In 1992, I started my event planning career as an intern at a North American concert promotion agency. My boss, the CEO of the company, became my first mentor in the industry, guiding me in business with tools I still use today. His first piece of advice: Always be honest in business. If you make a mistake, he said, never hide it or lie about it. Eventually I earned my stripes and began managing large-scale public events, festivals and concerts. Eight years later, after I’d begun a corporate planning career, a mentor suggested I join Meeting Professionals International. I became an MPI member and received a certificate in the mail with a poster that said, “Principles of Professionalism.” I read it and read it again. I framed it and hung it in my office. Here in part is what it said:

Maintain professional integrity.

• Honestly represent and act within one’s area of professional competency and authority without exaggeration, misrepresentation or concealment.
• Avoid actions which are or could be perceived as conflicts of interest or for individual gain.
• Offer or accept only appropriate incentives, goods and services in business transactions.

As I look at these three areas of maintaining integrity, I realize that following (or not following) an ethical path in the meetings management profession starts with the individual and fans out into the entire organization. The GSA incident provides many examples where a few individuals took an alternative path and did not adhere to the guidelines dictated by their organization.

Reports of the GSA conference detail a red carpet awards ceremony that recognized the hired musical performers rather than government employee contributions. According to reports, employees were told the event was listed as an “awards ceremony” so federal dollars could be spent on food at the event.
In another example, the conference’s main organizer, administrator Jeffrey E. Neely, hosted a party in his room the night of the closing dinner. According to the Inspector General’s report, Neely’s relative—a non-GSA employee—selected the menu for the gathering and added more food. The relative reportedly contacted the GSA event planner on Neely’s staff and knew there was money in the budget to take care of the additional food.

MPI’s Principles of Professionalism are a code of conduct for our industry. A personal ethics policy begins from within, but what happens when employees are directed by their superiors to make decisions that circumvent organizational mandates? The choice becomes take a stand or risk losing your job. Reports describe Neely as directing his staff to make the conference “over the top.” When his staff suggested that this might not be a good idea, he ignored their viewpoint.

These examples are overt instances of not adhering to guidelines. The GSA incident also reveals less apparent examples that could be seen as gray in the ethical spectrum. Federal travel rules and regulations impose cost limits (government-rated sleeping rooms, for example). The Inspector General said GSA got around these restrictions by promising the hotel additional catering revenue in return for bringing the room rate down to the government’s acceptable limit. While they weren’t breaking the rules outright, they were misrepresenting the guidelines, which, according to MPI’s principles, does not honestly represent and act within the area of professional competency.

U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow responded to the GSA incident, saying, “Unfortunately, a single instance of irresponsible decision-making has the potential to cast a negative light on the millions of men and women who work every day to make America’s meetings, conventions and events industry the best in the world.” The ripple effect of one misrepresentation can be a tsunami for an entire economic driver.

I again look at the MPI poster hanging in my office. It goes on to say, “Commitment to these principles is implicit to membership and is essential to instilling public confidence, engaging in fair and equitable practices and building professional relationships with meeting industry colleagues.” There is a footnote that clarifies the meaning of “public” as “oneself, the association, fellow members, meeting attendees, clients and customers, suppliers and planners, employers and the general public.”

At a young age, I learned through my mentors that you won’t have a career without honesty and trust. That’s the basics of ethics. It starts from within.

Start with a number in mind. “I’ll contact a few of my favorite speakers bureaus and tell them what I’m looking for, the topic and my price range,” says Becky Burgess, CMP, CMM, senior director of meetings for the National Association of Electrical Distributors, who’s hired thousands of speakers in her more than 30-year career. “I’ll also reach out to other associations and consultants I’ve used in the past for recommendations.” Burgess sets Google Alerts for terms like “American heroes” when searching for inspirational speakers.

Know your budget and speaker-fee price range—$5,000 to $10,000, $10,000 to $20,000, or $25,000 and higher—advises Jeff Hurt, director of education and engagement for Velvet Chainsaw Consulting, the firm that produces the annual Speaker Report. (Hurt has hired thousands of speakers throughout his career, at one point securing 1,300 industry speakers a year.)

Consider celebrities, then consider alternatives. Big names bring buzz, not necessarily crowds. “Just because someone is an actor or author doesn’t mean that they’re a good presenter,” says Hurt. Research conducted by Velvet Chainsaw Consulting last fall provided surprising results on the topic: “A keynote who is a household name—an actor, a musician, politician, or an athlete—has no effect on increasing registration,” reveals Hurt. “That being said, on-site at your conference, a famous person will cause people to show up for that session.”

There are benefits of hiring a celebrity, of course. “It gives you some PR, some hype and something to market,” Hurt says. “Conference attendees who go to see a household name are much more forgiving. A famous person can be an average speaker and the audience will love it.”

Book famous speakers early at a fraction of the cost. Once upon a time, practically no one had heard of Frank Abagnale, the forgery expert whose life inspired the film “Catch Me if You Can.” Today he’s a highly sought-after speaker who books gigs at tens of thousands of dollars a pop. “Work with a bureau in looking at what movies or books will be released right before your conference starts,” says Hurt. “If the movie is [a biopic] about an unknown person, that’s the perfect time to hire said unknown person. Secure them a year out to speak at your conference in a general session.”

Burgess booked Chris Gardner, author of “The Pursuit of Happyness,” just before the movie of the same name was released. “He was around $17,000 when we hired him. After the movie came out his fee jumped to around $79,000.”

Research, check references, interview, then hire. A bad speaker can reflect poorly on the person who hired them. “I’ve had speakers who cursed on stage or told inappropriate jokes,” says Hurt. “The number one question to ask a reference is, ‘Would you hire them again?’ If the answer is ‘no,’ move on. If the reference hem-haws around and won’t give a direct answer, the answer is ‘no.’ If they answer ‘yes,’ do a little more research.”

