Meetings

Bette Midler announced that the critically acclaimed Las Vegas show, The Showgirl Must Go On, will have its last performance on Sunday, January 31, 2010. The show will have several more performances before wrapping its stint as a pillar attraction in Las Vegas. This Vegas event spent two successful years at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

Midler stated that her run has been fabulous and she thanks both Caesars Palace and AEG Live for "the best partnership a showgirl could imagine."

"Like every one of her performances, the approaching finale of Bette's two-year engagement leaves us applauding for more," said Gary Selesner, president of Caesars Palace. "Bette always will have a home at Caesars Palace."

The Divine Miss M was chosen as Best Singer (Reader's Pick) and Best All-Around Performer (Staff Pick) by Las Vegas Review Journal's Best of Las Vegas 2009. With an act that is poignant, tacky, and altogether fabulous, Bette was an honorary Las Vegan and she will be missed.  

Before the curtain falls on this Las Vegas event, why add an evening performance to your meeting agenda? Groups of 20 or more can arrange for group tickets through the Colosseum group sales office at 702-731-7208. Planners can also take advantage of the Dinner and Show packages, which include a three-course meal at one of Caesars' gourmet Las Vegas restaurants: Bradley Ogden, Restaurant Guy Savoy, Mesa Grill, Neros or Raos.

Good luck Bette! We wish you "Big Business" in all your future endeavors.

Thanksgiving isn't even here yet, but it's quite apparent that Christmas is right around the corner, and there is so much to do! Let design pro Christopher Todd Hall of Christopher Todd Design put all your holiday party planning worries to rest!

CT has you covered, from food and event decor to invitations and entertainment. He even does Las Vegas corporate event planning. 

If you are looking for more of a do-it-yourself route, CT is hosting a class at Whole Foods Market Las Vegas Boulevard in Town Square on December 3 from 6 PM to 8 PM. This class will prepare you to host whatever type of holiday party you have in mind. He is fun, engaging, and has quite the sense of humor!

This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from a seasoned design expert, who has been featured in the November issue of Luxury magazine. Specializing in artistic design for floral and table settings, he continues to impress me with his artistic talent and eye for detail.

Historic Navy Pier is a 3,300-foot pier that extends on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan. Located in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, Navy Pier was originally built to serve many different purposes including to serve as a cargo facility for freight shipments, docking space for passenger excursion steamers as well as a trendy place for public gatherings.

Today, Navy Pier is the number one tourist attraction in Chicago. It the location of numerous on-site sightseeing tour companies, four luxury dinner cruise ships, a huge Ferris wheel, the Chicago Children's Museum, the Shakespeare Theater, the Crystal Gardens as well as various restaurants, bars and shops.

Navy Pier is also home to a festival hall and numerous Chicago meeting spaces. Its two main exhibition spaces of a combined 170,100 square feet offer lots of flexibility and functionality. This space is able to accommodate up to 900 standard tradeshow booths; it's also a great Chicago party venue, capable of seating banquets or theater arrangements.

Navy Pier is also equipped with a Grand Ballroom; said to be one of the best Chicago ballrooms built. The Grand Ballroom is fashioned with an 80-foot domed ceiling lined with lights and affords panoramic views of Lake Michigan, making it incomparable with other venues around the city. Along with the rental of the ballroom, planners are offered the option to extend their function space into the Lakeview Terrace or Rooftop, both of which have unmatched views of the Chicago skyline. These can be used alone as function space or as an additional pre-function space for large Chicago events.

View more information about Navy Pier on the Cvent Supplier Network

Once you have chosen your perfect Los Angeles venue and settled on your fabulous fare, it's time to choose the bar selections. With a sit-down dinner, I suggest a bottle of red, white and sparkling wine preset on each table (it's best to have one bottle per four guests on hand). If you are having a cocktail party, make sure the bar is the center of attention with one of these festive ideas:

• Martini Bar with olives, apples, and pomegranates
• Champagne Bar with fig and strawberries
• Scotch & Cognac Bar with cigars and eggnog
• Coffee Bar with chocolate and mint candy canes

If you are hiring a bar service, here are my top LA event vendor picks:
Bartender Girl
Paradise Bar and Beverage Service
Bartending Solutions

However, bar catering in Los Angeles can be expensive, so one way to save: Buy your own alcohol and mixers and hire your own bartender. Just remember to stock five glasses per guest; one bottle of alcohol per three guests; one bottle of mixer per two guests; and 1.5 pounds of ice per guest. A few cost-effective ice delivery services in LA are Union Ice, Cal Ice and Keg King.

