Mar 31, 2014 by DeDe Mulligan
Riddle me this: What do  TED SXSW Oracle OpenWorld and  C2MTL all have in common? They are extremely popular events and according to Skift, who recently published The Future of Meetings in Hospitality they use new and evolving technology platforms to engage their audience.  Gone is the lecture style. Gone are classroom and theater seating.  In are crowdsourced, hybrid events with interactive presentations.  But what they found that may shock you is...

Mar 28, 2014 by DeDe Mulligan
Feedback is meant to help people improve and be successful. Yet, many planners use a mechanism to gather feedback -  through paper, Audience Response System rentals, or mobile device apps - but don't really do anything with the results.  Feedback is defined in one of two ways:  Reactions to a product, a person's performance of a task and used as a basis for improvement and/or  The modification of a process or system by its results or effects Most organizers f...

Mar 26, 2014 by DeDe Mulligan
The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) recently released two reports titled Attendee Direct Spend Estimate and Exhibitor Direct Spend Estimate which indicated that the former spends $45 Billion and latter $25 Billion per year at Business-to-Business Trade Shows in the United States.   The findings were commissioned to PricewaterhouseCoopers who surveyed or interviewed 11,000+ Exhibitors with a minimum exhibit booth space of 3,000 net square feet. ...

Mar 24, 2014 by DeDe Mulligan
In the March 2014 edition of Convene magazine, PCMA released their annual survey on the state of the meeting industry. Although this was a very comprehensive survey comparing trends over multiple years, this blog post is focused on the areas planners spend the bulk of their time on: logistics, revenue, and expense.  DEMOGRAPHICS Of the 410 survey participants, 78% were PCMA members and 22% were not. Moreover the planner population was represented in the following area:  61%...

Mar 21, 2014 by DeDe Mulligan
Every hotel owner dreams of it; but very few receive it.  The coveted 5-Star Rating from Forbes Travel Guide or 5-Diamond Rating from AAA. In fact, of the thousands of US hotel properties, only 58 and 101 venues respectively, obtain this rating.   What makes these properties stand out?  "From the top down, we all have one vision and that is to offer hospitality at its finest," said Giuseppe Lama, Managing Director of The Resort at Pelican Hill, one of Forb...

Mar 19, 2014 by DeDe Mulligan
Concurrent sessions or breakouts are where most of the educational content of your conference occur. Ironically, this is where you often "hit or miss" with presenters. Your attendees can walk into one room and be totally wowed, another and be totally disappointed.  Last year, Tagoras, a marketing research company and Velvet Chainsaw Consulting, an association meeting improvement organization, teamed up to capture how to improve educational sessions. They surveyed 175 event organi...

Mar 17, 2014 by DeDe Mulligan
One thing event planners all have in common is a shortage of time and money. While there isn't a whole I can do about the latter, I am happy to report there are digital tools available for promoting your event and staying connected with attendees while they are at your conference that can save you significant blocks of time.  TWEETDECK This free tool works with your Twitter account and allows you to schedule tweets well in advance. When promoting your speakers, exhibitors and c...

Mar 14, 2014 by DeDe Mulligan
What makes one event garner more photographers, media and bloggers than another? A well thought out publicity plan.  BizBash's Alesandra Dubin set out to determine what the difference makers are when it comes to event planning. Here are six things you can do before and during your grand opening, product launch or other meaningful event  that will keep the media begging for more. BEFORE YOUR EVENT Think Like the Media.  If you were a reporter that was presented with hundreds of stor...

Mar 12, 2014 by DeDe Mulligan
Meetings Mean Business recently launched the above video and updated their findings about the number of meetings, GDP effect and taxes generated from meetings. In fact, the meeting industry's contribution to the GDP was greater than the motion picture, performing arts and spectator sports industries.  While this study "The Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy" was originally produced in 2009, it was updated to reflect findings in 2012. Below are the ke...

Mar 10, 2014 by DeDe Mulligan
Technology, Design, Entertainment, or TED for short, hit its 30th anniversary in March. This highly sought after conference has hosted individuals from Bill Gates to an unknown 13-year-old African boy. It usually sells out in days after registration opens. And unlike any other conference I know of, it has the same rules of engagement from the highest ranking celebrity to the most obscure speaker. Carmine Gallo, Author of Talk Like TED, analyzed 500 TED talks and interviewed TED speakers ...