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- Hello all you techno savvy meeting professionals. You made a
wise decision reading the premiere issue of this publication.
-
- I'm glad I got to be in it too. I have made and saved lots
of money and time by using only a few of the many
- electronic tools that are available today. In this section,
I'm going to tell you how I have utilized technology in my business and then we are going
to visit some of your colleagues in cyberspace and see what they have been up to.
About four years ago, I had my first website created. In those "ancient times"
you had to know how to write HTML language (for you newbies, HTML is a website
construction language that was far too hard for normal people to learn). It was an
exercise in total frustration. I had to picture what I wanted to do and convey those
thoughts to a web designer. The web designer would then have to create what he/she
"thought" I meant.
-
- This could take anywhere from a week or so to, . . . Oh
maybe a few decades. Then, if and when the site was ever visible, I could look at it and
be virtually certain that it was nothing like I had in mind. Changes only took a year or
two each, so after going back and forth with them a couple times the site would begin to
approach what I had in mind. By that time though, the web designer was bored with my
project and quit returning calls and Emails. I tried to get a scan of my new book on my
website and one year later it was still not on my site..
After two years of this and only 400 people visiting my site, I screamed to myself
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!" . . . actually the neighbors claimed I really did scream. .
-
- So, I went to Microcenter in Fairfax, VA and asked them what
the easiest and most popular method was to create a website. I made sure they knew that I
knew nothing about websites except that I wanted a good one.
-
- Their answer was that I should get a copy of "Front
Page 98." I spent $150.00 and the next month learning how to use the program.
Microsoft's support on this product was the best support I had ever seen on any computer
product. They will sit on the phone with you and tell you how to use the program. Want to
put a photo on? Do this. Want to line things up in a table? Do that. I've never seen or
even heard of such good support.
I now have one of the best speaker's websites anywhere
http://www.antion.com . Had I hired a conventional firm to do the work, the estimated cost
to develop and maintain this site so far would have been nearly $40,000.00. The
frustration factor I'm sure would have been even higher. I got all this and now 400
visitors a day for a little elbow grease and $150.00 for the program. If I get into
anything really complicated that's not worth my time to figure out, I have a Front Page
expert I can call for $60.00/hr.
You may not want to learn to do your own website, or you may have a reliable and quick
person who handles the site for your organization. I really don't care how you get the
site going. I do care though that you make sure that it is updatable quickly and reliably,
or you are missing one of the big benefits of having a website. It doesn't make much sense
to have one of the most technologically advanced tools for instant communication 24 hours
a day 7
days per week and then have old information on it.
My website gets me clients who would never have found me any other way, product sales
around the world, and a cost effective professional presence which is important for those
of us who have our own business. It also saves
me mailing out marketing information that I don't want to send and you don't want to
receive. Almost everything you need to know about me to make the decision of whether you
want to do business with me can be found at the
website. The number of marketing kits I've sent out since I took over my website has
decreased by approximately 75% yet I do more business at a much higher fee. And, I don't
have to take on the expense of having my phone answered every second. You can find out
what you need to know
instantaneously without me even being in the country.
-
- My Email lets me stay in touch cost effectively as I travel.
Being a professional speaker, I'm on the road quite a bit. My laptop/Email combination
have paid for themselves many times over with the reduction in cell phone charges. It's
way more efficient too, because I can work on the plane and in the hotel room.
Now lets see how some of the professionals on the planning side of the meeting fence use
technology to their advantage.
Rebecca Reardon
CSC, National Flood Insurance Program
7700 Hubble Dr.
Lanham, MD 20706
301-918-1439 tel 301-918-1471 fax
becky.reardon@fema.gov
http://www.fema.gov/nfip
-
- Tom: Would you please describe
briefly how you got started doing business on the Internet?
Rebecca: First, I heard a lot about the Internet and attended
some educational seminars at a couple of meeting planner conferences. I requested access
at work, but was denied, so I bought my own computer and got set up at home. I began
exploring to determine what exactly was out
there that would be useful in my job. After a year of requests and making my case, I
finally got approval to have access at work.
Tom: What, in your experience, is the single most
useful benefit you have gotten out of your website?
