By Libby Hoppe

Planning and executing an event is difficult; planning and executing an event while short-staffed is almost impossible. Associations and organizations are constantly watching every dollar that comes in and every dollar that goes out. Few have the funds to employ enough full-time staff members to execute large-scale meetings and events. As a result, they rely on volunteers to pick up where labor drops off, but using
volunteers isn’t always easy.

The good news is that the number of volunteers in the country is growing. Last year, the number jumped by 1.6 million, the largest increase since 2003, according to a report by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). The total number of people who volunteered their time with a formal organization rang in at 63.4 million, amounting to an estimated $169 billion worth of labor.

“Americans have responded to tough economic times by volunteering in big numbers,” says Patrick Corvington, CEO of CNCS, which conducted the survey in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Religious organizations attract the highest percentage of the nation’s volunteers at 34 percent, followed closely by educational and youth events.

Many associations and organizations rely on volunteers throughout the year, but they become especially important during meetings and conferences. Event planners and organizers who call on volunteers have to do three things to make it a successful venture: find volunteers, learn how to use them properly and reward them for their efforts.

FINDING VOLUNTEERS

For some planners, finding volunteers — reliable ones — can be the hardest part. The first place to look for volunteers is within an organization. Will Engle joined the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) as the director of external operations three years ago, taking on the responsibility of planning the association’s annual convention. Part of his job includes assembling a team of 12 volunteers who travel to the conference destination to help for the four-day event. What he found is that some people within the AVCA are happy to help out at a conference, which they would have attended anyway. “Some wouldn’t be able to afford coming if we didn’t pay for them to come,” says Engle. “They get to see friends [and] go to educational sessions. If they’re not on duty, we let them be a part of it.”

The AVCA event is now in its 30th year, and Engle knows that though he’s best suited to handle site selection, contracts and hotel arrangements, some of the volunteers who tag along provide useful feedback. “When I came on, I looked to them for advice,” he says. “This is their community, these are their people. They’re going to understand the community better than I am.”

Not all planners have a crop of volunteers ready to pack up and hit the road for an event, so the next best place to turn is to members of the community in which the event will take place. “If you’re using volunteers for the first time, try to find people within your market segment,” says Engle. “For us it’s volleyball coaches, but just find people who know your organization.

“Once you have those types of folks, don’t be afraid to ask for their help and their opinions. They’re on the pulse of what these folks are doing on a daily basis.”

Another resource to use for volunteers is the destination itself. The Virginia Beach CVB, for example, has a volunteer program in place that helps recruit volunteers for planners and gives Virginia Beach residents the opportunity to reach out to the CVB if they want to help. When the American Bus Association came to Virginia Beach in 2008, the CVB assembled a team of 800 volunteers. “We’re very hands on. We want to go out and put the message out in the community,” says Al Hutchinson, vice president of convention sales and marketing at the CVB.

For the ABA convention, the CVB staff put the word out to local businesses and printed calls for help in the city publication. “All that was coordinated by our convention services team and staff at the CVB. We have a good system, a model in place,” says Hutchinson. The local airport has also jumped on the volunteer bandwagon and has a staff to offer refreshments and transportation to groups when they arrive.

A simple yet effective way to find volunteers is to ask around. Ask other planners. Ask friends. Ask previous volunteers. “We use current volunteers to recruit volunteers,” says Denise McGinn, CAE, president of Association Guidance. McGinn organizes about 10 events each year that utilize volunteers, including a spring conference with more than 160 volunteers. “We find peer to peer works best. When someone sees that someone else in their industry is willing to donate their time to the event, it makes it easy for them to do it as well.”

Jo Angela Maniaci agrees. “Once you recruit one volunteer, they will recruit at least one other person to join them,” says Maniaci, CMP. “This guarantees they will know at least one other person for the day, since we all have some trepidation about showing up for a new task at a new location and not being sure you know anyone.” Maniaci is the owner of Special Events Planning based in St. Paul, Minn. She organizes mostly nonprofit and government events, so she’s always recruiting volunteers based on limited event budgets. The ask-around strategy is an important one for her. “Another source is tapping the board members of an organization for ideas [and] leads,” she says. For example, she planned the Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk and recruited a Boy Scout troop, corporate community involvement employee groups, a high school Key Club and church groups to help out. “One of the best parts of working in the nonprofit world is that there is rarely a shortage of a volunteer base from which to draw,” she says.

Pat Ahaesy, CMP, CSEP, of P&V Enterprises, believes in volunteer retention. “There are people who have volunteered for me before and if there are ones I like, I’ll ask them again,” she says. Still, that’s not enough to fill the roster for many of the events she plans, so she taps into the local college market in New York City, recruiting students who study event planning, marketing and communications, or students from fraternities and sororities who need to boost their volunteer hours. “They’re usually very eager,” she says.

USING VOLUNTEERS

After recruiting volunteers, the next step is knowing how to best use them. Responsibilities often include manning the registration table, introducing speakers, collecting evaluation data, selling merchandise and shuffling crowds from session to session.

“I will use volunteers for almost all parts of an event and try to meld the tasks needed with volunteer self-interest,” says Maniaci. She says it’s important to give a volunteer a task that they’re interested in if that option exists, but there are a few tasks that volunteers are usually always asked to help with. “Volunteers are particularly effective at the registration area,” she says, especially when they are members of the event’s organization. “From the attendee’s point of view, a warm hello called out by someone who knows your name sets the best tone possible to start the day’s activities.”

Depending on how much help is needed and the skill level of the volunteer, Denise McGinn has used volunteers for website updates, sponsorship sales, meal planning, proofing marketing materials and site selection. “The list goes on and on,” she says. But the relationship between the planner and the volunteer only works when there’s effective communication, she says.

“A detailed job description and timeline must be supplied to the volunteer, with a complete background of why the job needs to be done, how it is to be done, and what the expected outcome is,” says McGinn. My staff sometimes teases me that I write the instructions so that a monkey could do it. I find that even the most knowledgeable volunteer appreciates it, as they don’t feel like they have to make assumptions or second guess themselves.”

Volunteers are often asked to put in a lot of work, and Will Engle says he makes sure his helpers know this before they ever sign up to help. “This event is a 24-hour show; it’s not an 8-to-5 workday,” he says of the AVCA annual conference. “A lot of it is going to be unglamorous.” The first job his event volunteers take on is laying down full-size volleyball courts, snapping pieces of wood floor together for three hours. “They’ll sweat and we’ll wear them out … at the very beginning,” he says, “and it gets worse from there.” At the end of the day, says Engle, he needs volunteers who are willing to do those jobs, work together on a team, and realize that they’re working toward a bigger goal: putting on a successful conference.

While no particular person fits the perfect volunteer mold, planners still know what they want. “I’m looking for people who are outgoing [and] who speak well because they’re going to be speaking with VIP clients,” says Ahaesy. “I expect them to be responsible for what they do. On their part, they have to treat it like it’s a paying gig. On my part, I try to treat them with respect and show them how important they are. Having volunteers enables me to do my job better. They make everything happen.”

Of course, there are some things that will put volunteers on a planner’s do-not-use-ever-again list. “If somebody doesn’t show up, they’re scratched off my list forever,” says Ahaesy.

Maniaci says she trusts volunteers, but “I also fall back on my left-brain control tendency by supplying a list of dos and don’ts for acceptable activities at the registration area,” she says. The “don’ts” include no reading trashy novels, no knitting, no doing your nails, no putting on makeup  — all things that made the list after real-life experiences.

