ISSUE
02
09
VALUE OF MEETINGS
+
COMMUNITY IMPACT
+
ONLINE NETWORKING
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TM
February 2009 • Volume 2 • Number 2
EDITORIAL + PRODUCTION STAFF + ADVERTISING SALES
EDITOR IN CHIEF
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
David R. Basler, dbasler@mpiweb.org
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one+
One+ ETHOS: Just as a meeting is always one person plus
at least one more, a human connection is always you plus
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your connection to a global meeting and event community and
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“One+” and the One+ logo are trademarks of Meeting Professionals International.
Copyright 2009, Meeting Professionals International, Printed
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MPI EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT
INTERNATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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and CEO
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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
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President, MPI Foundation, MPI Chief
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Knowledge and Events
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Director of People and Performance
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Development
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Member Care and Chapter Business
Management
jtauvaa@mpiweb.org
2
the members or staff of Meeting Professionals International.
One+ is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts and no
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Larry Luteran
Chairman of the Board
Hilton Hotels Corp.
Kevin Hinton
hinton+grusich
Kevin Kirby
Hard Rock International
Karen Massicotte, CMP, CMM, BA
PRIME Strategies Inc.
Ann Godi, CMP
Chairwoman-elect
Benchmarc360, Inc.
Carole McKellar, MA, CMM, MCIPD
Resources for Business Group
Eric Rozenberg, CMP, CMM
Vice Chairman of Administration
Ince & Tive
Patty Reger, CMM
Johnson & Johnson Sales and Logistics
Company, LLC
Sebastien Tondeur
Vice Chairman of Finance
MCI Group Holding SA
David Scypinski
ConferenceDirect
Alexandra Wagner
Vice Chairwoman of Member Services
SunTrust Banks Inc.
Angie Pfeifer, CMM
Immediate Past Chairwoman
Investors Group Financial Services Inc.
BOARD MEMBERS
Marge Anderson
Energy Center of Wisconsin
Matt Brody
JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa
Luca Favetta
SAP SA
Caroline Hill
Carhill Associates
Ole Sorang
The Rezidor Hotel Group
Carl Winston
San Diego State University
Paul Cunningham (Europe Middle East and
Africa Advisory Council Representative)
IIMC International Information Management
Corporation
Rita Plaskett, CMP, CMM (MPI Foundation
Board Representative)
agendum
Katherine Overkamp, CMP (ICLC Board
Representative)
US Airways
Jonathan T. Howe, Esq. (Legal Counsel)
Howe & Hutton, Ltd.
02.09
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SSUE
ISSUE
02
09
COVER ART BY JASON JUDY
Justified +70
Shrinking budgets and greater
scrutiny force planners worldwide
to prove the value of meetings
and events.
Setting the Stage +75
Important theaters worldwide
help inspire planners to create
one-of-a-kind experiences.
+70
+63
Love Thy Neighbor +78
Optimizing the Positive and
Minimizing the Negative Impact
of Large Events
Requested to be
Your Friend +82
The reality-meets-virtual-meetsreality hybridization taking place
in the ever-growing maelstrom
of social networking Web sites
presents challenges and, if used
effectively, great rewards for
meeting professionals.
+86
Riddle Me This +86
Not a prophet or practitioner of
the dark arts, futurist Richard
Watson unravels the future
with logic.
+78
Saving the Show +52
An 11th-hour action plan preserves
a1
100,000-plus attendance level for
a Las Vegas automotive exhibition.
Wishes Can Come True +62
+62
+52
The Autism Society of America’s
annual
meeting finds a helpful hand
an
in Orlando
O
for attendees with diverse
physical,
physic behavioral and dietary needs.
+75
Homework Pays Off +68
Copenhagen proves to
be a perfect match for one
group that has outgrown its
usual location.
mpiweb.org
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E
ISSUE
02
09
CONVERSATION
In It Together +10
Editor’s note
The Energy of Many +14
Global update from the
CEO of MPI
Impressions +16
Letters to One+
Overheard +18
Rumblings from the industry
Irrelevant +42
Bow-wow
IGNITION
Meetings Impact +44
Miranda Ioannou
Global View
Trade Show Addict +46
Tony Carey
Across the Bow
LinkedIn 101—Even If
You’re Not Job Hunting +48
Patrick O’Malley
Open-Source Everything
Speakers Rehab +50
Tim Sanders
Transform the World
INNOVATION
Agenda +21
Where to go, in person
and online
Art of Travel +34
The latest in transportable
business technology
+24
CO-CREATION
RECOGNITION
Top Spots +22
New venues + re-openings
Focus On … +24
Daan Riemeijer sends for a
rickshaw.
Spotlight +26
Industry leaders announce job
advancements
Your Community +36
New MPI chapters, RISE awards,
the Gulf Meetings and Events
Conference in Abu Dhabi, Real
Time delivery
Meet Where? +100
Hot Buzz +28
The Institute of Travel
Management U.K. & Ireland,
LAX revamp, Liverpool center’s
first anniversary, Australia
tourism challenges, PKF hotel
solutions, Berlin venue praise,
U.S. impact study, San
Francisco’s new district, emerging
economies grow, plus/minus,
Viva Las Vegas, EventView 2009
+40
+22
Making a Difference +39
MPI Foundation celebrates
25th anniversary
Connections +40
Collaborative planner + planner
success story
Wow us with your knowledge
mpiweb.org
7
0209
+
www.mpioneplus.org
online
Massive City, Intimate Venues
You don’t have to be a huge fish to make a splash in the
gargantuan Las Vegas pond—there are plenty of cozy spots
where a small group can find a perfect fit.
By Rowland Stiteler
+
Exotic and
Extreme
Smooth Sailing
Cruise Lines International
Association estimates that
13.5 million people will
cruise in 2009, an increase
of 2.3 percent over 2008.
Explore why the cruise
industry is thriving with One+
Assistant Editor
Jessie States.
Corporate groups are reaching
new heights in their teambuilding endeavors.
By Gary Tufel
Join a conversation about the
meeting and event industry with the
editors of One+ on their new blog,
PlusPoint—consistently updated,
always relevant, sporadically funny.
Complete issues of One+ are available
in digital flipbook and PDF formats!
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1/23/09 2:10:48 PM
In It Together
Prove it or Lose it
I’m not a big fan of e-mail. In fact, while it has its
purpose, I think mostly it does more harm than good. It
keeps us apart. It keeps us from interacting face-to-face.
If I need to send someone a short informal message
or a quick update on a project, then e-mail is my method
of choice. But if I need to have a legitimate conversation
or, even more important, share or brainstorm an idea on
an important topic, I usually choose to travel—whether
it’s across the country, across town or just down the
hall. I am a firm believer that more can be
achieved face-to-face—the possibilities for
success are literally endless when two people
take the time to just meet.
And when business meetings and conference attendance is scrutinized the issue that
results should not be about proving the
value of meetings in general, but
about the value of a meeting
specifically—the in-person
connection between two or
more people, anywhere, for
any reason that allows us
thrive in business and as
humans.
There are many ways to define the value of such
interactions. Sure, there’s always the need to have ROI,
but there is more return to be considered than just that
which shows up in the year-end ledger. It’s important
to understand that the impact on the bottom line isn’t
always obvious—the investment is in more than just the
dollar, it’s in the person.
Sure, the black-and-white viewpoint is to analyze the
cost-per-person to attend the meeting or conference and
ask, “Is it worth spending that money?”
For any company the cost is usually a significant
financial investment, but one that, even in a down
economy, is sound.
The more colorful way of measuring the value of a
meeting, however, is not by what the immediate financial ROI will be but rather the long-term value of the
skills, knowledge, contacts, inspiration and revitalization with which the employee returns.
At conference meetings, for example, people from
different backgrounds who share the same fears for
the future and industry goals can come together and
share different experiences and new ideas. These meetings create new connections and inspire new ways of
doing business. This, in turn, will give any employee
a renewed sense of pride in self, the company, the
industry and ultimately the work they do—and that
translates in any economy. It translates immediately into
happier, more knowledgeable, productive people with
more business connections and increased revenue in the
long term.
We are faced now with not only proving the value of
these “meetings” to our company leadership, but also
to an angry public reading bold bailout headlines and
scrutinizing business practices around the globe.
The cover story (“Justified,” p.70) in this month’s
issue focuses on all this and more—the value of face-toface, analyzing what that value means to the long term
and proving to the doubters that what we do is more
important than ever . . . for all of us.
Keep reading and enjoy!
David R. Basler is editor in chief of One+.
He can be reached at dbasler@mpiweb.org.
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Contributors
The last time freelance writer ROWLAND
STITELER went to Las Vegas, he hit the first slot
machine he found and won US$5 with the first dollar
he spent. His gaming venture a success, he didn’t wager
another cent.
Gambling is a yawn-inducer for Stiteler, but he loves
bold architecture, which makes a periodic pilgrimage
to Las Vegas a must for him. He finds a stroll down the
Vegas Strip almost as exciting as a hike in the Andes
Mountains.
Stiteler has spent 30 years as a working journalist, including stints at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
the Omaha World-Herald, the Orlando Sentinel, the
Washingtonian magazine, D magazine in Dallas and
Orlando magazine. He’s specialized in the meetings
and hospitality industries since 1994.
KEVIN WOO is a resident of San Francisco and
has been a freelance journalist for nearly 15 years.
By day he works in public relations for the data storage industry. Since being in data storage can be a
bit...boring...at times he writes for several meetings
and special events magazines to ensure that he
keeps one foot in the non-technology world. He has
written nearly 50 destination features for MPI and
has also covered spa meetings, golf resorts and
microbreweries.
ELAINE POFELDT has
recently written for Crain’s
New York Business, Good
Housekeeping Inc., Newsweek.
com and Working Mother from
her home base in Jersey City,
N.J. The online world is one of
her passions. A former senior
editor at FORTUNE Small Business, she helped to establish
the magazine’s Web site and
grow it to one of the largest
U.S. entrepreneurship sites.
She’s also an editorial consultant who helps clients build
high-impact, high-traffic sites.
She concentrates her online
social networking on LinkedIn and Facebook.
“Given how mobile most of us are today, I appreciate the
ease these sites offer in staying in touch with both professional
contacts and friends,” she said.
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PATRICK O’MALLEY loves and lives LinkedIn,
but that doesn’t mean he’s boring. He does keynote
speaking, training and consulting on LinkedIn and
other Internet topics. He also does customized
software training and development for some pretty
cool companies. For most of this decade, O’Malley
was vice president of operations for Northern
Light, which was tied with Google for best search
engine in the year 2000. Northern Light is still a
successful small company (what ever happened to
Google?). Currently, he is on the board of directors
for the Greater Boston ASTD, ADAPT and NELA,
three local training organizations.
O’Malley’s phone number is actually 617-PATRICK,
which he still thinks is the coolest thing.
02.09
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make Mohegan Sun the solution to your next big meeting.
Visit mohegansun.com/meeting-solution for more information
or contact hotel sales at 1.877.204.7100.
0209_013.indd 13
1/5/09 10:39:11 AM
The Energy of Many
The Main Thing is
Still the Main Thing
Over the past six months we’ve all watched in sheer
astonishment (the Brits would say we’ve been “gobsmacked”) as the social and organizational paradigms
of the past 10-plus years stumbled, fumbled and then
tumbled, a result of countless bad choices. And it’s
surely not over yet.
Collateral damage from these choices is everywhere
in our community—colleagues, clients, friends…even
family. At a time when uncertainty reigns, our 24/7
world seems bent on ensuring that we are reminded
that there’s always more reason to fear what’s wrong
today than to celebrate what’s right with the world.
But each of us has choices on how to receive this
onslaught of information, the most important of
which is to take personal accountability for change
and to have the courage to act.
In this issue you can learn from FutureWatch
2009 and see how the impact of the global financial
crisis is impacting the business of our community
and the connections we create. There are few
surprises as it relates to the data.
But the report, which benefited from a 60 percent
increase in participation
to almost 2,700, reveals
some insights into
opportunities that each
of us can act upon if
we so choose. Creativity and innovation are
now noted as crucial
to survival, challenging some to move
outside a current
comfort zone if they
have the courage
to act.
An example of
choosing to act outside
an established comfort zone is the commitment by MPI
along with many of the leaders of our industry peer
organizations (PCMA, ASAE, DMAI, IAEE, ACTE,
SITE and others) to collaboratively fund a U.S. meeting
and event economic impact study to support the efforts
of the United States Travel Association to create important data that builds on the experience and success of
the MPI Foundation Canada’s 2008 study. In a shrinking marketplace for member and partner attention, we
chose to put the pressing needs of our combined communities ahead of parochialism and perhaps ushered
in a spirit of collaboration that might provide solutions
and hope in the days ahead.
For MPI, our focus amidst the turmoil is simple—
supporting your success and comfort in choosing to act
in its pursuit. That is the main and only thing. Having
to try something new, like finding a new job or acquiring a crucial new skill, is never easy. But it is always
more comfortable when you are part of a broader community whose collected experiences and ideas you can
draw upon to guide your individual choices.
For our part, we will make choices that ensure you
have access to the best education and richest business
connections possible. We’ll continue to elevate our
educational offerings at every touch point on our Community Knowledge Plan to make you more valuable.
We’ll be completing our new membership database this
spring so you can develop more precise MPI business
connections. We’ll announce new partnerships to leverage content and commerce in adjacent spaces.
As the German proverb states, “The main thing is
that the main thing is still the main thing.” And you
can have confidence that when you act in support of
your own success and opportunity, the almost 25,000
members of MPI will be right there with you.
Bruce MacMillan, CA, is president and CEO of MPI.
He can be reached at bmacmillan@mpiweb.org.
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02.09
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Impressions
Luxury Destinations
[Re: “2009: The Year of New Destinations,” PlusPoint
blog] Luxury travel is still going strong and those travelers
are likely to keep going to high-end destinations and taking
extensive trips. However, some of the “luxury” locations
are starting to feel a bit of the crunch and are lowering their
prices a bit so that others might be able to afford them. Perhaps this is how people are getting to new destinations? Or
perhaps they are going to lower cost emerging destinations
that are relatively inexpensive to travel in once you get there.
—Carolina Munguia
MPI Mexico Chapter
Promotora Xcaret
CSR and Save
EDITOR’S NOTE: We appreciate
the feedback on MPI and your
magazine, One+. Your ideas
and thoughts are important to
us. Let us know what you think.
E-mail the editorial team at
publications@mpiweb.org.
You Tell Us
What innovative methods do
you utilize to connect with
younger audiences? Send us
an e-mail at publications@
mpiweb.org.
[Re: “Penny Pinching Planning
Tips,” January 2009] While
thinking about cost cutting,
think about social responsibility and “good-doing.” At
the recently held ACOM
(Association of Convention
Operations Management)
meeting in New Orleans—for
yet another year—they used
donated materials for the
centerpieces, which were
then donated to local “need”
groups. For example, they
asked people to bring small
bags of food, treats or toys
for animals. These were packaged in cute bags, a sign was
put on top with cute graphics
and meaningful words and all
was put on a silver platter in
the center of tables. There
were others with bright color
T-shirts for people who needed
clothing. It was cost-effective
AND did good. We can do
better!
—Joan Eisenstodt
MPI Potomac Chapter
Eisenstodt Associates, LLC
No Ethical Standards
[Re: “Ethics Going Out
the Door,” PlusPoint blog]
It’s hardly surprising that
16
one+
employees plan on stealing
company data, along with the
paper clips, when they are
shown the recessionary door.
Many (most?) companies
have been treating people
as an expendable resource
(like paper clips) for years.
They can hardly expect loyalty
in return. Ethical behavior is a
bi-product of mutual trust—and
recent events in the corporate (especially banking) world
have hardly inspired trust.
Ultimately, leaders with high
ethical values inculcate those
values in those they lead, so I
have high hopes for the next
U.S. administration.
—Tony Carey, CMP, CMM
MPI U.K. Chapter
The Carey Consultancy
MeetDifferent Excels
[Re: “MeetDifferent in the New
Economy,” January 2009]
MeetDifferent 2008 provided
an opportunity to experience a
conference in a variety of different ways. There was a great
variation of meeting formats,
topics that went well outside
of “Meeting Planning 101” and
elements that would create
great interest and excitement.
Not all worked spectacularly
well, but all provided food for
thought and represented courage on the part of MPI to think
and act in new and creative
ways. It is what we expect of
our industry association, and
MPI delivered. I’m looking forward to seeing what is next
at MeetDifferent 2009 in
Atlanta.”
—Terri Breining, CMP, CMM
MPI San Diego Chapter
Concepts Worldwide
[Re: “MeetDifferent in the New
Economy,” January 2009] Last
year’s MeetDifferent gave me
a chance to view the industry
from two very different perspectives. As well as hearing
about the bigger picture, the
wider issues the industry
faces, the global trends and
the strategic decisions we
face I was able to interact
at a much more focused
level. I met with suppliers,
networked, swapped ideas and
interacted with real people at
a grass-roots level about real
situations. The combination of
these two elements made it a
really powerful experience and
one I would recommend to any
meeting professional.”
—Jon Bradshaw
MPI U.K. Chapter
02.09
pp 16 Impressions 0209.indd 16
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Overheard
Why I Conference
“The new age of conferences is not about attending the
sessions, town hall meetings or even the vendor exhibition.
We can gain our education through webcasts, training
DVDs and books. Conferences are the opportunities to
meet people—the unexpected discoveries that I encounter
with my colleagues during the breaks, dinners and networking activities after the day is done.”
—Michele C. Wierzgac, MS, CMM
When in Rome…
The Big Apple
Go to Bed!
“Different countries have
different customs and laws,
and what’s acceptable in
Europe may not be acceptable
elsewhere. What’s normal in
resorts in Spain or Greece
is not necessarily going to
be acceptable in Turkey or
Egypt.”
—Julian Braithwaite, director
of consular services at the
U.K. Foreign & Commonwealth Office, on news that
more Brits will travel outside
of Europe this year
“Despite the economic challenges all cities are facing,
tourism remains a bright
spot for New York City, with
47 million visitors spending
US$30 billion here in 2008,
the highest totals we’ve ever
achieved. The number of overseas travelers coming to New
York City continues to rise,
and now roughly a third of all
who come to the U.S. come
to New York.”
—New York Mayor
Michael R. Bloomberg
“Most of our guests are frequent business travelers who
work long hours and find it
impossible to switch off at the
end of the day. When people
travel on business they feel
under pressure to work even
longer hours than normal.
The ‘switch off call’ is our way
of telling guests enough is
enough and suggesting it’s
time they go to bed.”
—Paul Brackley, general
manager for the Crowne
Plaza London the City on the
brand’s new “switch off call”
Thinking Big
“Given the long-term projections of 26,600 rooms in
total throughout the emirate by 2012 and 30,000
by 2013, it is essential we
work to ensure increased
international awareness to
sustain demand. This is all
part of a longer-term plan
for Abu Dhabi to establish a
world-class tourism destination and industry.”
—Ali Al Hosani, Abu Dhabi Tourism
Authority promotions director
Best of the Blogs
Eco Shopping
Posted by JodieAnn Cady, CMP
MPI Michigan Chapter
Sustainable Bytes
Posted by Elizabeth Henderson
CSR director for MPI
Be Proactive
Posted by Eric L. Tompkins
MPI Southern California Chapter
There is a great article in the November Fast
Company magazine titled “The Sad Life of the
Eco-Shopper” by Melanie Warner. Melanie
hits on a great issue: the struggle to be an
eco-shopper in our favorite stores. I’m tired of
the eco-friendly rhetoric; I want to see the ecofriendly products on the shelves. Has anyone
come across a large retail store that is doing
a good job of stocking eco-friendly products
that you can easily find?
Sustainability has hit the Big Apple, and I’m
not referring to New York or even to Buenos
Aires, the big apple of South America. I’m
actually talking about iTunes, the big Apple of
music junkies. I was browsing (in my spare
time, people!) and landed in iTunes U, where
I discovered a wealth of offerings that anyone
who has an interest in environmental, economic and social sustainability can download,
usually for FREE!
Don’t sit by the phone awaiting that dreadful
call from your best customer, telling you that
the event budget for 2009 has been slashed.
With cost-cutting strategies in hand, you can
reach out to the customer, acknowledge the
economic challenge and be ready to discuss
your money saving solutions that will help to
preserve the organization’s event and meet its
budget reduction requirements.
▲
For more tips from Eric Tompkins on how to keep business
flowing during the economic downturn, visit his blog at
www.mpiweb.org.
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1/15/09 1:36:29 PM
Agenda
TORONTO
International planners will meet with representatives from more than 150
convention centers, tour operators and hotel properties during Toronto’s
spring show, which will focus on travel research and experiential opportunities
for attendees. Visit www.totravelshow.com.
▲
MARCH 27-29 Toronto’s Ultimate Travel Show
ABU DHABI, UAE
MPI plays host to this can’t-miss event for local and international professionals
interested in shaping the future of meetings and events in the Gulf Region.
