ONSITE
ON
TUESDAY, JULY 31
2012
The OFFICIAL award-winning daily publication of MPI’s World Education Congress 2012
@wec
Tell us about a powerful
connection you made
here at WEC?
Closing Session
8:30 - 10 a.m. • Hall 3, America’s Center Convention Complex
“The best connection for me is actually a member
in the community group who we’ve involved in our
work here at WEC. We got them involved because we
wanted to show that meetings and events like this
have an impact on host communities.”
Simon Woodward, principal lecturer, Leeds
Metropolitan University
“I walked through the exhibit hall and met a representative from Buzz Registration, they had a very insightful opportunity in which they offered back support for
meetings, especially abbreviated staff meetings for
organizations and nonprofits.”
Eva Leos, program administrator, International Legal
Technology Association
“The San Francisco Travel Association has this game
[here] called Goose Chase that we decided to play,
and I have made so many connections through that.
Made a great friend and it made me go around and
meet all kinds of great people.”
Chuck Highers, owner and event management
specialist, Plan Ahead Events
We’re part of many small networks, and today we will emphasize the diversity of our membership and attendees by turning our attention to tailored content with social science expert
Nicholas Christakis at the Closing General Session (8:30 a.m.). As meeting professionals, the
relationships we foster and curate for others help create our value. By devoting time to develop
the sectors of our membership, we strengthen the core of our industry. When we convene, we
appreciate and celebrate our individual pieces of the puzzle.
General Session sponsored by IMEX. Creative design, production and execution sponsored
by Fusion Productions (Fusion partner sponsors: The Conference Publishers, PRG). Christakis
is presented by The Harry Walker Agency Inc.
Every MPI Member Must Be a
Local Advocate, Panelists Say
The most powerful advocacy is local, and that means each of the meeting professionals at WEC
can play a role in telling the industry’s story, an expert panel told participants during Monday’s
Advocacy Luncheon sponsored by Loews Hotels & Resorts.
“The opportunity for our chapters
and chapter leaders is to become better informed, understand the impact
we’re making in our local communities and get together with our convention bureau partners to understand
not just our local economic impact,
but our business impact,” said Kevin
Hinton, chairman of the MPI International Board of Directors.
“The most important lesson I’ve
learned, particularly in my new role,
is that you can’t just do this when
there’s a crisis,” added Christine Duffy,
former MPI international chair and
now president and CEO of the Cruise
continued on page 4
“As a hosted buyer, I was able to make 18 powerful
connections with people that I did not previously
know, companies I wasn’t aware of and cities that I
had never visited. With those connections, I’m able to
expand my knowledge and my ability to place meetings across the U.S.”
Lacey Hein, event specialist, Honeywell
“My focus group this morning was brilliant. I had 16
planners and learned a lot about their needs and
their wants.”
David Strang, director of global sales for the
Americas, Jumeirah Hotels
MPI’s One+
Named to Top 10
Magazines of the
Year List
MPI’s member magazine, One+, has been named to
the Top Ten Best Magazines of the Year in 2012 by the
American Society of Business Publications Editors
(ASBPE) Azbee Awards of Excellence.
One+ was one of 25 magazines named as finalists
out of more than 600 publications in the competition. The coveted honor was announced July 25 in
Kansas City.
continued on page 4
WEC 2013:
Las Vegas
Lunch
12 - 1:30 p.m. • Hall 3, America’s
Center Convention Complex
Las Vegas is a 24/7 city where you can work
hard and play hard, and we’re proud to present
a Las Vegas headliner who takes that message to
heart in his energetic music performances.
From performing at small lounges to taking
center stage on the Las Vegas Strip, Frankie
Moreno is a dynamic entertainer who puts his
heart and soul into his music. He was recently
voted Best All-Around Performer in the Las
Vegas Review Journal’s “Best of Las Vegas,”
and you will get to see and hear why. Frankie’s
music is rich with influences of pop, rock and
classical—a combination of the music he was
exposed to as a youngster. Frankie is a musician
as diverse and energetic as Las Vegas itself.
Join Frankie Moreno and the Las Vegas
Convention and Visitors Authority as they show
you what Las Vegas has in store for WEC 2013.
Closing Reception
7 - 10 p.m. • Missouri Botanical Garden
St. Louis says Zài Jiàn (goodbye) in grand
style as the 79-acre Missouri Botanical
Garden serves as an unforgettable setting
for WEC’s closing event tonight, 7 - 10 p.m.
Staged around the garden’s Chinese Lantern
Festival, the final event will be themed to
stimulate the senses. This special evening
features monumental, illuminated structures
strategically placed around the lush acreage—
taking attendees on a cross-cultural journey.
Back by Popular
Demand
Due to the popularity of Monday’s “Unconferences and Open Spaces: Designing Participatory Events to Create Real Connections”
session, Misha Glouberman will be offering
an encore presentation today, 2 - 3:15 p.m. in
Room 274. Due to the unique nature of this
session, attendance is limited to 150, first come,
first serve.
2 ONE+ ONSITE
World Education Congress 2012 • Sunday, July 29
ON
ONSITE
Father
of MPI
Sweet
QUIET AND UNASSUMING AREN’T TYPICAL
adjectives used to describe someone who sets
the foundation for a large international organization. But Marion N. Kershner, CM, CAE, wasn’t
typical.
Known as a soft-spoken, laidback gentleman,
he was close to retirement from a long career as
executive vice president of the National Management Association (NMA) in Dayton, Ohio, when
he began helping develop the burgeoning meeting association known then as Meeting Planners International.
In 1972, Kershner became the association’s first president. He also served on the executive
committee before becoming the association’s executive vice president in 1974 until his retirement in 1982.
“Marion was a good guy,” said Jim Jones, CM, CMP, who worked with Kershner in the
early days and later served as association president (1978-79). “He was optimistic when he
could have been pessimistic, and he was certainly dedicated to his job.”
Stuart R. Clarkson, CM, MPI president 1979-80, agrees. “He was the major force in getting
[MPI] off the ground. It’s through his leadership that we created this organization. With his
background and experience, he was perfect for the job.”
After the death of Robert E. (Buzz) Bartow, MPI’s first executive vice president, Kershner
drove to MPI’s then-headquarters in Chicago and brought everything back to his home in
Middletown, Ohio, where he ran the association for the next five years.
Kershner’s daughter, Susan Moore,
remembers talking to her mother about
the new basement office.
“She always felt she had to be dressed
right away in the morning because people
were always coming over to see dad,”
Moore said. “Eventually, a separate entrance
was built so visitors could access the basement without having to walk through the
living room and kitchen.”
Kershner was active in a number of meeting-related groups, serving as director of the
American Society of Association Executives, a member of Association Committee of the
Chamber of Commerce, chairman and member of the Divisional Board of Regents for the
Institute of Organization Management and honorary vice president of the Institute of Supervisory Management in Litchfield, England.
Kershner received the 1987 MPI President’s
Award and, in 1988, was inducted into the Convention Liaison Council Hall of Leaders.
He lived in Middletown until his death in
1993. In honor of his dedication to MPI, the
International Board of Directors named the
Chapter Leader of the Year Award after Kershner.
Tweets
@matthomann
The most valuable things your
attendees give you are their
time and attention. Waste them
at your peril. #WEC12
@LuiSays
Holy cow I can’t believe I just
won a spot @ the World Series
of Poker thx to all that cheered
me on! #WEC12 #bigdeal
@Naotuck
Nobody wants to be “talked
to: anymore…’unconference’
your conference for maximum
results on engagement. #wec12
@rogerrickard
Thank you to the thousands of
people who attended, listened,
and engaged at the advocacy
session today, we are ONE
Voice for many. #WEC12
@JENHOLLYworks
Don’t just let your attendees
have a meeting, let them have
an experience #WEC12
@RMietkiewicz
Kudos to the Canada MPI
Chapters on your advocacy
initiatives as shared at the
Loews lunch! #WEC12 #MPI
@lcalderwood
It was a dark and stormy night…
and then a flood of new relationships and new ideas came
into my world, and there was
light and calm. #wec12
This article originally appeared in a 1997 MPI
publication.
Preparing for the Future
AS THE PROFESSION’S MOST VIBRANT global community that provides human connections to knowledge and ideas, MPI and the MPI
Foundation continue to provide cutting-edge training and education to
members and the global community in many countries, thanks to support from a number of sponsors.
Global Certificate in Meetings & Business Events training sessions
in 2011-2012 took place in the Netherlands, Spain, Taiwan, China and
Thailand, thanks to MCI, Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism
Development (BTD), Taiwan External Trade Development Council
(TAITRA), Saxion University and Kuoni. In addition, CMP prep
courses were held in Beijing and Taiwan.