Look for delivery style, content and visuals. “You can have great delivery on stage and poor content, and the audience will love you,” he says. “You can have poor delivery, great content and the audience will hate you. See a video clip of that speaker in action. Watch shots of the audience responding. If there’s no audience footage, can you hear them laughing with the speaker or clapping?”

Hurt advocates taking a chance on rookie speakers, too. “I may place them in breakouts at first, but I’m always about new partnerships. Many times, speakers who you take a chance on, if they become successful later, will do favors for you because you gave them their start.”

Burgess takes agency recommendations, reviews videos and does phone interviews. “If a speaker’s willing to talk to me beforehand, that shows they’re willing to go the extra mile to learn about us and meet our needs.”

Burgess also includes crucial speaker guidelines in contracts. “They have to read, sign and send it back. It basically says things like, ‘Don’t use company names as negative examples in your stories if members of that company may be in the audience.’ It’s common sense but people still make these mistakes sometimes.”

Set your speaker up for success. Give speakers every possible advantage. “I’ve had a speaker embarrass me to death before, getting up on stage and calling us the ‘electronics’ association,” says Burgess. “After that, I started asking speakers if they would go to a local distributorship where a member can walk them through the facility and tell them about who they’re going to be speaking with.”

Define success. “Give them your audience demographics,” says Hurt. “I would [tell speakers], ‘I’ll consider you successful if you reach an 80 to 90 percent favorable rating with our attendees. If they walk out of the room talking about you, they want to stand in line and buy your book, if they’re enthralled with what you say and they say that it’s relevant—you’re successful.’”

Step 1: Start with the end in mind

When planning a live meeting, the first objective is to determine your goals. The same is true for a hybrid meeting that incorporates virtual elements into the live platform. Ask yourself what you want the end goal to be. Are you looking to expand your audience to members who could not otherwise attend? Are you offering continuing education units (CEUs), the virtual platform helping to increase the ability to gain this education after the conference concludes? Rosaelena Ledesma-Bernaducci, CMP, congress manager with McVeigh Associates Ltd., stresses the need to align objectives for all facets of the meeting. “It’s important to meet your objectives with the audience that’s virtually present as well as with the live audience,” she says.

Step 2: Decide what goes virtual

Choose the conference elements you want available to a virtual audience. Are you streaming the entire conference, general sessions and educational workshops? Perhaps it’s the well-known keynote speaker who has star power to attract an expanded audience. Just as the on-site audience will pay a fee to see a giant in the industry who may be retired and rarely speaks, so too will the virtual audience pay to have this opportunity.

Andy Straub, president of Blueyed Productions, which produces and integrates distance-learning programs, says it’s important to determine what you can bring to audience members that they wouldn’t otherwise see on their own. Straub’s company produced an event at United Artists movie theaters for Wine Spectator magazine. The theaters were set up with satellite feeds and the audience was taken into vineyards to get the first look at the year’s special wines ahead of the competition. The audience sampled the wines in the theater and asked questions of the vintners in real-time. “The ability to get thousands of people into a wine cellar at the same time was extraordinary,” Straub says.

Another example is within the medical industry, which was perhaps the first industry to broadcast a presentation. Referred to as a “live case,” cameras go into an operating room and a surgical technique or medical device is demonstrated in real-time. A practitioner may never have had the opportunity to see this technique in use before. The value of this never-before-seen presentation attracts an audience both on-site and virtually.

If CEUs can be obtained through the breakout sessions, it’s important to make this education available to the virtual audience. Keep in mind that the more sessions streaming simultaneously, the higher the costs will be. Each room requires its own set of cameras and streaming equipment, plus operating staff. However, fees charged to the virtual audience can offset this cost. If the CEUs are mandatory for their jobs or to maintain a certification, the cost can be justified and attendees are willing to make the investment.

Step 3: Adapt the Agenda

If you’ve determined your virtual audience will view the presentations from varying time zones, try to adapt your agenda to the best times for your participants. Eileen Roehl, CMP, managing partner of the Murfee Group, a medical and corporate meetings management company, has coordinated live case transmissions to 35 locations across the world. “We’ve done transmissions at 7 a.m. Eastern time to accommodate the European audience and at 4 p.m. Eastern time to accommodate the Asian market,” Roehl says. She also suggests placing the streamed presentation before a long break in the agenda. “This way, if there are any issues [with the technology], you have some cushion in the agenda timing.”

Step 4: Define the content

Once you’ve determined which sessions will be streamed, define the content of those presentations. This helps determine the rate of data transfer or bandwidth needed. Do you have one speaker showing a PowerPoint presentation or a panel of speakers with no visual elements? A static image such as a slide with no video does not require a strong signal to transmit. If you are transmitting high-definition medical images, however, the signal will need to be a greater capacity. The more motion or video the presentation contains, the stronger the signal needs to be, which requires a more expensive technology.

Step 5: Guide your speakers

It’s important to let speakers know from the very beginning that they will be presenting to both a live and virtual audience. Give them as much information about the virtual audience as you can, such as the number of people who are viewing online and what cities, states or countries they are viewing from. Kevin Novak, vice president of integrated web strategy and technology for the American Institute of Architects, suggests building the virtual experience as close to the physical experience as possible. “Make sure the virtual attendee has the same opportunity as the on-site attendee,” Novak says. This means speakers should be prepared to take questions from the virtual audience as well, whether the questions are coming from social media sites or a live chat platform. Speakers should acknowledge the virtual audience at the beginning of their presentations and thank them for attending.

