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There Is Good Reason to Celebrate National Travel and Tourism Week

May 8, 2013 By Comments
national travel and tourism week logo

photo by www.ustravel.org

In case you didn’t know it, National Travel and Tourism Week is underway. This year it runs from May 4-12. The theme this year is Travel Effect – highlighting the effects that business travel has on the overall economy.

And judging from the statistics, there’s reason to celebrate…

A Little Bit of History on How National Travel and Tourism Week Came to Be

Established in 1993 by a joint resolution in the U.S. Congress, National Tourism Week was designated to be celebrated one week every May. President Reagan signed a presidential proclamation urging everyone to recognize the week with ceremonies and activities. And we’ve been doing it every year in May ever since.

The US Travel Association is responsible for marketing the National Travel and Tourism Week. They have an excellent toolkit that event planners, and travelers of all type, can download to help with their event planning needs.

Business Travel Is Having an Impact on the Economy

A recent study by Oxford Economics looked at the effects that business travel has had on the US economy over the last 18 years. And as this year’s theme is the “travel effect”, the results of the study are reason to celebrate.

Some of the study’s findings include:

  • in 2012, overall travel generated $1.9 trillion into the US economy
  • overall travel generated or supported 14.4 million jobs
  • in 2012 alone, business travel created or supported 3.6 8 million jobs
  • business travel generated $34.5 billion in local, state and federal tax revenues in 2012
  • over the 18 years which the study looked at, for every dollar spent on business travel, US companies received a return of $9.50
  • business travel yields $2.90 in profits for every dollar spent
  • business travelers have stated that prospects are two times more likely to become customers because of in person meetings

Pres. Obama's quote on national tourism and travel week over a picture of the presidential seal

photo from www.ustravel.org

Pres. Obama acknowledged that “tourism contributes to the success of the American and world economies”. Event planners take a bow. This is a week to celebrate your contributions to event planning and business travel as a whole. By reviewing the statistics of the recent Oxford Economics study related to business travel, it’s obvious that the travel industry (which includes event planning) is a major player in our economic growth.

 

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A Team Building Comedy Video to Help Break the Ice

April 26, 2013 By Comments
cartoon of birds sitting on a wire as part of teambuilding

“For the Birds” video short by Pixar

It’s very common for meetings and events to include team building activities. The challenge for many event planners is to find ways to engage the audience. An event planner’s goal,when determining team building ideas, is to make all of their attendees feel comfortable enough that they’ll want to engage others and have fun. Something to break the ice, so-to-speak. After all, the goal with any teambuilding exercise is to have your team working side-by-side assisting each other to complete a common task or goal.

“For the birds”, a short 3 min. video from Pixar, has been used by meeting and event planners as a way to make people relax and have a good laugh at the same time.

 

A comical video is a great icebreaker. After all, where is it written that you can’t have fun while working at the same time?

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Promoting an Event Requires Creativity

April 5, 2013 By Comments

red umbrella standing out, example of promoting an event to stand outAll the planning is done and you’re now ready to begin promoting an event. This is where a lot of event planners consider the major part of their job complete. However what’s often overlooked is that it takes planning and creativity to promote an event. I’m sure you have planned the best function ever however, without getting the word out properly, your event may fall short of expectations.

When Promoting an Event Think of the Attendees

I’ve seen too many meeting and event planners promote events the way they feel they would want to be approached. While I agree that this is a part of the promotion planning, it’s also important that you put yourself in your potential attendees shoes. In other words, think about what is it that would appeal to your target market that would make them want to attend your event.

Two Tips on How to Promote Your Event More Effectively

We all know how valuable social media platforms have become today. They’re one of the most effective tools for communication that we have. But, unfortunately, it’s not as simple as putting a message on Twitter, or Facebook for example, and then assuming that alone will communicate your message. As many seasoned promoters will tell you, your message can get lost in all of the chatter that is going on at any given time.

Keywords. Keyword sounds simple enough. For example, in this article a keyword that I’m using would be “promoting an event”. Keywords are often thought of as ways to Google trends logoincrease organic traffic to your site. But think of keywords as they would relate to the theme of your event. Another way to think of them would be buzzwords. Words or phrases that will make your message pop out. Google trends is an excellent platform (that’s free to use) to research keywords or phrases for the type of event you are planning.

twitter hashtags

photo by mashable.com

Hashtags. If you are on twitter you’ve seen hashtags. They are words that are preceded with the “#” symbol. Now, unless you have a very popular twitter account, I’d be very careful about creating your own hashtags. There’s certainly nothing stopping you from using your own hashtags. If you already have a large mailing list for your target market, you could create your own hashtag and then communicate that to your mailing list. But if you’re like many event organizers your goal will be to drum up new attendees. This is why it’s important to understand the makeup of your target markets. You’ll want to research potential hashtags that this market segment would already be aware of. One site that you may want to check out is hashtags.org. There you can find trending hashtags as well as research potential hashtags that you’re considering.