Next, MPI Foundation and MPI are sponsored by the Abu Dhabi
Tourism & Culture Authority (ADTCA) in presenting Global Professional Development Programme sessions as “MPI Summer School” in
Abu Dhabi September 3-5. The sessions: “Future Meetings: Anticipating
What is to Come,” “Exceeding the Needs of International Clients” and
“Integrating Social Media within Business Event Marketing and Communication.” These will prepare professionals in Abu Dhabi to better
anticipate needs of future events in the region, and fulfill professional
development requirements toward CMP certification. All sessions
are heavily focused on developments in the profession, and preparing
event professionals in Abu Dhabi to leave the workshops with tools and
techniques that are immediately actionable, plus project outlines that
get implemented in their jobs.
ADTCA demonstrates deep commitments to their community
and the growth of meetings and events as a major economic value
driver through this major investment in the future for Abu Dhabi. The
research toward ensuring regionally and culturally relevant subject matter, plus subsequent course development, has been in partnership with
Leeds Metropolitan University in the U.K. Several staff members from
Leeds Met are attending WEC, presenting on a number of research and
development efforts worldwide.
MPI and the MPI Foundation are deeply appreciative to all of the
sponsors, research partners and donors who make continuing our
worldwide educational endeavors possible.
Thank You
MPI Partners!
Strategic Alliance Partner
IMEX America
Global Partner
Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts
MARKETSMART PARTNERS:
Elite Partners
Caesars Entertainment
Disney Destinations
Premier Partners
PSAV
IMEX
Loews Hotels & Resorts
Mexico Tourism Board
Signature Partners
DüsseldorfCongress
MCI
Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau
Reed Travel Exhibitions
The Peabody Orlando
The Venetian/Palazzo
Tourism Toronto
Preferred Partners
Branson Convention & Visitors Bureau
Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau
Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau
Hard Rock Café International
Irving Convention & Visitors Bureau
MGM Resorts International
Myrtle Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau
Omni Hotels & Resorts
Ottawa Tourism
pc/nametag
San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau
San Francisco Travel
Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Tourisme Montréal
Visit Florida
Visit Orlando
Visit Salt Lake
Choice Partners
Associated Luxury Hotels International
Cancun CVB
Colorado Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau
Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau
Eventbrite
Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau
Galveston Convention & Visitors Bureau
Greensboro Convention & Visitors Bureau
Hilton Columbus Downtown
Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Bureau
Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau
Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Bureau
NH Hotels
Niagara Tourism Partnership
Ontario Tourism
Plano Convention & Visitors Bureau
Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau
Reno Tahoe USA
Seattle’s Convention & Visitors Bureau
St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
The Woodlands Resort & Conference Center
Visit Phoenix
Visit Savannah
World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
ONE+ ONSITE
3
ON
ONSITE
Rich Points to a ‘Universe
of Opportunities’
THERE HAVE NEVER BEEN SO MANY WAYS TO DEFINE A MEETING PLANNER’S DUTIES or career
path, and MPI’s partnership with the Event Management Institute is positioning members to tap a widening universe of opportunities, David Rich will tell the Closing General Session on Tuesday morning.
“For a good part of the history of meeting planning, so many people have moved into the profession
accidentally,” said Rich, senior vice president, strategy and planning/worldwide at George P. Johnson.
“Largely through the work of this association, people are seeing meeting planning as a career choice and
more purposefully choosing it.”
Rich says it’s realistic for the next generation of students and beginning planners to consciously
choose between a hands-on planning role or a more managerial position in any one of several different
areas: meeting management, event marketing, trade show organizing, meetings and travel or procurement and strategic meetings management. MPI can give its members the tools to map out their career
path, then put together the courses and work experience that will take them where they want to go.
In part, Rich says this transformation is made possible by the growing number of companies and
organizations that recognize the value they get back from face-to-face events.
“More and more executives and functions in more and more businesses understand what meetings
can deliver,” he said. “And there are ways to define yourself as a planner that are more tightly embraced
by senior management.”
He says planners who can make the case are seen as providing more value, have a voice and sometimes a seat at the table, and are more highly rewarded, in respect and in dollars.
Rich’s general session segment will explore this new “universe of opportunities” and set the stage
for a series of breakout sessions that highlight the knowledge and career guidance members can expect
to gain through MPI’s partnership with the Event Marketing Institute. Visit the registration area or
MPIWeb.org to sign up for these Tuesday sessions, which include “Pursuing the New Careerscape with
Purpose,” “Trends in Event Marketing” and “Event Marketing Case Studies.”
Congratulations to Trevor Lui, director of operations and sustainability for the International Centre,
Toronto, who won the MPI Foundation’s The Big Deal poker tournament on Sunday night at the
America’s Center. He earned a seat valued at $10,000 to play in the World Series of Poker Main
Event. Pictured: Michael Massari, vice president of meeting sales and operations - Las Vegas,
Caesars Entertainment; winner Trevor Lui; second-place finisher Cindy Kramer; third-place finisher
Stephanie Bodanyi, Turnaround Management Association; Vince LaRuffa, 2012-13 chairman, MPI
Foundation Board; and Phil Cooper, CEO of Encore Productions. Thanks to The Big Deal sponsors:
Caesars Entertainment, Hilton Worldwide and Encore Productions.
Brazil to the World,
the World to Brazil
IN 2011, THE LATIN AMERICAN MEETING & EVENT CONFERENCE connected the MPI Brazil Chapter
more directly than ever before with the meeting industry beyond its borders. Even with a Dec. 12
date—a time some feared would be too close to the holidays to garner great attendance—the daylong
education event attracted more than 400 meeting professionals. This year, LAMEC is taking place on a
“safer” date: Friday, Aug. 17.
“Brazil has a lot to offer in terms of expertise in events. But Brazil still needs to learn about international best practices,” said Ricardo Ferreira, an organizer for the event and executive vice president and
partner of Grupo Alatur, one of largest meeting and event companies in Brazil.
To that end, this year’s theme is “the best of Brazilian events to the world, and the best of the world
of events to Brazil.”
“We came up with this content that I think is really something different,” Ferreira said. “A leading
Brazilian advertising executive who is really strong in events will discuss why he created a meeting
and event company. At lunch time, we have a variety of regional event organizers, discussing why the
business of regional events has become so big in Brazil.”
To conclude the event, new MPI Chairman Kevin Hinton, executive vice president of Associated
Luxury Hotels International, shares with LAMEC delegates some of the best meeting industry practices from around the world.
“We have something to offer to the world, but we need so much—it’s really all about interaction,”
Ferreira said.
The 2012 edition of LAMEC goes live Friday, Aug. 17, at the Sheraton Sao Paulo WTC Hotel in
Brazil’s largest city, which is, not coincidentally, also home to the greatest concentration of meeting
professionals in the country.
4 ONE+ ONSITE
World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
Olympic Pride
As of press time (5:30 p.m. Monday), the
total medal count for the 2012 Summer
Olympic Games in London is as follows.
China – 17
U.S. - 17
Japan – 11
Italy 8
France – 7
DPR Korea – 6
Russia – 5
N. Korea – 4
Australia 4
Romania - 3
Hungary - 3
Brazil – 3
Ukraine – 3
Update on
Jonah Lehrer
Monday, Jonah Lehrer, WEC Opening General
Session keynote, announced his resignation as a
staff writer for The New Yorker. Lehrer admitted
that quotes by Bob Dylan featured in his book
Imagine either “did not exist, were unintentional
misquotations or represented improper combinations of existing quotes.” WEC attendees who
purchased Lehrer’s book on site can return it to
the MPI Store for a full refund, if desired.
“Jonah’s resignation from The New Yorker
yesterday is a very unfortunate coincidence, but
his message presented to our WEC attendees on
Sunday is still very relevant,” said Cindy D’Aoust,
MPI COO and interim CEO.
Advocacy
Lunch
continued from page 1
Lines International Association. Duffy quoted a
senior Congress member’s advice: “We need to
hear from people in the local districts.”
Advocacy specialist Roger Rickard and
Michael Massari, vice president of meeting
sales and operations for Caesars Entertainment,
shared additional advice and words of support.
For more information on advocacy for the
meeting industry, visit www.mpiweb.org/
OneIndustryOneVoice.
Are You
Watching?
HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEWS CREWS running
around the conference? MPI would like to thank
CNTV for providing a daily news recap of
all the best of WEC. Be sure to check the hotel
channel in your room each morning for a
chance to see yourself on television.
Free
Headshots
Anyone?
THANKS TO THIS YEAR’S OFFICIAL conference photographers—Orange Photography.
Be sure to stop by MarketSquare booth #42,
outside The Hub, to have your free professional headshot taken. Photographers will be
available Tuesday 10 a.m. - noon.
