The Inspector General’s report released last week revealed that the 300-delegate GSA meeting cost nearly $823,000, of which more than $136,000 was spent on site visits. Media reports focused on budgetary excess and poked fun at several activities included in the meeting held at a Nevada resort. Among other things, GSA was criticized for hiring a $3,200 mentalist.

Perhaps GSA didn’t know its goals for the meeting, though it is difficult to understand why the event’s planners did not make sure the objectives complied with government meeting guidelines. For example, if the mentalist was the general session hook and inspired participants to think more creatively about their jobs, it could be argued that the entertainer was better fit for the budget than hiring a six-figure speaker. If one objective was educating attendees, it’s possible they could have gained that education by networking with their peers and sharing ideas.

Whether your meeting objectives call for engaging a major speaker or simply organizing a think-tank roundtable, the deciding factor is understanding the expected return on a meeting, and analyzing the final outcome through a detailed review of the budget. There shouldn’t be any surprises.

More than three years ago I spoke with Bruce MacMillan, president and CEO of Meeting Professionals International, regarding the state of our industry. At that time, MPI’s 2008 Business Barometer found that corporate meetings had suffered more from the economic downturn than association meetings had. Placing part of the blame on the AIG Effect, MacMillan said the ill-timed, much-publicized AIG corporate retreat caused “corporations to make an analysis of the impact of turmoil on their own businesses.” MacMillan predicted a wider impact on the meetings industry at the time, stating, “I think the specter of federal regulation in one way, shape or form on certain industries or organizations is on the radar screen.”

In September 2011, the spotlight was turned on government meetings and the term “muffin-gate” was coined, referring to Justice Department employees expensing hotel breakfast muffins allegedly costing $16 each. A closer scrutiny of the costs associated with that event showed that the $16 per person charge included beverages and other break items, and were partially covered by other concessions. Whether justified or not, the overall affect on our industry is often negative and puts planners on the defensive.

At the time of the AIG media blitz, I also spoke with Warren Marr of PricewaterhouseCoopers, who told me, “If you can show an immediate return-on-investment by attending a meeting, a forward-looking CFO or CEO, whoever’s making the decisions, may listen to you. If it’s maintaining our networks and connectivity, that makes a lot of sense right now.”

What Marr said then still applies, and is understood by most planning professionals: Connecting face-to-face is still paramount as long as it complies with a meeting’s budget and organization’s guidelines. Planners don’t need mind readers and muffins to understand that.

Priceless Quote:
“These are 200 of the highest-producing, highest-achieving advisers,” AIG spokesman Mark Herr told the Associated Press at the time the corporation’s high-profile meeting hit the national media. “If you are going to recognize them, honor them, woo them, you are going to do it in a nice place.” Read “The AIG Effect” at Forbes.com.

Monica Compton, CMP, is a writer and event marketing consultant with Pinnacle Productions Inc., based in Atlanta, Georgia. She has 20 years experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally.

South by Southwest, the annual 10-day music, film, and interactive conference and festival in Austin, Texas, is a difficult yet enjoyable event to plan, says Mike Shea, executive director of the conference. He says to enjoy being a meeting planner, you have to thrive under pressure and love the challenge. “For 51 weeks, [event planning is] like building a bungee-jump tower out of toothpicks; it’s tedious and demanding,” Shea told U.S. News and World Report. “On week 52, you climb to the top and tie the bungee to your ankle and hope everything holds. Then you dust yourself off and start all over again.”

Meeting planning landed the top business job, and ranked No. 16 top job overall. Recently, the career made another list: the country’s most stressful jobs.

Oddly enough, audiovisual and catering do have some things in common, mainly the need for floor space and room access. Unfortunately, this little detail is often overlooked, causing logistical problems and frustration between both food servers and AV crews. So here are some rules to live by:

• First, always let your AV provider know if there is going to be any catering in a room. This includes buffets and serving stations, bars and especially served meals. Here’s the kicker: Give your AV company this tasty morsel of information before they set up the AV. Here’s why: AV setups often block access doors, usually on the wall where the stage is located. If that happens to be where catering needs to enter and exit, guess what? You’ve got a conflict.

• In addition to obstacles such as screens, drapery, scenery, projection towers, speaker stands, equipment racks and ground-supported equipment, there is also a string of cables and power cords that hook everything together, which can be trip hazards for servers. AV crews also need to have a place for their empty road cases, which most often are stored behind the stage, drape or screens. It can be a major undertaking to reposition all this stuff to make access for catering after it is already set up (which, by the way, usually comes with added cost to you). An AV company can usually work around catering needs, even though a solution may not make either party completely happy.

• Plan on space for catering and set some ground rules. Speaker stacks, equipment racks, camera platforms and stage pieces are completely off limits for use as serving platforms. Serving stations that are setup near or in front of technical positions can also cause some unraveling of nerves. Believe it or not, these things are common problems.