The conference is held in conjunction with the Gulf Incentive Business Travel
and Meetings Exhibition (March 31-April 2)—which can organize flights to Abu
Dhabi on March 27 for hosted buyers. Visit www.mpiweb.org.
▲
MARCH 28-29 The Gulf Meetings and Events Conference
MARCH 31-APRIL 2 TravelCom’09
ATLANTA
More than 700 industry professionals are expected to gather for TravelCom’09
at the Omni Hotel in the CNN Center. Attendees will learn how to grow their
businesses and take advantage of Web trends while receiving hype-free advice
that will go straight to the bottom line. Visit www.tia.org/travelcom.
APRIL 15 -16 CULTOUR
DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY
CULTOUR presents a trade exhibition exclusively for the culture and heritage
travel market. Planners are invited either as hosted buyers—fully hosted by
CULTOUR with air transportation and hotel accommodations—or as professional visitors—with free rail transportation from anywhere in Germany, Holland
or Belgium. Visit www.cultourfair.com.
Connected
WHEN YOU HAVE TO GO
WAIT AND SAVE
SHORT COMMUTE
Ever find yourself desperately looking
for a clean toilet in the city? MizPee.
com and MizPee.eu find the closest,
cleanest toilets in your area. You
can add and review toilets, get some
cool deals in your area and challenge
your knowledge of toilet trivia. Or just
vote in the MizPee Flush of the Year
contest.
Drive a Ferrari, skydive or have a
private chef come to your home. Find
up-to-the-second travel deals at Last
minute.com, where your procrastination finally pays off. Book your holidays
(or a flight to MeetDifferent). Users
can choose dates for departure and
return or select “this weekend,” “next
weekend” or “all dates” for the best
deals.
A short commute is the key to happiness, according to Optimalhome
location.com, which helps users find
the best place to call home. Input
the addresses you most frequent
(home, work, school, market) and then
compare your commutes from any
number of alternative locations. The
site also maps the walkability of your
neighborhood.
▲
Read Associate Editor Jason Hensel’s PlusPoint
blog at www.mpioneplus.org and learn more
about how to calculate your shortest commute.
mpiweb.org
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21
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Top Spots
N E W VEN U ES + RE-O P ENING S
1. Media Plaza
3. Eden on Chilko Lake
The Media Plaza in Utrecht, Netherlands, recently expanded to include
eight meeting rooms and a 700-capacity congress hall. Architectural
firm 123dv placed an emphasis on
various light sources and projection
methods. For example, attendees
access the new wing through two
tunnels that serve as projection
canvases with the walls and floors
reacting to the movement of the
visitors.
Formerly known as the Chilko Lake
Lodge, Eden on Chilko Lake will
begin operations starting in June
2009 as a lakeside wellness
resort and spa following an
extensive renovation. Set in Tsylos
Provincial Park in British Columbia’s
Coast Mountains, a two-and-a-halfhour drive from William’s Lake, Eden
on Chilko Lake will feature views of
the Chilcotin wilderness. The resort
will offer guests a combination of
healthy outdoor activities blended
with spa and dining experiences.
Featured activities include nutritional
consulting, trout fishing, grizzly bear
viewing and guided wildflower hikes.
2. The Royal Hawaiian
Renowned as a destination for international royalty, Hollywood elite and
a retreat for presidents and heads
of state, the “Pink Palace” promises
a new era embodying the allure of
Hawai‘i’s spirit and timeless beauty.
In early 2009, the Royal Hawaiian
will unveil the results of a multimillion-dollar transformation and
usher in a new age of exquisite
discovery. The newly designed guest
rooms will feature vintage koa seating, exotic furnishings, historic photographs and other indigenous objets
d’art. The new Abhasa spa will offer
expanded facilities including new
garden cabanas, 14 new treatment
rooms as well as a dedicated yoga
and Pilates area and an updated
menu offering classic spa services
and Hawaiian-inspired treatments.
As part of the renovation, the Royal
Hawaiian’s interior boardrooms and
ballrooms, totaling 12,000 square
feet, will also be restored to their
original splendor.
1.
2.
4. The Niagara Convention
& Civic Centre
The Niagara Convention & Civic
Centre, located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, is scheduled to break ground
in May with a spring 2011 opening.
Plans for the facility include an
80,000-square-foot, expandable
exhibition hall; a 1,000-seat
theater; a 17,000-square-foot
ballroom; and 10,500 square
feet of flexible meeting space,
along with an added shell structure
for future expansion. The center’s
design is intended, through its
transparency and form, to engage
visitors and welcome them into a
dramatic sequence of public spaces
3.
3
4
and convention facilities.
5
2
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4.
5.
4.
5. Silhouette
Novare Events, Atlanta’s largest
independent caterer/event facility
management company, recently celebrated an addition to its repertoire.
Silhouette, located in the former
home of the Museum of Contemporary Art, is a 3,600-square-foot,
contemporary space with the
concrete floors and white walls
of a trendy art gallery. An outdoor
terrace fronting Peachtree Street
offers event attendees an alfresco
gathering space with views of the
Midtown scene. Parking is available
in an onsite garage. Future plans for
the venue also include opportunities
for up-and-coming artists to exhibit
their works during special events.
6. Park Plaza Westminster
Bridge London
6.
6
1
Opening in early 2010, Park Plaza
Westminster Bridge will be London’s largest hotel opening in a
generation, offering 1,021 guest
rooms, 2,500 square meters of
flexible meeting space, more than
30 meeting rooms, a signature
restaurant and a luxury spa. The
hotel will be located near London’s
South Bank and directly opposite
the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben
and Westminster Abbey. Waterloo
mainline station and Westminster
tube station are only a five-minute
walk away, as are myriad entertainment offerings along the South Bank
such as the London Eye, the London
Aquarium, the National Theatre and
the Royal Festival Hall.
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1/19/09 8:29:57 AM
Focus On...
The cell phone rings. It’s a
planner’s worst nightmare:
You’ve left an incentive
attendee alone in a foreign
city. For Daan Riemeijer, it
was the first and last time
he miscounted a group.
Daan Riemeijer
Performance in Top Travel
“When Daan was
18 years old, he
went with his school
to Paris, where we
have a French friend
who is very limited
in her movement.
Daan took her
wheelchair, went
to the pizzeria on
the corner, cut the
pizza in pieces, fed
it to her and made
sure our friend had
a wonderful afternoon.”
—Loes Nauta,
mother and boss
Riemeijer had brought a group
of 45 carpenters to New York
from The Netherlands. On the
third day of the trip, the group
enjoyed a long but memorable
walk to dinner at Ellen’s Stardust
Diner. But someone wasn’t there.
“We hired a rickshaw to
get our straggler to dinner, and
everything was fine—besides my
temper,” Riemeijer said. “How
could I have missed that? After the
event, I looked back and thought,
“My family and I
hosted Daan as a
foreign exchange
student in 2001. He
attended high school
with our son. Daan
was the star of our
soccer team, a key
player on the wrestling team and a patient soccer coach
for our two girls.
And he was the one
kid in the family who
dependably did his
laundry on time and
kept his room in
order.”
—Robert Darby,
U.S. host father
24
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“I recently moved,
and there was a lot
of stuff in the attic.
When we arrived
at noon, Daan had
moved all the stuff
down from the attic,
and it was ready for
me to pick up with
the moving truck. A
small gesture, but it
shows his personality: helpful and hospitable. It seems to
be in his blood.”
—Sjors Riemeijer,
brother and friend
‘This is one of those hard lessons.’”
The 24 year old from Amsterdam has determined to make a
lifetime of educational experiences. As a high school student,
he traveled to the U.S., where
he spent a year with a family in
Virginia. Later, he interned for
Chicago-based Brookdale Senior
Living, which operates retirement
communities throughout the U.S.
He graduated from the
Amsterdam School for Hotel and
Gastronomy with a degree in hotel
management in 2006, and immediately informed his mother that
he was ready to work for her at
Performance in Top Travel, which
provides an array of incentive and
corporate event services.
“Daan has let us know he
wants to take over the company,
and we have started this process,
with the end purpose to turn over
the company to Daan in 2012,”
Riemeijer’s mother Loes Nauta
said.
It’s a tall order for someone
just three years out of school. But
Riemeijer says he’s ready for the
challenge—so long as no one else
gets lost.
— JESSIE STATES
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Spotlight
The Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association
(ICVA) has named Ronnie
Burt Jr. as its new senior
vice president of sales. Burt
served as the vice president
of sales and services for the
Baltimore Area Convention
& Visitors Association from
2005, where he managed
a staff of more than 50
employees and a budget
of US$9 million. Burt is an
active member of several industry associations, including the National Coalition
of Black Meeting Planners
and MPI.
Dolce Hotels and Resorts appointed industry veteran Steven
A. Rudnitsky as president and
CEO effective Dec. 8. Rudnitsky,
who recently stepped down as
president and CEO of Wyndham
Hotel Group, will be responsible
for driving Dolce’s growth worldwide. The company earlier this
year announced plans to double
its portfolio during the next five
years.
Dana Barrett has been named
senior sales manager for the
Resort At Port Ludlow (Wash.).
Barrett most recently served
as group sales manager for
the Rosario Resort & Spa in
Eastsound, Wash., where she
secured valuable new accounts
with Microsoft, Starbucks,
T-Mobile and Comcast Cable.
MPI Board Member Dave Scypinski has
been named senior vice president of ConferenceDirect. Scypinski spent the last eight
years with Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Worldwide as senior vice president of industry relations. Before joining Starwood,
Scypinski spent his entire professional career
with Hilton Hotels. He is former chairman of
the MPI Foundation and has held or holds
positions with the U.S. Travel Association,
the American Society of Association Executives Foundation, the Professional Convention
Management Association and the New York
Society of Association Executives.
Mary O’Connor has accepted the role of
group sales manager for The Ritz-Carlton,
Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz., which is
slated to open in fall 2009. O’Connor previously served as senior sales manager for
the Hilton Tucson (Ariz.) El Conquistador
Golf & Tennis Resort, where she began
as executive meetings manager in 2006.
O’Connor is a wine aficionado, a Culinary
Institute of America-trained chef and a certified tourism ambassador.
Log on to the careers blog at www.mpiweb.org, and tell
the meeting community about your recent job change.
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HOT BUZZ
+
Working It Out
In an effort to reflect the consolidation of the global travel and
meetings sectors, the Institute of
Travel Management U.K. & Ireland
(ITM) has introduced its Meetings
& Events Working Party, to be led
by industry leader Fay Sharpe, who
will manage a cross section of
meetings stakeholders while driving
content and membership. The
move coincides with a pledge by
ITM Chairwoman Caroline Strachan
to begin the introduction of a
28
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strong meetings and events element to the association’s work.
Sharpe, joint managing director
for events firm Zibrant, will oversee
the creation of a Meetings &
Events Toolkit, with definitions of
the MICE process and information
on measuring spend. The working
party will seek to consolidate work
done by other associations representing different elements of the
sector and create better links between organizations.
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LA Looks
In both conspicuous and subtle ways, design plans for a Los
Angeles International Airport (LAX) revamp pronounce, “You’re in
L.A.!” Fentress Architects has released its blueprints for the new
LAX, exploring such themes as movement, openness and expression. The firm is not new to the airport sector. Fentress has
earned international recognition for designing some of the world’s
finest airport terminals including Incheon International Airport
near Seoul, South Korea, and Denver International.
As the gateway between the U.S. and Asia Pacific, LAX has
served millions of international travelers who have experienced
the inconvenience of the outdated facilities at the Tom Bradley
International Terminal. The Fentress design will provide travelers
with a modernized terminal and concourse that will dramatically
improve the passenger experience.
Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa described the design concepts
by Fentress Architects as “spectacular” and “embodying the character of Los Angeles and creating a remarkable sense of place. It
is unmistakably L.A.”
Inspired by the Pacific Ocean, the dynamic design captures
the city’s sense of place with rooftops flowing as waves breaking
on shore. The design unifies the airport with a cohesive theme
honoring the distinctive arched structure built during the Jet
Age of LAX in 1961. Two parabolic arches, forming a pedestrian
bridge, are incorporated into the design concept.
Fentress Architects’ design is environmentally responsible and
will serve travelers today while honoring the needs and concerns
of future generations. The modernization addresses the airport’s
goal for a “greener” LAX with the intention of applying for the
highest level of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Two-thirds of organizations are not planning cutbacks in
2009 according to a recent survey of U.S. human
resource professionals by Right Management.
David Among Goliaths
Readers of Conference & Incentive
Travel magazine recently gave runnerup honors to Berlin’s axica conference center for Top Purpose-Built
Venue, second only to the Barcelona
International Convention Centre but
ahead of such giants as the Hong
Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The shocker? The venue is relatively small, catering to groups of
less than 700 attendees, far less
than industry behemoths.
“This is truly a remarkable result
and is a tribute to the work we have
done on an international stage over
the last nine years,” said Jochen A.
Lohmar, axica managing director, on
the eve of the venue’s 10th anniversary. “I can think of no better way to
start the year than to receive this
kind of international recognition. It
also adds to the momentum Berlin is
currently gaining as a top conference
destination.”
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1/21/09 8:47:51 AM
HOT BUZZ
Hope for Hotel Owners
In response to the growing number of
financially troubled U.S. hotels whose
owners, lenders and legal representatives may be entering a crisis mode, PKF
Capital has launched a Distressed Hotel
Solutions program. The firm will help
hotel owners who became over-leveraged
with debt during the easy credit years
and who now face declining revenues and
repayment due dates.
“Most hotels will weather this financial
storm, but a significant number of owners and their lenders are faced with
deteriorating circumstances,” said Bob
Eaton, PKF Capital’s executive managing
director.
The company is prepared to help hotel
owners with refinancing, debt restructuring, de-levering, asset sales and bankruptcy. Lenders can benefit from strategic asset planning, management RFPs,
note and asset sales, market studies and
appraisals and expert opinions.
Event Marketing
Gains Traction
More than 50 percent of sales and marketing directors choose event marketing as
the best way to accelerate and deepen
relationships, according to the EventView
2009: North America study by the MPI
Foundation, the Event Marketing Institute
and experience marketing firm George
P. Johnson. The study is the largest and
longest-running annual survey of corporate
sales and marketing executives. Preliminary
results suggest the following.
26%
Say event marketing provides
the greatest ROI of all marketing methods
65%
Plan to or already have implemented green initiatives in
events
31%
Will transition from event marketing to experience marketing
in the next 12 months
The North American study is the first in
a global year-long series. A detailed discussion of EventView 2009 and its results will
appear in the March issue of One+.
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Tourism
Stimulus
Package
Hotel owners and operators in San Francisco have approved a Tourism Improvement District proposed by the
San Francisco CVB and supported by Mayor Gavin Newsom, who says the district is an integral part of the city’s
economic stimulus efforts.
The new district will fund capital improvements, upgrades and expansion analysis for the Moscone Convention Center as well as ensure stable and adequate funding for the San Francisco CVB. The city will add an
assessment of 1 percent to 1.5 percent on room revenue for all hotels within San Francisco city limits.
Tourist hotels will be divided into two zones, based
largely on geographic proximity to the Moscone Center
and the regional and city transportation infrastructure.
The 1.5 percent assessment of gross revenue from
tourist hotel rooms in Zone 1 will add $3 to the guest
folio based on a room rate of $200. The 1 percent assessment of gross revenue from tourist hotel rooms in
Zone 2 will add $2 to the guest folio based on a room
rate of $200. The 15-year assessment began Jan.1.
PHILLIP H. COBLENTZ/SFCVB
Big Baby Steps
Just a year after its grand opening,
the Arena & Convention Centre (ACC)
Liverpool has contributed £200 million
to the local economy. The venue—which
comprises the 11,000-seat Echo Arena
and the BT Convention Centre—has
played host to almost 700,000 people
during the last 12 months.
Highlights of the 2008 program include the European MTV awards in November (watched by an estimated global
audience of 1.5 billion people), the BBC
+
Sports Personality of the Year awards,
La Machine and the Stirling Prize. In
2009, the venue will play host to tours
from Lionel Richie, Pink, Bob Dylan and
Eric Clapton as well as league darts and
boxing and conferences from the Royal
College of General Practitioners and The
Association of British Neurologists.
“We originally estimated that the
venue would deliver £100 million to the
local economy—for everyone from hoteliers, restaurateurs and cab drivers,”
said Bob Prattey,
chief executive of
ACC Liverpool. “This
is testament to the
tremendous effort
from everyone involved in the project,
who have made this
first year such a
huge success.”
Heathcotes Sous Chef
Darren Ebden and Head
Chef Steve McCabe
admire the new center
with ACC Liverpool Chief
Executive Bob Prattey.
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HOT BUZZ
Emerging Economies
The world’s emerging economies
will see a sharp slowdown in growth
this year, but they could still surpass
advanced economies as early as
2014 in terms of their share of
world GDP, according to calculations
by economists at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). While all of the
major advanced economies are projected to shrink in 2009 and recover
only gradually thereafter, the large
emerging economies (particularly
China and India) are expected to experience only a slowdown, not a contraction, in 2009 and generally retain
much better medium-term prospects
than the advanced economies.
PwC projects that by 2014, the
share of emerging economies (as
labeled by the International Monetary
Fund) could rise to just over half
(50.5 percent) of world GDP in purchasing power parity terms, up from
43.7 percent in 2007. According
to John Hawksworth, PwC head of
macroeconomics, the shift in world
GDP share from advanced to emerging economies in just seven years is
+
unprecedented.
PwC also predicts that by 2014
the U.S. top share of global GDP will
drop from 21.3 percent in 2007 to
19 percent, and China could well
overtake Europe for second place.
“Of course there are many uncertainties around any such projections,
with short-term risks still weighted to
the downside for all the major economies,” Hawksworth noted. “But the
conclusion that the emerging economies are likely to increase their
weight in world GDP significantly over
the next five to six years seems relatively robust, even though they are
clearly not immune to the global
downturn.”
Viva Las Vegas
Las Vegas maintained a slight edge
over Orlando for the No. 1 spot for U.S.
domestic travel according to a research
survey by Travel Leaders (formerly Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates), while
cruise destinations in the Caribbean
continue to outpace other international
sites to retain the top spot as most
popular international destination.
Chicago has soared 10 spots from
2008’s annual survey to land at No. 10
in 2009. Being the hometown of President Barack Obama may have stimulated renewed interest in the Windy City,
and those who visit in 2009 can experience “The Aztec World” exclusively at
the Field Museum or the world premiere
of “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” at the
Science and Industry Museum, as well
as festivities associated with the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.
Challenges Ahead for Australia
The value of inbound tourism to Australia is forecast to fall 3.6 percent
to AUD$24 billion this year, reflecting large falls in the rate of economic
growth in many of the country’s leading inbound markets, according to
the Tourism Forecasting Committee
(TFC). Partially offsetting this decrease is a small forecast increase in
the value of the larger domestic tourism segment (up 1.8 percent), which
will drive overall tourism spending in
Australia marginally higher to a forecast $90.6 billion (up 0.3 percent) in
2009.
The TFC has developed this set of
forecasts in a period of heightened
uncertainty about world economic
growth, particularly the depth and
32
one+
timing of the recovery. Significant
revisions were made to previous TFC
forecasts four months ago, as key
assumptions, notably economic
growth and exchange rates, changed
dramatically.
“There is no doubt that tourism
operators who are heavily reliant on
international tourism are in for a
tough time in 2009, particularly in
the first half of the year,” said Bernard Salt, chairman of the TFC.
“However, if the Australian dollar
stays low, growth in aviation capacity
servicing Australia remains solid and
consumer confidence returns, Australia’s inbound tourism segment is
well placed to rebound strongly in
2010.”
02.09
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U.S. Impact Study
The meeting and events industry’s
influence on the U.S. economy alone was
estimated in 2005 to be US$122 billion—
n—
nothing to balk at. But in a wavering glo
global economy, statistics like this one serve
rve
an even more vital role as our industryy
leaders battle to defend the value of me
meetings.
In an effort to raise awareness of the
valuable meeting sector, a group of industry leaders met in early January and unanimously agreed to support an economic
impact study on meetings and events in
the U.S. and seek appropriate funding
from their organizations.
Attendees included representatives
from ASAE & The Center for Association
Leadership, the Association of Corporate
Travel Executives, the Convention Industry
Council, Destination Marketing Association
International, the Healthcare Convention
Exhibitors Association, the International
Association of Exhibitions and Events, MPI,
the National Business Travel Association,
the Professional Convention Management
Association, the Society of Incentive &
Travel Executives and the U.S. Travel Association as well as third-party firm Maritz
Travel, amongst others.
The move is not unusual for MPI and
its foundation, which funded and released
an economic impact study of Canada’s
meetings industry last year after an
18-month process and collaboration from
researchers, economists and industry
professionals. The study received accolades nationally and widespread interest
around the world, including from the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
Unfortunately, no other such study has
been completed, anywhere. As a relatively
“new” industry, the meeting sector has
lacked credible and compelling financial
information about jobs and the positive
economic impact the industry provides.
