Last night I saw a commercial by Priceline that made total sense to our business and industry. The concept is that your unused space is a perishable item and leaving it empty is not helping with your overall bottom line. Fact is that by pricing your venue to move, you'll immediately contribute to creating an additional source of revenue that can help pay administration costs and add substatially to your bottom line.

Always remember, a few $$ is much better than no $$.

 

Most planners want to do the right thing for the environment when organizing their meetings and events: They hire "green" vendors, use products that are friendly to the environment and book eco-conscious facilities. But are these suppliers, and your events, truly green?

Fortunately, there are some simple actions you can take to promote bona fide green practices at your meetings, trade shows and events. To ensure that your good intentions -- and dollars -- are well-placed, consider the following advice.

Everyday green
• Hire a green team. You have a true advantage when you know your vendors are working clean and green, too. The best way to source eco-conscious vendors is via a prequalified national list of certified green companies such as the Green Business League. On the site, planners can find essential vendor partners such as decorators, production firms and transportation companies.

Another terrific resource is thegreenbrideguide.com, which, along with all of the wedding advice, lists green suppliers for special events. For both conventional and unconventional vendor needs, check out theultimategreenlist.com for information on the best, brightest and newest green specialty companies.

• Beware of "greenwashing." This refers to a marketing ploy that positions firms with poor environmental records as ambassadors of green. Some notorious greenwashers are energy firms; in the meetings industry, transportation companies and food suppliers might employ the practice. Thegreenlifeonline.org (formerly Earth Day Resources) lists a number of firms that fall into this category.

• Buy local, seasonal produce and products. By purchasing local produce, you get fresher, more healthful options, and you eliminate wasteful transportation from distant sources. By sourcing in-season products, you avoid wasteful energy used for storage, packaging, handling and temperature control.

• Cut out all bottled water. Instead, supply nontoxic, reusable bottles, or encourage attendees to bring their own reusable bottles.

• Choose a green facility. Meet in a venue that leverages local resources and has a robust recycling program. San Francisco's Moscone Center (moscone.com), for example, is a pioneer in green convention center practices. To find other like-minded facilities, the Environmental Protection Agency lists green meeting venues at epa.gov/oppt/greenmeetings.

• Reduce or eliminate signage. You can certainly do without vinyl banners, in particular. If you do use signage, make sure it is general enough to be reused for future events.

• Rethink site visits. Do you need to travel to inspect a property? If two people were going to go, can the task be handled by one? Find ways to lower your carbon footprint -- the amount of carbon emitted by a person, business or event in a given period. To calculate your footprint, go to calculator.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx.

• Limit printed materials. Do you really need to publish a lengthy program guide or directory of exhibitors? Even if you use soy ink and recycled paper, the documents might not be necessary. Better yet: Allow attendees to download the program from your website before the show or at on-site kiosks.

Another idea: Load the program onto USB flash drives and distribute them at registration. You can even get drives made of bamboo to green the process further. Companies such as Imprint Items or Everything USB carry green thumb drives that can be customized with your company logo or event name.

Article By Louise M. Felsher, CMP, CMM via meetings-conventions.com

R7M Executive editor Jessica Heasley traveled to Microsoft headquarters on a mission to find out how one of the industry’s oldest tactical events departments changed its course to become a strategic powerhouse. Here, an exclusive interview with general manager-events and studios Jeff Singsaas and director-event marketing Kati Quigley on the evolution of event marketing.

http://vimeo.com/9191807 

Low hotel rates are bringing negotiating opportunities to meeting buyers looking to secure events for 2011 and beyond, but some are reporting resistance from hotels in locking in rates and terms too far down the line. Consultants, meanwhile, are recommending a few extra levels of protection with advance bookings, such as reciprocal cancellation clauses and deposits.