• Create an appropriate schedule: Catering needs time in the room to set tables and prep food and drinks. This can be a problem if AV gear is being set-up and dialed in, or if there is a scheduled rehearsal or equipment check going on. Also, let your AV provider know of any changes to the room in advance, such as closing or opening of air walls, any changes in seating configuration, or anything else that will affect room space.

• Finally, remember AV gear such as cameras and technical positions always require cabling, which usually is run along the floor and taped down. These cables might need to traverse open floor space as well as doorways. AV companies will do their best, but often have few options when it comes to cable paths.

Close to Home

Sustainable cooking is good for everyone involved in the process of creating it. And in a city known for being greener than green, no one understands this better than Jeff Hall, executive chef at the Moscone Center-West in San Francisco.

As a culinary professional who worked for many years in local eateries, Hall says he has enjoyed taking his experiences with sustainable cuisine in the smaller restaurant environment and translating them to the large-scale convention center. But this couldn’t happen without the support of Moscone’s food and beverage provider, Savor (a division of SMG), which began developing a sustainable program for its 50 properties across North America, Latin America and the Caribbean four years ago. Now, sourcing locally whenever possible has become the norm at Moscone, says Hall.

“All of our breads are baked fresh from a local bakery and we work with our produce company to help us utilize ingredients that are local and in season,” says Hall. “We have a lot of purchasing power, so we can wield our might with some of our vendors to help us get better pricing. [Most things] are sourced from California, but when you get into wintertime, the produce starts heading down toward the desert. We do a lot of custom menus, so if a corporate group is coming in February…we’ll create menus that reflect the season and the client’s needs, and hopefully everyone comes out happy.”

And making people happy while doing it sustainably is a win-win for convention centers nowadays, says David Skorka, Centerplate executive chef, convention centers, and executive chef at the Dallas Convention Center.

“Centerplate has always made it a priority to differentiate itself with regionality, the local identity of food, which then becomes a tie of sustainability,” says Skorka. “It’s always been an initiative and we’ve always worked in that direction, but especially over the past four or five years, it’s become even more important throughout the country and the world.”

And creating memorable experiences by designing environmentally friendly meals is a challenge Skorka enjoys. For the Professional Convention Management Association, held at the DCC in 2010, for example, Skorka created a fully compostable meal for 2,500 people, from compostable table linens to pressed bamboo plates. The response was overwhelmingly positive, says Skorka. “First and foremost, you want to provide a unique and different experience [for attendees],” says Skorka. “When you do menus like that, it sticks in people’s minds. And when you use something local, it adds that extra regionality and flair to your cuisine, and guests always enjoy that. You’re tasting your flavor profiles, especially in the peak of ripeness.”

Like Savor, Centerplate also encourages the chefs in each of its 42 convention centers to source and design menus using local ingredients whenever possible.

Working with clients to create memorable, custom menus that are sustainable and reflective of the region is also a specialty for Carmen Callo, executive chef at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. By sourcing ingredients from in-state farmers, growers, ranchers and suppliers, Callo is able to design delicious menus, and give guests a true taste of the Rocky Mountain region.

“Most commonly people associate [Colorado] with wild game, venison, elk, trout, Colorado lamb, goat milk and cheeses, so I enjoy taking any of those foods and putting them on the menu with different twists, while meeting the client’s theme and budget,” says Callo. “A lot of these shows are traveling the country, so the expectation is that the menus and the foods will reflect the region they’re in. This promotes creativity within the chef, [guests can] learn about that region, and most importantly, they’re going to be getting the freshest ingredients while supporting a healthier community.”

Budgetary Concerns

In this economy, groups are more cost-conscious than ever, and the price for some sustainable food items, such as organic, may be a sticking point.

“Once we go into proteins, there is a significant increase in cost,” says Callo. “Then there’s the understanding, the clear difference between sustainable and organic, and local and organic. The [price of organic] produce has come in line a lot better because there’s more demand for it from the average consumer, so there’s more of it, but once you get into proteins that have no antibiotics, are hormone-free, free-range, all-natural and all-organic, there’s still a premium cost associated with that.”

The solution? A planner can work with a chef to design delicious menus that contain seasonal ingredients and organic items that cost less, such as produce, dairy and baked goods. This way the group is still meeting the majority of its green cuisine goals while staying in budget, Callo says.

A little creative menu engineering can indeed go a long way in addressing customer price sensitivity, agrees Edward Lake, Northeast regional chef for sports and entertainment for Aramark, which has made a big push in sustainable food and beverage practices at its 35 North American convention centers within the past several years. “If a customer wants the entire menu to be organic and they’re price sensitive, we try to use organic products that aren’t as expensive,” says Lake. “We’ll try to offset a significantly priced protein with a reasonably priced organic vegetable. Our mission is to propose a value to our clients and to make sure we’re doing our best to give them the best for their buck.”