Rebecca: Efficiency and the ability to communicate
electronically. I publish conference and registration information, and I can find hotel
information, floor
plans, and destination information without leaving the office or waiting for mail.
Tom: What advice would you give other meeting professionals
who are not yet on the Internet?
Rebecca: You are wasting a lot time. Our jobs are hard
enough. Anything that can be done to streamline your work should be welcomed.
Alison G. Donohue
American Chamber of Commerce Executives
4232 King Street
Alexandria, VA 22302-1507 USA
703-998-3549 703/998-0072 main
office
703/931-5624 fax
adonohue@acce.org
http://www.acce.org
Tom: Would you please describe briefly how you got started
doing business on the Internet?
Alison: As a meeting planner, getting and receiving
information requires a quick response rate. I needed the Internet to provide the access to
gather information on a particular city quickly and accurately.
Tom: What, in your experience, is the single most useful
benefit you have gotten out of your website?
Alison: Posting and updating information on upcoming ACCE
meetings and conferences on a regular basis with ease.
Tom: What advice would you give
other meeting professionals who are not yet on the Internet?
Alison: Get on board! It is the most useful tool to advertise
an upcoming meeting!
Nancy H. Ayers
nancy_h_ayers@email.mobil.com
http://www.mobil.com
- Tom: Would you please describe
briefly how you got started doing business on the Internet?
Nancy: It's hard to remember how I got started as I've been
using the Internet for some time. Most likely my usage started by trying to get
information quickly at hours when an organization was closed and no one was available to
answer my questions. My current group, Mobil Global Event Management, is working on a
website that will only be available on Mobil's intranet.
Tom: What, in your experience,
is the single most useful benefit you have gotten out of your website?
Nancy: To have access to information and to be able to
communicate at any time of day or night no matter where I am in the world.
Tom: What advice would you give other meeting professionals
who are not yet on the Internet?
Nancy: I'd suggest that the competitive advantage will go to
those organizations that utilize the Internet for business. Others will be left behind and
it will become harder and harder to catch up.
- Jan Kary, CMP
Orr Associates, Inc.
2801 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007
202-338-6100 202-338-8182 fax
jkary@oai-usa.com
http://www.oai-usa.com
Tom: Would you please describe briefly how you got started
doing business on the Internet?
Jan: I wouldn't say that I "do business on the
Internet," but rather that I use it as a tool for enhanced immediate communication .
. . much like a fax.
Tom: What, in your experience, is the single most useful benefit you have gotten
out of your website?
Jan: Being able to communicate what OAI is, in immediate
time, to prospective clients. We also use the site for registration purposes, etc.
Tom: What advice would you give other meeting professionals
who are not yet on the Internet?
Jan: Five years ago I would have mentioned that it might be a
good idea to get on the Internet. Now, I can't fathom how a professional meeting planner
gets his/her work done without it. It would be hard to believe there are
professionals in the meetings industry not on the Internet; That would be like using an
abacus instead of a calculator. It's as necessary a business tool as a telephone.
Corbin Ball, CMP
Corbin Ball Associates
506 14th Street, Bellingham, WA 98225
360-734-8756 360-201-7801 cell
360-734-2204 fax 508-632-7730 E-Fax (during
travel)
corbin@corbinball.com
http://corbinball.com with 1,100+ categorized meeting industry web sites
And 2 new articles on Meeting Planning Software and Web Security
Tom: Would you please describe briefly how you got started
doing business
on the Internet?
Corbin: I was working for an international scientific
engineering association
(SPIE) in 1990, an early adopter of using the web. It started with basic Email
which we used to arrange meeting details globally. In 1994, we were one of
the first associations to develop a presence on the Web and used it for
marking, registration, and meeting automation.
Tom: What, in your experience, is the single most useful
benefit you have gotten out of your website?
Corbin: For my personal web site
http://www.corbinball.com , one of the biggest benefits has been information request
automation. As a professional
speaker and consultant, I often get requests for my speaking topics, bio, testimonials,
clients, etc. Putting this online makes it easier for everyone.
Tom: What advice would you give other meeting professionals
who are not yet on the Internet?