“The need for the industry to have
credible economic impact data is essential
to combat real and potential legislative/
policy threats to meetings by organizations
that have or could be the beneficiary of
government bailout funds or policy support,” said Bruce MacMillan, MPI president and CEO. “In some industries, meetings are already being canceled outright
because of the fear that any spending on
meetings and events will compromise
their ability to receive bailout funding. And
it will likely not stop in the U.S.”
The study will cost an estimated $1
million+ and take 12 to 18 months to
complete.
Protecting
Earth’s Assets
In an effort to shrink its carbon
footprint, Dolce Hotels and Resorts
has joined a nonprofit group of ecoconscious consumers, businesses
and organizations. Started in
2007 by Google and Intel, the
Climate Savers Computing Initiative
advocates on behalf of energyefficient technology and will help
Dolce further green its business by
focusing on internal operations and
computing infrastructure.
Same Numbers,
Lower Budgets
A majority of companies have responded
to tightened meeting budgets by focusing on measures to control the cost of
offsite meetings (though not necessarily
reducing the number of meetings), according to a survey by Worktopia Inc.
Meeting budgets are tightening for 71
percent of respondents, and the vast
majority (86 percent) are establishing
new measures to control spend on
offsite meetings.
Habitat Homes
Over-Served
AirTran Airways sent more than 50 crew
members to volunteer with Habitat Orlando
as part of the charity’s biggest home-building effort to date: Staghorn Villas, a US$8
million town home community that will
provide affordable housing for 58 local
families. The development is slated for
completion in spring 2011.
According to the Chicago Tribune, a
couple is suing United Airlines for serving them too much alcohol. Yoichi Shimamoto is demanding compensation
from the airline after he became so
inebriated “that he could not manage
himself.” He was arrested for allegedly
striking his wife six times in the face
while the two navigated through U.S.
Customs lines in San Francisco. The
lawsuit will hinge on whether or not
airplanes are subject to the same liabilities as bars.
Romney Returns
Mitt Romney has been reappointed to
the board of directors of Marriott International. The former Massachusetts governor and U.S. presidential candidate previously served on the board from 1992 to
2002, when he resigned to run for office.
Romney will chair the newly formed finance
committee, which will assist in the oversight of the company’s financial performance and capital deployment.
Not So Happy
According to a national public opinion
poll, 32 percent of Americans believe
that their personal happiness levels
have decreased in the past year;
however, 64 percent of respondents
think that level will increase in 2009.
The survey by Precision Opinion of
1,385 adults found that those
whose happiness decreased most
were 51 years of age or older, male
and not married.
mpiweb.org
28-33_Hot Buzz 0209R1.indd 33
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1/23/09 3:44:53 PM
ART
of Travel
Page Your
Luggage With
Locator Ring
Beep Your Bag. It
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the easiest way to
spot your bag quickly
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wrong one. Secure
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press the remote
transmitter. The locator beeps and flashes
from up to 60 feet
away. Both transmitter and locator have
a secure screw-tight
clasp and steel cable
straps. (Magellans.
com, US$19.85)
Like Grains
of Sand in an
Hourglass...
Nooka proudly presents the zon—its
newest and most
exclusive timepiece
to date. The zon features two displays:
One measures time
like an hourglass,
with each minute of
the day marked by a
small block, and the
second provides a
digital time reading.
Available in black or
white with a leather
strap and butterfly
buckle, or in mirror with a mesh
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Tiny Umbrella
Keeps You Dry
When it Rains
Lightweight and easy
to operate, Totes’
tiny rain umbrella
opens and closes
with the press of a
button and folds to
a compact 7-1/2
inches. Includes
matching storage
sleeve with carrying
strap that clips to
bag or pant loop.
(Totes-isotoner.
com, US$14.99)
34
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02.09
pp 34 Art of Travel 0209_2.indd 34
1/20/09 6:51:10 PM
0209_035.indd 35
1/5/09 9:55:33 AM
Your Community
Making New Friends
MPI has welcomed two new chapters to its
global community—Brazil and Korea—following a year of efforts by industry leaders
in both countries who recognized the need
for local professionals to access education
and networking opportunities.
Currently, Korea boasts 62 members
with expectations to increase that number
to 112 by July 2009. Educational activities
such as seminars, workshops and the
newly created Global Certificate in Meetings Operations I (GCMO I)—funded by the
MPI Foundation—will soon be deployed in
the region. Discussions are underway for
member-exchange programs between Korean schools and the University of Nevada
Las Vegas - Singapore Campus and Hong
Kong Polytechnic University.
The Brazil Chapter, with a membership
of 53, was a club prior to receiving official
chapter status. Events organized thus far
have concentrated on ROI, corporate meeting strategies and pharmaceutical events.
The Brazil Chapter is projected to increase
its membership to 108 in 2009 and 198
in 2010.
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
Gulf Business
Dream of making it big in the glamorous city
of Dubai or the knowledge economy of Qatar?
Make those dreams come true at MPI’s second
annual Gulf Meetings
and Events Conference in Abu Dhabi,
scheduled to run
March 28-29 just
before (and in partnership with) the Gulf
Incentive, Business
Travel & Meetings Exhibition (GIBTM).
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
MPI’s conference
will deliver a unique
program of education, professional development
and networking opportunities—all marking the
beginning of a week-long focus on the meeting
industry. The conference is a can’t-miss event
for local and international professionals with an
interest in shaping the future of meetings and
events in this burgeoning region and is a dynamic introduction to what’s next in the industry.
▲
To register for the Gulf region’s
premier event, visit www.
mpiweb.org/gmec.
36
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A Step Above
MPI launches its new RISE (Recognizing Industry Success and Excellence)
awards program this month with a
call for nominations for Organizational
Achievement. Online nominations will
be accepted until April 3. The award
will be presented in July at MPI’s
2009 World Education Congress to
an organization that has achieved
transformational impact through a
meeting or event. The remaining RISE Awards, recognizing individuals and communities, will be launched later this year.
“It’s no secret that meetings are an opportunity to bring
people together, share thoughts and leave attendees energized,” said Hattie Hill, CMM, chairwoman of the MPI Awards
and Recognition Task Force. “We have all attended meetings
that have broadened our mindsets. We have heard about events
that transformed society. You might recall examples of these
meetings in the article ‘Ten Meetings that Rocked the World’
[October 2008, One+].”
MPI members who know of organizations that have recently
exhibited leadership in meetings or events to advance organizational strategy, drive business results or create change can
submit nominations at MPIWeb.org. For more information or
questions, contact Janice Parker at jparker@mpiweb.org or
(972) 702-3048. The RISE Awards are sponsored by the MPI
Foundation.
02.09
pp 36-39 Community Foundation 0209.indd 36
1/23/09 2:49:14 PM
Executive Council
Ponders Industry’s
Future
Get it in Real Time
challenges.”
Divided into two main feature
stories—“Survival of the Fittest” and
“Brave New World”—One+ Real
Time will feature several industry and
financial leaders including economic
expert Don Reynolds, Roger Dow
of the U.S. Travel Association, Issa
Jouaneh of American Express, Mike
Gamble of SearchWide, career consultant and personal branding strategist Walter Akana and Cindy D’Aoust
of Maritz Travel.
One+ Real Time will also provide
an unprecedented forum for the audience, allowing attendees to submit
topic questions in real-time via text
message. One+ OnDemand (a live
Internet broadcast of the show) will
connect people from across the
world and allow virtually anyone to
interact via text.
▲
MPI will replace the traditional opening general session at its revolutionary MeetDifferent show this month
with One+ Real Time, an interactive
program with multiple sets and delivery styles—all designed to answer
the question on everyone’s mind: how
to survive and thrive in the midst of
today’s economic turmoil.
One+ Real Time will be anchored
by Terry Savage, a personal finance
expert and syndicated Chicago Sun
Times columnist.
“When we first announced
MeetDifferent 2009, we promised
our attendees real solutions for the
real challenges that lay ahead in the
coming year,” said Bruce MacMillan,
president and CEO of MPI. “MPI’s
debut of One+ Real Time will allow
our attendees to utilize the energy
of many, ensuring that our community is prepared for upcoming
Visit www.mpiweb.org/meetdifferent to
register for MPI’s pioneering conference and
find out more about One+ Real Time and
One+ OnDemand.
mpiweb.org
pp 36-39 Community Foundation 0209.indd 37
37
1/20/09 4:31:42 PM
0209_038.indd 38
1/20/09 3:33:10 PM
Making a Difference
On the eve of the MPI Foundation’s 25th anniversary several past chairmen
share their thoughts on the organization’s progress.
Rod Abraham (1994-1996)
Stephen Powell (1991-1992)
Roger Dow (1998-1999)
Rod E. Abraham Consultancy
InterContinental Hotels Group
U.S. Travel Association
Observing the role played
today by the MPI Foundation
gives me much pleasure.
When I took over as chairman in 1994, we had little
or no infrastructure, were
burdened with debt and
relied on MPI, the parent,
to keep us going. I was
fortunate to be surrounded by big-picture folks
who shared my vision of a future—where the MPI
Foundation would be the catalyst for leading-edge
research and projects, enabling MPI to become
the global leader it is today. When I left the role
in 1996, we believed the vision was attainable.
And it is happening. I am still passionate about
the MPI Foundation’s work and believe that now,
more than ever, every one of us who has chosen
this industry as their life’s work has an obligation
to support the MPI Foundation.
The establishment of the
MPI Foundation and its
initial research and communication work was pivotal in
the recognition of the meeting planner as a professional business position.
Nancy Morell-Swanson (2002-2003)
Global Marketing Services
Although I feel all of the
pieces of MPI are designed
to reach the individual member, the MPI Foundation
emphasis over the years
has been to provide tools,
research and grants that
provide a tangible benefit to
the member’s professional
growth. I’m very proud of the work the MPI
Foundation has done over the years.
FOCUS ON FOUNDATION
It is exciting to see how
the MPI Foundation has
evolved since its initial capital campaign. In addition to
chapter grants and scholarships, the MPI Foundation
has become much more
strategic in supporting MPI
and the industry. The MPI
Foundation puts the funds it raises to work at a
significant annual level, versus just working off
the investment yield. I believe the next horizon for
the MPI Foundation and our industry will be to
find collaborative projects that benefit multiple associations and their constituents. I am proud to
have played a small role in the MPI Foundation’s
success and multiple contributions to the meetings profession.
To contribute to the
MPI Foundation, visit
www.mpifoundation.org.
December 2008 Contributors
The MPI Foundation thanks the following organizations and individuals for their generous support.
U.S. CORPORATE
Platinum Donors
AT&T Park
Carlson Hotels
Dallas CVB
Detroit Metro CVB
Fairmont Hotels
Hilton Hotels
Hyatt Hotels
IHG
Las Vegas CVA
Loews Hotels
Marriott Hotels & Resorts
Omni Hotels
Starwood Hotels & Resorts
The Venetian
Wyndham Hotels
Gold Donors
American Express
AV Concepts
Bloomington CVB
Maritz
MGM Mirage
ProActive
Silver Donors
Aimbridge Hospitality
Anaheim CVB
Aramark
Atlanta CVB
The Broadmoor
Fort Worth CVB
The Greenbrier
hinton + grusich
LA Inc.
LXR
Meet Minneapolis
Millennium Hotels
Park Place Entertainment
Pier 94
PRA
PSAV
Puerto Rico CVB
St. Louis CVB
Weil & Associates
Bronze Donors
Associated Luxury Hotels
Benchmark Hospitality
Destination Hotels & Resorts
Dolce
Experient
Gaylord Opryland
Global Events Partners
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hard Rock International
HelmsBriscoe
PC Nametag
Philadelphia CVB
SearchWide
Seattle CVB
Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin
Wynn
Small Business Donors
4th Wall Events
Best Meetings
Concepts Worldwide
Creative Meetings and Events
Dianne B. Devitt
InnFluent, LLC
Kinsley & Associates
The Laureli Group
Meetingjobs
Meeting Revolution
Meeting Sites Resource
One Smooth Stone
Spets
SYNAXIS Meetings & Events Inc.
Special Donors
Blumberg Marketing
Boca Resorts
Carol Krugman, CMP, CMM
CVent
Dave Scypinski
David DuBois, CMP, CAE
David Gabri
Folio Fine Wine Partners
George P. Johnson
Jonathan T. Howe, Esq.
Katie Callahan-Giobbi
Ken Sanders
Little Rock CVB
Mark Sirangelo
Kevin Olsen
Pasadena CVB
Production Plus Inc.
SAS Institute
Visit Raleigh
Friends of MPI
7th Wave Communication
Balance Design
Beverly W. Kinkade, CMP, CHME
C. James Trombino, CAE
Didier Scaillet
Gaylord Palms
Gaylord Texan
Hattiel Hill, CMM
Hattie Hill Enterprises
Helen Van Dongen, CMP, CMM
Jerry Wayne
Joe Nishi
Interactive Visuals
Ivan Carlson
Leadership Synergies
Linda Swago
Marianne Demko Lange, CMP,
CMM
Melvin Tennant, CAE
Michael Beardsley
Mitchell Beer, CMM
National Speakers Bureau
Vito Curalli
William Gilchrist
CANADA CORPORATE
Leader’s Club
Fairmont Hotels and Resorts
Heritage Club
Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Diamond Club
Caesars Windsor
Convention Centres of Canada
Delta Hotels
PSAV
Platinum Level
AV-Canada
AVW-Telav
Calgary Telus Convention Centre
Cascadia Motivation
Coast Hotels & Resorts
Evolution
Hilton Canada
IHG
Marriott Hotels & Resorts
Canada
Ottawa Tourisim
Stronco
Tourism Calgary
Tourism Toronto
Tourisme Quebec
VIA Rail Canada
Gold Level
The Conference Publishers
D.E. Systems Ltd.
Destination Halifax
Direct Energy Centre
IncentiveWorks
Tourism British Columbia
Tourism Vancouver
Tourisme Montreal
Silver & Bronze Levels
Accucom Corporate Communications Inc.
ADMAR Promotions
Calgary Exhibition & Stampede
Cantrav dmc
Centre Mont-Royal
Destination Winnipeg
Exposoft Solutions Inc.
Fletcher Wright Associates Inc.
Gelber Conference Centre
Groupe Germain Hotels
The Great West Life Company
Investors Group Financial
Services
Mendelssohn Livingston
Naylor Publishers Inc.
The Planner
EUROPE CORPORATE
Heritage Club
EIBTM
IMEX
Diamond Club
MCI
Platinum Key
BTC International
Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Gold Key
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
Malaga CVB
The Rezidor Hotel Group
Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre
VisitDenmark
Silver Partner
ExpoForce
RefTech
Bronze Friend
Amsterdam RAI
Hotels van Oranje
Ince&Tive
Visit London
CHAPTER
Arizona Sunbelt
Atlantic Canada
British Columbia
Carolinas
Chicago Area
Georgia
Greater Edmonton
Greater New York
Gulf States
Heartland
Houston Area
Japan
Kentucky Bluegrass
Indiana
Manitoba
Minnesota
New Jersey
Northern California
Ohio
Oklahoma
Orange County
Oregon
Ottawa
Philadelphia Area
Potomac
Rocky Mountain
Southern California
St. Louis
Tennessee
Texas Hill Country
Toronto
Virginia
Washington State
WestField
INDIVIDUAL
Diamond
Hattie Hill, CMM
Didier Scaillet
Three Star
Mandell Hopkins
Heather McKee
Colleen Rickenbacher, CMP,
CSEP, CPC
Fellow
MaryAnne Bobrow, CMP, CAE,
CMM
August Vonderheide
mpiweb.org
pp 36-39 Community Foundation 0209.indd 39
39
1/23/09 2:50:05 PM
WHO:
Connections
Andrew Scarratt,
Llandudno Victorian
Extravaganza Committee
Planner + Planner Success Story
Len Ricketts,
Llandudno Transport
Festival
EVENT:
History repeats itself in
Llandudno, Wales. Every year.
Once a prosperous Victorian destination
for wealthy Europeans, Llandudno fights the
tides of flighty tourism trends and finds answers to the future in a decadent and illustrious past. Seeking a way to balk the recession
of the early 1980s, town officials created a
fair that wasn’t just another street show, but
an extravaganza.
Today, the Victorian Extravaganza attracts more than 250,000
visitors over three days.
But the free show wouldn’t
have survived the early
years without its companion Transport Festival, a
pay-for-entry fair featuring
hundreds of exhibits—from
antique ambulances, lorries
and autos to motorbikes,
horticultural machinery and
miniature steam engines.
Originally, organizers tied
the events together—the
Transport Fest financing the
extravaganza—and while
the two now act independently, they rely on each other for attendance
and government support.
But the annual May Bank Holiday events
have seen their share of adversity. Several
years ago, the extravaganza faced financial
crisis, and organizers accepted low bids from
modern exhibitors. Public outcry was fierce,
40
one+
Victorian Extravaganza and
Transport Festival
Llandudno, Wales
May 2-4, 2009
according to former steam engine exhibitor
Andrew Scarratt, who now coordinates the
event.
“It was easier to accept low bids from more
modern exhibits,” Scarratt said. “The extravaganza was tipping away from what it was supposed to be. The unique thing about it—that
sets the event apart from other shows—is that
things are done for real. We build everything
up on the streets.”
The aim is to maintain
the integrity of the event, designed to be as much like a
Victorian street fair as possible in today’s world of plastic money and motorized
vehicles. The extravaganza’s
fair grounds are the streets
of Llandudno itself, where
steam-powered organs
pound out carnival tunes
and excited crowds marvel
over horseless carriages and
steam engines.
“We have focused more
on heritage, on preservation
as a benchmark for progress,” Scarratt said.
“Llandudno was built as a holiday spot for
wealthy Europeans. Today, we rely on those
same traditional Victorian qualities of sea
bathing, sand and donkey rides.”
Meanwhile, outside vendors are expressly
forbidden on the festival streets of Llandudno,
02.09
pp 40-41 Connections 0209.indd 40
1/23/09 2:51:40 PM
feeding thousands of attendees to local merchants and pouring untold pounds into the
local economy. The event’s city-street scene
keeps festival crowds in and around Llandudno’s downtown business core: its restaurants,
its boutique hotels, its tourist and retail shops.
Nearby, on the city’s picturesque sea-front
showground, Len Ricketts presents the annual
Transport Festival, linked to the Victorian
Extravaganza by shuttle bus. Here, visitors
marvel at cars and buses dating to the early
20th century, and autos share the landscape
with passing sheep. Antique stationary engines
sit to one side. Crowds flock to food vendors
and a bizarre row of catering stalls hawking
everything from baby clothes to antiques.
Ricketts has organized the transport event
since its inception more than a decade ago. He
says it feels like a lifetime, but he hardly seems
ready to quit.
“The transport show was originally my
idea, and it has always been family run,” he
sighed. “It’s grown so big, we’ve got grandchildren working on it now.”
The show is a force of its own, attracting
some 20,000 visitors each year to the shores of
Llandudno Bay. But Ricketts admits the show
wouldn’t survive without its counterpart—and
perhaps vice versa.
“We lean on each other,” Ricketts said.
—JESSIE STATES
mpiweb.org
pp 40-41 Connections 0209.indd 41
41
1/20/09 10:10:16 AM
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Is your dog drinking responsibly? No self-respecting
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42
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02.09
pp 42 Irrelevant 0209.indd 42
1/23/09 2:12:25 PM
0209_043.indd 43
1/5/09 9:57:16 AM
Miranda
Ioannou
Global View
Meetings Impact
MEETINGS HAPPEN EVERYWHERE IN
THE WORLD, and the way they impact—
good or bad—applies the same globally, no
matter what country you are in. Amidst the
economic chaos, the shrinking budgets, the
near-cancelled events, the everyday happenings in business and the world, there has
never been a better time to explain exactly
how meetings impact what we do as organizations and as people.
What is imperative is real, actual
and measurable impact on the
bottom line: return on investment
and return on objectives.
44
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02.09
pp 44 Global View 0209.indd 44
BIO
Meeting planners are not just logistic
partners (or, to use a slang term from the
IT industry, box-shifters). You’re looking
at meetings management as any other business element, only one that has the power to
draw massive results if done properly.
Many have gone along the path of reinventing themselves with strategic meeting
management programs, especially in the
corporate world. Unfortunately, this often
results in somewhat streamlined procurement procedures that can interfere with the
purpose of the meeting.
In order to be effective and really be
strategic, meetings require content, relationship, supply chain and process optimization at all levels. Meetings should be
designed in the most cost-effective way
always, not only now that there is an
economic crisis. They furthermore require
effective stakeholder management—speakers, investors, sponsors, partners, suppliers,
members, employees, delegates…feedback
before and after.
What is imperative is real, actual
and measurable impact on the bottom
line: return on investment and return on
objectives.
And, of course, one should get the
meeting basics right. The venue should be
suitable, the menus should be appropriate,
the execution should be excellent—you
get the idea—and there should be a proper
plan so that everything will run smoothly.
Achieve all that, and you are looking
at elevation within the industry—building
trust and setting the bar high.