Farm to Meeting Room

Lake believes it also helps for convention center chefs to be knowledgeable about their farming communities so they can have an understanding of where the food is coming from and who produced it.

“All of our chefs are pretty passionate about knowing the growers, the farmers and the folks they get fish from, as well as where the food that they’re serving is coming from,” says Lake. “Speaking specifically around the convention center I’m responsible for, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, our commitment to the client was that we really wanted to be founded in the area, so if somebody was going to come here and it was going to be a destination for a meeting, we wanted them to walk away with a memorable experience that was authentic Pennsylvania/Philadelphia.”

With its proliferation of farmers, ranchers, growers and producers, and especially wine makers, the state of Washington is a great place to be a chef, says Jose Chavez, executive chef of the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. Chavez agrees that it’s not only important for chefs to know the local farming community, but also for them to get into the field and establish relationships with the growers themselves.

“I come from a background of farmers, so I think it’s very important to build relationships with farmers and growers,” says Chavez. “Normally every year I’ll go and meet with them a couple of times to see what kind of crop they’re growing and when it’s going to be harvested. I keep an eye on that and build and write my menus accordingly. We try to capitalize on just about anything in season, so if asparagus is in season, for instance, I use a lot of that and incorporate that in to our menus as much as I can.”

Many chefs who believe in sustainable cuisine also agree that the biggest benefit of sustainable sourcing and cooking is its impact on the earth. According to Blair Rasmussen, regional executive chef for Centerplate at the Vancouver Convention Centre in British Columbia, knowing where the food comes from and making sure ingredients are sourced in an environmentally conscious way is not just the responsible way to cook; it’s the only way to cook.

“I was born in Vancouver, I’ve lived here all my life, and this is the community I came from, so (cooking with local ingredients) is about the pride in showcasing what we produce in the area and also the quality of those items,” says Rasmussen. “Of course, it’s about flavor and how amazing the quality of the produce is and the freshness of it, but I also believe it’s good for the guests, it’s good for our community and ultimately it’s good for our planet. It’s so obvious it’s the right thing to do.”

As the culinary head of one of the greenest convention centers in North America, Rasmussen not only has the advantage of working in a venue that supports his longtime culinary vision, but also living in a region known for its bounty of sustainable produce, meats and seafood.

“We’re lucky in the same way that San Francisco, Portland and Seattle are lucky…it’s wonderful being a chef out here,” says Rasmussen. “But it’s not as if we can get everything locally [all the time]. In winter months production drops off and we have to buy from farms that are further south over the U.S. border, but we’re doing as much as humanly possible. When we get into seafood, there’s a major focus on local seafood…we use Ocean Wise accredited products. We also purchase Pacific scallops that are local and raised sustainably, as well as local, free-range chickens that are fed an all-vegetarian diet without hormones or antibiotics. All of our eggs are free-range and produced [locally].”

As planners become more enlightened about the benefits this kind of cuisine provides, many venues are seeing a steady increase in interest and demand when it comes time to plan event menus, and the Virginia Beach Convention Center is no exception. There are so many great reasons for planners to make a point to choose sustainable food and beverage, even if it costs a little more, says Paul Benson, executive chef for Distinctive Gourmet at the VBCC.

“One, I believe it’s healthier for them, plus they’re also helping the environment and are supporting local agriculture that supports our local economy and the local purveyors,” says Benson. “It’s important to treat ingredients and products properly so they are available for the future. The demand of sustainable ingredients has grown, and many companies are often willing to pay the extra expense. I believe this will continue to be a trend.”

And as the demand increases, not only will costs go down, it will also become easier for chefs to source more environmentally friendly options for their clients, says Hall. At the end of the day, it’s about planners making sure they give their attendees what they really want: fresh and healthy food.

“I think planners should [recognize that] this is what their customers are looking for right now—diverse, intelligent and more health-conscious eating,” says Hall. “People want more real food, and there’s so many more options out there for people to get real food instead of packaged. I also think it’s our job and our responsibility to care about the environment, and the financial impact that we can have on our community. So sustainable is also the financial sustainability within our community. I think that’s the reason convention centers are even in existence: to create jobs and bring in tourism. That’s why purchasing locally produced product is really important, because it gives back to the community and you’re contributing to people keeping their jobs.”

Last week, I was asked to attend a career day at a local elementary charter school to talk about my job as a magazine editor. I agreed, and was given a basic idea of what to expect. I’d talk for 20 or 30 minutes in a few different classes of third, fourth and fifth graders. I didn’t know much more than that.

