MeetingPower

Meetings & Conventions: Real-Life Reviews MeetingPower Current Issue
December 1997
MeetingPowerby PC/Nametag (608-231-6100)

This meeting management software organizes all event data, including hotel arrival dates, speaker information and membership data. Its strength, however, is its name-badge generation, which allows users to mix fonts and squeeze information onto one line.

Price: Single user, $299; multi-user, $539.

Additional system requirements: Hewlett-Packard LaserJet II or newer, or compatible printer; HP LaserJet IIP, III or newer to print table tents and signs; 2 MB of free printer RAM suggested.

Dawn Aspenson, manager of special events and sponsorship development, Wisconsin Department of Tourism, Madison, Wis., plans 15 meetings a year for 25 to 1,500 and has been using MeetingPower for three years.

How do you use MeetingPower?
I use it as a registration database for all the events, to produce name badges, table tents, any lists I need, and to keep track of incoming money. It's incredibly easy to use. It's also simple to teach someone else, which is great if you're not using the same people all the time to do the registration.

What is its greatest strength?
The flexibility of the database.

What is its greatest weakness?
It doesn't allow me to create letters. I like to take information from the database and drop it into a confirmation letter. It can be done, but not to the caliber I want. I take all the information out of the database and put it into a word-processing program.

Sally Weiss, CMP, meeting planner, Creative Conventions, Los Angeles, plans 10 meetings a year for an average of 300 and has been using MeetingPower for four years.

How do you use MeetingPower?
I use it mostly for name tags, registration and list generation. I do a lot of reports; I can pull a separate guest report or a tour report to see who's signed up. We also sort the list and print not only the badges but all the delegate lists. I have really good archival information at my fingertips.

What is its greatest strength?
The line squeeze for the name tags. If a name is really long, you can get it all on one line.

What is its greatest weakness?
In one of the utility functions, you can store databases, and I would keep a number of them active. Occasionally, it would scramble the databases; I lost a lot of data. Also, you can't really use it as a word processor, even though it says you can do confirmation letters on it. You can do it, but it's not easy.

How would you improve the software?
Right now, you have to exit Windows to run the software, so I would make it work through Windows. That way you could leave MeetingPower open all day.

Judy Bowser, executive director, American Society of Preventive Oncology, Madison, Wis. (608-263-6809), plans one annual convention for 250 people and has been using MeetingPower for four years.

How do you use MeetingPower?
I use it for the whole meeting -- for registration, for receipts, to track registration fees, to notify speakers of their schedules, to print name badges and mailing labels, and to put together our hard-copy directory. I also use a separate database for membership records.

What is its greatest strength?
Ease of use. I can put in whatever fields I need and easily pull information out.

How would you improve the software?
I'd add some more fonts.If it were linked to the e-mail system and you could click on an address and send information, that would be useful.