REWARDING VOLUNTEERS

Most planners agree that the positive experiences with volunteers far outnumber the no-show or bad-behavior episodes of a few events. And event volunteers deserve to be rewarded, even if they don’t expect it.

Pat Ahaesy often hands out gift cards to coffee shops or restaurants, and she always sends thank-you notes. More importantly, though, she makes it a goal to have conversations with the volunteers, explaining to them how their help contributed to the success of the larger event. “I tell them what they did and how important it was so they can use it for their résumés,” she says.

The résumé-boosting aspect of volunteering may be the most important reward for students volunteering their time. Will Engle understands this. In addition to bringing on a few people from the AVCA to work the annual conference, Engle also has a relationship with Jeff Meyer, a volleyball coach and leader of the sports management program at Wayne State College in Nebraska. “I contact Jeff every year and he brings a graduate assistant and a chaperone, and they bring four or five students to volunteer.” To get a spot on the volunteer list for the conference, the students submit résumés and cover letters to Engle and the AVCA staff who then select the best candidates. “It’s a great résumé builder,” says Engle. “In the last couple years, I’ve had three or four students then ask me to be a reference for them.” He gladly says yes.

Last year, AVCA volunteers received an all-expenses-paid trip to Tampa, Fla. This year, they’re headed to Kansas City, Miss. That’s quite a perk for cash-strapped college students — or anyone else, for that matter.

The cheapest and sometimes most meaningful reward is simply recognition for services. Maniaci includes acknowledgement of volunteers in event programs as well as from the stage, and she asks volunteers to stand and be recognized. McGinn agrees that sometimes a very simple gesture like that can mean a lot more than a gift card. I find people like the recognition they get if you put their name on the website, or in a newsletter, or even announce it at the event itself, she says. Be sure they are given credit. They will keep coming back if you do.

By Monica Compton

The grand exhibitor booths with heavily padded plush carpets are dwindling. The “what-do-I-do-with-this-now?” trade-show giveaways are disappearing. In their place are the tweets of targeted audiences and the faces of higher-level attendees. From social networking to creative cost-cutting measures, the result is a more strategic trade show where show organizers and exhibitors can see a greater return on investment despite a sluggish economy.

Economic Indicators

In 1960, McCormick Place opened in Chicago as the first purpose-built exhibition center, ushering in the trade-show industry. Since that time, there has been only one economic downturn in the industry: From 2001 to 2002, there were six consecutive quarters of negative decline in attendance numbers. But just two years later, the industry bounced back to its pre-2001 numbers. The annual nature of most shows and the fact that many are pre-booked years in advance create a longevity and bounce-back effect not found with traditional meetings.

“The trade show industry is resistant to decline and resilient to recovery,” says Doug Ducate, president and chief executive
officer of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research. “Annual events might hit the [sales] cycle just right and not experience a decline.”

Ducate says we are now experiencing eight consecutive quarters of downturn and it is likely the second quarter of 2010 will be the ninth quarter of decline. “While the declining show metrics have stabilized to some degree, there is little improvement,” Ducate says. “We really don’t expect to resume growth before 2012.”

Since trade shows mirror the industries they serve, Ducate believes you can monitor signs of recovery by looking at the success of shows in industries that were severely affected by the economic downturn. For example, the building and construction industries are a food chain for many products and shows in these sectors are precursors of what to expect in the trade-show industry in the coming year. “The building and construction shows did not reveal marked improvement,” Ducate says.  “The fact that their losses were less severe than 2009 provides little comfort.”

Lew Shomer, executive director of the Society of Independent Show Organizers, saw a 7 percent to 11 percent decrease in attendance in 2009, but is now seeing an increase between 5 percent and 20 percent in 2010. He believes the annual planning calendar for expositions can create a lag time in revealing economic impact. Since many of their shows are planned one-to-three years in advance, the industry will trail an upward or downward trend. “Revenues will be down in 2010, but up in 2011 based on what we are seeing in attendance increases,” Shomer says.

Doug Miller, partner and president of Urban Expositions, which produces gift shows across the country, says his company started feeling an economic impact during the summer of 2008 when booth sales and attendance were down by 10 percent. But from January through March of 2010, his company has produced six shows, each with an increase in attendance numbers. “There is a little more optimism out there and attitudes are much better than they were before,” Miller says.
“I still think the economy is rough, but I do see positive signs.”

Miller’s Las Vegas Souvenir and Resort Gift Show, an annual event that is national in scope for this industry, was up in booth sales by 65 percent in 2009 over 2008, and he’s sold 50 percent more space for the 2010 show than he did in 2009. “We actually had to stop selling space,” Miller says. “We want to make sure we have enough buyers [for all these exhibitors].”

Dan Strother, senior communications manager for Agilysys, has seen a significant decrease in attendance at the shows his company participates in, but the level of attendee has improved. “The positive side is we are seeing a higher executive level and a more highly-qualified attendee base,” Strother says.

A Strategic Trend

As trade-show organizers and exhibiting companies look to maximize value for their shows, strategic audience acquisition has become a focal point. It’s not enough just to fill the exposition hall with a large number of attendees; the presence of decision-makers is key. “We have to make sure we’re speaking to the right audience,” says David Ecton, director of marketing for Syscom Technologies. “The recruiting process has to be tight and specific.”

For Ecton, exhibiting at a boutique show appealing to his niche market produces the value for dollars spent. He calculates the number of attendees his staff can speak to in an hour and sees a greater return with smaller shows. “The bigger the trade show, the less of a return-on-investment we get,” says Ecton.

But it’s not just the level and number of attendees exhibitors weigh when they plan their annual show calendar. Companies review networking opportunities against travel and overall show expenses. “Exhibitors must identify the premier events in which to bring their products to market, including where they can see the most buyers, make the most connections and get the most value,” says Marian Bossard, vice president, meetings and events, Toy Industry Association (TIA). “Attendees, including retail buyers, are also being more selective in the trade shows they attend, including travel and time away from the office.”

Pre-scheduling appointments between buyers and suppliers is considered the best method of ensuring a targeted attendance. When trade shows are boiled down to buyer and supplier doing business, the need to book a big stand and spend money looking more attractive than those around you is eliminated.

Cost-saving Measures

There has been a metamorphosis since the days of mega booths, when more exposition real estate was equated with attracting more attendees and generating more leads. A table-top display can provide as much, if not more interaction with an attendee as a mammoth booth structure. By eliminating the cost and distraction of a flashy or gimmicky booth theme, exhibitors can draw serious buyers wanting more than the free giveaway.

Steven Hacker, CAE, president of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), sees exhibitors refurbishing existing booth properties and looking at cost-effective options for construction and shipping costs. “Many are refreshing exhibits used before in lieu of building new exhibits,” Hacker says. “Exhibitors are taking advantage of lighter-weight materials to construct exhibits, thus reducing shipping costs.”

Other companies are opting to rent some or all of their booth properties to save on storage costs. Elements that require a change from show to show like graphic walls can be rented to reduce design costs. “A growing number of exhibitors are getting much more for much less by leveraging strategic exhibit rentals,” says Dean Marks of The Taylor Group, a global event design company headquartered in Toronto. “Renting assets altogether or combining owned exhibits with temporary rentals is providing much more of the bang with much less of the cost.”