Maybe it’s because I haven’t been around school-age children much in the past few years, but I was impressed from the moment I walked in the door. Like most meetings and events, a registration table was set up just inside the door. It wasn’t teachers or school administrators at the table; a group of four or five fifth graders checked me in instead. They were friendly, smiling as soon as I entered. One quickly asked if I was there for career day, and as soon as I shared my name, another had an information packet in hand for me. One girl went over my schedule with me, letting me know where I needed to be and when, pointing to the rooms on a highlighted map they’d prepared for me.

Talk about a good registration experience. Like most conferences I attend, I walked in with questions and a little apprehension, but they made me feel at ease. I even had a student escort between my sessions, making sure I made it to the right location. This group of young kids excelled when it came to registration and logistics for this small event. They smiled, spoke clearly and confidently handled my questions and concerns. I went to this school to teach them a few things about what I do for a living, but they taught me a few things about my industry, too. If a few fifth graders can handle an event so well, there’s no reason why this shouldn’t happen at every event.

Details: About 250 meeting industry professionals attended the live event, while another 60 people participated online by watching live streaming video and communicating with other attendees on Twitter and Skype. The conference was mostly education-based, with speakers addressing sustainable meetings topics in general sessions and breakouts.

Game On iPad app

New ideas: Conference organizers integrated a gaming component to the event. Attendees were divided into teams when they arrived, and each team was given an iPad. Throughout the conference, team members applied knowledge they learned during breakout sessions to complete a case study challenge as a team. Members were also encouraged to Tweet, post blogs, attend sessions, visit exhibitors and take part in a volunteer event, all of which added points to the team total.

The good and bad: A number of attendees commented that the gaming component really got them involved. It increased the number of attendees in sessions, created a team environment and helped people apply what they were learning in sessions directly to the case study. But the gaming component also hindered networking time as any free time between sessions was used to brainstorm with team members. There wasn’t enough time built in to the schedule to complete the tasks and have free time throughout the day. Also, team members often sat together during breakfast and lunch sessions, further separating them from other attendees.

Sustainability: Organizers chose the Doubletree Hotel because of its reputation as one of the nation’s greenest hotels. Meals included locally sourced food as part of the hotel’s FLOSS program, which stands for Fresh, Local, Organic, Seasonal, Sustainable. Attendees were encouraged to ride the light-rail transit system to and from the airport. All conference materials were given to attendees electronically in advance; schedules, speaker bios and other information could be pulled up on smartphones, iPads or laptops, but no printed materials were handed out during the conference.

Big announcement: Attendees were hoping to hear good news about the GMIC’s APEX green meeting standards, which have been in the works for a few years. They were hoping to hear a release date, and instead, the big announcement was that the standards would be released “soon.” Sue Tinnish, principal at SEAL Inc., and Lawrence Leonard, APEX program director at the Convention Industry Council, hinted that soon probably means sometime by the end of the year.

—Libby Hoppe

Area guest rooms: 148,000
Convention center: Las Vegas Convention Center
Exhibit space: 2 million square feet
Meeting rooms: 144

LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA

Area guest rooms: 5,000
Convention center: Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center
Exhibit space: 224,000 square feet
Meeting rooms: 34

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Area guest rooms: 92,50
Convention center: Los Angeles Convention Center
Exhibit space: 770,000 square feet
Meeting rooms: 68

PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA

Area guest rooms: 16,20
Convention center: Palm Springs Convention Center
Exhibit space: 112,000 square feet
Meeting rooms: 15

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

Area guest rooms: 57,00
Convention center: San Diego Convention Center
Exhibit space: 615,700 square feet
Meeting rooms: 72

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

Area guest rooms: 8,50
Convention center: San Jose Convention Center
Exhibit space: 143,000 square feet
Meeting rooms: 31

Area guest rooms: 30,000
Convention center: Dallas Convention Center
Exhibit space: 726,000 square feet
Meeting rooms: 96

FORT WORTH

Area guest rooms: 13,000
Convention center: Fort Worth Convention Center
Exhibit space: 253,000 square feet
Meeting rooms: 59,000 square feet

OKLAHOMA CITY

Area guestrooms: 15,000
Convention center: Cox Convention Center
Exhibit space: 100,000 square feet
Meeting rooms: 26

PHOENIX/SCOTTSDALE

Area guest rooms: 59,000
Convention center: Phoenix Convention Center
Exhibit space: 502,500 square feet
Meeting rooms: 150,000 square feet

SAN ANTONIO

Area guest rooms: 40,000
Convention center: Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center
Exhibit space: 438,000 square feet
Meeting rooms: 63

Meeting planners accounted for 56,600 jobs nationwide when last tallied in 2008, and that number is expected to grow faster than the average in the next decade—by 16 percent, according to the Labor Department. What’s fueling the growth? Despite a difficult couple of years of bank bailouts and a struggling economy, business is on the upswing. Organizations and corporations still recognize the value of face-to-face meetings and their necessity in a global market.

