Association Events

Branding should be at the forefront of every event planner's mind as they coordinate an event from start to finish. The event invitation emails, website, collateral—it should all have a consistent, polished look. Quality event branding not only makes your event look more professional, it also makes it easier to tie your event into other marketing strategies.

Cvent does its best to help event planners with their event branding efforts. One unique feature we offer is branded URLs for your events.

Brand URLs offer several benefits to planners. For example, they:

• Make it easier for attendees to remember your web address

• Improve your event websites rank in search engines

• Establish consistency between your event and company or association

Event planners can create branded URLs in Cvent that include the company name or even the title of the event itself. For more information on branded URLs and Cvent's branding package, contact Customer Care.

Yesterday I blogged about how the travel industry is preparing for flu season. Now I want to know, are meeting planners even concerned?

The answer is "Yes," according to a recent survey by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), but that won't stop them from hosting events. The survey found that 63 percent of travel mangers surveyed have serious concerns about the spread of H1N1 flu, but 91 percent aren't holding off on meetings and conferences because of it.

"On one hand, it is commendable that companies are not giving in to panic," ACTE Executive Director Susan Gurley said in a statement. "Yet on the other hand, this is a situation that can develop very quickly and it is very important that the appropriate arrangements be put in place."

The survey found that 34 percent of companies have a plan or instructions for travelers who may get caught up in airport screenings with flu-like symptoms. If you need some advice on getting your flu season action plan together, read my 4 Ways for Meeting Planners to Prepare for Flu Season.

Chicago is known as the city to accommodate most large meetings and events for associations and corporations. In fact, the meetings industry brings thousands of guests to Chicago for annual events and product launches every year. With McCormick Place listed as the nation's top facility for meetings and conventions, Chicago has built the resources to accommodate these groups with some of the best brands of hotels in the world.

These large hotels are now not only housing guests who attend these meetings, but also hosting them in their own top-notch Chicago meeting facilities. Check out some of the premier hotels in Chicago that have meeting space to welcome thousands of convention guests:

Hyatt Regency Chicago

In addition to being the on-site hotel brand stationed at Chicago's convention center, Hyatt Regency is no stranger to large meetings of its own. With 228,000 square feet of contemporary and flexible function space, Hyatt is equipped much like any other large convention center. The Hyatt is home to four ballrooms, 63 meeting rooms and 70,000 square feet of exhibition space.

This Chicago hotel's impeccable service is monitored by a Meeting Concierge. This friendly aide is by your side from start to finish, ensuring that everything runs flawlessly.

Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers

The Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers has over 120,000 square feet of meeting space. This property can host up to 4,600 people for an event or conference. With four above-ground levels of meeting space, 34 breakout meeting rooms, and a 40,000-square-foot ballroom—standing as the largest hotel ballroom in the Midwest—the Sheraton Chicago has all of the amenities to host large groups.

Situated  the heart of downtown Chicago, the Sheraton is near the city's most popular attractions, making it easy for guests to venture out and explore the city. From their 35,000 square feet of exhibition space to their convention registration area, the Sheraton Chicago is sure to cater to your every need!

To find out more about Chicago convention hotels, please visit the Cvent Supplier Network.

Perhaps you're worried about the cost of investing in online event management software because your organization charges little or no money for its events. No matter the price (or lack thereof) associated with your events, you shouldn't let it hold you back from reaping the benefits of a great online system - so let's look at a new way to work around some seemingly unavoidable expenses.

Among the numerous industries Cvent works with: corporations, associations, universities, non-profits, government and independent planners, many rely on sponsors for support - whether it be financial help or through the provision of products and services.

Many of our clients have taken advantage of this situation by tapping into their sponsors to further cover event costs. How? They charge them more money in exchange for more exposure!

Think of it as selling "electronic real estate." As a planner, you can use Cvent's capabilities with email invites and event websites to generate this additional revenue. For example, you can require sponsors pay a higher price to have their logos displayed on every event-related email or placed prominently at the top of the "Sponsors" page you create on your event website.

Or you can "sell a survey question" in a pre- or post-event survey (think about selling multiple questions if you have multiple sponsors).

Just check out this sample event Cvent did for a real client to see how SCW Fitness Education leveraged its sponsors!

Slowly but surely, your sponsors are realizing that there exists a two-way street and that they benefit from getting their name advertised throughout the entire registration process as well as on the day of the actual event.

