Sans\" font_type=\"google\" align=\"right\"]HOME  &gt;&gt; CONTACT US[/mk_fancy_title][/vc_column][/mk_page_section][mk_page_section][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=\"48\"][mk_fancy_title strip_tags=\"true\" color=\"#211551\" size=\"25\" font_weight=\"bold\" margin_top=\"30\" margin_bottom=\"6\" font_family=\"none\"]\r\n<h2>Today is the day to make a positive change in your meeting strategy.</h2>\r\n[/mk_fancy_title][vc_column_text]Now is the time to enhance your events. Make today the day you decide to exceed your event goals, better engage your guests and redefine excellence with us.[/vc_column_text][mk_contact_form email=\"contact@strategic.events\" phone=\"true\"][mk_fancy_title tag_name=\"h1\" font_family=\"none\"]\r\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">SME Inquieries Call:</h1>\r\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">1-844-763-2001 ext. 101</h1>\r\n[/mk_fancy_title][mk_padding_divider][mk_social_networks size=\"medium\" style=\"simple-rounded\" border_color=\"#000050\" bg_color=\"#000050\" bg_hover_color=\"#ffffff\" icon_color=\"#ffffff\" icon_hover_color=\"#000050\" align=\"center\" facebook=\"https://www.facebook.com/StrategicMeetingsEvents\" twitter=\"https://twitter.com/SME_Events\" pinterest=\"https://www.pinterest.com/strategicmeetingsevents/\" instagram=\"https://www.instagram.com/strategic.events/\" linkedin=\"https://www.linkedin.com/company/strategic-meetings-&amp;-events\" 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19:53:17','2015-10-13 19:53:17','',7,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/WBENC.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(92,1,'2015-10-13 19:53:19','2015-10-13 19:53:19','','LWE Red-LWEMagLogo','','inherit','open','closed','','lwe-red-lwemaglogo','','','2015-10-13 19:53:19','2015-10-13 19:53:19','',7,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/LWE-Red-LWEMagLogo.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(112,1,'2015-10-13 20:11:20','2015-10-13 20:11:20','','meeting-news','','inherit','open','closed','','meeting-news','','','2016-07-28 14:53:09','2016-07-28 14:53:09','',531,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/meeting-news.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(125,1,'2015-10-13 20:29:52','2015-10-13 20:29:52','','SME Team On A Cable Car','','inherit','open','closed','','sme-team-cable-car','','','2017-11-30 14:49:32','2017-11-30 14:49:32','',0,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/SME-Team-On-Cable-Car-WEBSITE-1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(132,1,'2015-10-13 20:38:27','2015-10-13 20:38:27','<h1>Christy Lamagna</h1>\r\n<strong>Visionary | Entrepreneur | Strategist</strong>\r\n\r\nWhen Christy joined the meetings industry 26 years ago, event planning was more of a concept than a recognized profession. In the ensuing two and a half decades, she has proudly participated in its evolution while growing with it.\r\n\r\nAn endless drive for self-growth, Christy earned a Masters of Arts, graduating cum laude, and holds multiple industry certifications, (CMP, CMM, CTSM). Christy’s contributions to the industry are seen in her extensive library of thought-provoking articles, webinars and keynotes and her ten years of teaching strategic planning at a college level.\r\n\r\nRecently, featured in an <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXNi6i6mg2I\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">American Express spot</a> and the recipient of multiple awards, Christy has been recognized nationwide for her achievements and contributions as leader, industry expert, mentor, speaker and entrepreneur.\r\n\r\nIn 2001, Christy founded Strategic Meetings &amp; Events, a strategic planning firm which produces goal-driven corporate meetings, worldwide. In 2015, she launched SME Displays (<a href=\"http://smedisplays.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">smedisplays.com</a>) a tradeshow and display company which brings SME’s quality of service and attention to detail to display sales worldwide. The SME team’s ability to bring to life her vision for a planning firm that is second to none while creating experiences for SME’s clients is her proudest accomplishment.','Christy Lamagna: Visionary | Entrepreneur | Strategist','','publish','closed','closed','','christy-lamagna-visionary-entrepreneur-strategist','','','2018-02-20 14:09:53','2018-02-20 14:09:53','',0,'https://strategic.events/?post_type=employees&#038;p=132',0,'employees','',0),(139,1,'2015-10-13 20:41:36','2015-10-13 20:41:36','<h1>James S. Rota</h1>\r\n<strong>Chief Marketing Officer</strong>\r\n“The Creator of All Things Fabulous”\r\n\r\nOver 29 years ago James began his career in New York City as manager of special events for a multi-million dollar cosmetic corporation. Harnessing his entrepreneurial spirit, James then went out on his own, designing and executing some of the most renowned celebrity product launches in the cosmetics industry’s history.\r\n\r\nJames earned a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. His extensive experience in the Hospitality Industry, a background in Interior Design and his creative ingenuity has led to accolades by his clients and recognition throughout the event industry.\r\n\r\nJoining forces with Strategic Meetings &amp; Events and being hailed as “The Creator of Everything Fabulous“ was the next step on his journey to continue to showcase his talents. James has a natural ability to convey information with creativity and ease, making him an inspiring teacher and leader. He is as delightful as he is inventive and brings happiness, levity and unparalleled creativity to décor, design, and logistics. Rooms brighten when James walks into them, and it has nothing to do with the <a href=\"https://strategic.events/short-decor-money-let-light/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lighting</a>.','James S. Rota: Chief Marketing Officer','','publish','closed','closed','','james-rota-chief-marketing-officer','','','2018-02-20 14:09:38','2018-02-20 14:09:38','',0,'https://strategic.events/?post_type=employees&#038;p=139',4,'employees','',0),(142,1,'2015-10-13 20:42:55','2015-10-13 20:42:55','<h1>Sanece Marie Poolas</h1>\r\n<strong>Senior Event Strategist</strong>\r\n\"Our Own Mary Poppins\"\r\n\r\nSanece Marie brings over 18 years of corporate meeting and event planning experience to her role as a Senior Event Strategist at SME. Her career at Cendant Communications, led to a role with Dunn &amp; Bradstreet and then to an event production position at Realogy, allowing Sanece Marie to work on programs of all sizes, budgets and scopes.\r\n\r\nWhile with SME, Sanece’s planning journey has taken her from South Africa to Thailand. Her global expertise and experiences bring depth, dimension and a <a href=\"https://strategic.events/culturally-aware/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cultured perspective</a> to everything she does.\r\n\r\nQuirky, mischievous, soft-spoken yet confident, and supremely talented, Sanece’s ability to produce exceptional events is instantly apparent to everyone who works with her. While in the middle of a complex situation, Sanece can step back and view it from unique angles, offering insight, solutions, suggestions and program enhancements that allow our clients to truthfully boast they host events that are second to none.\r\n\r\nDedicated, driven, comfortable taking on huge tasks and programs and delighting in finding solutions to décor, logistic or technology challenges, Sanece is an unforgettable, unstoppable, unexpected addition to every team she assists.','Sanece Marie Poolas: Senior Event Strategist','','publish','closed','closed','','sanece-marie-senior-event-strategist','','','2018-02-20 14:09:25','2018-02-20 14:09:25','',0,'https://strategic.events/?post_type=employees&#038;p=142',6,'employees','',0),(143,1,'2015-10-13 20:42:40','2015-10-13 20:42:40','','Sanece Marie Poolas: Senior Event Strategist','','inherit','open','closed','','sanece-marie-poolas','','','2017-11-30 15:01:53','2017-11-30 15:01:53','',142,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Sanece-resized-3.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(150,1,'2015-10-13 20:47:22','2015-10-13 20:47:22','','Michael Kuntz','','publish','closed','closed','','michael-kuntz','','','2018-01-11 17:35:39','2018-01-11 17:35:39','',0,'https://strategic.events/?post_type=testimonial&#038;p=150',0,'testimonial','',0),(152,1,'2015-10-13 20:47:43','2015-10-13 20:47:43','','Valerie Waterman, Partner, Answers Design Group','','publish','closed','closed','','valerie-waterman-partner-answers-design-group','','','2018-01-11 17:31:51','2018-01-11 17:31:51','',0,'https://strategic.events/?post_type=testimonial&#038;p=152',0,'testimonial','',0),(157,1,'2015-10-13 20:59:28','2015-10-13 20:59:28',' ','','','publish','closed','closed','','157','','','2018-03-21 13:41:52','2018-03-21 13:41:52','',7,'https://strategic.events/?p=157',20,'nav_menu_item','',0),(158,1,'2015-10-13 20:59:28','2015-10-13 20:59:28',' ','','','publish','closed','closed','','158','','','2018-03-21 13:41:52','2018-03-21 13:41:52','',7,'https://strategic.events/?p=158',10,'nav_menu_item','',0),(159,1,'2015-10-13 20:59:28','2015-10-13 20:59:28','','Home','Strategic Meetings & Events - Home','publish','closed','closed','','159','','','2018-03-21 13:41:52','2018-03-21 13:41:52','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=159',1,'nav_menu_item','',0),(174,1,'2015-10-26 19:50:55','2015-10-26 19:50:55','','ABG_cmyk','','inherit','open','closed','','abg_cmyk','','','2015-10-26 19:50:55','2015-10-26 19:50:55','',15,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ABG_cmyk.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(175,1,'2015-10-26 19:50:57','2015-10-26 19:50:57','','amnesty','','inherit','open','closed','','amnesty','','','2015-10-26 19:50:57','2015-10-26 19:50:57','',15,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/amnesty.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(176,1,'2015-10-26 19:50:59','2015-10-26 19:50:59','','Strategic Meetings & Events has had the pleasure of partnering with Baxter in creating strategic goal driven events. 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business-school graduates clutching tech magazines, pressing their noses to the glass to match the faces inside with photos of venture capitalists.\r\n\r\nThis was where Netscape and Hotmail began. This was where the young and precocious got the money to turn their billion-dollar ideas into offices of Ethernet ports and beanbag chairs. For many, the kitsch and pancakes of Buck\'s of Woodside was the starting line for the dotcom dream.\r\n<p class=\"promo_link ezc-csm_quiz\"><span class=\"recommended_designation\">Recommended: </span><a href=\"http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0104/Could-you-pass-a-US-citizenship-test/Who-signs-bills\">Could you pass a US citizenship test?</a></p>\r\nBut today \"the predators,\" as Mr. MacNiven calls them, have vanished. There is no wait. And the 104 strike marks over the door - the number of TV crews that came here - are a cheeky testament to a bygone time.\r\n\r\nAmid the rubble of a toppled tech economy, America\'s ultimate boomtown is learning how to live in lean times.\r\n\r\nFor most who came here to make their fortunes during one of the greatest gold rushes of the 20th century, the collapse has been a disaster. Many have left. Many are jobless. Some with jobs have left dreams of instant riches behind along with 18-hour days.\r\n\r\nThe buzz, they say, is gone.\r\n\r\nYet even as the Silicon Valley of the late 1990s slips into lore, others say a different one is emerging.\r\n<p class=\"csmclass,divvy\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Caldron of capitalism</span></p>\r\nIt is a place of Chinese takeout and teleconferences, not braised rabbit and all-expense-paid trips to Maui\'s south shore. It is breakfast at Buck\'s, without the gawkers. Engineers and scientists are once again king.\r\n\r\nIndeed, many say these past two years have not merely been a downturn, but a purge, and the new Silicon Valley is getting back to its roots.\r\n\r\n\"Silicon Valley is gradually returning to something more normal,\" says James Forcier of Bay Analytics, a consulting firm in San Francisco.\r\n\r\nNot that Silicon Valley\'s normal is all that ordinary. Even amid the tech depression, Buck\'s of Woodside is a caldron of pure capitalism.\r\n\r\nSomeone from a local bank flits between two tables during the breakfast hour; MacNiven says he often comes here two to three times a day for business meetings. On tables, reports and charts stack as high as flapjacks. Napkins double as syrup-stained sketch pads. Each group of tieless men greets with handshakes.\r\n\r\nWith its Wild West murals and cosmonaut suit hanging from the ceiling, Buck\'s décor is only slightly less surreal than the revelation that some company called PayPal was sold for $1.6 billion at a nearby seat.\r\n\r\nBut that sale was back in the old days. Sure, the venture capitalists still come - as on this morning. But there are fewer of them, and they are more careful. One bankroller to the startups, who recently raised $1 billion, didn\'t collect it because he couldn\'t find a good investment.\r\n\r\n\"We have never seen a downturn like this,\" says MacNiven, who has become part celebrity, part commentator as owner of Buck\'s.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a note of caution that sounds in every chord coming from Silicon Valley. Never before has a downturn cut this deep - touching everything from telecom to dotcom. And never before has this cluster of Bay Area cities had to come down from such success - and excess.\r\n\r\nChristy Lamagna, a planning and marketing consultant, still speaks as if she\'s not sure the boom really happened. Laughing, she recalls when she told one client that his company trip to Maui would cost $2.1 million - $1 million less than budgeted.\r\n\r\nThe CEO screamed at her.\r\n\r\n\"The mentality was: Spend all you want, we\'ll make more,\" says Ms. Lamagna. \"The perception was that he was being cheated out of something.\"\r\n\r\nShe was hardly cutting corners. Some 500 employees and guests would have all expenses paid on a trip that included helicopter tours, massages, and hand-painted local pottery with chocolates. One evening, the dinner offered high-powered telescopes, maps of the night sky drawn specifically for that date and location, and a panel of astronomers and astrologers.\r\n\r\nThen, \"excess was a sign of prestige,\" she says. \"Now, every penny is valuable.\"\r\n\r\nShe sees the change in her business, where no one is going to Hawaii. Menlo Park\'s once-popular Wild Hare, with its crispy citrus-glazed calamari, is out of business. And a new reality is dawning on some colleagues.\r\n\r\n\"Now people are experiencing what the rest of the world knows, which is the doldrums of a 9-to-5 life,\" she says. They\'re realizing: \"Maybe I do have to work 25 years before I can retire.\"\r\n<p class=\"csmclass,divvy\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The dimming of Lightsocket</span></p>\r\nThese are the cast-offs of the Silicon Valley collapse. The MBAs who thought they had the cure for the common company - or the next big thing. Those who would \"eat ice cream, bring their dogs to work, and talk about working,\" as Lamagna puts it.\r\n\r\n\"The 20 and hip with a fundable idea,\" adds sociologist Jan Lueck.\r\n\r\n\"The boy wonder thing is over,\" MacNiven quips.\r\n\r\nJennifer Jeffrey doesn\'t quite fit that mold. She isn\'t a boy, and she didn\'t spend workdays pawing at Ben &amp; Jerry\'s. But she did have an idea that needed money. Lightsocket would connect engineers across the world by computer so they could work simultaneously on complex projects.\r\n\r\nThe days were long, often stretching into weekends, but she had one rallying cry: \"If we can hold on for another year, we\'ll be floating around the coast of Spain.\"\r\n\r\nShe remembers looking at her \"beautiful certificate\" of 3 million stock options and imagining the payback. Then, as the economy faltered, her funding was frozen, and she had to sell everything.\r\n\r\n\"It reordered my priorities,\" says Ms. Jeffrey, now an author.\r\n\r\nShe, like many of her friends, vowed never to work those hours again. Some moved to marketing. Many Silicon Valley migrants returned to school.\r\n\r\nAs a result, the exodus has essentially left Silicon Valley\'s technology industry to those who created it. \"There\'s a return to more of the old-school engineer types,\" says Jeffrey.\r\n\r\nLike Bob Young. The software writer came here in 1997, not to prospect for tech millions, but because it was his mecca. \"During my first year here I frequently found myself walking out of the building after a 14- to 16-hour day, looking up into the night sky, and being almost giddy that I was really a software engineer in Silicon Valley,\" he says.\r\n\r\nHe gets lost in a piece of code, so that \"nothing else in the world exists.\" His power lunch is a pizza and a soda while refining a new algorithm. And when pressed, he says he would probably work for free.\r\n\r\nHis is the Silicon Valley that gave the world Steve Jobs and Apple, and the Internet. The latest boom might have passed, but Mr. Young has no plans to go anywhere.\r\n\r\n\"There is still an optimism that tech will not go away, and that Silicon Valley\'s place in the firmament will not go away,\" says Dr. Lueck. \"It\'s just a question of waiting.\"<span id=\"end-of-story\" class=\"eos_marker\" title=\"-30-\"></span>\r\n<h2></h2>\r\n</div>\r\n<div id=\"ndn-video-player-2\" class=\"ndn_embed ndn_embedding ndn_embedContainer ndn-widget-embed-1\" data-config-width=\"600\" data-config-height=\"349\" data-config-distributor-id=\"90962\"></div>\r\n</article>\r\n<div id=\"story-bottom\"></div>\r\n[mk_mini_callout title=\"AS SEEN IN: Christian Science Monitor\"]<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/CSM_white_181.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-348\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-348\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/CSM_white_181.jpg\" alt=\"Christian Science Monitor\" width=\"175\" height=\"51\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout][vc_raw_js]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[/vc_raw_js]','In Silicon Valley, Return To Humbler Tech Dreams','','draft','open','open','','in-silicon-valley-return-to-humbler-tech-dreams','','','2017-03-22 21:37:53','2017-03-22 21:37:53','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=206',0,'post','',0),(232,1,'2015-11-12 00:36:02','2015-11-12 00:36:02','','Director of Imagination “The Creator of All Things Fabulous” Over 29 years ago James began his career in New York City as manager of special events for a mu','','inherit','open','closed','','james_rota','','','2017-04-11 19:45:34','2017-04-11 19:45:34','',139,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/James_Rota.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(240,1,'2016-02-04 15:07:21','2016-02-04 15:07:21','','Theme Backup - Jupiter - 4.4.3','','inherit','open','closed','','theme-backup-jupiter-4-4-3','','','2016-02-04 15:07:21','2016-02-04 15:07:21','',0,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/jupiter-4.4.3-VbWg1xN2pFCyXkpFli.zip',0,'attachment','application/zip',0),(242,1,'2016-02-04 17:46:38','2016-02-04 17:46:38','','Plugin Backup - LayerSlider WP - 5.3.2','','inherit','open','closed','','plugin-backup-layerslider-wp-5-3-2','','','2016-02-04 17:46:38','2016-02-04 17:46:38','',0,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/LayerSlider-5.3.2-G3tLSeRm3U3mhMJ.zip',0,'attachment','application/zip',0),(269,1,'2016-02-17 22:03:09','2016-02-17 22:03:09','','Theme Backup - jupiter - 5.0.7.1','','inherit','open','closed','','theme-backup-jupiter-5-0-7-1','','','2016-02-17 22:03:09','2016-02-17 22:03:09','',0,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/jupiter-5.0.7.1-o91tYHErFuNivj6i.zip',0,'attachment','application/zip',0),(280,1,'2016-02-23 15:37:24','2016-02-23 15:37:24','','Theme Backup - jupiter - 5.0.7.2','','inherit','open','closed','','theme-backup-jupiter-5-0-7-2','','','2016-02-23 15:37:24','2016-02-23 15:37:24','',0,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/jupiter-5.0.7.2-0q7CA6akEqKLic63OFC4.zip',0,'attachment','application/zip',0),(324,1,'2016-03-22 21:33:15','2016-03-22 21:33:15','','Christy Lamagna CMP, CMM, CTSM: Master Strategist','','inherit','open','closed','','christy-lamagna-master-strategist','','','2017-11-30 15:05:53','2017-11-30 15:05:53','',132,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/CL-enlarged.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(348,1,'2016-03-24 16:49:21','2016-03-24 16:49:21','','meeting-today-logo','','inherit','open','closed','','meeting-today-logo','','','2017-03-23 16:25:12','2017-03-23 16:25:12','',709,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/meeting-today-logo.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(366,1,'2016-03-27 03:56:54','2016-03-27 03:56:54','<h2>Replaceable Planners?</h2>\r\n<h3>By Sue Pelletier</h3>\r\n“What I\'m hearing from all the association human resources people I\'ve been speaking with can be summed up in two words: downsizing and outsourcing,” reports Shira Harrington, a senior personnel consultant with the Washington, D.C.-based recruiting firm Positions Inc. Harrington says she\'s being flooded with résumés from laid-off association meeting potentially replaceable <a href=\"https://strategic.events/become-strategic-planner/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a>, while job listings are barely trickling in.\r\n\r\n“Associations are not downsizing and outsourcing because there\'s too much fat in the organizational structure,” she explains. ‘They\'re doing it to consolidate positions, to restructure so they can do more with less. And when someone leaves, they\'re not rehiring to fill that position.”\r\n\r\nAs Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, who has been out of work for a year, says, “For those who don\'t think it could happen to them, think again. It\'s a scary world for our industry. Put the safety plan in motion before it becomes an emergency plan.”\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2160 size-medium\" title=\"Replaceable Planners? - All the association human resources people I\'ve been speaking with can be summed up in two words: downsizing and outsourcing,” reports Shira Harrington, a senior personnel consultant with the Washington, D.C.-based recruiting firm Positions Inc. Senior-level association meeting planners\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/AM6PCPXT6K-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"Replaceable Planners? - All the association human resources people I\'ve been speaking with can be summed up in two words: downsizing and outsourcing,” reports Shira Harrington, a senior personnel consultant with the Washington, D.C.-based recruiting firm Positions Inc. Senior-level association meeting planners\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" />Liz Hollenbach can second that emotion. Hollenbach was working away on the 200-plus meetings a year that the AARP (formerly called the American Association of Retired Persons) meetings and travel department handled annually when her entire 14-person department was axed just before September 11 last year.\r\n\r\n“It was shocking, mind-boggling,” she says about losing the job she\'d had for 15 years — with no prior notice. “We had from September 6th to the 12th to dismantle an entire department.” And, of course, the job market for meeting planners was pretty grim in the months following the terrorist attacks.\r\n\r\n“I was sending out résumés for ad after ad, and I did the online job sites as well. I talked with everyone I knew in the industry — bureau people, hotel people, other meeting planners.” It was a word-of-mouth recommendation that got her an interview with the McLean, Va.-based American Frozen Food Institute, where she is now the senior director of conventions and meetings.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>SENIOR LEVEL HIT HARD</strong></span>\r\nBarbara Dunlavey, CMP, didn\'t have quite so soft a landing. After being laid off as vice president of conferences with a technology association last year, she took a less senior-level position as director of meetings and exhibits for an Alexandria, Va.-based association. “It\'s not ideal, but it is a steady paycheck. You do what you have to do to get by in this economy,” she says.\r\n\r\n“Twice I went through rigorous interview and vetting processes for senior-level positions. By the time you get to the third or fourth round, you\'re thinking you\'re the lead candidate. Both times, the organization said, ‘We would have hired you, but we decided not to open up this position at this time.’ It\'s hard not to take it personally — there were times I was ready to jump off a bridge — but you have to keep going.”\r\n\r\nShe\'s not alone: Many senior-level association meeting planners are finding themselves overqualified for today\'s job market. While the few listings she has aren\'t enough for a statistical analysis, recruiter Harrington notes, “Generally speaking, people are looking for someone with three- to five-years of experience and good contract negotiation skills. Higher-level positions are very hard to come by, and salaries are being capped out on the lower end.”\r\n\r\nSeveral people interviewed for this article requested anonymity. One of them headed an association\'s meeting department until he was laid off more than a year ago. After 20-plus years experience as a meeting planner, a CMP designation, two college degrees, and three teaching certificates, he\'s currently substitute teaching. “I\'m sad to say that our meeting planning experience is viewed as tissue paper — use it and throw it away,” he says. “Seems there was no choice but to move on.”\r\n\r\nLamagna, who lives and works in New York City and San Francisco, says, “I shake my head in wonder — I can\'t find work because I worked too hard in the past. Too many degrees, too much work experience. Can you imagine?” In between working at a retail store, she is doing pro bono freelance strategic planning, cost analysis, and events of all types under the auspices of her independent company, Strategic Meetings and Events, but “most folks take the freebie and then say I\'m amazing, but there is no budget for me.”\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>REPORT TO THE TOP</strong></span>\r\nEven Joan Eisenstodt, president of Eisenstodt Associates in Washington, D.C., who is a big proponent of meeting planners improving their strategic skills, wonders, “Will the pure logistics person be the survivor? Nonthreatening to anyone else in the association and lower paid than someone who is more strategically oriented Have all our efforts been for naught?”\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2165 size-medium\" title=\"Replaceable Planners? - All the association human resources people I\'ve been speaking with can be summed up in two words: downsizing and outsourcing,” reports Shira Harrington, a senior personnel consultant with the Washington, D.C.-based recruiting firm Positions Inc. Senior-level association meeting planners\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/ITA18FXIBL-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Replaceable Planners? - All the association human resources people I\'ve been speaking with can be summed up in two words: downsizing and outsourcing,” reports Shira Harrington, a senior personnel consultant with the Washington, D.C.-based recruiting firm Positions Inc. Senior-level association meeting planners\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />Hollenbach doesn\'t think so. One thing she learned is that meeting planners today need to position themselves as part of the money-making area of the organization, and position themselves as high up as they can. “In my job today, I report directly to the president and CEO. At my old job at AARP, we were saving a lot of money, but no one at the top knew it.”\r\n\r\nOther than AARP\'s big annual event, which went to a restructured version of the association\'s former special events department, the rest of the association\'s meetings were handed to whoever was willing to take them on, says Hollenbach. “People who\'ve never done meetings before now are negotiating contracts. Ultimately, it\'ll end up costing them more in higher rates and lost time than they\'ll be saving in salary.”\r\n\r\nAs Dunlavey says, “Our best defense is needling our way into senior management. But it\'s a double-edged sword — once you get there, you\'re better paid and more vulnerable to cutbacks. But even if you do get downsized, at least you have a better shot at getting in with a more forward-thinking organization.”\r\n\r\nOne piece of advice she offers: If you find a job you like, grab it, even if the money\'s not want you want. While it\'s upsetting to have to settle for a lesser salary, “It\'s even sadder to see so many people who can\'t find anything that\'s a good fit for them, or who are leaving the industry altogether.”\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>CONTINGENCY PLANNING</strong></span>\r\n“I don\'t want to sound pessimistic — I do believe the economy will turn around — but if we go to war, how could business travel not be affected?” Dunlavey says, adding that “anyone who hasn\'t made contingency plans for their careers as well as their meetings is crazy.” She\'s taking her own advice and sharpening transferrable skills such as business development, fundraising, and marketing, just in case.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2161 size-medium\" title=\"Replaceable Planners? - All the association human resources people I\'ve been speaking with can be summed up in two words: downsizing and outsourcing,” reports Shira Harrington, a senior personnel consultant with the Washington, D.C.-based recruiting firm Positions Inc. Senior-level association meeting planners\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/HVO2JX4B6R-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Replaceable Planners? - All the association human resources people I\'ve been speaking with can be summed up in two words: downsizing and outsourcing,” reports Shira Harrington, a senior personnel consultant with the Washington, D.C.-based recruiting firm Positions Inc. Senior-level association meeting planners\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />Susan Sarver, CMP, senior conference manager, Meeting and Conference Department, National Association of Securities Dealers, Washington, D.C., took her contingency planning to an even higher level recently. “I\'ve done some serious thinking within the last year about what I would do if my job evaporated … about what my options were and where my career was headed. So, now I am a first-year law student at George Washington University School of Law.” While it\'ll take a while to get through school while working full time at NASD — where her leadership supports her new direction unreservedly — she is looking forward to focusing her law career on the hospitality industry and in teaching meeting planners about the law.\r\n\r\nSheryl Sookman, CMP, who started her Novato, Calif.-based The MeetingConnection headhunting firm during the Gulf War recession in the early \'90s after being laid off from her planning position, acknowledges that “it\'s awful out there. But at least the cutbacks we\'re seeing for associations are still less than what we\'re seeing on the corporate side. We have to accept the fact that things are different now. If it\'s any comfort for laid-off planners, know that at least you\'re in very good company.”\r\n\r\nEditor\'s note: For more job search advice and information, visit AM\'s Website at <a href=\"http://meetingsnet.com/\">www.meetingsnet.com</a> and click on the Career Toolkit button.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Third Parties: Friend or Foe?</strong></span>\r\nMany are quick to pin the blame for industry layoffs on third-party planning companies who tempt their organizations to shed salaried employees in favor of less-expensive external planners. Bruce Harris, who heads up the Cleveland-based independent meeting planning firm Conferon, says it just ain\'t so, at least not at his company.\r\n\r\nWhile Conferon may be picking up 100 new clients this year, the majority of which are associations, “We\'re not replacing their planners — we\'re working for their planners,” he says. Housing and registration are the most commonly outsourced functions, he adds.\r\n\r\nA new study from the American Society of Association Executives backs him up. Titled “Generating and Managing Non-Dues Revenues: A Benchmarking Guide,” the study found that only 3 percent of ASAE\'s member organizations outsourced their entire meeting and convention functions. “Approximately 65 percent of our member organizations conduct all their meeting planning in-house,” says Steven Williams, PhD, ASAE\'s director of industry and market research. “Thirty-two percent outsource part of their meetings.”\r\n\r\nEric Johnson, CMP, CMM, group director, Convention and Trade Show Division with association management company Smith, Bucklin and Associates in Chicago, offers a different point of view. “In this type of market, we get a lot of request for proposals from associations looking to outsource their meetings.” Some of the RFPs come from those seriously looking to outsource, some from those looking to see if it\'s still viable to keep it in-house, he says. “We are seeing a lot of activity and interest, and we\'re able to close some of that business. It\'s been my experience that some of the business we get is from associations that are replacing their internal planners with third parties, and some of it isn\'t.”\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>INDEPENDENTS\' VIEW</strong></span>\r\nAccording to a third-party planner who wishes to remain anonymous, “Associations do not want to spend the money to outsource their reduced meeting schedule — the planning is being done instead at the admin level or by the marketing department.” While she believes the pendulum will swing toward third-party companies, “in the short-term, we are more in jeopardy than those in-house.”\r\n\r\nBut that\'s not stopping Susan Perry, CAE, who until December had been executive vice president, business development, with the International Sleep Products Association in Alexandria, Va. “I\'ve been with ISP for 15 years, and with a change in leadership and in our meetings, the time is right for me to move on.” She thinks there\'s a growing need for “people who know what they\'re doing, can show their value, and be there on an as-needed basis.”\r\n\r\nPerry\'ll be doing everything from advertising and sponsorship sales to meeting planning logistics and contract negotiations. “I\'ve been involved at the board level in everything from meetings to strategic planning to sales, so I have an interesting mix of skills.”\r\n\r\nWhile the thought of going independent right now is scary for some, Perry isn\'t worried. “Hey, people still need to hold meetings, they still need to generate revenue — even more in bad times. As reverse-whacko as it may sound, this is probably a better time to do this than if I waited until the good times roll around again.”\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Replaceable Planners, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, MeetingsNet</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingsnet.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-1342 size-full\" title=\"MeetingsNet\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/MeetingsNet.png\" alt=\"MeetingsNet Logo\" width=\"170\" height=\"33\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Replaceable Planners?','','publish','open','open','','replaceable-planners','','','2018-01-22 17:32:49','2018-01-22 17:32:49','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=366',0,'post','',0),(374,3,'2016-03-27 14:58:08','2016-03-27 14:58:08','','MeetingsNet','','inherit','open','closed','','meetingsnet','','','2016-03-27 14:58:08','2016-03-27 14:58:08','',366,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/MeetingsNet.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(383,2,'2016-03-28 17:42:07','2016-03-28 17:42:07','','Christy and Roo','','inherit','open','closed','','christy-roo-photo','','','2017-11-30 15:21:28','2017-11-30 15:21:28','',707,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Christy-Roo-Crop.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(385,1,'2016-03-29 15:38:30','2016-03-29 15:38:30','<h2>Affordable Meetings: Tips From The Field</h2>\r\nLooking for cost-saving tips? Look no further than fellow meeting planners:\r\n\r\n• Order continental breakfasts and refreshment breaks a la carte, not per person. <em>Deborah K. Gaffney, director of conference planning, Tax Executives Institute, Washington, D.C.</em>\r\n\r\n• We once used a classic car club to transport a small number of folks (50), and they didn\'t charge us. It was like a club outing. We had a photographer, beverages, and snacks for them, and they had as much fun as our group.\r\n<em>Stephen J. Schick, CMP, CMM, Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., St. Louis</em>\r\n\r\n• Have pitchers of fresh water instead of bottled water. Many hotels charge $3 or more per bottle.\r\n<em>Caprice Caster, CMP, National Cable Television Cooperative, Lenexa, Kan.</em>\r\n\r\n• Always try to use an outdoor/terrace/pool venue to minimize decor. Transforming a plain ballroom or meeting room is extremely expensive and never as attractive or effective.\r\n<em>Rachel Porter, president, Corporate Events, The Porter Event, Chapel Hill, N.C.</em>\r\n\r\n• Using public facilities — zoos, parks, botanical gardens, museums, etc. — can be very cost effective because you can sometimes choose your own vendors and caterer. We have even done meetings at these facilities to add a twist to the meetings.\r\n<em>Stephen J. Schick</em>\r\n\r\n<img class=\"wp-image-7665 alignright\" title=\"Looking for cost-saving tips? Look no further than fellow meeting planners: • Order continental breakfasts and refreshment breaks a la carte, not per person\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/slide5-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"409\" height=\"230\" />• Read and fully understand your contract! Don\'t get caught because you missed the small print or didn\'t understand it.\r\n<em>Sandy Biback, CMP, CMM, Imagination+ Meeting Planners Inc., Toronto, Ontario\r\n</em>\r\n\r\n• Replate muffins and fruit from breakfast and offer them at the midmorning break. Bring your own LCD, power strips, and extension cords to avoid AV charges.\r\n<em>Christy Lamagna, CMM, CMP, Strategic Meetings and Events, New York</em>\r\n\r\n• Contract more than one meeting at a time. You can often get more favorable terms if the property is assured of future business. They can double their revenue if they are willing to negotiate.\r\n<em>Rachel Porter</em>\r\n\r\n• If a speaker that you want is booked in the area in which you\'ll be meeting, ask if he or she can do a keynote and/or workshop, preferably on the same day. It will save on expenses, and you may get a discount.\r\n<em>Laurie H. Meyer, president, Programs Plus International Inc., New York</em>\r\n\r\n• After topics have been selected, I always look inside the organization for experts on the subject (to be speakers). Obviously, they should have experience in public speaking and clear instructions on the goals of the program.\r\n<em>Stephen J. Schick</em>\r\n\r\n• The best speaker gifts are donations to something related to the organization — (say it\'s building materials folks; Habitat for Humanity would be perfect) — or to something that results in scholarships for those studying the speaker\'s profession. A handwritten or beautifully printed card can be given. Most speakers have enough “stuff,” and this, I\'ve found, is so appreciated!\r\n<em>Joan L. Eisenstodt, Eisenstodt Associates, LLC, Washington, D.C.</em>\r\n\r\n• Ask, ask, ask. Very often hotels will have props and miscellaneous decor on-site that you can use at no charge.\r\n<em>Rachel Porter</em>\r\n\r\n<strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Deals on Wheels</span>\r\n</strong><a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/QB5O1HU0QX.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2149 size-medium\" title=\"Looking for cost-saving tips? Look no further than fellow meeting planners: • Order continental breakfasts and refreshment breaks a la carte, not per person\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/QB5O1HU0QX-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Looking for cost-saving tips? Look no further than fellow meeting planners: • Order continental breakfasts and refreshment breaks a la carte, not per person\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>Ground transportation is an easy place to save money — if you know how to do it. Here are some tips from Brian Whitaker, vice president of operations, Chicagoland Transportation Solutions, Barrington, Ill.:\r\n<strong>Less is more —</strong> The farther apart you can spread the shuttle pick up times, the better. You can save one to five vehicles by adjusting the times by 10 minutes.\r\n<strong>Sponsorship —</strong> Get everything possible sponsored. You can even get airport transportation sponsored. Consider showing videotape advertisements on the overhead television of the bus, or having a sponsor for the coolers full of drinks for the ride.\r\n<strong>Limos vs. Vans —</strong> In many, many cases, planners don\'t want to transport anyone in a limo because it looks too costly. However, the limo actually can be $50 to $100 cheaper than a van.\r\n<strong>Cut down on “Greets” —</strong> This works best for sales and internal meetings. Have guests walk to a meeting point in the claim area. This reduces the number of staff at the airport.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Tips From The Field Affordable Meetings, Tips, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Corporate Travel, MeetingsNet</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingsnet.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-374 noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-374\" title=\"MeetingsNet\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/MeetingsNet-300x90.png\" alt=\"MeetingsNet\" width=\"175\" height=\"53\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Tips From The Field: Affordable Meetings','','publish','open','open','','tips-field-affordable-meetings','','','2018-01-22 16:44:03','2018-01-22 16:44:03','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=385',0,'post','',0),(396,1,'2016-03-29 16:46:52','2016-03-29 16:46:52','<h2>Your Better Ideas: Saving On F&amp;B</h2>\r\n<strong>Saving Tips</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/AEOKEFZ5XP-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2209 size-medium\" title=\"Have pitchers of water instead of bottled water, Many hotels charge $3 or more for bottled water. Replate muffins and fruit from breakfast and offer saving\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/AEOKEFZ5XP-1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Have pitchers of water instead of bottled water, Many hotels charge $3 or more for bottled water. Replate muffins and fruit from breakfast and offer saving\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>Have pitchers of water instead of bottled water, Many hotels charge $3 or more for bottled water.<em>Caprice Caster, CMP, National Cable Vision Cooperative, Lenaxa, Kan. </em></li>\r\n 	<li>Order continental breakfasts and refreshment breaks a la carte instead of per person.<em>Deborah K. Gaffney, director, conference planning, Tax Executives Institute, Washington, D.C.</em></li>\r\n 	<li>Try to use an outdoor terrace or venue to minimize decor needs. Transforming a ballroom or meeting room can be very expensive and never as attractive or as effective.<em>Rachel Porter, president, The Porter Event, Chapel Hill, N.C.\r\n</em></li>\r\n 	<li>Replate muffins and fruit from breakfast and offer them as a snack at the midmorning break.<em>Christy Lamagna, CMM, CMP, Strategic Meetings and Events, New York</em></li>\r\n 	<li>Using public facilities — libraries, parks, botanical gardens, museums, etc. — can be very costeffective because you can sometimes use your own caterer and vendors. Plus these types of venues offer a nice twist to the meeting experience.<em>Sandy Biback, CMP, CMM, Imagination +Meeting Planners Inc., Toronto, Ontario</em></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Your Better Ideas Saving On F&amp;B, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, MeetingsNet</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingsnet.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-374 size-medium\" title=\"MeetingsNet\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/MeetingsNet-300x90.png\" alt=\"MeetingsNet\" width=\"300\" height=\"90\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Your Better Ideas: Saving On F&B','','publish','open','open','','better-ideas-saving-fb','','','2018-01-22 16:37:03','2018-01-22 16:37:03','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=396',0,'post','',0),(398,1,'2016-03-29 16:38:10','2016-03-29 16:38:10','','Plan-Your-Meetings_250','','inherit','open','closed','','plan-your-meetings_250','','','2016-03-29 16:38:10','2016-03-29 16:38:10','',7,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Plan-Your-Meetings_250.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(399,1,'2016-03-29 16:38:39','2016-03-29 16:38:39','','Collaborate_250','','inherit','open','closed','','collaborate_250','','','2016-03-29 16:38:39','2016-03-29 16:38:39','',7,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Collaborate_250.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(400,1,'2016-03-29 16:38:58','2016-03-29 16:38:58','','WBENC_250','','inherit','open','closed','','wbenc_250','','','2016-03-29 16:38:58','2016-03-29 16:38:58','',7,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/WBENC_250.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(401,1,'2016-03-29 16:39:14','2016-03-29 16:39:14','','Leading-Women_250','','inherit','open','closed','','leading-women_250','','','2016-03-29 16:39:14','2016-03-29 16:39:14','',7,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Leading-Women_250.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(402,1,'2016-03-29 16:39:35','2016-03-29 16:39:35','','SUNY_250','','inherit','open','closed','','suny_250','','','2016-03-29 16:39:35','2016-03-29 16:39:35','',7,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/SUNY_250.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(404,1,'2016-03-29 16:41:49','2016-03-29 16:41:49','','enterprise_women_250','','inherit','open','closed','','enterprise_women_250','','','2016-03-29 16:41:49','2016-03-29 16:41:49','',7,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/enterprise_women_250.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(422,1,'2016-03-30 02:09:25','2016-03-30 02:09:25','<h1>Implementing a meetings\r\nmanagement program</h1>\r\n<h2>Travel Managers Get Meetings Low-Down</h2>\r\n<h3>By Donna M. Airoldi</h3>\r\nAlexandria, Va. — The Groups and Meetings Committee of the National Business Travel Association last month released a white paper outlining recommendations for travel managers responsible for meetings consolidation within their companies.\r\n\r\nTitled \"Framework for Success: Building a Strategic Meetings Management Program,\" the document offers a broad spectrum of tools designed to provide common terminology, cost-benefit analyses and best-practice methodologies in meetings management.\r\n\r\nBasically, it\'s to help travel managers and companies get a handle on and centralize certain aspects of the meeting planning process, particularly the expense side.\r\n\r\nWith an increasing number of companies consolidating their corporate travel and meetings departments in recent years, at least through procurement practices, and the newly enacted Sarbanes-Oxley Act likely to further accelerate this trend <a href=\"https://strategic.events/sarbanes-oxley-act-sox-socks-planners/\">(see accompanying article)</a>, NBTA\'s timing is on target.\r\n\r\n\"The membership of NBTA asked for this white paper because more and more travel managers are being asked to take over meetings departments,\" said Madlyn Caliri, co-chairperson of the committee and supplier manager for AT&amp;T\'s global travel and meetings program in Bridgewater, N.J. \"The feedback so far has been tremendous and very favorable.\"\r\n\r\nOverall, the key recommendations are to look at a company\'s current situation and need; compare it to the recommended best practices to identify any gaps that exist; then create a company-wide development plan to attack and reduce those gaps, said Caliri\'s co-chair, Tracey Wilt, supplier manager of travel, meetings and incentives for Xerox Corp. in Webster, N.Y.\r\n\r\nTypical motivations behind meetings management programs are to save money, attain greater leverage with suppliers, and minimize risk to the company. But because corporations vary widely, there is no single right way to go about developing these programs. Therefore, the committee aimed to provide an easily adaptable guideline that would be flexible enough to suit any company culture or size, Wilt said.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Discovery</strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe first step is to perform a situation analysis to determine a company\'s current position and need in terms of spend, processes, policies and personnel involved in the planning of meetings and events.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2124 size-medium\" title=\"The Groups and Meetings Committee of the National Business Travel Association last month released a white paper outlining recommendations for travel managers responsible for meetings consolidation within their companies. Travel Managers Get Meetings Low-Down\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/UA5BX53P89-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"The Groups and Meetings Committee of the National Business Travel Association last month released a white paper outlining recommendations for travel managers responsible for meetings consolidation within their companies. Travel Managers Get Meetings Low-Down\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />Three key activities are to conduct internal interviews of both professional planners and non-traditional planners, such as administrative assistants, to determine the how, when and why of a company\'s meeting activity; historical data analysis, covering accounts payable, contracts, purchasing tools and vendor expenditures; and supplier research, which can be used to validate, supplement and enhance the baseline.\r\n\r\n\"Gathering the data to understand where to start is the biggest challenge,\" Caliri said. \"There are many potential sources of data, and one has to make sure to get the right data, all the data, and that an integrity factor has been built in.\"\r\n\r\nThis process can identify planning loopholes, expenditure levels and other metrics to use in validating and benchmarking total company-wide participation in meetings and events (also known as ROI), as well as measure the gaps between the initial estimate of meeting-related spend and the actual volume.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Opportunities</strong></span>\r\n\r\nOnce the discovery stage is completed, the document suggests identifying the places where opportunity for savings exists.\r\n\r\nOne such area is process efficiencies. Look for overlapping activities and  special opportunities  poll Powered by PollMonkey Has the looming economic downturn affected your program planning? Meetings have been cancelled due to uncertainty Meetings have been postponed due to uncertainty We have reduced attendee counts Budgets have been reduced overall No - there has been no change Other Submit  Successful Meetings Events Hosted buyer programs that offer career-enriching accredited education with industry experts and prescheduled one-on-one appointments with destination suppliers  industry events calendar featured event see all events duplication of effort where implementing a company-wide policy to take advantage of company-wide resources and tools will streamline planners\' workload, helping travel managers center on the mechanics of meeting planning.\r\n\r\nRisk management is another area. The white paper concludes that it is highly likely during the discovery phase to find several contractual agreements that the company has entered for meetings and events. Some will have been signed by those with little or no legal wherewithal; others bring added exposure and security risk to the company. Centralizing the drawing-up and approval of these contracts not only will mitigate those risks, it also will raise the awareness of the level of meetings activity.\r\n\r\nTied to efficiencies and risk management, the committee\'s findings say savings can be had by applying basic procurement principles to the purchase of goods and services for meetings and events. Preferred supplier relationships with leveraged negotiating (better pricing) and contracting (better terms) is a direct and measurable result.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Best Practices</strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe white paper outlines six areas of suggested change:\r\n\r\nApproval: Require that approval to request and plan a meeting is gained at a level higher than both the person making the request and the planner. This should decrease the occurrence of meeting cancellations.\r\n\r\nMeeting Registration: Define meetings and events in terms of a company\'s strategic objectives, design a budget template, then for each meeting and event, assign it a number and track it through each stage of the planning process.\r\n\r\nSourcing: The best scenario would be to have this handled by one central group or an individual who is responsible for leveraging the corporation\'s meeting-related spend. Three key areas for sourcing are supplier identification and selection (move toward a company-wide model of preferred suppliers); negotiations (engage more than one supplier at the same time); and contracting and risk management (develop templates and have the legal department or a designated individual be the only ones to sign contracts).\r\n\r\nAcquisitions/Payment Planning: Redesign the general ledger or budget codes and limit the methods of payment for meeting-related expenses, thereby boosting the overall ability to scrutinize expenditures.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2122\" title=\"The Groups and Meetings Committee of the National Business Travel Association last month released a white paper outlining recommendations for travel managers responsible for meetings consolidation within their companies. Travel Managers Get Meetings Low-Down\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/AB4F938C85-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"The Groups and Meetings Committee of the National Business Travel Association last month released a white paper outlining recommendations for travel managers responsible for meetings consolidation within their companies. Travel Managers Get Meetings Low-Down\" width=\"334\" height=\"250\" />Data Analysis/Reporting: Measure the return on investment for a completed meeting by taking the actual data and comparing it to the planned outcome.\r\n\r\nTechnology: Use what\'s available in the marketplace to automate processes, eliminate paperwork and deliver efficiencies, such as with meeting registration, RFPs, attendee registration and so forth.\r\n\r\nImplementation could take anywhere from six months to two years, said the co-chairs.\r\n\r\nIn response to a question about possible frustration and delays due to the expanded levels of approval, Caliri replied, \"As with any new program, there are going to be some delays, but over time, the new steps become standard operating procedures, and planners adjust to the new lead-time needs.\"\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Perceptions</strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe committee avoids the term \"meetings consolidation\" in favor of \"strategic meetings management program\" because of the fear of fewer meetings and jobs that the former label invokes in the industry, especially when the term \"commodity\" comes into play, as it often does during discussions of consolidation.\r\n\r\n\"I don\'t see why commodity is such a dirty word, especially in hospitality, where service is a strong component of what one\'s buying,\" said Kari Kesler, a co-leader on the committee\'s subteam and strategic sourcing specialist for travel and meetings for ING Financial Services in Minneapolis.\r\n\r\n\"Why are people worried about the word if they\'re smart enough to realize that it\'s about price and value? Instead of worrying about word choice, their time and effort should be spent on learning how to buy and sell in this new area.\"\r\n\r\nIndeed, meetings consolidation can just as easily lead to professional enrichment as it can to lost jobs and fewer meetings.\r\n\r\nChristy Lamagna, who three months ago became vice president of events and operations at Cendant Corp., previously worked as an independent meeting consultant. For one client, a communications company, she was asked to merge the travel managers and meetings departments.\r\n\r\n\"My job changed in that I got to have more of an impact on things and make a difference,\" she said. \"Having a good meeting is one thing. Saving the company $1 million in six months — that was meaningful.\"\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Future Products</strong></span>\r\n\r\nNBTA\'s Groups &amp; Meetings Committee, created in July 2003, is composed of 16 members from various supplier sectors who have direct experience in managing groups or meetings from a procurement or operational perspective.\r\n\r\nIt plans to release additional documents and strategies for successfully implementing a meetings management program later this year to support this white paper. Topics will cover technology options, meeting planners as internal customers, hotel and airline FAQs, and the impact of governmental legislation on travel managers.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Travel Managers Get Meetings Low-Down, Travel Managers, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Corporate Travel, Successful Meetings</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.successfulmeetings.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-425 noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-425\" title=\"Successful Meetings\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/sm_logo-300x108.gif\" alt=\"Successful Meetings\" width=\"175\" height=\"63\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Travel Managers Get Meetings Low-Down','','publish','open','open','','travel-managers-get-meetings-low-down','','\nhttps://strategic.events/sarbanes-oxley-act-sox-socks-planners/','2018-02-20 21:17:31','2018-02-20 21:17:31','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=422',0,'post','',0),(425,3,'2016-03-30 20:28:05','2016-03-30 20:28:05','','sm_logo','','inherit','open','closed','','sm_logo','','','2016-03-30 20:28:53','2016-03-30 20:28:53','',422,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/sm_logo.gif',0,'attachment','image/gif',0),(428,1,'2016-03-30 21:22:35','2016-03-30 21:22:35','<h2>Plan B: Fixing Snafus</h2>\r\n<h3>Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM</h3>\r\nMisspelled signage. Broken equipment. No-show talent. You name it — nothing compares with the string of disasters I encountered during a week-long sales kick-off in San Francisco several years ago that went from plan A to plan B.