To assist companies in trimming their budgets, many show organizers are subsidizing exhibitor expenses.  From hotel discounts to packaging show services at a discounted rate, show producers are becoming creative in their value propositions. “Exhibition organizers are packaging more elements than ever before. Some are including material handling in their space rates,” Hacker says. “Others are allowing payments for exhibit space to be paid over time. There is a great deal of innovation taking place.”

The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) offered creative savings options for its annual meeting in Dallas in January. The association allowed members to pay for their registration fees with Starwood Award points instead of cash. And like IAEE, members were offered a payment plan and could split their registration fee payments over two years.

Urban Exposition’s Doug Miller has shifted his marketing dollars to complimentary programs that will help gift and resort show exhibitors cover costs. A certain level of exhibitor recommended by buyers can receive free hotel rooms, lunches or airfare. His “Hotel Buy-down” program reduces the rate of hotel rooms across the board for all exhibitors. Miller secures a block of rooms at a discounted group rate and further discounts the cost to his exhibitors, subsidizing the difference. Miller was able to secure a rate of $79 per night for exhibitors at his San Francisco International Gift Fair, a new show on his 2010 calendar. For the Las Vegas Souvenir and Resort Gift Show, he achieved an incredibly low rate of $15.99 per night at the recently renovated Tropicana hotel. “We’ve spend more money on advertising shows, but I think it’s paid off,” Miller says.

The Toy Industry Association assists its members by subsidizing 30 percent of advance warehouse and freight charges. To help exhibitors prepare for its 2010 Toy Fair, TIA also launched the “Customer Cost Review Process.” The association’s meetings and events team analyzed each exhibitor’s specifications from booth space and décor to manpower and travel costs. “Then we made recommendations as to where they could realize cost savings and greater efficiencies,” Bossard says. “To date, feedback from exhibitors who have taken advantage of this new service has been positive.”

Technological Trends

From social networking to going green, trade shows are elevating their efficiencies and marketing endeavors to meet industry trends and consumer demand. TIA has implemented a number of technologies in an effort to eliminate paper waste and become more environmentally sound.

In lieu of the traditional printed trade-show directory that guides attendees through the show, TIA installed electronic wayfinder kiosks, which help locate a particular exhibitor in the marketplace or in one of the show’s specialized product zones. TIA also uses a mobile technology called ChirpE that allows attendees to search for exhibitors and products and navigate the show floor on their personal digital assistants (PDAs).

“Traditional printed paper materials no longer provided a progressive or eco-friendly way to communicate,” Bossard says. “We are eager and excited to expose exhibitors and buyers to a more technologically rich Toy Fair experience.”

Shomer also sees an initiative to eliminate paper information through a snippet computer programming code sent through an attendee’s smart phones or mobile devices that accepts e-mail. Attendees are given a list of exhibitors with assigned catalog numbers. If they want more information from a specific company, they enter the catalog number into their smart phones and the exhibitor’s product information is sent to their computers at home. “It enables attendees not to be burdened with printed catalogues as they walk around the show floor,” Shomer says.

Strother’s company also supports the green environment philosophy by no longer shipping promotional/product brochures. Agilysys has developed an online system with an electronic library of the company’s collateral materials. “Attendees simply log into a computer terminal located within our trade-show booth and e-mail the literature of greatest interest to their needs,” he says.

The use of technology can also help reduce an exhibiting company’s onsite staff. Ducate has seen companies with Internet or instant message capabilities at their booths allowing a salesperson to chat real-time with their manufacturing plants.

“In the past a salesperson wouldn’t know the answer to a question and had to say ‘let me get your name and have someone contact you,’ which may nor may not happen,” Ducate says. “The link back to the technological person allows the question to be answered immediately.”

This need for real-time information and a desire to communicate with a mass number of potential buyers has brought forth the era of social networking at trade shows. Exhibition organizers create Facebook pages and open Twitter accounts to promote their events and post updated information about their shows. Both vehicles allow show producers to track the pre-event buzz for their shows as well as disseminate information during show hours.

“If something on the show floor is exciting, social media can get the word out real-time,” Shomer says. “You don’t have to wait until it appears in the newsletter the next day.” Shomer says event organizers can also use these social media tools to remind attendees of their attendance at educational sessions. A message can be sent to the attendees’ smart phones alerting them that the session starts in so many minutes.

Communicating with your audience is a year-round marketing requirement now. Keep the dialogue going using blogs, podcasts, Facebook, Twitter and other outlets that will keep potential attendees interested in your show after its over and before the next one opens.

The Future of Trade Shows

The virtual trade-show concept has been tried and tested with mixed results. While this technological advancement would certainly eliminate a myriad of on-site show costs, the key benefit of live customer interaction and relationship building is gone.

“A virtual trade-show concept would certainly be challenged to match the impact offered by the traditional trade show model with respect to face-to-face meetings between customers/prospects and suppliers,” Strother says. “I believe the concept is a ways off from becoming a reality.”

Syscom’s Ecton believes the concept works better for buyers who cannot travel and must depend on online tools to make their purchasing decisions. “Virtual trade shows can be confusing and cumbersome,” he says. “The concept is better marketed to IT people who can’t leave their desk.”

Virtual platform developers say that these events attract two to three times the attendees seen at physical meetings. However, many show producers are concerned that the virtual option will eventually eliminate live events. In many cases, a virtual concept can supplement a live show or only replace it when the percentage of members attending is too low to warrant the cost of a physical venue.

As a potential source of non-dues revenue, blending a virtual concept with a live meeting can increase incremental revenue for the organization. The trade show can be included in the registration fee for the onsite meeting, while the educational sessions can be streamed real-time or archived for later viewing for an additional fee. If your organization is offering continuing educational units (CEUs), attendees who cannot attend the show often will pay for the online sessions.

The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) is offering this blended live meeting and virtual component for its 2010 Annual Meeting and Exposition. According to John Graham, ASAE’s president and chief executive officer, the organization will stream all three general sessions as well as 24 other sessions throughout the conference. The sessions will be archived and available for viewing for 90 days.

“The fee to attend virtually will be about 20 percent less than the regular registration fee,” Graham says. Since this is the first time ASAE is offering the virtual component, Graham says he has no concrete expectations for registration numbers.

Whether it’s a traditional trade show or a virtual experience, both exhibitors and buyers need to establish return on investment (ROI). By measuring results, companies can justify their expenditures and provide stakeholders with a line of revenue attributed directly to the show. The Center for Exhibition Industry Research has an ROI Calculator companies can use to convert the contacts made at a show to a dollar amount.

By subsidizing exhibitor costs and packaging value-added items, show organizers can create the return companies are looking for. “Companies want to know what the return on investment is going to be and what the show organization is providing to give them a better experience,” Shomer says. “Exhibitors are no longer buying booth space; they are buying a value package.

Monica Compton, CMP, an event specialist with Atlanta-based Pinnacle Productions Inc., is a columnist for Connect. She presented several education seminars at Connect Marketplace.

Read more on trade shows:

Case Study: PRINT 09
Chris Price, Vice President of Graphic Arts Show Company, discusses the challenges he faced planning last year’s PRINT 09 exhibition during a down economy.

Case Study: NEO conference
Janet Graff, CMP, plans NEO – The Conference for Neonatology every year. Read about how she dealt with issues this year regarding room blocks because of frequent changes in sponsor and exhibitor personnel.