-
- Corbin: In the words of Michael
Dell, CEO of Dell Computers: "Get linked or get lost." The Web is the way
business is going for sales, marketing, and
collaboration. If you do not have a web presence soon, you will simply not be competitive.
Donna Haegele, CMP
American College of Nurse-Midwives
818 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 900
Washington, DC 20006
202-728-9860 202-728-9897 fax
dhaegele@acnm.org
http://www.midwife.org
Tom: Would you please describe briefly how you got started
doing business on the Internet?
Donna: The only business that I have done on the Internet is
look up websites of hotels or resorts or particular hotels that I need to see visually. I
don't always have time to do a site visit. Also, I can look information up on a
destination and get it very quickly. An example is that I frequently go to the Anchorage
Alaska CVB website to get quick answers on the destination. Our annual meeting is there in
2000, so I go to get information instead of making a phone call. I use Email to
communicate between my program committee
members all the time. We are currently starting to accept abstracts for our annual meeting
by Email. This immediately cuts down the paper work.
Tom: What, in your experience, is the single most useful
benefit you have gotten out of your website?
Donna: The single biggest benefit for me is the amount of
time saved. So much time is wasted leaving phone mail messages and playing phone tag.
Tom: What advice would you give other meeting professionals
who are not yet on the Internet?
Donna: While I do not spend ALL my time on the Internet and
using Email, I think these are excellent tools that can help meeting professionals save
time in the office. We are all in need of more time these days. The Internet can
help you save some.
Cindy Heverling, CMP
Choice Hotels International, Inc.
10750 Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20901
301-592-6639 301-592-6205 fax
cindy_heverling@choicehotel.com
http://www.choicehotels.com
- Tom: Would you please describe briefly how you got started
doing business on the Internet?
Cindy: My first experience with the Internet was through Meeting Professionals
International (MPI) Net back in 1994. At that time there was a small group of
professionals on-line who helped each other out, referred
business to each other, etc. The volume of posting on MPI Net quickly grew, and I could
not keep up with the time involved to sift through all of the messages. I eventually had
to terminate my CompuServe subscription when my company established Internet access for
each employee through a separate ISP.
Tom: What, in your experience, is the single most useful benefit you have gotten out of
your website?
Cindy: My answer will actually be on behalf of my suppliers. Our website is pretty much
for consumers and I'm not on that side of the business. I think that the immediacy and
availability of information on the Internet is its greatest benefit. Today I was working
on an event for an incentive group in Boston. I contacted the Boston CVB for a few ideas
and they gave me a list of possible suppliers.
-
- The first one I talked to was a yacht charter company.
As we discussed the available yachts, the vendor gave me her web address, and I was able
to see pictures and deck plans as we spoke. No waiting for a package of materials, no
fuzzy faxes, etc.
Tom: What advice would you give other meeting professionals
who are not yet on the Internet?
Cindy: My advice: Get surfing! Once you get started you will
be amazed at the amount of information out there. From sports schedules for your group's
favorite team to virtual tours of hotel properties. I thought that the fax machine changed
the way we did business -- ha! This is the big one!
Janet Pickover, CMP
J.R. Associates
86 Poe Rd.
Princeton, NJ 08540
609-921-6605 609-921-6960 fax
jrassoc@compuserve.com
http://www.jrmeetings-speakers.com
Tom: Would you please describe briefly how you got started
doing business on the Internet?
Janet: About 4 years ago I was pretty much forced into it to
accommodate my international clients. I first started with site and area research and
Email.
Tom: What, in your experience, is the single most useful
benefit you have gotten out of your website?
Janet: Tom, there are so many it's hard to pick just one. I
would say it is on-line registration for our meeting clients. The attendees register on
their own web page, which we create. We can then download the questionnaire
into a spreadsheet program with a few clicks of the mouse. No rekeying means I save time
and errors. Research is also great on the web and it's gotten more user friendly over the
past year. Working in vastly different time
zones is no longer a barrier like it was when you had to use the phone for every little
detail. And one more thing. We get business from our website for speakers and plan on
continuing to expand that segment of our business by
adding more speakers and perhaps a meeting planning column.