The report also notes the importance of continuing education as a tool for upward mobility. Certifications and credentials can help planners find high-paying jobs and create an opportunity to start their own businesses as independent planners (read “Going for Certification” to learn more about credentials and how to pursue them).

More on the career:
The good: Travel to interesting cities, high degree of accomplishment
The bad: Tight budgets, constant negotiations, high stress level at times
The pay: $44,780 median salary in 2009
The demands: Lots of travel, fast-paced work, on your feet at meetings and conventions
The requirements: Bachelor’s degree preferred, and real-world experience is a must
Advice on landing a job: “Take every opportunity to break into the field, even if it means catering or volunteering with a florist,” Roxanne Rukowicz Ladd, a Washington, D.C.-based meeting planner and principal of Behind the Scenes Events, told U.S. News and World Report. “You’ll build an appreciation for the time on your feet and what it takes to pull off a gig. All experience is good experience and will serve you well in becoming a more rounded candidate for a position within the industry.”

Knowing that demand for the career is going to increase is one reason to love being a meeting planner. Read more in “10 Reasons to Love Your Job” from the January issue of Connect magazine.

SITE SELECTION AND NEGOTIATIONS

Venues, CVBs, Room Blocks

1. Reach out and don’t be afraid to go after the city you want, but keep your cards close and do your shopping first. Don’t declare your top choices right away.
-Stephen Hahn, Marriott International

2. Don’t base site selection entirely on price. You’ll always find people who are prepared to underprice their services just to get business. But how good and reliable are they? Next time you’re tempted to make a buying decision based entirely on price, think again.
-Susan Friedmann, “Meeting & Event Planning For Dummies”

3. Always stop in and check out the public restrooms in the hotel or facility.
-Stephanie Hudson, Providence Events

4. Before contracting a hotel or convention center, ask if it utilizes a union labor force and specifically which departments are in the unions.
-Monica Compton, Pinnacle Productions Inc.

5. If a destination or property is new to you, go beyond the site visit tour and really experience a property, putting yourself in your attendees’ shoes. If possible, visit on your own and spend some time in the lobby.
-Cynthia Rich, independent planner

6. Anything can look beautiful on the Internet, but it’s only by visiting you realize that the after-golf luncheon you’re planning will be held in a tent in the parking lot and not an actual clubhouse. If you can’t make an inspection trip before the meeting, ask a local member for recommendations.
-Mike Sorem, National Technical Investigators Association

7. Rehearse your opening words before negotiations. Your opening words set the tone for the discussions that follow. Make certain that you know exactly what it is you want to say. Craft the words so that your message is clear and concise. Then spend time rehearsing your lines.
-Susan Friedmann, “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies”

8. Renegotiate contracts. You can’t do it with every one, but … this is a good time to buy, and negotiating is more viable now than it has been in the past.
-Lisa DeGolyer, Construction Owners Association of America

COMMUNICATION

Phone Calls, Silence, Introductions

9. Follow-up is a time-related concept. If you have a conversation with someone, take some immediate action within 24 hours (e.g., repeat the person’s name, make notes on the back of his or her business card to trigger what you discussed, especially key points the other person made). Then, within that same time frame, send an e-mail or personal note.
-Bob Littell, NetWeaving

10. Build relationships. Attend outings with your colleagues. Have a call date when people know you are available to talk.
-Sharon Seay, CMP, National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association

11. It seems obvious to do a site visit for an event, but sometimes there isn’t adequate funding—especially for new events—to travel and see the facility beforehand. This can cause major issues. To lessen those problems, communicate all your needs to the host location and facility beforehand, especially if you don’t see the site in advance.
-Will Engle, American Volleyball Coaches Association

12. Exercise Silence. The old saying “silence is golden” is particularly true around the negotiating table. Negotiating mavens know that when discussing a deal, the first to speak loses. In fact, the more you talk, the more information you’re supplying your opponents. Your silence will also help create the perception that you are a thoughtful and methodical decision-maker.
-Susan Friedmann, “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies”

13. If you are having a difficult time catching an unfamiliar name at an event, ask the person to spell it. Foreign names can be especially difficult to pick up, and people will appreciate you taking the time to spell and say their name correctly.
-Dallas Teague Snider, author and speaker

GOING GREEN

Recycling, Teamwork, Goals

14. Have processes in place to make sure everyone understands their goals. Document everything you’ve done, the good and the bad. The most effective learning tools are the barriers and obstacles you’ve overcome.
-Kimberly Lewis, U.S. Green Building Council

15. Going green is not just one step. It’s a journey, and it’s important to set up a green team to come up with what your organization’s goals are, and to assess your progress, your failures and your successes.
-Tracey Messina, Convene Green Alliance

16. Many green practices can be cost-saving or cost-neutral for both the supplier and the planner, including using china service rather than disposable dishware at meals, requesting that hotels change linens every other day and moving registration online to drastically reduce the cost of postage and paper.
-Amy Spatrisano, Meeting Strategies Worldwide