It’s said that in today’s world you have about 6 seconds to make your “elevator pitch”. When you need to promote an event it’s important that, in addition to the event itself being enticing, you make sure your message pops out from all of the others.

 

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Isn’t the Easter Bunny Supposed to Make Kids Happy (Funny Video)?

March 29, 2013 By Comments
Scary Easter Bunny

photo by sharpie99.deviantart.com

It’s the time of year when the Easter Bunny makes his annual visit delivering all the chocolate goodies. Setting aside the Christian aspect of the holiday, Easter is also synonymous with chocolate. And who better to deliver these delicious treats than the Easter Bunny himself, of course!

Many parents spend countless hours concocting Easter ideas for kids. Of course many of these ideas include colorful eggs (do Easter bunnies lay eggs??) and, of course, the hunt for the chocolate eggs. I seem to have an up session with the chocolate Easter eggs here, I’m realizing. Hum.

An Easter Bunny Entrance That Takes a Turn for the (Comical) Worst

The video below was setup by the parents of two small children who were, as you can tell, anxious to find out what the Easter Bunny was bringing. It’s obvious that parents wanted the element of surprise to be a large part of the Easter tradition. But, as you’ll see, the surprise didn’t quite unfold the way the parents thought.

Happy Easter from All of Us Here at Plan an Event.

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The Case for Going Green

March 8, 2013 By Comments
sticking your head in the sand denying global warming

photo by symonsez. wordpress.com

I’m sure you’ve heard the green arguments. Whether it’s the argument that the world is always warming and cooling anyways, or the one that says scientist are fudging data. Or perhaps people have tried to convince you that CO2 is harmless and our plants actually need it for them to grow. Then of course, for the meetings and events industry anyways, the argument will then turn towards do we really need to focus on green meetings or sustainability?

Good grief where do I begin!

There is a saying that I like to quote often – “you can’t reason out what was never reasoned in”. I have now come to the conclusion that this saying is very applicable to green meeting opponents. If people are not willing to look at both sides of an argument and then draw their conclusions from that, then I’m afraid there’s no discussions to be had with those people.

Regarding a Couple of the Green Arguments above!

The world is always warming and cooling. Well, of course it is. You see there are those of us that believe the world is older than a few thousand years, and we understand that there have been many ice ages. And there will be many more to come in the Earth’s future. But please take a moment to read actual fact-based reporting. It’s to the degree of warming and or cooling and how fast it’s occurring that matters. You don’t believe me? Well check back with our coastal cities in about 50 to 75 years from now.

Scientists are fudging data. Who do you trust more; a leading scientist, say from NASA, or one that’s been hired by a lobby group? James Hansen, NASA’s head scientist, has publicly stated that the public is being lied to and duped by special interest groups.

CO2 is good for plants. Well thank you for that little bit of knowledge that we learned in grade 2. But, unfortunately, it goes a little beyond the CO2 that the plants require. Even the U.S. Army has acknowledge that climate change is a national security threat (from displacement due to rising water levels throughout and unrest in certain parts of the planet as a result).

I have had these arguments presented to me by a few of my colleagues in the industry. I’ve come to realize that global warming and sustainability have now become a hot political issue. I’m not going to deal with the politics of global warming here (that rant, I’m afraid, would make me run out of space to type).

As you can tell I am a proponent for green meetings and sustainability.

a green planet in a recycle bin

photo by www.123rf.com

As a very basic comparison I have often countered the argument this way. I compare respecting our wonderful planet the same way that you would if a friend or colleague gave you a gift. Would you disrespect, or trash, that gift? Probably not. So, using the gift analogy, why then would you think that it’s okay to disrespect the gift of this wonderful planet? And this argument isn’t only geared towards religious people. Like myself, there are many people that do not prescribe to organized religion. And I’ve found that the argument is suitable regardless.

Green Meetings Have Been around for Some Time

In the meetings and events industry, we’ve been working on sustainability for quite some time now. Even before it was mainstream. Having been on the supplier side of the industry, I’ve worked with many meeting and event planners that have insisted on their meetings having green components. And you know what? Contrary to popular belief, it did not increase budgets. As a matter of fact it can actually shave money off of budgets by going green (more about that in the article links below). not to mention the PR that the group would receive as well.

Here Are A Few Articles That We Have Done on the Subject Here at Plananevent.org

Some Upcoming Sustainability Conferences That You May Be of Interested to You

In Chicago: Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) is holding their annual conference from April 7 to April 10, 2013. GMIC is a nonprofit association with members in over 20 countries and is 100% focused on advancing sustainability in the meetings industry.