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PlanA.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-443 noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-443 size-full\" title=\"Misspelled signage. Broken equipment. No-show talent. You name it nothing compares with the string of disasters encountered during a week-long sales, plan b\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PlanA.png\" alt=\"Misspelled signage. Broken equipment. No-show talent. You name it nothing compares with the string of disasters encountered during a week-long sales, plan b\" width=\"69\" height=\"100\" /></a>\r\n\r\nIt all started when hotel security knocked on my door at 1 a.m. The previous day at our orientation meeting, we gave our 1,200 attendees a laser pointer in their welcome kits. That evening, some of the attendees thought it would be fun to shoot the lasers into hotel rooms across the street.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/LDROSX3996.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2216 size-medium\" title=\"Misspelled signage. Broken equipment. No-show talent. You name it nothing compares with the string of disasters encountered during a week-long sales, plan b\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/LDROSX3996-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Misspelled signage. Broken equipment. No-show talent. You name it nothing compares with the string of disasters encountered during a week-long sales, plan b\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>We had booked rooms at several buildings along the same street and the laser action spanned down the block and up several stories. It also took in an elderly woman walking her dog, who mistook the pointers for the scope targets of a gun. Convinced that she was the mafia’s next hit, she sought refuge in the hotel. Hotel security threatened to have me arrested if the lasers didn’t stop immediately.\r\n\r\nA few days later we gave a large presentation to all the attendees. I sat in the back of the room in the control unit with the audiovisual crew. Halfway into the presentation, something caught my eye on top of the chandelier lighting. The lights were on the lowest setting, but I could just make out the object. It was a mouse, running back and forth along the stretch of lighting.\r\n\r\nHorrified, I asked the audiovisual crew if mice are known for good balance, but they didn’t have time to reply. Just then, the mouse took a dive directly onto an attendee’s head.\r\n\r\nThe man the mouse landed on threw his hands up to his head, confused at what had just happened. Then, he saw the mouse scurry across the floor, and putting two and two together, he leapt out of his chair. Fortunately, he was sitting in an aisle seat and didn’t cause too much of a scene. He very calmly headed for the doors. But once he got in the hallway, he let the expletives fly.\r\n\r\nWhile I started damage control on project “Find the Mouse,” our CEO was caught in his own hotel snafu. He was getting dressed for a meeting in his room, the one and only presidential suite for the hotel, when he went to the bathroom and came out to find a family of four going through his luggage. Somehow, the hotel had checked this family into the suite without realizing that our CEO — and his party of 1,200 attendees — were still there.\r\n\r\nFinally, as if we weren’t having enough fun, the ceiling fell on our heads. I was preparing for a break-out session that was about to begin when a planner came running towards me, yelling, “The ceiling is falling.” Because of the week’s track record, I assumed she meant something along the lines of “The sky is falling” from the Chicken Little story. I replied, “Just tell me what it is, I’m sure we’ll be able to fix it.” “You don’t understand,” she said. “Come with me right now.”\r\n\r\nShe led me to the room where the break-out was set to start in 10 minutes. There was a hole in the middle of the ceiling, and soggy chunks of plaster covered the floor. A pipe had burst above the ceiling and there was water everywhere.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Planbb.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-444 noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-444 size-full\" title=\"Misspelled signage. Broken equipment. No-show talent. You name it nothing compares with the string of disasters encountered during a week-long sales, plan b\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Planbb.png\" alt=\"Misspelled signage. Broken equipment. No-show talent. You name it nothing compares with the string of disasters encountered during a week-long sales, plan b\" width=\"70\" height=\"100\" /></a>\r\n\r\nAlthough we had some extraordinary setbacks during the week, we did manage to keep most of the attendees in the dark and the event on track.\r\n\r\nAfter hotel security threatened to put me in jail and seek out the individual laser enthusiasts, I ran into a company executive in the lobby. I explained the situation and asked him to warn attendees to stop playing with the lasers during his greeting presentation in the morning. He said he would and security dropped the charges.\r\n\r\nAbout 15 minutes later, I got a call that a laser was still coming from a room. I went to the room, and to my disbelief, found the executive I had just spoken to. He said he was curious and wanted to try out the lasers.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/K5ZDFKB57D.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2217 size-medium\" title=\"Misspelled signage. Broken equipment. No-show talent. You name it nothing compares with the string of disasters encountered during a week-long sales, plan b\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/K5ZDFKB57D-300x183.jpg\" alt=\"Misspelled signage. Broken equipment. No-show talent. You name it nothing compares with the string of disasters encountered during a week-long sales, plan b\" width=\"300\" height=\"183\" /></a>I took the situation into my own hands and left a blanket voicemail message in all the rooms of our attendees, which prevented the situation from happening again.\r\n\r\nMy next task was to calm the mouse man, who was clearly shaken by the experience. While I apologized, I made note of his name badge. That evening, I sent a bottle of wine to his room with a note to thank him for dealing with the situation so well. He probably told the story at the bar, but word never spread to the rest of the attendees. The hotel informed me the next day that they “took care” of the mouse.\r\n\r\nBecause our CEO had uninvited guests in his room, I told the hotel that they needed to fix the situation and make it up to him. Hotel management checked the family out of the suite and sent him a Disney gift bag. The man is a billionaire — what he’d do with a Mickey Mouse watch, I don’t know. But he let the situation drop and I made a note to avoid the hotel in the future.\r\n\r\nThe word “break-out” was redefined for me after seeing the damage to our meeting room. We had no choice but to move the meeting to a different location. I ran to make more copies of the handouts, since some had been ruined, and find AV to reset in a different room. We took down signage with the previous room number on it and had people redirect attendees to the new location. The meeting was only delayed about five minutes as we finished pulling everything together.\r\n\r\nLooking back on it, sitting in a jail cell probably would have been more enjoyable than what I went through at that event. But, at least I got a good story out of it.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Plan B Fixing Snafus, Plan B, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Exhibitor Online</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.exhibitoronline.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-435 noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-435 size-full\" title=\"Exhibitor Online\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/blacktaggray.gif\" alt=\"Exhibitor Online\" width=\"212\" height=\"41\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Plan B: Fixing Snafus','','publish','open','open','','plan-b-fixing-snafus','','','2018-01-22 16:23:15','2018-01-22 16:23:15','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=428',0,'post','',0),(431,1,'2016-03-30 22:22:33','2016-03-30 22:22:33','<h2>SOX Socks Planners</h2>\r\n<h3>By Marshall Krantz</h3>\r\nThe federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) has dumped an extra layer of corporate bureaucracy on meeting planners, burdening them with extra paperwork, delaying approvals for booking meetings, paying vendors.\r\n\r\nBut at the same time, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which tightens corporate financial reporting in an attempt to stem the corporate scandals of the past few years, has largely not forced companies to spend less money per meeting so far, as some had expected (see MeetingNews, April 19).\r\n\r\nThose are the main conclusions of meeting <a href=\"https://strategic.events/become-strategic-planner/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a> who are contending with Sarbanes-Oxley Act, widely known as SOX. Publicly traded companies with market capitalizations of more than $75 million must comply with SOX\'s reporting provision this year; smaller public companies, next year.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/6D91714AAE.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2103 size-medium\" title=\"The federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) has dumped an extra layer of corporate bureaucracy on meeting planners, burdening them with extra paperwork, delaying approvals for booking meetings, paying vendors.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/6D91714AAE-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"The federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) has dumped an extra layer of corporate bureaucracy on meeting planners, burdening them with extra paperwork, delaying approvals for booking meetings, paying vendors.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>\"The decision process now has more layers and takes more time,\" said David Lutz, president of Conferon, the large meeting planning firm based in Twinsburg, Ohio. \"Hotels should expect that meetings from some corporations will have a longer decision cycle because of new approval processes.\"\r\n\r\nAs a result of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), for example, one Conferon customer has instituted more vigorous procedures for the selection of meetings venues.\r\n\r\n\"There must be an RFP, at least three bidders, and if the lowest bid is not selected there should be an explanation of why,\" Lutz said. \"Additionally, three or more management personnel may need to sign off on the final decision.\"\r\n\r\nAt Rockwell Automation in Milwaukee, employees are assigned spending authorization levels and send invoices that exceed their limits to higher-ups for approval, according to Bill Severson, manager of meetings and special events.\r\n\r\n\"Sometimes that slows up the payment process because those people are not always here; they might be on the road,\" said Severson.\r\n\r\nHe must also now send original invoices to accounting — before, he could submit copies — and that, too, can create delays in payments to vendors, he said. Accounting will accept faxed invoices but only if Severson specifies that they are the originals.\r\n\r\n\"We get by with that sometimes,\" he said about submitting faxes, \"but accounting doesn\'t like it.\"\r\n\r\nRockwell\'s new reporting policy, which went into effect concurrent with SOX, requires more documentation to further hold those authorizing expenditures accountable. Before, Severson could initial and date an invoice and send it to accounting. Now, however, he must specify the purpose of the expenditure and date-stamp the invoice, in addition to signing his initials.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Meeting Cancellations</strong></span>\r\n\r\nContributing to the increased oversight by financial managers at some companies is the potential for meeting cancellations and postponements.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/89AZTB8E5H.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2107 size-medium\" title=\"The federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) has dumped an extra layer of corporate bureaucracy on meeting planners, burdening them with extra paperwork, delaying approvals for booking meetings, paying vendors.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/89AZTB8E5H-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"The federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) has dumped an extra layer of corporate bureaucracy on meeting planners, burdening them with extra paperwork, delaying approvals for booking meetings, paying vendors.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>At New York-based Cendant Corp., Christy Lamagna, vice president of events and operations, now sends contracts to the company\'s finance department so managers there can factor the potential expense of canceling into their financial forecasts for future years. Previously, only the paid bills went to finance.\r\n\r\n\"If I have to cancel or postpone a meeting that\'s scheduled for next year, the company is still on the hook for the dollars,\" Lamagna said. \"Finance has to know our potential liability.\"\r\n\r\nSOX also prompted Lamagna\'s event marketing team to send contracts to internal meeting sponsors for approval prior to signing. Lamagna considers the extra step a benefit despite the additional layer of authorization.\r\n\r\n\"Everyone\'s on board before contracts are signed — there\'s buy-in from the business units,\" she said.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Little Effect On Spending</strong></span>\r\n\r\nAlthough some in the industry had expected SOX to pressure companies into a defensive posture against potential charges of extravagant spending on meetings — choosing a city hotel over a resort, for instance — planners say that scenario largely has failed to materialize.\r\n\r\n\"A lot of that lavish spending on meetings disappeared in 2001,\" when the recession hit, said Pat Schaumann, president of MAC Meetings &amp; Events, in St. Louis. \"Companies have mostly stuck with their history. If they\'ve gone to resorts, they\'re continuing to go to resorts.\"\r\n\r\nLutz agreed. \"We haven\'t noticed any decision changes because of SOX,\" he said. \"Most of the companies we work with are aware of the extremes.\"\r\n\r\nIncentive trips pose few problems despite their recreational focus because companies usually can justify the spending based on increased sales or other quantifiable goals, Lutz pointed out.\r\n\r\n\"Incentives have tight rules around them,\" he said, \"with measures for return on investment.\" Julie Carroll, national director of purchasing and industry relations for WorldTravel Meetings &amp; Incentives, in Chicago, said that some corporate clients have cut back slightly on the length of trips. But she attributed the tighter measures as much or more to corporate cost-cutting as to SOX.\r\n\r\n\"Even prior to the act,\" Carroll said, \"corporations were addressing a more strategic and controlled environment for meetings management.\"\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Suppliers Impacted</strong></span>\r\n\r\nAlthough SOX most directly affects corporate planners and their companies, meeting vendors also are feeling it, according to Julia O\'Connor, president of Trade Show Training, a trade show marketing consulting company based in Richmond, Va.\r\n\r\nO\'Connor said she knows of meeting planners for two large companies who are now discussing with their respective finance managers the format by which vendors must submit invoices. <span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">Vendors may face the burden of devising </span>different invoices and reporting procedures detailing their charges — in different accounting software — for different companies.\r\n\r\n\"If you\'re a small company and not reporting in the customer\'s system format, they may not be able to use you,\" said O\'Conner. \"Planners are spending time with finance right now to find out what they have to do to keep smaller vendors.\"\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/X0B97ULDPW.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2109 size-medium\" title=\"The federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) has dumped an extra layer of corporate bureaucracy on meeting planners, burdening them with extra paperwork, delaying approvals for booking meetings, paying vendors.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/X0B97ULDPW-300x251.jpg\" alt=\"The federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) has dumped an extra layer of corporate bureaucracy on meeting planners, burdening them with extra paperwork, delaying approvals for booking meetings, paying vendors.\" width=\"300\" height=\"251\" /></a>Hotels, as corporations themselves, are conforming to SOX by making it harder for groups to back out of contracts without paying higher cancellation fees.\r\n\r\nA sales manager for a large convention hotel, who asked not to be identified, said SOX puts more pressure on corporate finance managers to project revenues on solid claims of future business.\r\n\r\nThe rationale underlying the requirement, he said, is to prevent companies from borrowing money against future earnings that are, in effect, highly questionable.\r\n\r\n\"We\'re trying to make the contracts airtight to minimize our risk,\" he said. At his facility, the sales manager said that groups booking, say, eight years in advance of the meeting date could previously cancel by five years out and not pay any damages, based on the presumption that the hotel could easily resell the space.\r\n\r\nNow, however, groups must pay 10 percent of the contract at signing. Additionally, they pay double the percentage that they would have otherwise paid for canceling at each specified time period prior to the meeting. \"The relationship between for-profit hotel companies and not-for-profit associations is changing as a result of SOX,\" he said. \"And it is changing quickly.\"\r\n\r\nContact Marshall Krantz at <a href=\"mailto:mskrantz@comcast.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mskrantz@comcast.net</a>.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: SOX Socks Planners, SOX, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Successful Meetings</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.successfulmeetings.com/http://www.successfulmeetings.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-425 noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-425\" title=\"Successful Meetings\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/sm_logo-300x108.gif\" alt=\"Successful Meetings\" width=\"175\" height=\"63\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Sarbanes-Oxley Act - SOX Socks Planners','','publish','open','open','','sarbanes-oxley-act-sox-socks-planners','','','2018-01-22 16:20:25','2018-01-22 16:20:25','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=431',0,'post','',0),(435,3,'2016-03-30 23:04:10','2016-03-30 23:04:10','','blacktaggray','','inherit','open','closed','','blacktaggray','','','2016-03-30 23:19:40','2016-03-30 23:19:40','',428,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/blacktaggray.gif',0,'attachment','image/gif',0),(436,3,'2016-03-30 23:04:38','2016-03-30 23:04:38','','plan b','','inherit','open','closed','','plan-b','','','2016-03-30 23:07:53','2016-03-30 23:07:53','',428,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/plan-b.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(443,3,'2016-03-31 00:03:00','2016-03-31 00:03:00','','PlanA','','inherit','open','closed','','plana','','','2016-03-31 00:16:51','2016-03-31 00:16:51','',428,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PlanA.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(444,3,'2016-03-31 00:03:03','2016-03-31 00:03:03','','Planbb','','inherit','open','closed','','planbb','','','2016-03-31 00:17:24','2016-03-31 00:17:24','',428,'https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Planbb.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(448,1,'2016-03-31 15:05:30','2016-03-31 15:05:30','<h2>Corporate Planners | Seeking A Consensus On Trends</h2>\r\nCorporate planners are increasingly feeling pressure in their jobs, due to the climate of heightened cost accountancy, ROI, meetings consolidation, and other fast-moving shifts within Corporate America. To get an update on how corporate planners are adjusting to this pressure, and to get some first-hand accounts of the effects, MeetingNews editor-in-chief David McCann sat down with several at MeetingWorld 2004, in New York City.\r\n\r\nMeetingNews: Corporations are placing much greater emphasis on spending controls these days. How is that impacting your department or, from your perspective, corporate <a href=\"https://strategic.events/become-strategic-planner/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a> in general?\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/O9T7NGXHQR.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2282 size-medium\" title=\"Corporate planners are increasingly feeling pressure in their jobs, due to the climate of heightened cost accountancy, ROI, meetings consolidation, and other fast-moving shifts within Corporate America.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/O9T7NGXHQR-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Corporate planners are increasingly feeling pressure in their jobs, due to the climate of heightened cost accountancy, ROI, meetings consolidation, and other fast-moving shifts within Corporate America.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>Richard del Colle, meetings &amp; events supplier manager, Hewlett-Packard Co.: There are spending controls, but really it\'s more about tying meeting and travel spend to special strategic goals. Before, I think there were a lot of knee-jerk reactions by corporations, where they\'d just cut travel and meetings altogether. Now, whether a meeting is on the cost-containment or revenue-generating side of the house, you\'re OK if it\'s tied to strategic goals.\r\n\r\nChristy Lamagna, vice president of events and operations, Cendant Corp.: For incentive trips, it used to be OK to go to the most expensive, luxurious resorts. Now, it\'s, \"Where can we go that is cost-affordable?\"\r\n\r\nWe\'re doing a lot of cost analysis; for example, whether we can do four meetings at one particular chain in one year and negotiate a multi-program contract at once. We\'re also much more careful about how we negotiate our contracts and press the hotels for as many concessions as we can get. It used to be, \"Well, if we have to pay for parking, that\'s fine.\" Now it\'s not.\r\n\r\nJulie Carroll, national director of strategic partnerships and industry relations, WorldTravel Meetings &amp; Incentives: Our clients are doing all kinds of things to get their arms around meeting spend, to buy smarter. That could be in the form of electronic RFPs, or a tighter RFP process from the very beginning; or making sure they\'re minimizing any liability or legal exposure they might have in contracts.\r\n\r\nMN: As with cost controls, return on investment for meetings has been identified as a top priority. In what way is that manifesting itself?\r\n\r\nPatty Reger, manager of trade development, Pfizer Inc.: What I\'m seeing is that we never do things just because we\'ve always done them. I do a lot of work with our customers and consumer health division, and often it\'s about whether we really do something better, different, more impactful than all the other manufacturers out there.\r\n\r\nIn terms of how we\'re showing ROI, it\'s not necessarily scientific. We haven\'t gotten to the point of matrices or anything like that. But the discussions are always happening. Instead of just having a pre- and post-con with the hotel, we also have the meetings back at the office, soliciting feedback from customers and colleagues.\r\n\r\nI feel as though demonstrating ROI has really helped keep my job secure. There have been many times where I\'ve cut the cord on something and said, \"We can\'t possibly do this.\" In the eyes of the people I work with and for, this raises me from a planner to more of a strategic person.\r\n\r\nBeth Cooper-Zobott, conference services director, Equity Residential Properties: We have a new program, Pay For Performance, that involves goals and barometers we have to meet. One of mine is meetings ROI. So we have Scantron sheets that people fill out on whether their objectives were met.\r\n\r\nAlso, since before 9/11, I\'ve been calculating the savings I brought to the table and what I was able to negotiate. My barometer, which I worked on with my boss, is that I\'ve had a good year if I can demonstrate savings to the company of five times my salary.\r\n\r\n<img class=\" wp-image-2603 alignright\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/CA7B4D0A9A.jpg\" alt=\"Corporate planners are increasingly feeling pressure in their jobs, due to the climate of heightened cost accountancy, ROI, meetings consolidation, and other fast-moving shifts within Corporate America.\" width=\"313\" height=\"208\" />\r\n\r\nDel Colle: For me it\'s not so much what my ROI is, it\'s how much we are generating in customer sales. And there is a myriad of marketing tools out there that allow you to track your customers.\r\n\r\nMN: As you know, the new Sarbanes-Oxley Act may hold planners to a higher standard of cost accounting, require them to implement a host of restrictive new procedures, limit site-selection choices and make ethical business practices a higher priority than ever. Has Sarbanes-Oxley, and the corporate scandals involving Tyco, Enron and others that inspired this new law, had an effect on your meetings or meetings management?\r\n\r\nReger: I work in a small division of a large company and a lot of what I do tends to fly under the radar. But for the larger meetings, finance knew about Sarbanes-Oxley well before the planners did. Now that\'s part of the pre-con discussion. My company, in particular, is taking it very, very seriously.\r\n\r\nLamagna: Now, every time we sign a contract, we have to let the finance department know so they can gauge how much liability is involved. It used to be, with budgets, you didn\'t bump into anybody from finance. Now they\'re at our meetings. It\'s a new way to think.\r\n\r\nCarroll: There is more control and attention given to industry perks and site inspections. Our corporate customers are now really careful about whom they send on a site inspection. Also, before maybe it used to be a five-day trip, and now it\'s two days. And we\'ve done customer events for which the customers pay their own airfare.\r\n\r\nSome companies\' finance departments are analyzing group productivity tickets for air travel and making sure they\'re used in a smart way.\r\n\r\nIt will be interesting to see what happens with the planner points that hotels give out. I would guess that will change.\r\n\r\nReger: At Pfizer, it\'s been OK to accept planner points, though it was against my moral compass. But new procedures are going into effect that say you can\'t take the planner points. It will be interesting to see how the hotels respond to that.\r\n\r\nMN: More and more companies are placing corporate planners and meetings-management functions under travel departments or having purchasing departments take over procurement of some meeting services. What is your view of those trends?\r\n\r\nDel Colle: I think you really have to be careful about saying that travel is taking over meetings. It\'s more about identifying the synergies that exist between marketing departments and travel, and then coming up with a solution that allows you to consolidate your company\'s data. Travel departments and marketing departments see an opportunity to consolidate data without stepping on each other\'s toes.\r\n\r\nLamagna: I previously worked for a company called BroadVision and there it was backwards — the meetings department took over the travel department, and I became the events and travel person. We leveraged all our spending and did national contracts with three hotel chains in different pricing tiers, and with airlines. Then we went on to rental cars.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/CG12GN0QQN-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2114 size-medium\" title=\"Corporate planners are increasingly feeling pressure in their jobs, due to the climate of heightened cost accountancy, ROI, meetings consolidation, and other fast-moving shifts within Corporate America.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/CG12GN0QQN-1-300x202.jpg\" alt=\"Corporate planners are increasingly feeling pressure in their jobs, due to the climate of heightened cost accountancy, ROI, meetings consolidation, and other fast-moving shifts within Corporate America.\" width=\"300\" height=\"202\" /></a>I don\'t think there\'s anything wrong with corporate procurement working with meetings. I don\'t think they should take over, but if you can get a procurement person on a meeting team, that\'s a bonus.\r\n\r\nArlene Sheff, senior meeting planner, The Boeing Co.: I got a note from our travel department, which wanted to know why I picked a specific hotel, and why I got a different rate than our transient rate. So I figured it was a good time to get together with them to discuss the issue and look at their travel system and see how we could improve it to start tracking meetings. Then we could work as a team to go back to the hotels. We talked about the fact that some corporate planners were afraid that if we worked together that travel would want to take over meetings. I didn\'t get the impression that they would do that, but I do think that\'s a fear that a lot of meeting planners out there have.\r\n\r\nMN: One effect of today\'s cost environment is that many companies are outsourcing various meeting tasks. What has this trend meant to you?\r\n\r\nDel Colle: We really need our third-party suppliers. There\'s really no way a company our size can do everything on our own. However, we want them to use our technology tools so we can consolidate the data.\r\n\r\nCarroll: I would agree that we\'ve seen an uptick in outsourcing. Corporations are realizing that third parties can work in tandem with in-house corporate planners and fill whatever gaps exist, versus being a threat to take over the meetings department.\r\n\r\nRight now smaller corporations tend to outsource on a more full-service basis, while larger ones tend to just want holes filled.\r\n\r\nSheff: When I came to Boeing, I started using a site research company and an event company I had worked with previously, and I was called on the carpet to explain why I was doing that. I had to explain how cost-effective it is to have these partners do some of our legwork. For a third party to find a special event venue, then go take pictures of it, and do a preliminary site inspection — it would take me days to do all that. I really had to do a lot of explaining, but they understood my reasoning.\r\n\r\nMN: If you could impose one essential change on the way corporate planners do their jobs, what would it be?\r\n\r\nCooper-Zobott: I would require corporate planners to be less secretive with information. Many planners think they\'re getting a leg up on the negotiating process if they don\'t share their information with hotels, like the total budget and which other hotels they\'re looking at. But how can a hotel give you its best proposal if it doesn\'t know who the competition is? The more information you share, the more the hotel will get on board to become your partner.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Corporate Planners Seeking A Consensus On Trends, Corporate Planners, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Corporate Planners, Successful Meetings</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.successfulmeetings.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-425 noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-425\" title=\"Successful Meetings\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/sm_logo-300x108.gif\" alt=\"Successful Meetings\" width=\"175\" height=\"63\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Corporate Planners | Seeking A Consensus On Trends','','publish','open','open','','corporate-planners-seeking-consensus-trends','','','2018-01-22 15:57:40','2018-01-22 15:57:40','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=448',0,'post','',0),(450,1,'2016-03-31 15:30:31','2016-03-31 15:30:31','<h2>With Purse Strings Loosened, New Strings Get Attached</h2>\r\n<h3>By Marshall Krantz</h3>\r\n<strong>With Purse Strings Loosened, New Strings Get Attached |</strong> Corporate groups are mixing business and pleasure again.\r\n\r\nThe better economic times mean more corporate dollars for travel and entertainment, including meetings. And along with that, corporate groups are adding a few niceties back into their meetings. At the same time, however, the recent lean years left companies with a legacy of austerity that has made return on investment the watch-phrase of Corporate America. Thus, companies now strive to ensure that employees receive as much value as possible when taking time away from the office to attend a meeting.\r\n\r\n\"People are willing to have a little bit of fun again, but the educational part is really practical, like computer training that\'s applicable to people\'s jobs,\" said Steve Enselein, group sales executive director for Hyatt Hotels in Chicago.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/MINP_SEGL_SLVR_01_PROD_0000_1024x1024.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2599 size-medium\" title=\"Corporate groups are mixing business and pleasure again. The better economic times mean more corporate dollars for travel and entertainment, when purse strings loosen, new strings get attached.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/MINP_SEGL_SLVR_01_PROD_0000_1024x1024-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"Corporate groups are mixing business and pleasure again. The better economic times mean more corporate dollars for travel and entertainment, when purse strings loosen, new strings get attached.\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" /></a>Highlighting what Enselein termed a return to normalcy were the dinner menus at executive-level meetings held by a telecommunications company at the Hyatt Regency O\'Hare in 2002 and then again last year.\r\n\r\nOf the 2002 meeting, Enselein said, \"We actually served them meat loaf.\"\r\n\r\nBy contrast, he said, \"Last year, once again they had a dinner that was like a restaurant meal.\"\r\n\r\nBut the accompanying rigor to all this was stressed by Christy Lamagna, president of Strategic Meetings and Events in the New York area. While companies may be loosening their purse strings for meetings, it comes with a catch, she said.\r\n\r\n\"More money is available, but a lot of meetings must have educational components,\" she said. \"Even incentive trips have some takeaway.\"\r\n\r\nLamagna planned an incentive trip last year in Lake Tahoe in which an incentive staple, the dine-around, served to deliver business objectives as well.\r\n\r\nThe incentive winners consisted of the top performers in the company\'s three regional sales divisions. Each division went to a different restaurant, where the sales reps hashed out their divisional goals for the coming year.\r\n\r\n\"People sat around a roaring fire, drinking hot toddies, and talking about what was possible for the year,\" Lamagna recalled. \"It was interesting to see the way they mixed leisure and business. It felt like they were just chatting, but it was a working session. Someone was sitting on a bar stool taking notes.\" Some companies make a statement with their meeting dollars, said Marilyn Hauck, president of The Complete Conference in Sacramento, Calif.\r\n\r\n\"Money is spent to deliver specific messages,\" said Hauck. \"You can still put a meeting in a four- or five-star resort but cut back on the banquet. If the sales reps haven\'t made the goals, then maybe there won\'t be gifts or covered chairs or big flower arrangements. That sends the message that the company is not making the kind of money that justifies extra spending. They\'ll get the message, because they know what they got before.\"\r\n\r\nHauck noted that, even though purse strings are loosening, controlling finances is a persistent holdover.\r\n\r\n\"Before, if someone had an idea for a fun thing to do for a banquet, we might have just gone ahead and done it. But now expenditures have to be justified and fit the corporate strategy.\"\r\n\r\nContact Marshall Krantz at <a href=\"mailto:mkrantz@meetingnews.com\">mkrantz@meetingnews.com</a>.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: With Purse Strings Loosened New Strings Get Attached, Purse, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingnews.com/login.aspx?action=editprofile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1400 size-full\" title=\"Meeting News\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Meeting-News_170_w.jpg\" alt=\"Meeting News\" width=\"170\" height=\"42\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','With Purse Strings Loosened, New Strings Get Attached','','publish','open','open','','purse-strings-loosened-new-strings','','','2018-01-22 16:01:44','2018-01-22 16:01:44','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=450',0,'post','',0),(456,1,'2016-03-31 16:55:45','2016-03-31 16:55:45','<h2>Indies Team Up to Chase Corporate Business</h2>\r\n<h3>By Marshall Krantz</h3>\r\n<strong>Indies Team Up to Chase Corporate Business</strong> | The procurement craze that has gripped many companies has, in many cases, resulted in mandates to limit purchasing by corporate business meeting planners to just a few suppliers. As a result, independent suppliers of meetings services are banding together like never before, in an attempt to win business from corporations.\r\n\r\nThird-party planning firms in particular are finding they can better compete for corporate business if they collaborate with the likes of event registration companies, destination management companies, and AV companies. \"It\'s the wave of the future,\" explains Marilyn Hauck, president of The Complete Conference of Sacramento, CA, speaking about supplier collaboration. \"We\'ll see a lot more of it, especially with smaller independent planners.\"\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GDICZINTVI.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2601 size-medium\" title=\"The procurement craze that has gripped many companies has, in many cases, resulted in mandates to limit purchasing by corporate business meeting planners to just a few suppliers.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GDICZINTVI-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"The procurement craze that has gripped many companies has, in many cases, resulted in mandates to limit purchasing by corporate business meeting planners to just a few suppliers.\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>Sometimes planners and suppliers present joint proposals to potential corporate clients, but most often they subcontract with other suppliers so they can offer companies one contract and one point of contact. \"It\'s like building a house—I\'m the general contractor,\" says Christy Lamagna, president of Strategic Meetings and Events in Bernardsville, NJ. Lamagna, who planned 20 meetings last year, maintains her own preferred suppliers, including an audiovisual company and a vendor of promotional merchandise. She also maintains preferred relationships with suppliers, such as caterers, in destinations to which she often returns. \"I leverage all the business from my clients so I can get bulk discounts from my suppliers,\" Lamagna explains. Lamagna passes along the supplier savings to her clients—she takes a management fee for her work—which in turn allows her to submit more competitive bids.\r\n\r\nChris Pentz, whose Pentz Group Communications in Levittown, PA, focuses on medical meetings, says the collaboration is beneficial: \"I often partner with other independent planners. If the meeting is too big, I\'ll need assistance, someone to manage registration or medical abstracts.\"\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Indies Team Up to Chase Corporate Business, Corporate Business, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Corporate Business, Successful Meetings</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.successfulmeetings.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-425 noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-425\" title=\"Successful Meetings\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/sm_logo-300x108.gif\" alt=\"Successful Meetings\" width=\"175\" height=\"63\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Indies Team Up to Chase Corporate Business','','publish','open','open','','indies-team-chase-corporate-business','','','2018-01-22 16:07:43','2018-01-22 16:07:43','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=456',0,'post','',0),(461,1,'2016-03-31 19:28:24','2016-03-31 19:28:24','<h2>On the Trail - Corporate Meetings Value</h2>\r\n<strong>Corporate Meetings Value - On the Trail |</strong> After three years of auditing Pittsburgh companies\' books and doing taxes, Steve Maselko discovered that he did not want to be a certified public accountant after all.\r\n\r\nThis was in 1986, almost two decades before accountants for Enron and WorldCom would cast aside their profession\'s stuffed shirt reputation. Burned out in his mid-twenties, Maselko made what would be a <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-life/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">life</a> changing decision to join Marriott International as an operational auditor, making sure Marriott hotels were upholding the brand\'s standards.\r\n\r\n\"I thought it would be more interesting,\" he says. \"It involved lots of travel and staying at nice hotels around the world.\"\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/F8IX8796HF.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2062\" title=\"Companies now strive to ensure that employees receive as much value as possible when taking time away from the office to attend the value of the corporate meetings. Corporate Meetings Value - On the Trail, Steve Maselko analyzes business and leisure travelers, as well as incentive customers and in\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/F8IX8796HF-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Companies now strive to ensure that employees receive as much value as possible when taking time away from the office to attend the value of the corporate meetings. Corporate Meetings Value - On the Trail, Steve Maselko analyzes business and leisure travelers, as well as incentive customers and in\" width=\"366\" height=\"244\" /></a>Along the way, he had to figure out almost everything about how Marriott hotels work. \"I learned Marriott is driven by operating procedure, but I also learned there are exceptions,\" Maselko says. \"If the standard operating procedure doesn\'t make sense, or someone else has a better idea, let\'s use it. In auditing, everything is black and white.\" Running a hotel requires creativity and an <a href=\"https://strategic.events/sometimes-better-not-follow-leader/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">openness to alternate solutions</a>, he adds.\r\n\r\nMaselko first dipped his toe into the incentive industry in 1989, when a position opened up as a marketing analyst in the Marriott Rewards division, just as a new fiancée made being on the road three weeks each month difficult. Maselko\'s background digging through the nuts and bolts of how the company\'s hotels really work got him the job of helping Marriott Rewards \"build a better mousetrap,\" he says. Writing the liability theory for Marriott\'s gift certificates forced him to analyze business and leisure travelers, as well as incentive customers.\r\n\r\nSeveral promotions and 16 years later, Maselko is vice president of development and finance for certificates and prepaid cards, overseeing sales and business development of individual incentive awards and consumer gift certificates and cards for the 1,200 hotels of Bethesda, Md.–based Marriott International. With brands ranging from Fairfield Inn to The Ritz-Carlton, this is a broad mandate.\r\n\r\nFor one thing, Marriott doesn\'t own hotels, it manages them, so Maselko has to find gift card and certificate products that will not only attract consumers whether, incentive <a href=\"https://strategic.events/event-planners-podcast-christy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a> or the general public—he also has to convince property owners that those products will make them money. He notes that coupons had to prove themselves successful in generating trial stays at Marriott hotels in the United States, before they were rolled out in Europe and Asia a couple of years ago.\r\n\r\nIn fact, expanding Marriott\'s gift card and certificate business outside the United States is the biggest challenge Maselko is facing right now. Aside from the obvious issue, attracting customers, each country has different laws governing this market. For example, in the U.S., gift cards and certificates cannot expire, while in Germany the minimum expiration date was just lowered from 30 years to three.\r\n\r\nComplications like these helped convince Maselko to spend the past decade involved with industry organizations like the Society of Incentive &amp; Travel Executives (SITE) and the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA). \"When I joined SITE, my eyes were opened,\" he says. \"You had competitors in the same room talking about how to <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-steps-successfully-achieve-business-goals/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">make business better</a> for everyone.\"\r\n\r\nHe also is a past president of the IMA\'s Incentive Gift Certificate Council, a member of the IMA board and chair of the Professional Certification Committee. The latter created the Certified Professional of Incentive Management (CPIM) designation (which he promptly earned himself), a project he led after going through SITE\'s own certification process, and realizing how helpful it was professionally. \"I originally focused on gift certificates, not on the broader world of motivation,\" Maselko says.\r\n\r\nOne of his current goals is to get SITE and the IMA to cooperate more closely. \"Not that one organization should be subservient, but they need to work together,\" he says. \"A lot of my effort is directed toward this.\"\r\n\r\nBhutan is one of the world\'s few countries with a starkly preserved way of life, mainly because its king limits the number of annual outside visitors to this last remaining wholly Buddhist kingdom. But its leaders recently upped the number of visas to just under 10,000, and the kingdom\'s first two luxury hotels opened within the past year: COMO Hotels\' Uma Paro and Amanresorts\' Amankora, making it an exclusive destination for small, intrepid incentive groups or individual award winners.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/LFH7COOMVA.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2228\" title=\"Companies now strive to ensure that employees receive as much value as possible when taking time away from the office to attend the value of the corporate meetings. Corporate Meetings Value - On the Trail, Steve Maselko analyzes business and leisure travelers, as well as incentive customers and in\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/LFH7COOMVA-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Companies now strive to ensure that employees receive as much value as possible when taking time away from the office to attend the value of the corporate meetings. Corporate Meetings Value - On the Trail, Steve Maselko analyzes business and leisure travelers, as well as incentive customers and in\" width=\"373\" height=\"250\" /></a>Located in the Himalayas between Tibet to the north and India to the south, Bhutan is home to monks who roam among the people and more than 100 monasteries (known as dzongs) that dot the landscape. One not to be missed is the Taktsang \"Tiger\'s Nest\" Monastery, built in the eighth century upon a cliff face, and reachable only by foot. Many Bhutanese still walk from place to place, not least because of the harrowing, winding mountain roads. They are required to wear the national dress: Gho for the men and kira for the women, which are colorful cotton or wool robes, intricately wrapped and tied around the body. These garments, along with other hand-woven textiles, can take up to nine months to complete. They make stunning souvenirs, but can run as high as $1,500 in <a href=\"https://strategic.events/untold-story-events-cost-much/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">price</a>.\r\n\r\nBoth the 29-room and suite Uma Paro and the 24-suite Amankora offer a variety of activities led by expert guides, include trekking, camping, mountain biking, temple and museum tours, and <a href=\"https://strategic.events/asking-strategic-questions-cvb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">multi-day trips</a> to other cities, such as the capital and cultural center of Thimpu. The Uma Paro also has a meeting room for up to 16 guests and houses the COMO Shambhala Retreat, a health and wellness center offering yoga and Ayurvedic treatments.\r\n\r\nInternational cuisine is available, with local fare influenced by Indian dishes. Elsewhere chili peppers are merely an ingredient; here they are a dish unto themselves, says Ken Fish, president and CEO of New York–based Absolute Asia, which organizes trips to Bhutan. Fish recommends a five- to seven-day stay because \"Bhutan is a total experience; it\'s very pristine, very beautiful, and you have to get beyond Paro to really <a href=\"https://strategic.events/city-excursions-cvbs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">experience the country</a>.\" He adds that accommodations outside of Paro are comfortable but not deluxe.\r\n\r\nIn order to keep a handle on tourism, visitors are required to book through travel agents and must pay a daily surcharge. The only way in is on Bhutan\'s Druk Air (meaning \"dragon\") from Bangkok, Calcutta, Delhi or Kathmandu. The national language is Dzongkha, though English is the primary language for education and is quite common; U.S. dollars are widely accepted. Rates for the Uma Paro range from $210 for a deluxe room in the low season to $1,200 for a two-bedroom villa in high season, including breakfast. Amankora suites are $825 and $900 per night, including all meals, beverages, and airport transfers. Taxes are extra.\r\n\r\nThe prices definitely make Bhutan a luxury destination. \"People who visit are wealthy,\" agrees Fish, \"but the costs [and controls] have, quite honestly, kept out the backpackers and the negative side effects\" of overexposure.\r\n\r\nCorporate groups are mixing business and pleasure again.\r\n\r\nBetter <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planners-face-challenge-rising-attendance-costs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">economic times</a> mean more corporate <a href=\"https://strategic.events/show-money-4-easy-ways-save-cents/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dollars</a> for travel and entertainment, including meetings. And along with that, corporate groups are adding a few niceties back into their corporate meetings value.\r\n\r\nAt the same time, however, the recent lean years left companies with a legacy of austerity that has made return-on-investment the catchphrase of corporate America. Thus, companies now strive to ensure that employees receive as much <a href=\"https://strategic.events/content-master/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">value</a> as possible when taking time away from the office to attend a meeting.\r\n\r\n\"People are willing to have a little bit of fun again, but the educational part is really practical, like computer training that\'s applicable to people\'s jobs,\" says Steve Enselein, group sales executive director for Hyatt Hotels in Chicago.\r\n\r\nIllustrating what Enselein calls a return to normalcy were the dinner menus at corporate executive-level meetings held by a telecommunications company at the Hyatt Regency O\'Hare in 2002 and then again last year.\r\n\r\nOf the 2002 meeting, Enselein said, \"We actually served them meatloaf.\"\r\n\r\nBy contrast, he says, \"Last year, once again they had a dinner that was like a restaurant meal.\"\r\n\r\nBut there\'s an accompanying rigor to all this. While companies may be loosening their purse strings for meetings, it comes with a catch, says <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meetings-podcast/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Christy Lamagna</a>, president of New York-based Strategic Meetings and Events.\r\n\r\n<strong>\"More money is available, but a lot of corporate meetings value must have educational components,\" she says. \"Even incentive trips have some take-away.\"</strong>\r\n\r\nLamagna planned an incentive trip last year in Lake Tahoe in which an incentive staple, the dine-around, served to deliver <a href=\"https://strategic.events/right-answers-come-asking-right-questions/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">business objectives</a> as well.\r\n\r\nWinners consisted of the top performers in the company\'s three regional sales divisions. Each division went to a different restaurant, where the sales reps hashed out their corporate divisional goals for the coming year.\r\n\r\n\"People sat around a roaring fire, drinking hot toddies, and talking about what was possible for the year,\" <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-pro-christy-lamagna/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lamagna</a> recalls. \"It was interesting to see the way they mixed leisure and business. It felt like they were just chatting, but it was a working session. Someone was sitting on a bar stool taking notes.\"Some companies make a statement with their <a href=\"https://strategic.events/corporate-event-budgets-like-pro/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meeting dollars</a>, says Marilyn Hauck, president of The Complete Conference in Sacramento, Calif.\r\n\r\n\"Money is spent to deliver specific messages,\" Hauck says. \"You can still put a meeting in a four- or five-star resort but cut back on the banquet. If the sales reps haven\'t made the <a href=\"https://strategic.events/goal-setting-part-1/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">goals</a>, then maybe there won\'t be gifts or covered chairs or big flower arrangements. That sends the message that the corporate company is not making the kind of money that justifies extra spending. They\'ll get the message, because they know what they got before.\"\r\n\r\nHauck notes that even though there are fewer constraints on spending, controlling finances is a persistent holdover from tougher times.\r\n\r\n\"In the past, if someone had an idea for a fun thing to do for a corporate banquet, we might have just gone ahead and done it. But now expenditures have to be justified and fit the <a href=\"https://strategic.events/become-strategic-planner/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">corporate strategy</a>.\"\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Corporate Meetings Value On the Trail, Corporate Meetings Value, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings Value, Corporate Events, Successful Meetings</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.successfulmeetings.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1399 size-full\" title=\"Successful Meetings\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/succeessful_meet_170-1.jpg\" alt=\"Successful Meetings\" width=\"170\" height=\"61\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Corporate Meetings Value - On the Trail','','publish','open','open','','corporate-meetings-value','','','2018-01-22 16:08:35','2018-01-22 16:08:35','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=461',0,'post','',0),(466,1,'2016-04-04 18:25:27','2016-04-04 18:25:27','<h2>It\'s All Procurement, All The Time</h2>\r\n<strong>New York — How corporate procurement programs are changing the meeting-planning landscape dominates the discussion at most every industry event these days.</strong>\r\n\r\nSo as could have been expected, procurement, meetings data consolidation, <a href=\"https://strategic.events/how-to-become-strategic-planner-change-future/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strategic meeting planning</a>, and return on investment were the buzzwords at this year\'s MeetingWorld, held late last month at the Grand Hyatt New York.\r\n\r\nAt one session, Jack Phillips, chairman of the ROI Institute and the industry\'s current ROI guru, presented his method for quantifying the return on investment in meetings.\r\n\r\nAt another, corporate planner Camille Paluscio and independent planners Elizabeth Zielinski and Christy Lamagna talked about ways independent planners can forge preferred-supplier relationships with companies.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Freedom_Tower_June_8_2014_West_Side_Street_View_2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2573 size-medium\" title=\"New York — How corporate procurement programs are changing the meeting-planning landscape dominates the discussion at most every industry event these days.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Freedom_Tower_June_8_2014_West_Side_Street_View_2-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"New York — How corporate procurement programs are changing the meeting-planning landscape dominates the discussion at most every industry event these days.\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>Procurement and <a href=\"https://strategic.events/why-planners-need-to-get-strategic/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strategic meetings management</a> also played front and center at the keynote general session, featuring high-powered panelists Fred Shea, vice president of sales for Hyatt Hotels; Carol Lynch, sales VP for Starwood Hotels; Colin Rorrie Jr., CEO of Meeting Professionals International; Richard Del Colle, a meetings supplier (read: procurement) manager for Hewlett-Packard; and Jay Roseman, VP of Corporate Meeting Solutions for American Express Business Travel.