Dec 09, 2013 by DeDe Mulligan
Destination Hotels & Resorts surveyed 180 US meeting professionals about a number of key topics they expect to encounter in 2014. Here are the top 5 meeting industry trends, as identified in the report:  TEAM BUILDING 92% of survey participants want team building activities as part of their attendees' overall conference experience. In addition, if the activity can be tied to a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, all the better. However, they actually want to do somet...

Dec 07, 2013 by DeDe Mulligan
Trade Show News Network recently cited 11 New Rules in Trade Show Marketing that they believe will impact shows next year and beyond. Some of these milestones have been occurring for quite awhile (economic uncertainty) while others recently came to light (unqualified leads will be ignored). Below is a compilation of six of these trends and the interactive technology tool rentals that can assist in your exhibitor's ability to get attendees to their booth. Trend #1: Trade Shows are Still Nee...

Dec 04, 2013 by DeDe Mulligan
Every year, BizBash puts together their listing of the biggest stories and ideas derived from the entire year. In Part 1, we covered the first half of the alphabet. Today is Part 2 of the alphabet, covering letters N-Z, and If interactive technology tool rentals can help, we have indicated which tools makes sense.    Here is the remainder of the alphabet:    NewFronts: TV as we know it, has changed to a more curation, community based web-bas...

Dec 02, 2013 by DeDe Mulligan
Every year, BizBash puts together their A to Z listing of the biggest stories and ideas derived from the entire year. This year is no different as shared in the Winter 2013 edition of their magazine. While some letters had many event stories, today's blog will only focus on one story per letter. In Part 1 , we will cover letters A-M. On Wednesday, Part 2 will finish up the rest of the alphabet (letters N - Z). In addition, if interactive technology tool rentals can help, we have indicated ...

Nov 27, 2013 by Melissa Bailey
& n b s p ; F o r e a c h n e w m o r n i n g w i t h i t s l i g h t , & n b s p ; F o r r e s t a n d s h e l t e r o f t h e n i g h t , F o r h e a l t h a n d f o o d , f o r l o v e a n d f r i e n d s , & n b s p ; F o r e v e r y t h i n g T h y g o o d n e s s s e n d s . - R a l p h W a l d o E m e r s o n & n b s p ; W i s h i n g y o u a n d y o u r s a H a p p y T h a n k s g i v i n g . . . Y o u r f r i e n d s a t S m a r t S o u r c e R e n t a l s a n d A V E v e n t S o l u t i o n s

Nov 25, 2013 by DeDe Mulligan
Mitra Sorrells, Associate Editor at BizBash Media, recently interviewed marketing aficionado Seth Godin about the changes he thinks meeting and event planners must make in order to attract quality attendees to their conferences.  Godin is the author of 17 books about marketing, leadership and most of all, changing everything. You might be familiar with his books Linchpin, Tribes, and his most recent book, V is for Vulnerable: Life Outside the Comfort Zone.  Below is ...

Nov 22, 2013 by DeDe Mulligan
We have all been at a conference or meeting where we have experienced that infamous circle on the top of our smartphone screen or a statement that says "still loading" on our tablet device. And while we are checking our mobile device every few seconds to see if that important email was sent to the home office, we start cursing the venue or planner for making our Wi-Fi experience suck. But what if it isn't their fault? What if the blame lies with other attendees or exhibitors? ...

Nov 20, 2013 by DeDe Mulligan
Part 1 of this series, we focused on business card and printout options to lead gen. Today's blog post will focus on smartphone apps and the risk associated with too few lead retrieval systems in your booth.  It is cheaper to use a free iPhone/Android app. While there is no question that these apps look really good and have many bells and whistles, they have some drawbacks as well. First and foremost, everyone in the booth needs to have the same phone system in order t...

Nov 18, 2013 by DeDe Mulligan
Many times booth exhibitors’ hem and haw over the rental cost of an automated lead system. They justify the cost of exhibiting, time away from the office and staffing to their boss. But when it comes to automating the collection of leads, the conversation falls short. Here is the ironic thing -- that is exactly what exhibitors are there to do. Meet new people and turn them into clients. Period. End of story. This blog will define the seemingly cheapest ways to collect leads and the truth abo...

Nov 15, 2013 by DeDe Mulligan
Due to advances in computing power, bandwidth and storage, cloud computing is becoming the name of the game in the business community. It used to be that you backed up all your information to an external hard drive in case your computer failed. But now, it makes sense to back everything up to the cloud...and not just for recovery reasons but for security and sharing reasons as well. According to Daniel Burrus, Innovation Expert and Global Futurist, cloud computing will transform the way we d...