10 Questions to Ask Before Buying Event Management Software: Question #2

We work with a variety of customers from small to mid-sized businesses to global organizations with thousands and hundreds of thousands of employees. But each customer – no matter how large or small – has very similar questions when it comes to buying event technology. We brainstormed the top 10 questions that we believe smart companies should ask before buying event management software. In this blog, we’ll spotlight the importance of each of the questions – and their answers – in a series of 10 posts.

 
Last week, we started the series by discussing the question: How will event tech help me do my job more efficiently? Today, we pose question #2: How can event tech help me prove ROI? Did you know that 70% of best-in-class respondents to a recent Aberdeen Group study, “Strategic Meetings Management: A Handbook of Emerging Strategies for the Next Generation of Meetings and Events Management,” practiced post-event analysis, for example attendee satisfaction and execution against budget – versus 24% of all others polled?

Measuring ROI is very important for event owners because they want to prove the payoff of their events (for example, in increased leads, sales or more knowledgeable employees) to senior management. So, make sure the tech you’re considering answers executives’ queries about what ROI your events provide. Good tech will give you a consolidated picture of all kinds of ROI-related data, for example:

 
• Attendee type, year-over-year attendance, registrant profile data
• Session attendance
• Popularity of speakers
• Growth opportunities – sales leads, hot prospects
• Hotel spending on: Room nights, Meeting rooms, Food & Beverage

 
How do you measure event ROI? What results do your executives want to see most? Share your comments below.

 
Stay tuned for the subject of next week’s post: “How will event tech help me grow my business?”

 
Check out all 10 Questions Smart Companies Need to Ask before buying event management technology!

 
Other Resources:
- The Connected Event – an analysis of technology use, best practices and benchmarks.

Written By: Don Munro

Event Industry – What’s in a Name?

By Betsy Weber via Flickr

I recently attended the PCMA Corporate Programme at International Confex and was lucky enough to host the team from PCMA, along with some of the speakers, to dinner one evening. Now here were some serious industry leaders from both the US and Europe sitting around a table together. The conversation flowed between the joys of traveling to international destinations (mainly the inside of convention centers and hotel rooms) to US & European politics and the opportunity in Latin America, and then discussing which trade show were we going to meet at next. We continued to the hotel lobby bar for a nightcap, where the conversation took a sudden swerve thanks to my extremely right-brained colleague asking, ‘what is the officially accepted name of our industry?’This seemingly innocent and straight-forward question sparked a rather emotionally driven debate around the semantics of words to describe different ways of bringing people together.

One member of the group firmly believed that meetings and events covered it all. I, however, disagreed commenting on incentives, festivals, and public events. Another person piped up about an annual general meeting being called a convention, conference, and meeting – so what really was it? Someone even looked it up on Wikipedia! It struck me that if we as industry leaders can’t even agree, it’s no wonder that the rest of the world is confused.

It also made me recall a meeting I had back in my days as CEO of Eventia. A small contingency of industry leaders in the UK were invited to meet with the Minister of Culture, Media and Sport – the latest department that was made responsible for our fragmented industry. One of the most important things I took away from that meeting was the fact that the minister asked 1) how we define our industry and 2) who the official representation is for us. Of course we had our well-rehearsed answers ready for her; however, knowing the reality in my head, I came away feeling frustrated with the fragmentation of event management and wanting to do more to bring us together. I battled on in those years creating mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances between Eventia and various other industry bodies. However, one thing I did learn is there is still a need for niche representation across our industry. The issues that affect large complex conferences with thousands of delegates managing the exhibitor elements, speakers, housing, etc. compared to festival organizers or incentive trips are all quite different. Not to mention the considerations of a strategic meetings management program.

Do we really want to name the industry with something that would cover every possible type? Meeting, event, exhibition, festival, congress, convention, seminar, conference, incentive trip… and the list goes on. Would it really benefit us or would it become completely homogenized and lose relevance for all the individual sectors involved? I spent enough years trying to figure that out and I still don’t know the answer but it sure made for an interesting and long debate that evening.

However one thing is certain – no matter what the type of event – every organizer needs to have the right technology for meetings management to support their process and objectives. That’s why ACTIVE Network came up with the concept of SMART EVENTS^TM and I’m very pleased to say that we truly do have event management software to serve any type of event. So, perhaps in some way, I’m helping to fulfill my passion of bringing the industry together by promoting the intelligent use of technology to enable SMART EVENTS^TM.

I’m interested to hear how you, or your organization, categorizes the event industry. Feel free to share your thoughts on how you feel it is represented!

Written By: Izania Downie

5 Fun things to do at IMEX America 2012

Image source: http://www.visitlasvegas.com/

Looking for a good time in Vegas at IMEX America?