\r\n\r\nAll the industry talk about corporate meetings procurement programs is matched by talk in the executive suites — that is, a lot of talk and relatively little action so far, according to Dick Zeller, who at an Executive Track session presented a detailed analysis about how corporate planners can leverage procurement procedures to their advantage.\r\n\r\n\"Only a small number of companies are actually doing it, but many are seriously talking about it,\" said Zeller, who helps companies establish enterprise-wide meetings procurement programs as vice president of consolidation for Maritz Travel Company.\r\n\r\nMore companies are turning talk into action, however, so planners better get with the procurement program before the program gets them, said Zeller.\r\n\r\nThat\'s a message industry leaders are preaching hard, including Zeller\'s boss, Christine Duffy, Maritz CEO and current MPI chairwoman. For years, Duffy has proselytized about the career benefits of <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategy-important-planning-events/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strategic planning</a>.\r\n\r\nZeller was very upbeat about how procurement practices can help planners win a seat at the executive table, where the early — and most important — decisions about meetings and company-wide meetings programs are made.\r\n\r\nBut when questioned about procurement\'s downside, Zeller acknowledged that it can be a pain, especially in the beginning but also if it\'s done poorly.\r\n\r\nFor example, planners may have to budget meetings differently than they are accustomed to doing and they may no longer be allowed to sign contracts.\r\n\r\nMoreover, procurement can create greater bureaucracy: more levels of approval, more paperwork. And that can mean delays in signing contracts with hotels, which in turn can mean losing tentative holds on space.\r\n\r\nIf nothing else, delays mean a lot of hassles for the planner, who has to explain to the sales rep why she really wants to hold her company\'s meeting at the rep\'s property but hasn\'t yet returned the contract. It also means a chain-reaction of delays. Why arrange for destination-specific or property-specific services if you\'re not absolutely sure your group is actually going to that destination or property?\r\n\r\nIn the keynote session, Shea said that Hyatt salespeople were already seeing delays in companies booking meetings because the approval process has become multi-layered.\r\n\r\n— Marshall Krantz\r\n\r\nAt the Executive Track session about meetings procurement tends, Zeller delivered this message to corporate planners: Fear not your company\'s procurement department — it can be your friend.\r\n\r\nProcurement departments can help planners develop a company-wide meetings procurement program, a complicated endeavor that can take three to four years in a large company, according to Zeller.\r\n\r\n\"Procurement helps break down the process into bite-size pieces,\" he said. \"It\'s helpful if you in the meetings organization understand this. If procurement hasn\'t come to you yet, you should go to procurement.\"\r\n\r\nZeller said procurement officers often look to <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meetings-podcast/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">professional meeting planners</a> \"to be the subject-matter experts and to make the final decisions.\"\r\n\r\nHe also said that a couple of factors within Corporate America are helping planners gain a seat at the executive table, where strategic decisions about meetings are made.\r\n\r\nOne, the federal Sarbanes-Oxley law is forcing greater fiscal accountability on senior management; and two, senior management is telling division and department heads to get greater cost efficiencies through best procurement practices, which was a theme of the keynote general session.\r\n\r\nAs an example of the latter, Zeller said the sales department of a Maritz client was told to hold next year\'s meetings budget to this year\'s level despite rising hotel room rates. The sales executives turned to the company\'s meeting planners and procurement officials for help.\r\n\r\n— Marshall Krantz\r\n\r\nSurvival strategies in a corporate environment that continues to squeeze greater cost efficiencies out of every aspect of a company\'s operations, including <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meetings-christy-lamagna-solution/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meetings</a>, dominated the discussion at the keynote general session.\r\n\r\nJay Roseman, vice president in charge of managing meetings for the clients of American Express Business Travel, said companies will place more value on professional planners who contribute to strategic objectives while the role of occasional planners will diminish.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/HZCASACP3N.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2231 size-medium\" title=\"New York — How corporate procurement programs are changing the meeting-planning landscape dominates the discussion at most every industry event these days.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/HZCASACP3N-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"New York — How corporate procurement programs are changing the meeting-planning landscape dominates the discussion at most every industry event these days.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>\"The profession of meeting planning is a very safe place as long as meeting professionals are willing to adapt to a different way of working and take on a different type of responsibility,\" Roseman said.\r\n\r\nIn the pursuit of a strategic planning role, Rich Del Colle, meetings and events supplier manager for Hewlett-Packard, said planners must learn technology, such as customer relationship management software, that allows companies to closely track and market to their customers.\r\n\r\n\"You have to get more involved with the technology that is out there,\" he said.\r\n\r\nBut Dr. Tom McDonald, facilitator of the panel discussion, responded, \"That\'s easier said than done. I\'ve talked to a lot of planners, and it\'s always about delegating. \'Who am I going to delegate to? If I don\'t do it, no one else will.\' \"\r\n\r\n— Marshall Krantz\r\n\r\nOn the second day of MeetingWorld, after attendees reluctantly dined on steaming Manhattan clam chowder — temperatures reached the 90s in New York — luncheon speaker James Surowiecki presented his case: that a random group of people, under the right circumstances, collectively possesses enormous intelligence.\r\n\r\nSurowiecki, a columnist for The New Yorker and author of the best-seller \"The Wisdom of Crowds,\" told the story of Francis Galton, a British scientist, and his visit to a county fair. Galton was intrigued with a contest in which people were asked to guess the weight of an ox. Each member of the crowd made a guess, and while individual answers varied widely, the average of all the answers was off by only one pound.\r\n\r\n\"Under the right circumstances,\" Surowiecki added, \"the group intelligence is actually greater than the smartest person in the group.\" The \"right circumstances\" include having a diverse group; that individuals make their observations independently of one another\'s input; and that the group\'s collective judgment can be aggregated toward solving the problem at hand.\r\n\r\n— Antoinette DeNise\r\n\r\nEven more surprising than finding some hoteliers in the \"Tips for Better Contracts\" session — since sellers at industry events usually focus on the trade show floor —was the altruistic spirit that these hoteliers displayed. Several of them offered up suggestions that could help planners.\r\n\r\nDan Paradiso, group sales manager at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, recommended that <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planners-face-challenge-rising-attendance-costs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meeting planners</a> base their attrition clause on the \"lowest\" room rate instead of \"average.\" Using the average takes into account the pick-up on the group\'s higher-priced accommodations, such as suites, he said.\r\n\r\nAnother hotelier warned buyers against making conservative room-block guarantees because \"the hotel then has more justification for booking a group on marketplace guarantees because \"the hotel then has more justification for booking a group on top of you, and will do so,\" he said.\r\n\r\n— Rayna Katz\r\n\r\nHyatt\'s Shea was a dominant presence at Meeting World, participating in several forums, and he had a lot of knowledge and wisdom to dispense. A couple of nuggets:\r\n\r\n\"Yield management has arrived in meeting rooms. You\'re going to start seeing price changes on food in meeting rooms on different days and items. In other words, given demand, chicken may not cost the same price on Friday as it does on Tuesday.\"\r\n\r\nAnd of the four years that he spent working as a meeting planner, some time ago, during a hiatus from Hyatt, he said, \"It was a hard job. I went back to the easy side.\"\r\n\r\n— Rayna Katz\r\n\r\nIn this age of rampant corporate espionage and identity theft, it\'s surprising how trusting planners can be. That became clear at \"You Are Being Watched: Privacy Implications for Meetings,\" a session facilitated by attorney Kelly Franklin Bagnall and meetings management consultant Joan Eisenstodt.\r\n\r\nParticipants were presented with scenarios involving hotel lists and camera phones, and, from the discussion that arose, it emerged that planners often broadcast sensitive information about their attendees without considering the liability issues at stake.\r\n\r\nIn the event of an attrition dispute, for example, a planner may hand over the registration list to the hotel without receiving assurances that guests\' privacy will be respected. And there is rarely a clear policy regarding camera phones on trade show floors.\r\n\r\nBagnall, a partner with Dallas-based law firm Brown McCarroll LLP that frequently represents hotels, advised planners to insert clauses defining their expectations for privacy and confidentiality into their hotel contracts, since \"personal expectation of privacy and legal expectation of privacy are two different things.\"\r\n\r\nEisenstodt urged more awareness in general, as technologies such as Wi-Fi and RFID, which are gaining popularity in the meetings context, can also put privacy at risk.\r\n\r\n\"I tell people to always remove their name badges when not on-site at the meeting,\" said Eisenstodt, \"but RFID badges may broadcast your information without your knowledge.\"\r\n\r\nAt the end of the session Eisenstodt observed that privacy \"is an issue that will continue to grow and change as technology and government become more intrusive.\"\r\n\r\n— Terri Hardin\r\n\r\nThe ins and outs of Internet connectivity can be overwhelming, but Mary Ann Pierce, president of New York-based MAP Digital, gave valuable tips on how to avoid being overcharged and ensuring that groups get what they need in the session \"Hooking Up: Taming the Wild World of Internet Connectivity.\"\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/4T6SJTFJ38.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2233 size-medium\" title=\"New York — How corporate procurement programs are changing the meeting-planning landscape dominates the discussion at most every industry event these days.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/4T6SJTFJ38-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"New York — How corporate procurement programs are changing the meeting-planning landscape dominates the discussion at most every industry event these days.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>Pierce encouraged planners to learn what bandwidth a property offers. If a venue has DSL, be sure to ask about upload speeds and download speeds, which vary tremendously and can cripple programming. When in doubt, it\'s often easier, and frequently cheaper, to simply have additional access installed.\r\n\r\nPlanners should not be railroaded into sharing bandwidth with hotel rooms or administration offices, according to Pierce. \"Bandwidth is finite; it\'s not out there in the ether,\" she said, so planners and attendees may end up with significantly less than they expected, and paid for, unless they learn to ask.\r\n\r\nShe also encouraged planners to negotiate IP address-related fees. Hotels often claim to have hard-and-fast rules and pricing, but planners should not assume that Internet fees and services are truly non-negotiable. Prior to an event, planners should speak with the IT director — the person who will really know what the property has in terms of Internet connectivity. At the event, the planner should have on hand the names and cell-phone numbers of tech contacts at the company that owns the high-speed Internet access circuits (hint: It\'s probably not the venue). \"It\'s like playing Nancy Drew sometimes\" to track down whomever you actually need to talk to, Pierce warned, but worth it to resolve conflicts quickly.\r\n\r\n— Kinley Levack\r\n\r\nThe session \"Choosing Speakers — Without Breaking the Bank\" dispensed <a href=\"https://strategic.events/content-master/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">creative ideas</a> for determining what speakers will resonate with the audience and landing one who, on paper, may seem to be out of your price range.\r\n\r\nMarc Reede, president of Los Angeles-based Nationwide Speakers Bureau, advocated piggy-backing on other dates to save money. If you know a speaker will be in your area for an engagement, you may be able to secure him for nothing more than an additional night or two in a nice hotel. Reede said this works particularly well for bands, which likely have a slew of roadies, back-up members and other personnel.\r\n\r\nAnother suggestion of Reede\'s is to infiltrate a motivational seminar or other event. If Lance Armstrong (who costs approximately $200,000 per event) will be speaking nearby, it may make sense to buy tickets to that event, and then have breakout sessions or other programming elsewhere.\r\n\r\nDiane Goodman, president of Goodman Speakers Bureau in Windsor, Conn., advised attendees to take a look at what books their executives are reading, in order to gain insight into what is on their minds.\r\n\r\n— Kinley Levack\r\n\r\nExecutive-level meeting professionals become what they are not so much from <a href=\"https://strategic.events/key-strategic-poe/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">learning new things</a> as by thinking in new ways. That was the approach psychologist and session leader Dr. Tom McDonald took in introducing MeetingWorld\'s special Executive Track, urging attendees to conceive of new ways of doing things and educate higher-level executives that you\'re the one to do them.\r\n\r\n\"In a sense, you\'re re-educating your bosses,\" said McDonald in \"Managing Upward: Honing Your Skills As a Strategist,\" \"and not letting them define you and put that definition away in a desk drawer. The most innovative solution is to redefine the situation for yourself.\"\r\n\r\nPerhaps the most dynamic segment of McDonald\'s session was a networking version of \"speed dating.\" McDonald asked the attendees to think of what they do that is already of <a href=\"https://strategic.events/holy-trio-company-consists/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strategic importance</a> to their companies, and that they would be proud to share with others. Then, the attendees had five rounds of one-on-one interviews with each other, with one minute to talk about their own strategic skill, one minute to listen, and one minute to write down what they learned.\r\n\r\nTwenty minutes later, everyone had five new strategic ideas to take away.\r\n\r\n\"People get the most from meetings in talking to their peers,\" he noted. \"It all goes into the mix of what they\'re going to do next.\"\r\n\r\n— Christopher Hosford\r\n\r\nIn the session \"Independent Planner Power: Building Relationships With — and Winning Business From — Corporations,\" the panel told attendees that communication is the key to out-competing other independents, including large planning companies.\r\n\r\n\"Don\'t talk so much about yourself and your qualifications,\" said Christy Lamagna, president of Bernardsville, N.J.-based Strategic Meetings &amp; Events. \"Talk about how you can <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-steps-achieve-business-goals/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">enhance their business</a> and how well you understand their company and industry.\"\r\n\r\nLamagna also emphasized the importance of <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-insight-event-planners/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">learning to speak the language</a> of procurement: \"You need to be familiar with terms like economies of scale and leveraged spending,\" she said.\r\n\r\nPanelists encouraged attendees to make at least three new potential client contacts every working week, and to pass up no opportunities to do so. That goes even while waiting in line at the airport or seated next to someone on a plane. Another must: Maintain the highest ethical standards and fully disclose all commission arrangements. \"A bad reputation is very expensive to correct,\" warned Lamagna.\r\n\r\n— Suzie Amer\r\n\r\n\"Special events is a team sport,\" declared special-events producer Harith Wickrema at the opening of his interactive workshop on event marketing. And he proceeded to demonstrate just that, dividing the participants into groups of four, then giving them a scenario to work on.\r\n\r\nAttendees quickly befriended one another as they brainstormed a proposal for a hypothetical special event, to be held during next year\'s MeetingWorld, that would showcase one of three destinations — Philadelphia, New Orleans, or San Francisco — and be sponsored by that city\'s CVB. Given a budget of just $15,000, participants came up with creative money-saving ideas, such as getting Napa Valley wineries to sponsor an event showcasing San Francisco wines, or tapping New York\'s arts colleges for low-cost musicians, performers and setbuilders.\r\n\r\n\"It was a great exercise that got people talking, thinking, and sharing ideas,\" said Hallia Baker, conference manager at Financial Executives International in Florham Park, N.J. \"It really made you take a hard look at the thought process that goes into planning an event.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: It\'s All Procurement All The Time, Procurement, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Successful Meetings</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.successfulmeetings.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1399 size-full\" title=\"Successful Meetings\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/succeessful_meet_170-1.jpg\" alt=\"Successful Meetings\" width=\"170\" height=\"61\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','It\'s All Procurement, All The Time','','publish','open','open','','procurement-programs','','','2018-01-22 15:41:57','2018-01-22 15:41:57','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=466',0,'post','',0),(472,1,'2016-04-04 20:49:37','2016-04-04 20:49:37','<h2><strong>Meetings Go Green</strong></h2>\r\n<strong>Bright Ideas: Create Your Own Centerpieces</strong> | The average two-day event for 250 people, including ground travel and hotel room power, emits approximately 72,000 pounds of carbon dioxide—one of the most prevalent greenhouse gasses. Now, a new Web site enables environmentally concerned planners to offset those pollutants, without telling attendees to stay home or sit in the dark.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/10JJR40XTG.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"wp-image-2235 alignright\" title=\"If an event’s budget is tight it doesn’t mean you have to skimp on decorating the room. Excellent items to try your hand at first are table centerpieces.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/10JJR40XTG-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"If an event’s budget is tight it doesn’t mean you have to skimp on decorating the room. Excellent items to try your hand at first are table centerpieces.\" width=\"382\" height=\"254\" /></a>With an easy-to-use calculator, <a href=\"http://DrivingGreen.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DrivingGreen.com</a> determines the total pounds of carbon dioxide that 3 vehicles, flights or entire events emit and its equivalent cost. You then pay that dollar amount to <a href=\"http://DrivingGreen.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DrivingGreen.com</a>, which provides it to selected farmers to help fund equipment that converts animal waste into renewable energy, powering his or her farm without any fossil fuel and preventing greenhouse gases naturally emitted from animal waste from entering the atmosphere.\r\n\r\nTo make that 250 person meeting carbon-neutral would cost around $260, or a little more than a dollar a person – a <a href=\"https://strategic.events/show-money-4-easy-ways-save-cents/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">small price</a> to pay to lessen your impact on the environment.\r\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Puzzle People</strong></span></h3>\r\nGenerate buzz about your meeting’s destination or theme with a customized crossword puzzle, published in your magazine, newsletter or program. Myles Mellor, an internationally published crossword writer, says customized crossword puzzles are ideal tools for generating excitement about a meeting — and can focus on a variety of concepts surrounding the event. “I cover any theme requested, such as the theme of a conference or terms related to the field,” Mellor says.\r\n\r\nCustom crosswords are usually 15 squares by 15 squares, the standard size of a newspaper crossword. A puzzle can even be a fun addition to your marketing materials even at the last minute, notes Mellor, who can turn around a puzzle in under a week.\r\n\r\nPlanners simply provide a theme for the puzzle or any specific words or personalities they would like to include and a customized crossword writer can do the rest. Even better, it’s an inexpensive bit of fun. Mellor charges $150 per puzzle. He can be reached at <a href=\"mailto:mylesmellorconcepts@hotmail.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mylesmellorconcepts@hotmail.com</a> or through his Web site at <a href=\"http://www.themecrosswords.com./\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.themecrosswords.com.</a>\r\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Can You Handle a Handheld?</strong></span></h3>\r\nAre you still lugging a laptop computer everywhere you go? These days, the right handheld PC may offer everything you need for short trips — and will lighten your load significantly. Lisa Sykes, CMP, director of meeting services for DRI – The Voice of the Defense Bar, uses a T-Mobile Blackberry 7290, which also serves as her cell phone. When she’s away from the office, the features she use most often include e-mail, appointment scheduling, phone, calculator and the alarm clock. “I love that I do not need to always take my laptop with me,” Sykes says. In addition to offering convenience, handhelds are:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>Easy to carry. Tiny PCs, such as the Sony Vaio UX Micro PC or the pocket-sized OQO, are extremely simple to tote.</li>\r\n 	<li>Fast. Handhelds like the Palm Treo 700P Smartphone can download information often as quickly as a desktop.</li>\r\n 	<li>Portable. PDAs such as Palm\'s Tungsten E2 allow you to work on documents, presentations and spreadsheets while traveling.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Create Your Own Centerpieces</strong></span></h3>\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2056\" title=\"Just because an event’s budget is tight doesn’t mean you have to skimp on decorating the room. In fact, when your creative wheels start turning, you may be able to develop unique decorations that fit the event better than something you could purchase from a florist or decorator. Create your own centerpieces\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/5K1C2ZXZZP-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Just because an event’s budget is tight doesn’t mean you have to skimp on decorating the room. In fact, when your creative wheels start turning, you may be able to develop unique decorations that fit the event better than something you could purchase from a florist or decorator. Create your own centerpieces\" width=\"367\" height=\"246\" />Just because an event’s <a href=\"https://strategic.events/crafting-substantive-budgets-future-now/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">budget</a> is tight doesn’t mean you have to skimp on <a href=\"https://strategic.events/decorating-budget/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">decorating</a> the room. In fact, when your creative wheels start turning, you may be able to develop unique decorations that fit the event better than something you could purchase from a florist or decorator. Excellent items to try your hand at first are table centerpieces. <strong>To get you started, some do-it-yourself centerpiece ideas from other creative planners:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><strong>A scene to eat.</strong> “I am a great believer in edible centerpieces; big baskets of a variety of breads is my favorite,” says Patti Shock, professor and chair of the Tourism and Convention Administration Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Harrah College of Hotel Administration. “You are going to serve bread anyway. Include breadsticks, lavosh, yeast rolls, sourdough, and others. Other ideas include a lazy Susan with appetizers such as olives, pickles, stuffed celery, peppers, and salami; for a picnic, jars of pickles and condiments in unique containers; vegetable bouquets; or big lollipops.”</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>A theme to remember.</strong> If your event has a specific theme, create a centerpiece with items that reflect that theme. “We have used goldfish in clear plastic or glass bowls; magicians’ top hats stuffed with tissue paper and filled with decks of cards, a magic wand, et cetera; sand pails and shovels with shells, starfish and a net in the center,” says Christy Lamagna, CMP, owner and chief <a href=\"https://strategic.events/why-planners-need-to-get-strategic/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strategist</a> of Strategic Meetings and Events.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>A fancy money-saver.</strong> You can create a formal centerpiece without breaking the bank. “Look for goods that are available in bulk on eBay or at Goodwill,” recommends Gloria Nelson, chief experience officer for Gloria Nelson Event Design. When you’ve located discount items, get creative: For instance, Lamagna has filled vases with tall, white feathers and surrounded the vases with votive candles for an elegant but inexpensive look.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Bright Ideas Create Your Own Centerpieces, Centerpieces, Table Centerpieces, Event Planning, Event Decor, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Successful Meetings</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.successfulmeetings.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1399 size-full\" title=\"Successful Meetings\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/succeessful_meet_170-1.jpg\" alt=\"Successful Meetings\" width=\"170\" height=\"61\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Bright Ideas: Create Your Own Centerpieces','','publish','open','open','','bright-ideas-create-centerpieces','','','2018-01-22 15:51:41','2018-01-22 15:51:41','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=472',0,'post','',0),(477,1,'2016-04-05 18:04:55','2016-04-05 18:04:55','<h2>Recognizing the Awesome Power of the Plate</h2>\r\n<h3>By Kirsten Rockwood</h3>\r\nRecognizing the awesome power of the plate, savvy planners carefully select every attendee’s bite with the skill and precision of a seasoned chef—knowing that the tastes and feelings associated with each meal will linger long after the event.\r\n\r\nThe education is top-notch, the pool sparkling and the golf course award-winning, but odds are if the food is forgettable, the meeting will be, too.\r\n\r\n“Food is what lingers,” said Erin Tench, CMP, director of events and communications for The Hyland Group and a member of the MPI Potomac Chapter. “With <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meetings-christy-lamagna-solution/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">so many different meetings</a> to attend and budgets being trimmed, people will choose to come back to the events with the best food and beverage.”\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2037\" title=\"Recognizing the awesome power of the plate, savvy planners carefully select every attendee’s bite with the skill and precision of a seasoned chef—knowing that the tastes and feelings associated with each meal will linger long after the event.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/K5SKTOQN0U-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Recognizing the awesome power of the plate, savvy planners carefully select every attendee’s bite with the skill and precision of a seasoned chef—knowing that the tastes and feelings associated with each meal will linger long after the event.\" width=\"360\" height=\"241\" />A meal’s staying power is increasing thanks to a society increasingly consumed by food, fueled by the rise in popularity of TV cooking shows, culinary magazines, and the Internet. Twenty years ago, Americans were just waking up to a culinary heritage of their own power, learning to rely on native recipes and ingredients to create beautiful dishes, says Tonya Wenman Steel, editor in chief of Epicurious.com. Now, she sees an increasing level of sophistication and power in the American palate.\r\n\r\nAnd meeting <a href=\"https://strategic.events/why-planners-need-to-get-strategic/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a> agree. According to a recent MPI survey of 300 planners, 70 percent said they have more-refined expectations of meals at meetings.\r\n\r\nTony Conway, CMP, president of A Legendary Event in Atlanta and a member of the MPI Georgia Chapter, attests to his clients’ desires for restaurant-quality experiences in a meeting setting. Attendees have become food and wine savvy, he says, and will appreciate—and expect—finer dining experiences.\r\n\r\nThis wave of change is reverberating throughout the <a href=\"https://strategic.events/how-to-become-strategic-planner-change-future/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meetings industry</a> with an increased emphasis on chefs, cooking, and venues. Organizations such as the International Association of Conference Centers (IACC) are recognizing superstar chefs with events such as its annual Copper Skillet Award/International Chef’s Competition. Inaugurated in 2004, the coveted recognition proves that conference dining is transforming into a valuable selling point.\r\n\r\nEach meal represents a venue’s opportunity to please, and when a convention center or hotel doesn’t present its best, planners with the power are much less inclined to book it for the next year.\r\n\r\nLast year, Bonnie Wallsh, CMP, of Charlotte, N.C.-based Bonnie Wallsh Associates, hosted a three-day event for several hundred clients who were served from the same menu throughout the conference. The food quality was standard, she says, but attendees were so bored with the food by the last day that everyone was unhappy and complaining.\r\n\r\nThe right food can make—or break—a meeting. Planners can employ a variety of tactics, including interactive dining and creative breaks, to bolster learning and engender fond meeting memories.\r\n\r\n“The facility and staff were wonderful, but the reason we will not use that conference center again was the food,” said Wallsh, a member of the MPI Carolinas Chapter.\r\n\r\nBeyond taste, the value of food and beverage (F&amp;B) to meeting planners can be intense, as what an attendee consumes translates to his or her attitude, performance, and mood for the rest of the day.\r\n\r\n“A well-fed, happy attendee will continue to pay attention,” said Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, president of <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-steps-successfully-achieve-business-goals/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Strategic</a> Meetings &amp; Events in Bernardsville, N.J. Venues around the globe are promoting F&amp;B offerings that go beyond traditional meeting fare. Elements such as creative breaks, menu samplings and the accessibility, flexibility, and ingenuity of the chef allow planners to provide attendees with memorable meeting experiences. And as more and more venues focus on cuisine, <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-insight-event-planners/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a> can afford to be discerning when choosing the perfect spots for their next events.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Meet What You Eat</strong></span>\r\nFood has become an experience, an opportunity for attendees to have fun and enjoy themselves. Meals are highly anticipated punctuations in days crammed full of meetings, and planners should position them as pleasurable experiences instead of a distribution of the day’s rations. By working with venues’ catering staffs well before meetings commence, planners will be acquainted with the food resources at their disposal and foresee any difficulties in service, dietary requirements or timing.\r\n\r\nLamagna visits a venue at least one month prior to an event and goes through each dish with the chef. For the higher-end meals, she experiences it exactly the way an attendee would by recreating the meal—down to the color of the table linens and the flowers in the centerpiece.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/I4MIIMHZ5M.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2196\" title=\"Recognizing the awesome power of the plate, savvy planners carefully select every attendee’s bite with the skill and precision of a seasoned chef—knowing that the tastes and feelings associated with each meal will linger long after the event.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/I4MIIMHZ5M-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Recognizing the awesome power of the plate, savvy planners carefully select every attendee’s bite with the skill and precision of a seasoned chef—knowing that the tastes and feelings associated with each meal will linger long after the event.\" width=\"380\" height=\"253\" /></a>“If the carrots clash with the tablecloth, we will rework the whole thing,” said Lamagna, a member of the MPI New Jersey Chapter. “This takes a tremendous amount of time, but it’s necessary if you’re looking for a flawless event.”\r\n\r\nAnd more recently, chefs are taking an active role in not only the preparation, but also the planning, distribution, and reception of the meal. They are with planners every step of the way, sharing the power, and ensuring that events’ <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-meetings-events-global-corporate-event-management/tastebuzz/food-for-thought/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">F&amp;B experiences</a> are perfect.\r\n\r\nThis level of chef interaction is becoming standard as venues realize the potential their culinary stars have to woo possible clients. It’s not uncommon for planners on site visits to meet with chefs to discuss menu and break options for a group. Chefs understand the role they play in selling a venue to a planner, and they are usually eager to work the menu around a planner’s budget and dietary restrictions—all you have to do is ask.\r\n\r\n“We love to do custom things,” said Robert Fallon, executive chef at JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort &amp; Spa in Phoenix. “We have a set banquet menu, but most times we throw it out. Talking with meeting planners is a big part of my job and they know their groups the best. We don’t like to do anything that’s not the best.”\r\n\r\nFallon attests to the success of an attendee’s interaction with food. He is joined by a legion of other venues that are dishing up meals at stations throughout the room—either preparing the course in front of the lucky diners or allowing guests to create their own meals by hand-selecting toppings or fillings.\r\n\r\n“We are increasingly doing more [live] food preparation than ever before,” said Michael Burton, director of catering and conference services at Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate in Florida. “The more interaction you add to an event, the better it flows. We always look at a course or a meal and ask, ‘Can we make this a station instead?’”\r\n\r\nChampionsGate routinely positions its chefs around the event to be on hand to discuss the preparation of the food with guests and the chefs have even been known to jot down a recipe in cases of persistent pleading.\r\n\r\nMeeting with a chef can be a <a href=\"https://strategic.events/savings-superstars/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">money-saver</a> as well. By relying on the chef to select ingredients that are in season and can be purchased at lower prices, a planner can work to create a menu that is fabulous and below budget. Planners can also ask what other groups at the venue will be eating at the same time as their event. By “piggybacking” on other meals, kitchens can order in larger quantities, saving money on the back end.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Good for You</strong></span>\r\nAlthough food can be fun, planners must remember that it still serves the basic function of nourishing attendees. Satisfied attendees will pay attention during the day’s lectures and seminars, and if they can count on good, nutritious meals, then they are less likely to skip out on the lunch meeting to find better food off site.\r\n\r\nAccording to a recent survey by Englewood, Colo.-based Destination Hotels &amp; Resorts, meeting food has taken a healthy turn and most planners are skipping dishes with heavy sauces and buttery sides. The results taken from more than 500 meeting planners show that 60 percent are somewhat to very likely to pay more for healthier food choices, and 92 percent indicate healthy food choices are a somewhat to very important factor when selecting a meeting venue.\r\n\r\nThough fads such as low-carb diets are fading, planners are still relying on meals that are high in protein to power up attendees and keep them focused throughout the day.\r\n\r\nEggs are still essential at breakfast, but planners lighten them up by serving a vegetable frittata with fruit instead of cheesy scrambled eggs with bacon.\r\n\r\nWhen planning European <a href=\"https://strategic.events/know-working-international-guests/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meetings</a>, don’t expect the venue’s staff to always understand U.S. diets.\r\n\r\n“In each European country, keep your eye on the menu and be careful of local food because it’s often OK for locals, but not for visitors,” said Barbara Schwaiger, CMP, sales and marketing manager for the Salzburg (Austria) Congress. “For example, in Austria we eat heavy food—dumplings and such—but in smaller portions. Everyone eats something different for breakfast. If your group is mainly American, you’ll have to tell the venue that you need lots of ice water, because we never drink it.”\r\n\r\nPlanners know that attendees, who are used to traveling, are very health-conscious and won’t want to attend a conference that will disrupt their eating habits. The challenge, however, isn’t offering low-fat food, but serving a variety of healthful dishes so that guests aren’t bored.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2194\" title=\"Recognizing the awesome power of the plate, savvy planners carefully select every attendee’s bite with the skill and precision of a seasoned chef—knowing that the tastes and feelings associated with each meal will linger long after the event.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/BVFC853K3V-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Recognizing the awesome power of the plate, savvy planners carefully select every attendee’s bite with the skill and precision of a seasoned chef—knowing that the tastes and feelings associated with each meal will linger long after the event.\" width=\"342\" height=\"229\" />“People expect something different from what they had at a previous meal and even the previous conference,” Tench said. “The trick is to sit down with convention services and the chef and create new menus to keep it creative. It is extremely important that the power of the venue is flexible.”\r\n\r\nFlexible venues are also essential for attendees with special dietary needs. Recognizing the significance of guests’ food preferences will enable them to get the most out of an event, and it is planners’ responsibility to be aware of those needs.\r\n\r\nQuick surveys, either e-mailed or mailed, taken a month or two before the event will give planners a thorough demography of their groups. Knowing the age, gender, and hometown of an attendee will also be valuable in creating a menu adapted to everyone’s tastes.\r\n\r\nVenues expect that specific requests will be made—now more than ever. Instead of only vegetarian and Kosher, venues are expected to accommodate vegan, gluten-free, and Halal dietary restrictions—among many others. Venues appreciate advanced notice of special dietary concerns, says Michael Tracey, executive chef at the Boston Convention &amp; Exhibition Center. Tracey and his staff, like at many other venues, are committed to making an attendee’s dining experience problem-free, but he says the more time they have for preparation, the better a sensitive diet can be accommodated by creating new dishes.\r\n\r\nAnd rather than feeding the affected attendee the tedious vegetable plate, many kitchens will go above and beyond to serve him or her something more palate-pleasing.\r\n\r\nRobert Krause, founder of Plann-It Meetings &amp; Events in San Diego, worked with a venue to power assemble a strictly vegetarian dish that looked exactly like the steak and mashed potatoes the other guests received. The attendee was well-fed and sincerely appreciated not being singled out.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Give Me a Break</strong></span>\r\nGuests appreciate the time off from a day of lectures, and a well-planned break can provide much-needed relaxation, a power boost, or a diversion. Keep in mind what activity your attendees are heading to next or what it is they have come from. Position a yoga break with fresh fruit, granola and herbal teas after an intense training session, or offer Red Bull and energy bars before a motivational speaker.\r\n\r\nWhile attendees may be clamoring for healthy fare, planners can’t forget to satiate their desires for sweets.\r\n\r\n“I don’t care how many people are on a diet,” Wallsh said. “People love their chocolate.”\r\n\r\nBy offering smaller portions, sweets can be included without ruining attendees’ healthy regimens. Chocolate is so popular, Burton says, that he and his team created a candy-coated break that hit all attendees’ senses. He set the mood with a chocolate scent machine and had music from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory playing as guests exited the meeting. Servers dressed as oompaloompas offered all types of chocolate and sugary treats.\r\n\r\nMost importantly, breaks should be enjoyable, and the easiest way to do this is through theming. Breaks don’t need to be expensive, just cohesive. Serve barbecue-flavored potato chips with root beer, suggests Krause, or try milk and chocolate chip cookies, recommends Wallsh.\r\n\r\nWhile breaks provide attendees with valuable opportunities to refresh and rejuvenate, snacks placed in attendees’ rooms at night can also make them feel special. Planners show tremendous professionalism by doing a little bit of research to find out VIPs’ favorite snacks or drinks. Don’t send an expensive bottle of wine or liquor to someone who doesn’t drink, or an elaborate tray of truffles to someone who is dieting.\r\n\r\nWallsh’s favorite evening gift wasn’t one that she sent out, but one that she received. She was really impressed by a tin lunch box filled with moon pies, chocolate milk and candies. Tucked inside was a handwritten note from ‘Mom,’ reminding her to get enough sleep in order to be wide awake for the next day’s events.“It’s obvious when you go above and beyond,” she said.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Drink It In</strong></span>\r\nWhile <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planners-face-challenge-rising-attendance-costs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meeting attendees</a> are expanding their knowledge and appreciation of fine foods, they are also growing in their acquaintance with wine. Many venues work with sommeliers to select the perfect accompaniment for each meal or course, and planners love taking advantage of local vintners.\r\n\r\nThe Ontario (Calif.) Convention Center teams with native vineyards to offer wines produced in the region. Attendees from around the globe can sample California’s finest, and the partnerships formed between the vineyards and the Center will lend themselves to a better <a href=\"https://strategic.events/event-planners-podcast-christy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">value for planners</a>.\r\n\r\nPlanners can also limit alcohol spending by asking venue representatives about leftover cases of wine, liquor or beer from previous events. They may not have enough to advertise it on a menu, but venue staff could be willing to sell it to planners at a reduced rate.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2201\" title=\"Recognizing the awesome power of the plate, savvy planners carefully select every attendee’s bite with the skill and precision of a seasoned chef—knowing that the tastes and feelings associated with each meal will linger long after the event.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/EWWJV5R5RR-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Recognizing the awesome power of the plate, savvy planners carefully select every attendee’s bite with the skill and precision of a seasoned chef—knowing that the tastes and feelings associated with each meal will linger long after the event.\" width=\"379\" height=\"254\" />In terms of alcohol consumption, meetings and events can range from dry to full bar and depending on the demography of the group, planners can choose the format that is best. But planners must realize that any amount of alcohol present at an event carries with it a certain degree of risk.\r\n\r\nMeetings industry attorney Tyra Hilliard, CMP, associate professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and a member of the MPI Potomac Chapter, says the best way to ensure the safety of guests at an event where alcohol will be consumed is to mandate that specially trained professionals serve the drinks. Both planners and venues should also have insurance covering alcohol-related risks. Planners should have a commercial general liability policy in place for any event, and they should check with their insurance agents before events to make sure claims will be covered.\r\n\r\nWhen planning international events, be sure to check the country’s stance on alcohol, suggests Marie Burewall, North American director of the Swedish Travel and Tourism Council. Alcohol customs are different in all European countries, depending on tradition and taxes. For example, Sweden has placed high taxes on hard liquor, and a client’s budget would stretch much further if only beer and wine were served instead.\r\n\r\nSchwaiger notes that alcohol is commonly served at lunch in many European countries, a custom that Americans may not be familiar or comfortable with. Planners should be aware of the local eating and drinking habits when booking international meetings.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>F&amp;B Spotlight: JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort &amp; Spa</strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort &amp; Spa in Phoenix recently received accolades placing it at the top among all Marriott properties. Robert Fallon (left), the resort’s executive chef, was awarded and recognized as Marriott’s ACE (Award Culinary Excellence) Executive Chef of the Year for 2005. This award is based not only on dining quality, but also on guest satisfaction, team satisfaction, and community involvement.\r\n\r\n“It’s a kind of business where you need to be passionate at all times, always staying on top of your game,” said Fallon, who combines a sincere concern for customer approval with a Culinary Institute of America education. He and his culinary team are always scouting new trends, offering the finest cuisine to groups in the most innovative ways possible. Fallon champions menus that let guests choose their own appetizers, entrées, and desserts. This system can be successful for up to 1,000 guests and is an extremely desirable option for planners with varying group demographics.\r\n\r\n“We are trying to meet the needs of our guests on a much more <a href=\"https://strategic.events/fostering-great-supplier-relationships/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">personal level</a>,” Fallon said.\r\n\r\nJW Marriott Desert Ridge boasts 10 different dining options for guests, including Blue Sage, with a Southwestern menu crafted by celebrity chef Mark Miller, and Roy’s Restaurant, the namesake of notorious Hawaiian restaurateur Roy Yamaguchi, boasting a Hawaiian-Asian fusion menu, cozy fireplaces, and a sushi bar. Both are available for group dining.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>F&amp;B Spotlight: Caesars Palace</strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe iconic Caesars Palace hotel in Las Vegas claims to have prompted the luxury-dining craze in Sin City more than a decade ago with the opening of Spago. Now, Caesars Palace (with 240,000 square feet of meeting space) boasts 24 award-winning restaurants and cafes, two of which are headed by celebrity chefs Bradley Ogden and Bobby Flay (right). Meeting attendees are wooed by the possibility of savoring one of their creations not only when scoring a table at one of their acclaimed eateries, but also when dining at the convention center.\r\n\r\n“‘No’ is not an answer for us,” said Greg Waldron, executive vice president of food and beverage for Caesars. “What a planner wants, we are able to provide, including a catered meal for 1,000 created by Bobby Flay.” For a price, planners can offer their attendees a feast created by any of the acclaimed chefs at the property. The dining experience afforded by Caesars is an epicurean’s dream, as meeting attendees have no need to even leave the property to try something new. Gourmets will appreciate the acclaimed onsite restaurants, including Mesa Grill, Bradley Ogden and Restaurant Guy Savoy, opening in 2006. Each of Caesars’ restaurants has private dining rooms suitable for groups and many are tiered or satellite-designed, lending themselves easily to meetings.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>F&amp;B Spotlight: Taboo Resort, Golf &amp; Spa</strong></span>\r\n\r\nTaboo Resort, Golf &amp; Spa, north of Toronto in Muskoka, is in Canada’s “Hamptons” region. Visitors here are often seeking a quiet respite from the rigors of daily life, and they find it near the hushed lake, fragrant forests and in the incredible culinary experience served by Taboo’s award-winning team of chefs.\r\n\r\nExecutive Chef Alain Irvine (right) took first place at Canada’s International Association of Conference Centers (IACC) Copper Skillet competition this year. The resort itself has notched scores of impressive awards, including “Best Out-ofTowner Restaurant” by Frommer’s and “Planner’s Best Bets: Best Restaurant” by MeetingsEast magazine.\r\n\r\nAnd don’t be fooled by the resort’s rustic exterior charm. Inside, contemporary design, lavish amenities, and avant-garde cuisine wow guests. Diners can feast on such delicacies as seared sea bream, roasted Nova Scotia lobster and grilled bison ribeye, and meeting-goers rave about the innovative, fresh, and often-local banquet fare.\r\n\r\nTaboo recently completed the first of a two-part renovation project, including a complete makeover of guest rooms, public areas, and meeting rooms. The resort also used this time to add a culinary theater (left), a setup accommodating up to 60 to view resort chefs creating dishes according to viewers’ tastes. The setup can also be used for cooking classes for up to 20. This option lends itself well to board retreats and smaller groups.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>F&amp;B Spotlight: Gold Coast Convention &amp; Exhibition Centre</strong></span>\r\n\r\nBarely a year old, the Gold Coast (Australia) Convention &amp; Exhibition Centre already boasts a power winning reputation. At the Restaurant and Catering Queensland Gold Coast Awards in July, the centre took home top honors for “Caterer of the Year” and “Function/ Convention Centre Catering.”\r\n\r\nIt’s no surprise that the venue is receiving such acclaim. Led by Chef Michael Fletcher (right), the property boasts cutting-edge facilities and eight satellite kitchens that allow food to be prepared as close to the meeting as possible.\r\n\r\nThe centre can host up to 2,200 for banquets, but it is committed to a level of service that allows everyone to eat at the same time. The kitchen staff works extremely closely with its operations department to develop food presentations that ensure quick delivery. A vegetable stack, for example, may seem like an excellent side choice that is beautifully displayed, but the team will quickly tell you that it is complicated and will slow down delivery time.\r\n\r\n“There is nothing worse than having one guest at the back of the room receiving his main [course] when another guest at the front is having her plate cleared,” Fletcher said.\r\n\r\nOne extremely popular option for groups is ‘table grazing,’ where guests enjoy a buffet brought to their table. Without having to stand and walk around the room, they are able to pick and choose their portions, and the meal becomes an effective method of networking.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Tina’s Tidbits</strong></span>\r\n\r\nTeam-building exercises have the remarkable ability and power to draw a group closer within a few hours. Managers and directors depend on these activities to enhance productivity and trust within a group.\r\n\r\nAccording to Dallas-based cooking instructor and team-building facilitator Tina Wasserman, “food is an equalizer.” Everyone is comfortable around food, she says, and when people are comfortable, true personalities come through, and a team’s objectives can be realized. Wasserman, who has planned events for groups such as Microsoft, Blockbuster and Citi Financial, is part of the growing trend of cooking classes as group team-building sessions. Eating is an enjoyable pastime for almost everyone, and the session can be manipulated for everything from meeting and greeting to strategic business models.\r\n\r\nBefore heating up the stove, try these tips from Tina to ensure that your next group cooking experience doesn’t boil over.\r\n\r\n• Don’t allow the class to go longer than three to three-and-a-half hours. Attention spans don’t last much longer than this.\r\n• Though a glass of sauvignon blanc may go perfectly with that shrimp dish, don’t allow any drinking before the class begins and limit consumption during the class to one or two drinks.\r\n• An ideal team-building class size ranges from 10 to 20.\r\n• Select an instructor that has both a cooking and a marketing or business background. This class has a dual purpose: learning how to bake the perfect chocolate chip cookie and integrating your team into a new business power plan.\r\n• Work with an instructor who is engaging and fun, and who you think will get along well with your group. The class will go much more smoothly if everyone is enjoying the experience.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Recognizing The Awesome Power Of The Plate, Power Of The Plate, Awesome Power, Power, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Meeting Professionals International, MPI</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.mpiweb.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1352 size-full\" title=\"MPI Logo\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/MPI-logo.jpg\" alt=\"MPI logo\" width=\"170\" height=\"110\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Recognizing The Awesome Power Of The Plate','','publish','open','open','','recognizing-awesome-power-plate','','','2018-01-22 21:18:57','2018-01-22 21:18:57','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=477',0,'post','',0),(483,1,'2016-04-05 18:37:52','2016-04-05 18:37:52','<h2>Site Inspections: Death of a Planning Tool?</h2>\r\n<h3>By Michael Bassett</h3>\r\n<strong>“Once upon a time,”</strong> recalls <a href=\"https://strategic.events/become-strategic-planner/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meeting planner</a> Christy Lamagna, “ site inspections were the rule.” Now they have become the exception because of a variety of factors — time constraints, budget issues, and websites that are almost as good as being there.\r\n\r\nYet a survey of North American planners taken last year by Orlando-based Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown &amp; Russell found that respondents rated site inspections as the most important source of new information on destinations and lodging.\r\n\r\nIf they are so important, why are site inspections going the way of the dodo?\r\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>No Time, No Money</strong></span></h3>\r\nAs with everything a meeting <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-event-planning-profession/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planner</a> does, the decision about whether to travel to a potential site often comes down to time.\r\n\r\n“It\'s a major factor,” says Michael Hughes, sales manager, Hyatt Regency Boston. “It takes a lot of time and effort to get on an airplane and to be away from your office and your family.”\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2035 size-medium\" title=\"“Once upon a time,” recalls meeting planner Christy Lamagna, “ site inspections were the rule.” Now they have become the exception because of a variety of factors — time constraints, budget issues, and websites that are almost as good as being there. Site Inspections: Death of a Planning Tool? \" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/IQB1MLDYDR-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"“Once upon a time,” recalls meeting planner Christy Lamagna, “ site inspections were the rule.” Now they have become the exception because of a variety of factors — time constraints, budget issues, and websites that are almost as good as being there. Site Inspections: Death of a Planning Tool? \" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />That definitely rings true with Lamagna, CMM, CMP, president of <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-insight-event-planners/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Strategic</a> Meetings and Events in Bernardsville, N.J., and former vice president of events and operations for New York-based Cendant Corp. “If you\'re a typical corporate planner, it\'s getting hard to get out of the office,” she says. “I know that when I went out on-site visits, I had to get up early and stay up later so I could get my work done. A site visit takes up time that you could be spending at your desk.”