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By Dianne Budion Devitt

Whether you recognize it or not, your event is using color to send powerful emotional signals to attendees, minute by minute and second by second. Are they the messages you want to send? Color choices are too important to be left to chance or whim, but all too often that is exactly how they are made. Planners traditionally build their events around their brands’ or organizations’ colors, but increased demand for attention to every detail, from strategy to design and execution, means that color is one element planners can use more effectively to bring their events to a higher level.

Regardless of the size of the budget, conscious, strategic decisions about color can have a powerful and positive impact on your participants’ experience, their retention of and willingness to act on key messages, and their long-term attitudes toward the organization. Consider the following case study.

SEND A MESSAGE

The CEO of an international technology company gave me the following challenge: “Use the upcoming three-day executive management retreat to make my top executives realize it’s time to start thinking differently. I want interaction among the four divisions, and I want the whole company to become more responsive to the marketplace and more interactive with each other. Take all of our left-brained managers and get them thinking inventive, right-brained thoughts, so they approach their business more creatively. I also want them to work together as a team better as a result of attending this event.”

Using the CEO’s objectives, the senior vice president of communications and I worked together to come up with the “big idea” of the event — the central concept that would bring the company’s most senior people together around the CEO’s objectives. That big idea ended up taking the form of a single word, “change,” which drove these annual gatherings for several years. This key word was inspired by the company’s tagline, “Change the nature of things.”

One of the three-day events carried the title “Change the Nature of Things … Now.” Each day’s event centered around the idea of rapid, dynamic changes taking place both internally and externally. Each of the events, and each of the breaks, was built around a single dominant color; with every progression and event component of the meeting, one dominant color quickly replaced another. Red dominated the breakfast environment, with the pre-function area featuring red linens and organic accents on the tables, including apples and red flowers. A separate menu complemented each color assigned to meals and breaks. The red-themed breakfast featured strawberry yogurt, cranberry waffles and raspberries for cereal.

The very first break, of course, changed everything. The dominant color became white, complete with white-clad chair massage therapists behind white folding screens. The afternoon break was green, and featured a miniature golf course. Each hole was keyed to an action word from the day’s session. The driving message behind all these color shifts — change — was crystal clear, because it tied into management’s objective.

Over the course of the event, each of the participants experienced the effects of being immersed in color. Through carefully planned interactions and the various event components, a new collaborative spirit emerged; the use of color and its applications affected behavior, giving attendees permission to think differently. They became engaged in a new way and eagerly discussed the next application. Each work group, represented by a single color, began to change its patterns of interaction: The ever-red engineers, for instance, began to interact with and understand the bold blue dynamics of corporate leadership, which resulted in a new shade, purple, and a new relationship. The same merging of colors and viewpoints took place between other groups.

This color-driven process was astonishing to watch. Preconceived ideas and behaviors based on specific roles and functions began to fade, and a new, vibrant corporate vision based on collaboration emerged.

BOOST YOUR BOTTOM LINE

If you’re looking for a good way to maximize a limited budget or get the most bang for your buck out of a substantial budget, using color is one of the best answers. Using varying shades of a single color is one of the oldest, most cost-effective event design tricks of experienced meetings and events professionals.

Fashion designers know that bright colors can cause a powerful reaction that may distract observers from noticing that the actual design is relatively simple and inexpensive. Sometimes that bold fashion statement is also a cheap fashion statement, although that’s not how the end user sees it. Take a modest garment, choose your colors aggressively, and you can get by with less expense on labor and materials. The same principle holds true for a meetings and events designer. If your budget is tight, you can use a strong, impossible-to-miss color choice to distract people from the absence of elements you can’t afford.

In Philadelphia, there was an annual event, the “Beaux Arts Ball,” hosted by the American Institute for Architects. Each year, I’d look forward to receiving the invitation because the color of the invitation envelope let me know the year’s color theme. In order to attend, you had to dress in colors that matched it. It wasn’t just the décor and collateral that focused on the color themes the designer had selected; it was the guests as well. It’s another example of a powerful, budget-friendly, color-related secret of meetings and events designers. When guests are asked to wear a specific color, the color choices come to life, becoming fluid rather than static. The color becomes a dynamic, self-propelled organism.  This is a simple, compelling way to use color to turn your event into what it really should be — a work of art.

THE GREAT COMMUNICATION TOOL

Think of color as a powerful communication tool, not just a personal preference. It is a vital tool in advertising and public relations; color choices help communicate and reinforce messages, whether in a dynamic print ad, logo graphic and/or branding message. Don’t make color choices impulsively; make them strategically. Show different color combinations to stakeholders and vendors and get their reactions. Which combination best supports the theme and message? Which conflicts with that message? With the venue? With the destination? With the season? What combinations of colors evoke the emotions you want participants to feel?

Dianne Budion Devitt has a 25-year track record as an innovative leader and expert in communication through events and meetings. She is an assistant professor at New York University’s Preston Robert Tisch Center of Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Marketing with a focus on the events curriculum. This article is an excerpt from her forthcoming book, “What Color is Your Event?”  For more information, visit dndgroup.com.

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The Cultural Associations of Color

Meeting planners must understand the intonations and meaning of color in different cultures. You don’t want to leave yourself open to mistakes like using a color for a celebration that represents death, or insulting someone within the society where your event is being held. Whenever you are working in a
culture that is unfamiliar to you, ask local experts to share their knowledge. What works in Indiana may not work in India; what works in India may not work in Indonesia.

Individual color responses can come from cultural mores; reaction to color is based on powerful learned responses as well as innate physical, mental and involuntary emotional references. In other words, there are strong cultural factors to take into account, and at the same time, everyone may respond in a unique and independent way to the colors you choose for your event. What follows is based on culturally dominant color references in the United States.

Orange

• Instills a sense of energy
• Heightens cheerfulness,social interaction
• Encourages movement, gives vigor

Red
• Stimulates appetite
• Associated with impulse, desire, passion
• Promotes vitality and intensity of experience
• Provokes the urge to achieve results and succeed
• Increases blood pressure and pulse rate
• Warms, enriches

Yellow
• Instills happy, carefree feelings
• Restores personal balance
• Supports optimism
• Improves memory and creative expression
• Promotes a positive attitude

Green
• Promotes optimal use of willpower
• Creates a cool, relaxing,soothing feeling
• Establishes balance and harmony, friendly feelings
• Supports concentration and focus
• Reinforces analysis, precision, accuracy

Blue
• Promotes feelings of peace and calm
• Supports increased sensitivity
• Promotes feelings of loyalty, security, contentment
• Reinforces tradition and lasting values
• Lowers blood pressure and pulse rate
• Suggests safety, trust
• Deep blue may be associated with a conservative worldview

Pink
• Strongly associated with femininity
• Suggests a loving, nurturing, soothing environment
• Encourages healing, resting
• Stimulates intellect and clarity of thought

Violet/Purple
• Supports creativity
• Seen as regal, dignified, royal and powerful in some settings; others may yield notions of being mystical, magical, full of surprises or enchanting
• Lighter shades may suggest an irresponsible or immature nature

Gray
• Strongly associated with neutrality and borders
• Suggests solidity, security, objectivity and professionalism
(Warning: Gray is bland and uninspiring when used alone.)

