Workshops

8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Sessions

Connect the Dots to the Industry's Future™

Joan Eisenstodt, Eisenstodt Associates, LLC

To paraphrase Yogi Berra, “Our future ain't what it used to be." Climate change, disasters, economic changes, changing demographics, and immigration are just a few of the issues that impact meetings, workplace, facilities and their services. What will our industry face in the future? How can you anticipate and manage the changes? How can you develop the core competencies that will be needed to work in the industry’s future?

Recommended reading to stimulate thinking for the session: Fast Company (any issue or on the web, http://www.fastcompany.com), The Futurist from the World Future Society (www.wfs.org), “A Whole New Mind” by Daniel Pink, and “Hospitality 2010: The Future of Hospitality and Travel.”

Is Marketing Dead?—Leadership, Influence and Branding in the Social Media Era

Patrick Schwerdtfeger, author and Champion of the Modern Entrepreneur

90% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know. 70% trust reviews posted online. Only 14% trust traditional advertising. The message is clear: traditional marketing is dying. This session challenges and inspires attendees to assume a leadership position within their market.

Making Your Brand Stick in Social Media

Bruce Turkel, TURKEL

The familiar story of corporate social media begins with good intentions but usually ends with a demoralized online evangelist and a disappointed executive. Companies jump in without a good plan of what they’re going to do and the understanding of how social media can build their brand. The problem is threefold: not fully understanding the real reach of social media, not knowing how people interact with social media and not having a well thought-out strategy to make your brand stick in social media.

Bruce Turkel, agency owner and author of Building Brand Value, demystifies the online environment and shows you how to take advantage of this powerful new media. He presents tips and tools for building brands online and offers proven strategies you can put to work the minute you return to your office. And because Bruce believes in practicing what he preaches, he promises to engage, educate and entertain — exactly the same things he prescribes for the web.

Socializing the Sale: How to Never Cold-Call Again

Adam Metz, Metz Consulting

Cold calling stinks. It’s no fun for the sales professional, and it annoys buyers. Socializing the Sale will show you how to:

• “Socialize” the information-gathering process for buyers, so that buyers are aware of you and your brand, before you call
• Introduce social media and leverage greater trust into the platinum standard of the service-sale, buyer-to-buyer reference
• Use Sales 2.0 intelligence software, and why it’s easy, fun, and better for you and your prospects.

Tactics for Good: Raising the Bar on the Green Movement
Overview: Forces Driving Corporate Social Responsibility

David Hopkins and Wilford Welch

In the first of three one-hour sessions, Welch and Hopkins present a dynamic and comprehensive overview of the forces behind the corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement. During the second session they use case studies to highlight corporations that are increasing their ROI while responding to these forces and addressing social and environment concerns. The third session explores ways corporations are measuring progress, results, and success toward their future business.

9:45 AM - 10:45 AM Sessions

What Does Our Future Look Like?

Holly Duckworth, CMP, Meeting Professionals International

In this session MPI’s magazine One + will come to life. Our industry worked hard in 2009 to survive. Now in 2010 it is time to Thrive. In this session MPI International will share with you what our research is showing us about the future of meetings. What is a Chief Connections Officer? Why is face-to-face important? How do I deal with CSR? We will address these questions and many more. Walk away with data you can take to your boss to assist you in gaining the dollars or relevance you need to plan your events in the US or around the world.

Learning Objectives:

• Discover trends from MPI 2010 Future Watch
• Discuss the MPI Business Barometer findings
• Illustrate how meetings are driving global business growth
• How your local MPI chapter is demonstrating those principals
• Join the conversation what do you see

Hotel Contracts Boot Camp Part I

John Foster, Esq., CHME, Foster, Jensen & Gulley, L.L.C.

You can be the best negotiator in the world, but the bottom line is whether your contract is legally clear, inclusive, and enforceable. Understanding hotel contract basics is critical to both planners and suppliers. This session is for novices and pros that need a refresher on the basics. It will cover legal tips and pitfalls to avoid that every meeting professional must understand to survive in today’s business climate and avoid expensive lawsuits. Topics will include: the three steps to reviewing a contract proposal; John’s golden rule of contracting; breach of contract issues – “penalties” vs. “damages” and what’s enforceable; the importance of understanding profit margins in hotels; the two methods of calculating guest room attrition damages; and a recommended formula for calculating attrition damages. The session will be interactive and your questions will be addressed.

Relationship Economics® - The Art and Science of Relationships

David Nour, author, Relationship Economics | ConnectAbility

Your personal and professional success depends on the diversity and quality of your relationships with others. Yet most of us don't spend enough time building and nurturing the key relationships we need to achieve success. This session is focused on a proactive approach to building and nurturing relationships, providing improved speed, results, and experience in turning everyday interactions into customer, revenue, alliance partnership, employee, and shareholder value. The results from implementing these methodologies will provide you with changed behavioral skills in seeking contacts aggressively, finding ways to help others and capitalizing on diverse relationships.