Get the
Inside
Scoop
Several of MPI’s partners will be making
significant announcements today at WEC in
Room 276, so you can be the first to engage
with them to discuss how their plans for the
future could impact your business. We invite
all planners to participate. Here’s today’s
schedule.
QuickMobile - 8 a.m.
Cruise Lines International Association
(CLIA) - 10:15 a.m.
Düsseldorf Congress - 11 a.m.
MPI’s One+
Named to Top
10 Magazines
of the Year List
continued from page 1
“Just to be named a finalist is quite an
honor for One+ and for MPI, but a Top 10
finish is really a humbling honor,” said One+
Editor in Chief David Basler. “What makes
One+ such a successful publication for the
meeting and event industry is that we take
the time to listen to our members and we
focus our content and design on what they
want from their member magazine. This
honor is something we share with all MPI
members—this is their magazine.”
In its first four years of publication, One+
has quickly become the most recognized
magazine in the meeting and event industry.
The magazine has amassed 38 awards and
honors in that time. One+ replaced MPI’s
previous publication, The Meeting Professional, in August 2008.
The ASBPE Azbee Awards of Excellence
competition is one of the most competitive
for business-to-business, trade, association
and professional publications. The awards
recognize outstanding work by magazines,
newsletters and digital media, including
websites, e-newsletters, digital magazines and
blogs. The competition is open to all U.S.based publications.
Past winners of the Magazine of the Year
honor include: Fortune Small Business, CIO,
Computerworld, The Scientist and Meetings &
Conventions.
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Fair Trade
A Discussion on Contract Negotiation
Best Practices By Andrea Grimes
THE AVERAGE PRIVATE LAW DEGREE COSTS
close to US$100,000 these days, and yet the
delicate art of negotiation seems to be something kids bring with them from the womb.
Whether it’s another cookie, one more story or
permission to go to the party because oh-em-gee
mom and dad, everybody else is going and it’ll be,
like, social death if I don’t, kids can be ruthless in
their pursuit of extras.
But somewhere between seventh grade and
a company’s seventh annual conference, the
stakes got significantly higher. If the catering
doesn’t come through for the school dance,
pizza’s there in a jiffy. If a meeting planner
can’t feed several hundred hungry delegates,
they’re booking it to the closest casual dining
establishment. And while a 13-year-old back
may not mind a cot and a sleeping bag—hey,
it’s an adventure—grown-up backs prefer a
nice pillow top most nights.
The best way to guarantee all goes well at any
event is to negotiate a fair, reasonable contract
wherein terms are not only clear, but closely
adhered to—just like the best way to get a ride
from dad to the dance is to promise to take the
trash out for a month…and then actually do it.
To gain some insight into the most common
contract negotiation issues, we talked with some
6 ONE+ ONSITE
of the industry’s top legal minds.
“Meeting professionals tend to treat contracts
like a tuxedo,” said Reto Keller, director of global
operations for meetings and events at MCI, a
global event management organization.
“It is not important until you need it and
only then you find out if it fits you, the other
parties involved and the occasion,” the Genevabased Keller explained.
With that in mind, we wondered, how can
meeting professionals avoid problems on paper
before they arise in practice? The answer starts
with keeping an eye on what University of
Alabama law professor Tyra Hilliard, Esq., CMP,
calls the “big three” issues: attrition, cancellation
and force majeure.
ATTRITION
When it comes to organizing events at hotels,
Hilliard says, “People always want to talk about
attrition, whether we’re in an economic boom or
an economic downturn.”
Because everyone wants to get the most out
of their financial investment, it’s important to
discuss what happens when a block of hotel
rooms doesn’t fill for an event and who’s responsible for making up the difference.
“Hoteliers feel like meeting planners are
World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
Contract Sessions Today
10:30 - 11:45 a.m.
“Do It Right and Avoid a Dispute! Contracting
Essentials for Independent Planners”
2 - 3:15 p.m.
“Hotel Contracts Boot Camp: Legal Tips & Practical
Guidelines for Meeting Professionals”
3:45 - 5 p.m.
“Navigating International Cs: Understanding
Contracts, Currency and Customs”
always trying to get out of attrition clauses,” she
said, “which is probably not far from the truth.”
The key is to make sure, as a planner, you’re
not paying a penalty—that is, that a hotel can’t
make more money by enforcing an attrition
clause than if the original contract had been
fulfilled.
Atlanta-based attorney John Foster, Esq.,
CHME, who serves as outside counsel to MPI
on industry contracts and other legal issues, specializes in just this kind of thing. He encourages
planners to base damages—not penalties—on
room nights, not revenue performance. That way,
planners are responsible for the rooms themselves,
not fulfilling a certain revenue amount, which can
come back to haunt the group if delegates book
rooms outside the block at a lower rate.
Planners should also make sure they get credit if
a hotel is able to book rooms unoccupied by meeting attendees.
“That should be subtracted from the planner’s
damages,” Foster said.
However, if planners aren’t smart enough to ask
continued on page 8
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Fair Trade
continued from page 6
for it, he points out that “hotels don’t want to
give credit for resold rooms,” which is where
controversies often arise.
Because hotels do have the right to sell other
un-blocked rooms before they begin selling
empty blocked rooms, Foster also advises
planners to make sure hotels are honest about
other events booked at the same time that may
also not have filled up. Hotels should count
those rooms as filled, even if they’re technically
empty, and not calculate damages at a cost to an
unrelated planning organization by filling those
rooms first.
“Those need to count as sold rooms visà-vis the other planners,” he said. Yet another
thing that “doesn’t always happen if you don’t
ask for it.”
There are ways to approach attrition without
minute negotiations about rooms, rates and
percentages. Hilliard recommends that, instead
of arguing about attrition clauses, organizers
should let the hotel participate in marketing.
“Let’s get your attendance up,” she said.
“That’s how everybody wins.”
Foster also recommends that planners
stipulate they’re not responsible for generating
ancillary expenses—things like room service,
drinks in the bar or spending at the gift shop.
“It’s all discretionary,” Foster said, and planners should make sure hotels agree to that.
8 ONE+ ONSITE
CANCELLATION
Hilliard is seeing hotels cancel events they may
have scheduled in a down economy that they’re
less invested in now that things are on the
upswing.
“Hotels took business that wasn’t the greatest
business when the economy wasn’t great,” she
said—and some properties look for what they
believe to be better clients.
Or, new managers take over hotels and don’t
want to fulfill contracts they inherited.
“It’s important for planners to make sure
they’ve got a cancellation-by-hotel clause that
says exactly what damages they’re entitled to,”
Hilliard said.
Another upshot of the economic downturn
is that hotels are now able to conduct remodels
and renovations that they’d put off in tough
times. Planners should make sure that those
things either won’t be happening when their
events take place or that they “won’t disrupt the
quiet enjoyment of the hotel by the meeting
attendees.”
FORCE MAJEURE
In an era of high-profile terrorist attacks, disease
scares and severe weather events, force majeure
clauses that deal with the fallout from unforeseeable events are more important than ever. Foster
cites the 2003 SARS outbreak in Toronto as an
example.
If something happens once, he says, “You’ve
got to assume that it’s going to happen again,
and you need to provide for it.”
World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
That means, in part, making sure a contract
deals with events that become “impracticable,”
even if they’re not “impossible.” He represented
a group that booked a meeting in Toronto
during the SARS epidemic—a meeting they’d
booked five years in advance. At that point, he
says, “it’s not impossible,” but the execution is
“substantially and materially negatively affected.”
ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
There are, of course, issues aside from attrition,
cancellation and force majeure that lawyers
recommend keeping tabs on. In the digital
age, Foster says hotels often want to be able to
share meeting attendee information with their
subsidiaries, and they’ll ask planners’ permission to do so. But he says that’s not a planner’s
responsibility.
“You don’t want to agree to be responsible for
privacy,” he said. “Don’t put that burden back on
the meeting planner.”
If hotels want to share delegate information,
planners should be removed: Hotels should ask
attendees directly for such permission.
Tyra Hilliard says hotels are “doing what a lot
of businesses are doing,” which is “unbundling”
charges that used to be included in basic costs.
Surcharges and fees increase as hotels try to
recover from the economic downturn, “but it
really adds up and can hurt a meeting planner’s
budget.”
Make sure additional fees can’t be added after
a contract is signed.
“You get very angry attendees,” when they
end up with surprise costs at check out, she said.
Issues of difference in culture and tradition
also arise when planners book across oceans
and borders, according to MCI’s Keller. And
handling that requires some homework.
“When approaching negotiations in an international environment without your homework
being done beforehand, you are setting yourself
up for failure or at least for painful situations,”
Keller said. For example, “the value of a written
contract [in China] is by no means comparable
to its value in Europe or the U.S.”
He also says the issue of currency exchange in international contracts should be
discussed from the very beginning, especially
with increasing fluctuations in exchange rates.