It’s also important to make sure speaker contracts include a clause allowing you to distribute their presentations online. If you decide to stream their presentations after the contract is signed, request an addendum granting this permission. Most speakers will likely comply as it gives them a wider audience and greater exposure.

Step 6: Determine your Virtual Audience

If this is your first time entering the virtual community, it may be difficult to determine who would most likely attend the presentation virtually versus in-person. First, decide if you are reaching a local, regional, national or international audience. Perhaps your membership includes an international contingency that has stopped attending live meetings due to travel costs and budget cuts. This group would be a prime target for the virtual presentation. Novak looked at areas of the country where he didn’t have a strong in-person attendance at the annual convention and geared the virtual marketing towards those locations. “We found our on-site attendance was coming from a 300-mile radius of the convention center,” Novak said. “We weren’t hitting the majority of our membership [with the on-site meeting].”

Step 7: Understand the technology

Knowing your technology needs can be a daunting exercise. While most planners have a general knowledge of audiovisual equipment and online processes, most do not have the specific technical skills to set up the virtual presentation. Consult with your internal IT person and hire a vendor who has a history of successfully streaming presentations, both domestically and abroad.

If your presenter is off-site, you have a choice of three ways to stream the presentation: via Internet, fiber or satellite. “The decision comes down to cost versus image quality,” Roehl says. “The Internet is the cheapest solution, but it doesn’t give the best quality.” Staub says you can boost the speed of the Internet by using Polycom intelligence. Similar to a Polycom conference phone, the unit has video capabilities. One unit is placed at the off-site presentation venue and the other unit is placed at the hotel or conference center where the live audience presides.  The two units “talk to each other” to find the fastest way to move the signal.

Fiber is the wired version of Internet access—think of a T1 line—and is ordered through the venue’s telephone company as a circuit. However, the venue must have fiber available that is not already in use called “dark fiber.” “A lot of venues don’t have the fiber because they offer Internet as an option,” Roehl says.

Fiber can be cost-effective if you are transmitting in a local area, such as in the operating room example where the hospital is in the same city as the meeting venue, referred to as a “local loop.” Costs increase when the signal needs to be transmitted out of state, such as New York City to San Francisco. The local loop in New York City needs to be sent to a long-distance provider (incurring long distance charges of approximately $500) and then sent to the local loop in San Francisco. The fiber circuit must be activated, which can incur a fee upwards of $2,000. A one month’s usage fee of $2,000 is charged whether you use the circuit for one minute or three days. The activation and monthly usage fee are charged on both ends, so your cost is now $8,000—$4,000 in New York City and $4,000 in San Francisco—plus the long-distance charges.

Satellite offers the same high-definition, limitless bandwidth as fiber, but it can be a bit more cost-effective if the venue has a satellite dish. If this is not available, satellite trucks can be rented. An uplink truck at the off-site venue incurs a $3,000 fee and a downlink truck at the meeting venue incurs another $3,000. Satellite space is rented for approximately $600 and similar to a meeting planner’s site visit at a hotel, both venues need to be “scouted” to make sure the signal works. This incurs a charge of $500 for each scout. Total satellite cost is $7,600 as opposed to the fiber option of $8,500.

Whichever method you choose, make sure it is available on both ends—at the meeting venue and the off-site presentation venue. “You can’t have one site fiber and the other satellite, or one transmission standard-definition and one with high-definition,” Roehl says. “It needs to be apples to apples.”

In addition to the technology, the on-site venue must be adapted to enable the best viewing for the online audience. “Lighting is the main complaint of online viewers,” says Erica St. Angel, vice president of Sonic Foundry, which provides a hybrid event platform and webcasting through its Mediasite technology. Make sure presenters are adequately lit to transmit to video and the online audience. Perform a test and tape the speaker at rehearsals or tape one of your staff members and see how the picture transmits online. St. Angel says it’s best to put the speaker on a riser so the camera can shoot over the heads of the audience. She suggests using two cameras, one to film the speaker and one to pan the on-site attendees. “This helps to draw in the online viewers and makes them feel as if they are a part of the audience,” St. Angel says. Testing the noise level in the room is also important. If there is a lot of background noise, not only will the on-site audience have difficulty hearing the presentation, but the online community’s ability to hear will be further diminished.

Step 8: Have a backup plan

Every good planner knows that you shouldn’t plan an outdoor function without having backup space indoors. The same is true for a virtual event. If the technology goes down and you lose the signal, you need a backup plan. If a presenter is off-site, as in the example of a live case at a hospital, a taped case can be aired in the downtime or the agenda can be shifted to the next live presentation. “We have taped cases on-site and ready to play if needed, and the session moderators are prepped on the taped cases,” Roehl says. “We also have the next session’s live speakers present, so if there is a problem, we can proceed with the live speakers and do the transmission later.”

If the signal to the online community goes down, the ability to air an alternative presentation is not possible. Simply wait until the signal is back and notify the online audience that any part of the presentation that was missed will be available online after the conference.

Step 9: Ramp up Staffing

Just as a live event has staff members assigned to each meeting function, from audiovisual to food and beverage monitoring, so should the virtual component have a dedicated staff member. St. Angel calls this a “virtual concierge” and advises that this person should have no other job but monitoring the online presentation and perhaps the social media responses. That way, if the transmission signal or audio is lost, the virtual concierge can immediately call tech support to get the problem fixed. This person can also give updates to the online audience if there is a delay in the agenda. If a speaker is 15 minutes late in starting a presentation, for example, the online audience might think the technology is down. The concierge can send messages to the audience via chat or social media sites and get in front of the camera to inform the audience of the delay.