Tom: What advice would you give other meeting professionals
who are not yet on the Internet?
Janet: Just start out easy by learning to research what
potential meeting areas have to offer. Then start finding vendors who have Email. This
will save you an enormous amount of money in phone and fax charges. In fact, every
thing else being equal, I would make my decision on a vendor based on whether they used
Email or not.
Back to top
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- Tom Antion is a
Maryland based, professional speaker and seminar leader. He is the Author of Wake 'em Up
Business Presentations, a columnist for several national meetings magazines, and the
publisher of GREAT SPEAKING E-zine (Electronic Magazine). For your FREE subscription, or
to
contact Tom, send an mailto:tomantion@aol.com , or visit
http://www.antion.com . Phone (301) 459-0738.
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- Since we first met George Jetson (for those of us old enough
to remember), technological advances have promised to replace face-to-face meetings with
communication satellites and picture phones.
-
- Visionaries conjured images of a "space-age" where
we’d beam sight and sound faster than we could imagine, with little need for human
contact. The reality: As we rapidly approach Year 2000, attendance by real live
humans at meetings, conventions and trade shows continues to grow significantly every year
(source: PCMA survey).
-
- What has changed, with our increasing reliance upon
cyberspace as a part of our daily lives, is the demand for faster and easier solutions for
registration and travel bookings as we make plans to attend those frequent meetings. Rare
is the organization, corporation or association planner who does not feel the pressure to
offer meeting and event information and booking solutions from a Web site.
-
- Online meeting and tradeshow registration is a natural
front-runner in the race for new solutions. The power of the Internet enables any meeting
planner or tradeshow producer to expand the impact of their events at a relatively small
cost. In many cases, the planner/producer can actually realize overall cost savings when
the productivity advantages are factored into the equation.
-
- Most online registration tool providers will put up a Web
site for your event, or enable you to easily do it yourself. Thereafter, a small
transaction fee normally applies, which can be incorporated into your event costing.
-
- Attendees, speakers and exhibitors gain access to up-to-date
event information quickly around-the-clock. Last minute changes and additions to the
agenda are easily incorporated and kept current without the cost of printing, re-printing,
mailings and associated labor.
-
- Self-booking allows the attendee to control the process and
benefit from immediate confirmations, program and destination information. When the
attendee can combine registration with housing, transportation and all other booking needs
from one location on the Internet, the efficiency is dramatically improved.
-
- Web-enabled planners are finding that not only does
attendance increase, by making the process simpler and faster, but attendees and
exhibitors express greater levels of satisfaction due to improved communications.
-
- The availability of rich destination information helps the
attendee decide which event to attend, when personal choice is a factor. As an interesting
side effect, more attendees are booking leisure trips in connection with their meeting
travel, as imaginations are stimulated through arresting visual images, tour ideas, and
travel links from the sponsor’s Web site.
-
- The organizer saves valuable time formerly spent re-keying
data, while gaining up-to-the-minute attendee and exhibitor registration numbers and
demographics. With better control of information, event producers can optimize their
marketing and promotional efforts, thus attracting new attendees and exhibitors.
-
- Lower administrative costs and new revenue streams from
cross-selling opportunities lead to more successful events. And vendors from registration
companies to hotels and airlines are kept happy with the improved data and inventory
control capabilities.
-
- The time and therefore, cost savings,
connected to web-enabling registration functions, are often truly substantial. Steve
Gardner of MSW Travel has enthusiastically embraced the new online technology, and has
estimated savings of at least 25% from the traditional approach.
-
- With so many advantages to all parties, this Web migration
is a trend sure to escalate in the new millennium. Fortunately, a rich crop of Web-enabled tools for registration, and myriad other event-related
functions, has sprung up to fill the need for information and interaction now. One
fact is certain – as the number of new travelers on the Internet continues to double
every two months, the proliferation of new Web sites to serve the meeting industry will
parallel or exceed that growth rate. We will do our best to keep you up-to-date!