\r\n\r\nThe rule now for planners, who do site inspections, is to squeeze a lot more into a shorter period of time.\r\n\r\n“It used to be that when you did a site inspection, you explored. You might check out six possible hotels,” says Lamagna. “Then you\'d decide on a venue and find a DMC. Then a few months later, you\'d go back for a second visit.”\r\n\r\nNot anymore. Now, a typical site visit for her might include just one intense day of touring at prospective venues, during which time she might bring along a digital camera and take photos of rooms and exteriors — information to use in lieu of a second visit.\r\n\r\nOften, there isn\'t enough lead time for an inspection. Hughes is seeing many of his pharmaceutical industry clients planning meetings with such short turnaround times that they forego site inspections — even for larger <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meetings-christy-lamagna-solution/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meetings</a>, such as a 300-room meeting he recently booked six weeks out.\r\n\r\nNot only have corporate meeting departments made staff cutbacks in recent years, but they have also reduced costs in other ways. Increasingly expensive airfares, especially, make it harder to justify sending people on inspections. Lamagna will book travel well in advance, on nonpeak days/times, to save money, and she will try to arrange for a free pickup at the airport.\r\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Virtual Site Inspections</strong></span></h3>\r\nHotel websites are one of the first sources that planners now turn to for site selection. On Hyatt\'s site, for example, you will find ‘virtual tours,’ e-brochures, even PowerPoint presentations.\r\n\r\nWhat these kinds of tools are, says meeting technology consultant and speaker Corbin Ball, of Corbin Ball Associates, Bellingham, Wash., is a “first step” — a chance for hotels to begin to demonstrate the value of their facilities. “In most cases, hotel Web sites give the <a href=\"https://strategic.events/how-to-become-strategic-planner-change-future/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planner</a> a way to narrow the number of visits they have to make,” he says.\r\n\r\nBut they are not enough, says Victoria Juntti, CMP, event manager for Sagebrush Corp., Minneapolis. “I still believe there is no replacement for the site inspection. You learn things there that you couldn\'t possibly learn otherwise.” However, she says, “before the Internet, I think it was much more important to go out on-site inspections for just about everything.”\r\n\r\nNow that technology has become such an important source of information, accuracy has become a factor. “That came up in a roundtable that Hyatt recently held for insurance and financial services planners,” says Hughes. “The planners have to be very confident in the accuracy of the specs in floor plans.”\r\n\r\nOne tool that can help is the Function Space Verification Program, through which the Professional Convention Management Association certifies measurements of hotel meeting space. Planners can also use software to help them create setup diagrams, with the most well-known program being MeetingMatrix.\r\n\r\nHowever, Lamagna points out that all the technology in the world will never give you a <a href=\"https://strategic.events/cvbs-ftw-convention-visitors-bureaus-win/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">complete picture</a> of a venue.\r\n\r\n“I can check out a hotel online and the pictures may be beautiful, but that picture won\'t tell me that the resort is across the street from a strip club.”\r\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Site Selection Help</strong></span></h3>\r\nThe emergence of site-selection companies has also reduced the need for planners to go on-site inspections, particularly for smaller programs, says Juntti, “but for the bigger programs, I still want to go on site and touch and feel it.”\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2240\" title=\"“Once upon a time,” recalls meeting planner Christy Lamagna, “ site inspections were the rule.” Now they have become the exception because of a variety of factors — time constraints, budget issues, and websites that are almost as good as being there. Site Inspections: Death of a Planning Tool? \" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/904EAD50B0-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"“Once upon a time,” recalls meeting planner Christy Lamagna, “ site inspections were the rule.” Now they have become the exception because of a variety of factors — time constraints, budget issues, and websites that are almost as good as being there. Site Inspections: Death of a Planning Tool? \" width=\"387\" height=\"219\" />“A lot of people do find that they [site-selection companies] offer tremendous value,” Lamagna agrees, but adds that sometimes these companies respond to requests so enthusiastically that they present <a href=\"https://strategic.events/event-strategist/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meeting planners</a> with too many choices. “You\'ll have to wade through more information than you really need.”\r\n\r\nPeter Shelly, executive vice president of Scottsdale, Ariz. — based HelmsBriscoe, a major site-selection firm, points out that his company\'s business is up 40 percent over 2004 — “a good indication that companies are utilizing more third-party representation.”\r\n\r\nShelly says that when it comes to larger meetings, HelmsBriscoe clients, accompanied by HelmsBriscoe associates, choose to go on site inspections because of the size and magnitude of those meetings. But, on a day-to-day basis, when the meetings might involve a three-night stay with 175 rooms — the “average corporate meeting,” as he puts it — planners will often defer to HelmsBriscoe\'s expertise and skip the inspection.\r\n\r\n“In our typical day, with a small or midsize meeting, our associate who deals with that client is usually empowered to make a selection on the client\'s behalf,” Shelly says. When there is no budget to hire a site selection service, planners often turn to their peers — perhaps now more than ever. “It\'s really nice when you get a couple of people weighing in on a property — it seems like it\'s more non-biased,” says Juntti. “It also confirms what you think about some of the properties when you hear back from others. I just did a meeting in Miami and I put a note out on the MIMlist [the Meeting Industry Mall listserv at <a href=\"http://www.successfulmeetings.com/\">www.mim.com</a> asking for comments about the property. The responses I got were pretty much in line with my feelings about the property and based on that feedback, and the objectives of the meeting, I decided the property was fine.”\r\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>An Unintended Consequence?</strong></span></h3>\r\nAs meeting departments consolidate, preferred vendor agreements can become part of the process. Along with the benefits of negotiating these agreements — discounted pricing, standard contracts, more efficiency — Judi McLaughlin, CMP, director, strategic sourcing for Maritz McGettigan in Philadelphia, points out that there is less need for site inspections.\r\n\r\n“Preferred hotel programs will often limit the number of properties that a company chooses, and they will increase the use of and familiarity with properties included in the program,” she says.\r\n\r\nOn the flip side, preferred programs can keep planners from using unique, independent properties or those they might only use once. That type of property, McLaughlin says, “absolutely requires a site inspection to gain detailed product knowledge.”\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Site Inspections Death of a Planning Tool, Site Inspections, Inspections, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, MeetingNet</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingsnet.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-374 noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-374\" title=\"MeetingsNet\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/MeetingsNet-300x90.png\" alt=\"MeetingsNet\" width=\"175\" height=\"53\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Site Inspections: Death of a Planning Tool?','','publish','open','open','','site-inspections-death-planning-tool','','','2018-01-22 20:49:01','2018-01-22 20:49:01','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=483',0,'post','',0),(487,1,'2016-04-06 22:04:56','2016-04-06 22:04:56','<h2>Planners Scale Back Site Inspections</h2>\r\nDuring a breakout session at the Hyatt Insurance &amp; Financial Roundtable, held in September at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort &amp; Spa in San Antonio, several hoteliers remarked that meeting <a href=\"https://strategic.events/become-strategic-planner/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a> seemed to doing fewer site inspections.\r\n\r\nMichael Hughes, sales manager, Hyatt Regency Boston, who attended the session, believes that the decision often comes down to time — and the importance of the meeting. “It takes a lot of time and effort to get on an airplane and to be away from your office and your family,” he says.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2245 size-medium\" title=\"During a breakout session at the Hyatt Insurance &amp; Financial Roundtable, held in September at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort &amp; Spa site inspections\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/TQD6HG84BP-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"During a breakout session at the Hyatt Insurance &amp; Financial Roundtable, held in September at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort &amp; Spa site inspections\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />That definitely rings true with Christy Lamagna, CMM, CMP, president of New York —based Strategic Meetings and Events, and former vice president of events and operations for New York — based Cendant Corp. “If you\'re a typical corporate planner, it\'s hard to get out of the office,” she says. “I know when I used to go out on [lengthy] <a href=\"https://strategic.events/site-visit-questions-travel-hotel-details/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">site visits</a>, I had to get up early and stay up later [when I got back to the office], so I could get my work done.”\r\n\r\nAnother contributing factor to the shrinking use of site visits is the use of preferred-vendor agreements, notes Judi McLaughlin, CMP, director, <a href=\"https://strategic.events/why-planners-need-to-get-strategic/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strategic</a> sourcing for Maritz McGettigan in Philadelphia. “Preferrred-hotel programs will often limit the number of properties that a company chooses, and increase the use of and familiarity with properties included in the program,” she says.\r\n\r\nThe rule of thumb now for planners who do site inspections is to squeeze a lot more into a shorter period of time. For Lamagna, what formerly would have been a lengthy site visit involving inspections of numerous hotels and venues, followed by a second visit, has by necessity, turned into an intensive one-day tour. She might bring along a digital camera and take photos of rooms and exteriors — information to use in lieu of a second visit.\r\n\r\nPlanners have also become more inventive in using their travel time to industry meetings to check out potential program sites. During the Hyatt roundtable, one insurance planner remarked that whenever she travels, she uses the opportunity to do <a href=\"https://strategic.events/site-visit-online-instead-traveling/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">site visits</a> for future events.\r\n\r\nAnne Hamilton-Chehab, vice president, resort sales and services for Walt Disney Parks &amp; Resorts in Orlando, says that a site inspection has to offer more than a simple tour. For example, what used to be familiarization visits to Disney have morphed into “Executive Experience” events that give meeting planners a taste of the Disney experience along with a chance to engage in leadership development, problem-solving, and teambuilding activities.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Getting Help</strong></span>\r\n\r\nHotel Websites are one of the first sources that planners now turn to for site selection. On Hyatt\'s site, for example, helpful tools include virtual tours, e-brochures, and PowerPoint presentations.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2032 size-medium\" title=\"During a breakout session at the Hyatt Insurance &amp; Financial Roundtable, held in September at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort &amp; Spa site inspections\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/CYB2SCDOQU-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"During a breakout session at the Hyatt Insurance &amp; Financial Roundtable, held in September at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort &amp; Spa site inspections\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />What these kinds of tools provide, says meeting technology consultant Corbin Ball, of Corbin Ball Associates, Bellingham, Wash., is a first step. \"In most cases, hotel Websites give the planner a way to narrow the number of visits they have to make,” he says.\r\n\r\nHowever, accuracy is a factor when using Web materials. One tip that came out during the Hyatt Insurance &amp; Financial Roundtable: Make sure that the floor plan specifications are correct. One tool that can help is the Function Space Verification Program, through which the Professional Convention Management Association certifies measurements of hotel meeting space.\r\n\r\nWorking with a third party can also help reduce the need for planners to go <a href=\"https://strategic.events/site-visits-onsite-tips-know/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on-site inspections</a>, particularly for smaller programs. Peter Shelly, executive vice president of Scottsdale, Ariz. — based site selection firm HelmsBriscoe, says that for an average, three-night corporate meeting of 175 rooms, planners will often defer to HelmsBriscoe\'s expertise and skip the site inspection. When it comes to larger meetings, <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-insight-event-planners/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a> typically choose to go on the inspection along with their HB associates.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Hotel Rooms Get Pricier</strong></span>\r\n\r\nBy the end of 2005, the U.S. lodging industry\'s per-room revenue growth in percentage terms had reached its highest level in 20 years, according to Bjorn Hanson, head of PricewaterhouseCoopers hospitality and leisure practice. The recently released PwC <em>U.S. Lodging Industry Report and Forecast</em> predicted an 8.1 percent jump in per-room revenue in 2005 over 2004\'s level — and a strong seller\'s market through 2007. Average daily rates rose 5.2 percent in 2005, while occupancy rates, although below the long-term trend line of 66.5 percent, have crept back up to an average of 63 percent, well above the 59.1 percent rate reached during 2002 in the aftermath of 9/11.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Planners Scale Back Site Inspections, Site Inspectiones, Site, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, MeetingsNet</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingsnet.com/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-374\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-374\" title=\"MeetingsNet\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/MeetingsNet-300x90.png\" alt=\"MeetingsNet\" width=\"175\" height=\"53\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Planners Scale Back Site Inspections','','publish','open','open','','planners-scale-back-site-inspections','','','2018-01-22 20:46:26','2018-01-22 20:46:26','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=487',0,'post','',0),(491,1,'2016-04-06 22:50:41','2016-04-06 22:50:41','<h2>Corporate Incentives: Tales of Recently Planned Incentive Programs</h2>\r\nThe corporate incentive planner is a rare breed, at once detail-oriented to a fault and incredibly imaginative. If a whirlwind itinerary including a Mr. Potato Head face kit (read on for details), spa treatments, a luau, and fabulous take-home gifts is what a client is after to motivate a sales force, incentive planners are up to the task. And that task (incentives) often begins anywhere from six months to a full year prior to the time of the event, making planners key among the company\'s players and its year-end sales quota.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2030\" title=\"The corporate incentives planner is a rare breed, at once detail-oriented to a fault and incredibly imaginative. Meetings West interviewed several of the industry\'s finest to share tales of recently planned incentive programs, including explanations of extraordinary activities, gift ideas, challenges, and joys.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/5JPOSBQS6T-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"The corporate incentives planner is a rare breed, at once detail-oriented to a fault and incredibly imaginative. Meetings West interviewed several of the industry\'s finest to share tales of recently planned incentive programs, including explanations of extraordinary activities, gift ideas, challenges, and joys.\" width=\"398\" height=\"265\" />In this section, Meetings West interviewed several of the industry\'s finest to share tales of recently planned incentive programs, including explanations of extraordinary activities and social functions, gift ideas, challenges, and joys.\r\n\r\nPlease continue reading for a bit of \"fire and ice,\" if you will, as the profiled planners booked Maui and Hawaii\'s Big Island, and, for an alternative winter program, Alberta\'s Banff, which attendees adored.\r\n\r\n<strong>Christy Lamagna</strong>, <em>CMP, CMM</em>\r\n<em>Chief Strategist and President</em>\r\n<em>Strategic Meetings and Events</em>\r\n<em>New York, New Jersey and San Francisco</em>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Briefly describe the incentive program.</strong></span>\r\nThe President\'s Club for the company BroadVision was held at Grand Wailea Resort Hotel and Spa in Maui, Hawaii. The five-day program welcomed 504 attendees.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>In planning the incentive program, did you follow a timeline?</strong></span>\r\n<strong>One year out:</strong> We chose the property, reserved the off-site venues, including an aquarium for a private dinner, checked out the excursion options, looked at giveaways and ordered samples, and made sure our budget was allocated correctly. At that time, we also started working with our airline partners on lift options for as many direct flights as we could get. We locked in our production vendor.\r\n\r\n<strong>Six months out:</strong> We started designing the website, print pieces (save-the-date cards, refrigerator magnets, registration reminders, travel packets, luggage tags). We continued budget monitoring. We worked with the production vendor on the awards dinner theme.\r\n\r\n<strong>Three months out:</strong> We revisited the site, selected florals, linens, did tastings, ordered giveaway items and awards.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Did the program have a \"message,\" and if so, was it successfully conveyed to the </strong><strong>participants?</strong></span>\r\nThe message was that they were important and this was a reward, so we made sure to make every detail count. We made sure no detail was overlooked. We put tropical scented air fresheners in all guest rooms. We had daycare for the kids where they learned a special song and local dance for a surprise concert on the final night. (The adults flipped and the kids were delighted!) We also had a gift—a photo frame—waiting for them when they returned home.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What did the program entail, including recreation, dinners, group outings, award ceremonies, etc.? Was there anything particularly unique about the program?</strong></span>\r\nUpon arriving at the hotel, guests confirmed their excursions and went into our shirt shack to select the Hawaiian item of their choosing. There was a hospitality desk to get a quick bite and then they had the rest of the day to settle in. We had a welcome event out on the lawn overlooking the water. We rented high-powered telescopes and had maps for the night sky. We had palm readers and crystal readers.\r\n\r\nWe also had a traditional luau where the CEO was brought in on a canoe in authentic warrior dress with conch shell blowers and torches, leading his way to the lawns where the group was mingling. A fire twirler and a private fireworks show was part of the evening, as well. We had a formal awards night that was spectacular. We turned the ballroom into a glamorous, magical place by pipe and draping all the walls in black velvet; hanging our <a href=\"https://strategic.events/bright-ideas-create-centerpieces/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">centerpieces</a> from the ceilings like chandeliers; using chair covers with flowers tied into sashes; pin spot lighting on the tables; gold up-lighting on the walls—it was simply incredible. While guests were inside we turned the prefunction space they gathered in into an outdoor martini lounge. When the event ended, they were surprised again to find a spot for after-hours fun.\r\n\r\nEach night they had a room gift. The night before the final night, we sent a piece of collapsible luggage that had wheels and the event logo on it, to each guest\'s room, so that they had a piece of luggage for the many giveaway items they received. We had a video of candid shots that we took all week and showed on the final night as well. Everyone got a copy as a take-home gift (formatted for U.S. and European VCRs as well; again, you have to think of all the details).\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>How did you choose where the incentive program would be held?</strong></span>\r\nWe wanted something spectacular and where we\'d have bright, sunny, happy weather. Maui is a great fit for us and the Grand Wailea made the presentation we wanted.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What did the attendees enjoy the most about the incentive program and the destination?</strong></span>\r\nWe surprised the group with a parking lot full of rental cars (many of them convertibles) for a road rally event. We had pineapples, a Polaroid camera, and a Mr. Potato Head face kit in a bag for each team of four. Attendees were given maps of the island with <a href=\"https://strategic.events/asking-strategic-questions-cvb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">questions</a> about particular locations they would find, as they explored. They were supposed to decorate their pineapple and take photos of it as it journeyed with them throughout the day. I still can\'t believe the adventures some of these pineapples had. One group talked the local police into letting them take photos of their pineapple in the back of a police car and behind bars in jail. They loved the island, the freedom of exploring without restriction, and doing something fun and creative.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What take-home gifts were given to attendees?</strong></span>\r\nWe selected as many gifts local to the area as we could. We wanted to support the local economy, keep an authentic flavor in the gifts, and save on shipping costs. Gifts included small wrapped tropical plants; robes; and flip-flops that had BroadVision lasered into the bottom to leave our logo in the sand, as people walked on the beach.<img class=\"alignright wp-image-4094 size-medium\" title=\"The corporate incentives planner is a rare breed, at once detail-oriented to a fault and incredibly imaginative. Meetings West interviewed several of the industry\'s finest to share tales of recently planned incentive programs, including explanations of extraordinary activities, gift ideas, challenges, and joys.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/TJMJSDTOTS-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"The corporate incentives planner is a rare breed, at once detail-oriented to a fault and incredibly imaginative. Meetings West interviewed several of the industry\'s finest to share tales of recently planned incentive programs, including explanations of extraordinary activities, gift ideas, challenges, and joys.\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" />\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What was the greatest challenge in executing the incentive program?</strong></span>\r\nManaging VIPs\' personal requests pre-event and on-site can be a real time-eater and can run up a budget. We assigned a VIP handler for our CEO and his family and had a VIP point person for the rest of the VIPs who attended. We had a town car on standby at all times for the \'emergency\' VIP needs and communicated what would and would not be covered well before the program, to prevent running up our budget.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What is it you enjoyed most about planning the incentive program?</strong></span>\r\nLetting my imagination run wild and then finding ways to recreate what was in my head and turn it into a reality. We had a very generous budget, which made it easier; we came in $900K under budget [out of a $3 million budget] because we negotiated well, planned well, comparison shopped, did our research, and got the most competitive deal we could out of our vendors.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Who on the supplier side did you depend on the most to successfully execute the event?</strong></span>\r\nMichael Lambert from (then) Maritz in Mill Valley, Calif. He\'s one of the best in the business and I\'m old so I\'ve met my share of vendors!\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What makes for a successful incentive program in general? And was this outcome achieved for this particular program?</strong></span>\r\nWhile a generous budget is a help, it is not essential. It took a full year to plan this event. I met with my team almost every Friday for a full year to walk through every moment of the process, from the first mailer to returning home, and we just let our imaginations go wild. You have to be creative, passionate, and resourceful.\r\n\r\nThis incentive trip was wildly successful. When I see people who were on it, they still share something to remind me why they enjoyed it.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Marianne McNulty,</strong> <em>CMP, CTIE</em>\r\n<em>Managing Director</em>\r\n<em>Your Right Source, LLC</em>\r\n<em>Sugar Grove, Ill.</em>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Briefly describe the incentive program.</strong></span>\r\nThis incentive program was themed \"The Race to Victory Lane\" and was produced by Rockwell International\'s Electronic Commerce division. The \"Rockwell Cup\" was rewarded to the victorious in Banff, Alberta, where winners and guests stayed at the luxurious Fairmont Banff Springs hotel. The program was a five-day, four-night stay for 58 attendees.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>In planning the incentive program, did you follow a timeline?</strong></span>\r\nYes, a timeline was followed for this project, dictated by the fact that the client held a one-year qualification period to win the trip. We started with a site inspection about 16 months before our preferred dates of the program. At this time, we discovered all the possibilities for evening functions and activities available to us. Upon our return from the site inspection, the hotel and DMC contracts were executed. Each month of the qualification period, a different letter of motivation was sent to the many hopefuls. Six months out, we finalized the different events we would hold each evening. Three months out, the activities that would be hosted by the company were chosen.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Did the program have a \"message,\" and if so, was it successfully conveyed to the </strong><strong>participants?</strong></span>\r\nUsing the overall theme \"The Race to Victory Lane,\" and a strong graphic of a race car and a checkered flag, the potential field was \"revved up\" to concentrate on every \"lap\" (month of competition) until the flag comes down on the final lap. The message being that effort must be consistent and sustained over the entire qualification period and that the race can be won or lost in that final lap. The monthly mailings were consistent and targeted to the challenge at hand. But one thing was not revealed—the destination. That surprise was saved until the winners stood in \"Victory Lane\" during the sales meeting at the end of the fiscal year.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What did the program entail, including recreation, dinners, group outings, award ceremonies, etc.? Was there anything particularly unique about the program?</strong></span>\r\nThe program was a wonderful mixture of casual and elegant. We started with a transfer from the Calgary Airport to the Banff Springs hotel, and it was cold! So, we warmed everyone up with mugs of hot chocolate and very knowledgeable guides on each transfer vehicle. These guides acclimated the attendees to the area.\r\n\r\nOur welcome reception was a \"Taste of Canada,\" held in the hotel\'s conservatory. Two strolling local musicians kept the mood light.\r\n\r\nFor the final night gala, we took everyone to the sister property of The Fairmont Banff Springs, the beautiful Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Here we transformed a ballroom into a winter wonderland and brought in a quartet of Russian balalaika performers. As we arrived, guests were settled into horse-drawn sleighs for a ride along the lake. Then, upon entrance to the ballroom, vodka shots were offered to each guest and an evening of Doctor Zhivago Russian elegance ensued.\r\n\r\nOn the second and third days of the program, the attendees had pre-selected an activity that was covered by the company. Skiing, spa treatments and dogsledding were the favorites.<img class=\"alignright wp-image-4093 size-medium\" title=\"The corporate incentives planner is a rare breed, at once detail-oriented to a fault and incredibly imaginative. Meetings West interviewed several of the industry\'s finest to share tales of recently planned incentive programs, including explanations of extraordinary activities, gift ideas, challenges, and joys.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/NA4U246B9D-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"The corporate incentives planner is a rare breed, at once detail-oriented to a fault and incredibly imaginative. Meetings West interviewed several of the industry\'s finest to share tales of recently planned incentive programs, including explanations of extraordinary activities, gift ideas, challenges, and joys.\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" />\r\n\r\nOn the last full day, everyone participated in the Rockwell Winter Olympics and had a great time playing broomball hockey, snow sculpting and downhill sledding.\r\n\r\nEarly in their stay, we had all guests go to a special room and choose a medieval costume supplied by a costume company from Calgary. Then on the third evening of the program, in St. Stephan\'s Hall, our participants ate a meal entirely with their hands, drank mead, laughed to the antics of a few medieval characters, and had a marvelous time.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>How did you choose where the incentive program would be held?</strong></span>\r\nOnce we decided to go against the grain (sun destinations) for this program, we quickly narrowed the field, and the beauty of Banff rose to the top. With a world-class property such as The Fairmont Banff Springs, you are able to offer your guests every amenity to accompany the destination\'s outdoor activities. Add to this the fact that the Canadian dollar is so favorably converted into USD and we felt we had our own incentive.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What did the attendees enjoy the most about the incentive program and the destination?</strong></span>\r\nThe attendees loved the dogsledding activity! And the medieval banquet was a great success. Several were already avid skiers and brought their own equipment along. But the hotel can completely outfit anyone for a day on the slopes. Overall, the fact that we chose a winter destination proved to be a great choice.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What take-home gifts were given to attendees?</strong></span>\r\nWhenever I do an incentive program, I try to keep all gifts to things that are either useful at the destination or indigenous to the destination. Every day when the guests went out for activities, we had a bowl of\"heat\" packets that we encouraged them to take in quantity to put inside gloves, inside boots, inside pockets—anywhere a bit of warmth was going to be needed. And, of course, we also provided gloves and scarves.\r\n\r\nThe big gift was unusual, but indigenous to the destination. We contracted with a local jeweler/museum to provide an etched glass Inukshuk. These totem-like statues were used as indicators for those traveling the wilderness in the earliest days. It was a beacon, a welcome sight to weary travelers crossing a barren tundra. We gave these gifts with a note from the president.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What was the greatest challenge in executing the incentive program?</strong></span>\r\nThe greatest challenge was convincing the winners that they would enjoy a winter destination as much as a summer destination. Those who were already ski aficionados needed no convincing, but they were the minority. We waged a campaign of mailings highlighting one event or activity with each postcard, which served to get them in the right frame of mind. For the last two weeks before the trip, we bombarded them with e-mails to \"sell\" the destination.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What is it you enjoyed most about planning the incentive program?</strong></span>\r\nI was delighted to be working against the sun destination momentum we had going. Choosing the different activities and events that were possible in Banff was a little reward for me.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Who on the supplier side did you depend on the most to successfully execute the event?</strong></span>\r\nThere is simply no way such a program could have been carried off as flawlessly as it was without the cooperation of a great property, The Fairmont Banff Springs, and a fantastic DMC, Road West. I would never be as thoughtless as to choose one over the other, because it was in working together and sharing what we each knew that this program succeeded.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What makes for a successful incentive program in general? And was this outcome achieved for this particular program?</strong></span>\r\nAn incentive program is only successful with the complete buy-in by all concerned. There must be superb cooperation between planner, hotel and DMC. The client and the planner must see eye-to-eye, and the DMC must be able to indulge the whims and wishes of the client. More importantly, the potential attendees/winners must feel as though they are being asked to achieve something achievable. They must be motivated and prodded often along the route. And they must be rewarded beyond the level of their perceptions.\r\n\r\nThis program succeeded on all levels.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Andrea Michaels</strong>\r\n<em>President</em>\r\n<em>Extraordinary Events</em>\r\n<em>Sherman Oaks (Los Angeles), Calif.</em>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Briefly describe the incentive program.</strong></span>\r\nWashington Mutual\'s 2005 President\'s Club was held at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on Hawaii\'s Big Island. The four-night, five-day program welcomed 900 attendees.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><img class=\"alignright wp-image-4095\" title=\"The corporate incentives planner is a rare breed, at once detail-oriented to a fault and incredibly imaginative. Meetings West interviewed several of the industry\'s finest to share tales of recently planned incentive programs, including explanations of extraordinary activities, gift ideas, challenges, and joys.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/9RH6AAYIDP-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"The corporate incentives planner is a rare breed, at once detail-oriented to a fault and incredibly imaginative. Meetings West interviewed several of the industry\'s finest to share tales of recently planned incentive programs, including explanations of extraordinary activities, gift ideas, challenges, and joys.\" width=\"335\" height=\"223\" />In planning the incentive program, did you follow a timeline?</strong></span>\r\nWe started a year out, we began by developing a variety of themes for the client\'s approval. About nine months out we did our first site inspection to look for creative, technical and logistical elements, to meet with suppliers, the hotel catering department, and most especially, to evaluate function space. Six months out we narrowed down possible themes and did the first pass at a budget; this continued to be refined for the next three months. By three months out, themes were selected, renderings completed, and we began to get down to specifics of entertainment, linens and floral and design elements.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Did the program have a \"message,\" and if so, was it successfully conveyed to the </strong><strong>participants?</strong></span>\r\nThe message was that all attendees were indeed winners and valued by their company. Additionally, this year\'s theme was \"Pure Aloha\"—we worked hard to ensure each event incorporated that message.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What did the program entail, including recreation, dinners, group outings, award ceremonies, etc.? Was there anything particularly unique about the program?</strong></span>\r\nThe program entailed a welcome party, two general sessions, an awards night dinner, and a theme event, each incredibly unique. The awards dinner included an Academy Awards-style entrance infused with this year\'s Aloha theme. The cocktail reception began with an Oscar-worthy red carpet entrance. Two hosts—one a former Miss Hawaii!—interviewed guests as they sauntered down the red carpet. Guests were pleasantly surprised to see that Magic Johnson—spokesman for Washington Mutual—was ready, microphone in hand, to conduct some of the interviews. Live recordings of the interviews were fed to plasma monitors throughout the event space and video screens in the ballroom, which kept the guests\' excitement level high.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What was the greatest challenge in executing the incentive program?</strong></span>\r\nOne challenge was that this client had held many programs in Hawaii and we needed to be completely unique and not replicate anything that had been done before. Also, Hawaii has many natural resources, but not as many unique event elements that can be locally tapped into. (And when the surf is up, attendees can disappear quickly.)\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Who on the supplier side did you depend on the most to successfully execute the event?</strong></span>\r\nWe relied on our designer, Sean de Freitas of Designs by Sean, and our great technical team, headed up by Greg Christy of Brite Ideas. Members of the team from Extraordinary Events include Isabelle Zimmerman, account executive, and producers Donna Richardson, Liv Scheinbaum, Megan Reynolds, and Taylor Black.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What makes for a successful incentive program in general? And was this outcome achieved for this particular program?</strong></span>\r\nA successful incentive program always recognizes the winners and their needs. It is motivating, inspiring, and satisfying. It allows for both networking and downtime. It provides unique experiences in an exciting venue that the guests could never achieve on their own.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Incentives, Corporate Incentives, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Meetings Focus, Meetings Today</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingstoday.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-714 size-medium\" title=\"Meetings Today\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/meetings_focus_logo-300x56.png\" alt=\"Meetings Today\" width=\"300\" height=\"56\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Corporate Incentives: Tales of Recently Planned Incentive Programs','','publish','open','open','','corporate-incentives-planned-incentive-programs','','','2018-01-31 15:02:22','2018-01-31 15:02:22','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=491',0,'post','',0),(493,1,'2016-04-07 16:55:12','2016-04-07 16:55:12','<h2>Planners Feeling Pressure</h2>\r\n<h3>By Marshall Krantz</h3>\r\nSqueezed!<strong> </strong>Planners feeling pressure of rising costs, budget constraints, and executive scrutiny of meetings.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2028 size-medium\" title=\"Squeezed! Planners feeling pressure of rising costs, budget constraints, and executive scrutiny of meetings. For the coming year, the message from meeting planners is clear: The most pressing issues they will face are rising event costs and related budget pressures in the face of a slowing overall economy.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/0A130D5CED-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Squeezed! Planners feeling pressure of rising costs, budget constraints, and executive scrutiny of meetings. For the coming year, the message from meeting planners is clear: The most pressing issues they will face are rising event costs and related budget pressures in the face of a slowing overall economy.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />For the coming year, the message from meeting <a href=\"https://strategic.events/become-strategic-planner/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a> is clear: The most pressing issues they will face are rising event costs and related budget pressures in the face of a slowing overall economy.\r\n\r\nNearly 75 percent of planners said a likely budget squeeze next year worries them most, according to MeetingNews\' exclusive Outlook 2007 survey conducted early in the fourth quarter. Related to their expense concerns are airline woes, which rated as the second-most pressing issue among respondent planners (41 percent), and executives\' perceptions of the <a href=\"https://strategic.events/why-planners-need-to-get-strategic/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">value of meetings</a>, which rated third (31 percent).\r\n\r\nThere\'s plenty of evidence that planners\' budget fears are well founded. Most industry forecasters predict rising prices for travel and lodging next year — albeit at a slower rate than this year. The average cost of a domestic business trip in North America, including air transportation, car rental, and lodging, will increase 4.5 percent, or $46, next year to about $1,060, according to the American Express Business Travel 2007 Forecast released in October. The average cost of an international trip, including air and lodging, will increase 4.6 percent, or $180, to about $4,090.\r\n\r\nThe corporate travel management giant forecasts that published hotel room rates in North America will rise between three and eight percent at upscale hotels and between two and six percent at mid-range hotels, although rate hikes could vary dramatically among destinations, even those within the same competitive set.\r\n\r\nAt the top of the list, naturally, is New York City, where room rates could rise by as much as 18 percent, the American Express report stated. Meanwhile, according to lodging tracker Smith Travel Research, the average daily room rate in Manhattan topped $300 this past September.\r\n\r\nAmerican Express predicts that published airfares in North America will increase three to six percent for coach-class domestic flights and two to six percent for business-class international flights.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>An Alarming Disconnect</strong></span>\r\n\r\nNext year, a lot of planners will find themselves caught between higher supplier prices and bosses who want to hold the line on travel and meeting expenses.\r\n\r\n\"There\'s a lot of frustration because of rising airfares and hotel rates,\" said Kim Hester, director of meeting and incentive sales for Travel Dynamics Group, a corporate travel agency in La Jolla, CA. \"Our clients want to do the same things next year for the same or less money. They understand that prices are going up, but they\'re resisting. It\'s a tug of war.\"\r\n\r\nSlowing economic growth — only a 2.2 percent rise next year versus 3.4 percent this year, predicts Boston-based analyst and consultant Global Insight — is compounding <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planners-biggest-challenges/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners\' problems</a>.\r\n\r\nCompanies want to curtail expenditures as a way to counteract the slowing growth yet must work harder in a more competitive environment to grow their top line. Sales people can cut a significant amount of transient travel through webconferencing, pitching to clients using electronic meeting solutions from WebEx or similar providers. But remote conferencing has, to this point, proved ineffective in supplanting larger meetings, in which face-to-face networking typically plays a vital role.\r\n\r\nThe majority of planners expect their meetings activity to remain about the same next year as this year. But there is a two-to-one margin of planners who expect their organizations will hold more meetings away from the office next year over planners who anticipate fewer such meetings. And there\'s a three-to-one margin of planners who expect more people to attend their meetings next year over planners who expect fewer attendees at their meetings.\r\n\r\nNearly half of planners believe their average per-attendee spending will remain the same in 2007. But a hefty 40 percent believe per-attendee spending will increase while only about 11 percent believe it will decrease.\r\n\r\nPlanners\' fears that senior executives will scrutinize travel and <a href=\"https://strategic.events/event-planners-podcast-christy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meeting expenditures</a> ever more closely also appear well founded. In its 2007 forecast, American Express predicted that companies will tighten their travel policies next year as well as enforce those policies more strictly.\r\n\r\n\"We\'ve seen a substantial shift in our clients\' perception of how to be successful,\" said Mike Streit, vice president of advisory services for American Express Business Travel. \"They\'re past looking to traditional procurement methodology; it\'s no longer just about leveraging costs.\r\n\r\n\"In a seller\'s market,\" Streit continued, \"you have to look at everything. Companies must look at their own culture, from when and how they travel to where they travel. This is the primary topic with clients — how to approach their travel program more holistically.\"\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2252\" title=\"Squeezed! Planners feeling pressure of rising costs, budget constraints, and executive scrutiny of meetings. For the coming year, the message from meeting planners is clear: The most pressing issues they will face are rising event costs and related budget pressures in the face of a slowing overall economy.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/OZ6XCZ9Q0R-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Squeezed! Planners feeling pressure of rising costs, budget constraints, and executive scrutiny of meetings. For the coming year, the message from meeting planners is clear: The most pressing issues they will face are rising event costs and related budget pressures in the face of a slowing overall economy.\" width=\"350\" height=\"233\" />A holistic approach essentially means that companies look harder at which business trips promise the best return on investment, factoring in not only typical <a href=\"https://strategic.events/join-things-will-go-smoothly/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel considerations</a> like destination and hotel class that can drive up after costs but also a trip\'s purpose and the number and level of personnel involved.\r\n\r\nAs a result of tighter corporate travel policies, companies could cut not only the number of people they send to their own meetings but also to external events such as trade shows, association conventions, and other companies\' customer conferences. Planners of external events may also find it harder to fill their room blocks as attendees adhere to stricter corporate mandates to stay at their companies\' preferred lodging suppliers.\r\n\r\nIn the MN survey, decreasing the number of attendees at events falls near the bottom of the list of tactics organizations are using to fight higher hotel prices. But significantly, more than 16 percent of corporate planners said their companies intend to send fewer people to events, a response rate six times greater than that from association planners.\r\n\r\nThe expected budget squeezes will also likely prompt companies to adopt comprehensive meetings management programs rather than merely contemplate the idea, according to Streit. \"We expect to see a growing number of corporations hone in on meetings spending,\" he said. \"This area, until now, has been under-examined and is ripe for savings and control opportunities.\"\r\n\r\nWhile there\'s no question that corporate procurement officers have focused on <a href=\"https://strategic.events/travel-managers-get-meetings-low-down/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel</a> and meetings in recent years, Travel Dynamics Group\'s Hester agreed companies could do much more to rein in expenses. \"There\'s a big increase in controls, but the \'exception\' rate is high,\" she said, referring especially to flight changes. \"They start with the best of intentions but then say, \'We\'ll have to change to the $1,800 ticket.\'\"\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Shifting Destinations &amp; Formats</strong></span>\r\n\r\nWhile control of air costs remains a struggle for many of Hester\'s clients, she said they more readily embrace less expensive destinations, the number one <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-steps-successfully-achieve-business-goals/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tactic</a> for dealing with high hotel rates in the MN survey.\r\n\r\n\"Some groups want to go to New York,\" she said. \"But when I quote rates, they decide they want to go somewhere else. If it\'s mid-week during spring and fall, you pay over $400 a night to stay at a four-star hotel in Manhattan. In Atlanta, that same hotel might cost $250.\r\n\r\n\"You also save on food and beverage in less <a href=\"https://strategic.events/city-excursions-cvbs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">expensive destinations</a>,\" Hester added. \"In New York, a full American breakfast costs about $50, not including tax and tip. In Atlanta, a full American breakfast costs about $30, with tax and tip. Anywhere in the South is much less expensive than places like New York, Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, or Boston.\"\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2254\" title=\"Squeezed! Planners feeling pressure of rising costs, budget constraints, and executive scrutiny of meetings. For the coming year, the message from meeting planners is clear: The most pressing issues they will face are rising event costs and related budget pressures in the face of a slowing overall economy.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/5KND5EC7OR-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Squeezed! Planners feeling pressure of rising costs, budget constraints, and executive scrutiny of meetings. For the coming year, the message from meeting planners is clear: The most pressing issues they will face are rising event costs and related budget pressures in the face of a slowing overall economy.\" width=\"339\" height=\"226\" />One strategy that corporations are adopting to combat higher prices for both air and lodging is splitting internal national meetings into regional events. One pharmaceutical company that has held a national sales meeting every year for the past five years plans to hold three regional meetings next year by dividing the group of 600 attendees evenly between Baltimore, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, according to Harith Wickrema, owner of Harith Productions, an independent planning company in Willow Grove, PA.\r\n\r\nWickrema said his client expects a significant cut in entertainment expenses because it will no longer need the big production it usually stages for the national event\'s gala night. He noted that he might hire a three-piece band for each regional event. By contrast, entertainment for a single large event usually requires a keynote speaker, a bigger band and possibly other entertainers, elaborate decor, and the equipment and staffing to carry off a large production. Wickrema figures the client will save about two-thirds of what it would otherwise spend — without skimping on food and beverage. \"You don\'t want cheap food,\" Wickrema stressed. \"You don\'t want employees to feel demotivated.\"\r\n\r\nFor the Baltimore meeting, most attendees will drive or take public ground transportation, said Wickrema, while many attendees at the Los Angeles meeting will fly on a low-fare carrier like Southwest Airlines — thus saving the company a substantial amount on airfare.\r\n\r\nIn addition, Wickrema said the smaller groups save on hotel rates. \"It\'s easier to find availability and better rates when you have 200 people instead of 600 people,\" he noted, explaining that transient rates are generally higher than group rates in an \"up\" market.\r\n\r\nGroups typically book months in advance, while transient travelers generally book just days or weeks prior to arrival. Thus, Wickrema argued, smaller groups leave hotels more rooms to sell at higher rates — rooms that hoteliers feel confident they can sell on short notice given high demand.\r\n\r\nWickrema also persuaded his client to arrive on Sunday night instead of the usual Monday night. Hoteliers, especially in city centers, often suffer lower occupancy rates on Sunday because it\'s a transition day between weekend leisure guests and weekday business travelers. So Sunday night arrivals represent a benefit to hotels that can accrue back to groups in lower rates. \"The hotel is thrilled because it is filling rooms on a night when the hotel could be empty,\" he said.\r\n\r\nNegotiating better group rates often requires booking further in advance. Nonetheless, many companies shrank their booking windows during the weak economic period that followed the 9/11 attacks. They felt nervous about committing funds to meetings scheduled beyond the next quarterly report.\r\n\r\nBut buoyed by better balance sheets and pressured by rising hotel rates and tighter availability, many companies are once again extending their meetings booking windows.\r\n\r\nBooking further in advance is the third most popular tactic among planners for fighting higher hotel <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planners-face-challenge-rising-attendance-costs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rates</a>, according to the MN survey. The survey also found that more than 20 percent of planners expect their booking windows to increase while only about six percent of planners expect their windows to decrease. The vast majority of planners — 70 percent — expect their average lead time to remain about the same.\r\n\r\n\"My clients are aware of the higher rates and limited space, so they\'re booking well in advance,\" said <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meetings-christy-lamagna-solution/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Christy Lamagna</a>, president of Strategic Meetings and Events, an independent planning company in Bernardsville, NJ. \"Before we finish this year\'s annual meeting, they\'re already thinking about next year\'s meeting. They\'ve learned that hotels are still a little more flexible with rates if they book earlier and not when they\'re being reactive at the last minute.\"\r\n\r\nLike Wickrema, Lamagna is also seeing more flexibility on meeting dates from clients as a way to win better lodging deals. \"It gives the hotels a greater ability to tuck meetings into their calendar,\" she said, adding, \"It\'s harder right now to negotiate with hotels. Their phones are still ringing with business.\"\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Squeezed Planners Feeling Pressure of Rising Costs, Planners Feeling Pressure, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Successful Meetings</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.successfulmeetings.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1399 size-full\" title=\"Successful Meetings\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/succeessful_meet_170-1.jpg\" alt=\"Successful Meetings\" width=\"170\" height=\"61\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Squeezed! Planners Feeling Pressure of Rising Costs','','publish','open','open','','planners-feeling-pressure-rising-costs','','','2018-01-22 20:37:22','2018-01-22 20:37:22','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=493',0,'post','',0),(495,1,'2016-04-07 17:06:33','2016-04-07 17:06:33','[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\r\n<p class=\"p1\">An expected influx of room inventory around the globe should benefit meetings 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% Quality of service provided by staff Meeting space costs Convenient location Accommodations costs Size of meeting facilities Quality of accommodations F &amp; B costs F &amp; B quality Technological capabilities 66.5% 60.7% 58.3% 57.9% 54.9% 52.7% 48.7% 32.7% 44.2% % who said “Extremely Important” Source: MeetingNews survey of 463 meeting planners December 18, 2006 • MiMegasite.com MeetingNews 15 [MEETINGNEWS EXCLUSIVE RESEARCH] By Nancy Lazarus Service clearly has pushed its way alongside the front-line considerations of cost and location as key criteria for meeting planners when selecting host properties, according to the most recent MeetingNews survey of 463 meeting professionals. Service of course plays an integral role in every aspect of a meeting, from the planner’s initial site inspection, to the attendees’ meeting experience, to the planner’s post-con and bill reconciliation interactions. “Nothing replaces service,” said Jaime Bernhart, conference coordinator at Employees Assistance Professionals Association of Arlington, VA. “Attendees at my association want low room rates and a good location in the city, but they expect the hotel to provide exceptional service on top of it all.” Corporate planners agree, including Liz Hall, meeting planner at Raymond James &amp; Associates in St. Petersburg, FL. “Many things can be forgiven throughout the course of a meeting or event if the level of care and service is high. Conversely, special note is taken if service levels are not up to par. Quality care and service can make or break an attendee’s experience.” Service has become a primary point of differentiation for hotels that host meetings.