Trade shows and conventions are ideal places to promote your meeting planning services, and are a great way to come in contact with large numbers of potential clients in a cost-effective, efficient manner. While there are many ways to advertise your business, few allow you to enjoy face-to-face contact with prospects like conventions and trade shows. As an added benefit, if you select events that are related to business, meeting planning, travel, event planning and related topics, the prospects with which you will come in contact have an increased likelihood of being members of your target audience.

This type of targeted marketing allows you to increase awareness of your services and expand your business, while staying withing your set marketing budget and avoiding incurring unnecessary costs. Advertising can be expensive, but you can rein in these costs by opting for tabling at events that focus on your market. If you plan to table at multiple events, it is well worth the initial investment to purchase a creative, professional display that is easy to put up and take down, and convenient to transport. This will cut down on your set up and break down time, and will keep your table looking organized and professional, allowing you to focus on meeting prospects and introducing them to your brand.

Many business meeting planners have taken steps to locate corporate meetings in centralized locations, which allows participants to attend meetings closer to home. This has come on the heels of pressure to limit the environmental effects of transportation and an increasing need to cut costs wherever possible.

This new consideration of locations is also an important factor in assisting your corporate clients in maintaining a positive image, particularly with everything from meeting locations and travel expenses, to the quality of food being served and additional amenities offered being reported in the news or on various online channels.

Hosting meetings closer to where participants live means using more regional transportation. While train travel and charter buses are two viable options, many clients will require air travel to accommodate tight schedules and busy professionals.

Fortunately, there is a new trend in air travel that makes this option more appealing to higher-end clientele. Major airlines, such as Delta, Northwest, United and American Eagle are now offering premium seating and service on regional flights. First class and business class seating options are no longer reserved solely for mainline flights and are quickly becoming the norm for regional subsidiaries.

This is great news for business meeting planners that cater to clients who prefer premium services, or companies that wish to offer upscale seating as part of their incentive travel packages.

Hawaii is one of the most desirable meeting and incentive destinations.  It is a place that inspires your attendees, and  one that people everywhere in the world dream to visit.  Participation in Hawaii incentive events generally exceeds expectations, so Hawaiian incentives can be relied on to deliver on ROI.  This is true especially in tough economic times.

The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB), offers meeting and incentive planners "one stop shopping" to plan a meeting in Hawaii.  They have the resources, knowledge, and connections to maximize the value of a business meeting experience for planners and their clients. They recently launched an exciting new online initiative called the Added Value Resource Center at BusinessAloha.com.  Planners can go to the site and take advantage of several innovative programs to help them save money, without sacrificing the quality of the overall Hawaii meeting experience.

Without a doubt the word “green” has taken on new meaning over the last 20 years, and everyone is concerned about it. There is even a lot of talk about environmentally friendly green meetings, and at some point you as a meeting planner are going to come face to face with some very specific client concerns about this issue. Here are some things to think about when planning a green business meeting or event.

Green Hotels

Hotels are becoming more energy conscious, and many new hotel buildings are LEEDS certified. From solar panels and recycled/recyclable materials to geothermal and wind power, hotels are looking for ways to become more energy–and cost–efficient. In fact, many of them will help meeting planners find ways to make your meeting or event more environmentally responsible.  Some hotels even have cost-effective organic food offerings, as well as a no-phone book policy.

Green Incentive Destinations

If you and/or your clients are concerned about the environmental impact of incentive travel, think about keeping your events closer to home. Of course, your participants may like to do special non-event activities, but every area has something special about it to appeal to almost everyone. If you can’t find an appropriate venue locally, think about finding travel options that are environmentally friendly and use mass transit when possible.

Of course, there are other things you can do that would warrant a blog all by themselves. Going paperless is one idea, and there are many ways to approach this idea. Recycling on a major scale for large events is a critical part of green meetings. Avoid products that use plastic, shun disposables, and take advantage of local products. You can probably find many other smaller ways yourself that will add up and give your meeting the green stamp of approval.

Source:  TheMeetingPlannersGuide.com

When you are trying to plan a great business meeting event, you want to everything perfect so that it all goes as planned. This may not always be easy and in fact you will have to work hard at it to make sure that it does go the way that you are hoping. As long as you have the right materials and the work ethic to do it, you will have a great and successful time.

There are four ways to ensure that your business meeting event will just as you have planned. You will first want to make a budget. Once you know how much you can afford to spend on this special occasion, you will then be able to plan out all that you have to spend on your purchases. This will give you some kind of start so that you can follow through on it. It is very important to stick to your budget so that you are not forced to go over and have to find ways to pay the extra cost. Read the rest of this entry »

No matter if you are meeting in Canada or the United States,  Niagara Falls offer a beautiful and exciting place to hold your business meeting. Not only is it “the” place to go for scenic beauty and to witness the raw power of nature in its fluid form, Niagara Falls (Canada or New York) is home to many other activities away from the falls.

With thousands of hotel rooms available to visitors, there are tours, golf courses, casinos, and wineries, among other activities. There are also several different ways to view to falls. You can walk the Rainbow Bridge, take a ride out on a power boat, or transverse the falls in a helicopter for spectacular aerial views. When you’re done with your tour, fill your empty tank at one of the amazing local restaurants, some with unique views of the falls.

What about the meeting space? There are lots of properties now that offer plenty of high-tech space for conferences, and more is being created every day. Hotels and resorts are also springing up, adding plenty of meeting space.

Once the darling of honeymoon couples, businesses can now take advantage of one of the most stunning places on earth at Niagara Falls. To miss it is to miss a great opportunity to keep your meeting and event clients very happy.

If you have ever gone to a special celebration or conference, you may have noticed a theme to the event. Some of the most popular are island themes, international themes, sports themes, and motivational themes. However, if your client wants a them and yet has no idea what she wants, ask her these questions to help give you some ideas.

1. What is your company best known for?

Some companies are known for being eco-friendly, others for supporting children’s charities, others for being extremely good at what they do. You can create your themes around those special qualities.

2. Has the company bounced back from any recent hardships that it should be recognized for?

Many companies have suffered from recent financial woes, and if they have been the comeback kid, you can create a great theme from that success. Notable sports figure who were recognized for coming from behind to win often have careers in public speaking, and you can plan around other aspects of winning from the underdog position. Read the rest of this entry »

As a business meeting and event planner, you are continually seeking for ideas to add value to your services. Recently the federal government set forth guidelines to the corporations receiving bailout cash. These guidelines can essentially assist you to be a more valuable planner.

The boards of directors of firms acquiring unusual aid from the government have got to adopt a company-wide policy on any disbursements connected to air transportation services, entertainment and holiday parties, and conferences and events. This policy is not designed to include conservative expenses for sales conferences, team development, acceptable performance incentives and other standards attached to a corporation’s usual business operations. What does this mean? Here are some of the provisions and ways you can utilize them to cause your client’s corporations appear golden even if they are planning incentive travel. Read the rest of this entry »

Planners everywhere have noticed hotel rates have taken a bit of a dive. But did you also know that it has made several of the upscale destinations affordable for clients who would normally book second-tier–or even less expensive–accommodations? It’s true. At least for the time being, locations that were previously off limits due to price are now more available than ever before.

Part of the problem, as you might imagine, is the economy. Companies have cancelled meetings, groups have put off conventions, and general travel is down across the globe. The other problem is the restriction placed on companies by the public eye. They do not want to seem like spendthrifts in the wake of the recent collapse of some of the business giants in the United States. Read the rest of this entry »