In Toronto, Canada: Greening Tourism Conference. This conference, which will be held on April 10, 2013, will deal with emerging practices in the area of sustainability and tourism.

Luckily, green meetings are becoming a standard in our industry. Of course there will always be skeptics that offer their reasons as to why we should not be promoting sustainability. My advice is to present your facts as to why going green is not only good for our industry, but good for the planet overall. In other words, be the change you want to see.

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The Hottest Trending Event Planner Tweets for #Eventprofs

February 8, 2013 By Comments
the hottest trending event planner tweets for event profs

photo by www.onlinesocialmedia.net

If you are active with social media then, no doubt, Twitter is one of your main social media accounts. And if you’re in the event planning business then one hashtag that you should follow is #eventprofs. If you don’t I strongly suggest that you should.

Twitter Is a Great Way to Share Event Planning Trends

For me Twitter is one way that I keep on top of the latest and greatest of what’s occurring in our industry. It’s also a great way for me to share my blog post such as this one. Chances are, if you follow the hashtag #eventprofs, then you may have stumbled across this blog as a result of that. If I’ve done my job right, then you have.

Some of the Top Eventprofs Tweets This Week

@OnlineRegReview highlights a recent BizBash article about how important it is to ensure that our event staff are equipped with information that our clients may be seeking. An important, but often overlooked, part of our client services.  @pegansb points us to an Elite Meetings article covering a hot-button issue in the industry right now; submitting RFPs (request for proposals) to hotels. @5thAveDigital showcases a Successful Meetings article outlining five corporate trends to watch in 2013. I found point #4, “event organizers will engage audiences with smartphones”, to be quite intriguing. And another article from @EliteMeetings picks up on the smart phone theme, from an “if you can’t beat them join them” angle. I think these articles are hitting the nail on the head as far as integrating smart phones with the way we conduct our meetings. It will be interesting to watch this trend.

 

The Hottest Trending Event Planner Tweets for #Eventprofs #1

The Hottest Trending Event Planner Tweets for #Eventprofs #2

The Hottest Trending Event Planner Tweets for #Eventprofs #3

The Hottest Trending Event Planner Tweets for #Eventprofs #4

 

I know I’m biased but I do think that the event planning industry has come a long way with how it uses and interacts with social media. I’m finding that more and more of my contacts are providing useful tips and information which we can all implement into our event planning businesses or careers.

 

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Crowd Sourcing; a Unique Way to Promote an Event.

November 23, 2012 By Comments

photo by cooltownstudios.com

Who do you turn to when you have to promote an event? As many event planners know, there are many steps to planning and executing an event. First the event itself has to be exciting enough that it will generate interest. Then the organizer has to make sure that the event is well attended. That’s where promoting an event comes in.

Using Crowd Sourcing to Promote an Event.

Many of you have probably heard the term crowd sourcing before. If you haven’t, crowd sourcing is a term used for the practice of obtaining ideas or services by soliciting contributions from a large group of people. The idea is that you would turn to a community (usually online) for ideas rather than from traditional sources such as employees or suppliers.

Crowd Sourcing Can Be Quite Effective. It Can Also Be Very Risky.

Crowd sourcing is effective when it catches on and turns promoting your event into a viral campaign. It can also be risky in that if there is little interest from the crowd that you have approached.

Recently the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) undertook a unique way to promoting an event. Well, I guess we could call it an event. Their job was to promote Canada. Rather than use the traditional means such as hiring an ad agency, developing a series of high-level commercials and buying media time, the CTC decided to turn to the crowd that they were in fact promoting; Canadians.

Via crowd sourcing, the CTC asked Canadians to describe, in their own words/video, what they liked about their country. They received over 65 hours of content.

The video below is a compilation of the crowd sourcing videos that were submitted. Talk about a unique way to approach crowd sourcing for promoting an event.

 

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Lots of Chatter on Twitter for Green Meetings and Conventions

October 26, 2012 By Comments

top tweetsI like to think of Twitter as social media in real time. What I mean by that is you can literally get a pulse of what topics are hot at any given time. As part of my job, I keep on top of tweets that reference the meetings and events industry.

I’ve also noticed that green meetings and conventions are hot topics. You don’t have to look very far in order to get advice on how to implement green industry standards. It seems a lot of industry colleagues have something to say regarding sustainability. I personally think that’s a good thing. Sometimes you take away a little bit from this person and something different from that person. But what you end up getting is an overall blueprint that you can implement in your own business.

