Whether you run your own meeting planning company or are a meeting planning professional employed by a major corporation, self-promotion should be considered an integral part of your job. Many meeting planners avoid self-promotion for one reason or another, but if you do not have the confidence in your skills and the motivation to get out there and get your name known, others will likely pick up on this and may not have complete confidence in your meeting planning skills.

Self-promotion is, of course, absolutely imperative for self-employed meeting planners and is a key component in landing new clients and sparking interest in your services. Making yourself available as a speaker, writing articles for trade publications, maintaining a blog and billing yourself as an expert are all excellent forms of self-promotion that will increase awareness of your meeting planning services and will instill confidence in potential clients considering using you for their meeting planning needs.

For planners currently working for corporations or non-profit organizations, self-promotion is also important. Participating in the abovementioned activities, such as blogging about event and meeting planning, offering your expertise to partner organizations or writing articles, can increase exposure for your current employer, while also positioning you for stepping out on your own at some point or increasing your marketability to potential future employers.

Money and time are at a premium in this fast-paced world. It is harder and harder to make time and place in the budget to attend meetings no matter how attractive travel and hotel rates may be. One way to step around the challenges of the present economy is to use video streaming.

Video streaming is communicating live from one computer to another. All you need is healthy internet connection and a web cam plus the skill and confidence to use them. A live stream allows more people to attend your presentation in real time.

The presenter’s charismatic appeal and knowledge base will speak equally loudly to remote viewers as they will to up close and personal attendees. In addition, a symposium may have several panels and cover a range of topics. Remote viewers can pay for individual panels at a reduced rate.

Record the event and sell the DVDs on your company’s website. This benefits attendees who can watch panels they may have missed at the conference and individuals who were not able to watch the live streaming.  Allow room for comments and questions on your website, either through a comment page or by providing an email address for queries. Video streaming is a good way to increase both attendance and revenue for your presentation.

There has been a lot of talk of government restrictions on corporate travel. Frivolous expenditures in other departments has brought meeting travel under scrutiny. However, if planners study the guidelines and make the government a partner instead of an adversary, they can make the recession work in their favor.

First, Look at the Bright Side

No one likes a perennial Pollyanna, but if you look at the positive things the guidelines will do it can help you work your way into a special place in the companies you serve. It will make you a better planner. When you talk to your clients your voice will have a new spirit of confidence. You will have ready solution for their problems. You will be able to give them more value. Read the rest of this entry »