U.S. hotel rates last year were 8.7 percent lower than 2008 levels, Smith Travel Research said, and some meeting buyers are seizing the opportunity. Kirsten Olean, director of meetings for the Association of American Medical Colleges, told MeetingNews in December that although she typically books 18 months in advance, she has been trying to book as far ahead as 2012 to take advantage of current deals. However, some cities' hotels, such as Chicago, are not showing a willingness to bid on small pieces of business that far in advance, she said.

Large group business, however, is having some success with advanced booking, said Steve O'Malley, vice president of Maxvantage, the strategic meetings assessment program born of the alliance between American Express Business Travel and Maritz Travel. O'Malley said he's seeing hotels respond to advance requests for proposals without reticence. Corporate meeting buyers, however, often are not able to book as far in advance as usual because of their own policies, he said.

"In many cases, we were working with customers to book four years in advance for automobile shows, product launches and corporate meetings, but a new normal has been set," O'Malley said. "Still, we do have many customers we're working with looking at two- and three-year plans, and hotels are very desirous for that business."

George Odom, senior consultant for BCD Travel consulting arm Advito, said he sees few on the corporate meeting side booking more than 18 months or two years out. Like O'Malley, however, he said there are savings opportunities for those who are doing so.

"Hotels are offering good rates and are glad to have the business," Odom said. "A number of hotels are actually guaranteeing rates years from now. Even if you look at transient rates, a lot of them are doing them for two years flat."

Omni Hotels vice president of sales and distribution Tom Faust said he's seeing an increase in advance group bookings. "The savvy meeting planners are recognizing that there are a lot of deals to be had," he said. "2011 is not that far away, and as demand increases, those prime available dates are going to go away."

Cities like New York that are gaining pricing power make advance bookings more difficult, but there are opportunities in secondary cities and major meeting venues, such as Las Vegas, O'Malley said.

Advance bookings are not without risk. Olean said she's seeing hotels show more resistance to signing reciprocal cancellation clauses, which specify compensation from hotels to meeting planners for costs related to a cancellation of the event by the hotel, such as finding another venue. The concern for meeting planners would be that if rates rise significantly in the next few years, hotels might find it advantageous to cancel a planned event to bring in business at higher prices.

Reciprocal cancellation clauses in the past were not standard, but Odom said they are becoming more prevalent, particularly as legal and procurement departments become more involved in meeting planning.

Odom said a hotel canceling a meeting for financial advantage is not out of the question but that "it probably wouldn't happen in 90 percent of the cases. In the 10 percent that it would, it's really a shortsighted whim."

Omni's Faust concurred, saying it's the hotel's responsibility to evaluate data so that it does not lock in deals that put it at a disadvantage in the future. "Not to suggest that it would never happen, but if you've committed to an event and signed a contract with the client, it's your obligation to fulfill it."

Planners also should be diligent in analyzing and benchmarking bids for advance bookings, O'Malley said. "There's a number of hotels that are probably going on a fishing expedition, just throwing out a price and seeing if they'll bite," he said.

Hotels also could try to allow rates for advance bookings to adjust with market conditions, but O'Malley advised against such a policy.

Advito's Odom said many planners try to eschew deposits, but they can provide an extra level of security for advance bookings. "They can protect your interest in the future and make it less likely that hotels will change your rates," he said.

Should there be a significant recovery in 2011 or 2012, O'Malley said meeting planners with secured bookings might find some new opportunities for savings. Rather than canceling , hotels looking to maximize revenues sometimes offer sweeteners to planners to move an event's location or time.

"If hotels are willing to be gracious enough to offer alternate space, we can find ways to make that work," he said. "They might move to a sister property and offer discounted food and beverage or audiovisual services.

Originally published Feb. 15, 2010 by Michael B. Baker via MeetingNews.com

How shared working spaces are facilitating start-ups.

When software engineer Brad Neuberg opened a communal workspace in 2005 and called it coworking, he wanted to achieve the benefits of self-employment without the loneliness that working in a bathrobe can entail. He rented a space from a non-profit organization that gave him a deal, set up rolling tables that could be moved out of the way at night, and waited for people to come work with him. Nobody came until two months later, and he closed the coworking space after about a year.

