MEEC

1. MEEC Chapter Thirteen Directing the Future of Convention and Meeting Technology

2. Impact of the Internet • Uses of Technology • Site selection • Online registration and application practices, • E-marketing • Housing and bookings • Logistics management • Connectivity throughout buildings • Virtual trade shows, video conferencing, virtual meetings • Hand held devices, and • Other

3. Site Selection VIA the Web • Site selection is the biggest use of the Internet • Websites that invite and reward are the next wave • Website design has matured from “brochure ware” to websites that sell • Twenty first-century Internet principals are more disciplined, demanding that a site make money by helping visitors find what they want.

4. Site Selection VIA the Web • What to look for in a Site Selection Tool • Ease of navigation; • Robust search criteria, including location, brand, price, meeting space; • The total number of venues/properties listed on the site. Amenities and services available at a site; • An active link to a facility’s Web site; • Ability to download a brochure or fact sheet; • Access to floor plans, menus, meeting space capacities, meeting space calculator, virtual tours; • Reporting options.

5. Site Selection VIA the Web • What to look for in a Request for Proposal (RFP) tool • Criteria that provides for • Meeting pattern options • Preferred and alternative date options • Sleeping room block information • Event and function requirements • Option to note response and decision dates regarding the RFP. • Ability to store and save specific search queries, save RFPs, and modify or update an RFP

6. Site Selection VIA the Web • What to should look for in a Diagramming tool • Free software! • Scalable space and equipment (feet and metrics) • Are the rules of the industry — industry standards coded within the program? • Are accurate line-of-sight angles available? • Can you label items inside and outside of a room? • Can you place equipment outside of a meeting room or in public spaces?

7. Site Selection VIA the Web • What to should look for in a Diagramming tool • Can you print an inventory report listing all equipment required? • Can the software plan a variety of seating layouts? • Can create customized setups? • Can you number banquet seating and produce seating lists? • Are online diagrams available at the facility’s Web site?

8. Online Registration • Four categories of technology-based options: • The over the counter or OTC application • Meeting management software PC solutions • Web-based e-marketing and front-end registration applications. • Enterprise-wide applications.

9. Online Registration • What to look for in Registration Technology: • Flexible-pricing options for setting and tracking registration fees • Options for branding marketing messages and event sites • Ease of importing and updating your marketing list • Knowing which version and Web browser will work with an online application • Annual support policy

10. Online Registration • What to look for in Registration Technology: • How many simultaneous users can the site handle? • Does the system trap for errant or duplicate entries, • Can you integrate the solution with your internal databases? • How long does it take to get up and running? • Can you create sessions and combined event packages? • Can multiple pricing levels be set?

11. Online Registration • What to look for in Registration Technology: • Can you print name badges in the format and for the hardware you utilize? • How does the system manage vendor information? • Will the budgeting interface support your needs? • How are hotel blocks managed? • Is there sub-block management? • How are cancellations and changes processed? • Can the system be integrated with third-party services?

12. Online Registration • What to look for in Registration Technology: • Can you check out a meeting to manage while on site, or will you need ongoing Internet connectivity when using a system on site? • Protection of your data • Ability to segment and re-sort your marketing list or list of registrants • Ability to analyze return rates, bounce rates, and conversion rates • How the cost is set and calculated — by user, by transaction?

13. Online Registration • What to look for in Registration Technology: • Availability of support when you need it • Cost for customization • Wait list management • How registrations acquired through offline channels are to be processed • Ability to personalize e-mail messages • Ability to process multiple credit card accounts

14. E-Marketing • Three questions used to begin outlining a marketing map are: • Who develops and maintains meeting and event copy? • Who develops the event’s marketing plan? • How do you deploy information on your Web site, and how is your Web site used?

15. E-Marketing • What to ask: • In what delivery channel formats do messages need to be readied? • How is information edited for each channel? • Are there items requiring secured transfer of personal data? • Where are the bottlenecks? • Will print response forms be personalized with unique identifiers?

16. Housing via the Internet • Three basic categories: • Systems designed for real-time processing with integration into data warehouses. • Vendors that have carved out strategic relationships with industry-wide housing switches. • A database, often with front-end Web access, for holding attendee housing information.

17. Business Intelligent Software • BIS is software designed to create databases, and offer processes for manipulation and presentation of data in a manner most effective for managers and other users.

18. Business Intelligent Software • Must have the following characteristics and/or capabilities: • Full capability to sort, analyze and present data to reveal trends within a business. • The ability to integrate corporate data in order to support decision-making. • Capacity to gather and store all relevant information needed to make informed business decisions.

