Meeting Planner Careers

When corporations dedicate precious financial resources to meeting planning and events, they want to make certain that they get a good return on their investment. For this reason, it is vitally important that meeting planners work diligently to ensure that the greatest number of participants as possible attend the scheduled meeting or event. There are several ways in which meeting planners can promote the event and encourage participation. Personal contact is always important; therefore, meeting planners can make reminder calls to participants once invitations to the event have been sent. Word-of-mouth recommendations can have quite an impact on participation.

Not only is personal contact an excellent way to reach potential event participants, but social media sites and other technology may also be utilized by a meeting planner. Many individuals have accounts with social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Meeting planners should take advantage of these social media sites by using them to promote the upcoming meeting or event. Additionally, meeting planners can send email reminders to participants or they may even promote the event on their blog. Furthermore, posting information about the event on the corporation's website or a custom website is also a great way to remind participants of the upcoming event and encourage participation.

ASAE, the American Society of Association Executives, and The Center for Association Leadership, now known as ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership, will stream live video from its three general sessions plus 24 seminars at its August annual meeting in Los Angeles this year. The video-taped sessions will be archived for 90 days, allowing virtual attendance at a 20% reduction in the real time attendance rate for three additional months. Eventually, the general sessions at least will probably be posted at the ASAE YouTube channel.

On top of that, ASAE has a page at their site http://www.asaecenter.org/ titled “Social Media.” With links to in-house blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and more, they are a textbook example of an organization using social media for internal and external two-way communication.

If you want to use social media to publicize and/or invite participation in your next event, a case study on ASAE will go a long way. Another site you’ll enjoy visiting is courtesy of our wry friends in Scotland. “Contently Managed” writes a valuable contribution titled “25 Social Media Engagement Tips for Event Organizers.” If you need a primer on Twitter, check out Nancy Marmolejo’s short video.

Oh. And since the ASAE’s membership is comprised of thousands of executives planning events for the thousands of associations in America, it might be worth listening in on their public conversations.

MIAMI–(EON: Enhanced Online News)–Cruise event specialists Landry & Kling Inc. have announced a strategic partnership between their company Seasite.com, the first cruise portal for meetings and events, and i-Meet.com, the professional and social network for meeting and event planners and suppliers.

“Facebook and Twitter are important to our overall social media strategy, but with our new Seasite online community, we’re giving our customers and users an expanded experience in i-Meet’s global community”

The partnership introduces a unique, online community on i-Meet.com for Seasite.com users and prospects worldwide. Leveraging i-Meet’s fast-growing network and social media platform, Seasite’s online community will feature industry leading technology, group special interest “hot spots”, and provide a way for people to connect and interact with over 20,000 industry professionals around the world.

“Our customers have expressed an interest in a community-based social platform to complement Seasite’s cruise sourcing and planning tools,” said Jo Kling, CEO of Seasite.com. “We are excited to be partnering with i-Meet and its meetings industry-specific social network approach; we can now deliver a unique experience to our customers that’s in line with the way people do business today.”

“It’s really a very natural progression to introduce social networking to cruise meetings customers,” said John Pino, i-Meet’s Founder and CEO, “and marrying Seasite’s cruise sourcing technology with an online communications and collaboration channel enabled through i-Meet’s global community of planners, buyers and suppliers will create advantages for everyone.”

“Facebook and Twitter are important to our overall social media strategy, but with our new Seasite online community, we’re giving our customers and users an expanded experience in i-Meet’s global community,” said Jo Kling “This is an industry first that will allow our users to network with other professionals and communicate what’s on their minds.”

The partnership will allow the growth of active mini-communities for i-Meet and Seasite.com members based on their areas of interest. The groups will be hosted and administered by Seasite’s expert cruise industry professionals. “Friend-ing” others, “following” suppliers, and subscribing to and publishing blogs will round out the experience.

About Landry & Kling and Seasite.com

Landry & Kling Inc., cruise event specialists since 1982, recently introduced Seasite.com, the first online cruise platform for meeting professionals. Seasite is an industry sourcing tool to search, select and plan group cruises, with access to 35 cruise lines in one site, meeting-friendly search criteria, e-RFP’s, meeting/function room capacities, dining details and other unique tools available nowhere else. Visit www.seasite.com or www.landrykling.com.

About i-Meet

Created by the Founder of StarCite, www.i-Meet.com is focused on building the industry’s most relevant worldwide online community for the meeting and event industry. With 20,000 members from 130 countries around the world to date, i-Meet brings social networking, web 2.0 tools, work flow and relationship opportunities, and industry intelligence to its members and suppliers. Visit i-meet.com.

You probably have a Facebook or MySpace account, your company may have a blog and Web site, and there’s a good chance that you’ve probably “tweeted”. However, if you’re behind the curve on technology and haven’t begun to use the different social media outlets to help build your event planning business, you’re probably missing out. Following are some reasons why you should be taking advantage of the power of social media.

Facebook – Facebook is the Grand Central Station of the Internet for contacting, finding and grouping people. This amazing social tool also allows you to measure different metrics within groups that you establish. Consider setting up a Facebook fan page for people interested in the events that you’re planning for your area. Post information about the events that is relevant and current and watch your group grow. If you want to measure the different metrics of your group, Facebook provides an online application called “Insights”, which allows you to measure interactions, likes, comments, wall posts and gender among other things.

Twitter – Why “tweet”? Why not? Twitter is the perfect texting platform. When you consider that you have 140 characters to produce a micro-blog post, you realize that millions of people on their Blackberries and iPhones will really appreciate the updates.

These two social media venues are just a taste of what is available (for free!) on the Internet. Dedicate some time each day to utilizing these tools and you’ll see the benefits firsthand.

The Web has helped create a movement toward simplifying the everyday tasks of event and meeting planning through the use of Web applications or “Apps” for short. Following are four Web Apps that can make your life easier.

Which Date Works?
This Web app is an all-in-one tool that allows you to handle contact lists, has a calendaring system that helps you see who is available and finalize dates for meetings or events that work for everyone. Which Date Works can be found at http://whichdateworks.com.

My Punch Bowl
This event planning application helps you organize an event from conception through invitation. It even handles creating the date, online invitations, supplies and sharing via different social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. My Punch Bowl can be found at http://www.mypunchbowl.com.

Set Dot
Set Dot is an events management Web app for creating and managing events and meetings. You can create the event and stylize it with a theme, send out invitations to the event and manage guest responses and messages. This app will even allow you to find maps and directions to your event. Set Dot can be found at http://www.setdot.com.

Anyvite
This application uses more than just the Web to help you plan events. Anyvite works with mobile, IM and SMS tools to help you invite associates to different events. It features a plethora of invitation designs, ease of use, location search and the ability to incorporate photos or video. This handy tool also features a way to export a guest list. Anyvite can be found at http://anyvite.com.