So don't be afraid to leverage those who are already willing to help your organization - just approach it in a smart way and be prepared to defend your request with reasons why it's smart for them to get as much time in the spotlight as possible.

Slow and steady is the motto for business travel next year, according to a recent survey by the National Business Travel Association. According to its 2010 Business Travel Buyers' Cost Forecast of 180 direct corporate travel buyers, 69 percent of respondents expect to see business travel volume "grow slowly" throughout 2010.

For meetings, 58 percent of respondents said that reducing the number of meetings is one of their measures to cut costs in 2010. However, on the bright side, this percentage is much lower than last year, when 85 percent said they would be cutting meetings.

To save money, travel buyers also cited auditing travel and entertainment expenses (84 percent), enforcing travel policies (77 percent), mandating online booking (76 percent), and reducing nonessential travel (71 percent) as their cost-cutting measures. Just over half of respondents—more than twice as many as last year—also said they would start implementing Strategic Meetings Management programs for their meeting in 2010.

For many of you, your online event registration form may be a "first touch" point of contact for potential registrants and new members to your organization. Following the guidelines outlined below will ensure that this first impression reflects both your marketing strategy and a high level of professionalism in its design and functionality.

Branding the form to fit your business gives registrants a great visual that will stick in their minds. Cvent allows you to match the look of your website, event emails and other marketing materials with your brand's color schemes, fonts and logos. This provides a personal touch that looks more professional than some generic "cut and paste" design.

Asking for information? Only collect what you really need! When filling out online forms, registrants will appreciate the time you save them if they are only required to answer relevant questions. Cvent wants as many people as possible to complete the registration form for your event, so our registration functions allow you to create different paths for different types of registrants. This way, you don't have to worry about invitees abandoning your form because they won't be forced to provide answers to questions that don't seem applicable to them.

Clearly communicate your customer-focused cancellation and refund policy. With Cvent, you have the flexibility of coming up with appropriate cancellation and refund policies for your events. Once they are established, make sure invitees can clearly view these policies on your registration form. The goal here is to encourage potential registrants to register early while abating any fears associated with a "no refunds" policy.

And finally, make your privacy policy public. Even more so today than in the past, people are concerned about access to their personal and financial information. Show potential registrants that you hold their privacy concerns to the highest standard by assuring them that you are taking careful steps to protect their information and clearly stating how it will be used to avoid any questions or confusion.

By implementing these tactics, you'll secure a professional, registrant-friendly and trustworthy impression for your organization that will prove true after you actually execute those successful events!

Ever wondered what makes Cvent different from all other e-registration tools? One of our clients, a reading association, used Cvent for their annual event and had nothing but great things to say about our customer service excellence and level of professionalism. As they put it, "Cvent doesn't just make events, they make events a success."

Why? For one, sending out event reminders three weeks before the actual event helped them capture 30 percent more registrants. And their planners did not have to spend hours sitting in front of an Excel workbook to compile the list of undecided invitees. Cvent’s email delivery system is intelligent enough to automatically send out these reminders only to those who have not responded.

Cvent's ability to create customized pages on event websites also afforded this client the opportunity to sell space on these pages. They allowed presenters/exhibitors to contribute to the event by purchasing some "electronic real estate" in which they could put their company logo and a weblink.

Overall, what really sets Cvent apart is our service. As this client told us, "You have a question and the Cvent Client Services team of professionals really is just a phone call or an email away." To make a software WORK for the clients' events is as just important working on the software itself, and Cvent is happy to hear from clients who see this in action!

Lead times remain short for meeting and event planners looking to secure the best deals from hotels and event venues. According to a recent MeetingNews survey, 41 percent of planners said their lead times for meetings of less than 100 attendees are 30 to 90 days before the event date. These abbreviated time periods are holding steady, as 73 percent of planners said lead times are about the same in 2009 as they were last year, while 15 percent said they are even shorter this year.

Paul Salvatore, HRG North America president of events and meetings management, told MeetingNews of one client who booked a Pittsburgh meeting for 160 people on September 24 just three weeks prior. Meanwhile, another client is waiting to announce its Boston meeting for 300 guests until a week before, in case a better deal comes along or it needs to cancel.

"Even though we made them aware of the penalties—both on air, using nonrefundable tickets, and on the deposit at the hotel—they factored all that into their budgeting and are willing to forgo their deposit and take the penalties," Salvatore said.

Meeting planners are obviously looking for a deal, and hotels are certainly willing to provide them.