Step 10: Determine virtual fees

If you charge a fee for your conference, determine how the online presentations will be priced compared to in-person attendance. Novak says AIA did not charge a fee for virtual attendance for the 2009 convention. More than 17,000 online viewers attended sessions over three days (22,500 people on-site). In 2010, they charged the virtual audience a fee of $165 for 36 sessions viewed real-time and also available on demand post-event. The online viewership went down to 3,000 people. “Market the virtual component separately so it doesn’t get lost in the on-site fee package,” Novak says.  

In 2011, AIA taped the sessions, but did not stream them to an online audience. Instead they made the presentations available post-conference and on demand, charging $29 per CEU credit.
Don’t forget to communicate the link to access the presentations over and over again. St. Angel says the virtual attendee should receive the link when registering for the conference, then a reminder at least a month before the meeting and again a week prior. The link should take attendees to the organization’s website or event website for added promotion of the brand.

Step 11: Follow up

Just as you would survey your on-site audience for feedback on the meeting’s success, so should you survey the online audience. Generally the same questions can be asked of both audiences. It would be helpful to add questions to the virtual audience’s survey asking them how easy the site was to access, if they had any problems with the signal, etc. Be sure to ask them if they plan to attend the conference next year, on-site or online. It’s also beneficial to track how many times the presentations were accessed post-event.

SMG-managed facilities such as the Colorado Convention Center in Denver have instituted a green meetings program, giving planners a place to begin when organizing events.

“I think everyone all over the world is confused about which standard should take precedence over the other and how to incorporate all of them if you don’t want to take favorites,” says Jamie Nack, owner of Three Squares Inc., an environmental consulting firm that produces green meetings. “Hopefully the APEX standard will help create some consistency and help clear up some of the confusion.” In the meantime, a number of industry experts share their advice about how to weed through the options and make sound choices to help you plan green meetings.

It’s Up to You
Before planners become immersed in the different standards and certifications, they need to start by looking at their own organizations, says Nancy Zavada, principal of MeetGreen, a sustainability consulting firm. Examining your environmental mission, setting a sustainability policy and creating a green checklist is the best place to begin your green journey, she advises.

“Different organizations have different things that are important to them, so ask what’s really vital to your organization,” says Zavada. “Every organization or event should have a list of things that are very vital to them that they won’t waver from, so when you talk to the venue or do an RFP, these are your requirements.”

If coming up with your own checklist intimidates you, do some research and look for existing standards or guidelines to use as a template, advises Brittin Witzenburg, sustainability coordinator of the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.

“Use some standards or references that already exist. There’s no point in totally reinventing the wheel,” says Witzenburg. “APEX isn’t the only standard or checklist, so in many ways, a lot of it is upon the planners to educate themselves on what’s out there and what they feel or their organizations feel is most important.”

Start small by picking four or five green practices that matter most to you and stick with them, even if a venue or hotel has its own environmental policies in place that differ from yours. A good provider will be willing to work with you and do whatever they can to help you achieve your goals, says Lindsay Arell, sustainable program director at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.

“If a hotel or venue is saying, ‘This is what we’re doing,’ it’s great that they’re making the effort and educating clients, but if there’s something missing from those practices that you’d like to have or have experienced in other venues, you need to ask for that,” says Arell. “Communicate and collaborate.”

It’s Up to The Venue
When you have environmental priorities in place, you can begin to seek out green providers. How do you know if a venue, hotel or vendor is really green and not just “greenwashing,” or pretending to be green to benefit their bottom lines? This is where third-party environmental certification programs can serve as helpful guideposts. It’s essential to do your homework, be discerning and ask a lot of strategic questions, but certification programs can help guide you toward the right green partnerships, says Nack.

In Portland, a light-rail train stops in front of the Oregon Convention Center, a LEED-certified meeting facility.

“You can look for certifications as a way to cue you in to the point that at least the management on the hotel or venue side has recognized that this is important to them,” says Nack. “It’s a good indicator that there’s some buy-in from management there, but you might want to dig a little bit deeper to find out if the practices are in line with the certification or with what you’re looking for in terms of a venue partner.”

When choosing a green venue, it doesn’t hurt to look for facilities that have pulled out the big guns: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Created by the U.S. Green Building Council, this internationally recognized benchmark has been earned by approximately 20 convention centers and more than 100 hotels in the U.S., according to the USGBC.

Although LEED certification shouldn’t be a planner’s sole criteria for selecting a venue, it does demonstrate that a property or facility has made a serious investment and commitment to sustainability, says Matt Pizzuti, director of marketing for the Oregon Convention Center.

“It’s easy to say you’re green, but any facility that has a commitment to greening—a true dollars-on-the-table commitment—is going to be LEED certified,” says Pizzuti. “That is a benchmark that we see as a baseline for the venue side.”

Besides LEED, you can also look for SMG-managed convention facilities participating in SMG Green IMPACT, SMG Worldwide’s new corporate-wide greening program designed to help SMG-managed facilities initiate or further their greening practices in the areas of waste, energy, water and air quality. Modeled after the APEX/ASTM standard and designed to complement LEED, the voluntary program was launched late last year with the intent to create consistency and uniformity across SMG’s 225 facilities in North America, including 68 convention centers, according to Arell, sustainability director and brainchild of SMG Green IMPACT.

“One of the areas of focus will be making sure all facilities are measuring the same thing and have the same best practices in place, so if an SMG facility says it has recycling, there’s a consistent way it will approach and track it,” says Arell. “So when planners go into an SMG facility and recognize the SMG Green IMPACT program, they will have an understanding of how comprehensive that sustainability program really is.”