So next time you begin to think about
organizing a meeting, conference, event—
whatever—first take a step back and
reflect on what your organization wants
to achieve with it and why. The strategic
part begins within your organization and
spreads out to all the meeting stakeholders. Managing that effectively prepares
the ground for a successful meeting if the
execution is appropriate.
Think how you can best use a meeting to channel your messages, bring the
people you think should be networking
together and ensure that it will be interesting enough for them to attend—to find the
meeting worth their time during and, most
importantly, after it has ended. That’s
when the impact begins.
MIRANDA IOANNOU is managing director of SCS Limited, a Cyprus-based
company specializing in professional conference organization, association
management and strategic business and marketing consulting and education.
E-mail her at miranda.ioannou@scs.com.cy.
1/16/09 2:24:21 PM
0209_045.indd 45
1/5/09 9:58:24 AM
Tony
Carey
Across the Bow
Trade Show
Addict
46
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02.09
pp 46-47 Across The Bow 0209.indd 46
BIO
In an idle moment, recently, I computed
that I have spent more than six months of
my life attending meetings industry trade
shows either as a visitor or exhibitor. In
revealing this sad fact, I am not seeking
your sympathy—although it is obvious
that I should get help for such a strange
addiction—merely suggesting that I am well
placed to pontificate about our industry.
I’m a veteran scarred by countless
encounters with the ersatz enthusiasm of
smiling sales folk. Yet, I keep coming back
for more.
Last December, I attended one of my
favorite shows: EIBTM. Every year it boosts
the economy of Barcelona, Spain, by attracting more than 3,500 visitors.
Why do I enjoy this show? Partly because
it represents our world in microcosm, where
you can experience several hundred different
cultures, all under one roof. Anyone seeking
a crash course in cultural diversity could do
worse than attend EIBTM—all global life is
there.
For those who are geographically challenged (is Tunisia in the Middle East or
Africa?), countries are helpfully clustered
in regions, so you can spend hours tripping
around Latin America to the sound of salsa
music (is it coincidence that the lights seem
sunshine-warm in this part of the hall?)
or exploring the Bedouin tents of Arabia
(shaded and cool under the same lights).
As a trade show aficionado, I know better than to make appointments on opposite
sides of the world without allowing for
travel time. It can take almost as long to
walk from the U.S. to Europe at EIBTM as
it does to fly in reality. There are so many
locations determined to ambush you and
friends with whom it would be churlish not
to pass the time of day.
(To digress momentarily—I do wish
people wouldn’t wear their badges on ribbons, as I am uncomfortable having to peer
at someone’s navel to see who I’m speaking with, especially if I’m trying to pretend
they are my absolute best friend. Also, it is
amazing the number of total strangers who
greet you like a long lost buddy. Either I am
losing my memory for faces—names went a
long time ago—or I have several doubles.)
Finally reaching Europe, the atmosphere
changes, perceptibly. The cultural differences
between booths become more pronounced.
The Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and Finns
exhibit a cool professionalism while competing intensely. And I think I saw an Icelander
trying to borrow €10 from a Scandinavian
neighbor.
Germany is always worth a visit and
not only for the beer and bratwurst. Here
the business of promotion is taken very
seriously, and appointments run on a strict
timetable—which is not to say that the
welcome is any less warm than in the “Club
Med” countries further south.
Nearby, the Dutch have, as usual,
hijacked the color orange and are all
TONY CAREY, CMP, CMM, is an award-winning writer and past member
of MPI’s International Board of Directors. He can be reached at
tonycarey@psilink.co.je.
1/14/09 10:30:21 AM
It is impossible to ignore the possibility that most
cultures do have unique idiosyncrasies—to pretend
otherwise is to invite embarrassment.
wearing clogs, making them hard to ignore
(I’ve not succeeded yet).
Further on, there is what can only be
described as a hubbub. The Italians always
seem to be having a party that starts when
the show opens and closes when the last
visitor has levitated away—having imbibed
too many industrial strength espressos. The
atmosphere is loud and (if you don’t understand Italian) apparently argumentative, as
Florence and Venice vie with Naples and
Sicily for your attention.
European exhibitions, in our business,
differ from their American counterparts in
one crucial way. Most booths on this side of
the Atlantic serve their national drink, so it
is possible to navigate the show by moving
from the beers of Belgium to the vineyards
of Bordeaux to the Rioja region of Spain,
not ignoring Italian Chianti on the way to
Hungary and its famous Tokai. Such an
itinerary might finish in Scotland for a “wee
dram.” I have only heard of this strategy,
naturally.
And what of Asia Pacific and, for that
matter, North America? I may have imagined it, but the floor space occupied by
Mexico seemed larger than the nearby U.S.
while, not surprisingly, the China booth gets
bigger every year.
I am aware that in the U.S., stereotyping has a bad name, but after a few days at
EIBTM it is impossible to ignore the possibility that most cultures do have unique
idiosyncrasies—to pretend otherwise is to
invite embarrassment.
Agree? Disagree?
Share your thoughts with
other readers at
www.mpioneplus.org.
mpiweb.org
pp 46-47 Across The Bow 0209.indd 47
47
1/12/09 9:24:34 AM
Patrick
O’Malley
Open-Source Everything
LinkedIn 101—
Even If You’re
Not Job Hunting
YOU’VE SEEN LINKEDIN. You’ve
uploaded your resumé like everyone else.
But, you’re not searching for a job, selling
anything or networking on the Internet, so
you don’t see the point of it all. What’s the
big deal? Really, you’re just confused and
bored.
You’re not alone, and it’s not your
fault—LinkedIn Corp. doesn’t make it easy
for you to understand the power of its site.
I’m going to show you, though, a different perspective on LinkedIn, with two different ways that you can use it, even if you
aren’t job hunting or selling.
48
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BIO
Getting in Touch
Put in the names of some of your friends or
work colleagues from the past, and you may
find a lot of them have profiles on LinkedIn.
The site has about 30 million members,
which is about 40 percent of the number of
people who use work computers every day.
There’s a good chance your old friends can
be found on LinkedIn.
I reconnected with my roommate from
college, and now have dinner with him once
a year. (He still owes me money from a
phone bill 20 years ago.) I have also reconnected with many other high school and
college friends and literally dozens of coworkers from previous jobs.
Here are a couple of my undiscovered
“Missing LinkedIn Tips.”
• Put your maiden name in your profile. One way to do this is to make it part
of your first name. Angelina Jolie Pitt got
married, so she changed her last name. In
her LinkedIn profile, she put Pitt as her last
name, but I never would have looked for
that, since she got married after I lost touch
with her. However, since she had set up her
first name as Angelina Jolie in her LinkedIn
profile, I was able to find her. I may never
have found her otherwise. Alternatively, you
can put it in the Summary field.
• Keep a list of the people you don’t find.
You will want to try again at some point in
the future.
Keeping in Touch
Once you are connected to someone
through LinkedIn, you should be able to
find them forever, so it is a very powerful
way to keep in touch. If they change jobs,
phone numbers, addresses or names (as they
get married or divorced), they may be too
busy to notify everyone. However, they will
eventually change their e-mail addresses in
their LinkedIn profiles, so you should still
be able to get back in touch with them. This
makes LinkedIn a very powerful Rolodex or
stack of business cards.
LinkedIn can be a much more powerful
tool, if you want to use it for networking,
searching for business partners, job hunting
and sales. But if you don’t need those things
right now, it can be useful just for finding
old friends or colleagues and keeping in
touch with them. By the time you decide
you need it for networking reasons, you
will have already built a good network of
trusted contacts.
PATRICK O’MALLEY is a keynote speaker and corporate trainer who talks about
LinkedIn, Facebook and Google advertising. He does not work for LinkedIn. Visit
his Web site at www.patrickomalley.com. He will be a speaker at MPI’s 2009
MeetDifferent event this month in Atlanta.
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1/5/09 10:00:14 AM
Tim
Sanders
Transform the World
Speakers
Rehab
“CAN YOU GIVE ME A GOOD JOKE
TO TELL DURING MY PRESENTATION
TOMORROW?” I was asked once at an
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pp 50-51 Transform World 0209.indd 50
BIO
internal sales conference in 2000 by Ellen,
an executive at my company.
I had just given the presentation of my
life to 800 fellow Yahoo! employees, including senior management. Ellen, not a natural
born speaker, wanted to have the same
success—and she hoped it was as simple as
securing a funny piece of content to go with
her massive PowerPoint slide show.
I knew on the spot that a joke wasn’t the
solution, and worse, I had no idea of how
to help her improve her presentation skills
in one day. Up until then, I was getting by
with enthusiasm and visual aids. I knew
that wasn’t sustainable. Over the next few
years, I became a student of public speaking
and read dozens of books on the subject.
In 2003, one of those books changed my
speaking life—and finally gave me some
practical tools to help others improve their
speeches as well.
That book was Working the Room by
Nick Morgan. After studying some of the
greatest speakers of all time, Morgan realized they all had one thing in common: a
belief that “the only reason to give a speech
is to change the world.”
I eventually hired the author’s firm (Public Words Inc.) to help me with my growing
professional speaking career. Public Words
helps companies improve internal speakers
for important presentations and also works
with professional speakers such as myself.
During the last five years, I’ve learned a
great deal on how to give a presentation that
moves an audience to action.
Face it: Most non-professional speakers are bad. Really bad. But many meeting
professionals have to include them on event
agendas because of their status and expectations. Usually, there isn’t much time to rehab
a bad internal speaker, so some simple rules
of thumb could come in handy.
1. Make each speech tell a single archetypal story. Both Morgan and author and
film producer Clive Barker agree that there
are a fixed number of basic stories that are
told and retold over time. We are used to
hearing these, and that’s why they work in
changing our perspective and actions. Those
stories include love, revenge, strangers-in-astrange-land, coming of age, hero journeys
and burning platforms. While speakers like
to tell little stories, they must tie them to
an overarching story that the audience can
relate to. So, figure out which of these stories
the speaker is trying to tell, then create an
outline and select data and anecdotes to support it.
2. Reduce the visuals (crutches). If a
speaker needs an outline, put one together
on paper with magic marker and
tape it to the floor in front of him
or her—just like a band has a set
list instead of overhead slides that
announce each song. I suggest cutting PowerPoint presentations down
TIM SANDERS, one of the top-rated speakers on the lecture
circuit, is author of Saving the World at Work: What
Companies and Individuals Can Do to Go Beyond Making a
Profit to Making a Difference (Doubleday, September 2008).
1/16/09 2:20:15 PM
to less than six slides (hopefully, all illustrative images and NO quotes).
3. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Encourage speakers to run through the speech with
staff before leaving for events. Schedule time
for speakers to give the full presentation at
the venues to instill confidence and free up
their minds during the presentation, allowing them to connect with the audience and
watch how they react to material.
4. Require at least three specific calls
to action. A “go-do-this” point is the best
possible takeaway a talk can offer its audience. To outline a problem or provide a
case study may be interesting, but it will not
change the world. Calls to action need to be
specific, doable and measurable. I suggest
that the first two calls to action are tactical
and the final one strategic. After-event communications should summarize the internal
speaker’s calls to action and progress that’s
been made in adopting them.
5. Review the tapes–full circle. All events
should, whenever possible, be videotaped.
Even if you use an inexpensive camera,
tape the speaker AND the audience every
time. Morgan’s newest book, Trust Me:
Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma,
argues that the non-verbal message is more
important than the verbal message, yet most
speakers are not aware of their postures,
gestures or movements. Show speakers what
they are doing wrong on tape, and they’ll
change.
6. View (or have the speaker view) the
tape you’ve made of your audience. Movie
producers have used this technique for
decades to assess how audiences react to
If you help one of your
executives improve his or
her game on stage, they’ll
see you as a value-added
leader in the company, which
can be good for your career.
plot lines, stories and actors. By watching
the audience, as you listen to the speaker,
you’ll drill down to the points that worked,
bounced off the audience or didn’t work
at all.
How hard is it to rehab a bad internal
speaker? Not hard with good advice, persistence and positive feedback. Besides, if you
help one of your executives improve his or
her game on stage, they’ll see you as a valueadded leader in the company, which can be
good for your career (and your events).
Have you witnessed
something that will
transform the world?
Tell us about it at
www.mpiweb.org.
mpiweb.org
pp 50-51 Transform World 0209.indd 51
51
1/21/09 9:38:08 AM
+
Saving the Show
What’s New
In Las Vegas
BY ROWLAND STITELER
PETER MACGILLIVRAY KNOWS WHAT
IT’S LIKE TO LOOK AT THE CLOCK ON
THE NIGHTSTAND AT 4 A.M. and wonder
if you’ll ever get to sleep or stop worrying
about your event’s attendance.
But the hours, so-called “Maalox
Moments,” MacGillivray, vice president of
events and communications for the Specialty
Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA),
incurred worrying about the outcome of his
2001 trade show (which turned out fine)
paled in comparison with those spent sweating out the fate of his 2008 show, held the
first week of November at the Las Vegas
Convention Center.
“September 2001 was nothing like what
we were going through in August 2008,
because the economy was going down the
Scenes from Automotive Aftermarket Industry
Week (AAIW) in Las Vegas.
+
Fun Facts
The 45-foot-tall lion at the MGM Grand,
perched atop a 25-foot pedestal, is the
largest bronze statue in the U.S.
The Stratosphere Hotel and Tower, at more
than 1,100 feet, is the tallest U.S. building west of the Mississippi River and the
fifth-tallest U.S. building.
drain, and even worse, the auto industry was
right in the middle of it,” MacGillivray said.
“We were extremely worried about whether
people would feel like jumping on a plane
and heading for our show in Las Vegas when
conventional wisdom was that we were in
the worst economic straits the country has
faced since the Great Depression.”
He says that while the auto manufacturers themselves only represent a small fraction of the exhibitors at the show—perhaps
15 out the 2,000 companies with trade show
booths—the big automakers are a vital
part of the equation. Typically, the keynote
speaker at the show’s kickoff gala is a representative of the Big 3 (Diamler Chrysler,
Ford and General Motors). General Motors’
new car line had been chosen as the official
show vehicle, for instance. And by summer
2008, everyone in Detroit—and specifically
General Motors—knew their economic prospects for the coming year were not good.
“It was not an atmosphere that was necessarily conducive to generating good turnout at a trade show,” MacGillivray said.
But, as he and his fellow planners for
Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week
(AAIW) in Las Vegas paced the floor in late
summer, they decided that rather than simply
wring their hands and worry, they should at
least try to do something about the looming
problem.
“It gives you the satisfaction of knowing
you’re not just leaving the outcome of your
Encore Las Vegas, the
new signature resort
in the Wynn collection
located next door to
flagship property Wynn
Las Vegas, opened in
December. The 2,034room property offers
11 retail outlets, seven
bars and lounges, five
restaurants, one nightclub and a luxury spa
and salon.
Caesars Palace Las
Vegas Hotel & Casino
topped off its 23-story
Octavius Tower in November as part of a
US$1 billion expansion
set for completion in
mid-2009. The resort’s
sixth tower will add
665 guest rooms to
the property and will be
located next to a new,
263,000-square-foot
meeting and convention
center and three new
pools.
As part of its $850
million expansion
project, the Hard
Rock Hotel & Casino
Las Vegas topped off
its new North Tower
in November. Scheduled for completion in
September 2009, the
17-story building will
offer 479 guest rooms,
a conference room,
10 pool suites and
a 3,400-square-foot
penthouse.
In the Chinese culture, the number four is
considered bad luck, which is why Rio AllSuite Las Vegas Hotel & Casino and Wynn
Las Vegas have no tower floors that begin
with four.
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0209_053.indd 53
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Scenes from Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week (AAIW) in Las Vegas.
+
Transportation Tip
For economical transportation, the
double-decker Deuce busses are
one of the most affordable ways
to travel the Las Vegas Strip. The
London-esque, double-deck busses
travel from downtown to the south
end of the world famous Strip for
less than US$5, linking virtually all
of the major convention hotels (and
an almost infinite number of shows,
bars and gaming opportunities) on
one big loop.
54
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event in the hands of fate,” MacGillivray
said.
So, AAIW planners contacted the Las
Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority
(LVCVA) and asked for a “crisis meeting.”
In all, almost 20 planners and stakeholders from AAIW met in a conference room at
the LVCVA headquarters one late-August
day with Chris Meyer, LVCVA vice president
of sales and services.
Meyer says everyone around the conference table “seemed tense and sullen”—and
with good reason. Collectively, the AAIW
planners are responsible for two concurrent trade shows—the SEMA show at the
3.2 million-square-foot Las Vegas Convention Center and the Automotive Aftermarket Products Exhibition at the 1.8 millionsquare-foot Sands Expo and Convention
Center—each of which traditionally attracts
more than 100,000 attendees.
“As a matter of fact, of all the pre-event
meetings I have had over the years, I can’t
remember meeting with a group that seemed
more apprehensive about the outcome of the
event,” Meyer said.
But as MacGillivray remembers it, the
more Meyer talked about a game plan to
save the shows, the less nervous the planners
in the room became.
“LVCVA had a logical, well-thought-out
action plan,” he said. “And after we heard
the plan, it became apparent that this would
not just help us logistically, it would lift our
spirits about the prospect of success—we
actually felt better about our prospects of
success by the time we walked out of the
LVCA boardroom that day. We went home
with some things in our back pocket we did
not have before the meeting.”
The plan was simple, if laborious. Early
last year, the LVCVA had put together a
massive marketing phone bank. Not only
would the convention bureau call thousands
of potential attendees to the AAIW shows, it
would help the AAIW develop a phone message script and would tabulate the results
of the phone blitz—and even “clean up”
the phone list, letting the AAIW staff know
what contact names and numbers were not
current anymore.
MacGillivray says the LVCVA also helped
show planners develop their own to-do
list for the eight weeks that then remained
before the shows with action items such as a
trade media blitz.
But a big part of the equation, in MacC O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 5 8
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Scene from Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week (AAIW) in Las Vegas.
meeting, the LVCVA telephone task force
was in the process of calling potential attendGillivray’s opinion, was the staffing hours ees—all of whom were themselves involved
the LVCA was able to put in on behalf of in the automotive parts industry—with a
simple, straightforward message.
SEMA.
“We put out a positive message that ‘hey,
“Right before a show, in those last 30
days, everybody is spread thin, and their just because the economy is bad right now,
offers to help connect with people and remind that doesn’t mean that we can’t do anything
them of the value proposition that our show about it, and you’ll get value by attending
this event,’” Meyer said.
represents—that was huge,” he said.
And the mere fact that effort was being
Within a week of the August crisis
C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 5 4
pp 52-60 Destination Las Vegas.indd 58
made was the start of a solution for SEMA,
MacGillivray says.
“Simply being able to call our regular
exhibitors (some 2,000 in all) and tell them
what we were doing, that we were taking
a proactive approach to rescuing the show
from the effect of a bad economy, did some
good,” MacGillivray said.
By the time the show date rolled around,
it was clear the day had been saved for AAIW,
according to MacGillivray. Attendees were
making their pickups for the 20-hotel room
block required for the big event. SEMA staff
members were getting good feedback from
their exhibitors that indicated they were feeling positive about the upcoming show.
And sure enough, by the time the doors
opened for the show’s first day, it was obvious the event—which is not open to the general public, but only qualified buyers and
automotive parts industry professionals—
would be a success, MacGillivray says. And
when it was over, the show’s attendance was
1/20/09 4:35:28 PM
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1/5/09 10:15:30 AM
Scene from Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week (AAIW) in Las Vegas.
more than 107,000. Though not a record for
the SEMA show, which has attracted more
than 130,000, MacGillivray says it was a
clear success for another reason.
“Our exhibitors said that the quality of
the attendees [based on their credentials as
buyers] was extremely high this year, and
that is one mark of success for a show like
ours,” he said. “So what the LVCVA did for
us clearly was very effective.”
Meyer says that while he was pleased to
see the strategic phone blitz, some credit for
the quality of the attendees, ironically, had to
do with the sour economy itself.
“The bad economy weeds out the tire
kickers to a certain extent,” he said. “They
are not going to spend the money to come to
a show in tight-money times unless they are
serious, motivated attendees.”
But Meyer says the SEMA show’s success
was enough to convince him to expand his
phone bank program.
“The feedback we have received about
the results that were generated for the SEMA
show was enough to convince me that we
have found ourselves an effective attendance-building strategy here,” Meyer said.
“We have decided we are not going to just
limit these efforts to events that take place
inside the walls of the Las Vegas Convention
Center; we are expanding it to include events
at hotels and other convention facilities in
town.”
Meyer says the phone bank promotions
are just the latest component of a nine-point
attendance-building plan the LVCVA offers
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for trade shows and conventions. Some of
the components are quite traditional—such
as setting up a Las Vegas booth at the previous year’s convention or trade show for
an event that will be coming to the city the
following year. But the LVCVA often adds it
own special touch to that fundamental step,
such as providing a free Internet cafe at its
trade show booth.
Additionally, Meyer says, the LVCVA has
rolled out some big initiatives for its event clients, such as taking representatives of some
shows—such as the annual Las Vegas-based
Consumer Electronics Show—on a European
trade mission, in which the LVCVA arranges
meetings for show representatives with trade
ministers from several countries.