A Sampling of Some Top Tweets for Green Meetings and Conventions

The following is a sampling of what’s been discussed over the last week on Twitter referencing  sustainability. From Fairmont, we are pleased to learn that, in addition to their hotels becoming LEEDS certified, their corporate office in Toronto has become LEEDS certified silver. There’s an app for that – while discussing the top 10 mobile apps for meeting planners, @CRISTERENZIO says that her favorite is the green app. M+C Magazine explains why it’s not that hard for you to go green (little by little makes a big difference). And finally @thehubtalks via @evenues explains to us why green meetings matter. They also give some helpful links at the bottom of the post on how you can get started.

 

 

These tweets and subsequent posts offer you some guidance, and suggestions, on how you can get started on making your next meeting or event green. As you’ll find out it’s really not that hard to do and our planet will love you for it.

 

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The Auto Show and the Convention Center-Made for Each Other

October 10, 2012 By Comments
the auto show and the convention center go hand-in-hand

photo by detroitcityguide.info

If you’re like me then you love attending auto shows. I even go to them when I’m not even looking for a car. I find them exciting to attend watching as the dealer’s new designs are presented to the general public. There are many shows throughout the country and they are generally annual events. At least the biggies are. You may have also noticed that they are almost always held at a convention center. Convention centers are logistically ideal for hosting an auto show. Obviously, with such a show, there is a need to move in rather large objects; that being the cars themselves. Convention centers were designed for these types of events. Many can accommodate large transport trucks that are able to drive onto the exhibit floors to unload.

The two largest auto shows are held in Chicago and Detroit each year.

The Largest Auto Show in North America Is Held at Chicago’s Convention Center

Some of you may be surprised to learn that the largest auto show in North America is not in Detroit (more about the Detroit auto show later in this post). The convention center in Chicago, otherwise known as McCormick Place, is home to North America’s largest annual auto show.

The Chicago Auto Show originated in 1901. The next show will be held from February 9-18, 2013. This upcoming show will mark the 105th edition of this annual event. The organizers will utilize 1.2 million ft.² (which is almost half of the McCormick Place’s 2.7 million ft.² of exhibit space).

The Detroit Auto Show Is Held at the Cobo Convention Center

When we think of Detroit we can’t help but think of the automobile. Detroit has been hosting an annual show for over a century. The Detroit show was considered a regional showcase up until 1987. In that year, the Detroit Automobile Dealers Association (DADA) decided to make the event an international show. Now called the North American International Auto Show. The event runs from January 14-27, 2013.

Most auto shows are held at convention centers because of their ability to handle the load in requirements. Chicago’s convention center, McCormick Place, is home to the largest show in North America. However, Detroit isn’t far behind, with their annual show held at the Cobo convention center.

 

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Las Vegas CVA Shows Us How to Promote an Event

August 29, 2012 By Comments
how to promote an event Las Vegas CVB style

photo by potx.com

*Note – this article has been updated to correctly portray the Las Vegas CVA (we previously called it the Las Vegas CVB) Thanks to reader Candy Adams, from “The Booth Mom®” for alerting us.

We all know the famous slogan; “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas”. Well almost everybody that is. You see apparently some of Prince Harry’s confidants broke the code and distributed, how shall we say it, compromising pictures of the Prince recently in Las Vegas. Well, as you can imagine, the Prince has been royally embarrassed by situation. And by his so-called confidants selling those pictures it became rather obvious that they broke the Las Vegas code.

And That Did Not Sit Well with the Las Vegas CVA (Convention and Visitors Authority)

It’s what the Las Vegas CVA did about the situation that I’m going to talk about here. In my opinion, to borrow an old cliché, they took lemons and made lemonade. The brilliant marketing department took the opportunity to promote the city’s, now very famous, code; What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas.

On their website, they created a page asking potential visitors to take a pledge that says you will honor the code and promise not to distribute any compromising pictures of activities that may have occurred during a visit to Las Vegas.

And it’s working brilliantly.

They have literally taken a negative situation and have turned it positive. By doing so, the Las Vegas CVA has shown us how to promote an event that would have normally been rather negative coverage of the destination and have turned it into a very positive marketing campaign. On their website they have close to 100,000 pledges by people declaring that they promise to protect the code to its fullest.

Promoting an Event from a Negative to a Positive Position Takes Talent

The CVA is demonstrating how to promote a negative event into a positive spin. What it is also showing us is the power of branding. It’s obvious that Las Vegas has successfully termed the slogan “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas” into a brand. In other words, when you hear that slogan you think of all of the activities that Vegas has to offer. From its famous casinos to its many nightclubs and restaurants, Las Vegas is a city that you associate with having fun. And sometimes when we are having fun we all get a little carried away. So rather than highlight the negatives of such activities, the tourism officials decided they would have a little fun and encourage people to be discreet.

So maybe the next time your organization gets a little press coverage that isn’t exactly rosy consider promoting an event that can take the negative side of the event and turn it into a positive spin. And if you’re wondering just how you would go about doing that, refer to the way Las Vegas handled Prince Harry’s recent situation.

 

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