It’s Up to the Hotel
Although choosing hotels that are LEED-certified is a great way to reduce the environmental impact of your meeting, LEED can be cost-prohibitive. “For hotels, it’s a different ballgame because LEED is a big investment, so if you’re a chain and you have 600 hotels, making them LEED certified is a daunting proposition,” says Pizzuti. “So I can understand why they’ve gone to a Green Seal certification, which is also a third-party, vetted program for hotels, but it’s a far less costly program than LEED.”

Besides Green Seal, keep an eye out for third-party environmental certification through Green Key Global, Green Globe and Energy Star, as well as ISO 14001 certification, an internationally recognized standard for quality and environmental management. Many larger hotel brands have also developed their own internal greening and energy conservation programs, including Hilton Worldwide, Marriott International, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Omni Hotels and Resorts, and Gaylord Hotels and Convention Centers.

“It’s important to realize not every hotel is going to adopt the same certification program or strive to meet consistent standards because there are so many options out there,” says Wendy Scott, national account manager of Experient, which provides green site selection services for events. “However, as time goes on, certain programs such as LEED and Green Seal have emerged as leaders and you become able to discern different certifications faster. Internal programs implemented within different hotel brands also offer some very solid private standards, which should also be taken into high consideration.”

But whether a venue or hotel has its own progressive programs, LEED or any other third-party certification, what matters most is that the provider is willing to work with planners to help achieve sustainable objectives. “It’s a collaborative effort between a venue and a supplier and meeting planner,” says Witzenburg. “Here at the OCC, [sustainable practices are] just part of what we do in our standard operating procedures, so we don’t necessarily have an explicit checklist of sorts. There are clients that come in who maybe have their own ideas, but in many cases the things that they come in with aren’t necessarily going above and beyond anything that just comes naturally for us. [Planning a green meeting] works best when everyone is working on the same page together and customizing what needs to happen.”

It’s Up to the Destination
Another way to make the green provider selection process easier is by choosing destinations in states with green tourism and lodging programs. Virginia Green, for example, is a comprehensive statewide program run through a partnership among the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Tourism Corporation, and Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association.

Designed to reduce the environmental impact of the tourism industry and raise environmental awareness, the six-year-old program now has more than 1,100 participants in its suppliers network, including convention and conference centers, restaurants, hotels, suppliers and certified Virginia Green events.

Tom Griffin, Virginia Green consultant, says in order to be involved in the free program, which includes a listing in its online database and meetings guide, participants must follow a set of core requirements and be able to prove they are making strides in recycling and energy and water conservation. For example, to be a Virginia Green-certified convention or conference center, a venue must follow set guidelines for recycling, minimizing disposable food service products, water efficiency, energy conservation and have the ability to support green meetings and events.

Virginia has a state-wide program that identifies hotels, venues and attractions, including the Hampton Roads Convention Center, that meet certain sustainability requirements.

“Picking a destination in a state with a green program makes it easier for the planner doing a green event and saves them a lot of work,” says Griffin. “With Virginia, all you have to do is look for the green logo. Plus, you can certify your event as Virginia Green certified, which can be listed in our green events calendar.”

State green lodging programs are another resource for finding hotels that have made a commitment to conserving energy and resources. And although the number keeps growing, there are a myriad of states with green lodging programs, including California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, many of which offer certification programs. Although some critics may raise eyebrows at lodging programs that allow hotels to self-certify and audit their environmental performance to obtain and maintain certification, any environmental program is a good step in the right direction, says Scott.

“[These programs] play an important role in our work and often serve as a benchmark for our site selection process,” says Scott. “When we remember that very few programs even existed five years ago, the presence of statewide programs is a sign of the great interest and valuable outcomes programs such as these have for the economy and society.”

Until all the players and stakeholders in the green meetings industry are able to come together, follow more uniform standards and generate greater consistency across its many segments, it will be up to you to do your homework as you compare and contrast the various green programs and certifications permeating the industry. Although the APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meeting Standards may make the navigation process a whole lot easier, until that time, make sure to arm yourself with information, ask a lot of questions and most importantly, stick to your guns about what matters to you and your organization. Whether you choose to only do business with the greenest of green or work to educate less informed providers and push them in a greener direction, remember that it is the meeting planner who has the most power to keep moving this industry forward in a more environmentally friendly and hopefully more consistent direction.

Problems Solved

Many people still believe green meetings are more complicated and more expensive than standard events. On average, choosing greener options actually saves you money and helps you find extra dollars in your budget to pay for things that do cost a little more, such as organic food. Here are solutions to some of the most common green complaints:

Problem: Not every venue offers recycling.
Solution: If your venue doesn’t have a recycling infrastructure in place, try offering recycling sponsorships, which can be very popular with companies looking to brand themselves as green. Such sponsorships can support installing a temporary waste diversion system, including bringing in recycling receptacles and contracting a waste hauler to pick up recycling and compost after the event.

Problem: Attendees complain when water bottles are replaced with water dispensers.
Solution: Stopping bottled water is the easiest low-hanging fruit when it comes to saving money and going green. (Bottled water can cost more than $5 per bottle at many conference and convention centers.) Educate attendees on the amount of money and resources saved by going without plastic. Encourage them to carry reusable water bottles at the event and focus on opportunities where bulk water pitchers or dispensers make the most sense, such as at education or work sessions.

Problem: Eco-friendly promotional items are more expensive.
Solution: With increased demand and competition, prices are coming down. Make a point of checking in with vendors every six months to see if pricing has changed. Otherwise, consider eliminating traditional promotional items altogether. Do your attendees really need or want another pen?