Planners can set exchange rates in an initial
budget, he says, but a good option is to “adapt
the exchange rate” on a final invoice based on
a rate from a neutral entity that both parties
agree upon.
And, of course, agreement is the entire point
of negotiation. Internationally or domestically,
good relationships should take priority. Hilliard
says that’s often lost in all the red tape.
“If you kick the other side when they’re
down, they’re going to remember that,” she said.
“That’s just not good business.”
ANDREA GRIMES is a freelance writer whose
work has appeared in the Dallas Observer, D
Magazine, The Austin Chronicle, Salon.com
and more.
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Learning from the Regulated
Due to the challenges of managing increasing optics,
medical and pharma meeting pros are at the forefront
of industry regulation. By Elaine Pofeldt
ON THE HUNT FOR EXCITING NEW GROWTH
opportunities, the Atlanta Convention & Visitors
Bureau (ACVB) started an initiative two years
ago to focus on booking events for industries that
were thriving—from renewable energy to education. Noticing growth in the medical industry,
the CVB also targeted gatherings in this field.
They’ve turned out to be a sweet spot.
As of March, the ACVB counted 215,000
room nights booked for medical meetings in
2012—more than twice the figure from 2011.
This year, such gatherings will bring more
than 70,000 convention attendees, such as the
23,000-attendee, 100-year-anniversary Thomas
P. Hinman Dental Meeting and the 17,000-person American Urological Association annual
meeting. Coming up are Medtrade—a 10,000-attendee gathering for those in the home medical
equipment field in October—followed by the
American Society of Hematology annual meeting in December. Such meetings will have a
combined economic impact of $110 million this
year, by ACVB estimates.
“This is a very good year for us,” said
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Mark Sussman, director of trade show sales
for the ACVB.
As the bureau’s experience is evident, opportunity is brewing in the medical and pharmaceutical meeting field—but capitalizing on
those opportunities means staying on top of the
fast-changing needs of organizers and attendees.
Many key players are doing business against
a backdrop of relatively new and often confusing regulatory requirements that are constantly
evolving. In January 2009, for instance, members
of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) ushered in voluntary
guidelines to avoid ethical problems and conflicts
of interest. In the so-called PhRMA guidelines,
research-oriented pharmaceutical and biotech
firms set standards governing entertainment,
resulting in more modest meals and experiences
and phasing out old-school practices such as
treating doctors to pricey or high-profile entertainment options (professional sports events,
concerts, etc.).
On top of this, the U.S. Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act of 2009—“Obamacare”—
World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
Pharma Session Today
2 - 3:15 p.m.
“Pharmaceutical Meeting Planning 101”
ushered in the Physician Payment Sunshine Act.
The goal was to bring more transparency to the
relationships that pharmaceutical companies,
biotech firms and medical device suppliers have
with doctors. It mandates that pharmaceutical
manufacturers and medical device makers must
report gifts and meals for physicians that cumulatively total at least $10 in a year.
Originally, the law was to take effect in
January, with many companies and meeting
professionals scrambling to keep pace. But this
spring, after receiving a mountain of comments,
the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid
Services announced that it was postponing
this requirement. The agency reportedly began
assembling a work group to assist in coming up
with a final rule by the end of 2012. Manufacturers are expected to have to start collecting this
data in January 2013.
Realizing that the ramp-up time will be
significant, many companies are already setting
up companywide systems for keeping track of
spending covered under the Sunshine Act and
grappling with the implications of the heightened
disclosure. Virtual meeting provider MedPoint Digital
is one such company. According to MedPoint President and Founder Bill Cooney, the federal government
must, under the law, publish the physician payments
on an easy-to-use website in 2013, making the data
searchable and downloadable—which will have potentially huge implications for meetings.
“Everyone is going to see things like, ‘Dr. Smith got
a meal, valued at $80 from Ruth’s Chris, by going to a
meeting,’” he said.
Such expenses might look more lavish to politicians
or to the general public than to meeting planners who
know the going rate for catered meals, he notes, so that
will undoubtedly be a factor considered in meeting
planning.
While many companies and organizations have
resumed holding meetings that were canceled in the
recession, they’re still being more frugal in planning
them—guarding their budgets and attendees’ time.
That means more virtual meetings, as well as events
that are being condensed into shorter time periods and
held in locations such as airport hotels, not resorts.
“Pharmaceutical and medical companies are taking
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Learning from the Regulated
continued from page 10
their teams out into the field for less time,” said
Scott Cullather, founder and managing partner
at events agency inVNT. “[Yet], the expectations
for learning are pretty much the same, if not
more.”
Attracting meetings to a city or venue in this
climate takes creative thinking. For instance,
with many large organizations due to rotate their
meetings this year into the southeastern U.S., the
ACVB knew there would be increased regional
competition from other cities. So the group promoted its strong infrastructure to help Atlanta
stand out.
“We’re able to secure up to 10,000 guest
rooms within walking distance of the convention center,” Sussman said.
Sussman and his team have also emphasized a planned expansion of the Maynard H.
Jackson International Terminal at HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport—which
will bring 12 additional international gates
to the facility—when recruiting international
groups like the American Urological Association, which will be one of the first to have
access when the new gates open.
Meeting planners also need to find eco-
nomical ways to keep meetings engaging—and
useful. When inVNT works with client Genentech to plan sales meetings these days, time is
tighter than ever. To help his client make the
most out of shorter educational gatherings,
Cullather provides certain materials ahead of
time. For instance, if a product launch targets
patients with a particular disease, Cullather
says, “Maybe we would introduce the patient
through a video campaign or email blast prior
to the meeting.” Such advance prep work frees
time for participants to decompress between
sessions.
“If you take up the entire time cramming
[participants] full of knowledge, how effective
is that?” he asked. “There’s a learning curve that
starts to diminish over a period of time.”
Cullather and his team also constantly look
for high-impact, cost-effective ways to enhance
what is learned at a meeting. For one client’s sales
meeting last year, inVNT created a visual device
that helped attendees understand the suffering
of people with glaucoma. The glasses he brought
to the meeting reduced participants’ ability to
see—the same way glaucoma impairs vision. The
salespeople were asked to try the specs on and to
then type a text message.
“We took the glasses off and let them read it,”
he recalled. “The emotional response we elicited
was really incredible. They were able to, in a
visceral way, experience what it was like to be a
patient suffering from glaucoma.”
Not everyone in the medical sphere is feeling
the pinch of regulation, so some CVBs, meeting
planners and organizers are staying alert to opportunities to serve those who still have healthy
budgets.
“The Sunshine Act is more geared toward the
pharmaceutical companies and their spending
money,” Sussman said.
Many top doctors travel to medical conventions from around the world for continuing education, and they expect a high-quality event.
“The doctors are allowed to spend money on
themselves,” Sussman said.
Many doctors bring their families with them to
conferences, so the ACVB promotes local tourist
attractions near the convention center, such as the
Georgia Aquarium and other options within walking distance.
Dental groups, though sensitive to budgetary
concerns, also fall outside the reach of laws such
as the Sunshine Act, offering meeting planners
some room for creativity. The 750-member Hinman Dental Society of Atlanta hosts 55 meetings a
year—including the massive annual convention it
just held. Known for keeping members up to date
on professional topics such as bleaching teeth, the
organization also brings in high-profile speakers
who share the nonprofit’s focus on education, such
as recent keynote former First Lady Laura Bush.
To attract foot traffic to its exhibit hall, which
housed approximately 850 booths, the society
planned attention grabbers such as the daily giveaway of a diamond pendant. The group also hired
models to dress in attire reflective of the time person in which the organization was founded. Those
who submitted tickets to the couple—who walked
the show floor—were entered into a contest to
win $100. Recognizing that the group’s Southern
hospitality has been a powerful draw since Dr.
Thomas Hinman, a dentist, founded the group, the
association taps volunteer members to make the
event welcoming to all.
“We assign hosts to every speaker to go out to
the airport, greet them on arrival, escort them to
their hotel room, take them to their lectures,” said
Sylvia Ratchford, the group’s executive director.
While gestures like this add to the ambiance,
Ratchford knows that they, alone, aren’t enough to
keep participants coming back. The society, which
runs a trade show at its annual meeting, has rolled
out a spate of new opportunities for members to
increase their presence, such as ads on its social
networking pages. Ratchford says the days of coming up with a marketing plan at the beginning of
the year and sticking with it are over.
“It’s constantly evolving,” she said.
And, like others in this space, she’s hoping to
keep pace.
ELAINE POFELDT is a former senior editor
for FORTUNE Small Business and a regular
contributor to One+.
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World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
ON
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Silent Auction:
Last Day to Bid!
Puppy Cuddling
Continues Today
THE MPI FOUNDATION SILENT AUCTION comes with
an escape clause: if you happen to win, you escape.