Dance on a Volcano: How to Drive Millions in Revenue from the Social Web

Adam Metz, Metz Consulting

Lots of brands want to “do” social media, but few have a coherent strategy, let along revenue returns. In this session, you’ll learn how to:

• Start with the case study, and write your successful strategy, backwards
• Assess solution value to project realistic ROI, long before the implementation begins
• Cost-justify $1M (in hard and soft costs) and 20 warm bodies on your social media implementation

How to Maximize Your Trade Show Spend

Guy Nahmiach, Event Management Professionals

Stretch your trade show dollar by learning how to save money and make the most of every event you attend. Guy Nahmiach, a 20-year veteran of the trade show and events industry, returns to deliver his popular presentation with strategies for making the most of your spend on future tradeshows. He will guide you from booth selection and goal setting to ordering your electrical needs and deciphering your exhibitor manual. Sharing some inside tips of the trade, Guy will help you become the most valuable member of your marketing and events team. Join Guy before the show floor opens and walk away with a sure-fire way to save 35% on future trade shows. Please be sure to bring a business card for a special drawing that will take place at the end of the session.

Tactics for Good: Raising the Bar on the Green Meeting Movement
Implementation: Case Studies of Corporations Increasing ROI through CSR

David Hopkins and Wilford Welch

This second of three workshops will provide examples of corporations who are increasing their ROI while addressing the social and environment concerns that are part of their CSR mandate. Sustainability initiatives are not immune to the cost-cutting pressures and narrow sharpening of investment criteria during the global recession. While some are increasing profitability by reducing their costs, others are finding ways to increase market shares, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction through their CSR initiatives.

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Session

Meeting Planning 101

SPEAKER: TBA

For Students Only
Description TBA

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Sessions

State of the Industry

Tom Callahan, Chief Executive Officer-West/Co-President, PFK Consulting

Dan Goldes, Executive Vice President & Chief Stakeholder, San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau

Experience a panel discussion of the meetings and convention industry’s hottest topics. This is an opportunity to discuss the current state of the industry, focusing on the economy and its effect on the hospitality and travel industry. Pose your questions with the experts of our industry.

Our panelists this year include senior level executives representing every aspect of our industry and they are on board to ensure a lively and informative discussion for all.

Learn:

• The current industry supply and demand
• Impact of the economy to tourism/travel industry
• Outlook for the future of the hospitality industry

Hotel Contracts Boot Camp Part II

John Foster,Esq., CHME, Foster, Jensen & Gulley, L.L.C.

The devil is in the details when preparing or revising hotel contracts. Terms that appear to be “reasonable” or “standard” may contain expensive pitfalls for the unwary and untrained. This session is an intermediate to advanced approach on how specific terms in hotel contracts should be looked at strategically in order to allocate risk fairly between the parties. Prepare to analyze and discuss contract clauses dealing with Attrition (rooms and catering), Cancellation, and Force Majeure. Sample “corrected” clauses will be available.

Building Brand Value

Bruce Turkel, TURKEL

Why do you pay three bucks more for Starbucks than a cup of coffee at your local diner? Why do you drive past convenient gas stations to fill your tank with your favorite brand? What was the secret that helped Apple sell over 100 million iPods while Microsoft has sold less than one million Zunes?

Most importantly, how can you put the answers to these questions to work for you?

Bruce Turkel runs a brand marketing firm and has made his clients rich by using these secrets and more. Spend an entertaining and enjoyable hour with Bruce while he shows you the proven techniques that built Miami’s RevPAR to the highest in the nation, Discovery Channel Latin America to the top cable channel in the region and much more.

• The seven simple techniques to building brand value;
• How to get your message across clearly and effectively;
• What Johann Sebastian Bach can teach you about building your brand;
• How something called BrainDarts will change your brand and your business.

Listen Louder™ - The Power and Promise of Social Networking @ Work

David Nour, author, Relationship Economics | ConnectAbility

From LinkedIn to Twitter, Facebook for Business, Jigsaw, Slideshare, ZoomInfo, Spoke, and a broad base of white-label/private social networks, whether you're trying to attract and retain top notch talent, prospect for new customers in new markets, or create alliance relationships and extend your market reach, social networking applications are here to stay! In this highly interactive session, the audience is exposed to a series of global best practices to incorporate social networking applications into their key strategic initiatives.

Mining for Virtual Gold

Lisa Barham, President, Hotel Resources

There is no question that the internet allows us to do research more quickly and less expensively than most any other tool…but do you really know where to look and what to type to take your internet prospecting to the next level? We’ve flown a hospitality industry Internet expert in from the great state of Texas to teach you exactly what you need to know to succeed in your prospecting efforts. Lisa Barham, President of Hotel Resources, will give tips on how to:

• Determine what businesses are looking at your city before they book their events
• Use Web sites by market segment to find customers who are still having meetings in the current economic climate
• Discover databases for specific industries
• Locate contact information on meeting planners in a corporation
• Pinpoint business in your backyard you never knew existed

Tactics For Good: Raising The Bar On the Green Movement
Measurement: Success in CSR - Measuring the Triple Bottom Line

David Hopkins and Wilfred Welch

This final session discusses the Triple-Bottom Line of "people, planet, and profits" as measurements for return on investment (ROI) in CSR. How do you measure the triple-bottom line with accountable metrics? Which companies are pioneers and which are simply greenwashing? Welch and Hopkins present the profitable and responsible business case for sustainability, highlighting companies that evaluate CSR successfully. This session will demonstrate the shift in values needed to redefine corporate prosperity, and how strategic assessments of CSR can better serve customers and employees as much as stakeholders.