“In today’s marketplace, there rarely is a significant facility and product difference within the same tier of conference hotel. What truly separates a hotel is the spirit and expertise of the staff servicing meeting planners and their attendees,” said Pam Gilbert, director of marketing at InterContinental Hotels Group in Chicago. Peter Shelly, executive vice president of sales for HelmsBriscoe in Scottsdale, AZ, agreed. “Everyone is adding a new bed, a better shower head, or some other bell and whistle. Service is the only true indicator as to how a hotel separates itself from competitors.” 90 days or less 24.7% 7-12 months 27.8% More than 12 months 25.0% Source: MeetingNews survey of 463 meeting planners All Planners 90 days or less 34.7% 4 - 6 months 29.9% 4 - 6 months 22.5% More than 12 months 9.7% 7-12 months 25.7% Corporate Planners 7-12 months 30.8% More than 12 months 46.1% 4 - 6 months 12.3% 90 days or less 10.8% Association Planners The Long and Short of Lead Times How far in advance do you most often plan off-site domestic meetings and conferences? Serving It Up Planners book with service at top of mind 4 16 MeetingNews MiMegasite.com • December 18, 2006 Service is clearly foremost on attendees’ minds as well, especially given the current travel environment. “It’s important that a hotel provides service levels that lessen the strain of travel in today’s fast-paced and high-security world,” added Gilbert. Business pressures also play a role. “Attendees need to focus on the business of their meeting while still juggling business back home. They want a hotel that is comfortable but also conducive to getting business done,” and good service assists with that objective, commented Suzanne Stephan, director of marketing at Gaylord Palms Resort &amp; Convention Center in Kissimmee, FL. Seeing is Believing This service-first perspective is further evidenced in responses to another survey question regarding which informational sources are most valuable to planners when learning about meeting properties. The two top-rated sources were word-of-mouth referrals (64.1 percent) and planner-initiated site inspections (60.7 percent); both involve direct observation by planners. There is, however, some difference of opinion regarding site inspections as an accurate predictor of the actual service a meeting could receive. Hall finds advance visits to be good forecasters, “especially if you visit the venue unannounced. It is abundantly clear, when you first walk into an establishment, how the staff is trained and if they are service oriented. If you’re able to look around on your own, you can get a very accurate gauge as to how your guests are going to be received.” But Bernhart feels that referrals are a more reliable barometer of actual hotel service levels. “Talking to other planners who have used the facility or seeing the property in full swing during another planner’s program is usually my best indicator. Referrals can be a tie-breaker in final selection.” Referrals can also be an efficient way to learn about venues if pressed for time. The survey shows that many lead times are short, especially for corporate planners. As a result, they may have less of an opportunity to visit new venues and thus often need to rely on others’ experiences. Hotel websites also influence planners’ venue decisions; they were rated the third most important source of information. While they do not replace site visits, they are an effective way of narrowing down options. “I cull down the list of properties I’m looking at and then see the venues side by side,” according to Hall. The websites’ photos and specs “help eliminate unsuitable locations and venues, making better use of the time spent doing site visits.” Other advantages of hotel websites include providing valuable information for attendees and clients. “It’s an easy place to send attendees who want a little more information about the conference facility,” said Bernhart. Christy Lamagna, president and chief strategist for Strategic Meetings &amp; Events in Bernardsville, NJ, also likes “the ability to share the site’s photos with clients so they have an image of the facility and can quickly give feedback.” Meanwhile, hotel websites will continue to evolve to meet planners’ needs. According to Gilbert, “Website development will include more interactive capability for meeting planners, with virtual guided hotel site tours, meeting space setup planning tools, and the ability to provide online quotes.” <span class=\"s1\">■</span> FOR MORE ON HOTEL SERVICE, SEE PAGE 20. Contact Nancy Lazarus at nlazarus@vnubuspubs.com [MEETINGNEWS EXCLUSIVE RESEARCH] next year through 2010, according to the firm. India, the 12th largest economy, will follow with six-percent average annual growth. The U.S. is expected to dip next year to 2.4-percent growth from 3.3 percent this year but then rebound to 3.3 percent in 2009 and 2010. This will translate into more travel. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimates that overseas arrivals worldwide will increase 25 percent from 2005 to 2010, to one billion arrivals. International travel to developing countries in East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa are outpacing the average world growth in international travel by nearly 20 percent, according to the UNWTO. By 2020, East Asia and the Pacific will supplant the Americas as the second most popular destination for international travelers, behind Europe. Moreover, in emerging markets like China and India, domestic travel, fueled by growing affluence, accounts for most travel, and the percentage will only increase. The number of Indians who can afford to stay at hotels, according to the Indian Association of Tour Operators, has nearly doubled in the past decade to about 350 million — larger than the U.S. population. Customer loyalty thus figures heavily in emerging-market development strategies at hotel companies, according to Hennessey. “They want to be the brand of choice for those emerging markets, and they’re introducing product not only to serve people who live and travel in those countries, but also to get a leg up when those people begin to travel around the world.” The Final Analysis Whether the anticipated boom in room inventory works to the benefit of groups ultimately depends upon whether demand keeps pace with the supply. AHLA’s McInerney expects demand would balance out supply. But Kirk Kinsell, InterContinental Hotel’s chief development officer for the Americas, said, “Adding supply does take some pricing pressure off.” Julie Carroll, vice president of partner and industry relations for BCD Meetings &amp; Incentives, in Chicago, said the increase in room inventory probably won’t help planners next year but could ease the crunch in 2008 and beyond.“More supply will definitely make it easier to find space,” said Carroll, “but it’s too soon to say that it will be a cakewalk for buyers.” <span class=\"s1\">■</span></p>\r\n[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]','Room Boom','','draft','open','open','','room-boom','','','2016-08-15 18:54:59','2016-08-15 18:54:59','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=495',0,'post','',0),(498,1,'2016-04-07 17:38:54','2016-04-07 17:38:54','<h2>Planners Book with Service at Top of Mind</h2>\r\n<h3>By Nancy Lazarus</h3>\r\nService clearly has pushed its way alongside the front-line considerations of cost and location as key criteria for meeting <a href=\"https://strategic.events/become-strategic-planner/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a> when selecting host properties, according to the most recent MeetingNews survey of 463 meeting professionals.\r\n\r\nService of course plays an integral role in every aspect of a meeting, from the planner\'s initial site inspection, to the attendees\' meeting experience, to the planner\'s post-con and bill reconciliation interactions.\r\n\r\n\"Nothing replaces service,\" said Jaime Bernhart, conference coordinator at Employees Assistance Professionals Association of Arlington, VA. \"Attendees at my association want low room rates and a good location in the city, but they expect the hotel to provide exceptional service on top of it all.\"\r\n\r\nCorporate planners agree, including Liz Hall, meeting planner at Raymond James &amp; Associates in St. Petersburg, FL. \"Many things can be forgiven throughout the course of a meeting or event if the level of care and service is high. Conversely, special note is taken if service levels are not up to par. Quality care and service can make or break an attendee\'s experience.\"\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2026\" title=\"Service clearly has pushed its way alongside the front-line considerations of cost and location as key criteria for meeting planners when selecting host properties, according to the most recent MeetingNews survey of 463 meeting professionals. Planners Book with Service at Top of Mind\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/IHUEIA0Y8T-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Service clearly has pushed its way alongside the front-line considerations of cost and location as key criteria for meeting planners when selecting host properties, according to the most recent MeetingNews survey of 463 meeting professionals. Planners Book with Service at Top of Mind\" width=\"401\" height=\"226\" />Service has become a primary point of differentiation for hotels that host meetings. \"In today\'s marketplace, there rarely is a significant facility and product difference within the same tier of conference hotel. What truly separates a hotel is the spirit and expertise of the staff servicing meeting planners and their attendees,\" said Pam Gilbert, director of marketing at InterContinental Hotels Group in Chicago.\r\n\r\nPeter Shelly, executive vice president of sales for HelmsBriscoe in Scottsdale, AZ, agreed. \"Everyone is adding a new bed, a better shower head, or some other bell and whistle. Service is the only true indicator as to how a hotel separates itself from competitors.\"\r\n\r\nService is clearly foremost on attendees\' minds as well, especially given the current travel environment. \"It\'s important that a hotel provides service levels that lessen the strain of travel in today\'s fast-paced and high-security world,\" added Gilbert.\r\n\r\nBusiness pressures also play a role. \"Attendees need to focus on the business of their meeting while still juggling business back home.They want a hotel that is comfortable but also conducive to getting business done,\" and good service assists with that objective, commented Suzanne Stephan, director of marketing at Gaylord Palms Resort &amp; Convention Center in Kissimmee, FL.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Seeing is Believing</strong></span>\r\n\r\nThis service-first perspective is further evidenced in responses to another survey question regarding which informational sources are most valuable to planners when learning about meeting properties. The two top-rated sources were word-of-mouth referrals (64.1 percent) and planner-initiated site inspections (60.7 percent); both involve direct observation by planners.\r\n\r\nThere is, however, some difference of opinion regarding site inspections as an accurate predictor of the actual service a meeting could receive. Hall finds advance visits to be good forecasters, \"especially if you visit the venue unannounced. It is abundantly clear, when you first walk into an establishment, how the staff is trained and if they are service oriented. If you\'re able to look around on your own, you can get a very accurate gauge as to how your guests are going to be received.\"\r\n\r\nBut Bernhart feels that referrals are a more reliable barometer of actual hotel service levels. \"Talking to other planners who have used the facility or seeing the property in full swing during another planner\'s program is usually my best indicator. Referrals can be a tie-breaker in final selection.\"\r\n\r\nReferrals can also be an efficient way to learn about venues if pressed for time. The survey shows that many lead times are short, especially for corporate planners. As a result, they may have less of an opportunity to visit new venues and thus often need to rely on others\' experiences.\r\n\r\nHotel websites also influence planners\' venue decisions; they were rated the third most important source of information. While they do not replace site visits, they are an effective way of narrowing down options. \"I cull down the list of properties I\'m looking at and then see the venues side by side,\" according to Hall. The websites\' photos and specs \"help eliminate unsuitable locations and venues, making better use of the time spent doing site visits.\"\r\n\r\nOther advantages of hotel websites include providing valuable information for attendees and clients. \"It\'s an easy place to send attendees who want a little more information about the conference facility,\" said Bernhart. Christy Lamagna, president and chief strategist for Strategic Meetings &amp; Events in Bernardsville, NJ, also likes \"the ability to share the site\'s photos with clients so they have an image of the facility and can quickly give feedback.\"\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, hotel websites will continue to evolve to meet planners\' needs. According to Gilbert, \"Website development will include more interactive capability for meeting planners, with virtual guided hotel site tours, meeting space set-up planning tools, and the ability to provide online quotes.\"\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Planners Book with Service at Top of Mind, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Events, Corporate Meetings, Successful Meetings</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.successfulmeetings.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1399 size-full\" title=\"Successful Meetings\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/succeessful_meet_170-1.jpg\" alt=\"Successful Meetings\" width=\"170\" height=\"61\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Planners Book with Service at Top of Mind','','publish','open','open','','planners-book-service-top-mind','','','2018-01-22 20:27:25','2018-01-22 20:27:25','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=498',0,'post','',0),(502,1,'2016-04-08 20:18:06','2016-04-08 20:18:06','<h2>Talking Heads To Rock Stars</h2>\r\n<h3>By Kinley Levack</h3>\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Turning Top Execs into Polished Presenters</strong><strong> (Rock Stars)</strong></span>\r\n\r\nWhen Indra Nooyi became CEO of PepsiCo Inc. on October 1, it wasn\'t just her experience that made the news, or the fact that she\'d played a major role in successfully restructuring the company while serving as CFO, or that she is the second-highest-ranking female CEO in the Fortune 500.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/EC50CC8658.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2263\" title=\"Turning top execs into polished presenters (rock stars). With forethought and a few tools and tricks, however, planners can help turn an unpolished talking head into a memorable and skillful presenter, whether that person is within the firm or outside of the firm. Read, Talking Heads To Rock Stars to learn how.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/EC50CC8658-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Turning top execs into polished presenters (rock stars). With forethought and a few tools and tricks, however, planners can help turn an unpolished talking head into a memorable and skillful presenter, whether that person is within the firm or outside of the firm. Read, Talking Heads To Rock Stars to learn how.\" width=\"382\" height=\"252\" /></a>One of the attributes generating the most buzz is Nooyi\'s talent as a speaker. Nooyi honed her skills while fronting an all-woman band during college, and the experience served her well; she is now lauded by insiders and observers as an effective and powerful communicator.\r\n\r\nUnfortunately for meeting planners, Nooyi is the exception to the rule. In most cases, executives as speakers are a necessary evil. \"Oftentimes you have your CFO onstage because he\'s brilliant with numbers, but his ability to explain that information in a meaningful way is not as perfect,\" says Christy Lamagna, chief strategist with <a href=\"https://strategic.events/why-planners-need-to-get-strategic/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Strategic</a> Meetings and Events in Bernardsville, NJ.\r\n\r\nWith forethought and a few tools and tricks, however, planners can help turn an unpolished talking head into a memorable and skillful presenter, whether that person is within the firm or outside of the firm.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Where It All Begins</strong></span>\r\n\r\n\"I always interview the speakers on the phone first, because you can get a feel for the person\'s presentation skills by speaking with them over the phone,\" says Tamara L. Christensen, director of online learning for the American Society of Association Executives and the Center for Association Leadership in Washington D.C., where she specializes in training for virtual settings. \"C-level individuals are quick thinkers, so be concise and precise in what you want from them as presenters. Also, find out if they have ever done such an event. If they are new to speaking, what are their expectations? Then play off of that information to develop the program.\"\r\n\r\nFor outside executives speaking to a group, \"It helps to let them know in advance who will be there. Give specific examples: the VP of such-and-such company, etc.\" recommends Carol DeVico, manager of contract administration for Pictometry International Corp. in Rochester, NY. \"If you have workshop sign-ups, give the roster to the speaker, so they can see who will be there and can tailor it accordingly. Some will tailor it by working in a few attendee or company names and some won\'t, but it\'s helpful and really shows that they have done their homework.\" Of course, it\'s the planner doing much of the work, but as DeVico says, \"Give the presenters all the ammunition you can. If they use it, fantastic. If they don\'t, you\'ve done the best you can.\"\r\n\r\nWhen working with outside executives, DeVico also uses a speaker contract that has a secondary purpose. The contract asks for general background information such as their experience, title, and bio, but also asks that the speaker present an abstract of the presentation and that the presentation be pre-approved. \"We don\'t say that we\'re doing it because we want to check out what they\'re talking about; we say that we want to enhance what they are talking about. Maybe we can work their topic into something else we\'re doing during the conference,\" she says. \"It\'s sort of a trick.\"\r\n\r\n\"If the client gives us an outline, we\'ll work with it,\" says Lamagna of helping executives create a presentation. \"If [the group] has the budget, we\'ll even send a scriptwriter in,\" she says. \"Or if we know we have a group that\'s notoriously bad about meeting deadlines, we\'ll send in a speechwriter.\" In fact, one of Lamagna\'s best tricks is to \"send in the speechwriter, saying, \'Okay, here\'s what I think you want to get across.\' All of a sudden the executive is saying, \'No, that\'s not what we want!\' Well, great, a minute ago the exec was too busy to tell me what he wants, but now he\'s giving me information and that\'s what I need. Sometimes we have to play mind games with them.\"\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Don\'t Poke the Bear</strong></span>\r\n\r\nThe party line from planners is to be clear, but kind and careful, when offering criticism to executives about their presentations. \"I think that the most important element when we\'re sharing criticism or offering advice is the phrasing. If it\'s phrased in a positive light—as a suggestion to make them better, versus an attack—it\'s much more effective,\" says Gail Gold, creative director of Star Trax Corporate Events in Detroit. Gold has spent eight years working with executives and has a background in show production, including on-camera work and presentation work.\r\n\r\n\"I have an enviable position compared to most <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planners-biggest-challenges/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a> because I\'m the guy with the money,\" admits New York City-based David S. Rose, venture-capital pitch coach, principal with Rose Tech Ventures, and chairman of New York Angels, an investment group focusing on early-stage companies. \"But even with that, these [speakers have] very big egos and you have to do several things. Number one: Make it clear that this advice is for [their benefit] and that you\'re not being negative; you have to do this without being patronizing, because the worst thing you can do is patronize up. Two: You have to establish your bona fides—why should they listen to you? Three: It may sound silly or obvious, but you\'ve got to listen to their presentation first.\"\r\n\r\nAfter hearing the run-through, planners must give feedback. \"This is where it gets very tricky and very sensitive,\" says Rose. \"The approach should be complimentary on the one hand, but clear and firm on the other: \'This is a wonderful point;\' \'This might be better in the handout instead of the PowerPoint.\' \"Rose fervently recommends using an abbreviated version of the presentation as a PowerPoint visual (if the speaker or organization insists on using one at all) and the full, detailed version as the speech and perhaps as a handout.\r\n\r\nBoth Christensen and Lamagna create PowerPoint slide templates for presenters, to ensure that the sides are appropriate and aesthetically pleasing, and Lamagna also mandates that no slide contain more than six bullet points. \"Another possibility is to actually show them excerpts from really impressive presentations,\" says Rose, who specifically recommends pointing <a href=\"https://strategic.events/10-tips-coaching-speakers/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">speakers</a> to the Steve Jobs keynotes and product launch speeches available on the Apple Computer Inc. website. \"The higher you go (up the corporate ladder), the less PowerPoint you should use,\" Rose continues. \"The President of the United States does not use PowerPoint.\"\r\n\r\nWhile it may not be an easy exercise to attempt, Rose has a favorite method of showing how slides detract from a speech: \"Face your speaker, put your fingers in your ears, and read what he has on the screen. It\'ll show him exactly what the audience is doing, because when they are reading they aren\'t paying attention to you. It\'s excruciatingly painful to have somebody in front of you with their hands in their ears reading your slide as you speak.\"\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2024\" title=\"Turning top execs into polished presenters (rock stars). With forethought and a few tools and tricks, however, planners can help turn an unpolished talking head into a memorable and skillful presenter, whether that person is within the firm or outside of the firm. Read, Talking Heads To Rock Stars to learn how.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/RASB51KM25-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Turning top execs into polished presenters (rock stars). With forethought and a few tools and tricks, however, planners can help turn an unpolished talking head into a memorable and skillful presenter, whether that person is within the firm or outside of the firm. Read, Talking Heads To Rock Stars to learn how.\" width=\"357\" height=\"238\" />Rose also recommends backing up your suggestions with advice from books or magazines whenever possible, because it will be easier for the presenter to accept information coming from a source they consider an expert.\r\n\r\n\"The successful CEOs I know are the ones who can take criticism and advice. They know what they know and accept what they don\'t know,\" says Oren Michels, CEO of a San Francisco-based Internet company called Mashery, who recently worked on his presentation skills with Rose. \"If you have a track record of providing <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-insight-event-planners/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">solid advice</a> in this area, you should be direct with your advice, especially if you have been invited to do so.\"\r\n\r\nFeedback can be offered during the rehearsal time, if it is not possible to meet with the speaker far in advance, and all planners and coaches Successful Meetings spoke with emphasized the importance of rehearsal time.\r\n\r\n\"I\'d love to start working with them two to three weeks out, but that\'s a luxury we typically don\'t have. Generally I\'m working with them one to two days before the meeting—it\'s often a crash course,\" says Gold, who adds that she tries to spend an hour with each presenter. \"During rehearsal, I take the notes pages away and say, \'It\'s just you and me. There\'s nobody to be embarrassed by—so just go for it.\' \"\r\n\r\nLamagna tries for a live walk-through in-house the day before the event, though she acknowledges that isn\'t always possible. In that case, \"Stake out a conference room, bring in food, and block them for a half an hour to time it and see how their pacing is. When we can\'t get people into a conference room, I will do a rehearsal over the phone with the slides.\"\r\n\r\nIn DeVico\'s experience, it can be easiest to enlist the help of a production company if the group is using one. Because the production company needs time to set up lighting and cameras properly, it can serve as a nonthreatening way to get the speaker to rehearsals. \"We\'re sort of playing to their egos,\" she says. \"They are receptive to ideas from the production company because they feel like production companies know how to make people look good. When they do the rehearsal, we sit in to say, \'That was really good, let\'s go more with this, or that,\' and give other feedback.\"\r\n\r\nVideotaping a speaker during rehearsal is another efficient and nonconfrontational approach. \"I let the evidence speak for itself,\" explains Granville Toogood, chairman of the Liminal Group, an executive coaching firm based in New York City, and an executive coach for 25 years. \"When I use video, it doesn\'t take long for people to understand why they should pay attention, make the most of the occasion, and try to do it right the first time.\" Lamagna agrees that showing speakers what they are doing wrong makes an impact. \"You don\'t have to bring in a video crew—just hook up a camcorder to your laptop,\" she says. After watching themselves in action, \"They\'ll often be the ones to tell you what they need to fix, and then it doesn\'t seem like you\'re picking on them.\"\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Put Me in, Coach</strong></span>\r\n\r\nIf a planner is in the enviable position of having either time or money, another way to shape an executive speaker is to enlist the help of an executive coach. According to planners, coaches are generally brought in when an executive has enjoyed learning from a planner or production company and is eager for more information about effective speaking.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2261 size-medium\" title=\"Turning top execs into polished presenters (rock stars). With forethought and a few tools and tricks, however, planners can help turn an unpolished talking head into a memorable and skillful presenter, whether that person is within the firm or outside of the firm. Read, Talking Heads To Rock Stars to learn how.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/FN9W4V6TK5-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Turning top execs into polished presenters (rock stars). With forethought and a few tools and tricks, however, planners can help turn an unpolished talking head into a memorable and skillful presenter, whether that person is within the firm or outside of the firm. Read, Talking Heads To Rock Stars to learn how.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />\"The times that it\'s come up for me, the speaker was very receptive to feedback and wanted to take it to the next level,\" says Gold. \"They feel empowered by the advice that\'s given and excited by the fact that they are feeling comfortable.\" Toogood says he is most often approached directly by the executive who is interested in polishing his or her presentation skills. \"Or I get called by human resources or corporate communications or executive training,\" he says. \"Most of the time they [clients] come to me willingly and they go away happy, because they find that it\'s not only fun, but it makes good business sense.\r\n\r\n\"This is how I do it now: Give me your best shot. Show me what you can do, and I\'ll show you how you can do it better. If after one <a href=\"https://strategic.events/essential-pillars-strategic-meetings/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meeting</a> you don\'t see any value, you are free to go,\" says Toogood. \"I\'ve not had a situation where someone leaves.\"\r\n\r\nRose generally meets with presenters one-on-one, three times a month, for about two hours a session. The free and mandatory sessions are a \"benefitslash-requirement of applying [for funding] with New York Angels,\" according to Rose. \"We found that this filled a really big need. We didn\'t know how big of a need there was, but it turns out that companies say they get more out of the training than the money we give them.\"\r\n\r\nDeVico cautions that suggesting a coach can seem like a blow to the ego of a C-level speaker and that coaches will only be effective as a longer-term strategy. When it\'s on the shoulders of the planner, \"Just tell the executive, \'We\'re going to get you a standing ovation and here\'s what we need to do to make it happen,\' \" says Lamagna.\r\n\r\nTo keep things running smoothly during the actual event, Christensen recommends putting together a detailed schedule with time stamps, and giving a copy to everyone involved in the event—panelists, speakers, producers, etc— \"everything that goes on with the exception of the speakers\' words,\" she says.\r\n\r\n\"We\'ll put someone in the audience to signal when they have two or three minutes left, and we\'ll shoot messages over the teleprompter to let them know if they\'re running over . . . Sometimes you also have to type into the teleprompter, \'Breathe,\' or \'Take a drink of water.\' You don\'t want the experience to be painful for them,\" says Lamagna.\r\n\r\nIf pre-event preparation, rehearsals, and advice have all fallen on deaf ears, Lamagna has found it is sometimes best to simply step back and allow the presentation to go poorly. \"Although you can clean up the mess, all that would teach them is that they can get away with it. Sometimes they\'ve got to get onstage and have it be ugly, and then they\'ll never do it again,\" she says. \"I\'ve had a few who go onstage and die, but next time they get their speech to me early and appear at dress rehearsal.\"\r\n\r\nShe says that the best approach when dealing with high-level executives is to be firm, direct, and explicit about your value. \"\'Mr. CEO, I am the expert on making a show run well. I respect your expertise and I need you to respect mine,\'\" adding that if you can tie in how an <a href=\"https://strategic.events/content-master/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">effective presentation</a> and well-run meeting saves or earns the company money, all the better.\r\n\r\n\"If planners say something with conviction, people will respect that. No one wants to follow a weak leader; there is always a way to say something firmly, but pleasantly,\" says Lamagna. \"The sooner planners realize that they have every right to be interacting with C-level executives and they have been brought into that situation because they are good at their jobs, the better. If you want a seat at the table, you have to act like you belong there.\"\r\n\r\n<strong>SIDEBAR</strong>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Inside a Coaching Session</strong></span>\r\n\r\nAt The Articulate Executive, a September 2006 Liminal Group event in New York City, Oren Michels faced the fire as he received presentation training in front of 250 <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planners-face-challenge-rising-attendance-costs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">attendees</a>. Michels, the CEO of Mashery, an Internet company based in San Francisco, gave a presentation, then sat as David S. Rose, venture-capital pitch coach, critiqued Michels\' style and proceeded to give an off-the-cuff revision of Michels\' presentation.\r\n\r\n\"I have successfully raised a decent amount of money from some very well respected investors for Mashery, so my presentation couldn\'t be too awful. Yet Rose\'s was clearly a lot better,\" says Michels of his coach\'s version. Michels says that one of the best tips he picked up was to think of a presentation more as a conversation. Rose and Granville Toogood, chairman of Liminal Group and a past executive coach to Rose, both recommend thinking that way, because it keeps the speaker from becoming stilted and awkward.\r\n\r\n\"David and Granville gave us a bunch of pointers we can apply to our presentations,\" says Michels. \"Some are simple and seemingly obvious; others seemed to fall into the category of, \'Sure, that sounds great, but my situation is different.\' But seeing David essentially take my presentation and apply all of his rules to it made me a believer in what he does—I could no longer say, \'This doesn\'t apply to me.\'\'\r\n\r\nAnd, says Michels, \"After the event, Granville gave David a brief critique of his presentation, with a couple of pointers on things he could have done a bit better. David took the input graciously and appreciatively. We are all, always, still learning.\"\r\n\r\n\"Students are always students,\" Toogood agrees. He says he thinks Rose did a superb job himself, but that people became antsy when it was time for lunch. And it seems that Rose has come a long way; \"He was perfectly awful when he started,\" says Toogood of the now widely praised coach and presenter.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Talking Heads To Rock Stars, Rock Stars, Speakers, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Events, Corporate Meetings, Successful Meetings</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.successfulmeetings.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1399 size-full\" title=\"Successful Meetings\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/succeessful_meet_170-1.jpg\" alt=\"Successful Meetings\" width=\"170\" height=\"61\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Talking Heads To Rock Stars','','publish','open','open','','talking-heads-to-rock-stars','','','2018-01-22 20:14:51','2018-01-22 20:14:51','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=502',0,'post','',0),(508,1,'2016-04-09 22:11:44','2016-04-09 22:11:44','<h2>Maui</h2>\r\n<h3>By April I. Torrisi</h3>\r\nKnown as the Magic Isle, Maui features pristine white beaches and lush, green mountains. It is the ideal place for humpback whale sightings, waterfalls, relaxing, surfing, snorkeling, and golfing. Maui is presently experiencing many luxury resort transformations in Wailea, Kaanapali, and Kapalua, where multimillion-dollar renovations are taking place in hotel guest rooms, and new golf courses and residential condos are being constructed.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Essential Tool Box</strong></span>\r\nMeeting Facilities: Hotels with meeting facilities comprise a room <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-supplies-inventory/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">inventory</a> of approximately 18,000. Off-site venues include the Maui Ocean Center and the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, as well as the islands of Lanai and Molokai.\r\n\r\nFor More Information:\r\nMaui VB www.mauimeetings.net\r\nHawaii VCB <a href=\"http://www.meethawaii.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">www.meethawaii.com</a>\r\nHawaii Tourism Authority <a href=\"http://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">www.hawaiitourismauthority.org</a>\r\nFor complete facilities listings, visit Facility Quick Search at\r\n<a href=\"http://www.successfulmeetings.com/\">www.mimegasite.com</a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>The Big News</strong></span>\r\nGroups of 100 to 3,000 can now enjoy movies, under the stars, from the Maui Film Festival, which takes place this year from June 13-17 at diverse venues around the island, including the Wailea Gold and Emerald golf courses and the beaches. Optional enhancements: Hire a famous actor, director, film critic, or celebrity look-alike to attend the screening; have an astronomer present for a pre-film tour of the night sky; or provide a pre-film hula performance.\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2022\" title=\"Known as the Magic Isle, Maui features pristine white beaches and lush, green mountains. It is the ideal place for humpback whale sightings, waterfalls, relaxing, surfing, snorkeling, and golfing. Maui is presently experiencing many luxury resort transformations in Wailea, Kaanapali, and Kapalua, where multimillion-dol\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/H7QTSTES1Q-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Known as the Magic Isle, Maui features pristine white beaches and lush, green mountains. It is the ideal place for humpback whale sightings, waterfalls, relaxing, surfing, snorkeling, and golfing. Maui is presently experiencing many luxury resort transformations in Wailea, Kaanapali, and Kapalua, where multimillion-dol\" width=\"404\" height=\"269\" /> The 380-room Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea began a comprehensive hard- and soft-goods makeover of rooms and suites in August 2006 that is scheduled for completion near June. The resort will remain open.</li>\r\n 	<li>The Royal Lahaina Resort located on Kaanapali Beach is nearing the completion of a $30 million room renovation in its 330 room Lahaina Kai Tower.</li>\r\n 	<li>The 473 room Wailea Beach Marriott Resort &amp; Spa is undergoing a $60-million renovation. All guest rooms and suites have been completely redesigned, and now include Marriott\'s new Revive Bedding and high-speed Internet.</li>\r\n 	<li>At Kapalua Resort, the Village Course is expected to close in 2007 to make way for a members-only golf course designed by Tom Fazio.</li>\r\n 	<li>The Renaissance Wailea Beach Resort will close April 14, 2007 and will reopen in fall 2008 as a Starwood St. Regis Resort.</li>\r\n 	<li>In August, the Maui Ocean Center, home of the largest collection of live coral in the nation, opened the 3,000-sf Marine Mammal Discovery Center. For 40 to 850 guests, the Center offers private events exclusive use of the aquarium, a tour at leisure of the exhibits, dinner with an outdoor or open-air setting, and entertainment.</li>\r\n 	<li>Tihati Productions and Maui Tropical Plantation recently introduced the Waikapu Village Luau, held every Fri and Sun. The package includes a welcome, a tram tour of the plantation, Hawaiian games, a traditional cooking experience, canoe procession, open bar, all-you-can-eat buffet, and Kololio, a musical journey. The Plantation accommodates groups up to 800.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Groups Should Consider</strong></span>\r\nGroups should consider these recommendations from the Successful Meetings Home Team experts: Top choices include the 548 room Ritz Carlton, Kapalua; the 450 room Fairmont Kea Lani, the 380 room Four Seasons; the 473 room Marriott Wailea; the 510-room Sheraton Maui; the 806 room Hyatt Regency Maui; and the 310 room Maui Prince. Contributors to this section include Home Team members Michelle DeClerck, CMP; Christy Lamagna CMP, CMM, CTSM; and Donna Turner. Contact them at siteseditor@successfulmeetings.com\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>From Good to Po\'okela</strong></span>\r\nIn the Hawaiian culture, po\'okela (the Hawaiian word for excellence) is achieved through hard work, patience, and quality. Clifford Nae\'ole, cultural advisor at the The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, has created five unique cultural programs that can be customized to a group\'s specific needs in their quest for po\'okela as well as to help planners bring a sense of the true Hawaii to their meetings. The programs include an introductory chant to commence the program followed by a conch shell whistle and a speaker invoking a successful meeting with a Hawaiian chant.\r\n\r\nLocated on a historic pineapple plantation and surrounded by the ocean and 54 holes of championship golf, the 548 room Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua offers 30,000 sf of indoor meeting space; a 23,000-sf lawn area; the Plantation Grove, an outdoor amphitheater offering 130,000 sf of space; and the Aloha Outdoor Ballroom, a permanent, open-air structure that can accommodate 50 to 1,000 people. The property will begin a $95 million renovation in July that will refurbish and add Wi-Fi capability to all guest rooms and meeting space by spring 2008 (a new spa renovation and expansion is also planned).\r\n\r\nPo\'okela\'s three attributes are represented by a traditional Hawaiian fishhook. As a meeting reminder, a fishhook pendant may be given as an amenity to the attendees as a sign of accomplishment, responsibility, and leadership.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Maui, Maui Island, The Island Of Maui, Maui Events, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Events, Corporate Meetings, Successful Meetings</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.successfulmeetings.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1399 size-full\" title=\"Successful Meetings\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/succeessful_meet_170-1.jpg\" alt=\"Successful Meetings\" width=\"170\" height=\"61\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Maui','','publish','open','open','','maui','','','2018-01-22 19:53:29','2018-01-22 19:53:29','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=508',0,'post','',0),(510,1,'2016-04-11 18:26:29','2016-04-11 18:26:29','<h2>Marriott Commissions Decision Roils Planners</h2>\r\n<h3>By Michael Bassett</h3>\r\nMarriott International\'s New rules on how commissions are paid to independent <a href=\"https://strategic.events/become-strategic-planner/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a> and other group intermediaries have generated a heated discussion within the <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planners-biggest-challenges/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meetings community</a>, particularly among the independents most likely to be affected by the policy.\r\n\r\nBeginning January 1, contracts for meetings convening after June 1 of this year include a clause providing that commissions will be paid only to U.S. and Canadian intermediaries that are accredited by the International Airlines Travel Agent Network, the International Air Transport Association, or the Airline Reporting Corp. Marriott is arguing that the change is needed because it wants to ensure that it is providing better service — including quicker commission payments — and only making payments to third parties that are legitimate businesses.\r\n\r\nThe new certification requirements leave meetings industry lawyer James M. Goldberg, principal in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Goldberg &amp; Associates, with some questions. In particular, he wonders what is going to happen the first time a planner without the necessary accreditation goes to Marriott with a contract calling for a commission payment. “I can\'t see a hotel salesperson turning down business they\'ve accepted in the past because of the lack of an IATA number,” Goldberg says. “It seems to me that kind of attitude is going to last only until the next economic slowdown.”\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Hurdles for Independents</strong></span>\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2597\" title=\"Marriott International\'s New rules on how commissions are paid to independent planners and other group intermediaries have generated a heated discussion within the meetings community, particularly among the independents most likely to be affected by the policy. Marriott Commissions Decision Roils Planners\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/hurdles-track_1940x900_33807-300x139.jpg\" alt=\"Marriott International\'s New rules on how commissions are paid to independent planners and other group intermediaries have generated a heated discussion within the meetings community, particularly among the independents most likely to be affected by the policy. Marriott Commissions Decision Roils Planners\" width=\"408\" height=\"189\" />Some independent <a href=\"https://strategic.events/why-planners-need-to-get-strategic/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a> will face a number of hurdles to get IATA certification, and if the Meetings Community listserv is any indication, there\'s a difference of opinion about the effect the requirement will have on their businesses. Goldberg also points out that planners will have to overcome some bureaucratic hurdles in order to comply with the Marriott plan. For example, he says, the commission payment process will require that planners register a Doing Business As statement in order to receive their checks. “A lot of planners are just home-based and don\'t have DBAs,” Goldberg says. There is also the question of errors and omissions insurance. IATAN has waved the insurance requirement, which is costly, for planners who perform site selection services only and do not sign contracts.\r\n\r\n“The waiver helps our company,” says Jim Louis, chief information officer of Best Meetings Inc., Bloomington, Minn., and co-founder of MeCo. “But one of the big issues is … that meeting planners have to join an association with a focus on airline travel and travel agencies. What does this say about the status of meeting planners in the business world?”\r\n\r\nOther planners have chaffed at the costs of accreditation. The application fee for an IATAN number is $165, with a renewal fee of $65. Steve Collins, president of Breckenridge, Colo.-based Resort Meeting Source LLC, has taken the lead in urging fellow planners to protest Marriott\'s decision. Collins doesn\'t believe that Marriott, or any supplier, should dictate how independents run their businesses, and has been contacting (and has called on planners to contact) Marriott properties to let them know that following the Marriott policy could affect their business.\r\n\r\nThe response so far has been tepid, says Collins. “I\'ve only received a response from one hotel. The impression was that they would work around this requirement to get the business.”\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Looking at the Upside</strong></span>\r\nGoldberg sees one distinct positive in the Marriott proposal — quicker payment of commissions. “If Marriott does what it says it\'s going to do, you\'ll see more prompt payments,” he says. “The typical contract now says payment will come 30 days after payment of the master account. Now Marriott says payment will occur 45 days after the event departure. That\'s different and necessarily more prompt. I\'ve had planners who\'ve had to wait months for a commission check using the current system.” Christy Lamagna, president of <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-approach-integrated-marketing/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Strategic</a> Meetings and Events in Bernardsville, N.J., says that her knee-jerk reaction to Marriott\'s plan was “this is just another example of corporate America putting it to the little guy, to see how much more they can whittle away at our profit margins.”\r\n\r\nUpon further reflection, Lamagna sees an upside. “One of my personal goals in the industry has always been to be seen as a true professional, not as some kind of party planner,” she says. “Having an IATA number means that you are an established member of that industry — it helps to elevate the profession in the eyes of hotels as well as in the eyes of your clients. I think that after tempers cool down, and everyone figures out how to work around this thing so that the industry as a whole doesn\'t suffer, people will wonder how they can\'t be in favor of something that will make us more reputable and more established.\"\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Marriott Commissions Decision Roils Planners, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Events, Corporate Meetings, Meeting News</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingnews.com/login.aspx?action=editprofile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1400 size-full\" title=\"Meeting News\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Meeting-News_170_w.jpg\" alt=\"Meeting News\" width=\"170\" height=\"42\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Marriott Commissions Decision Roils Planners','','publish','open','open','','marriott-commissions-roils-planners','','','2018-01-22 19:58:00','2018-01-22 19:58:00','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=510',0,'post','',0),(512,1,'2016-04-11 18:55:17','2016-04-11 18:55:17','<h2>Learning Curve</h2>\r\n<h3>By Angela Chiarello</h3>\r\n<strong>Planners must understand learning objectives and partner with suppliers to create successful and effective training meetings.</strong>\r\n\r\nWhether it’s a three-hour program or a three-day event, training meetings stem from a specific need. Learning new skills, achieving certifications, understanding new programs or discovering new products requires a positive learning environment. A variety of purposes and desired outcomes indicate that a positive environment for one may not work for another.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2020 size-medium\" title=\"Planners must understand learning objectives and partner with suppliers to create successful and effective training meetings. Whether it’s a three-hour program or a three-day event, training meetings stem from a specific need. Learning new skills, achieving certifications, understanding new programs or learning curve\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/J8Y2RBV4WF-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Planners must understand learning objectives and partner with suppliers to create successful and effective training meetings. Whether it’s a three-hour program or a three-day event, training meetings stem from a specific need. Learning new skills, achieving certifications, understanding new programs or learning curve\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />Still, some topics are intrinsic to all training meetings: the importance of defining the objectives; the comprehension of content and the acquisition of a trainer before the booking of space. This may be an epiphany for some and impossible for others to grasp. An immediate change in the way everyone does business isn’t possible, but understanding what works and finding ways to incorporate proven tactics into events will move planners, their training meetings and the <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planning-industry-needs-strategy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">industry forward</a>.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Define and determine the objectives.</strong></span> The best way to define and determine objectives is to begin with the end. Planners and suppliers stress the importance of understanding a training meeting’s objectives from the start. The most important question to ask is, “Why are we meeting?”\r\n\r\nMany trainers and venue officials are surprised that they encounter so many <a href=\"https://strategic.events/why-planners-need-to-get-strategic/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a> who don’t know the objectives of the meetings they’re booking. In some cases, the planners are—or feel they are—too low in the organizational hierarchy to be told of the meeting’s objectives and, because of that, weren’t comfortable asking. Other trainers speculate that planners’ plates are just too full.\r\n\r\nBarb Taylor Carpender, CMM, a veteran trainer and MPI’s 2006 Supplier of the Year, offers a logical argument for the importance of objectives and how to communicate with those higher up who may not immediately understand the value of defining and sharing goals.\r\n\r\n“It makes you look better to understand the need and ask for objectives,” Carpender says.\r\n\r\nShe also says it’s easy to ask what the top things the meeting’s stakeholders want attendees to walk away with.\r\n\r\n“Doesn’t that make it easier to design the events?” Taylor asked. “It also makes it easier after the meeting to go back and say, ‘Based on the objectives, here is the outcome.’ It’s about understanding that there are tools out there that will not only advance our industry—and therefore ourselves—but also make our lives easier.”\r\n\r\nUnderstanding the objectives not only makes the planning easier, but provides the tools necessary to easily measure success afterward.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Get to know the attendees.</strong></span> It sounds trite, but do the homework. Once planners know why a group is meeting, they should determine who will attend and what they need to meet the objectives the owners have set out.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2271 size-medium\" title=\"Planners must understand learning objectives and partner with suppliers to create successful and effective training meetings. Whether it’s a three-hour program or a three-day event, training meetings stem from a specific need. Learning new skills, achieving certifications, understanding new programs or learning curve\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/QM8SLOCJ8M-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"Planners must understand learning objectives and partner with suppliers to create successful and effective training meetings. Whether it’s a three-hour program or a three-day event, training meetings stem from a specific need. Learning new skills, achieving certifications, understanding new programs or learning curve\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" />“Possibly more [attendee] research is needed before training rather than any other [kind of meeting],” said Tyra Hilliard, Esq., CMP, associate professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration’s Tourism and Convention Department. “What is their existing knowledge; how will they apply the knowledge?”\r\n\r\nKnowing audience demographics, group history and past training experiences remains vital for creating successful training events. Group history will tell what has worked in the past—and more importantly, what hasn’t. <a href=\"https://strategic.events/event-planners-podcast-christy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Planners</a> can use attendees’ previous training experiences to understand what kinds of training have been effective and gain insight into learning styles. Keep in mind generational and cultural differences when analyzing demographics.\r\n\r\nGathering information about attendees can be done in a variety of ways. Depending on the type and size of the group, surveys, focus groups and advisory boards can be effective. Planners can offer incentives for people willing to give their time and opinions about needs and expectations. But planners should avoid going to these lengths if they don’t intend to incorporate the suggestions.\r\n\r\nThe information planners collect about attendees will be invaluable internally and externally.\r\n\r\n“A really good planner will tell me who I’m talking to, what they think, what they like and where my session fits into the broader program,” said Jeffrey Cufaude of Idea Architects in Indianapolis.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Create strong partnerships.</strong></span> Suppliers have an interest in a training meeting’s success. Unfortunately, some planners treat suppliers more like vendors than partners and don’t share a meeting’s objectives with them.\r\n\r\n“I don’t think it’s an intentional withholding,” Cufaude noted. “In some cases, [planners] don’t really get why it would be of value.”\r\n\r\nJoan Eisenstodt, chief strategist for Eisenstodt Associates in Washington, D.C., and an MPI Potomac Chapter member, insists that partnerships are essential.\r\n\r\n“You can plan the best program but if the audiovisual or facility isn’t working, the program won’t work. It is important that everyone be a part of the conversation,” said Eisenstodt, a veteran trainer and meeting planner.\r\n\r\nJohn Potterton, CMP, director of sales for the Summit Executive Centre in Chicago, explains that once the planner is connected to the program and the ideas the host organization is trying to achieve, it’s time to start talking to partners.\r\n\r\n“It is the planners’ role to say [to <a href=\"https://strategic.events/fostering-great-supplier-relationships/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">supplier partners</a>], ‘I need to tell you what we’re all about. I’m telling you this because I want you to understand what we’re trying to do and I want you to be a partner,’” said Potterton, an MPI Chicago Area Chapter member.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Team up with trainers.</strong></span> Planners must consider the expectations of the meeting sponsor and the attendee when selecting trainers.