While at WEC, make sure you plan to stop by to bid
on exciting luxury escape packages. Stay and play
at the world’s finest destination hotels, resorts and
spas. There’s also a smorgasbord of fitness, sports and
gaming packages. With trips worth hundreds or even
thousands of dollars, you can grab a fabulous value!
Find your own best way to excite, explore and unwind.
Bidding ends at 3 p.m. today.
WE INVITE YOU TO STOP BY THE PUPPY CUDDLING AREA, where rescued dogs
will be waiting for you to cuddle, pet and play with them. A few adult dogs will
also be present, if you’d like a larger dog to hug. This will be much more than a
re-energizing break from your day. Your interactions with these dogs provide
important socialization to ensure that they are more adoptable.
The dogs Stray Rescue of St. Louis saves from the often-harsh city streets
exude love, energy and playfulness. These companion animals are resilient and
seem to be very aware of their new lease on life. That is why Stray Rescue wants
to share this contagious joy with WEC attendees.
Tuesday
Schedule
All events held at America’s
Center Convention Complex
unless otherwise noted.
7 - 8:30 a.m.
Breakfast in Bed à la
Montréal Delivery
Location: Various, Block Hotels
Sponsored by Tourisme Montréal
7:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Global Village
8 a.m. - 3 p.m
MPI Foundation’s Silent
Auction
Location: Level 2 Plaza Atrium
8:30 - 10 a.m.
General Session
Sponsored by IMEX Group
10 - 10:30 a.m.
Break
10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Puppy Cuddling
Location: Level 2 Plaza Atrium
Sponsored by St. Louis CVC
10:30 - 11:45 a.m.
Education Sessions:
WEC Your Way
12 - 1:30 p.m.
WEC 2013 Las Vegas Lunch
2 - 3:15 p.m.
Education Sessions:
WEC Your Way
3:15 - 3:45 p.m.
Break
3:45 - 5 p.m.
Education Sessions:
WEC Your Way
5 - 6 p.m.
European Reception
(Invitation Only)
Location: Ballroom Pre-function
Sponsored by IMEX Group
7 - 10 p.m.
Closing Reception
Location: Missouri Botanical
Garden
Remember:
Your conference
badge is required
for admittance
to all WEC
activities
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World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
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How We Affect
Each Other
With his groundbreaking research into the
functioning of social networks, WEC 2012
Closing General Session speaker Nicholas
Christakis shows how our seemingly trivial
behaviors and ideas can significantly affect
the lives of people we don’t even know.
By Tara Swords
IN THE MID-90S, NICHOLAS CHRISTAKIS
was a hospice doctor on the south side
of Chicago. It was just as important and
depressing of a job as you might imagine: He
visited terminally ill patients who had chosen to die at home and helped them through
the final months, weeks and days of life.
At the time, his lab at the University of
Chicago was studying the so-called “widowhood effect”—the increased probability of
a person to die after his or her partner has
died (his interest in caring for the sick had
roots in his own life). As he told The Harvard
Crimson last year, his mother suffered from
cancer from the time he was six until she
died when he was 25 years old. Christakis
knew firsthand the stress that illness puts on
family members.
One day he noticed that the daughter
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of a patient was exhausted from caring for
her dying mother. Then he learned that the
daughter’s husband had also become rundown and sick. Finally, on his way home
from a family visit, he received a call from
the husband’s friend—a total stranger to
Christakis and only loosely connected to the
sick woman. The man was growing worried
about his friend.
“I just suddenly realized that the widowhood effect wasn’t confined to husbands
and wives,” Christakis says. “It could affect
parents and children or other sorts of pairs—
and frankly it wasn’t even confined to pairs
of people.”
Suddenly, he was wondering about the
other ways in which humans affect one another. It was a “eureka” moment—and none
too soon, if you’d asked his wife, Erika.
World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
CLOSING
GENERAL
SESSION
SEE NICHOLAS CHRISTAKIS TODAY
Don’t miss Nicholas Christakis’ keynote at the
Closing General Session today at 8:30 a.m.
“About 10 or 15 years ago, my wife just
got fed up and asked, ‘Could you study birth?
Why do you have to study death if you’re
going to study demographic phenomena?’”
And so a new path for Christakis was
born: Rather than focus on the mysterious
ways in which death affects pairs, he would
focus on the ways the living affect each other.
He would study social networks.
No doubt you’re already thinking it: Facebook. But this was long before the term was
co-opted by the website and the Aaron Sorkin movie. In fact, Christakis’ interest was in
face-to-face networks, which are a sociological phenomenon that date to pre-history.
“Humans have been making networks
for tens of thousands of years, ever since we
emerged onto the African Savannah,” Christakis says. “There’s something very deep and
fundamental and very beautiful, actually,
about these networks that we make.”
It was a natural shift for Christakis, who
is not only a physician but also a sociologist
and public health specialist (that’s three advanced degrees, if you’re counting). His new
area of study combined all of his disciplines
into a single focus that seemed ripe for
exploration.
And it was. Since teaming up in 2001,
Christakis and his research partner James
Fowler have discovered that human networks
act as a medium for the transmission of far
more than just germs or information. When
viewed in the context of a social network,
many things—violence, money, certain types
of drug use, seatbelt use, kindness, joy, sadness, depression, unhealthy eating, loneliness
and smoking—are literally contagious.
“We were very surprised at the extent
to which a lot of non-obvious factors do
actually spread in networks,” Christakis
says. “Our findings regarding obesity and
the extent to which your weight may depend
upon the weight of people who are strangers to you—your friends’ friends or friends’
friends’ friends—this was surprising to us.”
Christakis likens human networks to ant
colonies, where members work collectively
toward a common goal. The same could be
said of human networks at a high level: They
aim to spread wellbeing among their members, but they end up spreading lots of other
things, too.
“When I’m kind to you, this kindness
ripples in a kind of pay-it-forward way, and
the benefits to the group are much greater
than the benefits that accrue just from my
kindness to you,” he says. “So the network
kind of magnifies my contribution. Now, it
also magnifies evil, so there’s a complex balance that’s taken place over the eons whereby
we have come to have the kind of network
that’s really optimized, overall, for the propagation of desirable properties.”
The obesity research in particular yielded
some attention-grabbing headlines. It was
based on Christakis and Fowler’s examination of 32 years’ worth of data and the
finding that obesity spreads through social
networks. In fact, Christakis and Fowler
found that having a friend who becomes
obese made a person 57 percent more likely
to become obese themselves. Even more
surprising, an increased likelihood persisted
even when it was a friend of a friend who
became obese—or even a friend of a friend
of a friend.
When the pair’s book—Connected: The
Surprising Power of Our Social Networks
and How They Shape Our Lives—came out
in 2009, it pulled Christakis’ work from the
strata of academic journals and into the
world of pop-science. It got the thumbs up
from The New York Times, Wired and even
Oprah. It also put Christakis on the map as
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How We Affect
Each Other
continued from page 16
an influencer himself; in 2009, he appeared
on Time magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the world, and Foreign Policy
magazine named him to its list of top 100
global thinkers in 2009 and 2010.
Today, Christakis is also a bestselling author and a renowned speaker who has given
talks all over the world, including at TED
conferences. And if people are fascinated by
what he has found, then the business world
is doubly fascinated. After all, the implications for organizations are astounding: By
applying what Christakis has uncovered
about the mechanics of social networks,
organizations could gain useful—and profitable—insights into the behavior of their
employees, customers and partners.
Christakis, with three colleagues,
founded Activate Networks, a company
that aims to help organizations harness the
power of social networks by mapping those
networks. Imagine that a company is getting
dinged for workplace safety violations; if
it can determine who the main influencers are, getting those few people to adopt
certain safety practices can cause those
practices to spread throughout the plant
like fire. Smoking cessation programs could
work the same way.
Such knowledge could also help meeting
and event professionals increase their revenue. In the past, Christakis says, companies
thought the most valuable customer was
the one who bought the most. But imagine
another customer who doesn’t buy much
product but whose opinion can cause others
to buy lots of product or take their business
elsewhere.
“The second customer is more valuable,
but you have no way of knowing that unless
you map the network of interaction,” he
says.
Despite all of the fascinating implications of Christakis’ research, he seems
content to let others apply them. His main
love, he says, is working in the lab, with its
potential for thrilling discovery. He also
loves talking about his research, which he
gets to regularly as a professor at Harvard,
where his “Sociology 190: Life and Death in
the U.S.A.” is consistently popular.
So how does he view the rise of the virtual
social network in light of his research on inperson relationships? You might expect him
to decry the degradation of the face-to-face
network, but he doesn’t. In fact, he seems to
view online networks entirely without judgment or even a hint of naysaying.
“These types of modern communication technologies, including online social
networks, are grafted onto a very ancient
apparatus,” he says. “It’s not the technology
that structures our social interactions.”