MacGillivray is convinced that the ongoing success of the SEMA show, which has
been held in Las Vegas every year since 1977,
is due in large part to the appeal of the city
itself.
“I am not sure we could do this event
anywhere but Las Vegas, certainly not as
successfully,” he said. Part of the reason, he
said, is the logistics—the hotel room inventory; the massive, domestic and international
airlift—and part is pure Las Vegas mystique.
The SEMA show originally began as a
very modest event in 1967, MacGillivray
says, with trade show booths beneath
the bleachers of Dodger Stadium in Los
Angeles.
As the show grew, it moved to the convention center in Anaheim, Calif., but did
not see a quantum growth until it moved to
Las Vegas in the show’s 10th year.
“Las Vegas quickly became part of the
fabric of how our attendees are attracted to
our show,” MacGillivray said. “It’s a key
part of the SEMA show experience.”
MacGillivray says the Las Vegas allure
immediately began to attract attendees during the late 1970s.
What drew visitors then is essentially
what attracts them now: a lot of after-hours
options including night clubs, casinos and
restaurants ranging from haute cuisine palaces to down-home barbecue rib joints.
“The various exhibitors have literally
scores of parties for the attendees, and only
in Las Vegas would you be likely to find
enough viable options for all those events
within our event,” MacGillivray said.
And then there is the star-power concept.
SEMA always seeks to have a nationally
known entertainer for its kickoff gala—this
year the headliner was comedian and entertainer Frank Caliendo, well known as a cast
member of the FOX TV series MADtv.
Las Vegas is simply an easier place to book
A-list entertainment acts than other cities,
MacGillivray says. And while SEMA is very
much a business-to-business kind of event,
attendees also expect to be entertained.
“Our attendees are the type of people
that work hard and play hard,” he said.
“And there is no place in the world quite like
Las Vegas.”
ROWLAND STITELER is a freelance writer
based in Crystal Beach, Fla.
02.09
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1/7/09 3:06:29 PM
Scenes from the ASA annual meeting.
Wishes
Can
Come
True
FAMOUS
PHILOSOPHER
JIMINY
CRICKET once sang, “When you wish upon
a star, makes no difference who you are…no
request is too extreme, when you wish upon
a star.”
For Bleu Blakslee, conference director of
a multi-day event for 2,000 members of the
Autism Society of America (ASA), attempting
to find a destination that could accommodate
a wide spectrum of attendees with diverse
physical, behavioral and dietary needs may
have seemed like an extreme request. But
after meeting with the Orlando CVB and representatives from several local businesses and
attractions, the choice was clear, and Orlando
was selected to play host to the ASA’s annual
meeting in July 2008.
“We chose Orlando because the bureau,
local companies and tourist attractions were
tuned in to our community’s requirements
due, in large part, to active local ASA chapters,” Blakslee said.
The local ASA chapter, the Autism Society
of Greater Orlando (ASGO), participates in
more than 60 local events annually. ASGO
is involved with a wide range of community activities including bowling, pre-school
groups and autism awareness training for
law enforcement officers.
“We host days such as Sea of Dreams and
Adventures in Autism so that families can
go out in public and be supported by others
who understand them,” said Donna Lorman,
ASGO president. “We offer autism awareness training to law enforcement officers, first
responders and hospital staffs [because] this
allows for those individuals who might come
62
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BRIAN KIRST (2)
What’s New
in Orlando
BY KEVIN WOO
THE
+
The Holiday Inn in the
Walt Disney World Resort is scheduled to open
this month and will feature
323 guest rooms and
more than 11,000 square
feet of meeting space.
The Disney Vacation Club
announced the development of two new resorts,
Bay Lake Tower (opening
fall 2009) and the Treehouse Villas at Disney’s
Saratoga Springs Resort
and Spa (opening summer 2009).
The Bay Lake
Tower will
feature 295
two-bedroom
villas. The
Treehouse
Villas will have
60 threebedroom
homes that
are elevated
10 feet off the
ground on pedestals and
beams to blend in with the
surrounding forest environment. Each villa will sleep
nine. The Treehouse Villas
are designed to promote
“glamping”—or glamorous
camping.
into contact with our children/adults with
autism to be better trained to identify and
then handle the situation involving an individual with autism.”
Autism is a developmental disability that
affects a person’s ability to communicate and
interact with others. Autism is considered a
“spectrum disorder”—one that affects individuals differently and to varying degrees.
According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, one in every 150
U.S. children, and almost one in 94 boys, is
diagnosed with autism. The ASA estimates
that the lifetime cost of caring for a child
with autism ranges from US$3.5 million to
$5 million. Additionally, the U.S. government
spends nearly $90 billion annually for services
related to autism including research, education,
housing, transportation,
employment and therapeutic services.
The ASA conference
was held at the Gaylord Palms Resort and
Convention Center. The
Gaylord, which is conveniently located 1.5 miles from the Walt Disney
World Resort, offers more than 1,400 guest
rooms, 400,000 square feet of meeting space
and a 178,500-square-foot exhibit hall.
It was the CVB that suggested the Gaylord
Palms as the venue for the conference. There
were several reasons for the recommendation, but one of the most important was that
many of the attendees were allergic to gluten
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1/15/09 1:19:52 PM
and dairy products, and the CVB knew that
the chefs at the Gaylord could seamlessly
create meals featuring fresh vegetables, meat
and breads that were made with gluten-free/
casein-free ingredients.
Shaun Yates, catering manager, and Chef
Earlest Bell of the Gaylord Palms worked
with Blakslee to create meals, room service
items and concession stand snacks that were
all gluten-free/casein-free.
For Bell, the highlight of the conference
was the three-course, gluten-free meal for
400 who attended the ASA awards banquet.
The meal included salad made of bibb lettuce, fire roasted peppers, goat cheese and
pear tomatoes. The entrée consisted of grilled
breast of free-range chicken, roasted seedless
grapes, spinach, baby carrots and rosemary
new potatoes. Gluten-free bread and glutenfree apple spread were also served.
“We were able to provide a gourmet meal
that featured items that were all gluten- and
casein-free,” Yates said. “This was the ultimate in making all attendees feel important
and comfortable—an opportunity to dine
with others, without worrying about a special menu.”
It was through numerous discussions with
Yates and Bell that Blakslee discovered the
extensive capabilities of the Gaylord’s catering services team. Blakslee’s initial request
was simple—gluten-free muffins and pastries—but during the discovery process she
learned that Yates and his staff could offer
more than muffins and pastries. And she
learned that a little advanced planning can
pay huge dividends when it comes time for
food preparation. Advanced planning helps
with mass customization, according to Yates
and Bell.
Yates suggests starting an early dialogue
with the catering or convention services
manager at the beginning stages of planning.
The key to accommodating special dietary
requests, he says, is to share as much information as possible early in the process.
“For this group, we really dug into the
specifics a few months before the first attendees arrived,” Yates said. “This allowed
enough time to get input from Chef Bell. It
also gave our purchasing team time to source
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+
ingredients that we would not have available
Two airports serve the Orlando area— otherwise.”
Parent attendees whose children have
Orlando International Airport (15 miles
from downtown) and Orlando Sanford food allergies were relieved to hear that the
International Airport (18 miles from F&B staff at the Gaylord made a special
downtown). effort to create gluten-free/casein-free meals
and snacks.
Visitors can get around Orlando via the
“Traveling with a child on the spectrum
I-Ride Trolley, which provides economical who also has allergies can be very chalservice to theme parks and hotels located
lenging,” said Amy Dillon of Seattle, who
along International Drive. Fares are
attended the conference with her husband
US$0.75 and kids under 12 ride free.
and 7-year-old son. “If I am unable to read
Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 10:30
the labels on foods, then it is not an option
p.m. daily.
for my son to eat it. If we eat out, we have to
Amtrak serves Orlando with daily train be absolutely sure that the chef understands
service originating from New York and how to prepare foods and ensure that there
Miami. are no cross-contamination issues.”
Dillon noted that everyday items such as
barbecue sauce, vinegar products, ketchup,
Table setting at the
pickles or even crackers can be deadly to
ASA conference
someone with gluten allergies.
“Normally, when we go out with our son
we have to be creative and order salads with
fresh fruits and veggies, gluten-free noodles
for spaghetti, gluten-free waffles and glutenfree bread for sandwiches,” Dillon said.
“Most desserts are made from scratch so
that you change out the gluten flours for nongluten flours, but you have to be careful and
trust the team that is preparing the food.”
The chefs at Epcot and Disney World were
also very accommodating to the ASA members’ dietary needs. Epcot representatives met
with Blakslee in advance of the ASA’s visit to
the park, and the head chef came up with a
Fun Facts meal for the event that was gluten free. Some
To experience each of Orlando’s 95 attrac- who visited Epcot had such strict dietary
tions, it would take 67 eight-hour days. requirements that the chef met with them
individually upon arrival and prepared cusOrlando offers almost 500 hotels and tom meals based on individual requirements.
113,000 guest rooms—more lodging
Blakslee also met with the Disney World
options than nearly any destination in the staff prior to the conference. Disney officials
world. In addition, there are more than
were made aware of respite care that was
26,000 vacation home rentals and 16,000
provided by ASA between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
vacation ownership units available for
each day of the conference so parents could
visitors.
attend sessions without worrying about dayThere are more than 5,180 restaurants care. To ensure parents felt secure knowing
in the Orlando area including 50 upscale their children were well cared for, Disney
restaurants within a 10-mile radius of the officials provided personalized in-park serOrange County Convention Center. vices for the children. In addition, Disney
BRIAN KIRST
Transportation Tips
+
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World’s chefs cooked custom meals to meet
the dietary requirements of its guests.
Disney also provided a link to its Web site
for ticket purchases and information about
disability passes for attendees on the autism
spectrum.
The highlight of the ASA conference was
a town hall meeting hosted by Lee Grossman, ASA president. Orlando CVB President
Mark McHugh welcomed the group and
introduced several local government officials
who were in attendance. The purpose of the
town hall meeting was to have a free-flowing,
open discussion about the need for insurance
reform and to exchange ideas about how to
pay for basic health services for those on the
spectrum.
The town hall panel was co-moderated by
Grossman and Margaret Kirk, CEO of the
Breast Cancer Network of Strength. Panelists included representatives from the LAM
Foundation, the Lupus Foundation of America, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Cancer Society and the ASA.
“Through the town hall meeting we
wanted to bring the idea of healthcare reform
to center stage,” said Carin Yavorcik, ASA
spokesperson. “Our panelists spoke about
the need for reform, and the patients who
were in the audience described how they
have struggled to get insurance coverage or
stay on Medicaid. The session was very interactive as the panelists and audience members
provided feedback so everyone could learn
how to obtain and keep the rights that they
deserve.”
Overall, Orlando was a great fit for the
group, Blakslee says.
“There are a lot of different things to do in
the area. The visitors bureau, local businesses
and attractions are all sensitive to our community’s needs,” Blakslee said. “As a planner,
when I was investigating destinations it was
clear that Orlando had the right resources
and was proactive in helping us. We were
able to access all resources very quickly and
easily.”
KEVIN WOO is a San Francisco-based freelance writer.
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Tivoli Gardens
+
What’s New
in Copenhagen
and Denmark
VISIT COPENHAGEN (4)
The new, 13-room NIMB
hotel near Tivoli Gardens is
a luxury lifestyle hotel with
meeting facilities, a food market, a wine shop and a dairy.
Homework
Pays Off
BY SANDI CAIN
IT WASN’T AS SIMPLE AS THROWING
DARTS AT A MAP. Chantal Spit, in fact,
did her homework first, meeting with VisitDenmark to learn about Copenhagen and
develop a relationship with them. She also
met with Welcome Meeting Management—
a DMC—to learn how that group could
assist with hotel registration.
“Since 2006, we have assisted with
hotel accommodations for the delegates
who decide to book through us,” said Pernille Hertz, partner at Welcome Meeting
Management.
Spit, conference manager for Oslo, Norway-based Point Carbon, found Copenhagen a perfect match for her company’s Carbon Market Insights conference, which had
outgrown its usual venue in Amsterdam.
Point Carbon specializes in modeling, forecasting and providing analysis of the power,
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gas and carbon dioxide emissions markets
and counts more than 18,000 energy, financial and government clients in 150 countries. And Carbon Market Insights typically
stages a plenary session before breaking
into four educational tracks.
“We need lots of meeting rooms, so it’s
not easy for us to find venues,” Spit said.
She found, however, that Copenhagen
was a perfect match, in part because of its
large international airport that facilitates
easy travel and good facilities at the Bella
Center convention venue, one of Europe’s
largest.
Spit also found sufficient hotel rooms
for a growing number of attendees by using
five headquarters hotels for the 1,600 delegates from 800 companies who came to
the March conference.
“Point Carbon is a very professional
InterContinental Hotels Group
has signed an agreement for
a new Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers slated to open
by fall 2009. It will have 365
guest rooms, including suites
and club rooms, a restaurant, a bar and a lounge.
Meeting space will accommodate up to 800.
A Bella Center hotel with
814 guest rooms is in the
works and expected to open
in 2011. The hotel will have
a ballroom and 32 meeting rooms along with three
restaurants, a Skybar and a
spa and fitness center.
VisitDenmark, the official tourism organization of
Denmark, has teamed with
hotels, cultural venues and
companies to launch a new
meeting concept called
“Meetovation” in an effort to
create interactive teambuilding sessions that will
engage participants in the
goals of the meetings. The
program includes green and
environmental aspects and
employs elements of unique
venues to achieve meeting
goals. Attendees may go
behind the scenes at a hotel
to learn about green efforts,
for example, or be turned into
an amateur performing choir
in a concert.
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A jazz band plays during a river cruise
in Copenhagen.
+
Transportation Tips
Daily departures to Copenhagen Airport are available from Chicago; New York;
Seattle; and Washington, D.C. SAS, the official Scandinavian airline, is a member
of the STAR Alliance and operates code-share flights with United Airlines.
There is a train station at Copenhagen Airport next to the baggage claim building.
Danish-Swedish Malmo trains run every 20 minutes and will take visitors to the
city center in 14 minutes, with two stops in between. InterCity trains run directly
to Funen and Jutland hourly Monday through Friday.
The Bella Center
In addition to the conference hall, meeting space and exhibit space, the convention
center arranged space within the exhibit
hall for coffee and lunch breaks, a lounge
and Internet café. Bella Center also played
host to an evening event for 1,200.
In previous years, the reception was
held at offsite venues, but facilities that can
accommodate 1,200 tend to be far outside
Copenhagen, and doing the reception at the
Bella Center was easier for the delegates.
“The main reason [for the reception] is
for delegates to mingle,” Spit said. “Saving time on transportation gives them more
time to do just that.”
Spit says Point Carbon used the center’s
“Spotme” device that helps attendees find
others in the crowd.
“People like it for networking, and that’s
what many of our people want,” she said.
Point Carbon was the first group to use
Spotme, but now other groups are requesting it, Kublitz says.
“We’re very happy with Bella Center,”
Spit said. “They help with everything we
need and the technical team reviews every
detail with you.”
Like many conference groups, Point
Carbon stages some offsite activities. Spit
has relied on Welcome Meeting Management and Visit Copenhagen to recommend
restaurants and unusual venues such as
drink-sampling at the Copenhagen Library.
Welcome Meeting Management can provide
transportation for such events as needed.
“Copenhagen is a lovely city,” Spit said.
“It’s friendly, the level of English is high,
it’s easy to get around and it’s very safe.”
and competent company that does a lot
of the practical things themselves,” Hertz
said. “They’re easy to work with because
Spit provides ample lead time for their
requests.”
Spit says Bella Center works directly
with the ground handler for exhibits being
shipped in. The conference had 75 exhibitors this year.
“It’s useful that the convention center
has suppliers in house, because there’s one
contact point for everything and it’s logistically easier,” Spit said.
Bella Center’s Helle Kublitz says some
exhibit booths are provided on a turnkey
basis and come equipped with standard furniture, lights, carpet and wireless Internet
capability.
“We kept two project managers on site
SANDI CAIN is a freelance writer based in
throughout the conference,” Kublitz said.
Laguna Beach, Calif.
The Copenhagen waterfront
+
Fun Facts
Denmark has nearly
500 public gardens.
Copenhagen had 11 Michelinranked restaurants in 2008.
A survey by Leicester University in
England revealed that Denmark is
home to the happiest people on
Earth.
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Justified
W
When car manufacturer Renault-Nissan U.K.
decided to scrap the big bash it had planned for
March, an £18,000 sales launch, Geoffrey Bartlett
put on the charm offensive—he doesn’t give up
easily. Bartlett, managing director of Corporate
Occasions in Lichfield, U.K.,
explained to his counterpart
with the long-time client that
giving up such an important opportunity to connect
with customers would dull
Renault-Nissan’s competitive edge.
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Shrinking budgets and greater scrutiny force planners
worldwide to prove the value of meetings and events.
“If you have 10 dealerships in an area,
whichever one organizes an event is the one
that will win the business,” said Bartlett, who
has been working as an independent event
planner for 30 years, and whose clients also
include Aston Martin, Ferarri and Ranger
Rover. “I told my client if you don’t do something, someone else will, and they will take
[business] away from you.”
After some discussion, Renault-Nissan
agreed with Bartlett’s argument and retained
him to organize a series of smaller launches,
instead of the large, expensive one. Smaller
marketing events are more effective anyway,
Bartlett points out, because they allow cashstrapped companies to target their audience
more specifically.
“I told them if they didn’t want to spend
£18,000, they would still have to do something small to stay in the forefront of their
customers’ minds,” he explained.
Bartlett’s experience might sound like just
another day in the life of an event planner,
post-financial meltdown, but there’s more
to it. By explaining to his clients the value of
the event they wanted to cancel, and helping
them to revise the format to fit within their
shrinking budget, Bartlett put to use one of
the most important skills that a planner needs
to survive in this economy: He helped his client justify holding the event.
Knowing how to justify an event—whether it
has already been scheduled or not—is perhaps
the most important skill
meeting planners must
master in this climate, as the global economy
sinks further and planners scramble to hold
on to business. While the task is not always
easy, experienced planners say knowing the
right strategies helps.
“Everybody wants to continue getting
people together,” said Mark Rubinsky, events
executive producer at event planning firm
MC2, pointing out that even the most cashstrapped executives would rather not cancel a
face-to-face meeting if they can justify a need
for it. “You have to find ways to get into their
head, understand what their needs are and
help them remember what the value is of getting people together.”
In fact, there are dozens of paths that
meeting planners can take when justifying
the value of meetings. Some of these paths
vary depending on whether you are an independent planner or an in-house staffer. Independents such as Bartlett and Rubinsky say
BY DALIA FAHMY
K
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explaining the value of meetings to external
clients is their biggest challenge; in-house
corporate planners say they spend most of
their time helping managers determine which
meetings can be justified; association planners are busy helping employers justify the
expense of sending their employees to evergreen events.
you can address specific objectives that a
meeting might fulfill. The one objective that
makes meetings especially easy to justify—
especially in this economy—is increasing
sales. In fact, events such as trade shows,
client dinners and distributor conferences
usually result in a clearly visible spike in
revenue.
More importantly, sales generated through
an event are remarkably cost-efficient.
INDIE EMPOWERMENT
A recent survey by the Center for ExhibiThere’s no doubt that independent planners
have the toughest time explaining an event’s tion Industry Research shows that the total
value to their clients in the current economic cost of closing a sale without trade show par-
i
each meeting. For example, Hoffend might
ask attendees whether they recognize the
host company’s brand, how much they know
about its products and whether they see any
partnership opportunities. The difference
between the answers generated before and
after the event can be easily translated into
data that shows whether the company succeeded in its mission.
“The questionnaires can give clear results
showing that you have succeeded in moving attendees from one point to another,”
Hoffend said. “If the value of your event is
In addition to the tangible value produced by events, there is also a huge intangible
benefit to be reaped from personal meetings...
environment. Often hired on a project basis
to execute visions that were formulated by
someone else, independent planners risk losing deals when the tide turns.
However, this doesn’t mean they should
quietly stand back and watch their portfolio
crumble. In fact, independent planners now
have more ammunition than ever to justify
their events. Why? Because during economic
slowdowns, companies must make a greater
effort to motivate their employees, cultivate
customers and keep competitors at bay. Done
right, events are powerful tools that help meet
these objectives.
“Now more than ever, events are important ways for communities to come together
and to re-engage, revitalize, become inspired
and improve skills,” said Gail Bower, a
meeting and events industry consultant and
planner.
However, it’s crucial for meeting planners
to thoroughly understand their client’s business, so they can have an educated discussion
about an event’s raison d’être.
“There are plenty of compelling reasons
to get a bunch of people together,” Rubinsky
said. “When you’re talking to a client, you
have to focus on why they are getting these
people together and what they need to communicate. If you don’t understand that, then
you have nothing to talk about.”
Once you understand the client’s business,
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ticipation averages US$1,140 compared to
$705 for a show-generated lead.