-
- Sascha Block
is Director of Communications for b-there.com, an Internet-based company offering
solutions for meeting and event professionals. Their flagship product, ERS, enables
planners to manage housing, registration, air and car bookings, and other related services
in real-time via the Internet. Sascha has been planning meetings, conventions and
incentives worldwide for 18 years, to destinations ranging from Argentina to Zaire, and
has been an avid Internet explorer for about four years.
- Contact sascha@b-there.com.
RESOURCES FROM THE EDITOR
b-there.com
b-there.com offers planners a one-stop resource
with all of the tools needed to plan and manage an event of any size via the Internet.
Strategic partnerships have melded a powerful facility search engine, complex web-based
calendars, and varied information banks for the planning aspect, to a thoroughly tested
Internet-based registration and housing management system called ERS (Event
Reservation/Registration System). Recently, an on-line air booking engine, programmable
with event-specific meeting fares, has been added, making b-there's offering one of the
most comprehensive on-line solutions.
Contact: sales@b-there.com,
or call toll-free 877-828-4373 (877-ub-there).
Web site: http://www.b-there.com
Contact: sales@b-there.com, or call toll-free
877-828-4373 (877-ub-there).
Bluedot.com offers
Web-Based event management solutions with the stated mission - " To empower the
tradeshow industry to make a quantum leap forward in its ability to communicate,
collaborate, process, and automate, and to increase customer satisfaction by providing
enterprise-class Internet applications and services". There is a particular focus on customer
relationship management for Trade Show organizers.
Contact: sales@BLUEDOT.COM,
or call toll-free 888.391.BLUE.
Web site: http://www.bluedot.com
Event411.com is
your gateway to interactive, easy-to-use custom Web sites, with guidelines through
templates for the planning and communication processes. The RSVP center enables attendees
to register on-line, and an extensive Marketplace brings all the necessary shopping
sources to your fingertips. At this point, the Web site is geared more towards a simple
meeting or family event, but Event411.com represents an attractive way to get your
attendee's "feet wet" with the on-line registration concept and convenience.
Contact: customerservice@event411.com,
or call toll-free 877-778-7411.
Web site: http://www.event411.com
Passkey.com clearly has plans to move beyond their focus on convention housing
management and their key client base, Convention and Visitors Bureaus, as indicated by
their recent alliance with American Airlines' Sabre System. Passkey's flagship offering,
Passkey ResDesk, uses Internet-based software and a shared, centralized reservation
database to solve many widely recognized problems in group-related hotel inventory
management and reservations processing. This practical solution is in use today at several
major U.S. destinations.
Contact: info@passkey.com
or call toll-free 800-211-4234.
Web site: http://www.passkey.com
Plansoft is the developer of a suite of on-line tools bringing communication
efficiency to the forefront of its solutions. The Internet is utilized to communicate
meeting specifications between the planner and the hotel's convention services department,
through a 12,000-facility search engine and on-line RFP process. Start-to-finish planning
and event management tools are being adapted from Plansoft's Ajenis software format to the
World Wide Web. Ajenis automates the conference planning cycle by incorporating each
element of meeting management, including data communication, transaction history, and
expense management.
Contact: sales@plansoft.com, or call 330-405-5555.
Web site: http://www.plansoft.com
RegWeb, from
Cardinal Communications, offers a Web-based registration program, accessible to both
planners and attendees, that is fast, powerful, and affordable. Users may add, edit, or
delete registration in seconds, and the system is described as so easy to use, "If
you know how to surf the Web, you know how to use/administer RegWeb."
Contact: rodman@cardinalweb.com
or call toll-free 888-755-7075.
Web site: http://www.regweb.com
Wyntrac, developed by Jade Technologies, provides planners with an on-line
approach to registration and housing. Attendees book into updated room blocks over the Web
and receive instant conformations. Wyntrac offers a smart inventory control system for
both sessions and hotel rooms, and describe themselves as a "simple solution to your
housing and registration management needs.
Contact: jbmorris@wjade.com
or call toll-free 800-485-0764.
Web site: http://www.wyntrac.com
Expo International provides complete registration services for the
trade show and exhibition industries, including pre-show, real-time registration activity
and financial reports via the Web. Pre-show support activities include badge mailings,
list rentals, and real-time e-mail confirmations. Onsite, self or manned registration
systems, and lead retrieval systems are available. Building upon their extensive trade
show experience, Expo International also focuses on systems to help companies obtain,
manage, and act upon customer and prospect data. If you are looking for extensive
registration tools for large shows and events, you’ll want to check out this product
line.