Ask your grandmother how many
friends she had when she was 10 years old,
he suggests. She’ll probably say she had one
or two best friends, plus a group of four or
five girls who spent time together. Now ask
Christakis’ 10-year-old daughter and she’ll
give the same response, he says, despite
having an iPhone in her pocket. Sure, the
technology is new, but it hasn’t changed the
fundamental nature of the network.
What may change, though, is the way
we view our own social networks and our
place within them. That could be largely
due to Christakis’ groundbreaking research
that helps us understand the tiny plays we
act out daily and how they intimately affect
people we may never even meet. It’s already
happening for Christakis, and he need look
no further than his own life, where he now
has a bit more incentive to behave altruistically. If he does, it may benefit his friends,
his friends’ friends and those people’s
friends—and on and on and on as the effect
ripples throughout all of those networks.
“It’s reinforcing. It’s like when you take
a positive step in your life, it has all these
additional benefits, so it kind of makes it a
little bit better,” he says. “I’m aware of the
fact that if I eat too much, it affects others.
Or if I’m happy, it affects others. Or if I’m
kind to others, it affects others. This is a
basic, almost trivial observation, but I kind
of feel it much more now than I ever did.”
TARA SWORDS specializes in business, technology and travel topics. She profiled Global
Giving’s Mari Kuraishi in the July 2010 One+.
18 ONE+ ONSITE
World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
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Tuesday Education
Sessions
10:30 - 11:45 a.m.
Championing Adaptability in International Settings
Room 263
This session will provide attendees with
knowledge and tools to navigate the international waters of meetings and events. The
presenters will examine various regions of
the world to discuss and demonstrate proper
business protocols for each, from attire to
greetings and common areas of miscommu-
nication. The session will also delve into what
it takes to implement and execute a successful
event overseas.
Speaker: Agnès Canonica, MD Events
Do It Right and Avoid a Dispute!
Contracting Essentials for Independent Planners
Room 224
Moderated by an industry attorney, the
session will address the basics of agency
contractual arrangements, the relative respon-
sibilities of the parties, specific elements of
liability shifting, reimbursement of expenses,
confidentiality, working relationships relative
to other client vendors (including the impact
of service levels and each party’s respective
duties) and the fallout from a breach.
Speaker: Kelly Bagnall, Dykema Gossett PLLC
meetings and events. This presentation will
provide a comprehensive evaluation of how
government mandates are affecting the
meeting industry and how the industry can
prepare for changes to come.
Speaker: Katie Herritage, AWS
Get Ready: Government Mandates
Are Changing the Industry
Room 260
As a result of the nation’s heightened focus on
fiscal responsibility, U.S. federal government
agencies are being required under presidential and congressional mandates to better
manage and control the costs of conferences,
Live the Dream: Creative DecisionMaking for Association Planners
Room 123
This session offers ideas on changing the
creative, decision-making processes behind
the planning of a meeting or event, focusing
on the best ideas with the right balance of
risk and value to achieve the goals set forth.
Get ready to roll up your sleeves, challenge your most basic assumptions about
problem-solving and decision-making, work
creatively through common scenarios and
share your results with industry peers and
colleagues.
Speaker: TJ Johnson, International Legal
Technology Association
Making Sense of the Madness:
How to Harness the Hotel RFP
Process
Room 225
This session will explore ways to move
the supplier’s eRFP response to the top of
the pile and provide insights into clients’
key concerns and criteria when evaluating eRFP responses. It will explore ways in
which customers can manage lead communication to ensure high-quality, top-priority handling on the part of suppliers.
Speaker: Julie Hills, Doubletree Chicago Oak
Brook
Pursuing the New Careerscape
with Purpose
Room 261
Interact with David Rich and panelists
from Tuesday’s general session to hear the
real-life stories of transitioning into event
marketing in more detail than were explored in the general session. The session
panelists will offer an inside view into how
they acquired the skills they use now and
how they have affected their own career
transitions. This unique education track is
for senior planners and exclusive to WEC
and is only open to the first 150 registrants.
Speaker: David Rich, George P. Johnson
Company
Put a Ring on It: Dating Advice for
Associations
Room 122
This session walks attendees through the
do’s and don’ts of dating for associations
and is all about “Creating the New Connectivity” in a way you weren’t expecting, and
the lesson is obvious: When dating goes
well for your volunteers and association
members, putting a ring on it can’t be far
behind!
Speaker: Mariela McIlwraith, Meeting
Change
Shifting Gears: How to Move from
Logistic to Strategic
Room 240
In the next evolution in your role as a
meeting professional, you must develop
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World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
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Tuesday Education
Sessions
continued from page 20
new skills such as the ability to analyze data,
secure/manage stakeholders and incorporate business objectives into your events. In
this session learn from colleagues that have
advanced their roles beyond logistics and
initiated strategic meeting planning into
their organizations.
Speaker: Karen King, Meeting Strategists
LLC
2 - 3:15 p.m.
Around the World in 75 Minutes:
Successfully Navigating the International Meeting Landscape
Room 263
This presentation will feature an informative
and engaging discussion on the topic with
subject matter experts from various regions
of the world, who will provide insight and
practical knowledge in working with multina-
tional programs. It’s all about “Creating the
New Connectivity”—with a global perspective in the context of planning and managing
international meetings and events.
Speaker: Eric Rozenberg, Swantegy
Hotel Contracts Boot Camp!: Legal
Tips & Practical Guidelines for
Meeting Professionals
Room 240
This session is primarily for meeting planners, novices as well as established professionals, who need to know how to deal with
contractual risks in light of today’s economic
turmoil. It will cover strategic negotiating
skills and contract tips that every meeting
professional must understand to navigate the
rapids in today’s challenging business environment. Hoteliers are welcome.
Speaker: John Foster
Pharmaceutical Meeting Planning 101
Room 260
Pharmaceutical meetings are highly regulated,
so whether you are new to the planning side
or the supplier side of this complex industry,
this introductory session is a must for you. This
session will connect planners and suppliers and
give insights into how to successfully navigate
the unique world of pharmaceutical meeting
planning.
Speaker: Judy Johnson, Rx Worldwide Meetings
Inc.
Say It So It Matters: Speaking with
Purpose, Pretense and Passion
Room 224
This session is designed to provide the attendee
with a compelling and personal approach to
creating high-impact conversations that engage
stakeholders to do something. The session goes
beyond traditional speaking courses that focus
on technical style and presents a more organic
approach to the art of delivering meaningful
information to an individual or group in a professional setting.
Speaker: Mike Malinchok, S2K Performance
Coaching LLC
Scaled-Up Business: Monetizing the
Digital Extension of Face-to-Face
Events
Room 123
A digital extension can be a great way to expand the reach of your physical event. But are
you getting the revenue that you should from
this element of your association’s portfolio?
Join a pioneer in the digital extension of meetings and events as he discusses best practices
for covering the costs of digitally extending
an event and methods for building significant
profit over time.
Speaker: Tony Lorenz, bXb Online
Supplier Stuff: Things That Every Supplier Should Know
Room 225
Specifically designed for and limited to industry
suppliers and moderated by an attorney who
works strictly with suppliers, this session will
explore, in an interactive environment, a variety
of “hot” issues and concerns currently impacting suppliers, including trends, changing laws,
contracting issues and the consideration given to
special events.
Speaker: Kelly Bagnall, Dykema Gossett PLLC
Trends in Event Marketing
Room 261
The presenter, an expert in the trends shaping
the meeting and event industry, will share key
findings of current research on the subject. Attendees will receive a complimentary copy of the
40-page Event-Track 2012 report, a research project sponsored by the Event Marketing Institute
and Mosaic. This unique education track is for
senior planners and exclusive to WEC and is
only open to the first 150 registrants.
Speakers: Kerry Smith, Red 7 Media LLC/Best
Events
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World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
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Tuesday Education
Sessions
continued from page 22
only open to the first 150 registrants.
Speakers: John Nickel and Annie Castellano,
both from Switch-Liberate Your Brand
3:45 - 5 p.m.
Event Marketing Case Studies
Room 261
Get an in-depth look at creative and impactful event marketing programs from the
people who created them. Attendees will hear
about the strategies used by the experts, the
tactics they employed and the results they
achieved. This unique education track is for
senior planners and exclusive to WEC and is
Global Healthcare Regulations
and Their Impact on Meetings and
Events
Room 260
This session will provide a valuable overview of the healthcare industry’s regulatory
landscape and what it means to suppliers
and planners managing highly scrutinized
programs. Tips and tricks for working within
tight timelines and ever-changing international laws and best practices for proactively and successfully driving compliance at
meetings will be featured components of the
session.
