In it, there is the latest business news from Washington DC along with each state of the union. They have wonderful business articles written by very successful business professionals. There is even a section that has free access to key business forms and agreements.

What amazes me most of all is the extensive amount of links to business related journals and publications that you can either read online or subscribe to.

Whether you work for yourself or are employed by someone else, this site is a very valuable book mark for every business computer.

My second choice as a valuable resource for business people and business executives is CEO Express . com. You can check on newspapers from around the country, book a rental car or airplane ticket, even do industry specific research with its unique online library.

While there is much to be said about having too much, many of these companies could probably cut the number of meetings in half. They probably spend too much money in this category.

The companies that do not hold enough meetings should consider upping their schedule at least once a quarter. They do not have to be elaborate productions. You want to be able to alert employees and customers alike in the latest developments and direction that the company is taking.

Informal polls are still showing that, for the greater part, many companies are still holding too many meetings during the year. I hear all to often that the executives are suffering from “information overload.” Company executives should consider the information given out be in small “packages” in the form of  collateral material that is mailed out to the employees and possibly hold two main interdepartmental meetings per year to recap. The rest of the information that has to be distributed between these times should be posted on the company website.

The workplace will be more productive if the meetings were gauged according to the true needs of the company.

We find that our own customers can’t seem to “justify” added expenses of event production, for instance, the use of a new high tech gizmo called the “Spider System,” which is simply, an extra large rear TV screen that can take the whole width of the stage and can project over three to four separate videos simultaneously with different content on each of them. Now, although this may seem extravagant, AND expensive to use, here is the ROI…..with more screens:

1) There is more options to show more information in less time.

2) There is no need to have stage decor as this system can synthesize virtual decor, at will.

3) There is no need to use equipment that separates the camera image of the speaker, the PowerPoint presentation, and also a live satellite feed of a speaker in a remote location.

4) The “shock and awe” effect of this state of the art device would be more memorable to the attendees and therefore brand recognition is enhanced.

In conclusion, we, in the special event production field, has to be more descriptive of the “non-tangible” aspect of ROI. We have to convince customers now that the rolling out of the complete “strategy” as opposed to the “tactical” is more important than ever in the the chase for the ROI “pot of gold”

The most important part of how to think about ROI now is not the dollars returned, rather, how the new customer is attracted and how the current customer is retained.

For more articles on meetings and tips and tricks of meeting planning, go to www.p2events.com

The greatest advantage of a weblog is that it attracts feedback from the attendees and sets their expectations at ease when providing an itinerary and reveal of the main features of the event.

Another great feature of the weblog is the polling feature which can measure, in advance, what the attendess would like in the upcoming meeting. That serves to offer up what they like in advance. What better way than to make the meeting more fulfilling by giving them what they want, without trying to be a “mind reader.” Then, after the event is over, you can still keep the weblog up to get some real feedback from all who attended. What a valuable tool.

WordPress is a great platform and is free to set up and operate. Also try Blogger or Typepad. Whatever your choice, do it now. It takes about 7 minutes to set up and you can start entering information of your event ASAP.

Now, since the hotel makes additional revenue from your meeting, this provides another avenue of negotiation of bulk pricing on hotel rooms, food and A/V services. I have found that, since the in house meeting planner usually makes a hefty mark up on all their subcontractors, they will be flexible to adjust overall budget on hotel items. Remember, the hotel is in “aggressive mode” to get your business.

When holding off site events within the conference time period, I prefer to research outside the host venue. because of potential conflict of interest issues. There are some unscrupulous properties that funnel off property events to only a select few locations because of some “financial tie” to that location. Quite often, it may not be in your best interest, both from a theme and pricing standpoint.

Moral of this post: buyer beware!

With the old cliche, “think outside the box,” comes another way to produce your upcoming meeting. It could just revolutionize how business gets the “message” out to the employee ranks.

An idea that we came up with is “hybrid conferences.” In these conferences, each attendee is given, in advance of the actual conference date, a binder with the complete meeting agenda, complete meeting content, a keynote’ summary of the topic, and complete reference materials.The next component is the actual venue for the meeting, which is made up of breakout rooms as opposed to the customary large general session room. Each attendee is required to have pre-read all the materials within days of the conference. Upon on site registration, they will start with heading toward their breakout rooms and getting down to “business” with instructors that rehash all the content in the binders. The instructors soon will have a Q & A midway through the presentation.