Problem: It’s hard to find a venue that can properly dispose of or compost biodegradable name badge holders.
Solution: If the facility doesn’t have a composting program, find an option for reusing badges, either internally or by donation. You can often get two or three uses out of badges, so for easy collection, make sure to supply a basket or bin with clear signage where attendees can drop their badges after the event.

Problem: Speakers and attendees still expect printed handouts.
Solution: If printing is absolutely necessary, find ways to reduce. Offer a printed conference at-a-glance versus an entire conference program; prioritize important documents and use two-sided printing and post-consumer recycled paper whenever possible. Continue to provide electronic copies of programs, sessions and PowerPoints conveniently (and early) to promote your efforts.

Problem: The return rate on session evaluations is much greater via paper slips versus the event’s mobile app.
Solution: Send out evaluations via email to registered attendees immediately following the event and incentivize them with a prize. If that’s not an option, use half sheets of paper or combine sessions on one page. Use post-consumer recycled paper and recycle evaluations after they’re analyzed.

Problem: Excess promo materials cost money to ship back to the office and then have to be distributed and/or donated.
Solution: Take time to estimate your needed quantities as accurately as possible to avoid excess materials. Plan ahead with available local donor options or ask the venue if they already work with organizations or have suggestions. Consider materials that can be reused for the next event.

Problem: Some convention centers charge a fee to donate unused convention food to local shelters.
Solution: Depending on their health code policies, some venues cannot donate unused food. For those who can, there shouldn’t be a charge. Most food recovery organizations are willing to pick up donations when planned ahead of time and can often provide collection volunteers when needed. Discuss this with the convention services manager.

Problem: Organic food is more expensive.
Solution: Look at your overall food and beverage budget to see what costs more and what costs less, then get creative. For example, if you cut the size of meat portions down, you will have extra money for organic produce.

Social. It’s a word that strikes fear in some and excites others. Today it seems that everything is social. From social media to social networking to social technology to social business, the trend is all things social. It’s the new black. So what is the social conference? Does it mean adding more social media efforts to our event marketing? Is it allowing people to use social networks to communicate with speakers during the event? Is it integrating face-to-face audiences with live streaming remote audiences?

For me, one of the most critical things a conference organizer can do to appeal to our increasingly sophisticated audience is to design experiences that are more engaging, participatory and social. People are not coming to your conference for the content. (They can get that online.) They are coming for the conference experience. So make it social and less independent.

Humans are essentially social beings. Our meetings and events are complex social experiences. And our conference experiences have the power to alter our attendees’ minds.

When we require our attendees to sit passively and quietly in rows with little or no social interaction, we work against the brain’s natural social systems. We rob attendees of the chance to engage, interact and learn. We create social isolation in the midst of a crowd. In short, we are treating our attendees like robots trying to download data from the speaker into their hard drives: the brain. We think that if our attendees hear the information, they automatically learn it.

In traditional conferences, an expert stands at the front of the room and lectures to an audience that sits passively listening. It’s a one-way monologue. Research is clear that this conventional conference design is directly opposed to how our brains learn.

Conference organizers need to work hard at making a shift from long-established one-way, vertical presentations to more multi-directional education experiences. We need to create horizontal experiences where attendees are invited to talk to each other, talk about the content, talk with the speaker and engage in active learning with one other. This means fewer speaker monologues and more attendee dialogues.

In short, we need more structured and facilitated conversations to create a compelling, irresistible social conference experience that continues to attract today’s sophisticated audiences.

> Return to “The Challenge of Change“

Meetings are not inventive. In most cases, they look, feel and are delivered as they always have been. I, for one, get bored at most meetings. Given the opportunity to change anything now and for the future, I’d wave my magic wand and…

1. Make it all more visual: art on walls, sculpture in hallways, places to create art for the spontaneity of creating and using the right side of our brains. Invest in community and have community artists. Have items for sale for people who want a bit of the local flavor.

2. Add water and light in places that allow participants to relax. This means redesign of the traditional buildings we use for hotels. An article in the Sept. 19, 2011, issue of The New Yorker, “Laboratory Conditions,” gives insights into how design can change.

3. Use music, appropriate and thoughtful, designed to stimulate thinking and relaxation. Play is a bit of art, too. It’s the ability to use different parts of our bodies and brains, and to incorporate creativity differently into what we do. If a game of golf at a meeting is OK, then different play can be. And it can be created to accommodate all.

4. Create seating that’s not too low or too high—and in places convenient for conversations that bubble up when people gather.

5. Encourage intentionally created community and spontaneously created community encouraged by the venue and organizers, who may be the community themselves. (We’ve seen it happen with Tweetups. We’ll see it continue to happen and we’ll broaden the access to anyone without prejudice or membership.)

6. Provide more resources, outside the usual. That is, access to different thinking and the people who do it. This is an easy one; in every venue and virtually, there are people who are subject experts or subject-knowledgeable who want to share ideas.

7. Include reflection time without overcrowded agendas. No one needs that “one more” session or speaker no matter who they are. Having time to reflect, alone or with others (while seated near light and water in appropriate seating) allows us to regroup after filling our heads.

8. Offer experiences as part of the meeting that are designed to fill our heads differently. For example, I’d like to have an art tour at the D.C. convention center or at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia if I’m in those buildings for other purposes.

And for a start—because my magic wand is not that powerful—I’d immediately add the following:

1. Audience-centric room sets a la Paul Radde (thrival.com). Why, after all these years, are we still seated in the same bad chairs  in the same straight rows at the same draped tables? Let’s move stuff around and open it up. Let’s have spaces that allow participants to move and flex and write and talk and listen and learn.

2. Awareness about those who attend meetings and their needs: not because it’s PC, but because it is empathetic and appropriate. We’re all different and we learn from each other.