If your holiday soiree is at a Los Angeles conference center or private residence, check back tomorrow for staff suggestions.

Cvent Planner Insider Tip: Transform your bar into a winter wonderland with an ice sculpture, ice bar, or even snow! Call one of the companies above for details.

Find more great Los Angeles event suppliers on the Cvent Supplier Network.

When team-building events are part of your program design, it's important to give some creative muscle to the planning process so that attendees aren't bored, but don't think you have to spend a lot of money to accomplish this!

Community or charitable events are typically low-cost, and participation in something that makes a positive impact on the local level strengthens bonds between those involved. Other low-cost ideas include themed department pot-lucks, trivia contests, "treasure" hunts, etc.

Whatever it is, get people interacting. Don't focus on events or activities in which you all just happen to be in the same place at the same time.

You'll find that you have plenty of money left in your pocket if you choose not to move beyond your own stomping ground. If the company or organization has enough room on-site - either indoors or outdoors - use the space to keep events on the premises.

However, if your requirements call for an off-site team-building event, you can slash the price of booking a venue nearly in half if you share the space with another group. This isn't suggesting that your events literally overlap. Rather, one group can use the venue in the morning and the other can use it later in the day, and the advantage results from both parties splitting the total cost.

If elaborate, expensive parties (that mask themselves as "team-builders") are on the way out, this doesn't mean it has to be the end of fun, high-impact events. Keep the main goal in mind: boost morale and attendee satisfaction that will translate into a positive work environment.

This is a perfect time to book event space for a destination Atlanta wedding. Off-season usually occurs from October to January, during which time you can cut costs by 30 percent to 50 percent. For your budget-friendly brides who want to save money but spare their guests the frost of winter, Atlanta is the perfect destination. With its temperate climate and various indoor/outdoor venues, this city has plenty to offer for your client's 2009 winter wedding.

Rhodes Hall is a top Atlanta attraction that doubles as a museum and special event space. Luckily, this is a one-stop shop for this season's weddings. The ceremony can be held on the porch in front of the grand arches. The front lawn is also quite picturesque for the bridal party photos with its well-manicured lawn and seasonal floral arrangements.
 
Your Atlanta wedding reception will be the talk of the town when it's held at Rhodes' turn-of-the-century reception room. Seating up to 135 guests, this is a quaint yet classic event venue.

For a more modern feel, host your next winter reception at 103 West, Atlanta's newest private dining facility. It's a sophisticated but sexy setting, and your guests will appreciate this venue's attention to detail. There are five party areas varying in capacity, from an intimate dinner for 40 people in the Club Room to an elegant affair for 300 guests in the Grand Ballroom, which offers private lower-level access.

Special bonuses come with this Atlanta restaurant, including free room rental and the ability to have both the ceremony and reception in one location. Your event can be coordinated from beginning to end with complimentary white linens, audio-visual equipment and even wedding coordination services. No wedding is complete without the cake, and the on-site chef provides tasty flavors including hazelnut, white chocolate mousse and the Southern favorite red velvet.

View more information about the Rhodes Hall and 103 West on the Cvent Supplier Network

Smaller groups, conferences and weddings can often find blocking out hotel rooms in New York City at a reasonable rate is a bit challenging. How to outsmart the system? Consider this: In January and February 2010 (and possibly beyond), you and your New York event group can takeover the entire GEM Hotel Midtown West. Yup, that's right -- roll like rockstar and book all of the New York hotel's 39 rooms, all in your name.

The GEM Hotel group has created a clever New York meeting promotion to help cure the winter blues by allowing just about anyone to "own" their hotel(s) for as many nights as they'd like -- depending on dates and availability, of course. To lock up all the rooms at the GEM Hotel Midtown West, it will run about $5,000 per night. If you only need a floor for your entourage, single floors can be booked for roughly $520 per night at the GEM Hotel Midtown West, roughly $1,000 per night at the GEM Hotel Soho, and $2,600 per night at the GEM Hotel Chelsea.

So, how many floors would you like?

View more information about all the GEM Hotels in New York City on the Cvent Supplier Network

Wondering how to save on costs associated with speakers and performers and their required travel? Sometimes, it only requires looking into what's locally available...you'll be sure to find at least one good source of low-priced (or even free!) talent. For example, we've seen event planners tap into local universities or cities' live arts programs to find musical, acting and other forms of entertainment.

Recruit hidden talent: even if a speaker doesn't have formal "celebrity status," that doesn't mean he or she is any less intelligent, poised or inspirational. However, it does mean that the speaker is likely to charge you less for time at your event.