Black
• Creates an authoritative, somber attitude
• Perceived as mysterious, sophisticated, stylish
• Carries overtones of being, contemporary, sturdy and substantial
• When used effectively, may suggest power and indomitability

Brown
• Suggests a reduced sense of vitality
• Perceived as passive, receptive, sensory
• Suggests desire for family, a home, physical ease, solid roots

White
• Strongly associated with innocence, cleanliness, goodness, simplicity, purity
• In some settings, also may be used to send messages of glamour, sophistication, excellence

________________________

Color By the Numbers

80 percent that color can increase brand recognition, according to a University of Loyola, Md., study

23 million new sales, in dollars, attributed to Heinz’s decision to release a variety of green ketchup — the largest annual sales increase in the company’s history, according to colormatters.com

42 percent that color phone book ads exceed black-and-white ads in motivating people to actually read the ad, according to “Color for Impact,” Jan White, Strathmoor Press, April 1997

-.67 number of seconds the typical black- and-white image sustains interest

2+ number of seconds the typical color image sustains interest

73 percentage increase in comprehension among meeting participants attributed to color choices, according to colormatters.com

By Christine Born

Many convention and visitor bureaus are dealing with tighter budgets and more oversight. Hotels are feeling the crunch from years of ambitious expansions and a buyer’s market that now assumes bargain rates. Meeting planners are trimming their events, cutting corners where possible and even meetings when necessary.

There is movement among top establishment players that might result in some much-anticipated trickle down effect. Bold initiatives inspire confidence — whether it’s Rupert Murdoch’s plan to convert his Web sites to a pay model by the summer or another new device from Apple, which introduced new iPhones in 2009 and profited despite the downturn.

Buoyed by the knowledge that the best leaders know how to turn crisis into opportunity and that pessimism doesn’t stand the test of time, we turned to leaders in the hospitality industry and some association planners to discover what they see ahead.

Fabian De Rozario, President, National Association of Asian American Professionals

Brave New Move: De Rozario says we have to be constantly reinventing or challenging ourselves to do new things. “Play outside your sandbox,” he says. “Explore things outside your realm of business only to discover how inside your business it is.”

Advice: Get creative and extend beyond your core business to build relationships and resources. That doesn’t necessarily mean huge, expensive solutions. As an example, De Rozario suggests that hotels can use slow times to drum up business within the local market by inviting civic groups to a complimentary event introducing their facility and services, thereby creating momentum and a relationship that will generate future business.  “A bunch of small wins will often return more than the big wins we look for,” he says. “As a consumer, I would love to engage with hotel reps that are knowledgeable about services and solutions that are available in the local area. The better resourced the hotel rep is, the more likely I am to choose your hotel over another.”

Relationships mean business. “If you don’t keep good records about what’s important to the relations you make, if you don’t have a clear system to manage all that information, you’re going to lose this race,” De Rozario says. “We’re so good at executing our meetings, but often do a poor job of managing the data and records that are necessary to manage our relationships.”

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Stephen Hahn, Director Western Region Market Sales, Marriott International

A New Reality: Hahn’s message to hotel customers and managers is that both sides need to be partners in adversity. “From a contract standpoint, what might have been agreed upon a few years ago is no longer a reality,” he says. “It’s not a one-way street, or an ‘us and them.’ [In better times] it’s important for us not to say no to customers who were with us in the downtown.”

Advice: “You have to reset your expectation down without causing harm to those organizations you’ll want to do business with in the future. From a customer standpoint, you have to understand that the hotel industry has suffered significantly. We need good communication and flexibility and creativity on the customer’s part to help us maximize our business given what little there is out there.”

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Bonnie Wallsh, CMP, CMM, Meeting Management Consultant and Trainer

Recession-defying Moves: Continuing education, networking and, above all, outstanding customer service are the keys to survival in 2010, Wallsh says. “2010 has the potential of being the most challenging year since I started my business 31 years ago. During the last several months, I have reviewed my business plan, strengthened
existing relationships, reached out to help those around me, sought to become a
Renaissance person and became acutely aware of potential opportunities.”

Advice: Customize your service and become a resource. “Identify needs and figure out how to fulfill them,” suggests Wallsh. “Work your network aggressively, sharing leads and opportunities regardless of whether they will benefit you personally. Maintain a positive attitude. Know about sports, the latest movies, books on the bestseller list, geography (try to learn the capital of every country) and current events. You never know when you can engage a prospective client.”

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Judy Randall, President and CEO, Randall Travel Marketing Inc.

Trends to Watch: Randall says the biggest trends she’s seeing are shortened meetings to cut hotel and other costs; mid-day meetings for drive-in attendees; and planners cutting out extracurricular activities so meetings start purposefully and stay focused
on purpose.

Advice: Content is king. “Everyone wants to know what is going on,” she says. “They want educational content that helps them sort through the volumes of information in their field. Where are the frontiers?” Randall also agrees it’s important to keep your network alive and strong.

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Lisa DeGolyer, Chief Executive, Conferences and Education, Construction Owners Association of America

A New Model: After experiencing a drop in attendance at her 2009 spring conference followed by a fall conference that exceeded all expectations, DeGolyer and her team developed a new model. “We used to move our conferences around the country to draw in new people, but now we are going to cities where we were successful, mainly because we have strong chapters there,” she explains. “We’re supplementing in between conferences with online learning opportunities and taking our course 101 on the road, doing in-house educational conferences for smaller groups.” Smart forecasting tools helped her track all the components of planning. One key element: education. “Change never stops and technology is coming at them so fast we need to educate them on the newest technology that is out there,” she says of the association members, mainly building owners. “Last year, the down economy was new, and people had to stop traveling. They didn’t have the money to spend on education, so we did other things to make up for it that made some money in between conferences. You have to spread energy centers to other things that are profit centers. Our meetings bring in the most ROI but they are labor intensive.”

Advice: “When you see something that works, you keep going,” DeGolyer says of her new approach. Her group also renegotiated all existing contracts to drop room rates and attrition. “We asked them to work with us to help us. You can’t do that with every one, but most worked with us. This is a good time to buy and negotiating is more viable now than it has been in the past.”

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Fran Bolson, President, Woodfiled Chicago Northwest Convention Bureau

Brave New Move: “Whenever we see a major shift in markets (as we see now), we step up prospecting and reevaluate our markets,” Bolson says. “Any ‘brave new moves’ may include dropping out of a market that is not showing ROI and increasing investment in the markets showing activity. We are very aggressive in the use of technology in tracking and communications within our direct sales efforts; however, we still feel strongly about the need for face-to-face meetings and business travel. We are going to use our media campaign to convey that message, using the findings from the Oxford Economics business travel ROI study.”

Advice: Bolson also stresses the importance of education in today’s world. “Be the best in whatever you are doing and if that role is changing, spend some time to see where your position or market is going and be at the cutting edge. Take advantage of any and every development and learning opportunity that is available.” Her final word of advice? “Always answer phone calls.”

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Deb Archer, President & CEO, Greater Madison, Wis., CVB

The Message is the Medium: Archer sees a need for everyone in the industry to collaborate and get the message out that “Meetings Mean Business.” The initiative, launched by the U.S. Travel Association, uses industry research to drive home the value of conferences and events to our economy. “Conferences and conventions are integral components to maintain and grow healthy companies and provide the foundation for generating discussions, ideas and creating solutions,” says Archer. “The GMCVB, the Wisconsin Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus (WACVB) and the Wisconsin Department of Tourism (WDOT) are so committed to these principles that we will be forming a Wisconsin specific collaboration geared toward local political leaders, business owners and area meeting planners.”