3. Comfort, defined however each of us wants to define it. My comfort includes availability of appropriate seating; bio-needs met including foods and beverages available throughout and not only from 10 to 10:30, at lunch and from 3 to 3:30; adequate restrooms that are near the space used; lighting that allows me to see; sound that allows me to hear; and signs and badges that are the right size to read.

4. Service from the venue and vendors and the meeting organizers from the minute I arrive until I leave. For example, I loved the story in The New York Times about the Occupy Wall Street protestors ordering pizzas. Who knew that protests could be so organized?

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could have more spontaneous meetings?

> Return to the “The Challenge of Change”

Joan Eisenstodt is a highly respected hospitality and meetings industry trainer, facilitator and consultant. She is the chief strategist of Eisenstodt Associates LLC, which provides clients with planning and management support for conferences, seminars and conventions. She has a passion for politics and social justice.

What would I kick to the curb and flush down the toilet? I have to be honest, there are so many things I would change it took me the better part of a week to come up with an answer, but I looked into the abyss and came up with one thing that we all suffer from in the meetings industry. The one thing that holds us back as a community. The one thing we must change. Fear. As an industry, we need to abandon our fear of anything and everything.

Fear is paralyzing. Fear is overwhelming and fear has brought down civilizations and I fear (pun intended) that fear is slowly eating away at our industry and making our skills and services nothing more than a commodity that can be done by a trained monkey or an online “meeting planning program.”

Our services used to be special; our services used to be  desired and considered essential. However, through our fear of losing that position, we have painted ourselves into a corner. Our fear takes many shapes. We are afraid of budgets. We are afraid of what the boss thinks. We are afraid of the attendee reaction. Because of this, we are producing meetings that are the same year after year because we will only do what has worked in the past. We will only do what is the tried and true. We will no longer take risks and make stakeholders and attendees understand why our talents are necessary.

There is no desire to shake things up because we might make a mistake, choose something that one person does not like or have a session that is a bomb. The heavens will tumble if we have one attendee who is unhappy; we fail to realize that is actually what we need to be doing.

Instead of recognizing that it is fear holding us back as an industry, we make excuses. We cannot try Pecha Kucha for our session because our speakers are not prepared for that. We cannot engage through social media—our attendees are not ready for that. We cannot have sponsored lanyards; it would upset the other sponsors. We cannot go from four days to three because it has always been four and it would confuse the attendees. These are all excuses that I hear from the meetings and events community everyday. The true reason is fear; fear of change.

Meeting and event planners need to abandon fear and let go. We, as an industry, need to take the time to learn and grow and not make excuses. Yes, you can have a hybrid event and stream your sessions; technology like WordPress and Livestream has made it affordable and doable so the only reason not too is fear. You are afraid of failing.

You can take the time to learn social media because your attendees are on all of those platforms. The excuse that “our attendees do not do that kind of thing” is a fear reaction.

If we abandon fear, we open ourselves to trying new session styles, trying new venues, new programs and new platforms. We open ourselves to running hybrid events and online campaigns. We can be the driving force in face-to-face interaction instead of backseat drivers letting fear rule the road.

> Return to “The Challenge of Change”

Keith Johnston is one of the most outspoken voices in the meetings industry. His PlannerWire blog doesn’t shy away from the often-caustic commentary as part of its stated purpose: “new thinking for meetings and events.”

The term “strategic event marketers” is common within the events industry, yet some planners remain hesitant to embrace a strategic event planning process. Acting as a strategist does not require one to understand or recite the organizational go-to-market plans or financial earnings. Rather, it is about understanding the event objectives and developing innovative tactics to create memorable attendee experiences.

If there is one thing I could change within the events industry, I would challenge all planners to become strategists and focus their attention on the attendee engagement versus merely logistics.

A successful strategy I often use is storytelling. It’s the concept of developing an event around one common message or storyline, and ensuring every element supporting the event connects the dots back to the main storyline. When the attendees can recite the storyline upon the leaving the gathering, you know you have successfully relayed your strategic message. The key is being consistent in the delivery. When executed effectively, the storyline should become intuitively obvious and, to double the punch, the attendees should feel inspired by the message.

Storytelling creates a huge opportunity for event strategists to cultivate longevity in the conference objectives. While the story is unveiled at the event, it can act as the foundation for post-event communications throughout the year.

In addition to storytelling, planners can also act as strategists by leveraging technology throughout their events. The event technology landscape is vast and the options, features and usage can be overwhelming. However, as planners we cannot allow ourselves to become paralyzed by the immensity of it, but rather see it as an opportunity to customize our specific event. When evaluating how and what technology to incorporate into an event, the handy storytelling strategy can act as a useful tool. Determine how the technology can help tell your story and connect to the event message.

A story used at Symantec’s annual sales conference was based on the need to motivate the attendees to propel their efforts from a successful 2011 into greater achievements in 2012. In an effort to understand the conference objective, the executive team was surveyed with a few key questions: One, how do you want the attendees to feel pre- and post-conference? And two, what is one message you want the attendees to walk away with? The responses helped shape the conference storyline into “Fast. Forward. Move fast and move forward into 2012.”

Vibrant, yet visually and tactically appealing, the storyline was carried through every conference element from the signage, website, messaging, evening events and even the technology.

To amplify the forward motion aspect, we used the hottest and latest technology trend of “gaming” to engage attendees. Mobile device applications are the direction of the future and a gaming experience was yet another opportunity to create a memorable event and drive home the common message.

A good event strategist is the heartbeat of a memorable event, and every planning decision should be leveraged to inspire the attendees and further the conference story. We need to challenge ourselves daily to act as strategists and implement new conference planning technologies.