Aside from all of the usual Vegas delights,  there will be plenty of fun things to do at the IMEX America show, which runs from October 9-11. Here are a few suggested diversions:

1. Check out the latest suite of event technology that is powering and transforming events.
   Stop by ACTIVE Network’s booth #2626  to find out about the latest tools including Meeting Locator , Mobile  and Conference 7.0 .
2. Get your hands dirty cleaning soap!
   Yes, you read it right. Find out where socially conscious hotels retire their old soap! On Monday October 8th, take a tour of Clean the World’s Las Vegas Recycling Operations Center, and find out what happens to those leftover little bottles of shampoo and soap bars. Be ready for bus pickup at 1:30 on Level 1, Ground Transportation Entrance (opposite Marco Polo Ballroom), at The Venetian|The Palazzo.
3. “Do” celebrate the Fab Four.
   On Tuesday Oct. 9th, at the Visit England booth (#814), on what would have been John Lennon’s 72nd birthday, the Liverpool Convention Bureau will celebrate 50 years since the Beatles released their first single “Love me Do”, with a party at various times during the day: 10:00 am, 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm. Stop by and enter the “Ticket to Ride” competition to win an all-expenses-paid familiarization trip to Liverpool.
4. Learn key Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) Concepts. On Thursday, October 11th , the last day of IMEX, Linda McNairy, VP of Strategic Partnerships at ACTIVE Network, Business Solutions, will be at PCMA’s booth #3048 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center at The Venetian and The Palazzo, from 11:00-11:30, speaking on:
   - “15 SMM Basics in 15 minutes”
   - “SMM Metrics: What’s Important. What’s Not.”
5. Take a trip to the future!
   On October 11th at 10:30 am, in the Press Center in the Veronese room on Level 2 of the Venetian|Palazzo, IMEX will present follow-up findings from the IMEX Group’s “Power of 10″ study, which sheds new light on what the next 10 years might have in store for the global meetings and events industry.

Read what ACTIVE Network, Business Solutions has planned for IMEX America here!

What are your recommendations for this year’s IMEX America?

Written By: Irene Coghlan

Eliminate Five Pain Points of Planning Meetings and Locations

When beginning the planning process of any meeting or event, there are many variables to identify. What is the most advantageous location? How much will it cost? What environmental impact will the event have?

More than ever before meeting planners, travel managers and meeting owners need an easy-to-use, intelligent tool that helps eliminate the guess work from planning meetings and events.

Today, we’re introducing Meeting Locator to help address this pain point. Part of the Active Network | StarCite Strategic Meetings Management solution, Meeting Locator uses a patent-pending algorithm that searches an up-to-the-minute, aggregated travel database from our partner, Carson Wagonlit Travel, combined with StarCite’s sophisticated meeting spend platform.

Here’s how Meeting Locator eliminates five key pain points in the meeting planning process:

1. Research and evaluate meeting locations: By leveraging a patent-pending algorithm, Meeting Locator reviews recommendations based on various criteria including traveler and delegate locations, current airfares and hotel sleeping room rates, telepresence options, and CO2 emissions.
2. Review and evaluate travel data: Eliminate the tedious process of researching, gathering, and sifting through loads of disparate travel data. Everything is available via Meeting Locator, saving you time and money.
3. Expedite the approvals process: Incorporated into the approvals workflow, you can use Meeting Locator to evaluate, forecast and make decisions about meetings and events, quickly and easily.
4. Communicate the value of your meetings: Use Meeting Locator to leverage historical travel and cost data and provide more accurate information about the true cost of your future meetings.
5. Reduce carbon footprint: Using Meeting Locator, you can select your meeting location based on its carbon emissions count or available telepresence options. Meeting locator is a great tool to help promote corporate social responsibility (CSR) as part of your meeting or event program.

What are your pain points in the meeting planning process? Share with us below.

Meeting Locator Resources:

• Meeting Locator data sheet
• Meeting Locator information
• Meeting Locator press release

Betty McNulty is a General Manager for Active Network | StarCite, part of  Active Network, Business Solutions. With significant experience in the meeting and event planning industry, she is also a strong advocate for the globalization and adoption of Strategic Meetings Management programs for Active Network| StarCite clients worldwide.

Written By: Betty McNulty

Get More out of Your Event Technology – Join us at PCMA Educon

From June 10-13, PCMA will be holding its annual Education Conference. This year’s education is centered around how to get the best bottom line out of your events from attendance buiding, saving money on your events (both face-to-face and virtual) to leadership and business acumen.

Event Technology Tours

As a partner of PCMA, our Active Network, Business Solutions team will be in San Antonio. We will once again bring our popular event technology tour to PCMA Educon. The tour will highlight how PCMA is leveraging event technology from registration and session scanning to real-time data and mobile applications to deliver an engaging event experience. Sign up today for one of two tours at http://bit.ly/Educon or even suggest a time to meet one-on-one:

• Monday, June 11, 9:30 – 9:50 am
• Wednesday, June 13, 9:30 – 9:50 am

Supplier Tours

In addition to our event tech tours, we’re expanding our tours to include suppliers – how you can leverage technology to expand busines revenue, win more business and drive efficiencies for your properties. To participate in these tours, join one of the two groups at http://bit.ly/PCMASupplier or suggest a time to meet one-on-one:

• Tuesday, June 12, 9:00 – 9:20 am
• Tuesday, June 12, 2:15 – 2:35 pm

The Battle Between SMMP and Event Marketing: Myth vs. Reality

On June 11, 2012 from 3:00 – 4:00 pm, Kevin Iwamoto, an expert on Strategic Meetings Management and Vice President with Active Network, Business Solutions, will be particpating on a panel to bridge the gap between SMMP and event marketing. Kevin will provide the SMMP perspective with Elizabeth Lathan, Event Marketing Director, Dell | Global Event Marketing providing insight from event marketing.

Learn how SMMP can complement and integrate with you event marketing strategy.

We look forward to seeing you at PCMA, either in person at our kiosk located behind the registration area or on Twitter at @ActiveBusiness.

Written By: Cece Salomon-Lee