Advice: “The best way to work through this industry-wide recession is to stay true to core competencies,” says Archer. She emphasizes the importance of service, embodied in the bureau’s trademarked brand strategy and statement, “Going Beyond Visit,” defined as the philosophy of going beyond the expected to enrich its partners, community and visitors. Or, as Archer says, “We don’t stop our services with the signed contract.”

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Bruce Turkel, CEO, Brand Management, TURKEL

Changing Perspectives: Turkel’s firm specializes in travel and tourism marketing, branding and advertising. He is an author and frequent speaker for the travel and meetings industry. His message? “Authenticity, affordability, activities, accessibility.” He’s talking about travel. “We look at what we’re good at and we find different ways to express that,” says Turkel.
“A lot of what you come up with after evaluating your efforts is in plain sight.”

Advice: “Stop focusing on what you do and start focusing on what your clients want. Unbundle what you have and deliver it in a different way.”

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[Marketing Moves]

Partnerships with Benefits

Partnerships can bring big returns for both planners and suppliers. Take a lesson from the George Clooney film “Up in the Air,” which is generating buzz for American Airlines and Hilton Hotels. Both are prominently and positively featured throughout the film, though neither company paid for its starring role. Instead, they provided locations and branding that helped defray what would have been huge production costs for Paramount Pictures — a grand example of a mutually beneficial partnership.

“If we were to go and rent an airplane for a movie, it would be very expensive. But if you can get somebody to loan you one as opposed to the production having to buy or rent it out of their pocket because they’d like their product seen in the film, it’s a fair trade for that exposure,” said LeeAnne Stables, Paramount’s executive VP-worldwide marketing partnerships.

Stables also pointed out that in this day and age of reality shows, fake brands would not work as well in a movie depicting the lives of real people, who are involved with brands every day of their lives.

Both American Airlines and Hilton are promoting the movie on their Web sites, where, besides viewing a trailer, visitors can enter “Up in the Air” sweepstakes. Hilton also is promoting the film on more than a million key cards internationally, a first for the chain, whose cards have never featured anything besides its own logos and amenities.

(Spoiler alert: There are also some interesting convention moments in the movie that will be all too familiar to meeting planners.)

Sources: Hotelchatter.com, nytimes.com

By Joan Drammeh

What do young people want to hear at meetings? Jason Ryan Dorsey, 31, should know. This “Gen Y Guy” has spoken at some 500 youth events. He’s made a career of understanding what his generation, people born roughly between 1977 to 1995, are looking for in life. He’s the author of the bestselling book “Graduate to Your Perfect Job,” published by Random House. He’s also a consultant to major American companies, helping them bridge a four-generation gap in the workplace, and he’s been featured as a generational expert on “60 Minutes,” “20/20″ and “Good Morning America.” Listen up! Here’s what the “Gen Y Guy” has to say about reaching youth at your events.

Do Gen Y and meetings go together?

Gen Y is extremely event-driven, which is great because we literally plan our lives around events. We will text our friends and talk about it on Facebook. We will really spread the word to say where we are going and who all is going to be there.

Not only is Gen Y event-driven, we are very much drawn to participate in groups where we feel included. I say groups because a lot of times we go to these events, and we are not a part of a group. You are one out of 5,000 people, and that is not only intimidating, it is very uncomfortable. But if you can make it a group-type event, we want to be there and we will come back because we are a part of something that is bigger than ourselves.

Based on my experience, [taking action] really fits with Gen Y because we want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. And we want to see that we are moving forward and helping others do the same.

Which youth conferences have you experienced first hand?

I have spoken at probably 500 youth events, ranging in size from 25 to 13,000 people. I have pretty much spoken at more youth conferences than anyone else in the U.S.

What do you see that planners of youth events are getting right or wrong?

In general, events have recognized the need to use a lot more technology. But they need to make it more of an event, a spectacle, instead of just a spill and drill. I think they are also getting better at promoting the events and telling people why they should come. But there are definitely some things I see that planners could be doing differently.

At a lot of events, your first interaction is a “here’s your name tag, find your seat” kind of thing. Planners should be sending leads prior to the event either with e-mail, text or a Facebook group that gets people connected. So when they get there, they already know people, can meet at a certain place, wear a certain shirt and meet people that like the same things they do.

Have more youth involved with the conference planning. That’s going to make the event feel a lot more authentic. I also think that a lot of the sessions run too long. Gen Y has a very short attention span and a very high entertainment value. If you want to make sessions multimedia that is fine, but I caution people — just because you use technology doesn’t mean it is a fit for Gen Y. There are a lot of people who rely on technology as a crutch to connect with Gen Y.

How can technology be a crutch?

It’s somebody who has a whole bunch of PowerPoint slides. I think PowerPoint slides are what Boomers use to appear high tech. And my rule of thumb on that is, if you are going to use a PowerPoint slide, I say one every 15 minutes.

You characterize Gen Y as “entitled, instant gratifiers, outcome-driven.” Is this a negative image?

Each characteristic is half of the point. For example, Gen Y has a high need for instant gratification, but that’s because we really want to see ongoing progress. You can take every one of those characteristics and make them into an asset for a meeting. If Gen Y is tech dependent that means they want to use technology to meet people before they get to an event. They want to stay connected during the event and afterward. Outcome driven — they just want to see the results of going to a meeting. Let Gen Y know the five things they are going to get out of your event in your promotional materials.

Young people want to have a voice and be heard. How can a conference not just be an event where they get lectured?

Try having them text message responses to questions. Another thing that is really cool is leaving a session open and let the attendees pick the topic that they want the session to be about. They can do that by voting, by texting or by going online. I also think that there need to be breaks where people can go and connect with other people. In general, I would say you should never go more than an hour without going into something different.

What kind of elements do you believe youth conferences need to have in order to be a success?

It’s hard to go wrong with music. I think that games can work if they are positioned in a way that is non-threatening. Threatening means go meet a bunch of new people. Depending on how big the crowd is, they simply may not do it. I work with a lot of hard-to-reach youth audiences and getting them to do anything outside of their comfort zone is hard.

I’ve been at events where attendees were given text instructions to go do stuff. Sure that is absolutely cool, especially for the teen audience. Teens are also drawn to comedy. It is one of those things that can be a safe place to go. If you are not funny, find something that you can project that is.

Are practical sessions like managing money and preparing for college a good choice for this group?

They are a home run. Gen Y wants things that they can do now, and for many teens college, money, jobs, etc., are very much on their minds because it is a transition phase and transitions are scary. The more you can make an event applicable to where they are in their lives, the more value they will feel they get out of it.

What do you think of meeting planners incorporating current events into the session topics and discussions?

I think they should. Gen Y is the most connected generation ever. We get all the news in the world to our phone anytime. And if a current event is big enough, we’ll want to talk about it.

How important is it for young people to have speakers their own age?

It’s really important, but it is not the only thing because all ages can be effective with youth audiences. But I certainly think there are some initial barriers that are broken down when they see that someone is in a similar life place. There are speakers who are three times my age who I think are phenomenal. Age is just one of many variables.

What other mistakes do planners make when planning a youth conference?

They don’t ask the youth what they actually want. They talk down to them instead of trying to lift them up and the format isn’t one that really caters to young people’s learning style.