Speaker: Lisa Keilty, The Keilty Group
divided into distinct learning segments in
which attendees will experience four different
delivery methods that can be used to transform a mere lecture hall into a vital learning
environment.
Speaker: Margaret Miller, Experient
Inside the “Shark Tank”: Diverse
and Dynamic
Room 123
This “Shark Tank” session format will be
Navigating International Cs: Understanding Contracts, Currency and
Customs
Room 263
Planning and staging global meetings outside
the United States is fraught with legal and
financial pitfalls. This session is for novice and
intermediate level planners who plan meetings in North America, Europe and Asia. This
session is interactive and individual challenges
faced by attendees will be discussed.
Speaker: John Foster
Power in Numbers
Room 224
Hear from small business owners/independent planners who have built their networks
by sharing resources, ideas, clients and leads.
They will present their approach to and methods of working more collaboratively and less
competitively—so that everyone wins.
Speaker: Karen King, Meeting Strategists
LLC
Strategic Meetings Management
(SMM): Working from the Supplier’s
Side of the Equation
Room 225
This session will give hotel sales managers an
overview of SMM, its potential benefits and
downsides and information on how to better
manage requests and relationships in an SMM
environment.
Speaker: Lindsay Seth, MCI
You’ve Collected Your Data…Now
What?
Room 240
This session will examine how to approach
data collection, how to analyze it for developing recommendations for the enterprise and
how to measure success. Business cases from
best-in-class organizations will further demonstrate the development of a storyline prior
to collecting information, data governance
methods, how to measure success in relation
to the storyline and the validation of findings.
Speakers: Jill Reyes, Maritz Travel-Philadelphia;
and Christian Savelli, Maxvantage
SEE YOU IN VEGAS FOR
WEC 2013!
2013
World Education Congress
July 20–23 • Mandalay Bay • Las Vegas
REGISTER NOW AT
WWW.MPIWEB.ORG
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World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
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Tall Tales
More than 24,000 children and adults attend
the St. Louis Storytelling Festival, a four-day
event featuring more than 50 local and
regional storytellers and 140 sessions.
By Kimberly King
WHEN WE REMEMBER CHILDHOOD, WE REMEMBER STORY TIME. The tellers were shadow puppet parents or ventriloquist librarians
or campfire friends. Their tales were Mother
Goose or Brothers Grimm or something made
up on the spot.
“If you were me,” wrote author Ben Marcus
in his introduction to the Anchor Book of New
American Short Stories, “you pretended to be
asleep when story hour ended. You faked sleep
not because you particularly cared for being
carried upstairs and tucked into bed. Being
carried can hurt…a bigger person’s bones
grinding into your own. No, faking sleep after
a story ended was the only way to have private
time, an afterlude of silence so the story could
bloom inside you.”
It is my father’s fault that I conflate events
from my childhood with The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer. Unlike Mark Twain’s hero, I was
neither precocious nor whip smart. I never
bribed my way out of whitewashing a fence,
never let a pinch bug loose during church or
feigned a “mortified toe” to get out of going
to school. I was the nervous kid who silently
vomited into the sleeve of her sweater during
a spelling bee. I was quiet and polite and so
shy I once sat in a hair salon with blood pooling at my clavicle, too timid to tell the stylist
she had nicked my ear. But in the summer
before third grade—before I chained my bike
to a bush and it got stolen, before I got stuck
in a Hello Kitty turtleneck and my mom had
to cut me out—I remember being Tom Sawyer. Maybe it’s because I asked my dad to read
the same chapters over and over, or because
I often fell asleep to his voice and dreamed
vivid Twain dreams, but Sawyer’s childhood
adventures—searching for buried treasure,
hiding in caves—are as real as anything else I
can recall from that time in my life.
“When I was younger,” Twain once said,
“I could remember anything, whether it had
happened or not; but my faculties are decaying
now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember
any but the things that never happened.”
Our favorite stories, like our favorite
memories, stay with us forever; they embed
themselves into our personal narrative.
“Storytelling makes works of art come
alive,” said storytelling artist Sue Hinkel. “Using the spoken word motivates and inspires
young imaginations and creates a visual image
for them. Many stories also teach life lessons
to both the young and old, in an exciting
and entertaining way that all can recall and
remember.”
For the past 32 years, Hinkel has been
involved with the St. Louis Storytelling
Festival, a four-day, early May event featuring
more than 50 local and regional storytellers.
Coordinated by the division of Continuing
Education and the College of Fine Arts &
Communication at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the festival is free to the public
26 ONE+ ONSITE
and draws children and adults.
“Adults love recalling the stories from
their youth and creating tales for the future,”
Hinkel said. “They have joy in researching
and discovering family narratives that can be
saved and shared for future generations. I still
remember the family stories my grandmother
told. My husband has also shared his family
stories with me and I enjoy relating to parts of
his childhood. Fairy tales, folk tales and true
historical figures and events are foremost in my
repertoire.”
The event’s Executive Director Rebecca
Walstrom has fond childhood memories of
story time as well.
“When I was little, I remember the stories
from Little Golden Books,” Walstrom said.
“Of course, I read them over and over. Hearing a really good story from a really good
storyteller is just about the best experience a
person can have.”
Walstrom became involved with the festival
in 1990 after taking a position as senior coordinator of continuing education at the university.
“My first true experience with performed
storytelling was during that first festival,” she
said. “It was such an incredible moment, and
I knew I would always love storytelling, and it
would continue to be a part of my life.
“Storytelling is an excellent way to teach
history, science, character and moral education,” Walstrom continued. “Many times,
children are learning without ‘knowing’ they
are learning.”
The educational benefits of reading aloud
have been well documented: Listening hones
children’s speaking skills while the performance aspect of storytelling exposes them
to the world of literature in a palatable way.
Becoming familiar with oral language patterns also aids in later comprehension of the
written word.
The National Council of Teachers of English
(NCTE) concurs. Their Position Statement
from the Committee on Storytelling states,
“[Children] who regularly hear stories subconsciously acquire familiarity with narrative
patterns and begin to predict upcoming events.
Both beginning and experienced readers call
on their understanding of patterns as they
tackle unfamiliar texts.”
Storytelling offers a positive slant even for
students with learning challenges.
“Children at any level of schooling who do
not feel as competent as their peers in reading
or writing are often masterful at storytelling,”
the NCTE said. “The comfort zone of the oral
tale can be the path by which they reach the
written one.”
The science behind the love of a well-told
story is just beginning to unfold. A 2010 study
at Princeton University showed brain scan
evidence that when one person tells a story and
another listens, their brains begin to synchronize. The act of listening to a narrative creates
World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
an unconscious physical alignment between
the storyteller and the audience: their brains
link up, showing similar patterns of activation.
As subjects in the study listened to a story,
scans showed that their brain patterns tracked
those of the storyteller almost exactly.
“We found that the participants’ brains
became intimately coupled during the course
of the ‘conversation,’ with the responses in
the listener’s brain mirroring those in the
speaker’s,” said Uri Hasson, assistant professor
of psychology at the Princeton Neuroscience
Institute.
This overlap of activity is something many
people have felt in social situations—that
sensation of “clicking” with a person. Mirrored
brain activity didn’t occur when the stories
were told in Russian, a language unintelligible
to the listeners.
“The more similar our brain patterns during
a conversation, the better we understand each
other,” Hasson said.
It’s no surprise that reading Twain brought
my father and I incredibly close on those story
nights. Science is revealing what caretakers
have known all along: Storytelling creates
strong bonds between participants.
“Adults connect with the story or storyteller on different levels [than children],”
Walstrom said. “They remember or were
there when many historical events took place.
Stories may trigger something from their personal or family history. We always encourage
adults to share their personal or family stories
with their children and grandchildren. Family
stories become lost so quickly, and they are so
important in understanding who we are and
where we came from.”
More than 24,000 children and adults attend the festival’s 140 sessions each year. And
executing an event of this magnitude is not
without its obstacles.
“Funding the festival is always a huge challenge,” Walstrom said. “Since the beginning
the festival has been a free event, so we rely on
gifts and grants to fund all programming. Also,
transportation for the schools has become
a major challenge. With budget issues, field
trips have been cut or minimized. Although
the festival is free, schools still need to provide
transportation to the sites.”
Events are hosted at a variety of locations,
including public libraries, parks and museums.
Curating the event is also a time-consuming
process.
“As the director, I am always searching
for the right storytellers for our community,”
Walstom said.
This year’s festival features stories told by
Noah D. Buchholz, a deaf performing artist.
His performances include deaf cultural folktales, original fiction stories and poems, improv, stand-up comedy and some works that
are translated from English into American
Sign Language. Another storytelling artist,
Dovie Thomason, is recognized internationally for her ability to tell the stories of her
Kiowa Apache and Lakota Native American
relatives.