"In the past, we would have to bring up additional features and benefits, concessions on F&B, meeting room rental and other things, and they seem to be thrown on up front," Salvatore said.

It's all just another example of how this is one of the best meeting buyer's markets in years.

"Businesses know it's a soft marketplace. They don't need to negotiate rates this far out, so we can go inside of 90 days and still get good pricing," Jim Fausel, Jr., Global Conference Associates president, told MeetingNews. "Most of inventory is still there within 90 days, at least for 2009."

Event Planners have options when selecting a company to design their decor. Whether it is a large project, such as providing decor for a popular but plain event space in the business district, or a simple task of flower arrangements for a conference break session, Chicago event decor pros have shown their talent in events all over the city! The three companies below are some of the most prestigious decor companies, sure to create a unique design that will grab your guests attention.

• Ivan Carlson & Associates is a full service event and design company that has worked with everything from small entrepreneurial groups to fortune 500 companies. They specialize in targeting their clients' business insights and combining creative thinking to communicate these insights to the guests of the event. Ivan Carlson is housed in a 40,000-square-foot design warehouse with lots of inventory from their past 30 years experience. This company has a solid reputation for delivering flawless design and event production services in Chicago.

• Heffernan Morgan is another leading design company in the city. They are known for their fresh design concepts that are diligently delivered for their clients. They have mastered both traditional and contemporary designs with a steady and fine-tuned service quality. From floral designs to lighting schemes, Heffernan Morgan is sure to bring distinguished ideas to the table. 

• Frost is an event design company that grew out of a lighting company about 30 years ago. Since then it has grown into a national event design company in Chicago, Florida, New York and Washington, DC. Providing a balance between function and style, Frost's production solutions are delivered by their experienced event staff with an uncompromising level of service and attention.

To find more event decor companies in Chicago, visit the Cvent Supplier Network.

One of Eric Clapton's guitars. A beaded glove from Michael Jackson. Elvis Presley's white jumpsuit. What do all these items from music's colorful past have in common? They can be the backdrop for your next New York City event!

Located in SoHo, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex is the New York venue of choice for event planners looking to add a little edge to their meetings. Events—from parties to meetings to receptions—held at this New York special event facility can include access to the VIP room, private use of selected galleries and even private shopping in the annex's retail store. The entire annex can fit up to 300 people, while the VIP room offers a intimate New York meeting space for up to 30 guests.

Amenities at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex include three projectors, preferred New York catering by Restaurant Associates, and venue music or iPod playback.

Find more unique New York venues on Cvent's New York venue directory.

River North Business Association gathered their association guests for a new type of event last week that highlighted over 25 of Chicago's restaurants. This "October Feast" began at the Merchandise Mart where guests arrived to pick up their itinerary, maps and wristbands for the remainder of the evening.

This unique idea for an association networking event was well organized and began a new tradition as the associations first restaurant crawl. Each member set out on a specific route that stopped at different River North restaurants such as Buca Di Peppo, Bull & Bear, Hard Rock Cafe, Harry Caray's, Mercadito Chicago, Prosecco, Rock Bottom, Salute Wine Bar, Sunda, Bluprint Restaurant & Lounge, Theory, Sullivan's Steakhouse, and lastly Steve's Deli. Each restaurant had a samples of their signature menu items for guests as well as reserved seating to accommodate the groups.

After spending about 45 minutes in each assigned location, the groups continued on their route before arriving at the final destination, Martini Park. This up-beat venue is great for group events, offering a laid back environment with upscale ambiance. The after-party had live music, cocktails and dance classes.

This type of an event is great for association networking, especially in Chicago. Each neighborhood in Chicago has great restaurants that are happy to accommodate smaller groups throughout an evening. This type of event will also save planners some room in their budget, as it cuts the cost of transportation, private party room rentals, and food and beverage minimums. Not to mention it's a great way to give your group a taste of Chicago!

View more restaurants in Chicago on the Cvent Supplier Network

Travel and hospitality professionals rejoice! The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Travel Promotion Act by a vote of 358 to 66. This legislation will create a public-private partnership that will work to attract international travelers to the United States.

"The need for travel promotion has never been greater," said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association. "As the recent vote of the International Olympic Committee demonstrated, the United States must invest in better explaining its security policies and attracting foreign travelers. The Travel Promotion Act is a 'win-win' for our economic and diplomatic efforts."

