Meetings & Conventions: Planner's Portfolio March 2001 March 2001 PLANNER'S PORTFOLIO: Back to Basics By Jeremy Weir Alderson AA’S MEETINGS MODEL: ALL SUBSTANCE With no glitz, Alcoholics Anonymous stages thousands of critical meetings every day There can be little doubt that America’s most successful meetings organization is Alcoholics Anonymous, which has been running multiple meetings in pretty much every town in the country since the 1930s. What can planners learn from ...
Meetings & Conventions: Planner's Portfolio February 2001 February 2001 PLANNER'S PORTFOLIO: Back to Basics By Martha Jo Dendinger, CMP MIAMI, MACON OR MELBOURNE? How to find a city that meets the meeting’s objectives, your budget and attendees’ tastes Selecting the destination to host a meeting can be daunting. Cities come in all shapes and sizes, and mixing and matching the meeting, budget, attendees, and sites to select the perfect location is as much an art as it is a ...
Meetings & Conventions: Planner's Portfolio January 2001 January 2001 PLANNER'S PORTFOLIO: Back to Basics By Oren Jaffe, CMP DO-IT-YOURSELF FIRE DRILL Don’t take their word for it: How to inspect a facility’s fire-code compliance When contracting to hold a meeting in a major hotel, many planners just assume the property’s fire-safety measures are up to snuff. But planners would be wise to check up on the hotel’s ability to prevent a disaster. Why? Here are a few ...
Meetings & Conventions: Planner's Portfolio December 2000 December 2000 PLANNER'S PORTFOLIO: Back to Basics By Bob Cherny INSPECTING MEETING ROOM WALLS To avoid unhappy technological surprises, you need to go behind the surface When inspecting a site, it's important to consider what's inside the walls. The makeup of airwalls and hard walls can significantly influence the functionality of the room. Utilities, including power, water and pressurized air, are frequently ...
Meetings & Conventions: Planner's Portfolio November 2000 November 2000 PLANNER'S PORTFOLIO: Back to Basics By Martha Jo Dendinger, CMP BUDGETING FOR A SPECIAL EVENT How to anticipate costs and keep spending from spinning out of control While some annual meetings can be planned almost by rote, there are always those curve balls — perhaps a celebratory gala or a fund-raiser for a local charity — where even the fundamental step of budgeting can be a challenge. The easy ...
Meetings & Conventions: Planner's Portfolio October 2000 October 2000 PLANNER'S PORTFOLIO: Back to Basics By Deborah Wilson KEEPING A/V COSTS IN CHECK The real reasons why the final bill rarely matches the proposal price Often, even after all the detailed planning of an event, the final audiovisual invoice does not match the price on the proposal. Planners look to A/V providers for equipment and expertise — and trust that the vendor will deliver the best service for a ...
Meetings & Conventions: Planner's Portfolio September 2000 September 2000 PLANNER'S PORTFOLIO: Back to Basics By Oren Jaffe, CMP EVALUATING HOTEL SECURITY How planners can put attendee and staff safety first during site inspections Earlier this year, NBC’s Dateline exposed some hotels’ poor safety policies. Among the incidents cited: security guards sleeping on the job, guest room doors without deadbolts or chains and front desk personnel issuing “lost” keys to ...
Meetings & Conventions: Planner's Portfolio August 2000 August 2000 PLANNER'S PORTFOLIO: Back to Basics By Martha Jo Dendinger, CMP DETERMINING A MEETING’S OBJECTIVES How to evaluate the purpose of an event well before the planning process begins Meeting managers encounter the following advice in almost every article, book and Web site about planning: “First, you have to know your meeting’s objectives.” All new planners should make that sentence their mantra, because ...
Meetings & Conventions: Planner's Portfolio July 2000 July 2000 PLANNER'S PORTFOLIO: Back to Basics By Martha Jo Dendinger, CMP SETTING SERVICE GUARANTEES How to ensure your meeting gets the attention it needs Meetings, as live events, are vulnerable to bad or inadequate service. But the definition of good service is elusive. A large group might require only a decent room rate, while attendees at a board of directors meeting might expect round-the-clock attention. A live ...
Meetings & Conventions: Planner's Portfolio June 2000 June 2000 PLANNER'S PORTFOLIO: Back to Basics By Martha Jo Dendinger, CMP HOW TO ORGANIZE A FOCUS GROUP The whys and wherefores of these research panels Most planners produce events to impart information. One meeting, however, is designed to do the opposite: gather information. Focus groups have become popular to help sponsors understand the nuances of everything from campaign messages to to product development. A focus ...
Meetings & Conventions: Planner's Portfolio May 2000 May 2000 PLANNER'S PORTFOLIO: Back to Basics By Martha Jo Dendinger, CMP IS FACE TIME ALWAYS TIME WELL SPENT? Choosing the best delivery method for your training program To meet or not to meet? That is the question asked by many managers today. Is it more effective, efficient or faster to fly everyone cross-country for three days? Would it be better to develop a Web site, video or manual to deliver the information or ...
Meetings & Conventions: Planner's Portfolio April 2000 April 2000 PLANNER'S PORTFOLIO: TECH FILES BY ELLIOTT MASIE DIGITALLY SURROUNDING A MEETING How to extend the length — and impact — of a meeting electronically Before the Internet, a three-day meeting lasted three days. Now, the life span of an event can be lengthened dramatically by harnessing the communicative and collaborative nature of the Web. By building a “digital surround” around the meeting, planners can ...