Jan 30, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
On January 19th, President Obama signed an Executive Order pinpointed to increase international travel to the United States from 3 primary countries: China, Brazil, and India. What does this initiative mean for the event meeting services industry? Here is a breakdown of the Order and how it will translate into benefits for meeting planners and suppliers. Currently, the U.S. travel and tourism industry represents 7.5 million jobs of which 1.2 million of those positions support international trav...

Jan 27, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
In Ronald Brown's book "Anticipate. The Architecture of Small Team Innovation and Product Success", he spells out the steps that we should go through in finding more customers. Many individuals think this process is a mystery, but Brown is quick to point out that customer discovery requires the 5 steps listed below. He also states as long as you are methodical in your approach, you will be successful. Here are the steps with an added bent toward the event meeting services industry...

Jan 25, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
As the saying goes, "It's tough out there." This can be especially true when it comes to morale of sales professionals who are experiencing a higher than normal rejection ratio. Many salespeople are also nervous about the job security, especially if 2011 wasn't a particularly spectacular year. As sales managers prepare to talk to the troops, here are some simple things they can do with the presentation, room setting, and environment, especially with event audio visual rental equipmen...

Jan 23, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
Training Seminars are often viewed as energy and time vacuums. Most people don't want to sit through the latest HR policy changes, software updates, or necessary prep for a product launching event. Employees would rather be doing their work at their desk or out of the office networking and prospecting. Anything but training.Of course, training is necessary in order for employees to learn and make certain they know what they are talking about, especially when speaking with prospects and customers...

Jan 20, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
In 2009, when the recession came into full tilt, many associations and corporations saw a significant drop in their annual meeting attendance. Some organizations, including the Newspaper Association of America even canceled their meeting that year. Others, like the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) saw an attendance reduction of 40 percent.  As a result, many associations knew they had to add innovation and change into their program in order to survive. At PCMA's Annua...

Jan 18, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
It seems as if tablet technology is everywhere, but for some reason, it isn't integrated into your meetings yet. So, what is holding you back? Below are common obstacles most meeting planners face when considering ipads and tablets, and here are some creative ways to overcome them. Obstacle #1: "I don't have it in the budget."This is the most common reason planners don't rent tablet PCs. Here are some ways to justify the cost, without experiencing significant cost overruns. Here they a...

Jan 13, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
On Wednesday, Fears Part 1, we tackled attendance fears (both no people or too many) and keeping the networking interesting and fresh. Today, we will help you understand how to keep your attendees there until the end of the conference and why hiring a quality event audio visual rental company is an important factor to your meeting. FEAR: Attendees will take off early. Every event organizers desires to keep the attendee excited and engaged until the bitter end. But it seems more and mor...

Jan 11, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
Every event meeting services organizer, at one point or another in their career, has woke up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night worrying endlessly about the details of an upcoming meeting. Will I be the only one there? Will people be bored out of their mind and leave? Will anyone network? Rest assured that mistakes and failures do happen, but there are many ways to put a plan together to offset or minimize those fears. Here is my fear list and what fixes can put in place to overcome...

Jan 09, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
As a meeting planner, one of my greatest angst comes with the selection of the right venue for my client. With all the new and interesting venues opening their doors in 2012, it can be downright overwhelming to whittle down the top 2 or 3 choices to present to the client. However, as we move into the new year, 6 important features come to mind and should be in any proposal you put together. They are: Must Have #1: Easy Access for Attendees We have become relatively impatient when it comes to...

Jan 06, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
As mentioned in Part I on Wednesday's post, the blog site Evenues recently posted the coming year predictions from 21 meeting leaders about everything from digital marketing to sustainability.  In Part 2 of the series, we will delve into meeting and event industry predictions.    In addition, we will share key takeaways for planners from these predictions.    MEETING INDUSTRY "I think 2013 will see the industry staying as is or a very slow incr...