Dallas Teague Snider, an independent
meeting planner and founder of Make Your
Best Impression, points out that many businesses make the mistake of cutting back on
their event and marketing spend at a time
when they should be ramping it up.
Cutting back on
visibility,
reducing
the number of events
held or even canceling
engagements outright
might signal to clients
that the company is
having financial problems or that it isn’t committed to serving a
particular niche during the downturn. It also
opens a wide gap for competitors to sneak
through.
While these arguments might seem logical to anyone with event expertise, they can
sometimes fall flat without data to back them
up. Dan Hoffend, vice president of corporate
account sales for event management firm
Freeman, points out that smart meeting planners who have been collecting ROI data on
their events all along can now pull out those
spreadsheets and argue their case without
breaking a sweat.
One of his favorite ways of measuring
ROI is to quiz participants before and after
C
clear, then you’re always going to have a justification for it.”
Amanda Stranack, director of event services at Inntel in London, points out that
questionnaires can also be sent out months
after an event has taken place—so if you don’t
have the data in your archives already, it’s not
too late to start gathering it. Sometimes it’s
even worth it to hire a professional market
research firm to conduct formal surveys, adds
Stranack, whose clients include companies in
the transportation, telecommunications and
finance industries.
In addition to the tangible value produced
by events, there is also a huge intangible benefit to be reaped from personal meetings,
Bower says. She points out there is a priceless
connection built between company and customer when they have the chance to interact.
“Corporations might be able to demonstrate a product better or showcase how
friendly, thorough and expert their sales team
is at a face-to-face meeting,” she said.
When selling intangible products, for
example insurance policies, companies can
benefit from giving customers a chance to put
a face to the brand.
This intangible benefit applies particularly to incentives and other events meant
to motivate employees. Personal meetings
help give employees pride in their organization and offer the best platform to send a
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uniform message about the company’s strategy, Rubinsky says.
Especially in this economy, it’s crucial to
motivate employees, and help salespeople
keep an upbeat attitude they can pass on to
their customers.
“It’s important to feel better about work,
because then you work better,” said Priscilla
Leherle, Paris-based manager of Eventus in
France, Belgium and Luxembourg, whose
company organizes corporate team-building
events.
“Team-building events are not just about
having fun, they’re about creating positive
effects for the company,” she said.
Some of the positive effects that her clients have seen include not just a happier
workforce, but one that is more productive,
more cooperative and able to fully harness
the power of team thinking.
Motivational events are particularly
important in this climate to keep the sales
force engaged, experts say.
“Everybody is so negative at the moment,
and that’s not good,” Bartlett said. “If you’re
in a sales meeting with someone and they’re
negative, you don’t want to do business with
that person.”
Unfortunately, motivational events have
come under particular scrutiny from the public over the past year.
In October, insurance company AIG was
publicly shamed for holding a lavish retreat.
As AIG pointed out at the time, most of the
attendees were top-producing independent
insurance agents, and most corporate experts
agree that such events are necessary to keep
salespeople motivated.
“Corporations need to hold employee recognition events...to bolster the confidence of
employees so they take ownership of the current situation and roll up their sleeves,” said
Pat Ahaesy, founder of P&V Enterprises
in
p
New York.
One important
tant detail to keep in mind
when trying to explain the value of events to
clients, however,
er, is that it’s pointless to try
to justify valuee unless one actually creates value. Independent
dependent meeting planners especially—who
—who have to prove their
worth with every
ery event they sell—must
be sure to give
ve clients maximum bang
for the buck.
“An event can be a powerful marketing
experience, not just a reason for people to
stand around in fancy clothes sipping cocktails,” Bower said.
At the same time, it’s key to consider the
client’s plight as well, instead of just putting
on the hard sell, Ahaesy says. And she should
know. A few days after Sept. 11, 2001, the
independent meeting planner called one of
her largest clients, a Manhattan-based financial firm that had lost its headquarters, half
of its staff and its founder in the terrorist
attacks. The firm was considering canceling a
client-appreciation party that was to be held
just a month later.
“I called them to ask, ‘Is there anything I
can do for you?’” Ahaesy recalled.
When her counterpart told her the firm
might scrap the event, she didn’t flinch. She
pointed out that staying on schedule would
demonstrate that the company had survived
the tragedy, reassure clients and help bring
employees together. But she also showed
sympathy.
“I said to them, ‘If you decide not to do it,
I understand, and there will be no penalty to
you whatsoever,’” she recalled.
By the same token, independent planners
should be wary of trying to justify every event
regardless of its value, at the risk of squandering their clients’ trust.
Inntel’s Stranack says she often agrees
with clients when they ask her to take an
event off the roster.
“Sometimes I say to them, ‘Yes, you’re
absolutely right.’ That message can be communicated just as well by e-mail,” Stranack
said. “I try to give my clients a sensible
answer, rather than just doing everything to
secure one event.”
By working in partnership with your client,, winningg their
trust as an
events and meeting advisor, you are much
more likely to have success keeping their
business through bad times and good.
SUCCESS IN A TOP-DOWN
ENVIRONMENT
Corporate planners, meanwhile, often find
themselves in a very different boat when the
economy goes under. Many large companies
beef up their meetings departments during
booms—to help organize the lavish client
appreciation parties, sales incentive cruises
and executive powwows—only to sharply
scale back during economic downturns. The
result is a wide swath of in-house corporate
planners who find they have to justify the
value of their position when times get tough.
The best place to start
in this situation is to make
sure you understand why
your job exists in the first
place—and to turn yourself into a strategic partner,
instead of being another
expensive cog in the wheel.
“What I often find is that planners don’t
know what the objectives of their programs
are,” said Julie Johnson, CMP, CMM director of events and incentives at Lennox
Industries.
When the time comes for them to discuss whether meetings can be justified or
not, planners are often receiving instructions
instead of helping make decisions. At Lennox, Johnson says, planners make a point
of helping executive management determine
meetings strategy.
“It’s not my group telling the executives
what to do, or the executives telling us what
to do: we collaborate,” Johnson said. “When
we sit down, I ask the executives, ‘What are
we trying to say with this meeting, and if we
don’t say it, how much is it going to hurt
us?’”
Understanding the business thoroughly, she says, allows her to ask those
questions and help translate the answers
into an effective meetings policy.
Another way that in-house planners can justify the value they provide
T
C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 9 0
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BY JASON HENSEL
ng
g
Stage
M
eeting event objectives
should top planners’
goals in any economy.
And part of that strategy, of course, is
selecting a good venue that not only fits a
group’s character but that can also create
excitement or inspiration.
More often than not, conference and
convention centers, hotels and resorts are
selected by planners. Consider, though, the
impact a meeting or event in a majestic historic property—whether it’s a house, a ship
or, in the case of this article, theaters—can
bring to a group’s goals.
“For many groups, meeting in a major
city with its convenient transportation and
cultural or recreational institutions at hand
is sufficient, but add to that mix a historic
setting and the event gains another valuable perspective,” wrote Susan Reyburn
in the Meeting Planner’s Guide to Historic
Places.
Furthermore, James C. Monroe, CMP,
CSEP, wrote in Art of the Event that an
event’s objectives can be enhanced by such
a venue’s cultural environment.
The following theaters were selected
based on history, iconic status and a complex proprietary mathematical equation
only suitable for an Einstein or a Hawking. Though not every theater in the world
made it onto this list, it is hoped that the
ones selected will inspire planners to seek
solace in theaters worldwide for creating
one-of-a-kind experiences for attendees.
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Théâtre
antique
d’Orange
G-MO
GROMELLE GRAND ANGLE
The Chicago Theatre
PEOPLE CALLED THE CHICAGO THEATRE THE “WONDER THEATRE
OF THE WORLD” WHEN IT OPENED IN OCTOBER 1921—the United
States’ first large and opulent movie palace.
Modeled after French Baroque style, the theater’s exterior features a replica
of Paris’ Arc de Triomphe above its marquee. Inside, the grand lobby resembles
Versailles’ Royal Chapel, and the grand staircase mimics that of the Paris Opera
House.
Even with all the ornateness, the theater’s most recognizable component is
the nearly six-foot-tall C-H-I-C-A-G-O sign. As a cultural landmark, the sign is
featured in many films and other pieces of art.
When the theater opened, police had to be called in for crowd control. People,
it seems, were drawn to its plush environment and air conditioning. The theater
closed in 1985 due to social and economic factors, and after extensive renovations
was reopened in 1986 with a performance by singer Frank Sinatra. He returned in
1988 for another performance with fellow Rat Packers Dean Martin and Sammy
Davis Jr. Visitors backstage can see Sinatra’s signature on a door.
Stretching for half a city block, the Chicago Theatre seats 3,600 on three levels
and plays host to functions on the main floor, in the stage house and backstage.
CONSIDERED BY SCHOLARS AS ONE
OF THE WORLD’S BEST-PRESERVED
Roman theaters, the Théâtre antique
d’Orange (Roman Theatre of Orange)
was built in the early 1st century A.D.
Orange, Aurasio in Latin, was a
colony founded by veterans of Caesar’s
2nd Gallic Legion, who had been
assigned to build the city, according to
the theater’s historical documents.
“In accordance with the principles
for establishing Roman towns, the
construction of the city followed a
regular, geometric plan and was organized around public monuments: the
sanctuaries and the theater,” according to the venue’s history bio. “For the
Roman authorities, the theater was a
means of spreading Roman culture
amongst the colonized population as
well as being a means of distracting
them from any political concerns and
avoiding any nationalist demands.”
Situated in Provence, France,
the Roman Theatre of Orange is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2006,
a stage roof was added and designed
to fit in with the monument and the
countryside; it is not visible from the
surrounding area.
The theater offers many event
venue options such as the Museum,
situated inside a 17th-century mansion; the Temple Esplanade, which
dates from the 2nd century A.D.; and
the Amphitheatre, which accommodates up to 9,000.
See a live event at the theater in
the concert film The Cure in Orange—
awe-inspiring location plus great music
equals a spectacular experience.
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Grauman’s
Chinese Theatre
LIKE THE CHICAGO THEATRE, THE OPENING
OF GRAUMAN’S CHINESE THEATRE IN 1927
caused a maelstrom of celebrity gawkers eager to
catch sight of celebrities attending the premiere
of Cecil B. DeMille’s film The King of Kings.
Conceived of and built by Sid Grauman, the
theater lives up to its Asian namesake.
“Authorization had to be obtained from the
U.S. government to import temple bells, pagodas, stone Heaven Dogs and other artifacts from
China,” according to the theater’s official history. “Poet and film director Moon Quon came
from China, and under his supervision Chinese
artisans created many pieces of statuary in the
work area that eventually became the Forecourt
of the Stars. Most of these pieces still decorate
the ornate interior of the theater today.”
The Forecourt of the Stars is what really draws
hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to this
iconic Los Angeles venue. Grauman claims to
have literally stumbled on the idea to put handprints and footprints into the concrete.
“While we were building the theater, I accidentally happened to step in some soft concrete,” he told DeMille in 1937 on Lux Radio
Theater. “And there it was. So, I went to [actress]
Mary Pickford immediately. Mary put her foot
into it.”
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre currently features more than 200 handprints and footprints
from some of the motion picture industry’s
most beloved stars. Because of the prints and its
memorable architecture, the 1,162-seat theater
is popular for private events and film screenings.
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Optimizing the Positive
and Minimizing the
Negative Impact of
Large Events
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NEIGHBOR
LOVE THY
BY PETER GORMAN
Enhance the lives of as many people as
possible with your next event. There
are always new and interesting ways
to make an event more environmentally conscious and to have a positive
effect on the local community, says
Sarah Pease, owner and president of
New York-based Brilliant Events. Her
favorite? Recycle flowers.
“If I put on a corporate event or
a wedding for 300, well, there are
going to be a lot of flowers. And
to imagine them just being thrown
away simply isn’t acceptable.”
Pease uses an organization that
takes event flowers and distributes
them to hospitals, homes for the
elderly, veterans and so forth.
“That way they’re beautiful not
just for a few hours but can brighten
lives for days,” she said. “And I like
having that positive effect on the
local community.”
However, Pease admits that not
many clients ask her to minimize
the negative effects when planning
events, whether they’re corporate or
private.
“I’d love to tell you that clients
bring it up, but the reality is that it
is generally me who has to bring it
up,” Pease said. “Now and then I’ll
have a client ask for organic food, or
to have electronic invitations to save
on paper, but that’s not par for the
course.”
Still, she admits that having it
come up at all these days is more
than what she heard 10 years ago.
When marine biologist and
WHEN RECYCLING
BINS ARE PUT
AROUND AN EVENT
VENUE, NOT ONLY
DO PLASTICS, PAPER
AND SO FORTH GET
KEPT FROM LANDFILLS, THEY ALSO
BOOST THE LOCAL
ECONOMY OF
THOSE INVOLVED
IN THE RECYCLING
BUSINESS.
nature writer Rachel Carson wrote
Silent Spring about the environmental impact of pesticides in 1962, she
had no idea that her book would
spawn a worldwide environmental
awareness movement. But even if she
had imagined such an occurrence,
it’s difficult to picture her dreaming
of the impact her work would eventually have on the hospitality market
more than 45 years later.
The meeting and events industry
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at large has, after all, traditionally been fueled
by excess, with companies holding events
where limousines were de rigeur, and goody
bags stuffed with wonderful but useless treats
that were left in hotel rooms to wind up in
landfills. According to a Meeting Strategies
Worldwide 2008 white paper, until very
recently, the hospitality industry was second
The Johnsons’ conferences run to about
1,200 and their tours to nearly 200—not
extremely large, but certainly large enough
to leave a noticeable footprint. Robin Haines
Johnson says that she’s learned over the years
that one of the ways meeting planners can
optimize the benefit to the local community
is to ensure that local merchants benefit.
IF YOU’RE NOT ON BOARD WITH THE
GROWING ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT,
YOU’RE ALMOST AN OUTCAST...
only to the construction industry in producing
waste in North America. Conference attendees were producing 20 pounds of solid waste
daily, compared to the 4.5 pounds daily they
were likely to produce at home.
But thankfully, all of that is changing. It
took the business world as a whole longer to
catch on. But now that it has, “green” and
corporate social responsibility (CSR) have
surpassed buzzword status and are part of
the business world’s standard operating procedure. A significant result of this as it relates
directly to the meeting and events industry is
an increasing interest in positively affecting
the local communities in which events take
place.
THE COLOR OF COMMUNITY
Greening events helps the local community in
ways most might not consider. When recycling
bins are put around an event venue, not only
do plastics, paper and so forth get kept from
landfills, they also boost the local economy of
those involved in the recycling business. And
there are several other ways large events have
a positive effect on host communities. Events
held in New York help fill Broadway theaters
and midtown restaurants. Meeting planners
who hold events in the low season generate
work for seasonal workers who might otherwise be laid off during that time of year.
“We’re always trying to optimize the
benefit to our host community,” said Robin
Haines Johnson, who, with her husband
Cody Johnson, runs the Great Mystery
School, an organization based in Mallorca,
Spain, that specializes in new age and consciousness-raising gatherings and tours.
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“If a conference is scheduled in a large
hotel, especially a hotel chain, with all of the
meals taking place in the hotel, then the rest
of the community does not really benefit,”
she said. “At our recent Glastonbury conference, for instance, we held the meetings in
Glastonbury Town Hall. Conference delegates stayed in local inns and B&Bs, ate all of
their meals in local restaurants and no doubt
bought gifts in local shops. They also walked
to the conference from their B&Bs, minimizing the need for cars, hence pollution.”
Because of their event’s nature, the Johnsons’ frequently add post-conference tours
to historical sites, bringing a cash infusion to
the community that many conferences do not
include.
“Our feeling is that conferences don’t
always have to be held in all of the regular
places,” she said. “We like finding beautiful
locations, interacting with the local businesses to arrange for what we need and planning a light and positive footprint. We’ve
found that this helps our guests to receive a
wonderful understanding of and appreciation for the land and the people at the conference locations. And that positive experience
is something our guests and the community
we’re visiting take away with them beyond
the scope of our conference.”
CHANGE AGENTS
“This is starting to change the culture of
corporations, and they want that reflected
in their events,” said Tamara Kennedy-Hill,
founder and director of the non-profit Green
Meeting Industry Council.
Minimizing the negative impact from
events and maximizing their benefits to local
communities almost always go hand in hand,
she says.
“Corporate planners are looking at
green meetings and sustainability worldwide
because more and more corporations have
included an element of CSR in their plans,
[with] an environmental and community
component,” Kennedy-Hill said. “[Corporations] want the world to know that their
brands have meetings and events that reflect
their social responsibility.”
Barry Moskowitz, associate vice president of the Greater Miami CVB, first began
to hear scuttlebutt about environmentally
friendly events about five years ago.
“You know, like any movement at first
you hear bits and pieces and you—or at least
I—didn’t really get it,” he said. “But as people
get on board and there are more programs
and education and more buzz, it becomes
second nature. And when it starts picking up
steam and becomes a trend, well, if you’re
not in it, you’re out in left field.”
If you’re not on board with the growing
environmental movement, you’re almost an
outcast, Moskowitz says.
“People are very serious about it. It’s
going to get to the point where people are
only going to do business with people who
are environmentally responsible.”
Asked about the Miami area, Moskowitz
says that the Miami Beach Convention Center is being retrofitted to turn it into a green
building.
“When it’s finished, the building is going
to be able to recycle water, it’s going to be
energy efficient and the chemicals used to
clean the building will all be harm-free to the
environment,” he said. “We’re changing faucets to have them only turn on when you put
your hands under them rather than having
them just run. In our own office, we’re printing less paper and recycling what we do print.
And all of that is benefiting the community
we live in and the people who are doing that
work.”
And socially conscious locales also tend to
attract events that wish to give back.
“People like to help people,” Moskowitz
said. “It’s really that simple. It’s a sense of
C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 9 4
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Requested
to be Your
Friend
The reality-meetsvirtual-meets-reality
hybridization taking
place in the evergrowing maelstrom
of social networking
Web sites presents
challenges and, if
used effectively, great
rewards for meeting
professionals.
BY ELAINE P OFELDT
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When Richard Markel, 67, needed
to book a space for a professional
mixer he was organizing in the San
Francisco area for February, he
used his MySpace page to solicit
venue suggestions. As president
of the 650-member Association
for Wedding Professionals International (AFWPI), he is always
looking for new venues for the 30
networking events he organizes
each year.
Shortly after he made the post,
a local Four Seasons Hotel representative asked to join his network
of friends. Markel told the rep that
he was trying to develop a community of members in the hotel’s
region. Although he was prepared
to pay for a room, the hotel rep
offered it to him for free, with
refreshments, for 2.5 hours. Given
that he plans to send 2,000 printed
invitations with the hotel’s name
on them and about 6,000 e-mail
invites to wedding planners on
his mailing lists, the representative
saw it as a good way to introduce
viable prospects to what the hotel
had to offer.
“If they book one wedding
[from an AFWPI member], they’ll
make a profit on what it cost her
for food for our event,” Markel
said.
Markel is among a growing
contingent of meeting planning
professionals—including increasing numbers of seasoned Baby
Boomers—who are sold on social
networking sites because of experiences like this.
“I’m probably on eight or ten
of them,” he said. “The opportunities they bring are literally
unending.”
Markel uses MySpace on a
daily basis to spread the word
about the AFWPI and its events.
On a separate MySpace page,
he promotes BridalExpo shows
he runs privately to local bridesto-be. His other social networking favorites include Facebook;
I-Meet.com, a worldwide network
for people who plan meetings and
events; Ecademy, a professional
networking site with a strong
European presence and particularly the U.K.; and ZoomInfo, a
directory of professionals’ contact information. All have helped
his goal to connect with potential members of the AFWPI and
meet valuable professional contacts, such as wedding planners in
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Cyprus whom he encountered on
Ecademy and a show promoter
from Texas who just became his
latest MySpace friend.
“There are so many opportunities to stay in front of people,”
said Markel, who is constantly
searching the Web for new social
networking sites that will help him
build the AFWPI. “I keep thinking
that if Google was available to me
in high school, I’d have a different
title: Emperor.”
Demos, a London-based think-tank, released
a report in October that suggested that those
who use social networking sites help their
companies by enabling them to make new
contacts, keep in closer touch with clients
and stay current on industry trends.
A Growing Market
Markel isn’t alone in seeing tremendous business value in social
networking sites. These sites have
had explosive growth since they
first established a serious presence
in the late 1990s. According to
comScore, social networking sites
had 580.5 million unique visitors
worldwide in June 2008, a 25 percent increase over the same month
in 2007. And it is hard to ignore
the benefits that they offer in terms
of increased exposure and career
connections—usually for free or at
very low cost. Demos, a Londonbased think-tank, released a report
in October 2008 that suggested
that those who use the sites help
their companies by enabling them
to make new contacts, keep in
closer touch with clients and stay
current on industry trends.
“The homepage to your online
presence is a Google search,” said
Cece Salomon-Lee, senior marketing communications manager
at ON24, a worldwide virtual
events planner that works with
many corporate planners. “That’s
why being active on these sites is
important. At the end of the day,
you have to hang up your shingle
in places that are relevant to your
business.”