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2273 size-medium\" title=\"Planners must understand learning objectives and partner with suppliers to create successful and effective training meetings. Whether it’s a three-hour program or a three-day event, training meetings stem from a specific need. Learning new skills, achieving certifications, understanding new programs or learning curve\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/JBW2PXDOL6-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Planners must understand learning objectives and partner with suppliers to create successful and effective training meetings. Whether it’s a three-hour program or a three-day event, training meetings stem from a specific need. Learning new skills, achieving certifications, understanding new programs or learning curve\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />“Good trainers have to be ready to shift the focus and pace depending on the group,” said Hilliard, a longtime MPI member. “The flexibility of the trainer is key. Trainers also have to have an extremely good rapport with people. You need people to feel comfortable enough to ask questions and discuss.”\r\n\r\nWhat are trainers looking for from planners?\r\n\r\n“My ideal planner relationship is with someone who is open to suggestions,” Eisenstodt said. “Let’s sit down and talk. I hope they’ll be open to me and my ideas and willing to go to bat for the audience, the objectives and the outcome.”\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Create the right environment.</strong></span> Many planners believe that conference centers are getting it right. What are they doing differently and what can savvy hoteliers and other facility managers do better?\r\n\r\nBecause the facilities are generally designed with learning in mind, they offer a different level of comfort and service. In particular, the International Association of Conference Centers’ (IACC) stringent guidelines ensure that any IACC-approved facilities will be effective learning environments.\r\n\r\n“I don’t want to attack hotels because we all depend on them,” Hilliard said. “But hotels have traditionally only looked at square footage. For training meetings, it takes more than adequate space. Hotels are good places, and I keep hoping that they will eventually catch on to what conference centers already understand and focus on the learner.”\r\n\r\nOf course, conference centers aren’t always available to all groups. How can planners find facilities that are accommodating to the special needs of training meetings?\r\n\r\n“Ask <a href=\"https://strategic.events/asking-strategic-questions-cvb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">questions</a> and you’ll find out quickly if there’s any interest on the part of the venue,” Potterton advised. “Tell them about the program, what you want to accomplish and that you want to make them a partner. Ask if you can sit down and talk about how to work together to make this experience successful.”\r\n\r\nThe hotels that are focused on educational meetings offer tools in the form of props, configurations and staff to help planners meet their training goals.\r\n\r\n“We’re in a position to observe successes and failures, and we should share those,” said Keith A. Sexton-Patrick, CMP, director of convention services/destination services at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. “Of course we want [planners] to come back, but we also want them to be successful.”\r\n\r\nSexton-Patrick and his team know their property well and help planners select the space that will best meet their needs. They know which rooms are quietest and understand all of the elements that can impact learning.\r\n\r\nBeyond the facility, multiple factors contribute to a positive learning environment. Room setup, lighting, sound and furniture are all crucial. By teaming with trainers and venues, planners have a better chance of minimizing their risk and maximizing their training’s effectiveness.\r\n\r\n“The ultimate goal is to create a positive environment where people are open to learning,” Hilliard said.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Understand adult learning.</strong></span> Shelves of books have been published on the topic of adult learnings, but for the purpose of this article, there are a few important concepts to remember when planning a training event.\r\n\r\nAdults learn in different ways, so it is important that the program, the trainer and the environment offer enough variety so that all learning styles are considered and the majority of attendees will learn effectively.\r\n\r\n“If the trainer only trains in one way, they’ll probably only reach a portion of the audience,” Hilliard said. “Information has to be presented in a variety of ways so that everyone can get it.”\r\n\r\nCufaude explains that adult learners tend to want to incorporate their experience into the learning conversation.\r\n\r\n“They have a context that they want to bring into the <a href=\"https://strategic.events/content-master/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">content</a>,” he said. “They’re often trying to make a connection between what the speaker is saying and their personal experiences. Even for adult learners who are more conceptual—they need to see the relevance of the subject matter.”\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Incorporate interactivity into training.</strong></span> Beyond making connections, learners need opportunity to apply, interact with and test the material.\r\n\r\nCufaude offers the example of a typical training session where attendees are talked at. Although they are experiencing the information, they’re not given the opportunity to apply it. Adding an interactive period creates the laboratory for attendees to test what they’ve learned and enables them to replicate ideas in practical, applicable situations.\r\n\r\nInteractivity is also an easy, productive way to break up monotony and avoid boredom.\r\n\r\n“Learning should be fun,” said Bonnie Wallsh, CMP, CMM, chief strategist of Charlotte, N.C.-based Bonnie Wallsh Associates LLC. “It shouldn’t be punishment.”\r\n\r\nWallsh, a meetings management professional, trainer and an MPI Carolinas Chapter member, also stresses the value of peer interaction and problem solving. Interactive group work allows attendees to discuss applications with their peers. She says attendees can often learn as much from each other as they can from the instructor.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Create a flexible—and manageable—schedule.</strong></span> Cufaude says it is a mistake for people to underestimate the implications of schedule times. Just as it’s difficult to book space without knowing the objectives or agenda, it’s a bad idea to plan an agenda before really thinking about learning objectives and working with the trainer on content and programming, he adds.\r\n\r\n“I think about it in terms of how much time is needed to meet these objectives,” Cufaude said. “If you’ve got rigid time blocks, what’s the best content to fit into that. Or, based on content, what timing is best?”\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2275 size-medium\" title=\"Planners must understand learning objectives and partner with suppliers to create successful and effective training meetings. Whether it’s a three-hour program or a three-day event, training meetings stem from a specific need. Learning new skills, achieving certifications, understanding new programs or learning curve\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PRQVLFBST1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"Planners must understand learning objectives and partner with suppliers to create successful and effective training meetings. Whether it’s a three-hour program or a three-day event, training meetings stem from a specific need. Learning new skills, achieving certifications, understanding new programs or learning curve\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" />Even when the scheduling has been decided, it’s important to keep the program as fluid and flexible as possible\r\n\r\n“It’s hard to decide ahead of time when a group should break,” Wallsh said. “It depends on the flow and the group. Hotels usually want a specific time, but I need more flexibility. One of the things I love about conference centers is that I can break when attendees need it.” Joan Buck, CMP, CMM, president of eMeetingExperts, reminds planners to consider something else when scheduling training events: information overload.\r\n\r\n“It’s important to find a balance between training and free time,” said Buck, an MPI Chicago Area Chapter member. “I like to get my groups off the property, perhaps for a dine-around. Clients often want evening study sessions. This is good in theory, but attendees don’t feel like they have any time to themselves.”\r\n\r\nChristy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM, president and chief strategist for <a href=\"https://strategic.events/key-strategic-poe/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Strategic</a> Meetings &amp; Events, says planners should schedule plenty of breaks and not assume that having eight hours in the day equates to eight hours of learning.\r\n\r\n“People can only absorb so much, so if the sessions continue, you not only lose the audience’s attention, but also their respect and enthusiasm for the program,” Lamagna said.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Food for thought.</strong></span> Keeping attendees well-fed sounds easy, but it doesn’t always happen.\r\n\r\n“Healthy refreshment breaks are important,” Wallsh said. “They get attendees energized and allow them to keep learning.”\r\n\r\nThe key is to move away from the old ways of feeding attendees and consider nutrition and brain function.\r\n\r\n“We know better,” Cufaude said. “What are [we] feeding people? How do we sustain them better? We’re not doing what we know is right from a nutritional standpoint.”\r\n\r\nMany planners appreciate the healthier mix of options and all-day availability at conference centers. All sides should consider more healthful options, less sugar and smaller portions. Venues can offer healthier choices and planners should request them. Sexton-Patrick, Mohegan Sun’s events services manager, asks planners what activities are scheduled and helps create an optimal menu based on those activities.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Evaluate evaluations.</strong></span> Evaluations are vital for determining the success of a training event. It’s most important, Carpender says, to design the evaluation to measure stated objectives. Start by including those objectives on the assessment. This is an often overlooked but easy step toward more useful evaluation data.\r\n\r\n“We often ask the same questions,” Cufaude added. “This would be OK if we were asking the right questions. Usually, the questions have more to do with satisfaction rather than learning. A good question might be, ‘What percentage of this content will you be able to do something with?’ You should be evaluating what you’re trying to accomplish.”\r\n\r\nAnother important objective to consider: Is the training applied after the event? Lamagna suggests a follow-up survey several months after the event to assess how well the training went and how well it ‘stuck’ so planners can adjust courses at future programs.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Consider the training’s ROI.</strong></span> If you’re going to spend any money or effort on training, you need to measure it, says Jamie McDonough, director of meeting and training services for Fusion Productions and an MPI Western New York Chapter member.\r\n\r\n“There is no sense in doing it if there is no outcome,” he said. “There is a lot of mandatory training happening, but it’s lip service unless you can say the training is actually applied.”\r\n\r\nDon’t be intimidated by the thought of looking for hard-dollar return on training investment. By definition, training is about teaching. If attendees learned the skill or program then the event was successful. The trick is to show measured success to the people who matter. By developing objectives at the beginning of the planning process, planners identify what will make that training event a success and make it easier to measure in the end.\r\n\r\n“If you do the due diligence and report back, you’ll earn respect,” McDonough said. “All of the sudden you’ve elevated your role.”\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Sidebar: Training’s Best Practices</strong></span>\r\n\r\nResearch important training topics such as learning styles, generational and cultural differences, positive learning environments and nutrition. This knowledge will be useful in future projects.\r\n\r\nBe an attendee in order to understand what attendees are experiencing and how to meet their needs.\r\n\r\nPowerPoint should be a supplement—not the entire program. Otherwise, why hire a trainer?\r\n\r\nMix attendees with different learning styles and ages. They’ll learn from each other and be more productive in the changing professional environment.\r\n\r\nPlanners should know what the trainers know. If planners don’t have a basic understanding of what goes on, they can’t plan a good training program.\r\n\r\nAvoid meals in ballrooms or meeting rooms. Dedicated dining rooms or restaurants break up the day, get attendees out of the meeting rooms and give them a breath of fresh air.\r\n\r\nDon’t waste people’s time. Before asking them to travel or spend days in training, make sure it is the best method for meeting objectives.\r\n\r\nOffer small rewards such as $5 gift cards for instant recognition. Trainers can use these to get <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planners-face-challenge-rising-attendance-costs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">attendees</a> involved and keep them motivated.\r\n\r\nRespect attendee needs. Allow longer breaks for checking e-mail, making phone call and keeping in touch with the home and home office.\r\n\r\nGive them the time they need to take care of themselves and they’ll reward you with more commitment and attention.\r\n\r\nKeep things easy, organized and distraction-free. Have materials set before they arrive in the room to avoid class disruptions.\r\n\r\nTry a motivating speech rather than a motivational speaker. Training attendees are motivated by those with experience in the same field, such as their peers and their leaders. Give them experience they can use.\r\n\r\nMake ground transport and food seamless—that’s what people remember.\r\n\r\nUtilize local resources. Many towns have colleges. Tap those schools for expertise on your subject. Doctoral students and professors are often affordable and well qualified.\r\n\r\nDon’t be afraid to ask questions. This gives you the ability to ask better questions of and work more efficiently with the trainer. Never make assumptions. Listen to responses.\r\n\r\nReward training completion, and schedule refresher courses or follow-up questions. Training is not a magic bullet process; to schedule a class and assume folks “get it” is foolish.\r\n\r\nShare training objectives with attendees before, during and after the meeting. They need to know what they need to know.\r\n\r\nTry giving trainers a list or menu of what’s available at the facility rather than asking for their requirements and matching it to the facility’s offerings. Perhaps the facility has great amenities the trainer can utilize that he or she hadn’t considered.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Learning Curve, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Meeting Professionals International, MPI</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.mpiweb.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1352 size-full\" title=\"MPI Logo\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/MPI-logo.jpg\" alt=\"MPI logo\" width=\"170\" height=\"110\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Learning Curve','','publish','open','open','','learning-curve','','','2018-01-22 19:40:33','2018-01-22 19:40:33','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=512',0,'post','',0),(514,1,'2016-04-11 19:05:49','2016-04-11 19:05:49','<h2>Payment Pains</h2>\r\n<h3>By Rayna Katz</h3>\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Payment Pains | Independent planners recoil at Marriott\'s latest commission move</strong></span>\r\n\r\nIndependent planners already up in arms over Marriott\'s new commission related policy, introduced late last year, are now irate over a commission related clause in the company\'s standard meeting contracts that could mean monetary losses for third-party buyers.\r\n\r\nMany buyers have railed against Marriott\'s new procedures on industry listservs; on Meetings Radio, an Internet radio program; in letters to MeetingNews; and in calls to Marriott. In spite of the outcry, the hotelier is calling the program a success.\r\n\r\nLast fall, Marriott announced that, effective June 1, independent planners must be registered with the International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN) to collect their commission payment on business brought to a Marriott, JW Marriott, Renaissance, or limited-service property of the company.\r\n\r\nAt press time, it was undetermined whether Ritz-Carlton will also implement this program; a Marriott spokesperson said no firm timetable is set for a decision on the luxury brand\'s participation.\r\n\r\nIn return for getting the IATAN certification, Marriott promised planners consolidated commission payments and a quicker cutting of checks (see MN, Nov. 27, 2006).\r\n\r\nFollowing the announcement, some planners called for a Marriott boycott, while others went out and got IATAN certification. Then, meeting contracts with the following clause began arriving on planners\' desks: \"The hotel reserves the right to deduct from any future commissions payable to [the planning company] for other events any commission paid in connection with this event, if the master bill is not paid within six months after the conclusion of the event.\"\r\n\r\nFor some third-party meeting managers, that was the last straw.\r\n\r\n\"I was a supporter of the IATAN requirement because industry certification is a good thing, but Marriott blew it with this clause,\" said Christy Lamagna of Strategic Meetings and Events, in Bernardsville, NJ. \"Enough is enough.\"\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2595 size-medium\" title=\"Independent planners already up in arms over Marriott\'s new commission related policy, introduced late last year, are now irate over a commission related clause in the company\'s standard meeting contracts that could mean monetary losses for third-party buyers. Read Payment Pains and learn more.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/C26E1DKA02-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Independent planners already up in arms over Marriott\'s new commission related policy, introduced late last year, are now irate over a commission related clause in the company\'s standard meeting contracts that could mean monetary losses for third-party buyers. Read Payment Pains and learn more.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />Marriott officials defended and downplayed, the contract clause.\r\n\r\n\"Our average speed of payment on commissions had been 90 to 120 days because our hotels were withholding them until master accounts were settled,\" said Stacie Canova, director, intermediary partners. \"So for us to provide consistent payment, we needed to find a way to make payments even when the master bill wasn\'t settled. We don\'t anticipate ever needing to enforce this clause.\"\r\n\r\nAdded Julius Robinson, vice president of sales intermediaries, \"In no way is this meant to take commission away from third parties. I\'m sure there will be a process to review these situations on a case-by-case basis.\"\r\n\r\nMarriott officials were motivated to add this clause to the company\'s meeting agreements, in part, as a way to get independents to nudge deadbeat clients, they said.\r\n\r\nBut Lamagna countered, \"And at what point did I become an unpaid collection agent for Marriott? Fabulous; where do I get my certification for that?\"\r\n\r\nAdded Steve Collins, owner of Resort Meeting Source, in Breckenridge, CO, \"First, they instituted this program to save money and now we\'re supposed to help them chase their customers? What are the Marriott accountants doing these days?\"\r\n\r\nStill, Canova insisted that most customers have responded positively to the IATAN requirement.\r\n\r\n\"Many third parties requested this; we\'re actually receiving accolades,\" she said. Among fans of the move is David Bruce, managing director of CMP Meeting Services, in Southlake, TX.\r\n\r\n\"It has made my life a lot easier already, from the standpoint of not having to contact hotels repeatedly to ask when, and if, I\'m going to be paid,\" he said. \"I am pushing for other chains to follow suit.\"\r\n\r\nAnd they may do just that.\r\n\r\nSaid Fred Shea, vice president of sales at Hyatt Hotels, \"We are looking at what Marriott is doing very closely to determine the positive and negative impacts.\"\r\n\r\nA Hilton Hotels spokesperson said the company does not require IATAN certification of meeting planners currently but noted, \"We\'re studying the commission process.\"\r\n\r\nStarwood Hotels is watching the Marriott program with interest but likely is not going to copy the latter company\'s controversial contract verbiage.\r\n\r\n\"We won\'t pay the commission until the master is fully paid,\" said David Scypinski, senior vice president of industry relations. \"Marriott\'s asking for trouble.\"\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Payment Pains, Payment, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Meeting News</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingstoday.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1400 size-full\" title=\"Meeting News\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Meeting-News_170_w.jpg\" alt=\"Meeting News\" width=\"170\" height=\"42\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Payment Pains','','publish','open','open','','payment-pains','','','2018-01-22 19:51:07','2018-01-22 19:51:07','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=514',0,'post','',0),(516,1,'2016-04-11 19:24:03','2016-04-11 19:24:03','<h2>Decorating On a Budget - Creative Ideas for Memorable Decor</h2>\r\n<h3>By Nancy Mann Jackson</h3>\r\nThe room\'s decor can set the mood for your meeting or event - and it can also take a chunk of your budget. According to Art of the Event: Complete Guide to Designing and Decorating Special Events by James Monroe, <a href=\"https://strategic.events/pottery-barn-factor/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">raw materials for decorating</a> are generally marked up between 50 percent and 100 percent, and labor sometimes includes a 300 percent markup. While outsourcing decorating duty is often a good idea, \"most decorating firms cover the cost of designing and coordinating a project with a design fee that can vary from 5 percent to 15 percent of the total job cost,\" Monroe writes. Because decorating fees can add up quickly, some planners on a tight budget opt to handle their own decorations.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2045\" title=\"The room\'s decor can set the mood for your meeting or event and it can also take a chunk of your budget. Because decorating fees can add up quickly, some planners on a tight budget opt to handle their own decorations. Here, a few experienced planners share some ideas for memorable décor while decorating on a budget.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/EM587230KI-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"The room\'s decor can set the mood for your meeting or event and it can also take a chunk of your budget. Because decorating fees can add up quickly, some planners on a tight budget opt to handle their own decorations. Here, a few experienced planners share some ideas for memorable décor while decorating on a budget.\" width=\"447\" height=\"298\" />Often, their own creative <a href=\"https://strategic.events/beware-shrimp-boat-look-wow/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">decorating ideas</a>, incorporating products found in bulk on eBay or at Goodwill, have made a big hit with attendees. \"A motorcycle-themed event done in tandem with Harley Davidson\'s 100th Anniversary Celebration had us using unbranded memorable decor items, but integrating the orange and black themes with linens,\" said Gloria Nelson, chief experience officer for Gloria Nelson Event Design. \"Thirty-two pairs of black boots were filled with two orange gerbera daisies and one tiger lily, all tucked neatly into water-filled tubes with ming and tree fern. Six pairs actually walked out the door with the guests!\"\r\n\r\nHere, a few experienced planners share some of their <strong>favorite ideas for memorable decor</strong> without a high price tag.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Centerpieces</strong></span>\r\n\"I am a great believer in edible <a href=\"https://strategic.events/bright-ideas-create-centerpieces/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">centerpieces</a>; big baskets of a variety of breads is my favorite,\" said Patti Shock, professor and chair of the Tourism and Convention Administration Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas\' Harrah College of Hotel Administration. \"You are going to serve bread anyway. Include breadsticks, lavosh, yeast rolls, sourdough, and others. Other ideas include a lazy susan with appetizers such as olives, pickles, stuffed celery, peppers, and salami; for a picnic, jars of pickles and condiments in unique containers; vegetable bouquets; or big lollipops.\" Start with the event\'s theme. \"We have used goldfish in clear plastic or glass bowls; magicians\' top hats stuffed with tissue paper and filled with decks of cards, a magic wand; sandpails and shovels with shells, starfish, and a net in the center,\" said Christy Lamagna, CMP, owner and chief strategist of Strategic Meetings and Events. \"We\'ve also used clean, empty paint cans filled with paintbrushes and paint stirrers with the organization\'s logo on the can and paint splatters on the labels for color. We simply printed labels for the cans ourselves.\"\r\n\r\nFinally, consider piggybacking on the group that will be using the room before you. \"If you can find out who is the group before you, reach out to their event manager and offer to buy their used centerpieces,\" Lamagna said.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Lighting</strong></span>\r\nWhen it comes to creating atmosphere in a room, \"lights can change the mood,\" Shock said. Choices include Tivoli lights, the \"little twinklers\" that are often strung in trees, strobe lights, and beacon lights, among others adding memorable decor, she said.\r\n\r\n\"Par cans and lekos are going to be the least expensive and provide different elements because of the different applications,\" Nelson added. \"To brand an event, the metal or glass integration of a Gobo light should be considered. This is particularly important if sponsors need recognition and can also be projected around the room or flashed on a backdrop. Lighting can also be used with a gobo pattern wash of almost anything, uplighting walls to give an effect to the room that is in keeping with a theme. If you\'re doing a jungle motif, for instance, consider using patterns and shapes that project ferns.\"\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Sound</strong></span>\r\nWhile not typically considered \"decoration,\" incorporating sound into the room can help create the atmosphere you want at very little expense. \"A room without sound is dead space,\" Shock said. \"A tropical event could have birds chirping or a seafood buffet can have foghorns blowing intermittently. I once attended a Mardi Gras banquet where New Orleans jazz was being played; everyone danced into the room.\"\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Backdrops</strong></span>\r\nA simple backdrop can make a powerful difference at your event, especially when staging is required. \"Pipe and drape is typically inexpensive on a linear foot basis and available in various colors,\" Nelson said. \"Add some flame retardant fabric such as a chic pongee, that is swagged once or twice across the front of the stage, and pop a couple of par can lights, typically found in-house at major hotels and convention sites, add some greens and columns with floral and your stage is simply and elegantly set. Using bulk fabric available from wholesalers can transition a stage from blah to bravo.\"\r\n\r\nOne of Nelson\'s clients wanted a Tour de France-themed event complete with races and leader shirts in yellow, green, and white with red polka dots. \"The first two fabrics posed no <a href=\"https://strategic.events/fix-problem-must-first-understand/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">problem</a>, but the third was only available wholesale,\" she said. \"I contacted the linen company, they cut 132-inch rounds that were draped and custom pinned over the backdrop, and dinner napkins. The attendees liked the polka dot napkins so much, many were wearing them out the door on their heads,\" Nelson said, adding they were returned when the client realized their cost.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Novelties</strong></span>\r\nFor additional atmosphere, Nelson suggests branding the side of a Lightcube for signature drinks, noting, \"Anything that glows in the dark adds pop to a room.\" Lamagna has wrapped boxes and coffee cans in event-themed paper or white paper with thematic wording printed on clear labels and stacked them to make attractive centerpieces that reinforce the <a href=\"https://strategic.events/first-step-planning-process/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meeting\'s message</a>.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Decorating On a Budget, Decorating, Memorable Decor, Decorating Events, Event Planning, Strategic Events, Strategic Planners, Event Planners, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Professional Convention Management Association, PCMA\r\n</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.pcma.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1356 size-full\" title=\"PCMA\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/PCMA-Hi-Res-logo-e1469121394722.jpg\" alt=\"PCMA Hi-Res-logo\" width=\"101\" height=\"90\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Decorating On a Budget - Creative Ideas for Memorable Decor','','publish','open','open','','decorating-budget-creative-ideas-memorable-decor','','','2018-01-22 19:48:10','2018-01-22 19:48:10','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=516',0,'post','',0),(518,1,'2016-04-11 19:31:28','2016-04-11 19:31:28','<h2>The Art of the Small Meeting</h2>\r\nIt’s not the size of the meeting that counts. It is how much gets accomplished before the laptops are shut down, the coffee cups are cleared and the room is reset for the next group. The truth is that a 12-person board meeting can be just as critical to a company’s future as a 500-person sales conference, if not more so. But there’s a fine art to making sure your small meeting gets the attention it deserves when there are bigger, more lucrative groups in house.\r\n\r\nThere are probably few things more frustrating to a planner than having a group bumped or “walked” in favor of a larger piece of business. But the economic reality is that larger groups are more profitable to a hotel’s bottom line. Dianne F. Filip, director of meetings/corporate travel for Oakbrook Terrace, IL based DeVry Inc. has discovered that having a small meeting bumped during the negotiation process can actually be a blessing in disguise.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2292\" title=\"It’s not the size of the meeting that counts. It is how much gets accomplished before the laptops are shut down, the coffee cups are cleared and the room is reset for the next group. Read on to learn, The Art of the Small Meeting and how to maximize the square feet of meeting space of an indoor and outdoor function\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/FSU5SG0X4U-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"It’s not the size of the meeting that counts. It is how much gets accomplished before the laptops are shut down, the coffee cups are cleared and the room is reset for the next group. Read on to learn, The Art of the Small Meeting and how to maximize the square feet of meeting space of an indoor and outdoor function\" width=\"443\" height=\"295\" />“Fortunately, in my 25 years of experience in meeting planning, I have never had a small meeting get bumped in favor of a larger group after my meeting was contracted,” she explained. “However, I have been bumped during the preliminary stages during negotiations and having space on hold, unfortunately, more than once. The excuses were poor and communications vague, inferring internal errors in the catering books and apologies for the confusion that they never really had the space available. Not being born yesterday, it was clear that larger, more profitable group had come to the plate.\r\n\r\n“I was truthfully thankful to have been bumped when I was,” she continued, “because the odds were high that these properties would not have given my smaller groups the <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-supplies-inventory/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">onsite</a> service and attention that they need and deserve.”\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Contracts Count</strong></span>\r\n\r\nJennifer Filipowski, vice president of marketing for InterAct Public Safety Systems in WinstonSalem, NC, has been planning meetings for 20 years. “The most important thing I have learned,” she said, “is the importance of good contract negotiation.\r\n\r\n“Once the contract is signed, the hotel only has the obligation to provide what is down on paper,” she explained. “If the room you want for your meeting is the only room you will be happy with, make sure that any clause indicating that they can move you is removed. Also, add clauses that require the hotel to provide specific compensation should they move you. Some ideas include free parking for all attendees or free food and beverage. Make it as painful as possible for them to make that decision.”\r\n\r\n“Hey, it happens,” said Phelps Hope, vice president of meetings and expositions for Kellen Meetings in Atlanta, on the subject of getting bumped. “First of all, my programs are covered in the contract for this type of situation. I know that it is well worth the hotel’s bottom line to walk my group, so I will take advantage of that (within reason and ethical boundaries) to help gain some extra benefits for my group. Whether it is a hosted cocktail party, a few extra upgrades to suites, gift certificates for future stays, or a discount off the food and beverage, I do my best to make sure the move has a good enough windfall that it protects the reputation of my client contact, as well as ensures a great meetings experience for the attendees.”\r\n\r\nSometimes, the hotel is simply placed between the proverbial rock and a hard place in its efforts to meet both groups’ needs. Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM, chief strategist of Strategic Meetings and Events in Bernardsville, NJ, described a situation where timing was everything.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Scrambling For Space</strong></span>\r\n\r\n“I was at a hotel where a larger company was hosting a meeting just prior to our meeting, and they decided they simply weren’t leaving on the day they were scheduled, forcing our meeting to scramble for new space. The hotel was not willing to confront the offending group as they were so large. We had the hotel move us to their restaurant on the top floor which had views of San Francisco, waive the rental fee and have the offending group pay for our beverage bill for the meeting, as it was a beverage company who commandeered the space.”\r\n\r\nLamagna described another situation where she had a hotel cancel her contract in favor of a larger piece of business. The hotel simply decided it would rather pay the damages outlined in the contract for canceling. “It was a real surprise to find out they were willing to damage their relationship with us and pay all this money simply for a ‘better piece of business,’” she explained. “We had the hotel move us to the convention center and pay for all the space, any ‘up charges’ that resulted in the difference in pricing, tickets for a new site visit and a free cocktail reception.”\r\n\r\nLamagna offered this caution. “Any contract can be ignored, it’s just a matter of then being willing to go to court to either enforce it or seek damages from the cancellation. What most folks don’t realize is that if the position of ‘sue me’ is taken, then that is often the only alternative.”\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2293\" title=\"It’s not the size of the meeting that counts. It is how much gets accomplished before the laptops are shut down, the coffee cups are cleared and the room is reset for the next group. Read on to learn, The Art of the Small Meeting and how to maximize the square feet of meeting space of an indoor and outdoor function\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/FF93I0N2C1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"It’s not the size of the meeting that counts. It is how much gets accomplished before the laptops are shut down, the coffee cups are cleared and the room is reset for the next group. Read on to learn, The Art of the Small Meeting and how to maximize the square feet of meeting space of an indoor and outdoor function\" width=\"423\" height=\"280\" />She gave an example. “I had a hotel do this to me with rooms for the Super Bowl, in that they signed an ironclad contract, gave me the space, and then simply resold it and told me to sue them, so that’s what I did. They’ll lose in court, but by the time we settle, the Super Bowl will be over.”\r\n\r\nFor Filip, communication is the key. “You need to remind the property that they had an obligation to service your business. See that they come through with the concessions you put in place as your insurance. In addition, have a conversation with the general manager and ask that they acknowledge in writing their failure to meet what both parties agreed upon. Request a letter of apology to be sent directly to the main contact for the meeting.”\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Commanding Attention</strong></span>\r\n\r\nEven if the meeting doesn’t get bumped, it’s only natural for planners to want to make sure that their 25 or 50 person meeting will get the same level of attention as that 500 person group meeting in the ballroom across the hall.\r\n\r\nFilip described how a planner’s own attitude plays an important role in the meeting’s outcome. “Small meetings are not any less important than larger meetings. If you have a respect for their importance, you will communicate that respect naturally and help to ensure the focus on service.” Hope explained his strategy. “I make sure I am assigned the correct person within the hotel who is geared to manage the smaller meetings. This is most probably an executive meetings manager or someone with a similar title. I ‘enroll’ them into helping me make this program a success. Then I make sure I am communicating often and effectively, that I am in tune with what is going on with the hotel at the time, and that my program becomes the ‘squeaky wheel’ that will get the attention. If I have to, I make sure I connect with a senior manager to help with keeping an eye on my program.”\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Starting With The Right Choice</strong></span>\r\n\r\nWhile there probably always will be some hotels that give smaller meetings second-class treatment, there are many others that actively court and cater to the small meetings market. Limiting the search to hotels that demonstrate they have the people, programs and services in place to handle small meetings may very well be a planner’s best strategy to ensure small meeting success.\r\n\r\nThe Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North has a separate sales manager dedicated to handling meetings needing fewer than 15 rooms per night. Meetings advantage manager Jim Kollenda serves as a one-stop resource for planners. He oversees every step of the process, from the booking and planning stages of small meetings, right through their onsite facilitation. Set in the scenic foothills of Arizona’s Sonoran desert, the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale offers 210 Southwestern-themed casita-style rooms and suites along with 36,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor function space.\r\n\r\nDave Bonti, general manager for the California division of the screening products company The Western Group booked his small meeting for approximately 20 guests into the Marriott Grand Residence Club in South Lake Tahoe, CA. It was a gathering that included company owners, general managers and their spouses.\r\n\r\n“The Marriott Grand Residence Club was the easiest one to work with,” he explained. “The location was fabulous. If you’re there during the winter, you’re right there at Heavenly, which is a major ski resort. If you’re there in the spring and summer, you’re there for water sports. It’s a couple of blocks off the lake, close to the casinos and there are plenty of places to eat close to the Marriott.”\r\n\r\nThe facility’s 199 residences range from 360 square-foot studios to 2,496 square-foot penthouses and offers Wi-Fi accessibility. For meetings, there is a boardroom that accommodates 14. “Everything was super,” Bonti explained. “I would go back in a second.”\r\n\r\nAuberge Resorts will open a new 89-room property this July called Solage Calistoga in California’s Napa Valley. With a style described as “San Francisco loft meets Napa Valley barn,” the contemporary resort will feature studio-style accommodations and 16,200 square feet of flexible indoor and outdoor function space. This space includes Solstice, a unique 3,500 square-foot barn-like venue with 25-foot ceilings and polished cement floors. The resort also will feature a casual bistro and Spa Solage will put a creative spin on the area’s mud bath traditions. Complimentary “cruiser” bikes also will be available for guests to borrow when they want to take a tour of the property.\r\n\r\nThe new Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort offers 272 studio accommodations and one, two and three bedroom suites. It also features 10,000 square feet of indoor meeting space and a 22,700 square-foot sixth-floor poolside terrace overlooking the Atlantic.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Small Meeting Incentives</strong></span>\r\n\r\nTo cater to small meetings, the resort is offering a Complete Incentive Package throughout 2007 for groups up to 80 guests. The package, which requires a three-night minimum stay, includes an oceanview suite, one spa treatment per person, daily breakfast, welcome and farewell receptions, ocean/beach sports activities and other amenities.\r\n\r\nThe 637-room Harbor Beach Marriott Resort &amp; Spa, also located in Fort Lauderdale, has a management team dedicated to small meetings of 50 or fewer attendees. The team is responsible for every detail, from the contract stage through departure of the last guest, to ensure that small meetings get the attention they deserve. In addition to 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor function space, the resort features a 20,000 square-foot spa.\r\n<p class=\"alignnone\" title=\"It’s not the size of the meeting that counts. It is how much gets accomplished before the laptops are shut down, the coffee cups are used in a small meeting\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2295\" title=\"It’s not the size of the meeting that counts. It is how much gets accomplished before the laptops are shut down, the coffee cups are cleared and the room is reset for the next group. Read on to learn, The Art of the Small Meeting and how to maximize the square feet of meeting space of an indoor and outdoor function\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/XPABV05EQ9-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"It’s not the size of the meeting that counts. It is how much gets accomplished before the laptops are shut down, the coffee cups are cleared and the room is reset for the next group. Read on to learn, The Art of the Small Meeting and how to maximize the square feet of meeting space of an indoor and outdoor function\" width=\"317\" height=\"238\" />In Illinois, The Westin Chicago River North occupies a location that’s convenient to the city’s business, theater, restaurant and shopping districts. It features 424 guest rooms and 28,000 square feet of meeting space along with special services designed to meet the needs of small groups. The hotel has a dedicated catering sales manager who focuses strictly on meetings with 35 or fewer attendees and a convention services manager who handles small group meetings booking up to 100 rooms. The hotel also offers special menus for smaller events.</p>\r\nThe 224-room Ocean Edge Resort &amp; Club, Cape Cod, MA, has a dedicated executive meeting manager (EMM) who only handles meetings of 10 to 15 people. The EMM takes care of every detail from arranging meeting rooms, ground transportation and group activities to audiovisual equipment and business services.\r\n\r\nSmall meetings of 10 to 40 attendees can also be held in the historic Nickerson Mansion at the Ocean Edge. The mansion’s former bedrooms have been converted into meeting rooms and some offer terraces overlooking Cape Cod Bay.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Small Fish, Big Pond</strong></span>\r\n\r\nCindy Tanley, special projects and marketing manager for Lithographics Inc. in Nashville, TN, has found that it’s not the size of the hotel that matters — it’s the hotel’s commitment to serving the needs of small groups that really counts.\r\n\r\nTanley serves as the chair of a software user group. For the second time, her CRC User Group chose the 2,881 room Gaylord Opryland Resort &amp; Convention Center in Nashville as the site of a meeting for 56 attendees from across the U.S.. Given the fact that this massive hotel is spread across a nine acre climate-controlled atrium and features a whopping 600,000 square feet of meeting space and 85 breakout rooms, you’d think a small meeting group might get lost, but that wasn’t the case.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Hotel Within A Hotel</strong></span>\r\n\r\nTo accommodate small meeting(s), the Gaylord Opryland offers a “hotel within a hotel” concept whereby the group’s guest rooms and meeting rooms are all kept in close proximity. “It was absolutely wonderful,” Tanley explained. “They had the meeting rooms absolutely perfect and they’re there 24/7 if you need anything. They have it down to a science.”\r\n\r\nTanley explained that prior to her meeting, a large, well-known corporation held a meeting in the same location. “I felt we were just as important. They paid special attention to us just like they would the larger company. I didn’t feel like we got lost at all.”\r\n\r\nShe took advantage of the hotel’s communications capabilities to keep her group informed of the meeting details. “I just called the desk and asked them to give the same message to everyone in the CRC User Group,” she explained. The hotel made sure her guests all received the same message when they checked in and she was able to send blanket voice mail messages to their guest rooms to keep them updated.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Online Tool</strong></span>\r\n\r\nStarwood makes it easy to book small meetings online through its “Starwood Meetings in a Moment” feature on its Web site. This online tool allows planners to search for available meeting space for up to 50 participants and order food, beverage and audio-visual needs at the same time. A contact from the chosen hotel will then follow up to finalize any remaining details.\r\n\r\nPlanners booking small meetings may also want to consider the conference center route. Aramark Harrison Lodging offers a choice of more than 50 conference centers, corporate training centers and specialty hotels throughout North America. Aramark simplifies the process of planning small meetings by offering Complete Meeting Package (CMP) pricing that includes a single, per-day rate for accommodations, meals, breaks and audio-visual equipment.\r\n\r\nTwo other notable conference center companies, Benchmark Hospitality International, which manages 31 resorts, hotels and conference centers in locations throughout the United States and Asia, and Dolce International, with a collection of 23 properties in the United States, Canada and Europe, both accommodate small meeting(s) and offer Complete Meeting Packages.\r\n\r\n“Do not let the size of the meeting make you complacent about its importance,” Hope summed up. “Some small meeting(s) carry a much bigger impact in the future revenues for the hotel, future revenues for my company, or individual career benefits for the planner. Small meetings give you the opportunity to be a little more creative with the program if it helps to achieve the goals and objectives of the meeting. Remember, size does matter when it comes to meetings, in that any size small meeting or not is important.”\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: The Art of the Small Meeting, Small Meeting, Event Planning, Strategic Events, Strategic Planners, Event Planners, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Corporate &amp; Incentive Travel</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.themeetingmagazines.com/corporate-incentive-travel/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1842 size-full\" title=\"Corporate &amp; Incentive Travel\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/corporate_incentive_170.jpg\" alt=\"Corporate &amp; Incentive Travel\" width=\"170\" height=\"55\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','The Art of the Small Meeting','','publish','open','open','','art-small-meeting','','','2018-01-22 18:42:57','2018-01-22 18:42:57','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=518',0,'post','',0),(520,1,'2016-04-11 19:46:28','2016-04-11 19:46:28','<h2>Finding the Right Fit</h2>\r\n<h3>By Tony Bartlett</h3>\r\nIn determining what type of hotel works best for a small group, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Finding the right fit for a property is a matter of qualifying your client, with size just one factor to consider.\r\n\r\nChristy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, president of <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-event-planning-profession/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Strategic</a> Meetings and Events, a meeting planning firm with offices in New York and San Francisco, says her clients are all over the map when it comes to the size of the hotels they prefer for small meetings.\r\n\r\nFor example, the company has a client in the medical supply field that likes to feel big and important. For its 180-person events, the client prefers properties where it’s the largest group in house. The largest property it has booked is the 490-room Green Valley Ranch Resort &amp; Spa in Las Vegas.\r\n\r\n“I have other clients with small meetings who must have a large place with all the amenities, a place that’s larger than life,” she says. “They want to experience that huge wow. It totally depends on the mindset of the client.”\r\n\r\nGary Schirmacher, CMP, senior vice president, Western region, for Experient, a meeting planning firm headquartered in Twinsburg, Ohio, adds that both small and large hotels hold advantages for small meetings, and it’s a matter of weighing what is most important. While a small hotel offers exclusivity, larger hotels typically offer more amenities.\r\n\r\n“A large hotel has more <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-supplies-gang-box-checklist-onsite-inventory/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">inventory</a>, restaurant choices and more 24-hour services than their small counterparts,” he says, adding that even though there might be other meetings going on at the same time, larger hotels have gotten better about ensuring that small groups have their own private areas.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2300 size-medium\" title=\"In determining what type of hotel works best for a small group, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Finding the right fit for a property is a matter of qualifying your client, with size just one factor to consider.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/T2HYXSN138-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"In determining what type of hotel works best for a small group, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Finding the right fit for a property is a matter of qualifying your client, with size just one factor to consider.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />“A group could have a smaller property all to itself, but it has to have confidence in the staff. Make sure you assess the service levels if one or two key people were going to be out during your meeting,” he advises.\r\n\r\nBill Briscoe, Naples, Fla.-based chief industry relations officer for the site selection firm HelmsBriscoe, says in most cases, the firm tries to put smaller groups in hotels with 400 rooms or less.\r\n\r\n“With larger hotels, you have to look at whether they have dedicated staff and space for smaller groups,” he says.\r\n\r\nWhen choosing any size hotel, Lamagna cautions that it is important to assess whether or not the hotel can handle the specific preferences of the group.\r\n\r\n“If they’ll be drinking at 3 a.m., will the bar be open?” she says. “If they’ll be exercising, are there enough treadmills? Will there be enough bellhops on duty when you arrive? What’s the server-to-guest ratio?” Whether the property is big or small, “service is number one,” says Connie Bergeron, CMP, vice president global sourcing at Benchmark 360, an Atlanta-based meetings and events company, adding that her company’s smaller groups mostly involve management <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planning-industry-needs-strategy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strategy</a>, leadership development or board sessions.\r\n\r\n“They have definite goals for their events and need minimal distraction,” she says.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Finding the Right Fit, Right Fit, Hotels, Hotel, Event Planning, Strategic Events, Strategic Planners, Event Planners, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Meetings Focus, Meetings Today</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingstoday.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-714 size-medium\" title=\"Meetings Today\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/meetings_focus_logo-300x56.png\" alt=\"Meetings Today\" width=\"300\" height=\"56\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Finding the Right Fit','','publish','open','open','','finding-right-fit','','','2018-01-22 18:48:59','2018-01-22 18:48:59','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=520',0,'post','',0),(522,1,'2016-04-12 15:28:04','2016-04-12 15:28:04','<h2>Hotel Higher Season: Calendar Soft Spots Still Exist, New Rules Apply</h2>\r\n<h3>By Tony Bartlett</h3>\r\nAfter three years of escalating hotel room rates, especially in top meetings destinations, it’s no secret to meeting planners that opportunities for good hotel deals are getting harder to find at any time of year.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2047 size-medium\" title=\"After three years of escalating hotel room rates, especially in top meetings destinations, it’s no secret to meeting planners that opportunities for good hotel deals are getting harder to find at any time of year. Hotel Higher Season: Calendar Soft Spots Still Exist, New Rules Apply\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/4SGERWWL1U-300x213.jpg\" alt=\"After three years of escalating hotel room rates, especially in top meetings destinations, it’s no secret to meeting planners that opportunities for good hotel deals are getting harder to find at any time of year. Hotel Higher Season: Calendar Soft Spots Still Exist, New Rules Apply\" width=\"300\" height=\"213\" />With destinations across the country filling in soft spots, seasonal rate differences have been leveling out. However, while they might be less predictable than they once were, seasonal values have not entirely gone away.\r\n\r\n“There are still great deals to be found,” says Donovan Shia, president of Corpus Christi, Texas-based CVB HotRates.com , which represents more than 40 <a href=\"https://strategic.events/cvbs-ftw-convention-visitors-bureaus-win/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CVBs</a> across the country.\r\n\r\nAlthough less of a bargain than they once were, low and shoulder periods remain a major avenue in the meeting planner’s search for value, he adds.\r\n<h2><strong>Less Flexibility</strong></h2>\r\nAlthough hotel occupancy growth has flattened out, new hotel supply continues to be absorbed and rates are continuing to climb, says Bill Briscoe, chief industry relations officer for Scottsdale, Ariz.-based HelmsBriscoe, a site selection and meetings planning services company.\r\n\r\n“It’s tough in a seller’s market,” he says. “Major cities like New York, Chicago and Las Vegas are obviously doing very well, although hotel occupancies have generally leveled in the last year,” he says. “Planners are more open and are looking at secondary markets where there is more availability and rates they can handle, and new destinations are developing.”\r\n\r\nAt the same time, peak seasons in some destinations are expanding and providing less flexibility for negotiating than ever, he adds. While states like Florida and Arizona still offer much better deals in summer, they “stick to their guns January through March.”\r\n\r\nChristy Lamagna, president of <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-steps-successfully-achieve-business-goals/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Strategic</a> Meetings and Events, a meeting planning firm based in New York City and San Francisco, has a similar observation. While Lamagna would once send RFPs to hotels in three different cities, she now sends them out to at least seven or eight.\r\n\r\n“It’s become more difficult to negotiate. Rates have been rising. We’ve expanded our search,” she says.\r\n\r\nOne strategy she recommends is to look on the outskirts of cities for lower rates. While planning a recent meeting for a corporate group of 40 people, Lamagna was able to find the same rates at The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation, one hour east of Atlanta, as she did at a much less upscale hotel at the Atlanta airport.\r\n\r\nFor corporate retreat groups, she has looked to ski resorts during summer, finding value dates at properties in Utah, Vermont and British Columbia.\r\n\r\n“Rates are significantly lower. With no distractions, they are ideal,” she says.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Hotel Destination Differences</strong></span></h2>\r\nTurning to sources such as CVB HotRates.com is another way to find good deals. The company, which was formed in 2004 with 17 CVB partners, now has 42 bureau partners, which fund the free planner service. CVBHotRates.com focuses on short-term bookings from six to 18 months before the meeting. Its Web pages can be accessed through the CVB websites or its own site.