> Return to The Challenge of Change

Ashely Muntan, CMP, is an event marketing manager for Symantec Corporation and resides in Atlanta. With more than 11 years in the industry, she project manages large events and takes pride in acting as the team “storytelling champion” and seeing projects come to fruition. 

With goals and objectives at the forefront, next look at audiovisual requirements, speaker needs and traffic flow, taking into consideration participant safety, comfort and accommodation for people with disabilities. If your program includes a food and beverage function, review your meeting room’s access to this service and decide if you will need these functions outside your meeting room or included within.

When deciding on a room setup, keep in mind three principles to guide choice of configuration:

◗ Set to the long side of the room. For a rectangular room, placing the speaker on the long side will put more of the audience closer to the presentation. If you are lacking space or using rear-screen projection, you may have to set the stage on the short side of the room to be more space efficient.

◗ Minimize straight-row seating. Set chairs in a semi-circle or herringbone (V-shape) to give the audience the best view of the presentation. With straight-row seating, you can only see the people next to you and the backs of heads of those in front of you. A semi-circle set enables viewing between persons.

◗ Avoid center aisles. The center of the room is the best viewing of the presentation and should not be wasted on an aisle. A center aisle would be necessary if you have entertainers entering or leaving through the center of the room.

With these principles in mind, it’s time to choose the ultimate setup for your next meeting.

Theater or Auditorium Style
This is the best setup for a large group where writing is not necessary and food is not served. Chairs are set in rows facing the speaker, stage or focal point of the room. Remember that a standard meeting room chair is narrower than most people’s bodies. Ask the hotel or venue not to set the chairs touching side-by-side and allow at least 2 inches between (4-6 inches for optimal comfort). This reduces the capacity of your room because not all chairs are used. You may not have a choice in chair spacing, however. Capacity restrictions and fire codes can dictate space between chairs, distance between rows and the number and width of aisles. Some hotels may use chairs that interlock to meet spacing requirements. Ask what the hotel’s regulations are up front and to provide diagrams of the various setups available. A last-minute change of setup due to fire code regulations can cost additional man hours.

Schoolroom or Classroom Style
This setup is best for meetings where attendees need to write or use a computer. It allows for minimal interaction between attendees and is best used for lectures and training meetings. Chairs are set at 6-foot or 8-foot tables facing the presenter. Standard seating is three people per 6-foot table and four people per 8-foot table. To allow for more workspace between attendees, ask the hotel to reduce this to two chairs per 6-foot table and three chairs per 8-foot table. This setup is most optimal for breakout sessions where entertainment is not used and thus center aisles create the best access for attendees entering and exiting the room.

Conference Style
This format is ideal for smaller groups where attendee interaction is a main objective. Seated around tables, participants have a direct view of their colleagues to facilitate discussions. Specify what type of table arrangements you need based on the objectives of your meeting:

Boardroom: One solid, rectangular table that can be an existing table in a hotel meeting room or created by putting together 30-inch-wide tables. This setup is best for a board of directors meeting with heavy discussions as participants are in closest reach to each other.

U-Shape: Tables are arranged in a horseshoe, which is ideal for meetings that need to facilitate discussion between attendees but also include an audiovisual presentation set at the opening of the “U.”

T-Shape: Best for a panel, presenters or lead management that needs to sit at the top of the “T” and direct the discussion down the length of the tables.

Hollow Square: Best for meetings that do not require an audiovisual presentation. If the hotel has serpentine tables, request a rounded hollow square setup to maximize seating on the ends. If these are not available, straight tables can be placed at an angle creating an angled hollow square setup.

Multi-Sided Shapes: Multi-sided shapes such as a diamond or octagonal are best for larger groups of 20 or more. They comfortably seat nearly every attendee at the end of a table and provide direct sight and voice communication to
participants.

Banquet Style
This setup works best for meetings that require food and beverage service and where participants are asked to break out into small groups. Setup includes 60-, 66- or 72-inch round tables with chairs around the entire table or only on one side—a crescent-round or half-moon setup. If your function includes a speaker or audiovisual presentation, the crescent-round setup allows for better viewing of the presentation while still facilitating discussion between attendees.

Combination Setups
For large conventions with a quick turnaround between meeting and meal functions, consider combining a theater-style setup with banquet tables at the back of the room. Attendees can easily move from one function to the next without major changes to the room setup.

No matter what setup you choose, remember to consult with your conference services manager on what setup has worked the best in his or her facility and any challenges that need to be overcome such as columns restricting sight lines or fire marshal restrictions. Facilitating a learning environment in accordance with your meeting’s objectives should take top priority. The more comfortable the room can be for attendees, from the width of the chairs to the temperature in the room, the more likely they will learn and interact on a higher level.

1. Incorporate green initiatives and actively highlight how they impact the meeting. For example: “By using recycled plant materials for centerpieces, we saved $2,000 dollars and applied that to bringing in a great speaker to better enhance your education.”

2. Add a corporate social responsibility activity to your meeting. Many activities can be brought on site to a meeting and provide measurable results so you can report to your attendees the direct impact they made.

3. Add time to the meeting agenda for attendees to interact and provide feedback on sessions. This allows attendees to truly digest and incorporate what they just heard versus rushing to the next session. It also allows for networking with other attendees, which increases the value of the time spent in a meeting.

4. Instead of an impersonal e-mail blast, offer a webinar or educational session to engage exhibitors on the resources available to help them exhibit successfully and reach their intended audience. Webinar topics could range from the destination itself to how exhibitors can increase booth traffic, find off-site venues for client entertainment and cut costs.

5.  Use social media outlets to engage exhibitors and attendees before, during and after the meeting. Don’t know what to talk about? Offer fun facts about the meeting destination or links to discounts.