What if your group is trying to have a big youth outreach but has a restricted budget?

It’s not how expensive or fancy something is — it is how authentic and unique the program, speaker or event is. Instead of having the world’s most expensive speaker, you might just have a project that everybody in the audience can complete together. It is still getting them engaged and giving the same message.

What would you tell a meeting planner who believes a conference should be a retreat where kids get away from technology?

I am always scared about the word retreat because it basically means “back up.” Gen Y will go to events and let go of their gadgets but you’ve got to then replace them with something else – that can be experiential learning, a ropes course, scavenger hunt or interactive games. But they need to be busy; Gen Y hasn’t learned the skill of how not to do anything.

There is a lot of information about social media, but why do you believe these networks are so important to Gen Y?

I think that the real crux of the matter is that Gen Y is looking for meaning, direction and connection in their lives. Many youth conferences really offer that, and Gen Y will seek out those events if they are positioned correctly.

How to use Social Media at your event

Pre-Conference:

1. Use trusted channels. Spread the word via YouTube, blog postings, RSS feeds and Facebook and by asking Gen Y to forward meeting invites to three friends.

2. Be lifestyle oriented. Promote live entertainment, food events, onsite competitions, interesting people, new technology and good meeting location.

3. Give homework. Up-front homework is good, especially when it is non-traditional and builds anticipation. Ask Gen Y to bring relevant data and their favorite vintage T-shirt.

4. Promote ways to connect. Give them ways to meet other attendees before the event through social networking sites such as Facebook. Another option is to offer a short survey that matches them with other attendees.

At the Event:

5. Provide a forum and motivation. Give Gen Y a chance to share their experiences during the meeting. This could be a conference blog, “follow me” Twitter feed, real-time session evaluations or a Facebook destination for uploading meeting videos and photos.

6. Assign a meeting guru. This would be a person who can answer attendee questions during the meeting via text message.

Post-Conference:

7. Solicit feedback. Ask attendees to share their top three takeaways from the meeting. Surveys are okay as long as they take less than two minutes to complete and offer a place for comments or questions.

8. Establish accountability groups. These groups can be online or by phone — they are where people commit to implementing one or more meeting takeaways per month.

9. Deliver a quarterly newsletter. This would be a “Where Are They Now” e-newsletter with updates, coolest projects undertaken and the latest adventures of meeting attendees.

10. Plan ahead. When planning your next meeting, ask Gen Y to serve on your planning committee and to participate in online voting to select session topics. Give the m a chance to name the conference. You can do this via Web sites such as namethis.com.

What makes a meeting a must-attend for you and your attendees? During these turbulent economic times, it is critical for meeting planners to focus on the learning outcomes for attendees. The learning process is not simply based on content but also must be practical, do-able and based on true needs, providing information and skills that attendees can use immediately when they return to work.
Begin by performing a needs assessment of your prospective attendees. Develop a collaborative relationship with meeting sponsors and instructors, ascertaining what participants will learn as a result of participating in the program. Determine what learning methods are most appropriate to fulfill your needs and objectives. According to workplace learning consultant Marcia Conner, “Learning for adults is less about taking in new information than it is about connecting with people who help put that information in context and suggest new ways of understanding it, not just by facts but through stories, seeing patterns and discovering new ideas.”
As you are creating or partnering with your colleagues in identifying your meeting objectives, consider how you will evaluate the learners’ needs in selecting program design, content, activities and facilitator. Follow up with your attendees immediately, one month, three months and six months out to evaluate whether your objectives were fulfilled.
There are three basic learning styles: visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Visual learners prefer presentations with visual images that clarify or demonstrate points. Auditory learners retain information best through their sense of hearing. Kinesthetic learners enjoy playing with items on the table such as stress balls, Legos, Play-Doh, Tinkertoys, etc., while participating in learning experiences. It is critical to consider the different learning styles of your attendees as you plan your program.
Think about the best and worst programs you have ever attended. Why do they stand out in your mind? Engage your attendees with their mind, body and spirit. Get them involved by keeping topics interesting and meaningful and selecting speakers who are passionate, knowledgeable and enthusiastic and include interactive exercises. Begin engaging your audience by building anticipation and creating social networks before the meeting starts. Continue the process during and after the meeting.
Provide lots of water and snacks and create the right physical environment with ergonomic chairs, comfortable room sets and opportunities to move around. Breaks should be scheduled every 90 minutes. Awaken attendee’s spirits with music, excellent lighting and motivational sayings. Involve your audience with innovative educational techniques such as brainstorming, Q-stormingTM, creating a Mind MapTM and facilitating an open space meeting. With brainstorming, participants contribute creative ideas that are not initially judged for merit. Q-storming, which was developed by Marilee Adams, Ph.D., involves a flexible series of questions from different perspectives. Mind mapping, created by Tony Buzon, is useful for generating ideas through associations. Start with the main idea and work outward in all directions, producing an organized structure with key words and images. Open space sessions are breakouts in which topics of conversation emerge from the group. Use case studies and small group activities to actively involve participants. Provide opportunities for attendees to learn from one another in addition to the speakers and facilitators. Keep in mind the familiar saying, “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I may not remember. Involve me and I’ll understand.”
Don’t forget to consider the impact of generational issues and cultural diversity on adult learning. Each of the four major generations learn differently and have different frames of references: Traditionalists were born before 1946, Baby Boomers between 1946 and 1964, Generation X between 1965 and 1980, and Generation Y (Millennial) after 1981. Meetings, even those within the U. S., are international since we have people of different races and ethnic backgrounds in our sessions. It is important to be aware of how attendees from different cultural backgrounds learn most effectively. And it can be thrilling when you ignite the passion in your attendees and motivate them to take action.

By Sarah McNeely

Registration services providers use specialized software to manage information received from registration websites. So one of the first considerations in your search is to understand what kind of software is being used by a vendor. Software can be proprietary or licensed from the company that created it.

A smart meeting planner will ask questions about how the software manages and stores registrants’ information, and how the planner will be able to access it. Is it web-based? Can information be accessed remotely? A hands-on planner might want high-level access to make changes, generate reports, and access information at their convenience.

If this describes you, choose a registration services provider who can provide access to you and is willing to show you how to use the software. Conversely, a planner who wants to be relatively hands-off in the management of their event’s information should choose a registration services provider they can depend on to generate reports and communicate important information at a reasonable cost.

Your choice of registration services provider will also depend on your organization’s own design capabilities. Creative website design is typically more costly than other elements of online registration. Find out if you are able to supply the registration services provider with your organization’s logos and graphics. If you are an independent planner or your organization does not employ a designer, choose a registration services provider who has design capabilities. You can always ask to see registration websites created for other clients to get a sense of the type of work they do, as well as the functionality of the sites they build.

Customer Service, Cost
Possibly the most important element to consider when shopping around for a registration services provider is customer service. When registrants have problems registering, who will they talk to? How quickly will they be helped? The registration services provider you choose should be able to field phone calls, answer e-mails, and receive faxes from registrants, and respond to all enquiries in a timely manner. Will your meeting have a dedicated phone line? How will the phone be answered? Choose a registration services provider who will offer the highest level of customer service—registrants will appreciate it, and it will reflect well on you.