The act specifies that promotion efforts will be funded by private sector contributions and a $10 foreign fee paid by foreign travelers who do not pay for visas to enter the country. Oxford Economics estimates that a well-executed promotion program could attract 1.6 million new international visitors and generate $4 billion in economic stimulus.

The U.S. Senate passed identical legislation in September. However, an additional Senate vote is required and expected to happen in the coming days.

Are you using social media to promote your association's cause? Or maybe a charity fundraiser you're hosting? What just about a corporate event? If so, I just came across a great idea for free event promotion on Twitter.

It's called a Twibbon. Basically, it's a service that overlays a small icon onto Twitter profile images of your supporters. For example, supporters of breast cancer research can sign up to suppor the cause by having a small pink ribbon placed in the corner of Twitter profile pictures.

Non-profit event planners can easily create Twibbons for either your cause or your specifc event. All you have to do is create a Twibbon image with design software such as Paint.NET or Pixlr (both free), upload it, and add a brief description. Check out the full instructions for creating a Twibbon here.

Twibbons aren't just for non-profits and charitable causes, though. I've seen them for sport teams, celebrities, TV shows and more. Meeting planners in all markets could use them to promote their upcoming events. Just consider a few of the event-related twibbons I found in use for events of all sizes and types:







What's really cool about Twibbons is that once you create one for your meeting, it's logged in the Twibbon database. People can search for your Twibbon and find information about your cause or event, who is supporting it and more.

If you're looking to promote your event or meeting on Twitter, Twibbons are a great option. They're easy, free and fun!

Are you working on next year's budget, but not sure you can get any buy in from company execs that taking part in meetings and events is still worthwhile? Take a cue from the U.S. Travel Association, who compiled a list of talking points for illustrating the benefits of business travel, based on the recent Oxford Economics study.

Business travel results in revenue and profit growth. Why not point out to your organization's leaders:

• Research shows that for every dollar invested in business travel, businesses benefit from an average of $12.50 in increased revenue and $3.80 in new profits.

• The average U.S. business would forfeit 17 percent of its profits in the first year of eliminating business travel. It would take three years for these profits to recover.

• Investing in business travel gains market share from competitors who restrict their employees from face-to-face interaction.

• More than ever, taking the time to meet your customers face-to-face, sharing best practices and incentivizing employees can strengthen your business and speed your recovery.

Read more tips at ustravel.org.

More news on the Nashville convention hotel project. According to The Tennessean, financing for the $300 million, Marriott property may need public financing, eliciting concerns some local hotel owners.

"That would be a major, major sea change from the market for private lodging properties right now," Mark Bloom, senior vice president for tax-free bonds with UBS Financial Services, Inc., and a minority owner of the Hilton Downtown Nashville, told the paper.

Though private financing is ideal, it may not be possible for such a large project to find private funding in today's marketplace. Nashville would pay off the debt on a publicly-financed hotel using revenue from the hotel itself.

Though some are concerned that a government-owned hotel could drive down room rates with no repercussions, Walt Baker, CEO of the Tennessee Hospitality Association, said Marriott would have control over sales.

"We wouldn't want to get into a pricing war with Metro [Council]," Baker told The Tennessean. "It doesn't matter as long as the management is independent and has control over pricing."

The meetings industry is seeing some good news when it comes to growth. For the first time in a year, meeting professionals are no longer citing the "poor economy" as the most influential trend affecting their business in the coming six months, according to MPI's Business Barometer August 2009.

Additionally, in a significant change since February 2009, new budget cuts, staff reductions and new cancellations were indicated as an important current trend by less than one percent of respondents.

Taking the place of the "poor economy," "poor perceptions/coverage of meetings" is the top trend meeting professionals see affecting business over the next six months. As such, the no frills approach to meetings is staying strong: many planners are selecting non-"luxurious" destinations and venues and are planning fewer celebrations, excursions, etc.

Suppliers report more decisions to book meetings and events are being made in general, according to the study, and there has been a notable increase recently in the number of corporate meeting bookings. However, budgets remain low, which continues to impact meeting attendance in size. About three-quarters of respondents say that attendance to meetings and events has decreased since this time last year.

Areas of growth over the last year have included domestic associations (13 percent net), international associations (three percent net) and governments (20 percent net). Domestic and international corporate meetings have seen the greatest decline compared to last year, at 33 percent and 13 percent net drops, respectively.

Learn more about MPI's Business Barometer.

Put yourself in the shoes of an event invitee. You've just heard about an event—an industry tradeshow, association seminar, user conference, etc.—that you really want to attend. You go to the event website to register, only to be met with a simple message: "This event is closed."