\r\n\r\n“When we started, the country was coming off a downturn and we listed distressed properties,” Shia says. “With the robust economy, the climate has changed and we’re more geared to helping meeting planners.\"\r\n\r\n\"We’re seeing an increase in repeat visitations.” He emphasizes that each destination is very different, that most hotels update their offerings on a monthly basis and that situations can easily change.\r\n\r\n“Orlando has a broad range of venues and incredible deals. A room that could be $300 in March might be half price in November and December. And Phoenix has rooms at almost half price in summer months,” he says.\r\n\r\nCiting other examples, he says that California’s Silicon Valley is almost the opposite of Phoenix in that it offers competitive rates in October, November and December. Destinations offering good winter deals include Myrtle Beach, N.C. and Hilton Head, S.C.\r\n\r\n\"In Texas, Houston hotels usually offer lower rates in summer and higher rates in the fall, whereas San Antonio has no defined seasons and offers deals during pockets of lower demand,\" Shia says.\r\n\r\nHe also observes that today’s seller’s market is unlikely to last forever.\r\n\r\n“Hotels are happy, but that can change in a flash,” he notes. “They have perishable <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-supplies-gang-box-checklist-onsite-inventory/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">inventory</a>. Major cities are now in an odd situation. They used to be able to sit back. They didn’t have the competition. New convention centers have opened.”\r\n\r\nHere’s a look at what’s happening with seasonal rates in meetings destinations around the country:\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Las Vegas </strong></span></h2>\r\nWhen it comes to finding soft spots in the meetings calendar, Las Vegas, which enjoys the highest occupancies of any U.S. city, can be the ultimate challenge.\r\n\r\nAccording to figures from the Las Vegas Convention &amp; Visitors Authority, the city enjoyed an average hotel occupancy rate of 93.2 percent last year, with only December rates dipping below 90 percent. Room rates were lowest during June through September and in December.\r\n\r\nHistorically, Las Vegas’ low season has been Memorial Day to Labor Day, excluding holidays and weekends.\r\n\r\nCarling Dinkler, president of Custom Conventions, a DMC and meeting planning firm with offices in Las Vegas and New Orleans, says that summer months and midweek days are by far the best times to find favorable dates and rates in Las Vegas—unless a major trade show happens to be in town.\r\n\r\n“You know the hotels are going to fill the rooms one way or another, but there are all kinds of values here, short-term and long-term,” he says. “Meeting planners should be flexible and know when major conventions and trade shows are being held.”\r\n\r\nBy using these strategies, Shia says he booked a group of 500 people at an upscale casino property in March for a fall meeting at “a very decent rate.”\r\n\r\nWhile Las Vegas, which already offers 133,000 hotel rooms, has always been able to absorb any new hotel supply, there is some speculation that an enormous amount of new construction under way could make things more favorable for planners. Another 41,000 hotel rooms, about half of them now under construction, are expected to open by 2010.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Anaheim and San Diego</strong></span></h2>\r\nTwo cities in Southern California illustrate just how seasons can vary from one area to another and do not always relate to climate. San Diego and Anaheim, with downtowns less than 100 miles apart, are much further apart when it comes to seasonal rate fluctuation.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-2304 size-medium\" title=\"After three years of escalating hotel room rates, especially in top meetings destinations, it’s no secret to meeting planners that opportunities for good hotel deals are getting harder to find at any time of year. Hotel Higher Season: Calendar Soft Spots Still Exist, New Rules Apply\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/4677BFD71E-300x172.jpg\" alt=\"After three years of escalating hotel room rates, especially in top meetings destinations, it’s no secret to meeting planners that opportunities for good hotel deals are getting harder to find at any time of year. Hotel Higher Season: Calendar Soft Spots Still Exist, New Rules Apply\" width=\"300\" height=\"172\" />Known for its Mediterranean climate and theme parks, Anaheim is home to over 20,000 hotel rooms and the 1.6 million-square-foot Anaheim Convention Center. Last year, meetings and conventions visitors were up 2 percent over 2005, according to the Anaheim/Orange County CVB.\r\n\r\nCharles Ahlers, the CVB’s president, says the first quarter of the year is Anaheim’s busiest time for meetings and conventions and also brings a fair number of leisure travelers escaping from colder climates.\r\n\r\n“Leisure business is huge in the summer,” he adds. “Spring is better than fall. Fall is the downtime when we are scrambling for business, although the weather is nice year-round. It’s a great time for meetings.”\r\n\r\nFall room rates, he adds, can be as much as 15 percent lower than they are during spring.\r\n\r\nThis year will be the third consecutive year that the Anaheim CVB embarks on a consumer advertising and promotional campaign to attract fall leisure visitors. Ahlers says the promotion—which last year was called “Fall for OC”—has been successful in making fall a stronger season.\r\n\r\nIn San Diego, fall is not noticeably less busy than other times of year, according to Steve Schell, CMP, associate vice president of sales for the San Diego CVB.\r\n\r\n“We’re kind of unique. We have 12 months of great weather and we don’t really have traditional seasons,” Schell says, adding that summer is usually a softer time for San Diego’s inland properties than those at beaches.”\r\n\r\nLow periods, he says, are in and around holiday periods, when the CVB together with hotels might launch a short-term blitz campaign to attract meetings groups.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Portland</strong></span></h2>\r\nPortland, Oregon’s largest city, has the Oregon Convention Center, the Pacific Northwest’s largest convention facility, with 255,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, 50 meeting rooms and two grand ballrooms.\r\n\r\nLike many other cities, its convention center occupancy is boosted by consumer shows during the first two months of the year, a time when hotels traditionally need more business.\r\n\r\nMike Smith, vice president of sales at the Portland Oregon Visitors Association (POVA), compares a CVB to a dating service in that it’s designed to get people together, compromise and make the right fit.\r\n\r\n“My advice to meeting planners looking at any destination is to contact the CVB,” he says.\r\n\r\nAccording to Smith, Portland traditionally does strong leisure travel business in summer, while spring and fall are prime times for meetings. While winter is the slowest time overall, this is starting to change.\r\n\r\n“Winter used to take a nosedive, but we’ve been able to even out the seasons. They are not hard and fast, not the big line in the sand that they use to be,” he says.\r\n\r\nHowever, he adds that Portland’s hotel rates have not increased as fast as they have in other major cities on the West Coast.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Scottsdale</strong></span></h2>\r\nScottsdale, Ariz., known for its upscale resorts, plentiful golf courses and more than 330 days of sunshine a year, has a peak season that runs from January through April. Low season in Scottsdale is June through August, while fall and late spring are the shoulder seasons.\r\n\r\nDan Tavrytzky, vice president of sales and services for the Scottsdale CVB, says that during the summer meetings groups can get rates of 60 percent off peak-season rates “with the same excellent product and service.”\r\n\r\n“If you are going to be in meetings all day, you can take advantage of the fabulous summer evenings. After meetings, there is time for 18 holes of golf,” he says, adding that Scottsdale summers are dry rather than humid.\r\n\r\nAccording to Tavrytzky, more groups are choosing to come to Scottsdale during the low season.\r\n\r\n“We’ve been getting more SMERF business,” he says. “A decade or so ago we had hotels that closed during the summer.”\r\n\r\nLast year, Scottsdale hotels experienced a 69.9 percent average occupancy rate, about the same as in 2005. During the same period, room rates averaged $164.19, up by 12 percent from the year before.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Denver</strong></span></h2>\r\nDenver is a city undergoing a transformation. The Colorado Convention Center, which expanded three years ago, includes 584,000 square feet of exhibition space on one level. Its 1,100-room convention headquarters hotel, the Hyatt Regency Denver, was unveiled in late 2005.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2305 size-medium\" title=\"After three years of escalating hotel room rates, especially in top meetings destinations, it’s no secret to meeting planners that opportunities for good hotel deals are getting harder to find at any time of year. Hotel Higher Season: Calendar Soft Spots Still Exist, New Rules Apply\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/239E724B24-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"After three years of escalating hotel room rates, especially in top meetings destinations, it’s no secret to meeting planners that opportunities for good hotel deals are getting harder to find at any time of year. Hotel Higher Season: Calendar Soft Spots Still Exist, New Rules Apply\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" />The Denver Metro CVB promotes the city’s sunny, dry climate, which permits golf courses to be open year round. It also emphasizes its close proximity to the Rockies.\r\n\r\nAccording to Richard Grant, spokesman for the CVB, Denver’s hotels are most flexible with rates from December through March.\r\n\r\n“Groups have the advantage of meeting here when it is low season, but they are only 90 minutes from Colorado’s mountain resorts, where it is high season,” he says. “This makes it possible to combine an economical business meeting with a vacation.”\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Grand Rapids</strong></span></h2>\r\nGrand Rapids, Mich., is an up-and-coming meetings destination where the best weather happens to occur during its low season.\r\n\r\nBetween 2003 and 2005, its downtown performing arts center and arena morphed into the DeVos Place convention center, which includes a 162,000-square-foot exhibit hall and a 40,000-square-foot ballroom.\r\n\r\nThe facility also features the 700-room Amway Grand Plaza headquarters hotel. This fall, a 340-room JW Marriott is set to open, also connected to the center, increasing the number of rooms within walking distance to 1,500. A $75 million arts museum is also opening downtown this fall.\r\n\r\nThe Grand Rapids/Kent County CVB targets groups of 1,000 on peak nights, although the city has hosted groups of up to 6,000. Earlier this year, the city was chosen to host the 2009 Religious Conference Management Association conference. “Our hotel rates are extremely competitive and we can put together a good meetings package, especially in the summer,” says Steve Wilson, president of the CVB. “We have an interesting dynamic in that downtown is busy in winter when there is a lot going on. Sidewalks are heated and snow melts when it comes down.”\r\n\r\nSummer in Grand Rapids offers a comfortable climate and a lot of opportunities for golf and other outdoor recreation. It is a slow time for the city in terms of business, he adds.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Kansas City</strong></span></h2>\r\nKansas City is another destination that offers seasonal values. According to Denise DeJulio, director of convention sales for the Kansas City Convention &amp; Visitors Association (KCCVA), late fall through winter is the time when local hotels need business. Peak season is June through September, with spring as the shoulder season.\r\n\r\n“In late November, December, January, and February, hotels typically have better rates, although in January we have consumer shows,” she says.\r\n\r\nEarly this year, the KCCVA reported that following a successful 2006, it had already booked 224 meetings for 2007, including 23 citywides with more than 1,000 peak room nights, and was well ahead of its historical booking pace for 2008 and beyond.\r\n\r\nIn 2006, hotel room revenues were up 9.3 percent compared to 8.1 percent nationally, according to KCCVA figures.\r\n\r\nUndergoing a $4 billion renaissance, downtown will see the fall opening of the Power &amp; Light District, a new nine-block entertainment neighborhood, and the 18,500-seat Sprint Center arena. Nearby, the Kansas City Convention Center, which has 388,800 square feet of column-free exhibit space, opened a new 46,450-square-foot ballroom in late April.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>New Orleans</strong></span></h2>\r\nPlanners looking for seasonal values will find plenty of them in New Orleans, according to Custom Conventions’ Dinkler.\r\n\r\n“Booking short-term meetings in New Orleans is no problem. It’s the best buy in the country right now,” he says. “Business has been picking up and it has been exceeding our expectations. But the city is still missing individual business travel.”\r\n\r\nLast November, 15 months after Hurricane Katrina, the city’s Morial Convention Center completed a renovation. In January, the New Orleans Metropolitan CVB announced a new international branding and marketing campaign, “Forever New Orleans.”\r\n\r\n“We’re back to our normal seasonal pattern with terrific values, significantly lower room rates and great availability in our summer low season,” says Jeff Anding, director of convention marketing at the CVB.\r\n\r\nWith most hotels reopened, occupancies are down so far this year. According to figures from Smith Travel Research (STR) for the first two months of 2007, the metro area’s average occupancy rate stood at 61.6 percent, down from 80.4 percent during the same period last year. Average daily room rates in New Orleans declined by 8.3 percent.\r\n\r\nAbout 95 percent of New Orleans’ central business district properties have reopened. Of the larger hotels, only the Hyatt and Fairmont are closed.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Charlotte</strong></span></h2>\r\nCharlotte, N.C, the country’s second-largest banking center, has been filling in its softer summer periods.\r\n\r\nThe Queen City has $5 billion in new development planned or under construction. Among the projects is a 100,000 square-foot expansion of the Charlotte Convention Center, scheduled for completion in late 2009. A new major attraction for the city, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, is also under way.\r\n\r\nCharlotte is a destination in demand. While STR’s figures show that the top 25 U.S. metro areas experienced only a 0.5 percent increase in average occupancy last year, Charlotte’s grew by 6.8 percent. The city averaged 64.4 percent occupancy for the year and an average daily rate of $75.64, up 11.4 percent over 2005.\r\n\r\nJeff Hewitt, senior director of sales at Visit Charlotte, says that because of the city’s mild climate, Charlotte’s “cyclical demands based on weather are minimized.”\r\n\r\n“Our highest-demand periods have been spring and fall,” he says. “Summer months are considered the soft or shoulder months. Hotels offer more attractive rates in summer and can be even more accommodating if groups meet over the weekend.”\r\n\r\nHowever, he adds that the off-peak summer months now produce some of the highest occupancies of the year. To drive occupancy, he says, Visit Charlotte is focusing on rate-sensitive groups, such as religious meetings and amateur sports events that meet in summer.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Tampa</strong></span></h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2878 size-medium\" title=\"After three years of escalating hotel room rates, especially in top meetings destinations, it’s no secret to meeting planners that opportunities for good hotel deals are getting harder to find at any time of year. Hotel Higher Season: Calendar Soft Spots Still Exist, New Rules Apply\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/TZ4NEYAIV5-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"After three years of escalating hotel room rates, especially in top meetings destinations, it’s no secret to meeting planners that opportunities for good hotel deals are getting harder to find at any time of year. Hotel Higher Season: Calendar Soft Spots Still Exist, New Rules Apply\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />Tampa saw the opening of a 360-room Embassy Suites, connected to the 650,000 square-foot Tampa Convention Center, a year ago, bringing the number of hotel rooms within a four-block radius of the center to more than 4,100. Work is continuing on the two-mile Riverwalk project, which is about half completed.\r\n\r\nThe city’s peak season has traditionally been January through mid-April, while its shoulder season is mid-April through May and mid-September through November. The low season occurs in June through mid-September and in December.\r\n\r\n“We still have seasons. While they have strengthened over the years, our low and shoulder seasons still contrast to our peak,” says Norwood Smith, Tampa Bay CVB’s vice president of sales.\r\n\r\n“We’re very focused on business that will consider us during our low season when the planner will encounter far more lenient rates and discounts, as great as 50 percent for both hotels and facilities,” he says.\r\n\r\nSmith adds that depending on the group’s economic impact, the CVB sometimes has the flexibility to underwrite rental rates, transportation or some hosted functions.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Virginia Beach</strong></span></h2>\r\nVirginia Beach, Va., a family playground with a summer peak season, opened the first phase of its $202.5 million convention center in August 2005. The second phase, with most of the exhibit space, opened in January.\r\n\r\nThe Virginia Beach Convention Center includes a 150,000-square-foot, column-free exhibit hall and a 31,029 square-foot ballroom. Within a two-mile radius are 3,500 hotel rooms.\r\n\r\nThe Virginia Beach CVB targets groups of 400 to 3,000 for the center.\r\n\r\nAl Hutchinson, director of convention sales for the CVB, says the destination can put together a package offering discounts of between 25 percent and 100 percent off the convention center’s rental rates, depending on the number of room nights and food and beverage commitment. In addition, November through April is low season in the city, while the shoulder months are September and October.\r\n\r\n“Hotel rates are much more attractive and affordable then and that’s a time when lots of meetings are held,” he says.\r\n\r\nAlong with Virginia Beach, the state of Virginia has received a convention facility boost with the expansion of the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Richmond in 2003, and the opening of the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton in 2005.\r\n\r\n“Obviously, we compete on occasion. But we compete for national business and the majority of our competition is national,” Hutchinson says.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n—Freelancer Tony Bartlett, who has been writing about the travel industry for over 20 years, is a frequent contributor to Meetings West.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Hotel Higher Season: Calendar Soft Spots Still Exist, New Rules Apply, Hotel(s), Hotel, Strategic Planner, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Event Planning, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Meetings Focus, Meetings Today</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingstoday.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-714 size-medium\" title=\"Meetings Today\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/meetings_focus_logo-300x56.png\" alt=\"Meetings Today\" width=\"300\" height=\"56\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Hotel Higher Season: Calendar Soft Spots Still Exist, New Rules Apply','','publish','open','open','','higher-season-calendar-new-rules-hotel','','','2018-01-22 19:02:34','2018-01-22 19:02:34','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=522',0,'post','',0),(527,1,'2016-04-12 15:34:58','2016-04-12 15:34:58','<h2>From Party Planner to Event Strategist</h2>\r\n<h3>By Christy Lamagna CMM, CSM, CTSM</h3>\r\n<strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">How do you get a seat at the executive table? Demonstrate your value as an event strategist with these five steps</span></strong>\r\n\r\nRecently at a networking event, the topic of what I do for a living came up. In between bites of soggy cracker, I replied, \'\'I\'m an event strategist. I help companies all over the world achieve their goals by creating experiences for their target audience.\"\r\n\r\nMy new acquaintance looked puzzled for a moment. Then his face lit up. \"Oh, cool.\" he said.\"You\'re a party planner!\"\r\n\r\nHe went on tell me that my job was \"the greatest as I get to \"travel the world, see fantastic places and go to parties for a living.\"\r\n\r\nSound familiar?\r\n\r\nMy challenge is twofold. First, as anyone in this industry knows, we rarely eat while at events; often the only sights we see are airports and ballrooms; and as anyone who has stayed up until 4 a.m. solving a crisis, only to be at the team meeting at 5 a.m. will tell you, this is not a field for glamour-seekers.\r\n\r\nMy second challenge, and a problem we face as an industry, is the pervasive misconception of what we do for a living and the value we bring our clients, be it as independents or full-time employees.\r\n\r\nConsider this: Events are a three dimensional embodiment of a company\'s marketing message. When produced correctly, they are experiences -experiences that affect a person and remain with them. For example, think of the happiest day of your life. Think about what you were wearing, who you were with, where you were, what the day sounded like and how you felt in that moment.\r\n\r\nNow think of your 8th birthday.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2316\" title=\"How do you get a seat at the executive table? Show your company or clients how much unharnessed potential lies within the events department. Demonstrate your value as an event strategist with these five steps.and go, From Party Planner to Event Strategist\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Q812YCBZ1X-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"How do you get a seat at the executive table? Show your company or clients how much unharnessed potential lies within the events department. Demonstrate your value as an event strategist with these five steps.and go, From Party Planner to Event Strategist\" width=\"371\" height=\"208\" />Can you? It\'s fair to say you were at both, but most likely, only one comes readily to mind. That\'s because the happiest day of your life was an <em>expe</em><em>r</em><em>ience</em><em>. </em>Your 8th birthday was an event.\r\n\r\nA <a href=\"https://strategic.events/become-strategic-planner/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planner</a> who is committed to creating experiences and understands that events can bring a company\'s marketing message to life is someone who deserves a seat at the table.\r\n\r\nSo how do you get there? Show your company or clients how much unharnessed potential lies within the events department. Here\'s how to earn that seat as an event strategist.\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li>Always start with the end in mind. What are the event\'s goals? Are they SMART- Strategic, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Timely?</li>\r\n 	<li>Once the goal is understood, make sure <em>everything </em>you do brings you closer to achieving it -and I mean everything. For instance, if the event\'s goal is to build camaraderie among members of an organization, plan for some of your meals to be buffets, which encourage socializing, or bring in a chocolate fountain so folks are in a relaxed setting, having fun, sharing an experience and more likely to start a conversation.</li>\r\n 	<li>Team up with other departments in your organization.  Do you  know the head of procurement? How about corporate travel? Connect with the people who can help champion your cause and align with them to further theirs. Find out who your company\'s largest suppliers are and see if there are ways to leverage your corporate spend against what you need for your event.For example, does your company cafeteria\'s foodservice vendor serve the venue you\'re using and could it offer a discount? Which hotels does your corporate travel team use to put your sales team up at when they\'re on sales calls? Next time you choose a location, target that hotel chain and leverage the corporate spend against your event to negotiate discounts.</li>\r\n 	<li>Write it all down. Document strategic decisions you\'ve made and cost savings you\'ve captured, and provide a post-event report to key players in your organization, including the friends you\'ve made in procurement, travel, marketing, etc. Also include metrics on data you have collected on the event meeting, its goals and its ROI.</li>\r\n 	<li>Market your success. Once it is understood that you are a vehicle to furthering the company\'s goals, that you are leveraging spend and returning dollars to the budget, congratulate yourself. You are no longer a party planner; you\'re a valued member of the team.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nSo the next time someone asks if you\'re a party planner, take a moment to explain the value you bring to your organization as an event strategist. We\'ll all be better for it.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: From Party Planner to Event Strategist, Event Strategist, Strategic Planner, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Event Planning, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Strategic Events, Event Solutions, Event Strategist</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"https://eventsolutions.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1395 size-full\" title=\"Event Solutions\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Event-Solutions_170_wide.jpg\" alt=\"Event Solutions\" width=\"170\" height=\"58\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','From Party Planner to Event Strategist','','publish','open','open','','party-planner-to-event-strategist','','','2018-01-22 19:15:48','2018-01-22 19:15:48','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=527',0,'post','',0),(529,1,'2016-04-13 17:02:45','2016-04-13 17:02:45','<h2>Thy Neighbor\'s Planner</h2>\r\n<h3>By Terri Hardin and Rayna Katz</h3>\r\nIf you ask meeting planner(s) (as we did) if they have ever scheduled meetings over a religious or significant secular holiday, the majority would say \"never.\" But does that really mean never? Or does it mean \"never—if I can help it\"?\r\n\r\nMore than 300 of our readers weighed in on this topic, which—as America seeks consensus within diversity—is more important than ever.\r\n\r\nTwo-thirds of all planners (67%) responding to MeetingNews said they have never scheduled a meeting over a religious or secular holiday, with a corporate planner(s) and planner(s) aged 51 or more being slightly more vehement (71%). Meanwhile, 27 percent of all planners said they have \"occasionally\" scheduled a meeting over a religious or secular holiday, of which the largest subgroup, 42 percent, was twentysomething <a href=\"https://strategic.events/become-strategic-planner/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners.</a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/E1WPGCLOC3.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2011\" title=\"If you ask meeting planner(s) (as we did) if they have ever scheduled meetings over a religious or significant secular holiday, the majority would say never.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/E1WPGCLOC3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"If you ask meeting planner(s) (as we did) if they have ever scheduled meetings over a religious or significant secular holiday, the majority would say never.\" width=\"332\" height=\"220\" /></a>The vast majority of meeting organizers steer clear of the mine field, or try to.\r\n\r\n\"We hold international events and spend a great deal of time working around multiple calendars to avoid any such conflicts,\" said Stella DeJean Lowe, corporate communications manager at Phoenix-based IT company NetPro.\r\n\r\nHowever, said Sarah Meyer, conference and meeting planner / education coordinator for Topeka-based Kansas Association of Counties, \"We always have somebody unhappy that we start on Sunday—but most of our attendees appreciate us not eating up all of their work week.\"\r\n\r\nEven secular holidays can offend. Said Michael Thomas, an IT consultant currently residing in the United Arab Emirates: \"When I was a fresh graduate, I let myself be bullied into attending a conference and training session that not only went over the weekend but took up a public holiday. I quit a week later and have never done it since; nor will I make my staff do it. Ever. It\'s just wrong.\"\r\n\r\nForty percent of all planners believe poor planning to be the reason that meetings are held on significant religious or secular holidays and 31 percent cite poor judgment. Some survey respondents are even more pejorative—including corporate planners (42%), thirtysomethings (39%), and fortysomethings (40%).\r\n\r\nSaid Joan Eisenstodt, of Washington, DC-based Eisenstodt &amp; Associates, scheduling meetings that conflict with religious or secular holidays displays \"either total meeting planning incompetence or total disregard for one\'s constituents, staff, etc. I don\'t know which is worse.\"\r\n\r\nEisenstodt, who once chaired Meeting Professionals International\'s (MPI) Task Force on Diversity, has taken the organization to task on several occasions over scheduling snafus.\r\n\r\n\"For many years, MPI has held meetings and events over Jewish and other religious and national holidays,\" she said. \"Each time, it was brought to the association\'s attention and representatives said \'never again.\' Alas, this year, the European Conference was held during Passover. I wrote to the association and I got excuses, like \'Passover doesn\'t matter in Europe.\'\"\r\n\r\nIn fact, the planner organization has struck again. An upcoming familiarization tour, or \"Destination Summit\" of Colorado, is slated to be held Sept. 28 to Oct. 1, coinciding both with Rosh Hashanah—the beginning of the Jewish New Year and one of Judaism\'s holiest days—and Eid al-Fitr, the end of the month of Ramadan, a significant Moslem holiday.\r\n\r\nIn a written statement on the association\'s website, MPI\'s chief business architect Katie Callahan-Giobbi said: \"MPI has had in place a vigorous date selection and finalization process around events we control and manage since early last year. We are continuously updating it to ensure we demonstrate best practices within our global community and beyond.\"\r\n\r\nBut MPI is not alone among industry associations. ASAE\'s Springtime 2009, a one-day event, will take place at the end of Passover.\r\n\r\n\"It was not our wish to book our event then,\" said Amy Ledoux, vice president of meetings and expositions, \"but it was the only time between February and June when space was available at the convention center. Could we maybe lose an exhibitor or two? That\'s a risk we have to take.\"\r\n\r\nThe Motivation Show next year will start the day after Yom Kippur, the most significant Jewish holiday, which doesn\'t conclude until sundown. \"We talked to some exhibitors and attendees who said it would affect them somewhat but that they could come for at least part of the first day,\" said a spokesman. \" Being that our show is always in September or October, this has always been a problem for us and has impacted us in the past.\"\r\n\r\nSome planners have learned the hard way the perils of scheduling meetings that conflict with holidays.\r\n\r\nJennifer Baker, marketing and program manager at Chicago-based BUCOM International, said: \"We held a summit over Rosh Hashanah once and the turnout was terrible. We had problems fulfilling contractual agreements with our sponsors and lots of credits and refunds were given. In the seven years since then, I have never let that happen again.\"\r\n\r\nStill, some survey respondents do find holidays to offer business opportunities. Eleven percent consider these days to be value times and independent planners with clients to please condone the practice even more (14%).\r\n\r\nIf it must be done, there are measures event organizers can take to limit problems, said Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM, president and <a href=\"https://strategic.events/event-strategist/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">chief strategist</a> of San Francisco-based Strategic Meetings &amp; Events. \"Offering a way to acknowledge the significance of the day—buses to the appropriate gathering place, recording sessions missed, tailoring menus, acknowledging the conflict and explaining why it had to happen over that date, and what you\'re doing to accommodate—lessens the blow.\r\n\r\n\"There are limited instances when the conflict is unavoidable, but most of the time it\'s just a matter of someone not doing due diligence or simply being unaware of the reactions the conflict will create,\" she continued.\r\n\r\nMeeting planners have a particular duty to pay attention to holidays, Eisenstodt noted. \"We teach the importance of looking at calendars, querying stakeholders, etc, to ensure dates work.\"\r\n\r\nSaid Lamagna, \"Planning a meeting over a religious holiday sends the message that your needs are more important than the attendees,\" which is ironic since they\'re your target audience.\r\n\r\n\"Planners should know their attendees,\" she said. \"What\'s more important than their respect, support and participation?\"\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Thy Neighbor\'s Planner, Planner, Event Planner, Event Planners, Strategic Planner, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Event Planning, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Meeting News</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingnews.com/login.aspx?action=editprofile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1400 size-full\" title=\"Meeting News\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Meeting-News_170_w.jpg\" alt=\"Meeting News\" width=\"170\" height=\"42\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Thy Neighbor\'s Planner','','publish','open','open','','thy-neighbors-planner','','','2018-01-22 17:45:23','2018-01-22 17:45:23','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=529',0,'post','',0),(531,1,'2016-04-13 17:16:56','2016-04-13 17:16:56','<h2>Will Airline Woes Finally Make A Case for High Speed Rail?</h2>\r\n<h3>By Gretchen Kelly</h3>\r\nAfter a long, hot summer of skyrocketing fuel prices, airline bankruptcies, flight disruptions and cancellations, business travelers are looking longingly at the concept of high speed rail travel in the U.S. This has long been an option abroad. \"When planning meetings in Europe,\" said Christy Lamagna, president of Strategic Meetings &amp; Events, \"we absolutely make use of high-speed trains for attendees and staff alike. It\'s a convenient, user-friendly option.\"\r\n\r\nAs November looms, high speed rail is on voters\' agendas—and on the ballot in California. A referendum (Proposition 1A) in California would designate $42 billion to a ballot measure that will combine public and private funds to develop a high speed rail train connecting all of the state\'s population centers (Sacramento, the Bay Area, the Central Valley, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, Orange County and San Diego). If built, a trip between the Bay Area and Los Angeles would take 2.5 hours (and cost $55 for a one-way ticket). The targeted completion date is 2020.\r\n\r\n\"If we don\'t choose high-speed rail, we will have to build 3,000 additional miles of freeways and have five additional airports built,\" said state assembly member Cathleen Galgiani (D-Tracy), who wrote the language of Prop 1A. Speaking on her assembly report, posted on YouTube, the assemblywoman outlined the proposal as a job-creating measure that will relieve California travelers\' dependence on oil and aviation.\r\n\r\nCalifornia\'s ballot measure has strong local and national backing, but are the presidential candidates getting on board with the concept of high speed rail?\r\n\r\nNeither presidential nominee responded to MeetingNews\' request for comment; however, Senator Barack Obama has gone on record in favor of high-speed rail. During a recent campaign speech in the Midwest, he said, \"One of the things I have been talking about for awhile is high speed rail connecting all Midwest cities: Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, St. Louis. They are not that far away from each other … because of how big of a hassle airlines are now.\"\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2321\" title=\"After a long, hot summer of skyrocketing fuel prices, airline bankruptcies, flight disruptions and cancellations, business travelers are looking longingly at the concept of high speed rail travel in the U.S. Will Airline Woes Finally Make A Case for High Speed Rail? \" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/F6YPVPXY42-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"After a long, hot summer of skyrocketing fuel prices, airline bankruptcies, flight disruptions and cancellations, business travelers are looking longingly at the concept of high speed rail travel in the U.S. Will Airline Woes Finally Make A Case for High Speed Rail? \" width=\"368\" height=\"245\" />Obama\'s running mate, vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, has a longstanding voting record in support of Amtrak and the nation\'s high speed rail service. (\"He\'s a regular commuter,\" said Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero. \"Everyone knows Joe around here.\")\r\n\r\nSenator John McCain is on record as frequently opposing Amtrak, if not rail. In 2002, McCain was quoted as saying, \"Amtrak should be restructured to eliminate its reliance on the American taxpayers and to allow for its privatization.\"\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, Romero said the future of high speed rail travel in the U.S. is not about speed but increasing the number of train cars available for travelers, as well as maintaining and building new track.\r\n\r\n\"Europe has a completely different infrastructure than we do. There\'s one train for passengers and one for freight, whereas in the U.S. we have just one. There is also the problem of distances in the U.S.. Amtrak has no plans for expansion in high speed rail.\" Romero added that the future of improving rail service in the U.S. lies in improving corridor services on tracks of 500 miles or less, from city center to city center.\r\n\r\n\"That\'s baloney,\" said Richard Hamish, executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association. \"Distances are not a problem by any stretch.\"\r\n\r\nHe pointed out that in Europe, where high-speed rail is an everyday fact of life, distances include vast areas of Eastern Europe, including Russia. He also pointed out that Amtrak\'s board is appointed by president George W. Bush, a strong anti-railer, and that board members include the Secretary of Transportation, who is also known to be strongly anti-rail.\r\n\r\n\"Business travelers need to go out and contact their elected officials and tell them that high speed rail is not a luxury but a necessity,\" Hamish said. He said individual states have the option to build new track to support high speed rail service or work in tandem with private owners to support it.\r\n\r\n\"I would love to consider high-speed trains,\" said CMP, CMM MaryAnne P. Bobrow, of Bobrow &amp; Associates.\"But the truth is, the way our trains are operated here does not make this alternative a viable one. Freight trains have the right of way on Amtrak lines, causing passenger trains to wait and wait, making their schedules useless. I recently took a train ride in California and it took 15 hours. I could\'ve driven in five.\"\r\n\r\nMeantime, whether supportive of high speed rail train service or not, every day Amtrak is selling out its Acela routes in the Northeast Corridor. \"I absolutely use Acela in lieu of flying when possible,\" affirmed Lamagna. \"The trains are comfortable; I can use my laptop and cell phone without a challenge, and stretch out easily. And, there are no security checkpoints to battle. I arrive feeling much more relaxed and refreshed than after flying.\"\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Will Airline Woes Finally Make A Case for High Speed Rail, High Speed Rail, Travel, Event Planning, Strategic Events, Strategic Planners, Event Planners, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Meeting News</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingnews.com/login.aspx?action=editprofile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-2039 size-full\" title=\"Meeting News\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/MeetingNews_170x43.png\" alt=\"Meeting News\" width=\"170\" height=\"43\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Will Airline Woes Finally Make A Case for High Speed Rail?','','publish','open','open','','airline-woes-make-case-high-speed-rail','','','2018-01-22 17:55:40','2018-01-22 17:55:40','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=531',0,'post','',0),(533,1,'2016-04-13 17:36:34','2016-04-13 17:36:34','<h2>Learning To Love Contracts</h2>\r\n<h3>By Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM</h3>\r\nThe other day, I was on the phone with a meeting planning colleague who was clearly having a bad day at the office. When I asked why she was so unhappy, she said she had a stack of contracts to get through and she was dreading it. “Send them my way!\" I told her. “Negotiating contracts is one of my favorite things to do.” “Are you kidding me?!” she nearly screamed and the next thing I knew, I was defending myself as if I had just told her I was thinking of leaving the profession to become a belly dancer.\r\n\r\nIf you often feel like my colleague, you’re not alone. So how did I become a fanatic? I learned to see contracts and negotiations for what they are: an opportunity for both parties to walk away happy, appreciative, satisfied and better off. With that end result, what’s not to like?\r\n\r\nHere’s how you can learn to love contracts too.\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li>Know what you want. Know what you need. Know the difference. When negotiating with hotels, if you know your attendees will book outside the block if your rate is over a certain amount, be open to paying a meeting room rental to get the room rate down to your target number. In the short term, it seems you’re paying room rental unnecessarily. But in the long run, you’re avoiding potential attrition charges and you can likely build the meeting room rental costs into your admission fees.</li>\r\n 	<li>Realize that both parties are entering into the discussion needing to answer one paramount question: “What’s in it for me?” If you can’t answer that question for the other party, you’re likely not going to get what you ask for. Remember, both have the same goal but different specifics as to how they want to reach it.</li>\r\n 	<li><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2325\" title=\"I was on the phone with a meeting planning colleague who was having a bad day at the office. When I asked why she said she had a stack of contracts to get through and she was dreading it. “Send them my way!&quot; I told her. “Negotiating contracts is one of my favorite things to do!&quot; Learning To Love Contracts \" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/FGL795PHJX-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"I was on the phone with a meeting planning colleague who was having a bad day at the office. When I asked why she said she had a stack of contracts to get through and she was dreading it. “Send them my way!&quot; I told her. “Negotiating contracts is one of my favorite things to do!&quot; Learning To Love Contracts \" width=\"350\" height=\"232\" />To get what you need, know what the other person values most and offer it. Hotels value “heads in beds”; promotional vendors value large-quantity orders; speakers value exposure; small businesses and contractors appreciate prompt payment. Be aware of and meet the other party’s needs and they’re more likely to meet your needs.</li>\r\n 	<li>Only ask for what is fair. If you can’t articulate why something is important to you and why it’s a reasonable request, you’re less likely to get it. Be ready to share samples of past executed contracts that contain a particular clause a vendor is questioning. Demonstrating that what you are asking for has been acceptable to others often alleviates a vendor’s concern. Recently, a vendor told me he had never heard of anyone asking for the clause I was asking for. When I explained what it was designed to do and faxed three examples of hotels that had honored the clause, I got what I needed.</li>\r\n 	<li>When vendors initially question or say “No” to a request, it’s an opportunity, not a closed door or a reason to get frustrated. I look at vendor <a href=\"https://strategic.events/asking-strategic-questions-cvb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">questions</a> as an opportunity to explain myself and share well thought-out plans. Questions are an opportunity to explain and elaborate, not challenge or threaten. If a vendor is unwilling to meet you halfway, thank her for her time and go to your backup. Signing a contract you are not happy with is never a good idea. Being willing to walk away is crucial to the process and both parties will be better off for it. Signing a bad contract starts the relationship off on a bad note and is usually an indicator that it’s not a good fit for either side. Sometimes it’s just better to walk away, but keep in mind that that property may work well for another opportunity. So, stay professional and respectful as you decline the opportunity to pursue the relationship further for this program.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nIn my 18 years in the industry, I have signed many more contracts than I’ve walked away from. I’m just as comfortable with the process in either situation. When I do sign a contract, I know both parties are closer to their goals because of the time I invest in making the process satisfying and rewarding.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Learning To Love Contracts, Contracts, Event Planning, Strategic Events, Strategic Planners, Event Planners, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Strategic Events, Event Solutions</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"https://eventsolutions.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1395 size-full\" title=\"Event Solutions\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Event-Solutions_170_wide.jpg\" alt=\"Event Solutions\" width=\"170\" height=\"58\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Learning To Love Contracts','','publish','open','open','','learning-love-contracts','','','2018-01-22 17:40:58','2018-01-22 17:40:58','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=533',0,'post','',0),(535,1,'2016-04-13 17:38:12','2016-04-13 17:38:12','<h2><strong>The Pottery Barn Factor</strong></h2>\r\n<h3>By Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM</h3>\r\n<strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Why</span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> discounted hotel rates may not be such a good thing</span></strong>\r\n\r\nI used to shop at Pottery Barn twice a month. It was an expensive habit, but I shopped happily and considered the company’s products worth the price. I admit I was delighted when I got something on sale, as it was a double win: a new treasure and on sale to boot!\r\n\r\nTo subsidize my Pottery Barn habit, I eventually decided to take a part-time job there, scoring the ultimate victory: employee discounts! The savings were formidable and the spending continued while I worked there.\r\n\r\nI ultimately quit, however — and have not bought a thing there since. Why? I got accustomed to getting everything on sale and suddenly the regularly priced items lost their value. I call this the “Pottery Barn Factor.” And as I see hotels drastically slashing rates and planners making demands that some would consider unreasonable, that story comes to mind.\r\n\r\n<strong><span style=\"color: #339966;\">Are Lower Rates Better Rates? </span></strong>\r\n\r\nRecently, I had a hotel quote a rate that was considerably less than I had budgeted. I called my sales rep and said we needed to discuss the rate. He told me he would do better. I told him to raise the rate. Silence ensued. He heard me, and you read this correctly. I needed him to <em>raise</em> the rate.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-1655 size-medium\" title=\"Why discounted hotel rates may not be such a good thing. I used to shop at Pottery Barn twice a month. It was an expensive habit, but I shopped happily and considered the company’s products worth the price. I admit I was delighted when I got something on sale, as it was a double win. Read, The Pottery Barn Factor now.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/quote-203x300.png\" alt=\"Why discounted hotel rates may not be such a good thing. I used to shop at Pottery Barn twice a month. It was an expensive habit, but I shopped happily and considered the company’s products worth the price. I admit I was delighted when I got something on sale, as it was a double win. Read, The Pottery Barn Factor now.\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" />Here’s my reasoning: If I gave my client a quote that was that much lower than customary market value, I would never consistently be able to meet that expectation again. I also knew that going forward, the hotel would forever be off the client’s consideration list — once the rate was cut, the product would be devalued and it would be hard to justify paying more for the same thing once prices returned to normal levels.\r\n\r\nOur solution? The hotel and I worked out a wonderful package of concessions that were greater than the room discount they initially offered. Explaining that it was reflective of the economy, I shared the concessions with my client, who was appreciative. We upgraded food, had more suites to offer their VIPs, received formidable discounts on all services charged to the master account and more.\r\n\r\nUltimately, attendees enjoyed one of the best events they have ever had, as they were the beneficiary of some of these negotiated benefits. The hotel appreciated being allowed to maintain their rate integrity. And the client kept their housing budget in line for 2010.\r\n\r\nI told the client what I did and they appreciated my creativity and foresight, as their housing budget would indeed have been cut to respect the 2009 rate had we taken the initial, deeply discounted rate. That would have spelled trouble for next year. Fortunately, I have taken the time to educate my client’s executive teams on what is happening in the industry and how to navigate it. It is easy for the inexperienced to get caught up in the belief that the $69 room rate being advertised online at a discount site is obtainable for your block of 500. It’s not.\r\n\r\n<strong><span style=\"color: #339966;\">Educating the Client </span></strong>\r\n\r\nWe need to educate our executives and our peers on the realities of what we do, how we do it and why we do things. If you pay $199 for a room that was $469 last year, there is no going back. It’s hard to rationalize how the same room can command so much more than the discounted rate, once that’s been set.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1656\" title=\"Why discounted hotel rates may not be such a good thing. I used to shop at Pottery Barn twice a month. It was an expensive habit, but I shopped happily and considered the company’s products worth the price. I admit I was delighted when I got something on sale, as it was a double win. Read, The Pottery Barn Factor now.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/poll-300x95.png\" alt=\"Why discounted hotel rates may not be such a good thing. I used to shop at Pottery Barn twice a month. It was an expensive habit, but I shopped happily and considered the company’s products worth the price. I admit I was delighted when I got something on sale, as it was a double win. Read, The Pottery Barn Factor now.\" width=\"751\" height=\"238\" />If your executives ask why your already signed contracts are not renegotiated now that rates have gone down, ask what would happen if the hotel called to renegotiate the screaming deals you signed earlier this year when the rates go up again.\r\n\r\nThose of us who are experienced enough to still be planning programs find ourselves being offered fantastic discounts. I’m all in favor of saving money and taking advantage of great deals. What I am against is taking advantage of the venues offering them. Intoxicating as this rate decline is, we need to be mindful that the rate pendulum swings both ways. The way we treat our vendors when we are in a buyer’s market is the way we will be treated when the seller’s market swings back. I’ve been in this industry for almost 20 years and can sincerely say that I treat my vendors the same way in both markets and am usually treated the same way in return. I have a reputation for being fair, never asking for more than I can feel good about receiving and fortunate making sure my vendors are my partners. Conversely, when vendors try to take advantage of me in a seller’s market, they’re off my list. Partnership is a two-way street.\r\n\r\nWhen I go to Pottery Barn these days, I can no longer enjoy one of my favorite shopping experiences. I had assumed the party would last forever, but when it ended, I couldn’t adjust to the rates that I once gladly paid. It was a good lesson. Now when I need throw pillows, I buy them elsewhere. For those of us who allow that mistake to creep into our professional lives, the adjustment will be much more painful.\r\n\r\nGive your hotel rep a call and ask how you can creatively maximize the value of your meeting and the concessions they can offer. You will make a professional friend for life.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: The Pottery Barn Factor, Pottery Barn, Event Planning, Strategic Events, Strategic Planners, Event Planners, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Strategic Events, Event Solutions</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"https://eventsolutions.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1395 size-full\" title=\"Event Solutions\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Event-Solutions_170_wide.jpg\" alt=\"Event Solutions\" width=\"170\" height=\"58\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','The Pottery Barn Factor','','publish','open','open','','pottery-barn-factor','','','2018-01-23 16:07:08','2018-01-23 16:07:08','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=535',0,'post','',0),(537,1,'2016-04-13 17:39:05','2016-04-13 17:39:05','<h2>Teaming Up for Great Events - A Guide to Working with Event Producers</h2>\r\n<h3>By Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM</h3>\r\n<img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1647\" title=\"True, planners have plenty of details to tend to without worrying about the intricacies of what goes into producing a general session, but it’s important to have basic knowledge for great events of what your production team is doing on the other side of the ballroom doors and how you can be teaming up for great events.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/production6-300x90.png\" alt=\"True, planners have plenty of details to tend to without worrying about the intricacies of what goes into producing a general session, but it’s important to have basic knowledge for great events of what your production team is doing on the other side of the ballroom doors and how you can be teaming up for great events.\" width=\"708\" height=\"213\" />Some planners focus only on what goes on outside the ballroom; if it plugs in or lights up, we don’t want to know about it. True, planners have plenty of details to tend to without worrying about the intricacies of what goes into producing a general session, but it’s important to have basic knowledge for great events of what your production team is doing on the other side of the ballroom doors and how you can be a partner to them.\r\n\r\nAs <a href=\"https://strategic.events/how-to-become-strategic-planner-change-future/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planners</a>, we are most comfortable when we are in control of <em>everything</em> and things that don’t fit that category are things we avoid. Production often falls into that category. Here’s the good news: if you learn some basics, you can overcome your aversion to what goes on behind the ballroom doors in achieving great events.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/production5.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1648\" title=\"Some planners focus only on what goes on outside the ballroom; if it plugs in or lights up, we don’t want to know about it. True, planners have great events\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/production5-300x149.png\" alt=\"Some planners focus only on what goes on outside the ballroom; if it plugs in or lights up, we don’t want to know about it. True, planners have plenty of details for great events.\" width=\"512\" height=\"254\" /></a></span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Ask your production team to walk you through the basics: What’s the difference between rear and front screen projection? Why should you use one over the other? What are the advantages, the disadvantages and the cost implications of each?\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Take someone from your production company on your site visit. You’d be amazed at their attention to detail on things planners often pay no attention to: width of doors, push distance (the distance from the freight elevator to the ballroom), where the electrical box is in the ballroom, loading dock hours and more. It’s fascinating to watch producers work magic with a laser tape measure and a room diagram and it will allow planners to make a better decision about which <a href=\"https://strategic.events/site-visit-online-instead-traveling/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meeting space</a> is right for the event. Ask now, save money later.