A JupiterResearch study in
August 2008 suggested that social
networking sites can be particularly helpful if you use digital
marketing to generate business.
The report, The Social and Portable InBox: Optimizing E-mail
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... social networking sites can be a valuable source of information about event locations.
Marketing in the New Era of Communication Tools, found that 22 percent of e-mail
users are using social networking sites to
communicate with professional contacts,
where they think there is a better chance
of reaching contacts overwhelmed by cluttered inboxes. Because many marketers
are paying attention to this trend, social
networking sites can be a valuable source
of information about event locations. For
instance, Experience Columbus, the CVB
for Columbus, Ohio, has established pages
on Facebook, Twitter and the photo-sharing site Flickr, which it interconnects with
its blog to spread the word about what the
city has to offer to meeting planners, its
main audience.
“Social media are another communications channel for us to promote Columbus,” said Pete McGinty, vice president
C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 9 6
Additions to Your Social Networking Toolkit
Both new and established sites are racing to introduce free and low-cost social
networking tools that make it easy to build a community around a conference or
other professional event. Here are some to consider for your arsenal.
BusyEvent. Founded by
veteran meeting professionals
in 2006, BusyEvent provides
a suite of free and low-cost
social networking tools you can
use from the pre- to post-event
phase. Pre-event, attendees
can pull information from their
LinkedIn and Facebook profiles
to create their own pages
for the event site. During the
event, they can use it to set up
personal meetings with other
participants.
“All of that traffic can
be monitored, so the event
manager can foster ongoing
relationships between people
and make sure they are meeting the right people,” said
Brian Slawin, principal.
Afterward, attendees can
pull information on breakout
sessions to their own personal
pages and use the site to stay
in touch. Clients include large
corporations such as Darden
Restaurants, Domino’s Pizza,
Marriott Vacation Clubs and
the Ritz-Carlton, Slawin says.
Busyevent.com
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Conference Bay. Having trouble filling seats at an
event? This Singapore-based
site, which has a partnership
with social networking hub
E.Factor, allows you to auction
them at a discount.
Conferencebay.com
LinkedIn Events. This
service, which allows promoters to highlight their gatherings on the site and attendees
to notify their networks they
will be attending through their
personal pages, entered beta
testing in November 2008.
“Our users said the main
reason they were attending
an event was that someone
they knew would be attending,”
explained Allen Blue, vice president of product strategy and
co-founder for LinkedIn. Search
under “promotion of events” at
LinkedIn.com.
MeetingWave. Focused
on helping professionals make
new contacts, this site allows
you to post invitations to attend
your event to private groups or
its community of 65,000
registered users. When a
user accepts, the site allows
you to view the user’s profile
and decide whether to forward
details on the location and
time. MeetingWave.com
Webs. Once known as
Freewebs, this Web site
builder, which has broad reach
in English-speaking countries,
has recently introduced a suite
of free and low-cost tools that
are useful in meeting planning.
Through its “calendar” application, you can create a community around an event where
participants can discuss it, sell
tickets through a Web store
and post videos and photos.
You can maintain the community for posterity, you don’t
have to start your marketing
from scratch before the next
event.
“Typically, a conference
happens and everything
breaks apart,” said Haroon
Mokhtarzada, CEO and cofounder of the five-year-old
business. “This way, everyone
can come back to the same
place and keep things going.”
Webs.com
Pathable. Focused on helping organizers build communities around events, this site
has served many gatherings
where attendance averages
800 to 1,000 people, says
CEO Jordan Schwartz. You can
use Pathable’s tools to create
an online community where
attendees can build profiles
with tags that indicate their
interests—and print out name
tags with people who share
them to make it easier to
network. A quirky ice-breaking
option lets attendees identify
their “opposites”—folks with
whom they presumably have
little in common, based on
their tags.
“In some settings it can be
a fun thing,” Schwartz said,
noting that some users like to
call an opposite ‘my nemesis,’ “but in some business
contexts, where attendees are
trying to control the way they
present to others, it can be a
little touchy.” Pathable.com.
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Riddle Me This
BY GWEN MORAN
N
Richard Watson thinks about a question, and
as is his habit, slips the tips of his fingers behind
his glasses. He presses lightly on his closed eyelids as he concentrates, as if corneal pressure
somehow releases the answer. When it comes
to him, he shares his epiphanies in quick, rapidfire doses—his thoughts on the future: Impending financial crisis (before that became obvious).
Virtual vacations facilitated by 5D interfaces
and experience-enhancing drugs. The demise of
Belgium.
If such missives sound outrageous (and even
he admits that some of them are), they are still
in high demand. Companies such as McDonald’s, Virgin and IBM pay for his connect-thetrends brand of seuthsaying. Watson travels the
world, doing more than 40 speaking engagements per year, ranging from The Group of
100, an organization of finance directors from
Australia’s 100 largest companies, to the Risk
Management Institute’s annual conference to
the World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. When he’s in his home base of
Sydney, Australia, he publishes “What’s Next”
(www.nowandnext.com)—a trend report that
speculates about future risks and opportunities
overlap or intersect with a particular sector—
are where risks and opportunities lie.
All of that asking, connecting and mapping
has led to Watson’s book. Future Files: The
5 Trends that Will Shape the Next 50 Years,
was published in Australia and New Zealand
in 2007, then slightly revised for international
publication in 2008. It maps what Watson
sees as the five key trends that will most influence the next half-century, including the aging
population, global connectivity, artificial intelligence, the environment and the rising power
of eastern countries.
THE MAKING OF A FUTURIST
In person, Watson comes across relaxed and
optimistic. The demands of fulfilling his many
roles and his rigorous travel schedule aside,
some of the stuff he sees coming is rather grim.
Not to mention that futurists routinely run the
risk of being dismissed when their predictions
don’t come to pass. Watson bristles a little at
that word.
“For quite a while, I’ve been saying I don’t
do predictions,” he says. “I’m about creating
structure for the future, having conversations
ot a prophet or practitioner of the dark arts, futurist
Richard Watson unravels the future with logic.
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in society, business, science, technology, government and the environment—and works as chief
futurist for Future Exploration Network, a Sydney firm that helps companies determine what’s
next in their sectors.
And while it may seem like he’s a natural at
this, he doesn’t always agree.
“I have no idea where it comes from,” he
says. “I like the idea of just asking ‘Why?’
over and over again until you get to something
solid.”
Once he gets to the answers, he says the
connection points—those areas where trends
about it, etc. But the media just want a ‘prediction.’ So, I thought I’d stick my neck on the line
and do it.”
While Watson hasn’t always been interested
in the future, he has always been interested
in ideas. The child of a physicist father and
a mother who taught art, he was exposed to
both analytical and creative ways of thinking
in his early years. One constant of adulthood
has been a penchant for collecting interesting ideas and articles, unsure of how they fit
together—and at first he lost or forgot them,
which was frustrating. The solution arose when
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he founded a small trend Web site “that no
one but me ever looked at,” he says.
The breakthrough came when he started
creating maps out of his ideas. In 2006, he
was working with a written list of trends and
thought about trying to draw them into a
map. Hailing from London, he says the city’s
iconic Underground map was an obvious
model for him to choose. It had its limitations—for example, “digital cash appeared
at the end of the ‘money’ line, but I couldn’t
quite make the ‘station’ relate to the death of
coins, banknotes and paper bills,” he writes.
But he included it in the hard-copy trend
report he distributed annually. One Web site
called it “the best trend map in the world.”
The traffic to his Web site grew exponentially and a publisher asked him to expand
his 8,000-word trend report into a 90,000-
T
predictions have been eerily prescient. Watson has been ahead of the curve on the global
recession, which would be unprecedented
because of the amount and risk of the debt
held, especially by low-income households—
a movement he began seeing in 2006.
Then there are his thoughts about water.
“I wrote jokingly about [bottled] water
boycotts and that’s been and gone,” he says.
“It was as faddish as I thought it would be.”
And while it may seem absurd on the
surface, his prediction about lettuce as a
social pariah may have been made tonguein-cheek, but it belies a much more serious
point about the environment. Since lettuce
generally requires a relatively large amount
of water to grow, and returns little nutritional
value, Watson reasoned that there would be
a movement toward more nutritious food
that could be grown with
less water. He says he has
backed off of that theory.
Then, when he explains
that dropping such “mind
bombs” gets people talking much more effectively
than more abstract concepts, it feels like being let
in on the secret of selling
the sizzle. Or, in this case,
the lettuce.
“It’s even better to
actually mock up some
of these ideas to look like
that way. A lot of the countries that are there
are creations of the past 50 to 100 years,” he
says. “I picked on Belgium because it’s one
of the more vulnerable countries, but there
are other countries that might not exist in a
few decades.”
In light of the recent catastrophic financial
issues in Iceland, it’s easy to wonder whether
he was just off by a few countries.
SPOTTING THE TRENDS
One prerequisite to the job of futurist is a
voracious appetite for information and experiences. He reads between 50 and 60 periodicals regularly, including The New York
Times, The Economist, The (U.K.) Times
Sunday edition and, less frequently, India
Times and China Daily. He also reads a few
blogs—in spite of being generally anti-blog
(“most of them are pretty dreadful”)—and
online publications, although he’s careful to note the quality of information they
contain.
As he discusses media, a prediction occurs
to him: There may someday be a ranking system for media—perhaps one to five
stars—where people will vote on the quality
of the information. Like feedback scores on
eBay or Amazon.com, you’ll be able to tell
how good the quality of information is at a
glance. He has also been discussing “digital
diets” as a major trend, in which we will be
more selective about the information sources
we accept as a form of backlash against
here may someday be a ranking system for media—perhaps one to
five stars—where people will vote on the quality of the information.
word book, the now-bestselling Future
Files. At first Watson was concerned about
being dubbed a “futurologist” or “futurist”
because “there are some active nutcases who
go by those names,” he says. However, he has
come to like the moniker, because he feels it
most accurately describes what he does.
THE SCORES
Half-jokingly, Watson says that the key to
being successful at what he does is to make
predictions far enough out that the prognosticator won’t be around to see whether or not
they come to fruition. However, some of his
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real things,” he says. “That really freaks
people out.”
When people see a map that leads to the
end of currency as we know it or a picture
of a pharmaceutically enhanced apple with a
label that touts it as a headache cure, it’s an
attention-grabber.
Of course, there are the strike-outs, as
well. He has done a turnabout on his prediction about the demise of a unified Belgium
which, he says, didn’t win him any favor
from the European country.
“People have short memories. If they look
at a map of the world, it hasn’t always been
information overload from the proliferation
of digital and other news sources as well as
our 24/7 connectivity.
“What I’m trying to do is read all of this
stuff because one of the problems is that if
you work for a bank, you read all about
banking and the economy. You don’t read
To see one of Richard Watson’s latest idea
maps, Trend Blend 2009+, visit
www.mpioneplus.org.
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about broader stuff, generally,” he says.
“What I find particularly interesting is getting different sources and linking stuff and
trying to work out where things are coming
from and where they might be going.”
He says he’s not as interested in finding
one interesting article as one interesting article that links or cites three other interesting
pieces and how they intersect.
Those waves of information are the genesis of trends. Watson then extrapolates them
into the future to make his predictions, using
the rate at which a trend is moving and looking at his version of a probable outcome five
decades from now. He also interacts with
and shares ideas with colleagues, including
management guru and philosopher Charles
Handy. To help him avoid a geocentric bias,
he travels frequently and speaks with people
who live in the locations he visits. In Tokyo
and Seoul, for example, he sees a world of
mobile technology that is far ahead of anything in the West.
“I think four or five out of 10 of the bestselling books last year in Japan started on
mobile phones,” he says. “You’ve got people
writing 90,000-word novels on tiny little
keypads. By looking in other cultures that
are ahead of the curve in a certain area, you
can get an idea of what’s coming.”
However, there are events—Sept. 11,
2001; financial crises; commodities price
spikes; and natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Thailand—
that derail even the most obvious trend-spotting efforts. Watson calls them “wild cards,”
low-probability, high-impact events that
change what can reasonably be expected to
happen.
“Another Sept. 11-type attack in New
York. A flu pandemic. Another oil spike.
These things completely change the world in
ways we can’t predict,” he says.
Sept. 11 still has an impact on the way the
global community travels. The current financial crisis is causing people to save money
again, and while that may be widely seen
as a virtue, Watson sees it exacerbating the
recession. At the same time, he says, uncertainty in the economy is causing a massive
resurgence in organized religion. With a wild
card, all bets are off.
And that’s where even Watson needs
to get out of his own head every once in a
while. The father of two young children—
ages 6 and 8—he finds looking at the world
through their eyes a little less overwhelming,
at times.
“They think the entire world was black
and white in the olden days—the 1980s!”
SORTING IT ALL OUT
When describing the future, Watson doesn’t
think in terms of “better” or “worse” but
just different. Very different.
One key area that holds change is technology. Genetics, robotics, Internet and
nanotechnology—so-called GRIN technologies—will converge, he says, with the
possible result of self-replicating machines
whose intelligence equals or exceeds that of
humans. He ticks off other possibilities—
downloadable memories, robot wars, smart
bullets and even mind-wipes that would
allow us to erase negative memories. For
an alarming number of these out-there predictions, he can cite fledgling projects and
research.
Of course, for many of us, we want
answers that apply to us. For the meeting and
events industry, the good news is that while
Watson thinks there will be an upswing in
virtual meetings and long-distance collaboration, he doesn’t see the need for face-toface interaction to ever go away. He says
that some of his clients pay him to come in
and speak about the same information he
has previously delivered in report format
because they have a need for interaction with
a live person. (See sidebar on this page.)
He also counsels us to be students of history in order to learn what will come in the
future. The best futurists are historians, he
says.
“It’s sort of where we are at the moment,
really,” he says, thoughtfully. “We have very
little memory institutionally, as countries or
as the world, and we absolutely repeat our
mistakes, in slightly different and clever ways
each time.”
Those things that we think are dead—
inflation, deflation, disease—will rise again.
MEETINGS
3.0 –
WHAT’S NEXT
Futurist Richard Watson cautions meeting
planners to be aware of everything from
changing demographics to technology, since
the industry is directly affected by such shifts.
READ EVERYTHING THAT YOUR
AUDIENCE IS READING AND STAY
ON TOP OF TECHNOLOGICAL
SHIFTS FOR YOUR BEST OPPORTUNITIES TO STAY AHEAD IN THIS
CHANGING GAME. For the meeting
and events industry, Watson sees a number
of important trends that will impact the way
that business is conducted.
• Pressure to reduce costs and business
travel will get hit like everything else in trying
economic times. However, he says, longerterm, the environment and energy will have
a bigger impact. If oil hits US$200 a barrel,
there will be a bigger challenge to the travel
and meetings industry, creating a more
definitive shift toward virtual meetings and
telepresence. At the same time, however, he
predicts as teams become more dispersed,
people will be working from home, from small
hubs and on the road as so-called digital
nomads. As a result, in-person meetings will
become even more important.
“It’s also very difficult to build or change
cultures virtually, so again physical meetings
have an important role to play,” he says.
• Global connectivity means that 24/7
work isn’t going away. Watson believes that
will lead to some kind of rebellion against the
always-on culture.
“The ability to almost instantly ‘poll’
hundreds of [attendees] at a conference is
still a relatively new development so what will
happen when giant companies start polling
thousands of employees on other matters?”
he wonders.
This technology is important, but use it
judiciously so audiences don’t resent it.
• As power shifts to eastern countries,
Watson sees more meetings being held in
places such as Asia and the Middle East.
This will partly be because firms in these
regions will be the new owners of many
familiar U.S. and European companies in the
future. The tourism and conference development in these regions and the way that airline hubs are developing will also make them
more logical places to host meetings.
GWEN MORAN is a freelance writer
based in New Jersey.
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C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 7 3
is by squeezing every last penny out of the
meetings budget and shaving costs whenever
possible.
“Demonstrate how you are helping the
organization meet its financial goals,” recommended Gregory Pynes, senior director of
meetings at Physicians’ Education Resource,
a company focused on educating doctors
and patients about cancer. “Focus on the
numbers.”
In addition to getting vendors to cut their
prices, planners can negotiate valuable extras
into their contracts—free meals or upgrades,
for example. However, it’s not enough for
meeting planners to simply cut costs and
assume their work will be noticed, they must
also make sure executive management hears
about the savings that were achieved.
Often, however, there is little that corporate meeting planners can do to control decisions that come from higher up.
Kay Burke, CMP, CMM, senior manager
of company meetings at JC Penney, believes
it isn’t a planner’s job to challenge management’s choices.
“Most decisions about whether meetings
should be held or not are driven top-down,”
she said. “That’s just a simple fact.”
She points out that during downturns
companies must signal to employees, suppliers and the outside world that they are wary
of unnecessary spending and adds that she
supports the effort to become more conservative during hard times.
IN SEARCH OF: ATTENDEES
Associations, meanwhile, can’t afford to
become very conservative when times get
tough. After all, these groups usually derive
a large chunk of their income from meetings and feel the economic slowdown more
acutely than most. Leslie Zeck, CMP, CMM,
director of meetings and conventions at the
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American Council of Engineering Companies
(ACEC), says her biggest challenge has been
to convince members to send their employees
to conferences. While individuals might want
nothing more than to attend an annual trade
conference that they have come to for years,
most of them can’t afford to go unless their
boss foots the bill.
“Wordsmithing is an effective tool,” Zeck
said, pointing out that her group has been
adjusting the marketing materials to reflect
the new climate.
Instead of billing the conference as an
opportunity for continued education and
networking, ACEC is promoting its more
strategic benefits. Zeck says the group is consciously adding important buzzwords to this
year’s agenda, and many of this year’s sessions
will revolve around topics such as “remaining
competitive in today’s economy” and “running your business more cost-effectively.”
“We’re helping our members explain to
their management that there is a return on
investment,” Zeck said.
Internally, however, Zeck has not been
forced to do much convincing. She points
out that ACEC’s executive management is
just as committed to holding events as her
department is, since conferences make up a
large part of the group’s revenue stream. As
a result, Zeck and her colleagues have been
helping the organization maintain its meetings program while cutting costs wherever
possible.
For some lucky organizations whose budgets haven’t been affected yet—such as the
European Cancer Organization (ECCO)—it’s
more important than ever to make sure the
content delivers on its promise. Wessel Nieuwenweg, ECCO’s Brussels-based congress
unit manager, says the group is particularly
keen on securing the best speakers and presenting the latest science at its conferences.
“It doesn’t mean we can sit there and
relax, but we have to make sure that the message gets out there,” Nieuwenweg said.
To get the message out, ECCO enlists the
help of its member societies, committee members and speakers, but also puts out ads in
niche publications such as medical journals.
Unfortunately, however, all the right strategies in the world don’t always do the trick.
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), for example, canceled its
Science and the Emerging Bioeconomy for
Executives conference that was slated to take
place in December, after only one member
registered.
To avoid a similar fate for its Spring
National Meeting in April, the group now
plans to appeal directly to the industry’s largest employers—companies such as Merck,
Dow Chemical and Carnegie-Mellon University—says meetings director Jeffrey Wood.
“We’re going to petition the CEOs of all
the major companies, to try to convince them
to let their folks go,” said Wood, explaining
that AIChE’s senior management will probably opt for just picking up the phone instead
of sending a formal letter.
To justify the value of sending employees, Wood says, AIChE executives will point
out the educational value that members will
derive, but also explain that an association
isn’t much good to its member if it loses one
of its main sources of funding.
“It’s a tough sell,” Wood admitted, adding that he’s not sure how successful those
phone calls will be. “Everyone is in survival
mode. Companies can’t get credit to put in a
new boiler or a chemical processor. A lot of
us are just going to have to suffer through this
year.”
DALIA FAHMY is a New York-based freelance writer.
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Sydney Opera House
SOME STRUCTURES ARE INTIMATELY TIED TO A CITY, IN
PUBLIC PERCEPTION—the Eiffel Tower and Paris, Big Ben and
London, Christ the Redeemer and Rio de Janeiro—but rarely does a
structure come to represent an entire country as much as the Sydney
Opera House. It’s one of those iconic venues that immediately means
Australia.
Designed by Denmark’s Jørn Utzon, representatives from the
UNESCO World Heritage Centre said in 2007 that it “represents
multiple strands of creativity, both in architectural form and structural design, a great urban sculpture carefully set in a remarkable
waterscape and a world-famous iconic building. It stands by itself as
one of the indisputable masterpieces of human creativity, not only in
the 20th century but in the history of humankind.”
The Sydney Opera House offers four event facilities: the Opera
Point Marquee, the Concert Hall Northern Foyer, the Opera Theatre and the Utzon Room, which is the first interior designed by the
original architect.
It’s those white sails that everyone knows, though, and the Concert Hall Northern Foyer is located below them, offering cocktail
space for up to 1,000 and views of Sydney Harbour.
Officially opened in 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II, the Sydney
Opera House plays host to approximately 3,000 events a year and
houses more than 1,000 rooms. And oddly thrilling, in the 1980s a
net was installed above the orchestra pit in the Opera Theatre after
a cellist was hit by a live chicken when it walked off the stage during
an opera featuring such fowl.
