Mar 30, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
You have the meeting location, dates, and speakers lined up. Phew! Now onto the more intricate part of the meeting planning process, selecting ground transportation, choosing the caterer, renting audio visual equipment, and so on and so on. How do you know the good vendors from the bad ones? The best thing to do is ask around in the industry and get credible references. Here are 5 great questions to ask those references that can make you more comfortable in the selection process. Did th...

Mar 28, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
The Premise:  Attendees are given or come into a conference with an array of mobile devices, including a smartphone, laptop, or tablet. They expect the venue's network to be as fast as their network at home or work. At home, they might have 15- or 20- megabit download speed (very fast) and it should be the same where ever they travel.  The Problems: With 500 attendees simultaneously connecting all those devices to the venue's network, the bandwidth can come to screetch...

Mar 26, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) recently published their 21st Annual Meetings Market Survey in Convene Magazine. They surveyed 560 planners, of which 60% were PCMA members. Lets review  the results of this survey with emphasis on the the type of planner that responded, the trending in the industry, and where they see the biggest cost for a typical meeting.  The respondents fell into the following categories: 67% are Meeting Professionals ...

Mar 23, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
    When the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) held their 3-day Sustainable Meeting Conference last year, they wanted to do something different with their 260 attendees. Their goals were simple; GMIC wanted better engagement of attendees and a way to bring home the mission of sustainability.  They decided to create a highly collaborative and competitive game that would break the attendees into 15 randomly chosen teams. The teams had iPads preloaded with: The game ap...

Mar 21, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
So you have convinced management to get rid of those binders and rent iPads for your next meeting. The sponsorship opportunities are abounding, and the attendees are excited to be using them. But what about the applications? Below are 4 applications that can get you started on selecting an app that's right for your event. ChirpE Mobile and Social Media Platform This web-based mobile application from a2z, Inc. includes the following features: Full conference agenda Personal ...

Mar 19, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
The right brain is responsible for intuition and emotion while the left brain insists on just the facts. We need both sides of our brain to function in life, but how does this apply to event meeting planning professionals handle messaging at conference and meetings? Typically, we hire speakers and facilitators that evolve their messaging around the left brain. Why? Because that is the way we learned and processed information since we were in 1st grade. Teachers gave us the facts, we injeste...

Mar 16, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
Great news! You won a large contract for a corporation or association annual meeting. You and your team are very excited to be working with this client, but when the event is over, what can you do to remain in the forefront of the client's mind? Try these 6 simple tips to keep them coming back to you, year after year, event after event. Tip #1: Really Get to Know Your Client.  You know that age old adage, "We do business with people we know and like." How well do you k...

Mar 14, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
Looking to communicate and disseminate information with more impact? Look no further than 70" (almost 6 feet wide) high definition display. There are several benefits to renting display technology over standard screen rentals: At 1080 resolution and yellow being added to the standard RGB (Red, Green, Blue) format, attendees will experience exceptional details and picture clarity. One unit is optimal for a medium-sized room and multiple displays can be rented for a larger...

Mar 12, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
  When meeting planners start to focus on their next event, often times the conversation swirls around the benefit of flying people in versus holding the meeting virtually. The major concern management often has is regarding the cost of the meeting in comparison to the ROI. MPI Foundation and Maxvantage recently polled several meeting planners to determine what type of meeting works best --given the message the organization wants to convey. Below are the results: Face-to-Face Meeti...

Mar 09, 2012 by DeDe Mulligan
Digital scenery. Projection mapping. Large scale projection. What do these terms mean and doesn't this type of technology cost a lot of money? Lets focus on creative uses for digital projection and ways to keep your budget in tact as well. Digital projection used to be massive projectors beaming static images onto giant screen rentals. Now, 2D and 3D mapping software programs along with LCD projectors that are 4 times brighter than the previous technology have made it possible for event meeting...