Expert Advice

Running Your Business

What have you done for your customer lately?
12/13/09
The economy is beginning to recover and all the customers that cancelled their meetings or used internal resources to plan a scaled-back meeting will call and it will be business as usual, right? I'm afraid not. Necessity has forced your customers to...
Personal Branding --What do you bring to the table?
11/30/09
Coke or Pepsi? McDonald's or Burger King? Wal-Mart or Target? Every day, we as consumers make the decision to go or not go to certain stores, restaurants, to buy or not buy certain products, etc. Our choices are based on many little things that add up to...

Corporate Planning

CSR: Targeting the Right Project
12/9/09
CSR is here to stay and it's stronger than ever! With the meetings industry under the microscope and local community services experiencing unprecedented budget cuts, now is the perfect time to add meaning into meetings by incorporating give-back CSR...

Open Forum

Maintain Association Attendance in Difficult Times
12/7/09
As we all know we are now hitting rough times in our economy. School districts are stopping professional development. People are holding back on spending money. We all have heard that Black Friday seemed to be a success this year, but the stores were...
Protocol Practices Do Make a Difference
11/24/09
Do you know proper protocol? As event and meeting planners, we are constantly tasked with the standard practices of an event or meeting: invitees, registration, décor, F&B, etc. However, we must pay close attention to protocol practices of foreign...
Where the Boys Are
11/19/09
Several years ago a friend of mine bought a small carpet cleaning business. As a twenty-something entrepreneur with a teeny tiny marketing budget and the inability to sit still in an office for more than about 73 minutes, his plan of attack for finding...

Event Trends/New Ideas

How to Make Sure Your Meeting’s Food is Green
12/2/09
I'm often asked the question "what can we each do to make our meeting at your hotel more green?" The question might come directly from the meeting planner or from our sales and convention services group. The desired end-result is all the same - we want...

Exhibiting/Trade Shows

Greening a Global Business Conference and Expo
11/29/09
A global conference of any size entails detailed planning for location, registration, lodging, menus, exhibits and a plethora of event logistics. Now, there is much more to consider when planning for a successful event...more than delicious meals,...

Suppliers Speak

Video Projectors
11/19/09
Of all the technical misinformation in the non-technical rumor mill of our industry, the application standards of video projection seem to suffer the most. I won't mention the various wrong rules-of-thumb in order to protect the ignorant, but will rather...

Getting Started

What Type of Lighting is Right for My Event?
11/17/09
An event planner's basic planning checklist typically includes the event venue, table décor, linens, floral arrangements, favors and gifts, caterer, photographer, entertainment and bar service ... and that's just the beginning. Now for the main question...