The
National
Theatre
CEZCH TOURISM
PRAGUE’S NATIONAL THEATRE IS TRULY
WORTHY OF ITS NAME—the entire country collected money to have it built.
Opened on June 11, 1881, to honor a visit from
Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, the theater played
host to just 11 staged performances before it was
shuttered in order to complete finishing touches. But
the theater world’s antagonist, fire, decided to stage
its own show on August 12, 1881, destroying the
copper dome, the auditorium and main stage.
It reopened in 1883 and operated without any
major changes for nearly 100 years, closing in 1977
for a six-year renovation. The theater was reopened
again in November 1983—100 years after its first
reopening. Today, the National Theatre consists of
three artistic companies: opera, drama and ballet. The
groups alternate performances among the National
Theatre, the Theatre of the Estates and the Kolowrat
Palace, all of which are available for group rental.
Truly special groups can enjoy peaceful serenity in
private rooms adorned with stunning art and views
of the powerful Vlatava River—spaces reserved for
royalty and other VIPs.
The National Theatre also houses several myths
and legends, such as one that says in 1868 a cask containing the holy water with which St. Cyril baptized
the Slavs was walled into the foundation stones.
DAVID ILIFF / HTTP://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY-SA/3.0
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GILBERT MARTINEZ PHOTOGRAPHY
The Texas Theatre
Theatre Royal,
Drury Lane
IF AN ACTOR SEES A GHOST IN LONDON’S THEATRE ROYAL,
DRURY LANE, IT’S CONSIDERED GOOD LUCK. As one of the world’s
most haunted theaters, the venue’s more famous ghosts are the “Man
in Grey”—an 18th-century gentleman, said to have been stabbed and
whose skeleton was found in a wall in 1848—and the English clown actor
Joe Grimaldi, whose ghost is said to guide nervous actors on the stage.
The current Theatre Royal is actually the fourth version of the facility in
the same location. The theater has a destructive past: Two of its previous
incarnations burned down (1672 and 1809), and in between those fires,
the theater was demolished (1791) in order to build a larger venue.
In 1958, the building was listed as a Grade 1 (buildings of outstanding
architectural or historic interest) by the English Heritage and is currently
owned and operated by Really Useful Theatres, a division of Andrew Lloyd
Webber’s Really Useful Group, which offers event facilities in all its theaters.
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane offers event space for up to 2,000 and
several meeting rooms such as the Ballet Room, the Grand Saloon and
the Royal Room.
Productions today lean toward musicals such as The Producers, Oli-
ver! and Miss Saigon. But the theater has some fine comedic pedigree—
Monty Python recorded a live album there in 1974. Nee!
THE TEXAS THEATRE WAS DALLAS’ FIRST AIR-CONDITIONED THEATER. Developer C.R. McHenry had 200,000
cubic feet of air per minute blown through a water-cooled system
pumped in from a 4,000-gallon tank. That’s a coolant system
almost as large as the personality of billionaire Howard Hughes,
who presided over the theater’s opening ceremonies in 1931.
But not even Hughes can upstage the event for which the
theater is most notorious.
“On November 22, 1963, at approximately 1:45 p.m., nearly
15 Dallas police officers converged on the Texas Theatre in
search of a man who had entered without paying,” according to
the Oak Cliff Foundation, which currently oversees the theater.
“That man was Lee Harvey Oswald—[former U.S.] President
John F. Kennedy’s accused lone assassin.”
Attempting to cover up its role in Kennedy’s assassination, the
venue’s colorful interior was covered by putrid gobs of plaster by
its owners. Over the years, the venue flirted with the wrecking
ball but was saved many times from such a crushing rendezvous
by several interlopers determined to preserve it not only for historical purposes but also as a venue for events and performances.
In fall 2005, a Dallas non-profit group, Art Conspiracy, chose
the Texas Theatre for its inaugural benefit function.
“Its historical importance and a sense of curiosity made the
Texas Theatre a venue that we couldn’t resist,” said Cari Weinberg, executive director for Art Conspiracy. “Today, the theater
has been refurbished and regularly plays host to live theater and
community events, but we had to do a lot of sweeping, vacuuming and window washing before it was really event-ready. The
effort was worth it. Picking such a unique venue really helped us
attract attendees.”
JASON HENSEL is an associate editor for One+.
Did we leave out your favorite theater? Visit us at www.
mpioneplus.org, and let us know which theaters you covet
and why they would inspire meeting event planners.
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C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 8 0
giving that can only add to your company’s
luster.”
The National Football League’s (NFL)
Super Bowl is undoubtedly one of the
world’s major single-day sporting events, and
Moskowitz has had a hand in it twice.
“The NFL is one of the most generous
organizations you can imagine,” he said. “For
about 15 years, wherever the Super Bowl is
held, the NFL builds a youth center. The center offers tutoring, career planning, sports,
you name it. That is community impact in the
most positive sense. The game is over in three
hours, but thousands of kids get something
long after the players go home.”
Community involvement is far from just
a catch phrase when it involves large event
planning, says Clare Sullivan Jackson, president and CEO of the Sullivan Group, a corporate event planner based in Houston.
“For us, how we impact the community
is the core of our business,” she said. “We
encourage our clients to make a difference.
If we can stage a strategic event for you that
also benefits a local non-profit or school kids,
then we’ve accomplished something special.
And that is genuinely important to us.”
Asked for examples Jackson doesn’t
hesitate.
“The Houston Independent School District had a program called Prepared for Life,
which offers after-school activities for middle
schools,” she said. “We recently held a corporate event where we had a drum corps waiting outside the facility to give a real welcome
to our clients. And we always have the kids
in on our annual open house to get a feel for
entrepreneurship.”
Another event involving inner-city youth
that the Sullivan Group is involved in is Lemonade Day, where kids are encouraged to set
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IF THERE IS A HIGHER PURPOSE TO HOLDING AN EVENT, DO IT. BRING ATTENDEES
TOGETHER WITH THE COMMUNITY AND
YOU’VE GOT A GREAT EVENT.
up lemonade stands around the city.
“We provide them with a workbook and
they get to plan, set up and operate their own
venture for a day,” she said. “We had more
than 3,000 lemonade stands around Houston last year.”
“My mantra,” Jackson said, “is if there is
a higher purpose to holding your event, then
let’s do it. If you can bring your attendees
together and aid the community, then you’ve
got a great event. If you’re holding an event
with entertainment, we’ll encourage you to
reach out to local entertainers. It’s a win-win;
you get great entertainment and local entertainers get a paycheck.”
The big daddy of all green visitors bureaus
is Tourism Vancouver, which has been consistently ahead of the curve for environmental
awareness and social responsibility in regards
to minimizing the negative impact of meetings and promoting positive local impact.
“We’re going so far as to be putting a sixacre green roof on our convention center,”
said Dave Gazley, vice president of meeting
and convention sales for Tourism Vancouver.
“All the water that comes off the roof will be
collected and used for irrigation or graywater
in the washrooms. We’re even going to have
a water treatment plant on site.”
Gazley’s quick list of tips for planners to
green their events, regardless of size, includes
not only recycling and waste-reduction strategies, but also takes into account utilizing
local produce and environmentally friendly
foods rather than bringing food in from an
outside community.
“Using local produce has two major
advantages,” he said. “You not only save on
fuel used to bring in food from other areas,
but you boost the local economy. And then
even that can get recycled by having leftover
food brought to a local food bank.”
Each and every one of these steps has a
positive effect on the community.
“And while our industry used to be
very bad, people at every level of it now are
becoming socially aware of the consequences
of our conventions and so we’re seeing a lot
of positive results,” Gazley said. “And it’s not
just for good public relations, but because
event planners and corporations think this
matters. They’re seeing the big picture on the
one hand with environmental changes they
can make and they’re also seeing the microcosm in terms of how they’re affecting their
host communities.”
COMMUNITY CARE ISN’T UNIVERSAL
Not everybody agrees with that. Bryan Jacobson, owner of Corporate Events Manhattan,
whose clients include Small Luxury Hotels of
the World, Deutsche Bank, Sony PlayStation,
Dateline NBC, Chanel, Revlon, Nissan and
a host of other major players in New York,
says he’s surprised at how infrequently he’s
asked about reducing the negative impact of
events.
“It rarely comes up as far as I’m concerned,” Jacobson said. “People don’t ask me
whether I’m going to recycle or what’s going
to happen with the leftovers. Personally, of
course, we ask our vendors to recycle, but it’s
up to them. And if I owned my own venue
it would be the greenest venue possible, but
when a company wants an extravagant new
product launch, the mission is to put on the
best event possible—and some events are so
short term they’re difficult to green up.
“There’s still a definite benefit to the community,” he said, “because I’m using local
people—set builders, caterers, actors and so
forth.”
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In terms of environmental impact, for all
the talk Jacobson says he’s heard about it, he
admits to being a bit cynical.
“I just think a lot of [the offerings] are
gimmicks, because you just can’t really build
an event site green in a couple of hours,” he
said.
Jacobson’s refreshing cynicism aside, others in his field feel differently.
Indeed, Silicon Valley’s Darryl Scotti,
founder of Darryl Scotti Events, says people
are coming around.
“We’ve seen some interesting events in
terms of greening things up in the last couple
of years,” he said.
Scotti, whose company runs corporate
events that range from team building for
groups as small as 60 to large events that can
reach 2,000, says summer events have seen
the most change.
“Most of our events are held in parks,
such as San Francisco’s Golden Gate,” Scotti
said. “And for summer events, where there
are a lot of disposables used, people are asking us if we use green products and whether
we recycle—things we didn’t used to hear,
which is fantastic. We’ve done that as best as
possible for 25 years anyway, but it’s good
to hear it coming from clients. And we’ve
always bought as much local food as possible, for instance, but that’s just our style.
Now people are asking whether we’re going
to use local food.”
Scotti’s professional reputation is that his
company leaves parks as clean or cleaner
than prior to their function.
“If we didn’t do that I would not be able
to work in those parks anymore,” he said.
“Basically, our job as event promoters is to
keep things as green as possible. This is the
community we live in and if we don’t want
to see other people trash it, that goes double
for us.”
And Miami’s Moskowitz says that’s really
a major change for the industry.
“There’s no question about it. We were
slow to get on board—the whole industry—
but little by little we’ve realized that you
can’t just leave a negative impact on the local
community and the environment,” he said.
“And we don’t need to. We can be positive
all around for everybody.”
The beauty of this movement—event planners proactively working to minimize harm
and enhance benefits to their host communities—is that it’s working from the grassroots
up, Tourism Vancouver’s Gazley says.
“And eventually it will reach even those
people and companies who have been the
worst offenders in terms of the negative
impact their conventions and meetings have
on their destinations and the larger environment.”
PETER GORMAN is an award-winning
freelance writer based in Joshua, Texas.
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of marketing for Experience Columbus.
McGinty estimates online social networking sites have a role in about 650 events in
the city each year.
C.D.E.F. Holding in Utretcht, the Netherlands, one of the nation’s largest meeting
and convention center management companies, even launched its own online social
network for meeting planners, Seats2meet,
about a year-and-a-half ago to keep its offerings top of mind for this core audience, says
Ronald van den Hoff, director. The company uses the site, which publishes material
in Dutch and English, to attract planners to
free professional development seminars it
offers in Utrecht on subjects such as online
trends in the industry. Van den Hoff says
the social network has helped to raise the
profile of the company and build its relationships with planners.
Van den Hoff calls the site “a pretty
local affair so far” but notes there are plans
to roll out a European network.
Seats2meet is local at the moment—and
that’s key since the social media boom is
indeed a global phenomenon. There were
131.2 million unique visitors to the sites
from North America in June 2008, up 9 percent from the previous June, according to
comScore. Asia saw 23 percent growth, to
200.5 million unique visitors, in that same
time frame and the European audience grew
by 35 percent, to 165.2 million. In fact, in
some countries, ignoring these sites can
leave you out of the loop of many professional conversations. Consider the U.K.—a
2007 comScore study showed that 78 percent of its online population frequents social
networking sites. The average U.K. visitor
devoted 5.8 hours a month to the sites in
August 2007 and made 23.3 visits, higher
than in any other part of Europe. A similar
picture holds true in South Korea. Marketing research firm Ipsos Insight found in a
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2007 study that more than half of all adults
there had visited a social networking site in
the past 30 days. And about 30 percent of
South Korea’s population—or 18 million
people—had accounts with Cyworld, one
of the world’s oldest and largest social networking sites.
“Social networking sites have emerged
as major factors in the culture of communication for adults globally, which is underscored by their popularity with Internet
users even among the lesser developed markets,” explained Brian Cruikshank, executive vice president and managing director
of Ipsos Insights Technology & Communications, in a statement released with the
research.
Social networking sites are likely to
become even more vital to professionals
with global career networks in the future. In
the war for market share, major sites such
as Facebook and LinkedIn are adding translation tools to make them handier for crosscultural communication. Take Facebook,
which had more than 132 million unique
visitors in June 2008 according to comScore
and is currently the world’s largest social
networking site. Although the company has
its core audience in the U.S., its introduction
of natural-language interfaces in several
markets has propelled exponential growth
in Europe. After making it possible to use
the site in Spanish, Facebook’s internationalization team is now working with translators to make it available in 16 additional
languages. Facebook reported in June 2008
that it fully supported Chinese, French, German, Italian and Japanese. LinkedIn is following suit. With more than 32 million registrants worldwide, it has traditionally had
a strong presence outside the U.S. among
English-speaking countries such as the U.K.,
Canada and Australia, says Allen Blue, the
company’s vice president of product strategy
and co-founder. Thanks to new Spanish and
French interfaces introduced in the past few
months and translation tools that let users
post profiles in multiple languages in late
2008, he says, LinkedIn is rapidly building
a bigger network of professionals who are
native speakers in those languages.
Effectiveness for the Industry
Mark Amtower, 58, is a good example of
the seasoned pros who are building a strong
presence on LinkedIn after learning that it
contributes to his bottom line. His company, Amtower & Co., produces meetings
and seminars for firms that do business with
the government. After seeing colleagues
using LinkedIn and building a page that
helped his business grow, he became a convert. Now registered on about nine social
networking sites, he estimates that he brings
in about US$60,000 in new registrations a
year through LinkedIn alone.
It’s not an accident. His LinkedIn profile
traces his many years of experience working with clients such as Dell, IBM and General Dynamics, spanning 30 pages if printed
out. It also includes extensive recommendations from members of his 1,100-person
network.
“You’re judged by the company you
keep,” Amtower said. “It’s very important
for people, when I’m trying to sell a coaching program or a seminar, to see the kinds
of people who are linked to me and the
number of recommendations I have from
these people. There are lots of people on
LinkedIn who have more connections than
I do but not many who have more recommendations than I do.”
To continue to build his reputation on
the site, he actively participates in LinkedIn
forums that include many potential contacts
in his field. He regularly answers questions
other professionals pose and sometimes
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Social networking sites are likely to become even more vital
to professionals with global career networks in the future.
posts his own, to highlight his unique expertise and, sometimes, to drive visitors to Web
sites for events he is planning.
“We’ve been able to fill seats at live seminars this way,” he said.
Although Amtower also spends time on
Facebook, he finds it less useful in making
business-building connections in his niche.
“Facebook is bigger, but it doesn’t have
the people I want in the quantities I want
them in,” he said.
Because of its business-minded approach,
LinkedIn is a good place to connect with
GenXers and Baby Boomers in more senior
roles—a selling point worth mentioning if
you are trying to persuade veterans on your
team to try social networking. When social
media research firm Rapleaf studied the
audiences of 15 major sites, it found that
51 percent of LinkedIn’s users were in the
25-to-34-year-old age group, giving it the
largest representation of that demographic,
according to data released in June 2008.
LinkedIn also had the highest percentages
of users from 35 to 44 (just under 25 percent) and from 45 to 54 (just under 9 percent). While those percentages may seem
small, it is important to realize that most
social networking sites are dominated by
the 14-to-24-year-old crowd, according to
Rapleaf’s findings.
Joining professional groups on sites
like LinkedIn isn’t just a way to build your
reputation—it can help you win business.
Jennifer Collins, CMP, president and owner
of the Event Planning Group, which plans
meetings for corporate, nonprofit and government clients, belongs to several groups
on LinkedIn that are oriented toward meeting planners, including Event Planning &
Management and the Corporate Communications Executive Network.
“I think it’s important to be as involved
as you can with industry organizations,”
said Collins, who frequently joins online
conversations. “It can be a way for you to
demonstrate your capabilities.”
Thanks to such efforts, she just got an
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inquiry from a company looking to use
her firm as a preferred event supplier. She
has also used the site to build buzz about
a book she is writing on the lighter side of
meeting planning and to solicit stories of
amusing faux pas from members. Recently,
a blogger contacted Collins, saying she
wanted to mention the book on her blog.
Collins, 36, acknowledges she has pushed
herself to make the most of social networking sites, which weren’t available when she
first entered the working world.
“This is second nature to the twentysomethings,” she said. “It’s just something
they know and do. I understand it and
embrace it. I understand how the world is
in Hempstead, N.Y., has focused many of
her social networking efforts on the site,
as she has worked to attract alumni to
the 10 major networking events that she
is expected to organize each year. One of
her first strategies, since coming from New
York University several months ago, was
building an official alumni community.
“The younger alumni will be on Facebook,” she said. “The more experienced
alumni will be on LinkedIn.”
Spencer credits much of the recent attendance at an alumni networking event she
held with the information she posted on
social networking sites, and she believes
Facebook message boards that let partici-
YOUR ASSOCIATION IN THE ONLINE
NETWORKING SPHERE
MeetDifferent 2009 attendees are urged to check out the
event’s Pathable page at http://pathable.com/events/
meetdifferent-2009.
There are multiple MPI groups on Facebook, including Fans of
MPI’s One+ Magazine, the general Meeting Professionals
International, MPI Global Student Community and unique
groups for specific MPI chapters.
MPI’s LinkedIn Group has more than 1,800 members
worldwide!
changing. But it’s not second nature.”
Despite Amtower’s reservations, Facebook can still be as useful as LinkedIn, especially in promoting events to a general audience, according to Beth Schillaci, founder
and CEO of VillageWorks Communications, a marketing firm that helps clients
build their presence in social media.
“For more of a consumer show or event,
Facebook is a good place to reach those
audiences,” she said.
Meeting professionals who work with
younger groups report particularly good
results from Facebook, of which 66 percent of users are in the 14-to-24-year-old
demographic, according to the Rapleaf
findings. Kelley Spencer, director of alumni
relations for the Hofstra School of Law
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pants RSVP publicly were especially helpful
in persuading others to come.
Niche Networking
Netherlands and now runs her business
in Los Angeles. “Usually people who are
into social networking use their local languages instead of going to Facebook.”
Unlike LinkedIn, which many professionals use to stay connected to those they
already know, the culture of some sites
fosters meetings between professionals
who don’t already know each other, Hensel says.
“Ecademy, for instance, is about connecting with people worldwide and making new, random connections,” she said.
One of her clients recently asked her
how to find an event location in Copenhagen. She suggested he contact the “country
leader” on Ecademy for Denmark, who
directed him to local sites that he included
in a proposal now under review.
“She hosts events and knows exactly
which places are available,” Hensel said.
To bring such members closer, some
sites facilitate in-person networking.
E.Factor, an international social networking site, helps its members in 110 countries connect online and at well-equipped
lounges with their own conference rooms
in New York and the Netherlands for networking events, says Marion Freijsen, the
company’s co-founder and co-author of
The N-Factor, a book on social networking. The company plans to add 100 more
lounges in 2009, so members can easily
notify contacts when they will be in town
and get together.
Undeniable
With social networking sites proliferating,
it’s obviously not possible—or productive—to try them all. But, as Freijsen says,
they’re a fact of life in business today that
many of us can’t afford to ignore.
“People will have to come to grips
with the fact that there’s value to being on
a social network,” she said.
By investing time in a few, your professional opportunities are truly endless.
Once you’ve built a presence on the sites
with the biggest worldwide presence, you
may find that local networks can add depth
to your networking. If your goal is to connect with professionals in Europe, popular
sites such as U.K.-based Ecademy, Xing
in Germany or Hyves.net in the Netherlands can be good resources. Targeting an
Asian audience? In Japan, Mixi is the most
popular.
“Facebook has a lot of equivalents
in other countries,” said Marieke Hensel, founder of Branding Personality, who
ELAINE POFELDT is a freelance writer
started out in Internet marketing in the based in Jersey City, N.J.
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Meet Where?
S UB HEAD ?
CONTEST!
Correctly identify this venue and its location and you could win a
(PRODUCT) RED Special Edition iPod Shuffle. Global Fund’s (PRODUCT) RED initiative directs up to 50 percent of gross profits toward
African AIDS programs focusing on the health of women and children. One winner will be randomly selected from all eligible entries.
Submit entries to jhensel@mpiweb.org by March 1, and find out the
answer and winner online at www.mpioneplus.org.
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