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Find out how much time is needed for load in, strike and technical rehearsals before negotiating your contract, in order to correctly schedule when you pickup and drop your ballroom and meeting rooms. If you don’t schedule enough time for the crew to load in and do a technical rehearsal before your speakers arrive or you force an overnight load-in with a show the next morning, you pay overtime and your crew is exhausted before the show even begins. These are the guys who make the magic happen. They need their rest. Ask your production lead to guide you on what is needed.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Make sure your speakers have their presentations completed and submitted with plenty of time to load them into the show computer—and make sure they rehearse! It’s important for even seasoned speakers to walk the stage, see where your confidence monitors are placed and get comfortable with the room. This also allows the production team to get voice levels, see how the presenter is on stage and be ready to follow him/her throughout the presentation.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"> ■</span> Understand PowerPoint slides: if your speakers have video embedded into their presentations and are not using a laptop to present, the video file must be saved separately. It appears that the video is embedded in the PowerPoint but it’s not. This is a painful lesson to learn.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Include your production team in the planning process. Let the production team know about your event’s goal, theme and audience. They are your partners in creativity and can help you turn your concepts into reality.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/production4.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1649\" title=\"Some planners focus only on what goes on outside the ballroom; if it plugs in or lights up, we don’t want to know about it. True, planners have great events\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/production4-300x214.png\" alt=\"Some planners focus only on what goes on outside the ballroom; if it plugs in or lights up, we don’t want to know about it. True, planners have plenty of details for great events.\" width=\"550\" height=\"392\" /></a></span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Use lighting as <a href=\"https://strategic.events/shrimp-boat-wow-event-design-guidelines/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">décor</a>. Nothing changes the look and feel of a room like light. Let your production team work with you to create a mood for each event you have in the ballroom. Gobos are great ways to brand inexpensively and can be used again and again. The options that you have at your disposal for lighting are fun, endless and often well within your budget.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Find out from your potential venue if it is a union hotel or if using in-house AV is a requirement. Either scenario can put your budget into a tailspin. Often with union hotels, you can bring in your own production crew but have to pay for union labor on top of the crew you provide. Get a clear understanding of overtime, meal requirements and union to non-union labor ratio. Once the contract is signed, there is no negotiating.<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/production1.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-1652\" title=\"Some planners focus only on what goes on outside the ballroom; if it plugs in or lights up, we don’t want to know about it. True, planners have great events\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/production1-300x156.png\" alt=\"Some planners focus only on what goes on outside the ballroom; if it plugs in or lights up, we don’t want to know about it. True, planners have plenty of details for great events.\" width=\"363\" height=\"189\" /></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Have the production company prepare a letter to the venue listing all requirements. This will include the time the truck will be at the loading docks and when, power requirements, estimated time for load-in and strike, security requirements and more.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Make sure the crew is dressed appropriately for the show. If you want your stage manager and technical director in suits on the day of the show, let them know. If you want them in staff shirts, put them in the count when ordering. Often they are overlooked when ordering show uniforms.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800080; text-decoration: underline;\">Finding the right production company for great events</span></strong></span></h2>\r\nNow that you know a bit more about to work with a production company, how do you find the right one? It’s hard to evaluate someone if you don’t know how to do their job, but knowing what <a href=\"https://strategic.events/right-answers-come-asking-right-questions/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">questions</a> to ask goes a long way in creating great events.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/production3.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1650\" title=\"Some planners focus only on what goes on outside the ballroom; if it plugs in or lights up, we don’t want to know about it. True, planners have great events\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/production3-300x193.png\" alt=\"Some planners focus only on what goes on outside the ballroom; if it plugs in or lights up, we don’t want to know about it. True, planners have plenty of details for great events.\" width=\"603\" height=\"388\" /></a></span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Ask planners who produce similar programs which companies they use. Referrals go a long way for all parties involved and can reduce the amount of time you spend vetting unknown companies.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Review the company’s portfolio. If the website has photos of weddings and large parties and you’re producing <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meetings-christy-lamagna-solution/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">corporate</a> general sessions, it likely isn’t a good fit.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Ask for references from a client who does events similar to what you’re bidding out. If you’re a not-for-profit and they are sending you blue chip client references, you may not be looking at the right company.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Ask for names of venues or hotels they recently worked in. Checking with the facility may tell you that this company was efficient and a pleasure to work with—or they may tell you that they were slow, messy and caused damage to the property.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Listen to the questions the production company team asks. You learn when you’re listening. See what they are interested in: If they ask you about your company, your executives, your goals, past challenges and what your priorities are, that’s a great start and key for great events.\r\n\r\nGo to an event they’re producing that is similar to the event you need produced. See what the feeling in the ballroom is, if doors open on time, how the production runs and how the lead planner on the program feels about the company’s performance. References are great; a live interview is better.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/production2.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-1651\" title=\"Some planners focus only on what goes on outside the ballroom; if it plugs in or lights up, we don’t want to know about it. True, planners have great events\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/production2-254x300.png\" alt=\"Some planners focus only on what goes on outside the ballroom; if it plugs in or lights up, we don’t want to know about it. True, planners have great events\" width=\"381\" height=\"450\" /></a>■</span> Get a sample budget for the event you saw or an event they show you from their portfolio. Falling in love with a stage set and lighting design only to find out you can’t afford it is a waste of time and energy.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"> ■</span> Be honest with your production point person and ask questions. You don’t know what you don’t know, so get educated. Ask if there is something you are overlooking or if they have any suggestions for you. My favorite is, “Is there something I should have asked that I didn’t?” It yields useful and interesting replies. People appreciate being asked their opinion.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Ask your potential new vendor about a show they produced that they are very proud of—and why. The answer may be insightful.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">■</span> Trust your instincts. It’s all about relationships; make sure that the production company you choose fits your company or organization\'s culture, not just your budget. The <a href=\"https://strategic.events/essential-pillars-strategic-meetings/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planning process</a> is a long one and having the right people on the team is an essential component to a successful show. If you have a good rapport with your new vendor, it will make for great events and a much easier process.\r\n\r\nOne other thing: Great events require great production. The crew works tirelessly behind the scenes and is often an afterthought. You don’t see those who are literally behind the curtains. Make sure you schedule coffee and a hot breakfast for them, feed them something warm for lunch and set dinner for them if they are working into the night. Be aware of the hours they are keeping and allow room in your budget for a second shift, if necessary. These are the people responsible for making sure your show flows smoothly, so give them the same consideration you do to the other members of your team. The production crew is often the unsung hero of a show. Great events require great production. Make those hardworking folks a priority and the benefits will be tenfold.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Teaming Up For Great Events, Great Events, Event Planning, Strategic Events, Strategic Planners, Event Planners, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Strategic Events, Event Solutions</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"https://eventsolutions.com/\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1395 size-full\" title=\"Event Solutions\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Event-Solutions_170_wide.jpg\" alt=\"Event Solutions\" width=\"170\" height=\"58\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Teaming Up for Great Events - A Guide to Working with Event Producers','','publish','open','open','','teaming-up-for-great-events-event-producers','','','2018-01-24 17:23:00','2018-01-24 17:23:00','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=537',0,'post','',0),(539,1,'2016-04-13 17:41:09','2016-04-13 17:41:09','[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=\".vc_custom_1516721026197{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}\"]\r\n<h2 class=\"byline\">Gratuity Guidelines for Meeting Planners</h2>\r\n<h3>Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM</h3>\r\n<p class=\"byline\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Tips to take the stress out of gratuity and tipping</span></strong></p>\r\n<p class=\"byline\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Tips-1.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">View this chart larger by clicking here</a></p>\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Tips-1.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-1503\" title=\"Tips to take the stress out of gratuity and tipping for meeting planners. Include a gratuities line in your budget so you arrive on site with appropriate funds. Write a standard gratuity letter before the meeting, once on site, insert the person’s name, and gratuity cash amount. Gratuity Guidelines for Meeting Planners\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Tips-1-215x300.png\" alt=\"Tips to take the stress out of gratuity and tipping for meeting planners. Include a gratuities line in your budget so you arrive on site with appropriate funds. Write a standard gratuity letter before the meeting, once on site, insert the person’s name, and gratuity cash amount. Gratuity Guidelines for Meeting Planners\" width=\"346\" height=\"483\" /></a>\r\n\r\n1. Include a gratuities line in your budget so you arrive on site with appropriate funds.\r\n\r\n2. Write a standard gratuity letter before the meeting and, once on site, insert the person’s name and gratuity amount.\r\n\r\n3. Create a spreadsheet with space to list the people you tipped, their titles, and how much they received.\r\n\r\n4. Ask whether the hotel will do a “paid out” to the master or if you have to do a “paid in” before arriving, so you have cash on hand.\r\n\r\n5. Confirm that the hotel has safety deposit boxes for your cash. If it doesn’t, get the cash on the last day of the program.\r\n\r\n6. Confirm that hotel employees can accept cash. If they cannot, you may want to give a gift in line with the cash gratuity you would have given.\r\n\r\n7. Tell your convention services manager that you need the names and titles of all the people associated with your program, as well as the number of housemen assigned to your program, so you don’t forget anyone.\r\n\r\n8. For exceptional service, consider writing a letter to the general manager or to a corporate vice president.\r\n\r\n9. When deciding who should receive gratuities, ask your team whom they want to include and why. There are many people on your team who have worked on the program and they may have additions to your “must thank” list.\r\n\r\n10. Remember that gratuities are earned. You do not have to offer them to those who did simply what they were expected to do, nor do you have to offer a gratuity simply out of obligation. Also, when determining the amount of the gratuity, consider the number of days and hours the person worked on the event.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingsnet.com/\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1342 size-full\" title=\"MeetingsNet\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/MeetingsNet.png\" alt=\"MeetingsNet\" width=\"170\" height=\"33\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]','Gratuity Guidelines for Meeting Planners','','publish','open','open','','gratuity-guidelines-meeting-planners','','','2018-01-23 15:27:17','2018-01-23 15:27:17','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=539',0,'post','',2),(543,1,'2016-04-13 18:01:14','2016-04-13 18:01:14','<h2>Budgeting Oversights</h2>\r\n<h3>By Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM</h3>\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>When budgeting avoid the following 7 things at all costs</strong></span>\r\n\r\n<strong>1. Forgetting that history repeats itself—</strong>Historical data is valuable. If you don’t track how much regular or decaf coffee your group drinks, whether or not they eat breakfast, if they prefer beer or wine, how can you plan your meals and allocate your food budget correctly? Ask the hotel to confirm how much of each item ordered was consumed, so you have a starting point for next year.\r\n\r\n<strong><img class=\"alignright wp-image-2008\" title=\"Christy Lamagna shares her budgeting oversights and when budgeting to avoid the following 7 things at all costs. Forgetting that history repeats itself—Historical data is valuable.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/3OEXFDXO6K-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Christy Lamagna shares her budgeting oversights and when budgeting to avoid the following 7 things at all costs. Forgetting that history repeats itself—Historical data is valuable.\" width=\"377\" height=\"251\" />2. Paying for what you didn’t get—</strong>First of all, ask for water, soda, or other bottled drinks to be charged on consumption. Then create a consumption sheet to track what was put out at each break, during the refresh, and how much was sent back at the end of each function.\r\n\r\n<strong>3. Being too shy to ask—</strong>Two things to keep in mind: If you don’t ask, you don’t get, and everything is negotiable. For example: Ask that iced tea be poured at all place settings at lunch and that it be complimentary. You can provide soda for those who specifically request it, but you will still save a bundle.\r\n\r\n<strong>4. Thinking there won’t be any surprises—</strong>Not building a contingency into every budget you create is a huge mistake. Things happen on site; be ready for them.\r\n\r\n<strong>5. Overlooking extra charges—</strong>Hotels add steep service and tax charges to your food and beverage spend. Don’t forget to add that line item in your budget or build it into each meal cost. Adding 30 percent to your line items after the budget has been approved is painful.\r\n\r\n<strong>6. Not allowing for attrition—</strong>Whether your audience is internal or external, you may have to face attrition charges. Plan for it by building in a line item for attrition on 10 percent over and above your slip allowance.\r\n\r\n<strong>7. Taking things for granted—</strong>For example, you’d think in-house audiovisual costs would be lower than using an outside production company, but that’s not always the case.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Budgeting Oversights, Budgeting, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Strategic Events, MeetingsNet</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.meetingsnet.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1342 size-full\" title=\"MeetingsNet\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/MeetingsNet.png\" alt=\"MeetingsNet\" width=\"170\" height=\"33\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Budgeting Oversights','','publish','open','open','','budgeting-oversights','','','2018-01-23 15:20:46','2018-01-23 15:20:46','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=543',0,'post','',0),(546,1,'2016-04-18 15:54:22','2016-04-18 15:54:22','<h2>Teambuilding Events - The Energizing Path to Engaged Employees</h2>\r\n<h3>By Stella Johnson</h3>\r\n\"Teambuilding is an early indicator of economic recovery. That is, as soon as the corporate cuts are done, my phone starts ringing off the hook in order to help companies rebuild,” says CEO John Chen of Seattle, WA-based Geoteaming, an innovative teambuilding company. And recovery or not, Chen adds, “As long as a company is in business and has at least two employees, they need teambuilding activities to get the most value of one constant, paid resource — their employees.”\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-1635\" title=\"As long as a company is in business and has at least two employees, they need teambuilding activities to get the most value of one constant, paid resource: employees. Teambuilding events leave attendees thinking about positive things to take back to the office afterward and are the energizing path to engaged employees.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/teambuilding-300x211.png\" alt=\"As long as a company is in business and has at least two employees, they need teambuilding activities to get the most value of one constant, paid resource: employees. Teambuilding events leave attendees thinking about positive things to take back to the office afterward and are the energizing path to engaged employees.\" width=\"395\" height=\"278\" />Let’s make that engaged employees because, according to Gallup Inc., engaged workers are the heroes that drive performance outcomes for companies. They are more productive, more profitable, more customer-focused, practice safer work habits and are more stable.\r\n\r\nGallup suggests that in the best organizations, engagement is not just a human resources initiative but a strategic foundation for the way they do business.\r\n\r\nExperts and planners agree. For example, Susan Cain, Ed.D., a partner at Chicago-based Corporate Learning Institute suggests teambuilding activities give us the opportunity to “hit the rest button and rebound, regroup, rethink, engage, enhance, rebuild and remotivate.”\r\n\r\nChristy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM, president of <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meetings-christy-lamagna-solution/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Strategic Meetings</a> &amp; Events located in northern New Jersey, is a proponent of teambuilding. Lamagna witnessed time and again how teambuilding activities expanded the horizons of entry level employees, staff members and management officials when she served as the vice president of events and operations for the Cendant Corporation and directed trade shows and events at the Ziff Davis Publishing Company.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://strategic.events/meetings-podcast/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lamagna says</a>, “Teambuilding events at meetings leave attendees thinking about a lot of positive things to take back to the office afterwards.”\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Teambuilding and Technology: Perfect Together</strong></span></h2>\r\nChen states that connecting current technologies with teambuilding events results in the greatest of all outcomes. Chen, a Meeting Professionals International Supplier of the Year award recipient (2010) and one of Training magazine’s Top Young Trainers (2008), is the founder of Geoteaming, which provides teambuilding experiences that combine the latest technologies with outdoor adventure to create a high-tech treasure hunt.\r\n\r\nChen’s company has created more than 950 high-tech teambuilding events for more than 50,000 people for such companies as Microsoft (where he worked for 10 years), Booz Allen Hamilton, U.S. Bancorp and more.\r\n\r\nAt a national conference, Chen introduced for the first time TweetTeams or Twitter-based teambuilding. From that point, he claims technology “magic” was born. “More than 120 people attended this session, and many remarked that I opened new ideas on how they could use social media for their own teambuilding events,” he says. “And then, a representative from John Wiley &amp; Sons approached me and asked me if I wanted to write a book on digital teambuilding games.”\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-1637\" title=\"As long as a company is in business and has at least two employees, they need teambuilding activities to get the most value of one constant, paid resource: employees. Teambuilding events leave attendees thinking about positive things to take back to the office afterward and are the energizing path to engaged employees.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/christy1-300x117.png\" alt=\"As long as a company is in business and has at least two employees, they need teambuilding activities to get the most value of one constant, paid resource: employees. Teambuilding events leave attendees thinking about positive things to take back to the office afterward and are the energizing path to engaged employees.\" width=\"482\" height=\"188\" />(Chen’s new book, 50 Digital TeamBuilding Games: Fast, Fun Meeting Openers, Group Activities and Adventures using Social Media, Smart Phones, GPS, Tablets, and More (Wiley, 2012) is due out in May.)\r\n\r\nThe rewards of successful teambuilding are great, says Chen who believes that technology can enhance the process. “If you have the technology, you can engage in teambuilding at any time, from anywhere in the world, without the expense and time to travel. In addition, you can engage in digital teambuilding events, live, to inspire more online interaction when you’re not face-to-face. You can open or close meetings with these initiatives, too. Best of all, when properly executed, your group can reap the rewards of increased communication, trust and results,” he says.\r\n\r\nOne of the Geoteaming’s many popular programs is Goose Chase, a cellphone photo scavenger hunt using GPS, Web-enabled cellphones and digital cameras, which can be executed anywhere around the world. Participants download an app and log into a corporate customized photo scavenger hunt. Then, the teams are off on their mission, to gather photographic evidence of whatever is required of the hunt and upload it. Competition is spurred by real-time Facebook updates so each team knows its place in the contest.\r\n\r\nGoose Chase participants learn how to gain group consensus quickly, see new leaders emerge and create bonding among team members. Other benefits include learning new technology skills to bring back to the office, building new relationships that develop trust and create results, and improved morale.\r\n\r\nOmni Bedford Springs Resort in Bedford, PA, also offers geocaching teambuilding programs. Groups use GPS navigation tools to create an advanced scavenger hunt through the resort’s 2,000+ acres. Groups can also bond during paintball competitions, glow-in-the dark putting contests, bonfires, beach Segway tours, nature hikes, kayaking excursions, cooking lessons, tennis clinics and fishing charters.\r\n\r\nThe Dallas, TX-headquartered Omni Hotels &amp; Resorts, a portfolio of 50 hotels and resorts in leading business gateways across North America, features teambuilding programs in many of its resorts and convention properties.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>How to Teach Hostile Groups to Play Nice</strong></span></h2>\r\nLamagna’s most recent teambuilding experience was a horse of a different color. She was tasked with transforming a company that was “very disgruntled internally.” Three strong divisions were facing a reorganization, and no one was happy about it as many were losing authority, control and status as a result of the merger to one entity.\r\n\r\nLamagna describes the assignment: “We were asked to bring these executives together and get them to interact, collaborate and, yes, play nicely. We understood the challenge we were tasked with and were clear on the corporate objective. We realized that the true end goal, even if the client could not articulate it, was to have the executives realize that the good of the organization was the most important thing and that their individual agendas had to be reframed to include working in an environment that included others.”\r\n\r\nFrom the start, they were a hostile group. “They were angry, they felt justified for being angry, and most of all they were content to stay that way,” Lamagna adds.\r\n\r\nTo encourage the attendees to think outside the box, Lamagna decided on a corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity involving underprivileged children. First, members of the group were asked to build and paint a wall of cubby holes but were left in the dark as to why until halfway through the project.\r\n\r\nAccording to Lamagna, they showed a <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-meetings-events-global-corporate-event-management/strategic-event-planning-resources/strategic-planning-movement/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">short video</a> about a local family who had 16 high-risk foster children in their small home — a family who would use these brightly painted cubby holes to store the children’s shoes, gloves and hats. “We then gave them the names of each child so they could customize each cubby. When they saw that what they were building was part of a much larger plan that went beyond them and their individual agendas, and that it wasn’t just about teambuilding as it was about doing something good for someone else, they shifted their stance and became enthusiastic about what they were doing as a team,” Lamagna adds.\r\n\r\n“When the project was finished, we took the group to lunch, which was a refreshing break for everyone to discuss and review what had been accomplished. When they returned to the room where they had built the wall, they found we had put puppets in each cubby hole for each child. The kids and the foster parents were then brought in to meet the team that made it all happen and to see their new cubby wall, with their names on it and with the gifts inside.”\r\n\r\nThe end result was positive. Lamagna says the once disgruntled executives, who were now sitting on the floor playing games with the children and their puppets, saw themselves in a different light. They bonded with their fellow executives, and altered their egos in positive ways that mattered for the company and a greater cause.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Teambuilding as Training Tool Squeeze</strong></span></h2>\r\nIn Holdings Inc. is a restaurant group of breakfast eateries about to open its fourth operation. Family-owned and operated, president Misty Young explains, The Squeeze In is very laid back and comfortable and has an easygoing vibe. We like it that way and work hard to create the feeling. The difference is that once the doors are closed for the day, we’re as focused as Apple in our strategic efforts and relentless pursuit of creating a wow experience for our guests and our associates.”\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-1638\" title=\"As long as a company is in business and has at least two employees, they need teambuilding activities to get the most value of one constant, paid resource: employees. Teambuilding events leave attendees thinking about positive things to take back to the office afterward and are the energizing path to engaged employees.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Friends.png\" alt=\"As long as a company is in business and has at least two employees, they need teambuilding activities to get the most value of one constant, paid resource: employees. Teambuilding events leave attendees thinking about positive things to take back to the office afterward and are the energizing path to engaged employees.\" width=\"357\" height=\"353\" />Young uses a variety of teambuilding training programs for its general managers. “Before we took them on a special four-day retreat at corporate headquarters in Brookings, OR, we had the three managers rotate through each other’s restaurants for a full day’s shift, with the special assignment to bring back from that experience three new ideas and observations of each other’s restaurant to the retreat.”\r\n\r\nFor instance, the company sought praise where it was due, something to be improved, and new ideas they could take back to their own restaurant. Since the managers were driven to the corporate retreat in Brookings, a drive that took 7½ hours, the time was spent listening to popular audiobooks on leadership.\r\n\r\nThe idea was that later on at the retreat they could spend time discussing the ideas presented in the books and how they might incorporate them at personal and professional levels, as well as make their managing styles more effective and uniform — one of the desired effects of the corporate outing,” notes Young.\r\n\r\nAnd, at a later point in the meeting, each manager also had to submit a onepage book report answering these basic questions about the audiobook: What were the three biggest concepts learned from this book?\r\n\r\nWhat are the three ways you will be able to use this material meaningfully with your associates? How will this book make you a better leader?\r\n\r\nLater, there was room for open-ended questions and comments. The biggest benefit we’ve found is that all the managers now have a uniform frame of reference and way of discussing concepts and ideas they know, understand and can use with confidence,” says Young.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-1639\" title=\"As long as a company is in business and has at least two employees, they need teambuilding activities to get the most value of one constant, paid resource: employees. Teambuilding events leave attendees thinking about positive things to take back to the office afterward and are the energizing path to engaged employees.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/misty1-300x114.png\" alt=\"As long as a company is in business and has at least two employees, they need teambuilding activities to get the most value of one constant, paid resource: employees. Teambuilding events leave attendees thinking about positive things to take back to the office afterward and are the energizing path to engaged employees.\" width=\"458\" height=\"174\" />While on the retreat, the Squeeze In group dined at various restaurants such as casual breakfast places, pizza parlors and fine-dining establishments. “And, because we’re restaurant people and secret-shop our own restaurants and managers, we had our three attendees complete a rating sheet with every aspect of the service they experienced for six separate meals,” Young adds.\r\n\r\nThe attendees rated everything from curb appeal to how they were greeted upon entering. They also rated timing, food presentation and overall cleanliness of the establishment — everything that could be rated at a restaurant from the customer’s perspective, they rated.”\r\n\r\nSince the goal was to get everyone to see the bigger picture, particularly during a crucial period of expansion, Young believes these exercises helped unite the managers.\r\n\r\n“It was fun to watch that happen. The objective was for them to really understand what they’re rated on and why it matters. And they got it, too, big time,” she says.\r\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Toot Your Own Horn!</strong></span></h2>\r\nChen reminds <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-event-planning-profession/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">corporate meeting planners</a> to toot their own horns. “Share your success stories,” he says. “After a teambuilding event, if you are able to create a tangible story of success, make sure to broadcast it internally and externally if possible and talk about the key factors that made that success possible,” he urges.\r\n\r\nFor instance, one of Chen’s corporate clients had a flagship store that operated as five separate stores under one roof. After completing just one of Geoteaming’s day-long, customized teambuilding events that focuses on cross-team collaboration, the five departments worked together and came up with some new and successful ideas.\r\n\r\nThis happened 10 years ago and, even in the economy that existed in 2002, they were able to hit an aggressive multimillion dollar sales <a href=\"https://strategic.events/goal-setting-part-1/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">goal</a> because of this one simple idea. This success story is still lore today, and they now have years of cross-team collaboration experiences behind them and many more stories of what works and what doesn’t.”\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Teambuilding, Teambuilding Strategy, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Strategic Events, Corporate &amp; Incentive Travel</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://www.themeetingmagazines.com/corporate-incentive-travel/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-1842 size-full\" title=\"Corporate &amp; Incentive Travel \" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/corporate_incentive_170.jpg\" alt=\"Corporate &amp; Incentive Travel\" width=\"170\" height=\"55\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Teambuilding Events - The Energizing Path to Engaged Employees','','publish','open','open','','teambuilding-events-energizing-engaged-employees','','','2018-01-24 17:13:25','2018-01-24 17:13:25','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=546',0,'post','',0),(548,1,'2016-04-18 15:55:07','2016-04-18 15:55:07','<h2>Anatomy of a Meeting Planner</h2>\r\n<h3>By James S. Rota and Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CSTM</h3>\r\nIf you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen and doing it all on five hours of sleep with not much more than a granola bar you ate standing up sometime within the past 24 hours, welcome to the wonderfully exciting, unpredictable, rewarding world of an event and meeting planner.\r\n\r\nDid you know that as recently as three decades ago, a <a href=\"https://strategic.events/how-to-become-strategic-planner-change-future/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">career as a meeting planner</a> was not considered a “real” profession? Sure, meetings and conferences were held, and people were paid to plan them, but the industry as we know it today did not exist. Over the years, the industry has taken shape and has become a <a href=\"https://strategic.events/pink-collar-progression/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">thriving career choice</a> for ambitious, energetic people worldwide. Industry certifications have been created, adding credibility to the field, and colleges around the country have been adopting meeting, event and hospitality degrees and certifications to their curriculums.\r\n\r\nAccording to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employment of meeting and convention planners is expected to grow 16 percent over the <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planners-face-challenge-rising-attendance-costs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2008-18</a> decade, faster than the average for all occupations. As businesses and organizations become increasingly international, meetings and conventions become even more important.”\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-1598\" title=\"If you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen, welcome to the, unpredictable, rewarding life of a meeting planner.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Fingerprint1.png\" alt=\"If you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen, welcome to the, unpredictable, rewarding life of a meeting planner.\" width=\"336\" height=\"221\" />The American <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planning-industry-needs-strategy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meetings and events industry</a>, directly and indirectly, supports 6.3 million jobs, generating almost $1 trillion a year in direct, indirect and induced spending. The industry’s direct $106 billion contribution to the U.S. GDP is greater than the amount generated by auto manufacturing ($78 billion); performing arts, spectator sports and museums ($71 billion); and information and data processing services ($76 billion). If indirect and induced spending numbers are included, meeting and event production’s total annual contribution to the GDP is $458 billion. These findings are part of a study titled “The Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy,” conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and commissioned by an alliance of 15 travel, meeting and hospitality organizations.\r\n\r\nMany outside the field imagine that our days are full of glamorous travel, parties and five-star hotel accommodations, but those in the field know there is a tremendous amount of work and responsibility behind every program. <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-meetings-events-global-corporate-event-management/mastermind-corporate-meetings-management/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What we do</a> takes talent, dedication, creativity and a relentless commitment to delivering a successful experience. We sacrifice nights, weekends, family gatherings and our social lives to make sure things get done right.<strong> Event and meeting planners are the people behind the curtain making everything happen.</strong>\r\n\r\nThe next time you work a program, realize that you are wearing the badge of honor. It’s that peel-off, self-adhering label or plastic case attached to a lanyard that announces your name and your event <a href=\"https://strategic.events/become-strategic-planner/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planner</a> title to the world.\r\n\r\nThink about all the subtitles that come with being a planner. We are magicians — for magically making budgets work. We are problem-solvers because we find <a href=\"https://strategic.events/strategic-steps-achieve-business-goals/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">solutions</a> for every challenge we encounter. We are negotiators because we are tasked with reading and understanding the many contracts we must address.\r\n\r\nAdd to the list relationship counselor, interior designer, stylist, miracle worker, dietician, juggler, motivator, mediator, <a href=\"https://strategic.events/site-visit-online-instead-traveling/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel agent</a>, and our favorite, prophet, because we must be able to see into the future and predict the outcome of all that’s been planned!\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h2>Case study: Creating an eco-friendly event</h2>\r\n<span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><strong><img class=\"alignright wp-image-1600\" title=\"If you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen, welcome to the, unpredictable, rewarding life of a meeting planner.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/House-1-300x72.png\" alt=\"If you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen, welcome to the, unpredictable, rewarding life of a meeting planner.\" width=\"420\" height=\"101\" /></strong></span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Event:</strong> Intel Developer Forum in Beijing\r\n\r\n<strong>Organizer</strong>: Lou Cozzo (<a href=\"https://twitter.com/IntelSWEvents\">@IntelSWevents</a>)\r\n\r\n<strong>Goal:</strong> Reduce environmental impact and educate attendees about sustainability. “Having a successful business is not just the result of good earnings, it\'s about having triple-bottom-line success by thriving in all three areas: environmental impact, social responsibility and economic benefits,” Cozzo says. “Driving sustainable events is no different than designing the next power-efficient chip. It all counts.”\r\n\r\n<strong>Idea:</strong> Use venues and hotels with strong sustainability practices within walking distance of each other and convenient to public transportation. Install recycling bins on-site, replace water bottles with water cooler stations, use energy-efficient LED lighting during general session and hire local staff. Minimize printing, reduce water usage and reuse as many materials as possible.\r\n\r\n<strong>Execution:</strong> Cozzo and his staff included minimum requirements for sustainable events in their RFPs and contracts. They chose the China National Convention Center, which has energy-efficient cooling and water-reuse systems in place, to host the event. Only hotels with comprehensive green policies were selected to house attendees. Pre-event communication strategies educated attendees about the importance of reusing hotel linens to reduce water usage and instructed them to recycle conference badges as well as bottles, paper, cardboard, wood and carpet on-site. Reusable “pod” booths were compacted before shipping to reduce carbon emissions, and staging was reused throughout the event.\r\n\r\n<strong>Result:</strong> Using local equipment saved 103 tons of carbon emissions (equal to taking 21 cars off the road for a year). Using water coolers saved the equivalent of 83,200 cups of tea. All told, the event recycled 2,000 pounds of waste, which is equal to the weight of six giant pandas. “The misconception today is that it costs more to implement a green event,” Cozzo says. “Being green is all about being smarter about how you plan your event. Break the status quo and try something different. Your audience will notice, and it will be good for your reputation and the planet.” PYM would like to thank Meeting Professionals International and writer Ian Whiteling for sharing this case study with us. For more CSR case studies, visit<a href=\"http://mpiweb.org\"> mpiweb.org.</a>\r\n<h2>DITCH YOUR BINDER AND EMBRACE THE iPAD</h2>\r\nAny event professional will tell you that the binder they carry on-site is their lifeline. It\'s key to remaining organized and getting the job done. As a CMP and CMM who’s worked as an event planner for 13 years, I have organized small and large events. Currently, I work on an annual event that lasts five days and has more than 9,000 attendees, so you can imagine how big my binder gets. This got me to thinking about how I could use an iPad in place of my binder to save paper, money and — quite literally — my back. By Stormi Boyd, CMP, CMM\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2337\" title=\"If you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen, welcome to the, unpredictable, rewarding life of a meeting planner.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/KCIU8RWM09-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"If you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen, welcome to the, unpredictable, rewarding life of a meeting planner.\" width=\"383\" height=\"254\" />When asked, most event professionals say they could not survive without their binders. They feel paper is faster and more reliable. The benefits of using an iPad, however, are both logistical and economical. The less you print, the more environmentally friendly you become. And the more money you save.\r\n\r\nDon\'t believe me? Let’s convert this idea into numbers. One document I use is 24 pages, which had 34 versions. If I printed this document 34 times, I\'d have 816 pages. A ream of paper is 500 pages. It takes about 0.6 percent of a tree to generate one ream of paper. Let’s say there are 11 people on my events team who printed this 24-page document 34 times. That’s 8,976 printed pages, or 16 reams of paper, or one entire tree.\r\n\r\nA ream of paper costs, on average, $7.50. Multiply that by the 16 reams of paper we just used, and you can see that we\'d save $120 by NOT printing one document and all its permutations. Think of all the money and paper you’d save if you made this switch with your entire binder.\r\n\r\nAfraid that finding something on an iPad will be slower than using your binder? I have found that I not only save time by using my iPad, but that this technology is very reliable. How many times have you written something important on a Post-it note and then lost it? Yep, it\'s happened to all of us. With the “notes” features on an iPad, you can jot a quick note (or speak it), then email it to yourself, a vendor or team member. No more lost scraps of paper!\r\n\r\nThere are literally thousands of applications available to do just about anything you need. A partial list of the ones I use include:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><strong><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-1602\" title=\"If you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen, welcome to the, unpredictable, rewarding life of a meeting planner.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/GreenBox1.png\" alt=\"If you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen, welcome to the, unpredictable, rewarding life of a meeting planner.\" width=\"256\" height=\"417\" /></span>Quick Office —</strong> View, create, and edit office documents.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>Evernote —</strong> Take notes and put them into folders with the ability to email.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>Dropbox</strong> — Allows storage of documents in a single “folder” accessible from any device.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>Reminders</strong> — To-do lists (comes with the iPad).</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>Iannotate pdf</strong> — For signing contracts, changing diagrams, putting notes on documents and PDFs.</li>\r\n 	<li><strong>Flight Aware</strong> — Track flights of VIPs /presenters to see if they have arrived or been delayed.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThere are many more that you might find useful, so don’t be afraid to experiment and ask your industry friends what works for them.\r\n\r\nThe technology is constantly evolving. Imagine what might be developed for us once meeting planners embrace the technology. I’d love to see an app that uses the iPad’s camera to show you in real time how a ballroom would look with a classroom set, or banquet rounds, or how a certain screen size works in a room. This type of interactivity is coming and it’s coming soon.\r\n\r\nNow ask yourself this question: Can your paper binder do that?\r\n\r\nAs a meeting planner, you\'ll learn the <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meetings-christy-lamagna-solution/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planning process</a> has many components. The irony is that a meeting planner spends most of their time re-planning, un-planning and contingency planning because so much changes along the way. One of the most important things to remember is that no matter how perfectly it looks on paper, it won’t turn out exactly as you’ve imagined. It never does and that’s OK. What’s critical is that we remain flexible and continue to adjust each step of the way.\r\n\r\nSometimes the changes are easy to navigate and, although unexpected, make for a better program. Other times, Murphy’s Law takes over and it’s our job as a <a href=\"https://strategic.events/meeting-planners-biggest-challenges/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meeting planner</a> to manage the chaos and keep things moving forward no matter what.\r\n\r\nConsider this example. We once had a welcome reception beach party planned for a large program in Miami. The weather forecast was sunny, warm and bright. The décor had been designed down to the placement of throw pillows on the outdoor furniture and where the shells would be scattered on the buffet tables. The morning of the event, the design team sprung into action. Palm trees were lit, furniture was placed. We even had people “combing” the beach to make sure our sand was pristine and perfect. And then an unexpected guest joined us: Mother Nature. She brought some of her best friends: dark clouds, chilly breezes and rain. We had two hours before the party was to begin and we had to scramble.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1609\" title=\"If you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen, welcome to the, unpredictable, rewarding life of a meeting planner.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Fingerprint-1-300x174.png\" alt=\"If you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen, welcome to the, unpredictable, rewarding life of a meeting planner.\" width=\"764\" height=\"443\" />You can’t bring a chaise lounge indoors, nor can you take the fire pit we were to grill food on into the hotel, so not only did we have to change décor, we had to change the menu. Our ballroom could not be broken down quickly enough to host the event, so we found ourselves transforming the pre-function space on the fly.\r\n\r\nThankfully we had a network of wonderful vendors and a strong relationship with each of them. The florist came in and redesigned the flowers. The decorator arrived with new furniture, and the chef redesigned the menu, how it would be served and where it all would be placed. The event bore no resemblance to what we had spent months creating. We went from a stylish beach party to a sophisticated, Asian-inspired cocktail reception.\r\n\r\nAlong the way, we managed the client’s expectations, understandable disappointment and addressed the need to communicate the new plan to 180 guests. And we did it all without looking panicked. When all was said and done, the look on our client’s face when she saw the indoor redesign for the first time was of pure amazement. Knowing we pulled it off was rewarding, but seeing the client doing the rain dance as it poured outside was priceless.\r\n\r\nIf you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen and doing it all on five hours of sleep and not much more than a granola bar you ate standing up sometime within the past 24 hours, welcome to the wonderfully exciting, unpredictable, rewarding world of an event and meeting planner.\r\n\r\nYou’ll come across many titles for what we do: conference coordinator, convention planner, special event coordinator, meeting planner, meeting manager, <a href=\"https://strategic.events/why-planners-need-to-get-strategic/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strategic planner</a>, event strategist, meeting strategist, and more. Regardless of the title we hold, we all share some basic characteristics that make us successful. If you are considering a career in meeting planning, or find that you have been tasked with <a href=\"https://strategic.events/essential-pillars-strategic-meetings/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planning meetings</a> in addition to your other duties, prepare for a wonderful adventure!\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-1613\" title=\"If you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen, welcome to the, unpredictable, rewarding life of a meeting planner.\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Fingerprint2.png\" alt=\"If you like adrenaline rushes, working under pressure, making the impossible happen, welcome to the, unpredictable, rewarding life of a meeting planner.\" width=\"303\" height=\"406\" />Not sure if you’re right for this field? If you see your skills in this list, you are off to a great start to becoming a meeting planner: desire to please people and make things happen; natural multitasker; problem solver; <a href=\"https://strategic.events/marketing-communications-strategies/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">creative thinker</a>; ability to lead others and work well in a team; flexible and open-minded; calm under pressure; clear, concise communicator in both the spoken and written word; ability to visualize and then create a concept; not afraid of a challenge; and a desire to work hard.\r\n\r\nNot all planners have all these skills and there are many other traits that make up the profile of a meeting planner. Regardless of where you’re at in your <a href=\"https://strategic.events/event-strategist/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planning career</a>, there are a few eternal truths that you need to know and follow without fail. Some may come naturally, some may take practice, but all are essential to your career advancement.\r\n<h3>Here’s a little meeting planner parting advice:</h3>\r\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Don’t be afraid to ask questions.</strong> Make sure you ask the right ones, as well. Ask open-ended, <a href=\"https://strategic.events/right-answers-come-asking-right-questions/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">thought-provoking questions</a>. The more you know, the deeper your curiosity becomes. Ask. Learn. Ask something else. Each time you ask, you are expanding your knowledge base. The answers are the solid foundation upon which your event will be built.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Communication is key. </strong>So many of our interactions are with people we don’t meet until we get on-site and much of the information we exchange is done electronically. It’s crucial to be specific when stating what you need, describing your vision and following up on details. It’s also important to pick up the phone and talk to people when you can. Email is convenient. Live conversation builds relationships.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Checklists and timelines are critical. </strong>You need to create and use a definitive and specific set of checklists, timelines and recaps to guarantee that <a href=\"https://strategic.events/plan-meeting-first-question-ask/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">all parties are moving forward</a>, aware of deadlines and up to date on event details. The more that is written down and recorded, the more likely the event will be successful.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Network.</strong> Talk to everyone. Listen to their stories, offer assistance where you can and stay connected with as many people as possible. Use an online networking agent like LinkedIn to connect and build your network. No matter how many people you know, you can always benefit by knowing more.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Work with others. </strong>No meeting planner can do it alone. You need to rely on the network you’ve built. Rely on it for support and be willing to lend your talents where needed. Surround yourself with others who are at the top of their game. Your support team can bring a fresh perspective on each member’s area of expertise. In planning, the whole is almost always greater than the sum of its parts. Collaborate!</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Be flexible. </strong>Once you <a href=\"https://strategic.events/key-strategic-poe/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">make a plan</a> and have it almost perfect, get ready to change it. And change it again. If you cling to your original plan, you won’t succeed. “Shift happens” and you have to shift right along with it as a meeting planner.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Stay current.</strong> Never stop learning. Knowledge is power. Attend seminars. Earn industry certifications. Subscribe to industry-related media. As a meeting planner always be on the quest for innovation in each area of the planning process. Use these tools to set trends and reinforce your reputation as an authority.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Be honest.</strong> Be true to your values and your company’s values and never lose sight of either. Some situations are black and white and easy to navigate. Others are gray. Taking gifts for bringing a piece of business to a hotel that otherwise would not have earned it, is always the wrong thing to do and easy to identify as inappropriate. What if you are offered a family trip to a country that you know nothing about, but know your company or client will never visit? That’s when you need to do a gut check. The bottom line: if your boss was standing next to you, what decision would you make? Let that be your compass, and you likely won’t go wrong.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Give back.</strong> Lend your talents to an organization of your choice. Giving back is beneficial — and not just for the recipients. Research has shown that the adage, “It’s better to give than to receive” is true. With time, giving back will establish you as a true professional with sound ethics. There are few things more rewarding than being recognized in the industry as a leader, a motivator and someone who can be trusted.</span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Tags: Anatomy of a Meeting Planner, Meeting Planner, Event Planning, Strategic Events, Strategic Planners, Corporate Meetings, Corporate Events, Strategic Events, Plan Your Meetings</em>\r\n\r\n[mk_mini_callout]<a href=\"http://planyourmeetings.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-398 size-full\" title=\"Plan Your Meetings\" src=\"https://strategic.events/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Plan-Your-Meetings_250.jpg\" alt=\"Plan Your Meetings\" width=\"250\" height=\"81\" /></a>[/mk_mini_callout]','Anatomy of a Meeting Planner','','publish','open','open','','anatomy-meeting-planner','','','2018-01-25 23:49:05','2018-01-25 23:49:05','',0,'https://strategic.events/?p=548',0,'post','',0),