17. Make sure extra food is being donated and promote that fact to raise awareness among attendees and your organization.
-Joan Eisenstodt, hospitality consultant and educator

18. Encourage and award attendees for going green. Hand out “I was caught green-handed” buttons or offer contests for practices like carpooling and recycling, allowing the winners to go first in the food lines.
-Nancy Wilson and Cathy Kretz, CMPs, from their green meetings webinar

19. Guests and hosts learned from each other about the growing importance of going green, even in areas that were previously unknown to the vendor. Anticipate environmental needs, cultural differences and basic hardware that may be needed when you least expect it.
-Terrell D. Rich, Partners in Flight

MEETING FUNDAMENTALS

Budgets, RFPs, Programs

20. Always show up early for meetings and/or site visits unannounced. In that time, walk around, interact with staff members and ask questions so you are confident they will be able to help your guests should they have questions.
-Terry Tycholis, Can-Am Police-Fire Games

21. Keep in mind the things attendees hate: waiting in line, jam-packed schedules, PowerPoint, being talked at by speakers, bad food, misspelled name badges, bad signage, poor e-mail marketing, websites with no contact info and having to pay for Wi-Fi.
-Keith Johnston, PlannerWire

22. Consider when schools are in session or on a break when scheduling your event.
-Marge Carlisle, Little People of America

23. When attending events, it’s fine to collect 10 or more business cards, but narrow them down to three or four of the most important connections you’ve made.
-Bob Littell, NetWeaving

24. Have a separate room block for exhibitors. If you have space in your regular room blocks and can move them to the closer hotel, there will be no attrition.
-Janet Graff, CMP, Mednax Inc.

25. A comprehensive Request for Proposal should provide an overall evaluation of your meeting. Think of it like a resume, which offers job experience, references, history and more.
-Donn Oswald, Greater Phoenix CVB

26. Early planning is key. Be sure to be specific on your needs and expectations. Leave no detail uncovered or assumed. Everyone will be happier in the end if you follow these three simple rules.
-Amy Beadle, Springfield (Ill.) CVB

27. Whenever you need to make a change to some existing system, program, schedule or event, have a pool of people, or a “consequence team,” that can help you evaluate potential decisions and repercussions. This team could be other planners, friends, staff or outsiders, but a combination of all would be a great mixture. Sometimes when we bounce ideas off other planners, they only offer us one perspective, but an outsider may offer a totally new perspective that we hadn’t considered.
-Dean Jones, Connect and Rejuvenate Marketplace

28. When branding an event, make it simple. Whittle your message down to the essentials; remove everything else.
-Bruce Turkel, author and branding expert

29. Storytelling is another way to think about how to frame your meeting. 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.
-Lenn Millbower, Offbeat Training

30. Stay organized. Ninety percent of my work is done before the group hits the door. The curriculum, recipes, food cooked—my ducks are in a row so that I can relax and enjoy the group.
-Tami Cecil, chef and team-building facilitator, Woodhaven Farm

31. Date your ideas, but don’t marry them. Don’t be afraid to take risks, actually do what you say you’re going to do and think outside the box.
-Billy Kirsch, Kidbilly Music

FOOD & BEVERAGE

Action Stations, Wish Lists, Wow Factors

32. Dessert is a good place to go for the wow factor. Face it, attendees can not like the salad, find the meal just OK, but if you wow them with the dessert, they’ll remember the whole meal as being fantastic.
-Steve Enselein, Hyatt Hotels Corporation

33. Move away from lengthy meals to more action stations, where attendees can mingle and sample.
-Giorgi Di Lemis, Gaylord Hotels

34. Always use a trained bartender. This is not the place to cut corners.
-Bonnie Wallsh, Bonnie Wallsh Associates

35. Make sure you have a clear understanding of what goes toward your food and beverage minimum. While coffee breaks, receptions and meals should all be included, try to include such things as hospitality suites and F&B functions from sponsor organizations (who wouldn’t be there if not for your function).
-John Foster, hospitality attorney

36. Every destination or venue has its own specialty, sometimes synonymous with the season, the local growers, manufacturers and producers, or a chef who is noted for a contribution to the cuisine. When it’s a plentiful local product, hotel chefs and caterers will be happy to match your theme, or you can begin with their specialty menu items and create your theme accordingly. It also will be cost effective to use readily available ingredients.
-Liz Mitchell, Beaufort (S.C.) Regional Chamber of Commerce

37. Fresh and locally produced ingredients, intense rich flavors, and, thankfully, the demise of supersizing is where America’s chefs are trending.
-Robert Zappatelli, Benchmark Hospitality

38. Any meeting planner who wants to get the biggest bang for the buck should always talk to the chef. And don’t let any salesperson say you can’t talk to the chef.
-Janet Pickover, Site Inspections Plus

SECURITY

Privacy, Protection, Legal Issues

39. In the event of a hotel strike or other event disruption, look into your options for transportation. If attendees staying at the original hotel need to be shifted to another facility for the event, you need to plan how attendees will get there as safely and efficiently as possible. You can’t assume the original hotel will take care of these details for you.
-Philip Farina, Farina and Associates Ltd.