Contact: sales@expo-intl.com, or call (781)
828-1400
Web site: http://www.expo-intl.com
iNetEvents offers a variety of solutions for Web-enabling your
event’s registration, from hosted solutions for small to medium events to fully
customized Web-based event systems and related intranet and extranet programs. Functions
brought to the Internet include registration of attendees and exhibitors, an interactive
calendar and session builder, online press release distribution, and exhibitor-created
"virtual booths".
Contact: info@inetevents.com, or call toll-free 877-368-iNet
Web site: http://www.inetevents.com
RegWorld.com’s product is called RegDesk and was designed to
handle the online registration needs of practically any convention or conference. RegDesk
enables attendees to view all of the offered sessions, book on-line, and complete a
personalized conference schedule. The meeting planner is able to generate reports of the
number of attendees in each session, send broadcast e-mails, and access conference
information from anywhere.
Contact: info@regworld.com or call
202-530-5215.
Web site: http://www.regworld.com
Please feel free to share your opinions with me: sascha@b-there.com
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Net Access In Airports
by Jessica
Stockwell |
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Milchen
de Vasconcelos, a travelling account executive who jets across the country at least once
every two weeks, checked her personal e-mail account at a SkyTel Business Center in the
Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport between flights.
Caught without her laptop, she explains, "In Terminal
B I noticed a computer setup and I wondered over to see if I could use it. I decided to
check my e-mail. I only had a few minutes and in exchange for my business card I jumped on
an Internet connected laptop with free access for 10 minutes - that’s all I
needed."
As with many professionals on the go, lugging a laptop is
habit but cumbersome just the same. "The bottom line is, I prefer not to tote along a
laptop," she admits the real preferences of many business travellers.
Airports are primed to offer the busy professional a few
minutes to check in online while waiting for the next flight. Hundreds of Public Internet
Access Facilities are springing up in gateways and gate areas in airports across the
country and abroad. Strategically placed in "work areas" or along a corridor, a
"Cyber booth" or "Internet Business Station" can be had for a few
minutes of productive time, free or for a small fee. No laptops, plugs or batteries
required.
Carl S. Selinger, of the New York Port Authority, advises
the three major airports in the area include over 60 installations. American Airlines in
Newark International airport and United in LaGuardia airport have uniquely positioned sit
down Get2Net stations in several gate departure areas. Free for the time being. The Net
savvy know how to optimize a few minutes of wait time. Productive time means logging in to
your Web based email account, sending an email or two or buying a gift online for the
client you just met.
Also, soon to LGA, and already open in Seattle, Cincinnati
and Atlanta airports, is Laptop Lane. Laptop Lane has a stellar concept with private high
tech work rooms to sooth the business weary, however you may have to hoof it to a main
terminal to get to it.
To find it however isn’t any difficult than finding an
airport lounge but it is 10 times more effcient. Ready for those with or without a laptop,
this independent mini business center has spacious private large shower sized rooms chock
full of well designed functioning equipment. It is the optimal work venue for the
multitasking. Phone lines, fax, printer and Internet connected workstation are within arms
reach including a concierge to assist. The going price is $2.00 for the first 5 minutes
and .38 cents a minute after that. No fees for faxes, local or US long distance calls.
Other Unexpected Airport Finds
 | At JFK, uniquely designed stand at AT&T power phones
with touch screens are newly installed in terminal 4. |
| E-mail to go. Upstairs at the Host Marriott restaurant
facility 6 Get2Net stations are conveniently available as an alternative to a small table
in the lounge area. Eat and send email to the kids. |
Business travel is hectic, leave the laptop at home, leave
the flying to the airlines and the Net access to the airports. It’s an option.
Next
issue: Comfort and Net access in Hotels
We invite you to share your tips and techniques to keep
business travel hassles to a minimum.
Questions about your next trip? Send email to
Ask@TheTravelCoach.com
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