"I thought coworking was dead," says Neuberg. "But then it turned out that all those people who had come by--because I told them take this idea, steal it, and remix it--planted all of these seeds that started blooming about a year or two years later."

Five years later, there are coworking spaces in almost every major city in the United States and more than 75 spaces globally, listed on the coworking Google group's website. There are coworking "remixes" that fit every niche from green business to working mothers. And coworking is emerging not just as a rich work community for the self-employed, but as an efficient platform from which to build a business.

"[People who start businesses from coworking spaces] are not your completely traditional entrepreneurs, but they've got enough of a desire to be independent and entrepreneurial that given a little bit better foundation they can take those steps," says Todd Sundsted, co-author of I'm Outta Here! How co-working is making the office obsolete. "They've got energy, they hook up with people, they start to collaborate, and start putting things together."

Sundsted says last year he started noticing an increasing number of entrepreneurs who were interested in setting up "coworking plus" locations that would offer services to entrepreneurs beyond the sense of community and networking that coworking traditionally supplies. Many of these ideas were aimed at facilitating start-ups, such as adding small venture capital components and consulting services to the spaces. But most of these new models, Sundsted says, have yet to get out off of the ground.

The Hub, though not formally part of Neuberg's coworking movement, is one form of a "coworking plus" idea that has more than taken off. With 18 branches worldwide and about 51 more in planning stages, the Hub has been facilitating new businesses since 1995, when it opened its first location in London. The Hub is intended to foster social and environmental change organizations, and it uses its 4,500-person strong global network to introduce members to other Hub users who have similar interests.

For instance, a host at a The Hub Berlin might connect someone interested in doing development work in Nicaragua with someone working on a similar project at The Hub Sao Palo.

"There's been a total evolution in how to mobilize business," says Alex Michel, who helped open The Hub Berkeley last September. "You don't necessarily need the brick and mortar solutions that we once had, so people are far more mobile. Coworking spaces make much more sense in being able to access communities. Our business model is based on sort of a zip car for business where you just pay for the hours you need."

The Hub Berkeley is the first American hub, and three months after opening, it has about 220 members. Five other locations are planned to open in the Bay Area within the next five years.

In addition to The Hub Berkeley's collaborative workspace, kitchen, meeting space, and office tools, members have access to the worldwide network of Hubs. If they're traveling in another area or country, they have not only a workspace, but a connection to the same community. Every hub also has a host like Michel who is trained to help facilitate connections, and start-ups benefit from legal, social media, and business consults offered by fellow members and staff in both lecture and drop-in formats. HubCap, a project in the works at The Hub Berkeley, will one day offer venture capital to its members.

Sundsted, who met his current business partner in a coworking space, sees a bright future between coworking spaces like The Hub and small business—especially as the technology to work in nontraditional offices and the empowerment of creative people to work outside of a big company increase.

"I think entrepreneurs tend to be pragmatic enough to latch onto things that help them be successful," he says.

Meeting planners anticipate that in 2010 their organizations will hold on average 2.8 percent more meetings than they did in 2009, according to a Meeting Professionals International and American Express FutureWatch 2010 survey of 967 respondents. While planners expect attendance to rise by an average of 4.5 percent year over year, they anticipate decreased budgets and less bandwidth with projected average expenditures per meeting declining 0.5 percent and the number of meetings each planner manages increasing 16.6 percent. Corporate planners project an average of a more than 25 percent increase in the number of meetings they individually plan.

While planners expect their organizations to moderately increase their meetings numbers this year, some also expressed some optimism for industry growth. Twenty-eight percent of planners and 41 percent of 813 supplier respondents said they expect gradual industry year-over-year growth in 2010.

Of the 967 planner respondents in this year's FutureWatch survey, 356 were from corporations, 263 from associations, 30 from government agencies and 318 were meeting management professionals.

