For those who lament the fact that the
impossibly informative pages of M&C arrive but once a month,
industry experts have been pounding away at their keyboards to make
sure such planners are never without reading material.
Books on meeting planning are as varied
as the gatherings they describe. The Event Marketing
Handbook (Dearborn Trade Publishing), by event marketing
consultant Allison Saget, is of the pep-talk variety. Writing for
newbie planners or those just stuck in a rut, Saget sets out to
inspire better events by sheer willpower: “Never say, ‘shoulda,
coulda, woulda.’ You’ve got to just do.” Drawing on her
experience working for clients such as Oracle and SAP, Saget
touches on everything from how to target the right audience and win
sponsorships to measuring event effectiveness, with the central
goal of getting planners organized.
In Seven Rules for Designing More
Innovative Conferences (www.wowgreatidea.com), author Ed Bernacki
offers focused insights about why only a minority of attendees
apply what they learn at conferences to their jobs, and how to
reverse the trend. His case studies and simple layout make this a
quick and informative read.
And then there’s Meeting
Registration A-L M-Z (www.pcnametag.com), by pc/nametag founder Nick
Topitzes and writer Lori O’Konek, which is all about the
nitty-gritty. With text, photos, charts, graphics and sample forms,
Topitzes explains everything you ever wanted to know about such
things as optimal font sizes for name tags and “the type, the tip,
the body, the clip, the finish, the colors and the capacity for
branding” of the best writing-tool giveaways.