Another factor is cost, of course. Don’t be afraid to compare prices. Find out how the companies assess costs; some bill hourly, some work on a project basis, and some bill by the number of registrants. It is critical to calculate what your costs will be! Providers who own their registration software may be able to charge less, as they don’t have to recoup their licensing fees. Design work is typically more costly than regular maintenance or customer service, though it is important to find out if customer services costs vary. For example, some registration services providers charge more to receive a fax than a phone call or e-mail because of printing costs.

Most importantly, make sure that you can get the information you need—reports, updates, and special requests—quickly, conveniently, and at a reasonable cost.

Taking your time and asking the right questions when shopping around for a registration services provider will ensure that your participants will have a good experience registering for your event, and you will have a good experience managing it.

Sarah McNeely is an Information Architect for Attendee Management Inc. in Wimberly, Texas, where she builds websites and registration sites for convention groups.

The bureau’s job is to know where and how to find the right speaker for your event, send you materials to review, schedule conference calls, secure or contract the speaker, and facilitate financial arrangements. Like travel agents, speakers bureaus will smooth the process for securing talent for your event and charge you nothing while saving you enormous amounts of time. Since speakers bureaus get paid from the speaker’s fee, they receive compensation only when you book a speaker they suggest.

Bureaus act as partners for researching speakers and finding the perfect match for your event. They can assist with determining the appropriate mix of content, personality and entertainment for the presentation. Finding the right speakers who can meet your needs and budget is the bureau’s objective. Bureaus generally represent a large roster of speakers (ranging from local business experts to worldwide celebrities), and can also book speakers they don’t exclusively represent.

Speakers bureaus work with professional speakers who are seasoned experts and have demonstrated excellent speaking skills, professionalism and expertise of their topic. The bureau interviews them, checks their references, reviews their performances in person or on tape, and determines that they will deliver the best presentation for your event.

First, bureaus will ask you about the goals and objectives for your event and about your organization. During the interview, a bureau agent will listen to your program needs and assess what type of speaker would fit your program objectives and budget. Is your organization experiencing tremendous change and growth? Is there a need to communicate a specific message? What is the conference theme?

Next, your bureau agent will research the large pool of available speakers to develop a short list of the top candidates for your event. Your agent will then send you press kits and/or videos of the speakers whom you find most interesting. Finally, they will confirm availability for the speaker(s) you have chosen and will arrange all contracting, finances, and specific presentation and travel requirements.

One Bureau Advantage
Since speakers bureau services are free, meeting planners will often contact numerous bureaus to help find a speaker. This can lead to confusion and wasted time. Instead of developing a close relationship with your chosen bureau and receiving a few excellent speaker suggestions for your event, you will receive piles of speaker kits (many duplicates) and dozens of calls from various bureau agents and speakers.

By using numerous bureaus, you can quickly diminish the time savings you would gain in the first place. Often, bureaus will not devote much time to these “multiple bureau” projects since they have less chance to close a deal and the speakers they work with will be confused by multiple bureau contacts.

It is important to clearly communicate throughout the speaker search process. Give your bureau agent as much information about your goals and your chosen event theme as you can. Provide clear and quick feedback on speakers they suggest and keep them informed about your selection process.

We all know the meeting process can be ever-changing, especially committee run selection processes. Your bureau agent knows this, so don’t be afraid to involve them in your process, even if it means letting them know that the budget has been cut this year or that the theme has changed. Your bureau agent wants all your events-for years to come-to be successes.

If you are using other sources, it is always a good policy to let your bureau(s) know others you may be working with. Let them know immediately if you are considering booking a speaker from another source. This way, multiple bureaus won’t continue contacting the same speaker trying to secure “holds” for your event date. It’s the professional thing to do.

Speakers bureaus take care of many of the details for booking speakers-from locating the perfect speaker(s) available for your event to contracting negotiations and presentation details-which ultimately saves you time and money.

Mike Garibaldi-Frick is founder and president of San Francisco-based Speakers Platform, a leading full-service speakers bureau.

When you’re putting together the annual meeting or get-together for your group, developing a compelling program that speaks to their special interest is the most important objective. But you also need to think about “designing,” “shaping,” “framing” or “coloring” your event, according to meeting pros who mix the latest buzzwords frequently when discussing creative ways to attract attendees and elevate their meeting experience.

Planning your meeting involves logistics, objectives, budgets, site selection, registration, transportation, speakers, food and beverage—the overall foundation of the event.

Designing your meeting refers to the creative side of the meeting, and needs to be customized for your client or group. It’s a different way of thinking and involves vision, not only for the particular meeting but also for the organization. What impression do you want them to leave with? How do you reinforce the group’s goals or message?

This year’s trends reflect the current economic realities. At least for the rest of 2009, the demand to keep costs low means planners need to search for value, be flexible, be innovative.

One of the best ways to ignite attendees without spending lots of money is to create a theme for your event. Whatever their common interest, your target audience is tuned into the wider world and current trends. Take advantage of what’s on everyone’s frequency and come up with your own twists.

In our hyper-stimulated world, most people want to be immersed in experiences. Whatever the objective of the various portions of your meeting—education, entertainment, networking—you need to engage as many of their senses as possible, says Don Neal, executive vice president of Leading Authorities Inc. http://www.leadingauthorities.com/ He suggests planners brainstorm with committee members or other associates, referring to pop culture and applying it to feel, smell, sound, taste and sight.

Storytelling is another way to think about how to frame your meeting, says Lenn Millbower of Offbeat Training, who calls himself the “learnertainment” trainer. First, he says, know your message. Then, develop the story with a plot, a beginning, middle and end. Communicate the story using multiple messages: Theme the scene, reinforce it with music to create the right moods, and immerse your attendees every step of the way. Use the theme to decorate the foyer, the walls, the host, the presenters, the performers and the food. Some examples: For a gathering of women involved in sports, Millbower suggested using the movie A League of Their Own to build the event. The message might be “no crying” in our organization, instead “we hit home runs.” Fun giveaways might be pink bubblegum (i.e. chewing tobacco) and pink t-shirts with numbers and the group’s name. For a casino event, hire an Elvis impersonator. 
Millbower also emphasizes the importance of music in creating transitions between activities: “Sugar, Sugar” during a dessert and coffee break and “Hit the Road, Jack” at the end of an event.

Creating a story that helps people share their connection is the new responsibility, says Dianne Devitt, CMP, president of The DND Group. “Oprah has build an entire brand around helping people share their stories and emotions,” she says. She advises planners to develop a hook and start painting the picture of the event. If your message is one of change, use small blackboards at each place setting and tell the group you are going to start the meeting by “wiping the slate clean.” The chairman should reinforce the message in his speech, and the idea can be used at every break, e.g. Scrabble letters spell out the message at a meal.

Color is an important component that can tie the meeting together, says Devitt, bringing in all elements from invitations to flowers, food, linens, gifts and props. Colors can also help maximize budgets (e.g. bowls of lemons, instead of floral arrangements; pineapple-yogurt parfaits for a healthy, colorful dessert that also serves as table decoration; and inexpensive rolls of yellow caution tape to tie into chair bows, to reinforce a safety theme.)

Whether you call it coloring, framing, shaping or designing, the message is loud and clear. If you want to make sure your attendees leave with an emotional connection to the group or organization, a clear understanding of the meeting’s purpose, and a positive experience they’ll remember, you need to be a social engineer as well as a logistic specialist.
Not surprisingly, both Devitt and Millbower offered a quote from poet Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.”