Face2Face

Time to RISE up

Sue Pelletier — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:47:51 +0000

I just got a note from MPI reminding me that there currently is an open call for nominations for the Recognizing Industry Success and Excellence (RISE) awards (you don’t have to be a MPI member to submit a nomination). There are six awards you can nominate an individual or a community for; nominees should have made “a significant contribution to the meetings and events industry through influence, innovation, and global reach.”

More particulars here.

Meeting managers feeling the pinch

Sue Pelletier — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:52:55 +0000

And pinching the pennies harder than ever, according to this writeup of a PKF report: Meeting Planners Struggle To Control Costs. While I don’t often toot our horn here, MeetingsNet does have a great collection of cost-saving tips and budget advice in our Cost Savings/Budgets Special Report. Here are two of my favorites (both were written before the current economic slump, but the ideas are evergreen):

125 Ways to Save on Meetings

99 ways to improve your meeting’s bottom line

Here’s an airline fee I hadn’t heard of before

Sue Pelletier — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:18:11 +0000

I’ve heard of — and sometimes paid — all kinds of airline fees, but paying $14 for the pleasure of buying a ticket over the phone or online? That’s a new one on me. And not a welcome one for someone who would have to make a two-hour round trip to buy one at the airport if I didn’t want to pay it. Which I’m almost ornery enough to do. Here’s hoping this is one idea that won’t catch on!

The conference is dead (long live the conference?)

Sue Pelletier — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:46:40 +0000

Interesting post over at Social Entrepreneurship called “The Conference Is Dead (…Does Anyone Care?),” by Nathaniel Whittemore. It’s not that I haven’t heard before (and probably said a few times) how people just aren’t willing to put up with the old plenary/breakouts/talking heads type of conferences — or at least they won’t be in a few years as they experience unconferences and other (to me) more engaging ways to interact with experts, peers, and information. But Nathaniel makes the argument well, and the comments really take the conversation to new and interesting places from the perspectives of attendees, presenters, and conference organizers. I’m tempted to chime in, but I can’t think of anything that hasn’t already been said, and really well, by the current crop of commenters. I particularly liked this one:

“Bad organizers organize bad events. Good organizers organize good events. If the streudel is no good, don’t blame all the streudels in the world. Blame the baker.”

And this in response:

“To continue the streudel analogy…it’s ultimately about whether the consumer will eat the streudel, regardless of the recipe. If the customer doesn’t want streudel, then the Baker’s got a bigger problem.”

Two ways to market hotels in a down economy

Sue Pelletier — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:48:02 +0000

It’s interesting to see the different ways hoteliers and their CVB (sorry, I mean DMO — having a hard time making the switch still) partners are marketing their wares in tight times.

On one end you have Northern Kentucky, which promotes the destination’s lack of glitz and glam with this tagline: “You won’t get the third degree when you choose Northern Kentucky.” On the other end is this Lauderdale Lux promotion of Greater Ft. Lauderdale’s high-end properties. Each is playing to its strengths, and both campaigns are pretty brilliant in their own ways.

(Thanks to Bill Geist’s Zeitgeist, where I found both links in separate posts.)

Mapping out an idea

Sue Pelletier — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:29:01 +0000

When in doubt, map it out? Hey, it worked for Matt Moore at actKM 2009, a knowledge management conference. After hitting the wall on a few other ideas on how to make his session more interactive, he says:

Then the thought struck me. Get the participants to draw maps. So that’s what I did. Six tables, six maps. In each case I asked them to map out knowledge management as an imaginary nation and then identify who else this nation might interact with (through trade, war or something else).

The results were really interesting, and made me wish that someone would do something like this for sessions I go to. Johnnie Moore, who I got the link to Matt’s post from, adds,

I have sometimes found getting people to express their ideas through a medium or metaphor seems to unleash more refreshing, often less refined/polite ideas and observations. It’s as if it bypasses some of our defenses against stepping into riskier territory.

And then goes on to tell what happened when he used a similar technique for a meeting he was facilitating. It’s fascinating.

Vampires and blood banks: Only in NOLA

Sue Pelletier — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:32:46 +0000

You have to love New Orleans — where else would you expect to find a confluence of blood transfusion and cellular therapy professionals and vampire enthusiasts, just in time for Halloween? According to a press release, that’s what’s happening right as the 2009 American Association of Blood Banks Annual Meeting TXPO arrives in town at the same time as the 2009 Vampire Film Festival. Though it doesn’t sound like the two groups will be hanging out together much, you have to like this quote:

“‘This weekend New Orleans wants your blood!” said Vampire Film Festival director Asif Ahmed, ‘We are thrilled to be in America’s most gothic city here along with AABB. Our vampire filmmakers are arriving from around the world and are already intrigued with the many charms and haunts of this city. Remember once you invite a vampire in, it’s hard to get us to leave!’”

Preparing for an economic rebound

Sue Pelletier — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:17:19 +0000

We’ve gotten all too good at renegotiating room blocks downward as the economic crisis worsened over the past year, but are you ready for a rebound? Mike McCurry has a great post about managing room blocks when and if the economy unexpectedly rebounds higher than you anticipated. Don’t miss his three suggestions on hedging your room block bets.

Now let’s all just hope that this becomes a problem…

Time zone confusion

Sue Pelletier — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:16:33 +0000

I was baffled during my recent trip to Australia by the hour-and-a-half time zone change between Sydney and Uluru — why the half hour? I asked a few people, but I guess it’s just one of those things people don’t think about; it just is. So I asked around here, and someone told me that the only reason we have one-hour increments in the U.S. time zones was to limit confusion on our intercontinental railway system. According to Wikipedia, this is in fact the case. Still, I’ve never encountered a half-hour change before, and am wondering if this is common and I just haven’t gotten around enough?

The answer (from Wikipedia):

“Today, all nations use standard time zones for secular purposes, but they do not all apply the concept as originally conceived. Newfoundland, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Burma, the Marquesas, as well as parts of Australia use half-hour deviations from standard time, and some nations, such as Nepal, and some provinces, such as the Chatham Islands, use quarter-hour deviations. Some countries, most notably China, use a single time zone, even though the extent of their territory far exceeds 15° of longitude. Before 1949 China used five time zones (see Time in China).”

So, that’s my new thing learned for the day!

Corporate events survey results

Sue Pelletier — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:54:08 +0000

The results are in from the latest Special Events survey:

Corporate business events will recover in 2009: 17 percent
Corporate business events will recover in 2010: 32 percent
No change expected: 20 percent
It’s only going to get worse: 15 percent

Based on nothing but reading the paper and gut instincts, I’m with the 32 percent who expect to see the events picture brighten next year, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking.