I agree. However, in the faith-based and trade show arena, a drop of 25 percent or more of the attendees due to some unforeseen occurrence could have fatal implications for a sponsoring organization. Here are a few questions you need to answer to determine if you should consider cancellation and interruption insurance:

➤ Does your show/event generate a significant amount of your annual revenue?

➤ Would a sudden, last-minute and significant (5 percent or more) downturn in attendance substantially impact your organization’s financial status?

➤ Could your organization cancel an event and not be significantly affected by the loss of profit?

All of these questions relate to the financial viability of the sponsoring organization. For those unfamiliar with this type of coverage, it protects your revenue—not your profits.

Here’s an example, based on a very realistic scenario: You produce an annual event with 2,500 attendees. Each registrant will pay $500 for registration. Your event has a trade show component; 150 exhibitors each pay $2,500. And don’t forget your sponsors: Add another $500,000. Between all of the above, you’ll generate $2.125 million in revenue. Your profit will be based on the difference between what you spend to produce the show and your revenue—an estimated $1 million.

Close to the start of your program, there is a health issue—say swine flu or SARS. Remember SARS? Your host city has a high number, or the highest number of documented cases. A renowned medical agency publicly recommends, “Don’t go there because there’s a chance you may get sick.” It isn’t an epidemic, but suddenly your attendance starts falling. You’ve already contracted and committed based on 2,500. Now it may be 1,700 or as low as 1,200. Your revenue projections now look like you may break even at best. If you had purchased an event cancellation/interruption policy, you can now get a good night’s sleep.

Here’s why: The insurance will protect your top-line revenue. You’ll be able to pay your bills, protect your income and remain financially intact. A claim of this magnitude will take a while to settle and requires an enormous amount of documentation and substantiation.

There’s a reason we don’t drive without insurance: risk. Ask yourself how much risk you’re willing to accept for your denomination, organization or company. The premium for this type of coverage is expensive. You have to plan for it, budget for it and apply for it each time you want it. It may not be best for everyone, but this is where you need to do your homework, assess your risk, discuss the upside and downside, and be prepared to live with your decision.

Industry associations—Meeting Professionals International, Professional Convention Management Association, etc.—have researched numerous providers and options and will serve as a great first step in determining which is best for you. So, take the time to make a well-informed decision.

What do you do? Do you simply say yes, ask the timing, meal details, budget and hang up the phone?

Or do you request a time to meet with the stakeholder to ask more strategic questions or proceed with them while on the phone? If you answered yes immediately, you need to start looking for ways to get out of the reactive zone.

Seasoned planners know that before they accept responsibility for organizing any meeting or event, they must step back, take a look at the big picture and get a clear understanding of the strategic purpose behind the event. They know there must be a definitive answer to the question “Why are we doing this?” as well as a clear set of criteria that can be used, after the fact, to evaluate whether the gathering fulfilled that purpose and delivered the key message. If the objective cannot be stated in one brief sentence, then the directional compass will never find its way. A list of goals must follow, ranging from three to six or more targeted components of the event design campaign. Furthermore, there is always a trigger word or point that is the real reason for the gathering, which is rarely put on paper. Identifying what that is will help when you report back to the stakeholders.

The reason for the hypothetical meeting for 100 next month might be planning, brainstorming, teambuilding, customer-related or some combination of these. If you don’t know, you can’t plan the event. You won’t even be able to find a suitable venue. Why not? Because the venue you choose affects the message you send to attendees, just as surely as the advertising medium—print, broadcast or digital—affects the ad message to the target audience.

Try asking your senior executives or managers how much time, effort and energy go into determining your organization’s most effective advertising or public relations campaigns. Then, ask them to compare them to the amount of time, effort and energy that goes into defining the business value and illustrating the message for a meeting or event. All three communication vehicles—advertising, public relations, and meetings and events—must, of course, be synchronized with the organization’s larger strategic purpose. I have yet to meet an organization’s manager who didn’t get it, once I posed the question. Most hold the teams responsible for the organization’s marketing messages to a very strict set of standards that culminate in this question: Was our investment here justified?

Similarly, they hold the people who coordinate the enterprise’s marketing efforts accountable for an equally compelling question: Is the right message reaching the right constituency? You must ask senior executives to apply the same standards of accountability to meetings and events.

As a meeting planner, you should work with all the relevant stakeholders to clearly identify the significance of each meeting, making sure the answer to “why” also supports and reinforces the strategic message that drives your organization’s marketing initiatives. Finally, you should be able to document a clear return on investment, demonstrating the business value of live communication to the executives you serve.

How can you remain indispensable at work? By bringing attention to the value of what you do. How do you do that? By focusing on where the organization is going rather than on the procedural or day-to-day maintenance issues of your position.

Begin thinking of how you contribute to the success of the organization. Do you know what the top business issues are within your organization?

See Their Point of View

Enhance your role as a team player by demonstrating a sincere interest in your organization and looking at issues from the manager’s viewpoint. If the cost of labor is forcing cutbacks to your budget or department, get with your supervisor and figure out ways to merge systems or tasks, cut costs and negotiate spending. Often you’ll find redundancies can be eliminated, saving costs and maybe someone’s job.

Take Ownership

Do you know what your job description is? The last thing a manager wants to hear is, “I did not know that was my responsibility.” It is critical that you take ownership of your job responsibilities. Ask your supervisor to clarify any items within your role that you do not understand. Responding with “I know” rather than “I didn’t know” demonstrates you really do care about your position within the organization.

Talk In Sound Bites

Concentrate on improving communication with your supervisor and your team. Think about how your listener will receive the message. Put yourself in the listener’s shoes and consider how he or she might react. Learn to talk in sound bites—quick and fast. Supervisors want the summary, not all the details. Learn to ask questions.

Find A Mentor

To be the most indispensable person you can be, get a coach. Surround yourself with mentors and coaches from inside and outside your industry. How do you get a coach? Look around your informal and formal networks and figure out who you would like to emulate. Whose skills and career path do you admire? Then ask if they will mentor you. Most of the time, people are flattered that they have been asked. It does not take much time—perhaps just a 45-minute phone call once every three months. You tell them what is going on and they give you simple advice to get back on track.

Participate In Professional Development Activities

Now is the time to invest in developing your skills by participating in professional development opportunities. Take workshops and seminars offered through colleges, businesses, industry conferences or proprietary types of organizations. If you are interested in a particular activity, explain how the program will contribute to the bottom-line of the organization. Manage your career portfolio by building a balanced resume. Set career goals and communicate them with your manager. Do not forget to ask for opportunities within the organization as well. There may be a position available that you never thought you could do.

Recruit A Cheering Squad

It is important to leverage the power of your networks. The first step is to understand the difference between formal networks (professional organizations that you pay dues to, with regulations, meetings and guidelines) and informal networks (people you meet in the lobby of a hotel or on an airplane or through hobbies). Social networks are a hybrid of the two. Communicate with them about situations at work and share your talents. Send out regular alerts through your grapevine and share your success stories. Start a buzz and you’ll be surprised at the information you’ll receive in return.

Safeguard Your Reputation

Always protect your name; see what others are saying about you. The key to leadership is listening to criticism and self-correcting. When a mentor gives you criticism about something you are perhaps not thinking about, it takes courage to change. You must earn credibility, not expect it, and be prepared to spend years achieving that goal. Heed the familiar caveat: It takes years to build a name, reputation and networks—and minutes to lose it all. Being approachable is important, as is helping others along the way.

1. The future started yesterday.

When I speak on social media issues at corporate conferences, I always tell my audiences, “This whole Internet thing is going to catch on…it’s going to be huge.” If your company hasn’t fully embraced new online technologies, you’re already out of business; you just don’t know it yet.

2. Good enough is good enough.

Trained as an art director, I always considered part of my position to be the protector of quality. In the name of fine resolution, we’d fight with our clients to spend enormous sums for 16 or 35mm film when today you can buy a higher resolution Canon HDSLR for less than two grand. But regardless of what equipment you use, when was the last time you heard someone complain about the resolution on YouTube? As Seth Godin wrote, “Get it out the door” already.

3. Faster, cheaper, better. Pick all three.

The old line used to be, “Faster. Cheaper. Better. Pick any two.” If you wanted it fast and good it was going to be expensive. Good and cheap would take time. And if you wanted it fast and cheap, it would suck. But that was back in the day when our clients used to ask, “What have you done for me lately?” With the advent of online technologies, today’s question is, “What have you done for me next?”

4. Be different. Or be dead.

In his best-selling book “A Whole New Mind,” Daniel Pink writes about the dangers of the “Three As”: Abundance, Asia and Automation. Pink explains that anything that can be created in abundance will be; anything that can be made in Asia will; and anything that can be automated will be as well. Pink’s solution? Develop and cultivate six senses: design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. His example of a successful business that can’t be copied: Madonna. In other words, just standing up isn’t enough anymore. To be successful you have to stand out and stand for something. Otherwise, no one will care.

5. They don’t buy what you do. They buy who you are.

Consumers no longer need to buy products or services for their functions. Not because the functions no longer matter but because the functions have become ubiquitous. Instead, the best sellers are purchased because of the relationships they create with their buyers. If Madonna is the perfect product, then what steps can you take to build your brand and its value (both real and perceived) to your customer? After all, if you’re not providing it, then someone else will. And as we’ve already seen, they’ll do it faster, cheaper and maybe even better.

Taken together, these five observations may appear discouraging, suggesting that technology has superseded the need for quality and craftsmanship. Instead, I think they provide benchmarks for building a successful and creative business in this new technological age.

As I see it, the future for everyone in my business and all creative businesses is in their ability to create powerful, compelling ideas. Whether it’s a new way to get attention, a new way to deliver customer service or a new way to build a better mousetrap, 2011 will be the year of the idea. After all, despite how powerful computers have become, they haven’t started to think…yet.

Bruce Turkel, branding guru and author, is a regular speaker at Rejuvenate Marketplace. This article is an excerpt from his blog. You can read the complete version and more from Turkel at turkeltalks.com.

1. One of the biggest draws for attendees is the destination. If yours changes yearly, then you have a prime marketing message to promote to the current year’s attendees. One technique is to keep the destination a secret and reveal it at the final night’s function. Consider using a destination theme for your decor or dessert and have the group guess its location.

Sherry Eschenberg, meeting planner for the Presbyterian Church in America, asks the host for the next year to promote the city to attendees at the current event. The host city’s CVB and host committee have a booth in the exhibit hall. Inviting a representative from the CVB or a city leader is a great way to elevate hype for the destination. CVBs have slick videos promoting the highlights of their destinations and sometimes provide attendee gifts or city-themed decor for tables. PCA allows the host to distribute one item in the assembly hall, and the location announcement is made in the on-site information booklet, on the website and on video screens during the event.

2. If you meet in the same location year after year, try generating excitement by announcing the keynote speaker or a new feature. And if you don’t have your keynote selected a year in advance, follow up later using social media to get the information out quickly. Discounts received at hotels and restaurants can be promotional tools as well. CVBs around the country are developing mobile sites and apps that you can direct your attendees to. They list nearby restaurants and entertainment and often include deals and discounts.

3. As an additional incentive, consider offering returning attendees a discount on their registration fee, but be sure to include a deadline in order to qualify. Make it exclusive to returning attendees and separate from any early-bird discount you might offer the general public. The more important you can make returning attendees feel, the more likely they are to buy in to early registration. “We send out postcards for our VIP attendees with special registration codes so they can get early housing room choices,” says David V. Jackson, United Pentecostal Church International.

An alumni club or giving return attendees ribbons to put on their badges listing the number of years they’ve attended the conference are ways to create buzz during the event. The more pride you can generate for their attendance at the show, the more likely they are to return.

4. Once you’ve successfully marketed at the current conference, it’s time to put the post-event marketing plan in place. Even if your agenda is not ready, immediately change your conference website to list the new dates and location, and give an approximate date for when registration will open. Make sure to update social media acounts as well.

Send all past attendees information on the registration discount, even if they haven’t attended in the past few years. Also, consider setting up a separate referral discount whereby a returning attendee can refer a new participant and receive a further discount if that person signs up.

5. Let your destination’s CVB do some of the work for you. It can list your show on its calendar of events and promote your conference to CVB members. The CVB’s promotional video can also be embedded on your website to further generate excitement for the destination.

In the end, the farther in advance you can determine your location, speakers and key agenda elements, the longer the lead time you have to promote to returning attendees. Even if all you know are the next year’s dates, it’s important to announce them in a big splash at the current conference. From banners to mentions on stage by your speakers, use every opportunity to generate buzz for the following year.

Monica Compton, CMP, has 18 years experience as an international meeting planner. A writer and event-marketing consultant for U.S.-based Pinnacle Productions, she splits her time between Atlanta and Philadelphia. Jennifer Garrett contributed to this article. 

By Scott Reagles

Contacts

Have a list of those people you will be dealing with on site and their phone numbers. Make sure those people know how to contact you or those working for you. Also, make it clear to everyone involved who is in charge and who has authority over what.

Schedule

Make sure your AV provider has a detailed schedule, including times for the following: start and end of each session; when doors are open for the audience; meetings, rehearsals and walk-throughs; and any other times that AV crew or equipment will be needed. Also helpful are schedules of other vendors or crews that might cause any conflicts.

Load In and Load Out

Conditions for loading in and out are
important, especially when it comes to dock space and traffic. Too many companies on the dock at one time can lead to chaos. Also, room availability, amount of time required for set-up and strike, and the availability of in-house personnel
such as electricians and technical people
is important.

Room Dimensions and Details

Make sure the room where your event is going to be held is big enough for the attendees and all the equipment. AV gear takes up space, not just on the floor, but also in the air. Make sure you account for ceiling obstructions such as chandeliers, ceiling coves, air ducts and so on. How and where the audience is seated will also make a difference in what kind of AV gear should be used.

Power

Check to see if arrangements have been made for needed power drops and electrical service, keeping in mind that they are rarely free.

Facility Requirements

Many facilities have special requirements, such as putting covering over carpets, use of hallways and elevators, or hiring security personnel. Ask a venue if they have any such requirements and get them in writing.

Union Requirements

Find out if your event is in a union-contracted facility. If so, take time to know the rules and budget accordingly.

Speaker and Talent Requirements

Ask talent and presenters for their needs and requirements well in advance. This may include Internet accessibility, specific types of microphones to use, someone to operate a PowerPoint presentation and so on. Oh, and pass that information along to your AV provider.

Changes, Add-ons

Changes and add-ons are inevitable. Keep a detailed record and, if possible, get sign-off when it comes to changes. Confusion later just costs money and causes headaches.

Contract and Payment

This may sound trivial, but make sure you have a contract, that you know what the payment terms are, and that you understand what is included and what is not. Ask questions and get answers before your event.

Scott Reagles, an educational speaker at Rejuvenate Marketplace, is a production manager and video director for IPG (Initial Production Group), based in Denver. He focuses on bridging the gap between clients and technology. You can reach him at scott@initialpro.com. IPG is a full-service production company that has been serving the faith-based market for more than 20 years.

By Don Sadler

As a meeting planning professional, do you consider yourself to be in sales? Most planners don’t think about their jobs in these terms, but the job of a meeting planner is very much a sales job.

To some degree, many professional jobs have a sales component and presentation skills are critical. “Meeting planners are constantly selling: ideas, locations, venues, events and, most importantly, themselves,” says Craig Harrison, a speaker, trainer and founder of Expressions of Excellence!, a speaker and sales consulting service.

“Strong presentation skills are vital for establishing credibility and professionalism, and building trust,” adds Harrison. “They enable planners to persuade, negotiate, promote and sell. If you can put on a good show in a presentation, it stands to reason that you can help plan a great event.”

Selling Yourself
Meetings industry consultant Corbin Ball, CSP, CMP, agrees with Harrison about the importance of presentation skills for meeting planners. “We are selling ourselves and promoting our ideas. There are many situations where strong presentation skills will help meeting planners, like pre-conference meetings, on-site staff meetings, group announcements at events and in volunteer roles for professional associations. It can’t hurt to feel comfortable with public speaking.”

Ball says it was his election as president of the Washington State Chapter of Meeting Professionals International that made him get serious about public speaking. “At the time, I didn’t feel very comfortable in front of an audience. With my year as president coming up, in which I would speak before 150 people and conduct a board meeting each month, I knew I needed to do something about it, so I joined Toastmasters,” he says. Toastmasters International remains one of the popular organizations offering speaking and leadership skills training. “This gave me the practice and the feedback to grow greatly as a speaker. Three years later, I started my own business as a professional speaker,” says Ball.

Bonnie Wallsh, CMP, CMM, chief strategist with Bonnie Wallsh Associates, LLC, a meeting management consulting and training firm, says, “Outstanding presentation and communication skills are crucial for success as a meeting professional. Planners communicate with their staff, suppliers and internal clients, so it is imperative that their presentations be concise and anticipate any possible misunderstandings.”

After 32 years as a full-service meeting professional, Wallsh says her business is shifting to speaking, facilitating and teaching. “Most of my business comes from people who have attended my sessions and webinars,” she notes. For example, she was invited to present workshops and a boot camp at Rejuvenate Marketplace and Connect Marketplace after conference manager Dean Jones attended one of her sessions.

LoriAnn K. Harnish, CMP, CMM, CTA, is president and CEO of Speaking of Meetings and the past president of Meeting Professionals International, Arizona Sunbelt. She says speaking skills are vital to client relations and retention. “Whether you’re an independent,
association or corporate meeting planner, you need to be able to present yourself well to clients and stakeholders,” says Harnish. “For years, we’ve been trying to elevate the position of meeting and event planning so that planners are highly regarded. All planners want a ‘seat at the table,’ so to speak, and this requires strong presentation skills.”

Beth Hecquet, CMP, the director of meetings and events for the National Association of Sports Commissions, says that she is often called upon to speak on behalf of her association to promote meetings and talk about her industry. “If I am not able to give an appealing presentation with confidence and ease, this reflects badly on me and my association,” she says. “First impressions are very hard to reverse, and if the first time you hear about a meeting is from someone who can’t communicate effectively, that can result in a potential lost attendee, sponsor or partner.”

Hecquet says she didn’t start her career with strong presentation skills, but has acquired them over the years by taking advantage of every opportunity she has to speak. “Being a good presenter is not something that comes naturally for most people; rather, it’s a skill that has to be learned through experience.”

After years working at various nonprofit organizations, MaryAnne P. Bobrow, CAE, CMP, CMM, president of Bobrow & Associates, an association and meetings management consulting firm, felt drawn to share her ideas and experience with others in order to give something back. One of her first steps was to take a public speaking class.

“I’ll never forget it. I held onto the lectern for dear life and stared like a deer in headlights at the back of the room for fear I might actually make eye contact with someone,” she says. “I now share my knowledge at industry conferences, use it for my clients and teach in the university environment so that those just entering the industry will have the tools they need to become successful.”

Confidence and Credibility
Bobrow points to two key benefits of strong presentation skills for meeting planners: They help increase the planner’s credibility and self-confidence, and they help planners articulate their wants and needs to C-level executives they work with.

Carole B. Rosenblat, an independent on-site meeting and tour manager, echoes Bobrow’s thoughts about self-confidence. “As a meeting planner, you’re selling your services, and 90 percent of this involves your presentation skills. Having strong skills will convey that you have a sense of confidence in what you’re doing, which will give clients more confidence in you.

“Presentation skills have been very beneficial as I sell myself to potential clients,” she adds. “They help me think fast on my feet, stay calm, speak slowly and enunciate clearly, so that I can communicate my expertise to clients and prospects.”

Also, if your event’s speaker is late or doesn’t show up, you’ll be better prepared to deal with the situation. This doesn’t necessarily mean giving the presentation yourself, but you can at least address the group or facilitate a meeting, Rosenblat points out. “I’ve done this many times before simply because nobody else was prepared.”

Improving Your Skills
The most common presentation mistake is talking too fast, says Rosenblat, who now helps train planners on speaking and making presentations. “You really have to concentrate on slowing down. If you’re timing your presentation, keep in mind that it will probably be shorter than when you practice because you’ll probably talk faster than you realize.”

Here are some more tips from the experts for improving presentation skills:

Know your audience. “Research the profile of attendees and their objectives and know what their hot buttons are,” says Wallsh. “Customize your presentation to them as much as possible, rather than using a cookie-cutter approach.”

Be confident and enthusiastic. You’ll have a hard time conveying your message convincingly if your listeners sense that you don’t have confidence in yourself. Don’t be tentative or apologetic, and if you make a mistake, remember that your listeners probably won’t even notice. Just move on to your next point without stammering or apologizing.

Don’t use language crutches. Harrison urges speakers and presenters to use what he calls power language. “Avoid qualifiers, hedges and other figures of speech that dilute your message and diminish your impact and expertise.” Examples are words like maybe, if, possibly, perhaps and consider.

Learn from others. Identify people whose communication and presentation style you like and become a student of their success. This can be famous people on TV or videos, or simply others in your office or industry. “Listen carefully to these speakers and critique them to learn what techniques they use to engage the audience,” says Wallsh.

Join professional speaking organizations. Experts are unanimous in their praise of Toastmasters for anyone who’s serious about becoming a better presenter and speaker. Harrison has been in Toastmasters for 18 years and considers himself an evangelist for the organization. In “The Professional Toastmaster,” a quick-start guide he has written, he states, “Through Toastmasters, you can get mentoring, coaching, evaluations, feedback, support and lots of practice.”

Include examples and personal experiences. “This is the best way to really engage the audience,” says Wallsh. “People like hearing stories sprinkled in with facts, figures and statistics.”

Maintain strong eye contact. The natural tendency is to focus on just one or two people, but try to maintain eye contact with everyone in the room. Also, don’t be over-reliant on presentation materials and spend too much time looking up at a screen with your back to your audience.

Have a strong conclusion. Otherwise, it’s easy to ramble on and not know when or how to wrap things up. You want to leave listeners with a powerful idea or thought. Ask yourself: If they forget everything else you’ve said, what’s the most important thing you want listeners to remember? Then craft your conclusion around this.

Don Sadler is a freelance business writer, based in Atlanta, and a regular contributor to Rejuvenate.

By Monica Compton, CMP

We’ve all heard the term “meeting planner perks.” It can refer to the non-event industry’s view of a planner’s life: luxurious stays in posh settings, business class airline seats and hard-to-secure reservations at a celebrity chef’s restaurant. In reality we know that those perks, if ever received, are rarely used, turned over to VIPs or often wasted. After all, do event planners in a fast-paced industry with an expected 24-hour availability to their organizations’ needs really have time to take a vacation?

For those who do, complimentary hotel stays and airline upgrades seem to be a well-deserved reward for spending 12 hours on the trade-show floor, lifting heavy boxes and not having enough time to eat. While hotel loyalty programs were created more than 25 years ago for frequent travelers, the concept of tailoring a program to target meeting planners is at an all-time high. In a lumbering economy, hotels are looking to entice planners with complimentary hotel nights, discounts on group meals and credits to their meetings’ overall bills.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide customized its Starwood Preferred Guest program, the hotel group’s original rewards program for frequent travelers, and created a Starwood Preferred Planner program. Planners just don’t get points; they get Starpoints, implying a higher level of benefits for meeting planners over leisure or business travelers. The program is further expanded to offer Instant Meeting Awards, the ability to get up to a $1,500 credit on your group bill as long as you are a Starwood Preferred Planner with 15,000 Starpoints (and, of course, a signed hotel contract must be in place). But there’s a terms and conditions catch to get meeting planners to book with Starwood again. Starpoints earned for the group’s current meeting may not be redeemed toward that meeting. So if you haven’t reached 15,000 points, you’ll have to wait until your next meeting to earn the group bill credit.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), the first company to introduce hotel points with its Priority Club Rewards for Holiday Inn in 1983, has also created a planner niche for its program. With the addition of one word to its title, the Priority Club Meeting Rewards becomes a program that awards planners for “qualified” meetings. Reading the fine print is also essential here. Planners must have a minimum of 10 rooms occupied in their block from a minimum of one night up to five consecutive nights depending on the brand in IHG’s portfolio of hotels. InterContinental and Crowne Plaza have an additional requirement that meeting-related food and beverage charges must be applied to the master bill.

IHG further adds the perk of giving planners different status levels depending on how many meetings they book. Similar to an airline’s status ranking, IHG bestows Gold Elite status to planners who host one qualified meeting in a calendar year and Platinum Elite status to those hosting two meetings per year. The benefits of status range from the gold level’s 10 percent bonus in points and priority check-in, ensuring your room and keys are ready upon arrival, to complimentary room upgrades and a 50 percent boost in bonus points at the platinum level.

Marriott’s Rewarding Events program also offers levels of elite status and allows planners to choose between hotel points and airline miles. For every $1 in total meeting charges, planners can earn three hotel points up to a maximum of 50,000 or 1 mile up to a maximum of 15,000.

Marriott’s limited-time Meetings Matter group promotion adds contract incentives and bonus points to its base
rewards program. For each meeting with at least 50 cumulative room nights booked and held by Dec. 31, 2010, a group will receive: 35 percent allowable attrition, one complimentary room night for every 35 paid rooms, and a 2 percent rebate off the master bill for each qualified meeting exceeding 100 cumulative room nights. This promotion also adds triple points for master bills paid with any Visa credit card up to a maximum of 150,000 total points.

Marriott, IHG and Starwood have all received Freddie Awards, honoring the best frequent traveler programs throughout the world for the last 20 years. Receiving an award by giving travelers rewards confirms the industry’s intense focus on points. But for meeting planners who are bound by industry guidelines and organizational policies, does redeeming points for personal gain step dangerously close to the edge of ethics?

Many of these points programs focus their advertising on the individual benefits rather than what the group receives. Marriott’s Rewarding Events section of its website sympathizes with planners that “times are tight, and budgets are tighter,” but it can be “business as usual for you,” urging planners to earn points toward free nights for “your ultimate getaway.” Starwood’s site tells planners that earning Starpoints will “bring you one step closer to your dream vacation.”

IHG ran a 2008 campaign for Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts that masked the individual benefits by calling its promotion the M.B.A. (Masters in Business Accommodations), designed to engage the traveler and educate them “in the personality of the brand and our latest promotional offerings.”

So when do rewards points move from an acceptable gift to a breach of ethical guidelines?  Joshua Grimes of Grimes Law Offices, a firm specializing in associations and the hospitality industry, says there is no industry standard on points; however, many companies have policies that employees and contractors must follow.

“Sometimes these policies require people earning points for business travel to credit them to the company account,” Grimes says. “Other times the [individual] may keep them.”

Sheila Evans, director of sales Southern region for Hilton Worldwide, has clients who create a “house account” for points. Similar to an escrow account at a bank, Hilton holds the rewards points for use as the group books meetings. This ensures that the points are going to the company and not the individual planner. “Some clients use their points in company giveaways or donate them to their favorite charity,” Evans says.

Grimes says that most hotels have a policy allowing the meeting sponsor to designate who gets the points, the only condition being that the points will be paid to only one person or entity. “This means that any recipient may be designated,” Grimes says. “However, ethics considerations may dictate that the points should go to the meeting sponsor unless that sponsor designates another recipient.”

Evans says that it must be stated clearly, prior to the signing of the hotel contract, who will receive the points. “This is usually decided by the meeting planner or the person booking the program,” Evans says.

Ethical considerations can be stretched further when a planner bases a destination or venue decision on the rewarding of points. Kyle Greer, program manager for the Society of International Business Fellows (SIBF), books properties based on how they fit his organization’s needs, not by their points program.

“Our key concerns are location, meeting space and service level,” Greer says. “It is critical [that] we pull off high-caliber meetings and events, and we’ve yet to find that a point system helps in any way.”

Paulette Hopkins, president of The Hopkins Alliance, puts a clause in her contracts listing the designated representative who will receive the points. “But it has never been the decision-breaker [over another property],” Hopkins says.

While Grimes says there is no legally correct answer, under the federal Sarbanes-Oxley law, the points would have to go to the company or organization sponsoring the meeting. “Otherwise, there could be an implication that the planner chose a particular hotel because he or she was personally earning points — a suspect incentive because it doesn’t benefit the meeting sponsor,” Grimes says. “The best policy is for the planner to give the company the points, or to disclose to the company that the hotel is offering the points and seek approval from company officials to keep them.”

Monica Compton, CMP, is an event specialist with Pinnacle Productions Inc. based in Atlanta. She has 18 years experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally.