40. A force majeure provision should be included in every contract. It is also important to include a catchall provision such as the following: “or any other cause beyond the parties’ control.”
-Barbara Dunn, hospitality attorney

41. Make sure all exits are clearly visible, and all aisles, walkways and exits are clear of obstructions. Make sure all drapery and scenic material have been fireproofed.
-Scott Reagles, Initial Production Group

42. Tell attendees about emergency plans during housekeeping sessions.
-Joan Eisenstodt, hospitality consultant and educator

43. Partner with law enforcement agencies in the early planning stages for a better understanding of any overall threats, including recent crime information, as well as potential threats directed toward either the event or the facility.
-Bonnie Wallsh, Bonnie Wallsh Associates

44. Make sure the hotel and meeting center has a good paper shredder and find out what security measures are practical.
-Joan Eisenstodt, hospitality consultant and educator

TECHNOLOGY

Texting, Tweeting, Widgets

45. Mass text messages or text blasts are a great way to keep your group informed during an event.
-Natalie Konowal, Sigma Chi Fraternity

46. Engaging an audience ensures continuous attentiveness during longer presentations. During a 60-minute presentation, getting audience feedback after each 20-minute span of time can ensure that attendees’ brains remain in the “active” rather than “passive” mode so they retain more information.
-Ray Hansen, IML audience response systems

47. If you have decided that you are going to implement an event community, you need to teach people how to use it. You need to have a session and allow people to ask questions and really be patient, speak in plain English and not text terms. Do a one-hour Twitter 101 session to really give people an overview; it helps them not only for the event but it teaches people a new skill.
-Jessica Levin, Seven Degrees Communications

48. Go beyond Facebook and Twitter and utilize platforms like LinkedIn and Second Life to promote your event and get attendees involved.
-Martin Hess, American Club Association

49. Provide a website widget of the Twitter hashtag that users can post on blogs, personal pages and websites. This can be done using Twitter Fall, TwitterFountain, TweetGrid or Widgetbox.
-Jeff Hurt, Velvet Chainsaw Consulting

50. I could have my intern Twitter great things about us all week long, but when someone else Twitters about us who’s a trusted source, that is what’s most significant. Developing solid relationships with influential people in your niche audience who use social media is an incredible use of your time and energy. Those people, when they talk about you, they are going to drive attention and traffic in your direction.
-Matt Markins, Randall House

51. Use online registration. After the event, you will have a long list of the most active members of your organization, along with their mailing addresses, home addresses, e-mail addresses and other contact information. Use this list as a membership database and build on it between events.
-Sarah McNeely, Attendee Management Inc.

52. Ask the hotel or conference center for power cords left in lost and found. Keep them at the registration desk in case attendees need to recharge their electronic devices. They’ll thank you profusely.
-Cate Smith, Education Law Association

IN THE INDUSTRY

Questions, Karma, Travel

53. I’m a strong believer in karma. If there’s anything you can do to help the planner before or after you at a hotel or facility, then do it. Work with other planners to make their jobs easier. It always comes back to you one way or another.
-Jeff Johnston, American Contract Bridge League

54. Association memberships are expensive. Not only is there a yearly membership fee, but there are luncheons and other monthly events that cost money to attend. Instead of joining every association that may fit your need, focus on one that could bring you the most benefit, and once you choose that one association, get involved.
-Christine Doyle, Meeting Planning For You

55. Travelers should always plan for a trip to last a couple days longer than they anticipate. That means bringing extra money or credit cards that you can put a room on. When you are prepared, you aren’t as stressed by an unexpected situation.
-Thelma Goodwin, Ushers Association

56. No question is a dumb question.
-Sandra Schutrop, Hilton Hotels

57. Don’t brush off anyone. You never know when that destination or service will turn out to be the exact fit you’ve been looking for.
-Dean Jones, Connect and Rejuvenate Marketplace

58. When you are introduced to someone, try to use the person’s name three times during your initial exchange. For example: “Hi, John. So, John, which division do you work for in for Biotech? How long have you been with the company? Well, John, it was a pleasure to meet you. I hope to see you again sometime.” Using someone’s name during the exchange should provide ample opportunities to connect something to that person you could recall at a later date.
-Dallas Teague Snider, author and speaker

59. When you’re trying to get attendees to a meeting during the summertime, they want to make a vacation out of it, so choose destinations that can provide that to increase attendee numbers.
-Teri Dingler, Alabama Society of Otolaryngology

60. Content is king. Everyone wants to know what is going on. They want educational content that helps them sort through the volumes of information in their field. Where are the frontiers?
-Judy Randall, Randall Travel Marketing Inc.

