Welcome to Corbin's TechTalk Newsletter, in its fourth year of providing the latest in technology for meetings, hospitality and travel professionals (currently 5,300+ subscribers).
This issue has a wide range of topics, tips and tools: In this Issue:
The Professional Meeting Planners Network (PMPN) www.pmpn.com & Attendee Management Inc. (AMi) www.attendeenet.com PMPN and AMi, our newest company, congratulate Corbin on being named MPI's Supplier of the Year. We are pleased to sponsor this newsletter in support of his work, and as evidence of our commitment to maximizing the benefits of technology in the meeting and events industry.
Marketing, Etc. www.2bartons.com Does your marketing need fresh ideas? Need help selling out your exhibit hall? Or, need a PR pro to handle your newsroom? Call 847-698-5069, email dbarton@2bartons.com or visit www.2bartons.com. Marketing Etc., a complete resource for you.
Conferon www.conferon.com Is your marketing reaching your target audience and boosting ROI? Conferon's MRA and ConferOnline options help you meet attendance goals.
b-there www.b-there.com Twice the efficiency. Half the work. Discover the benefits of integrated online registration, housing, travel, & e-marketing solutions.
NEW ARTICLE: Save Money, Time and Liability Exposure with Meetings Consolidation Products
If you are not monitoring and controlling your meeting costs, it is likely you are spending too much. For large companies, the excess costs of poorly purchased and tracked meetings can run into the millions of dollars! In fact, the larger the company, the greater are the changes of waste and liability exposure.
The challenge has been figuring out how do get your hands around this very complex, multi-headed issue of meetings consolidation. Initiatives have been tried in the past with limited success due to the highly data intensive nature of the task.
At last, there are a number of web-based tools that give a wide variety of options for tracking and consolidating meeting spend for a range of organizations.
This article discusses the key issues and lists the major players with synopses of how they differ from each other.
NEW ARTICLE: Opting In for Sales and Services for Association Members
Association members are an ideal target for e-mail marketing. When they "opt-in" for news and information of interest to them, you can reach out multiple times each month, at a cost of pennies per person.
This well-researched article, by Cathy Chatfield-Taylor, outlines a range of options for associations to use: e-marketing to retain members, promoting conferences, targeting markets and growing local programs.
NEW ARTICLE: Creating a Digital Video "Highlights Clip" to Maximize Your Event ROI
Preserving your next conference, meeting or event on digital video (DV) can add significant return on investment. A two-minute DV "highlights reel" of an event is quick and inexpensive to produce. It can be e-mailed to attendees to reinforce their positive experience and posted on a website to impress future clients.
This article, written by Ann Rebentisch, CMP, outlines many helpful points to consider when deciding on why, when and how to use this exciting new medium.
MeetingAdvice meetingadvice.com Have questions about contracts, special events, hotels, meeting logistics, or catering? You can ask seasoned experts at this site. Lots of great free content and sound advice can be found in the archives.
Meetings Coach www.alliancellc.com Industry pros Robin Craven and Lynn Johnson offer solid content including dozens of articles, helpful links, a glossary and more.
SurveyKey www.surveykey.com This is an excellent new online survey tool. Survey questions are easy to set up and configurable for a range of question types. There is no charge for the first 50 responses and 30 days for each survey. If your number exceeds 50 , it will still capture the data, and you can pay per response. Responses are graphed and can be exported into Excel and comma delimited formats. I highly recommend this one.
NewLeads www.newleads.com NewLeads allows exhibit staff to standardize their lead retrieval for trade shows. This system is compatible with 80% of show lead retrieval devices (magnetic stripe, 2-D barcodes, and smart cards). Readers capture the data and comments into a database housed locally in the booth. Their WebPartner product uses a wireless Web server in the booth allowing exhibitors to use any computer device with a browser (PDAs, notebooks, Macs, desktops). Requests for information and other responses can be cued up before the attendee leaves the booth.
ASAE's Online Search Director of Association Web Sites http://info.asaenet.org/gateway/OnlineAssocSlist.html This site offers the most complete directory of U.S. associations with 6,589 associations listed. You can search by the acronym, by portion of the name, by subject category, and by city/state. The limitation is that it is only for US-based associations.
4 FAVORITES REFERENCE SITES: Quotations and the Origin of Phrases
A well-placed quote in a presentation or article can capture attention and lend credibility to your point. Listed below are my favorite sites for finding "just the perfect quote."
The Quotations Page www.quotationspage.com Over 15,000 quotations searchable by author, keyword and subject.
In a similar vein, do you ever wonder about the origin of words and phrases?
Origins of Phrases members.aol.com/MorelandC/Phrases.htm Everything from "balls to the wall" (the origin is different than you may think) to "what's the skinny." This site explores the origins of some of the more colorful uses of the English language.
The Phrase Finder phrases.shu.ac.uk/meanings/a-1.html This site has a nicer interface and a much bigger database than the previous one with many more common phrases included as well.
NEWS
CORBIN'S "FAVORITES" UPDATED - NOW 2,240 LINKS
The bad news: Many dot.coms have gone. Lots of links that were viable 4 months ago now show a "not found" error.
The good news: There are lots of new, helpful web sites out there!
I have just updated my favorites file, deleting more than 150 bad links that have died or changed from April. However, new ones are being constantly added with a net gain of more than 140 sites.
This is the most comprehensive listing of categorized meeting planning and events technology links on the web. Please stop by.
*****
3RD EDITION OF MY BOOK "THE ULTIMATE MEETING PROFESSIONALS TECHNOLOGY RESOURCE AND GUIDE" IS SCHEDULED FOR RELEASE EARLY NEXT YEAR.
CALL FOR TECHNOLOGY PRODUCT LISTINGS!
The first and second editions have been the most comprehensive guides ever written on the subject of meetings technology. This third edition, funded by Starwood and the MPI Foundation and published by MPI, will be a substantial addition and will include all of the online technologies as well. Also, the plans are to make this available online as well as in the standard book form.
CORBIN NAMED CHAIR OF EIBTM'S WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGY WATCH 2003 www.corbinball.com/index.EIBTM2003.htm EIBTM (European Incentive and Business Travel Meeting held 20-22 May 2003 in Geneva) is the world's largest tradeshow for the meetings and incentives industry. The Worldwide Watch award recognizes the latest cutting-edge technology on a global scale impacting our industry. I am honored to accept this position, as it will give me a central seat to see emerging technology trends and ideas that I will be able to share with you in future newsletters.
Whether you are an independent, corporate, or association meeting planner, you need to be aware of the legal status of the organization for which you are planning a board meeting. Your "virtual board meeting" might not be legal! This article, written by Tyra Hilliard, Esq., CMP, discussed the ramifications.
NEW ARTICLE: Make the Most of Your Exhibit Opportunity -- 10 Do's and Don'ts in Staffing Your Exhibit Booth.
Tradeshows and exhibits are great ways to increase company visibility and, ultimately increase sales. However, the cost of travel, shipping, time away from the office, booth rental space/supplies can be significant. It is imperative that you maximize your limited time in the booth to get the best return on investment.
As a professional speaker and former meeting planner, I have attended hundreds of exhibitions and have observed tens of thousands of exhibit staff. I regularly see glaring examples of what to do and what not to do in order to maximize exhibit sales. This article will cover some of the key points to keep in mind as you staff your booth.
My speaking and consulting schedule for September and October will be bringing me to: Los Angeles, Seattle, Dallas, Louisiana, Cleveland, Albuquerque and Bangkok. I would love to come to your city as well so please contact me and let's set a date:
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