Yes, after a long, much anticipated update, we released our new homepage tonight! With it, also comes some new enhancements and features underneath the covers. Here's a short-list of some of our new features in this release outlined by user:

CONSUMER

- Search/sort by venue type; either from the homepage or search results page, you can now sort by Meeting Room(s), Desk\Office spaces, Classroom\Training spaces or Event spaces. Again, making it FAST to find what you are looking for!

- New Venue page that lists all rooms & spaces for single venue. FAST, baby!

- Coupon code at checkout; customers and members can reserve rooms thru eVenues without having to be charged.

VENUE PROVIDER

- Daily split time; venues can now make available two separate time blocks in a single day.

- Start\End date; now venues can setup automatic on and off periods for listing their venue.

- Coupon code; venues can now set up coupon codes so customers and members can reserve rooms thru eVenues' calendar without having to be charged.

- New link banners; venues can embed our link banners onto their webpages to redirect bookings.

- New calendar banners; venues can embed their main scheduling calendar onto their webpages for public viewing.

- Calendar\booking syncing with Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, and Apple iCal.

If you have any further questions, please don't hestitate to contact eVenues.

Forgoing my $1.75 "rent" for a toasted bagel to sit at a cafe and write, I accepted an invitation last week to visit the hive at 55,one of the many shared work spaces for freelancers that have popped upduring our recession hangover. Fancy digs. Lounge. Conference room.Thirteen-story view of downtown Manhattan. I could get used to this.

With more laid-off and independent workers seeking an alternative todoing business at home, the number of co-working offices has increasedby 60% in the past year to more than 200 nationwide, according to SteveKing from the trendspotting firm Emergent Research.
Although not as cheap as a coffee shop, the fees are reasonable, thesurroundings more professional, and you're in like-minded company, Kingsaid. And Wi-Fi is free.

The hive at 55 opened Dec. 1. I spent the day there to see how theother pink-slipped half lived. Loved the cherry red couch, exposedceilings, free fax and copier, and free coffee. Prices range from $25for one day to $500 a month for 24/7 access-- close to the going ratein most big cities.

"The home office was wearing thin because I'm a social being," saidElizabeth Savage, a facilitator of books for the sight-impaired whomoved in recently.

Bill Aurnhammer, an iPhone application consultant, had worked at homefor eight years, complaining that the line between habitat and job hadblurred. Calvin Yee, an executive consultant, liked the value of histhree-day-a-month plan. "If you shake your couch hard enough, you'llfind $50," Yee said.

The hive at 55 is about 25% booked, estimated Daria Siegel, director ofthe facility. But the vacancy rate will likely shrink, as otherrecently established freelance sanctuaries have shown.

Office Nomads in Seattle opened in September and quicklyfilled about 60% of its desks each day, said Alexandra Kruse, Nomads'community cultivator. From urban planners to ornithologists, the"residence members" desire a social infrastructure foremost, she said.

"Most of these people have come to Office Nomads because coffee shopsweren't working as conference rooms and their kitchen table wasn'tfeeding their creativity," Kruse said.

Jerome Chang opened BlankSpacesin Los Angeles in April 2008. Enrollment has steadily risen since.Asked how he addresses the problem of loquacious co-workers, Changreplied, "We support white noise so that if only a couple of peoplespeak, it can be loud, but when many people speak, it's actually'quieter'." (The Hive, by the way, has "quiet rooms" or chatting andcell-squawking areas.)

Other companies are competing for independent workers on a much grander scale. Regusoffers 1,001 offices in 75 countries, including some locations atswanky metropolitan addresses. The company's website advertises globalaccess plans starting as low as $69 a month for shared space and $99 amonth for a private office. The rates go up from there depending onusage, location and a la carte requests, such as conference rooms.

Jeff Doughman, the central region vice president, said the companytypically caters to "road warriors." "We try to leverage our ubiquity,"he said.