TRADE SHOWS

Swag, Sponsors, Show floor

61. When it comes to sponsorship, if you don’t have the time to invest in it or don’t have the skill set to organize it, outsource it.
-Louise M. Felsher, CMP, meeting and event consultant

62. This positive environment is composed of many small details. Putting down carpet, for example, creates a more comfortable environment. As a result, they may stay on the show floor two or three hours longer, making them more likely to spend more.
-Susan Friedmann, “Meeting & Event Planning For Dummies”

63. With promotional products, buyers sometimes forget that shipping to the company address and then resending the shipment out to the destination wastes dollars. Do some research into fulfillment options at the event site and compare costs.
-Marty Bear, Professional Marketing Services Inc.

64. Ask your suppliers and your attendees what will make your show successful for them. Listen to them. Make sure the right people are coming.
-Chris Price, Graphic Arts Show Company

65. 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. The recruiting process has to be tight and specific.
-David Ecton, Syscom Technologies

66. The hanging banner is dead. It’s no longer just about how many people saw it. Rather, it’s about which people saw it and how long they viewed or interacted with it. Interactive and experiential sponsorships get attendees involved with brands, products and marketing messages.
-Charles W. Allen, The C.W. Allen Group

67. Give out trinkets (pens, magnets, paperweights, etc.) with the date of next year’s event on it.
-Susan Perry, The Perry Group

SPEAKERS

References, Storytelling, Timing

68. Tell a speaker the goals of your program and what you want to achieve. My story is my story. I have my core speech, but I’m always happy to adapt it to meet the needs of the group.
-Joan Brock, speaker

69. Talk with your speaker of choice about the timing of their presentation. Comedy is useless before 10 a.m. so don’t even bother earlier than that.
-Anita Renfroe, speaker

70. Request that speakers send you a list of six people you can call for a personal phone reference. When they give you the list, be sure to call the last three on the list. This will ensure that you are getting a true assessment, since most people will list the best references first.
-Dallas Teague Snider, author and speaker

71. Tell all the speakers one month before, one hour before and just before they speak how much time they have. Let them know that they will receive a sign (timer) to know when time is up. With prestigious speakers, this detail is sometimes avoided. Don’t avoid the discussion; they will understand.
-Pegine Echevarria, author and speaker

VOLUNTEERS

Excitement, Training, Empowerment

72. There are people who have volunteered for me before, and if there are ones I like, I’ll ask them again.
-Pat Ahaesy, P&V Enterprises

73. If possible, give a volunteer task that they’re interested in.
-Jo Anglea Maniaci, Special Events Planning

74. Try to get people within your organization to volunteer. If they have a reason to come and get something out of it, they will be more likely to be excited about volunteering.
-Stephanie Hudson, Providence Events

75. If you’re using volunteers for the first time, try to find people within your market segment. 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.
-Will Engle, American Volleyball Coaches Association

76. Use current volunteers to recruit volunteers. 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.
-Denise McGinn, Association Guidance

INSPIRATION

Ideas, Advice, Experience

77. Lots can go wrong that you as the meeting planner are the only one that knows about it. I have a new index to decide how bad something is: Did anybody die? If no one died, whatever it is, I can deal with.
-Garland Preddy, U.S. Marshals Service

78. Continually check everything and be ready for the surprises—they will occur.  Then manage them.
-John E. Saunders III, National Forum for Black Public Administrators

79. Constantly reinvent or challenge yourself to do new things. Play outside your sandbox. Explore things outside your realm of business only to discover how inside your business it is.
-Fabian De Rozario, National Association of Asian American Professionals

80. Don’t be afraid to outsource some services if it’s more cost-efficient for your [organization] and less of a headache for you.
-Rick Dungey, National Christmas Tree Association

81. Color is an important component that can tie the meeting together, bringing in all elements from invitations to flowers, food, linens, gifts and props. Colors can also help maximize budget. For example, you can use bowls of lemons instead of floral arrangements and pineapple-yogurt parfaits for a healthy, colorful dessert that also serves as table decoration.
-Diane Budion-Devitt, hospitality professor at New York University

82. 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.
-Bruce Turkel, author and branding expert

83. Fly by the seat of your pants. It’s just good old experience—what’s worked, what hasn’t.
-Dan Meyer, Sword Swallowers Association International

Don’t miss these expert tips:

Jason Ryan Dorsey’s seven tips on working with Gen Y.

James Spellos’ seven tips on meetings technology.

Nine tips from veteran planner Bonnie Wallsh.

Hospitality attorney Barbara Dunn’s five tips on legal and contract issues.

Eight tips from corporate planner Monica Compton.

Six tips from audiovisual specialist Scott Reagals.