“Our festival is very diverse in both storytellers and audience, so it is critical that I
find the perfect storytellers that blend with St.
Louis’ rich heritage,” Walstrom said.
In another Twain classic my father read to
me, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck
and Jim are on their fifth night floating downriver when they first catch sight of the fabled
city of St. Louis.
“It was like the whole world lit up,” said
Huck of the big city lights.
This year’s festival, as always, strives to
light up the world of storytelling, reading
and literacy for children, Walstrom says.
“I hope that what we do here at the St.
Louis Storytelling Festival is give the audience the best of the best and an opportunity
to experience storytelling at its finest,” she
said. “A story can make you laugh and cry,
feel anger and pain, joy and love, and hopefully, leave you begging for just one more
really good story!”
KIMBERLY KING is a New York-based freelance writer who frequently contributes to One+.
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All photographs by Orange Photography
World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
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All photographs by Orange Photography
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World Education Congress 2012 • Tuesday, July 31
Silent Auction Ends Today at 3 p.m.
The MPI Foundation Silent Auction, brought to you by Swank Audio Visuals, comes with an escape clause: if
you happen to win, you escape. Today is your last chance to stop by the Level 2 Plaza Atrium to bid on these
exciting luxury escape packages.
Fort Worth CVB NASCAR
Win two VIP suite seats in the Speedway Club for the AA Texas 500
on Saturday, November 3, 2012, at the Texas Motor Speedway. Food
and beverage is included in the suite. The package also includes a
two-night stay at a Fort Worth hotel and a dinner for two in Sundance
Square (excluding alcohol).
AIBTM
Winner of this package receives admittance to the 2013 conference in
June, including a two-night stay in Chicago. There will also be transportation to and from McCormack Place and events. The package also
includes VIP networking and a CEU-accredited education program.
The package is for meeting planners only.
The following packages/auction items are sponsored by
Benchmark Hospitality International:
The Chattanoogan
Win a two-night stay for two in the Mountain View Suite. This also
includes a farm-to-table tasting menu dinner for two on your night of
choice in the Broad Street Grille. Also included is a breakfast buffet for
two each morning at Broad Street Grille, two VIP tickets to the Tennessee Aquarium & IMAX Theatre and two, 50-minute flowing river
massages at The Spa at The Chattanoogan.
Hotel Granduca
Win a weekend stay at the luxurious Granduca Suite that includes
breakfast daily and dinner for two at Ristorante Cavour.
The Inn at Virginia Tech
Win two football tickets for either a Virginia Tech home game
against Duke (Oct. 12) or rival Virginia (Nov. 24), which includes a tailgate basket featuring a two-night stay at The Inn at
Virginia and Skeleton Conference Center and breakfast for two
at Preston’s Restaurant. Winners will receive a basket of tailgate
food and beverage at the game.
Costa d’Este Beach Resort
Winner receives a three-day, two-night stay for two at the Costa d’Este
Beach Resort in Vero Beach, Florida. Not valid for the month of
March.
Hotel Contessa
Winner receives a two-night stay in one of the luxurious suites at the
Hotel Contessa right on the famous San Antonio Riverwalk. The package also includes a $75 food and beverage credit.
One Bal Harbour
Winner receives a two-night stay in a one-bedroom suite at the
One Bal Harbour in Miami, Florida. The package includes welcome
amenity, daily buffet breakfast for two and dinner at Mister Collins,
signature massage in The Spa for one, round-trip airport transportation and complimentary transportation to the hotel.
El Dorado
Winner receives a two-night stay at the El Dorado in Santa Fe, New
Mexico. The package includes a traveler’s guidebook, breakfast for two
each day, dinner for two at Old House and one spa treatment for two.
Cheyenne Mountain Resort
Winner receives a deluxe room for two nights at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Included in the package are
a golf getaway with one round of golf for two with cart on The Country
Club of Colorado’s Pete Dye-designed championship golf course and
breakfast daily in the Mountain View Restaurant.
Chaminade
Winner receives a two-night stay in a guest suite at the Chaminade
Resort & Spa in Santa Cruz, California. The package includes dinner
for two in Linwood’s Bar & Grille each day, breakfast for two each day
in the Sunset Restaurant and a special welcome amenity.
Scottsdale Resort & Conference Center
Winner receives a two-night weekend stay at the Scottsdale Resort &
Conference Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. The package includes Sun-
day brunch for two and ground transportation to and from Sky Harbor
Airport.
The Sorrento Hotel
Winner receives a two-night stay at The Sorrento Hotel in Seattle, Washington. Package includes a welcome amenity, breakfast for two each day,
dinner for two in the Hunt Club, round-trip airport transfer and tickets
for two to the Space Needle.
Marenas Beach Resort & Spa
Winner receives a two-night stay in the Sunny Isles suite in Marenas
Beach Resort & Spa in North Miami Beach, Florida. The package includes breakfast for two each day and dinner for two for one night.
Willows Lodge
Winner receives a two-night accommodation for two in the luxurious
Northwestern style room at the Willows Lodge in Woodinville, Washington. The package includes breakfast for two each morning, wine touring
on the Woodinville Wine Shuttle, dinner for two in the Barking Frog and
a signed bottle of wine.
Eaglewood Resort
Winner receives a two-night weekend stay for two at Eaglewood Resort
in Chicago. The package includes breakfast buffet for two each morning,
a round of golf for two with cart and one night dinner in Prairie River for
two.
The Heldrich
Winner receives a two-night stay for two at The Heldrich in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The package includes a $300 food and beverage credit
to be used in Christopher’s Restaurant or in-room dining.
Villas of Grand Cypress Golf Resort
Winner receives a two-night, three-day stay for two in club suite accommodations at the Villas of Grand Cypress Golf Resort in Orlando. The
package includes 18 holes of golf for two on your choice of 45 holes of
Jack Nicklaus signature designed golf.
Sorrel River
Winner receives a two-night stay in a River View Deluxe suite at Sorrel
River in The Woodlands, Texas. The package includes a $250 food and
beverage farm-to-plate property dining credit, a horseback ride for
two, complimentary bicycle rentals for two, a two-hour Hummer safari
adventure for two from the ranch’s “Adventure Cocierge,” a personalized
greenhouse and garden
tour, signature cocktails
for two, two fresh pressed
juices or smoothies from
the Ranch’s “Farm to Juice
Glass” juice program, a
“Bourbon Cowboy” couples
David Basler
massage in the Sorrel River
Editor in Chief
Spa and a locally inspired
Jeff Daigle,
welcome amenity.
Creative Director
Turtle Bay
Blair Potter,
Winner receives a threeManaging Editor
night, oceanfront deluxe
accommodation at Turtle
Jason Hensel
Bay in O’ahu, Hawaii. The
Multimedia Editor
package includes breakfast
Michael Pinchera,
for two at Palm Terrace
Editor, One+
Restaurant daily and two
rounds of golf at the Arnold
Jessie States
Palmer Championship Golf
Editor, Meeting Industry
Course.
Stephen Peters
Stonewall
Reporter
Winner receives a twonight stay at Stonewall
Photos by
in Roanoke, West VirOrange
ginia. The package includes
Photography
breakfast for two each day
and dinner for two each day
at Stillwaters Restaurant.
The One+
OnSite Staff
Thank You
WEC Sponsors!
Diamond
Delta Airlines
Freeman
Fusion Products
Platinum
Mexico Tourism Board
Gold
IMEX Group
Loews Hotels and Resorts
Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau
PSAV Presentation Services
The Venetian/The Palazzo
Silver
Great Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau
Hilton Worldwide
IBTM Global Events-Reed Travel Exhibitions
Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority
MGM Resorts International
NH Hotels International
Omni Hotels & Resorts
Ontario Tourism
QuickMobile
San Antonio CVB
St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
The Peabody Orlando
The Tourism Partnership of Niagara
Tourisme Montréal
Bronze
Branson Lakes Area Chamber/CVB
Caesars Entertainment
Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau
DüsseldorfCongress
Eventbrite
Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau
IML Worldwide
Meetings and Conventions Calgary
Orange Photography
pc/nametag inc
San Francisco Travel Association
Tourism Toronto
Visit Orlando
Visit Salt Lake
Walt Disney World Resort
Contributing
Associated Luxury Hotels International
BearCom Wireless Worldwide
Cancun CVB
Choose Chicago
Colorado Springs CVB
Convention News Television
Event Mobi
Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau
Galveston CVB
George Washington University
Getting More Inc.
Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau
Greensboro Area CVB
Hard Rock International
Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association
Meet Minneapolis
Metro Tucson CVB
Myrtle Beach CVB
Plano Convention and Visitors Bureau
Reno Tahoe USA
Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau
The Harry Walker Agency Inc.
The Lavin Agency
The Woodlands Resort & Conference Center
Visit Florida
Visit Savannah
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