Expert Advice

Running Your Business

Reality Check: Event Planning on TV
10/6/09
Love it or hate it, reality TV has taken over the airwaves. Television's newest genre runs the gamut from song and dance contests to shows about how ‘real' people live, but it's the event industry that serves as one of its most dominant subjects. At...
How to Find Great Volunteers
09/28/09
Finding volunteers is always a challenge. Finding volunteers to fill 900+ hours of work during a four day conference seemed near impossible. We may have had a slight advantage, being in a city known for its giving nature, but recruiting that amount of...

Open Forum

What do YOU do with your spare time?
10/5/09
When I tell people I'm a volunteer marketing advisor in my spare time they look at me like I'm crazy-"why do you want to do your job and not get paid?" is what I usually hear. Well, let me try to explain ... First, I'm not a millionaire, so I give...
You Took the Time to Think of Me
10/4/09
When I was eight years old, I sent a very belated letter to my grandmother thanking her for a birthday gift. A few days later, she called. I apologized for the lateness of my letter, but my grandmother, in typical grandmother fashion, said, "What's...

Suppliers Speak

Web Meetings Can’t Replace the Real Thing
10/2/09
A hot topic around meeting department water coolers these days is the future of face-to-face meetings. Systemic cost cutting exercises have forced companies to curtail travel and find ways to connect people using technology. This is not breaking news...

Getting Started

Hotel Sleeping Rooms and Contract Negotiation
10/1/09
As third party event planners, it is our job to negotiate on behalf of the client; to understand a program's objectives, the client's preference and a vendor's limitations. I've seen how much impact sleeping rooms have on the total budget for an event,...

Corporate Planning

Challenges with Planning Events in India
09/30/09
About two years ago when I found out I would be planning an event in Bangalore and Belgaum, India, I was excited about the opportunity to work in a new region of the world. As I began to do research I contacted my friends and colleagues to see what...
Champagne is Fine, but Beer is Better
09/27/09
Any planner who has been in the industry for more than 30 seconds has uttered the words, "So basically what they want is champagne on a beer budget." I am sure it has been happening since the first wedding planner thousands of years ago worked on the...

Exhibiting/Trade Shows

5 Ways to Get More Attention at Your Next Trade Show
09/29/09
How do you grab the attention of people walking by your booth? Or getting them to be aware of your booth before the show even starts? Here are some tips to get more attention at your next show: 1. Pre-show promotion. Target your market, send them a...
Developing Your Trade Show Presence
09/25/09
Congratulations! You have decided to become involved in a trade show experience. The next steps are: 1. Determine your objective for participating in the show2. Research the type of individuals attending the show historically3. Research what factors...