How frustrating! It's bad enough that the event is closed, but a message like these really closes the door completely to your potential attendees. What if someone wants to know if you'll be having a similar event next year (because they'd attend)? What if someone wants to be included in your event marketing so they'll be ahead of the game for similar events in the upcoming months? A simple "This event is closed" message doesn't give them any where to turn.

When you build an event with Cvent, it's easy to edit your "Event closed" message with more specific information. Include the planner's name and email as a contact, or provide specific instructions for those who would still like to register. You could even direct visitors to your events calendar so that they can sign up for future events. Don't close the door completely on interested guests!

In these tough economic times, you'd think that international meetings would see a decline in attendance, perhaps an even bigger decline in attendance than that of domestic meetings. However, a recent survey from the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) reports otherwise.

In a survey of 120 association executives, over half of respondents reported significantly higher attendance (9.3 percent), slightly higher attendance (15.5 percent) or flat attendance (37.1 percent) at 2009 events compared with 2008. Still, 32 percent of respondents reported a slightly lower revenue, but only 14.4 percent reported "significantly lower" financial support from sponsorship and exhibition revenue, according to Successful Meetings.

"We've consistently claimed that international association meetings are the most resilient and recession-proof sector in our industry, and these results provide great evidence to support this view," ICCA CEO Martin Sirk said in a statement. "They're certainly not immune from the downturn, with 70 percent indicating that they had suffered some negative impact, but the detailed positive results demonstrate the sense of including international associations in any long-term strategic business mix."

The survey suggested that organizers may pull back on meetings for 2010, but most intend to keep their programs by selecting better value destinations, renegotiating contracts and making budget cuts. Lucky for these event planners, it's never been easier to compare and evaluate international meeting destinations than with the Cvent Destination Guide. With over 25 meeting planning overviews of cities outside the United States, the Destination Guide is your ultimate resource for international events.

Berlin has been a popular meeting destination for years, ranking among the top 5 meeting destinations on the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) list for the past three years. This year, it continues to run the convention industry in Germany, attracting 3.97 professionals between January and June 2009. These visitors attended 50,850 events.

According to the Berlin Convention Office and Berlin Tourismus Marketing GmbH, the proportion of national meetings and conventions rose by two percent to 81 percent this year. Additionally, guests are staying longer in Berlin. The average length of stay rose from 1.6 days to 1.7 days.

"Association congresses in Berlin attracted the most participants from around the globe in 2008," said Heike Mahmoud, director of conventions of BCO, in a statement. "Not only are more professional visitors coming to Berlin, they are also staying longer. This can be attributed more particularly to the excellent offerings of the German capital as a convention destination: six convention centers and halls, the most up-to-date hotel landscape in Europe, 1,500 cultural events every day and excellent value for money—this combination has proved to be extremely popular with both event organizers and participants."

To find out more about these Berlin hotels, venues and more to start planning your events, visit the Cvent Destination Guide.

Everyone knows you can use Cvent for annual conferences, seminars, or even monthly meetings. Here are some ideas to unlock even more potential within your Cvent event tool, go above and beyond, and be a hero for your company or association! 

1. New Member Recruitment - Recruit new members and have them join online.

2. Membership Renewals - Existing members can renew their membership quickly and easily online.

3. Contact Updates - Get the most updated information for all your contacts and have the system automatically update your address book.

4. Newsletter/E-news - Send memos and newsletters through Cvent, or even messages from the President/CEO; customize them so each person feels like they are receiving their own personalized message.

5. Volunteer Positions - Post a list of positions that need to be filled so that people can sign up through Cvent, or simply collect a database of names of people willing to volunteer, their hours of availability, and what their interests are.

6. Information Submissions - Ideas for meetings/fundraising events, job postings, etc; any pieces of information you may need, you can have submitted through Cvent.

7. Opt-In Event - Put a link on your website for people interested in joining your mailing list (Great to use with number 4!).

8. Bookstore - Utilize Cvent's options for selling items in a quantity to sell books or other materials and collect shipping information.

9. Sponsorship/Advertising - Use the registration process to gain sponsors or sell advertising space.

10. Elections - You can use our event registration tool to nominate and vote for future board of directors!

By simply changing the terminology within an event and creating custom processes that fits your organization's needs, you'd be surprised at what tasks you can streamline with Cvent.

Be creative, explore, and maximize what you can discover within your Cvent account! Have fun!