Usually when I walk into a highrise with marble walls, I'm wearing a $5tie and I'm about to proofread insurance forms. Spending the day at aplace like the Hive made me feel like a big shot.

I think I'll go get a cup of that free coffee.

 Article by Ron Dicker 

By David Jennings, Co-Founder of eVenues

Meeting planners might have one of the toughest jobs this year, especially when it comes to evaluating their future business. Not only did their industry undergo major fallout in 2009, but many corporate planner roles were eliminated altogether. Trying to forecast an industry with still so much uncertainty is hard enough, yet trying to make predictions while out of work…well, that’s darn tough!

Needless to say, the meeting(s) must go on![1] But how is the meeting industry changing in 2010? Who is in control? What exactly do planners need to know?

eVenues, an emerging online service for booking fast and affordable meeting space, has some ideas and would like to share its top five themes for 2010.

1.       Value is king

Today’s meeting organizers are all about more for less. For a corporate sales person, entrepreneur or consumer, meetings in 2010 must be practical, have a definite return on investment (ROI), and deliver affordability and value foremost.Meeting planners can provide clients with good value by reducing unnecessary costs and finding alternative solutions for site selection, catering, food and beverage, décor, etc. 2010 will certainly be a better year than 2009, but it will be a transition year for planners to update the tools in their toolbox, entertain working smaller meetings, and ultimately establish a new niche based on a changing landscape.

2.   Be flexible

In order to jumpstart the multibillion meetings and events industry[2], flexibility is fast becoming a popular term. One of the obvious trends is shrinking the meeting size. Due to the complexity and hidden costs associated with organizing larger meetings, meeting buyers are championing corporate team meetings.[3] Team meetings ultimately can be cheaper, but might require shorter lead times.Therefore, both planners and venues need to stay nimble. Planners need to become better acquainted with more unique, unconventional venues in their markets that can handle the short-term duration and short-lead times. By streamlining the site-selection and booking process, planners can spend more time organizing the content of the meeting or learning how they can add more value to their clients in the future.

3.       Real-time information

With nearly 115 million smartphones in use today, it’s no surprise that mobile devices are forcing consumer’s expectations to change and influencing near real-time availability and accessibility to information.[4] As a result, meeting planners can expect to experience better response times from venues and service providers for meeting room configurations, amenities, quotes, and availability. Venues can’t afford for business to be lost. Meeting planners are best prepared if they adopt key service providers who work in real-time mode.

4.       Public or coworking spaces

As large hotels and conference centers continue to lose business, a new segment of the meeting market is emerging: public or coworking meeting venues. Public or coworking meeting venues are timely as they attract laid-off workers, consultants/freelancers, entrepreneurs, and non-profits. Operating on a time-based model, these facilities are surfacing in all markets to accommodate the influx of corporate team meetings, coupled with the thousands of existing small meetings happening each day.[5]Meeting planners should become familiar with this emerging opportunity because these spaces are affordable, flexible, progressive, and don’t think in long-term ways.

5.       Social media

Finally, one of the ongoing themes for 2010 will try and answer what effect social media will have on meetings or events. Social networking is obviously responsible for bringing lots of people together “virtually” to share ideas online and market important new causes. But, a big question still remains: can online replace face-to-face meetings? Nevertheless, as these events spread and grow, it could spell out an interesting new opportunity for meeting planners to chase.

About David Jennings

David Jennings is co-founder of Seattle-based eVenues, the first online public marketplace for meeting space. He has over 20 years of corporate and start-up development experience having worked at Microsoft, IBM, Yodio, and DiscoverU. eVenues was originally born in 2008 at DiscoverU, an adult learning network, where there was a need for a real-time meeting venue booking solution. Today, eVenues has close to 150 spaces in 30 markets with new venue sign-ups going live every day. For more information on eVenues or to visit the online marketplace to book meeting/event space, visit www.evenues.com. 

---