Understanding the various protocol and etiquette guidelines in selecting the right speaker is critical to achieving your overall mission and creating the best impact for your annual convention, meeting or retreat. Youth conferences offer a special opportunity to impress upon our future leaders the importance of a strong foundation and to equip them with tools for their success. Oftentimes, planners in the faith-based market are providing essential skills that otherwise might be overlooked. So, beyond seeking a speaker who will entice your audience, thereby building attendance, what important factors do you need to keep in mind if you also want to engage youth and stay mission-focused?

Here are five proactive steps to take when selecting the perfect speaker for your event:

1. Create a clear roadmap.
Be sure to review the overall theme, mission and desired outcome for the event with your program committee. Do you have specific learning goals? Do you want to motivate or encourage your attendees? Are you looking for a feel-good speaker or a results-oriented speaker? You wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint, would you?

2. Create a speaker RFP (Request for Proposal).
Most planners have heard about sending a request for proposal to a hotel, but did you know you could send a request for proposal to your speaker as well? Speakermatch.com is a wonderful site where you can post your speaker criteria and the system will search the database for a list of speakers that match your requirements.

3. Check references.
Speakers will have testimonials on their media kits and websites from past events. Request that they send you a list of six people you can call for a personal phone reference. When they give you the list, be sure to call the last three on the list. This will ensure that you are getting a true assessment, since most people will list the best references first.

4. Do more research.
Be sure to do a Google search on your prospective speakers. Look for anything questionable that might negatively affect your event. Look at what others have said on various social media sites. (Point your browser to google.com and put the speakers name in parenthesis.) If you find anything of concern, you can bring that up with the speaker prior to signing a contract.

5. Review the contract with the speaker.
Once you have found the right speaker, you need a contract. Much like booking your hotel or event venue, the contract is essential to understanding the fiduciary responsibilities of both signing parties. Some contract items to consider include: deposits, cancellation fees, rebooking clauses, recording parameters, materials, travel expenses, payment terms and more. (Read “Getting the Essentials in Speaker Contracts” at RejuvenateMeetings com.) Finally, be sure to interview the speaker. Talk with him or her and listen to your inner voice before making your final decision. If you have done all the preliminary work, but still have questions, perhaps another speaker is a better fit.

Dallas Teague Snider is a business etiquette expert and founder of Make Your Best Impression. For a free special report, “Cultivating Influence and Loyalty with Clients and Colleagues,” visit makeyourbestimpressioncom/report.

First on the list of considerations is room layout. Having 500 people seated theatre-style is a completely different scenario than 500 people sitting at rounds because their distance to the screens is different. Ideally, people should sit (in relation to the screens) no closer than twice the height of a screen and no farther away than eight times the height of a screen. So, let’s say you have a screen that is 10 feet tall. That means you want your audience to sit no closer than 20 feet and no farther away than 80 feet from the screen. Why is it based on height, you ask? Because our eyes perceive more detail from top to bottom. That’s why TV standards are based on how many lines make up a picture. Those ads you see for 1080P HDTVs are for TVs made up of 1080 lines from top to bottom.

This guideline is subject to change, however. If there are going to be presentations with a lot of fine detail or small text then your audience needs to be closer, just like holding something closer to your face if it has fine print (reading glasses included, of course). In this scenario you may want to have your audience no farther away than five times the height of the screen. If you’re just doing cameras for I-Mag, you can be farther away. Being too close can be uncomfortable, which is why a minimum distance is also important. Screens should be high enough off the ground for people to see the entire screen (usually about 4 to 6 feet for a seated audience). Delay screen may need to be added if people are seated too far away.

Now, let’s take a moment to think three-dimensionally. In addition to room size and layout there is one key factor that trumps all others and is often overlooked, and that is ceiling height and ceiling obstructions such as chandeliers and ceiling coves. If the ceiling height is 18 feet and the screen should be at least 5 feet off the ground so people can see it, and you factor in a foot or so for drape, you now have a maximum screen height of 12 feet. Ceiling obstacles may determine where the screens can be placed So look up — it may just affect what you can and can’t do.

Scott Reagles is a production manager and video director for IPG (Initial Production Group), based in Denver, Colo. He focuses on bridging the gap between clients and technology. You can reach him at scott@initialpro.com. IPG is a full-service production company that has been serving the faith-based market for more than 20 years.