Jul 29, 2011 by DeDe Mulligan
Event Planners are just crazy busy these days. No time for leisurely lunches or long sales meetings. They are doing more with less and even though the economy is on the rebound, staffing and budgets are still status quo for the most part.  However, now is the time to honker down and start focusing on your event goals. Yes, you still need to handle the logistics of the meeting, but it is vitally important to stay focused and calm. Here are some tips to avoid distraction and increase clari...

Jul 28, 2011 by DeDe Mulligan
Who would have thunk it? Borders, at one time, the largest bookselling chain, is going to be completely out of business by September 30th. 11,000 jobs gone. 1,000+ stores closed. What happened? According to Yuki Noguichi of NPR, they made a number of critical missteps and essentially killed themselves. Below is a summary of some of those mistakes and how we, in the event meeting services arena can learn from them.Borders advantage and draw was they had a huge variety of books and a superior...

Jul 25, 2011 by DeDe Mulligan
Are you having nightmares about your next meeting, conference, or convention? Are the logistics keeping you up at night? Here are some great tips to avoid chaos at your next event and keep everything running smoothly. #1: Look at Every Aspect of Your Location Is the event city easy to find? What about the venue? Does the location come up on GPS or Google Maps? What about parking? When attendees are in the meeting facility, can they easily find your location? Can attendees easily find restaurant...

Jul 22, 2011 by DeDe Mulligan
Looking for a new way to keep your presentations simple and to the point? Maybe have a contest element? Below, are 3 different, engaging techniques to keep your audience entertained and educated at the same time. In addition, there is a checklist at the end of this blog for additional ideas.TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design)TED is a non-profit founded in 1984, meant to bring together people from 3 different worlds (Technology, Entertainment, and Design). Since then, it has become an interna...

Jul 20, 2011 by DeDe Mulligan
BizBash Magazine recently wrote an article titled "The Evolution of an Industry". Below are highlights as well as some of my own thoughts about how the industry needs to change in order to be more competitive.When I started my business in 2000, the meeting and special event industry was pretty "cut and dried". Most events were cookie cutters and it was all about who could get the best deal, handle all the logistics, and make certain the Powerpoint presentation equipment worke...

Jul 18, 2011 by DeDe Mulligan
Are you considering exhibiting at a trade show? Need new ideas to make your booth extra special? The goals for your booth should be to:Draw a crowdStand out from other exhibitorsDifferentiate your company andGenerate more leads for your organization.Below are 5 techniques you can utilize to improve your visibility at your next trade show.Tip #1: Create a Plan Several Months in Advance.Address or answer the following questions before giving serious consideration to exhibiting at the next show:Why...

Jul 15, 2011 by DeDe Mulligan
   Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is conducting their World Education Congress, which will be held July 23-26 in Orlando,  in a very unusual, yet attendee focused way this year and they are hoping it pays off with attendee growth and satisfaction.In order to develop their agenda for the congress, they crowdsourced the 3-day agenda through a Meeting Madness Session Contest held in March and April. Similar to College Basketball's March Madness, this contest had 22 session...

Jul 13, 2011 by DeDe Mulligan
The speaker or set of speakers for your next meeting, conference, or educational seminar is vital to the success or failure of the gathering. The presenters set the tone for the entire meeting and often they are not vetted properly. In addition, event planners used to hire either motivational speakers or ones with great content. Nowadays, attendees want speakers that can motivate, inspire, and are deep with content knowledge. What is a meeting planner to do? Below are 5 questions that you can a...

Jul 11, 2011 by DeDe Mulligan
The pen and paper are losing the war in meetings and events across the nation. While a laptop is considered to be intrusive on a discussion table, a solution for event planners can be to rent Tablet PCs.   Here are 5 tips to make your next event, tablet friendly: If the attendees are going to be in one room for a long period of time, consider renting stands in addition to the tablets. Whether attendees are viewing video or taking a lot of notes, a stand can help give optimal viewing a...

Jul 08, 2011 by DeDe Mulligan
      In 2009 and '10 many companies, associations, and non-profits closed their event planning departments and laid the responsibility of event planning on department assistants, or employee/volunteer committees. While that sounds good in theory and might be able to work with small meetings, the truth is many larger meetings and events aren't that effective because the committee doesn't have the time or expertise to follow through on every little detail of the event. Below are s...