19. Business Intelligent Software • Must have the following characteristics and/or capabilities: • BIS must integrate and transform raw data into organized knowledge. • The data must be easy to interpret allowing for more rapid decision-making processes. • BIS also highlights trends associated with past operating procedures and experiences in order to discover opportunities, and uncover weaknesses

20. Business Intelligent Software

21. Business Intelligent Software • Example – PowerCubes • Passkey • Market Player • Hotel Direct • b-there.com

22. Convention Center Technology • First generation (G1) • “box with a dock” • Second generation (G2) • “pretty boxes” • Third generation (G3) • “boxes like very large hotel rooms” • Fourth Generation (G4) • are designed today with the surrounding culture in mind as well as a abundance of integrated high technology

23. Convention Center Technology • Technology Impact • High speed and wireless Internet • Meeting spaces (rooms, hotels, & centers) • Marketing by cities, convention and visitor’s bureaus, and convention centers to prospective clients. • On-line • Conferencing tools • Registration and web sites for capturing credit card information.

24. Convention Center Technology • Technology Impact • "Smart Card," a data-storage device providing centers and associations with valuable attendee information • Registration and contact information • Session attendance • Product purchases • Evaluation • Fiber-optic and broadband data and voice and video transmissions, allowing exchange of information with outside parties.

25. Convention Center Technology • Connectivity Options • High-speed connectivity. to Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) • Design flexibilities. wired or wireless network & flexible bandwidth • Dedicated recording facilities. to facilitate both audio recording and session duplication • Videoconferencing functionality is an essential need for Web conferencing or Web casting.

26. Convention Center Technology • Connectivity Options • Availability of “dark fiber” cabling allows companies to establish private networks outside of the convention center network. • Event boards. Plasma or LED event boards promote sponsors and communicate information to attendees. • Guest room connectivity linking back to the convention center. • Wireless LAN network access.

27. Convention Center Technology • Connectivity Options • Cyber cafes and information kiosks provide meeting information, sponsor messages, industry news, product locators, e-mailing, message centers, on-site surveying, PDA download stations, and hand-held computing synchronization. • Audience response systems • Wireless lead retrieval and tracking systems. • Fully equipped business center with extended operating hours.

28. Virtual Trade Shows • Guidelines to virtual reality: • Note services provided by other trade shows (physical and virtual) and offer these features online • Consider simple and easy design with useful and intuitive site navigation. • Keep the site simple and attractive. • Capture and qualify users

29. Virtual Trade Shows • Guidelines to virtual reality: • Offer exhibitors a range of value-added services • Stream audio and video • On-site demonstrations and training • Preferred locations on the show floor • Provide attendees with value-added features • e-mail • chat rooms. • Apply basic marketing concepts and cross-promote your virtual site

30. Virtual Trade Shows • Guidelines to virtual reality: • Provide online giveaways or discounted promotions. • Offer online credit card processing. • Clearly state your privacy policy • Make absolutely certain you secure all transactions. • Provide a database of vendors who are exhibiting online.

31. Video Conferencing • Bandwidth falls into one of three categories: • Broadband • Greater than a Pentium III and a 128K modem • Sophisticated services - full-motion video/audio streaming. • Medium band • Pentium II with a 56K or better modem • Streaming video and audio is less reliable than broadband • Low band • Pentium I with a 28K or less modem • Need to be supported by audio conferencing services. • Referred to a Web-enhanced audio conferencing services.

32. Video Conferencing • One-way session • No interaction, or delayed interaction through a call-in line for taking questions from remote participants • The Webcast presentation can be live or taped. • Two-way session • a high degree of interaction among a smaller team • Microsoft’s Net Meeting or Symantec’s PC Anywhere. • Applications require technical know-how

33. Video Conferencing • Two-way, with high-end media • Two-way communications and higher-end media • Broadcast-quality lighting, sound, and production • An interactive web cast event • Point-to-point or point-to-multipoint • Broadcast to service centers where an audience can gather, or to other corporate locations • Broadcast via satellite or push through the Internet

34. Video Conferencing • Third-party Service Providers • Offer technical, moderating, and scheduling services • Provide control and quality assurance • Offer useful utilities to validate that both hardware and connectivity are appropriate • Provide online technical assistance

35. Green Technology – An Example • David L. Lawrence Convention Center Pittsburgh, PA • 30 to 50 percent obtained in energy savings • Water Conservation • Water taken from an under water aquifer • Used to reduce energy consumption for heating/cooling • All plants and landscape are native • No need for water sprinklers around the facility

36. Green Technology – An Example • Energy conservation • the design of the sloped roof pulls up cool breezes • creates a naturally ventilated exhibit hall • Natural lighting will be used throughout the building • Blackout shades are available to darken rooms or to control temperatures. • Use materials that emit fewer toxins • 25% of the building is constructed with recycled material • Local materials used in order to cut down transportation costs.

37. Review • Impact of the Internet • Online Registration • E-Marketing • Housing via the Internet • Business Intelligent Software • Convention Center Technology • Connectivity Options • Virtual Trade Shows, Video Conferencing • Green Technology