The main difference here in the hybrid conference is that the attendees have all the information ahead of time and have questions or comments taken down in advance of the conference. We safely assume that the attendee will have more retention of the content of the conference as opposed to the content being presented “fresh” on site with little time to digest all the details during the conference period. When the employee returns to work from the conference with freshly presented material, the likelihood of putting the conference material “aside” and not look over it is great.

To reivew, the hybrid conferences achieves:

1) Assurance that all the attendees absorb the information presented because they would have complete advance information of the content that will be shown. The conference at the actual venue would then be a “review” of all they read prior. In essence they are going over the material twice. Repetition is important in the learning and retention proces.

2) This will reduce the length of the conference by an average of two days at thereby saving on costs. Employees can get back to work and put into practice the information from the conference immediately.

3) Meeting planner can book smaller breakout rooms and can abreviate full day activities, this saving more money.

Although this type of conference may not work for every business, we feel that it is a viable option to think about in the future.

Now, we consider the DMC a “partner” in producing the whole event. The event and meeting planner is responsible for initial contact and management with the end user client. The DMC is the “second half” of the planner team. They can assist with out of town venue selection, refer the best local attractions and diversions for the group, as well as the “local” connections with any other last minute need my client has.

The event/meeting planner has no less to do in their duties. There is still the planning of the date and theme of the event. Assisting with the registration process, signage, collateral material, procurement of awards, booking of speakers, stage/sound/lighting, show management, event scripting, etc.

One of the greatest contributions of the DMC is saving literally hundreds of hours scouring the out of town location for the best suited venue, and local attractions and support personnel. The combination of the event/meeting planner with the DMC is a great “one-two punch” that the client will see as contributing to a flawless event.

DMC’s have come a long way in just a few short years. We as planners embrace their existence.

As in independent meeting planner, my subcontractors represent my business, P2 Events, and has the power to make or break my reputation of being a high service organization. There are so many details that are involved in planning special events and meetings, that there can be no room for error. WE must know our job duties without flaw, we must be courteous and professional, we must be super organized, and most of all, we have to show how we integrate all our services seamlessly into the clients event.

I thank my lucky stars that all of my subcontractors have been with me from the beginning over 13 years ago. We have developed a solid bond of trust.

Appreciate your subs. Be on the look out for more quality subs to add to your existing list. I cannot stress enough how important they can be to your bottom line profits. You take care of them and they will take care of you and your client.

My preference is to utilize a “not so well known” speaker that has command over his/her topic. It is so important to do due diligence when shopping. Yes, price is the first thing to consider when hiring a speaker, but quite often that is not the only overriding criteria.

There are horror stories that can be said to hire an expensive speaker as well as a low priced speaker.

When hiring the “expensive” speaker, it is like hiring a rock star. The rider requirements alone could eat up your contingency budgets. I have noticed that the business category of speakers are commanding the most dollars…say upper 5 figures to 1 M plus. There are inherent problems with hiring this speaker, most notably managing the “ego” as well as the MISC demands. The key here is to remember that hiring the national or internationally known speaker is going to attract favorable attendance immediately. The speaker’s topic is still going to be important in making the right choice.

In contrast, the “unknown” speaker has much more value to bring, providing he/she is very capable to talk on the topic hired for. I have faith in the “up and comers,” because first, they can give you the best “bang for the buck” and will work harder to fit into the theme of the meeting or conference. They have more to lose than the well known speaker to get booked again with your business. Again, I say shop carefully in this category. Get referrals, get many testimonials and get a live phone converstation with the prospective speaker. You can get a very good feel for the personality of the speaker while talking on the phone during the pre-interview. I have often found that the up and comer speaker often will have content that rivals the speakers costing 10 times their price. One last consideration: make sure that the prospective speaker has and entertaining presentation. This is key to hold the attendees attention. I will expand on this in a future post.

We will be presenting many new tips and tricks in the event planning and meeting field. There will also be CD’s and ebooks for sale that will make your planning job much easier and save you money.

Starting from March 12, I will be writing weekly articles that will be helpful for meeting planners, newbies in event planning, travel agents and specialty event managers.

Visit our site now and give me your feedback. Let us know what you want to see in the site. I am certainly open to new ideas.