When a large group books an event in a city, it does not go unnoticed. Events bring in a great deal of cash to a host community, and sometimes visitors help the community in some way as well. For instance, some of them offer left over things like packaged lunches to homeless shelters, and unused packages of plastic utensils to hospitals. Others are careful to recycle and make as small a footprint as possible–and some are amazingly small.

Communities notices these things, and every one of them makes a company more visible. How your group is noticed is critical to your success as a meeting planner, especially these days when meetings and events may be viewed as a frivolous waste of cash. Here are some ways you can help your clients continue their meetings but remain as a positive force. Read the rest of this entry »

Most people want to perform well at their jobs. It makes a difference in their paychecks, their futures, and their lives. But to make a difference in someone else’s life is important to many people, too. A meeting planner has the power not only to do that as an individual, but also as a professional. In fact, what a meeting planner does with just one meeting can make a huge impact on the community surrounding the event. This makes the concepts of “reduce, reuse, recycle” a critical component of his or her job.
The first step of this for meeting planners is reduce. This does not mean where can you cut corners, but where can you cut costs as well as waste. For instance, do the conference participants really need a plastic bag full of coupons for local restaurants and key chains with the event title on them? Probably not. Many conferences now use canvas bags, but they are slim and do not hold much. You might increase the sales of vendors who attend as well as provide a reusable resource by providing grocery-sized canvas bags. You could also eliminate any plastic gimmicky-looking doodads in favor of energy bars. Read the rest of this entry »