Use your networks! This could mean anything from enlisting executives within your own office's walls to tapping into contacts in a member organization that you're involved with. Executives will engage the audience for free, and the professionals that you network with probably won't force you to pay too much.

...and then milk them for all they're worth...

A speaker can provide more than just a speech. Ask your presenters to stick around for breakout sessions or networking "coffee breaks" to further the attendees' learning and to increase the amount of positive interactions.

If you're hosting an event at a hotel, you have the upper hand in negotiations since hotels want to groups to stay inside as much as possible. Thus, if you bring a large crowd to their restaurants, feel free to inquire about special dining prices.

It can be difficult to keep organized when it comes to chapter business. Multiple people keep track of different things - contracts, bills, proposals - and need to share them with the rest of the board. Further, when leadership changes annually, many chapters lack cohesive protocol for transferring and storing these documents in a secure manner. These important files are scattered amongst different people and computers and it can take too much time to track down the information you need.

This is where Cvent's document library comes in. First used by one of our NBTA chapter clients, you can store important chapter documents within the Cvent document library. Here, they will be available for review from any computer with an internet connection.

Log into your Cvent account and go to your Document Library. From here, you can add a variety of different types of files - Word Documents, PDF files, Excel worksheets, etc. Simply browse for the file on your computer and click "Add."


You can organize your document library into separate folders - by document type, date - anything that works for you. Then, your board can use their Cvent login information to view all of the reports or documents that are stored within your account. Since Cvent is hosted online, the board will always be viewing the most recently uploaded version without running the risk of losing anything vital. They can export and save the documents to their computer, or even upload new documents!

Furthermore, you can set user access rights so that only certain usernames can view everything in the document library. If your bylaws stipulate that only the president is able to view contracts or proposals, you can ensure that the programs committee does not have access to the library.




This is one of many ways that Cvent goes beyond pure event registration and can help you streamline everything that your chapter does. If you'd like to learn more, feel free to get in touch with us!

Arguably the most important elements of a holiday party is the feast. You will need to consider what food presentation will match the tone of your event - will it be a formal, sit-down dinner, elegant buffet, or tray-passed appetizers?

If you are choosing an LA restaurant or a banquet hall in a Los Angeles hotel, you're in luck - the caterer is already chosen for you! However, if you are throwing your festive fete at a private residence, museum or other unique LA venue, you will need a fabulous Los Angeles caterer. Of course, excellent catering in Los Angeles includes excellent staff, but most importantly the chef will guide you through your menu details according to your budget and the theme of your gathering.

Here are some amazing holiday caterers in Los Angeles:

Contemporary Catering
Gourmet Celebrations
Food Fetish

Cvent Planner Insider Tip: Don't feel like a scrooge if you can't afford catering of petit filet mignon. Choose a pasta - it's festive yet hardy and will satisfy your guests and your budget.

Serving up some liquid holiday cheer? Check back tomorrow for some festive cocktails and bar suggestions.

Find more options for catering in Los Angeles on the Cvent Supplier Network.

As the days get shorter and considerably colder, isn’t it time to consider taking your events to a slightly more tropical setting? If you’re looking for an elegant, professional event venue with plenty of opportunities for guests to have fun in the sun, then consider hosting your next meeting or event at the Fairmont Orchid hotel in Hawaii.

The Fairmont Orchid offers a variety of activity passes at the resort, including 15 minute introductions to snorkeling, surfing, or canoe paddling, educational sessions about the tide pool, seaside yoga classes, botanical tours of the 32-acre grounds, golf clinics, Hawaiian arts & crafts classes, sand volleyball, and, even stargazing every Friday night! With so many opportunities to take advantage of, how is one to choose? Fear not! Headquartered at the Beach Shack on the lagoon, the Orchid Beachboys are ready to guide your event guests through all these Hawaiian adventures, and more! Guests can embark on a Holoholo or Fishing Adventure, practicing local and Hawaiian shoreline fishing techniques, or sit in on a Honu (Turtle) Talk to learn about Hawaiian green sea turtles.

With over 30,000 square feet of meeting space, an on-site spa, 18-hole golf course, and seven on-site dining locations, this luxurious hotel is perfect for hosting a multi-day corporate retreat or incentive trip. The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii will also assist you with planning your event using their Group Gift Guide to help select gifts and amenities for your attendees and VIPs. You can choose from a wide variety of items tailored specifically for your group, from local Hawaiian treats to tropical island gifts.

View more information about the Fairmont Orchid Hawaii on the Cvent Supplier Network

Suppliers and vendors all around the city of Chicago have been releasing promotions for event planners as an incentive to book their services for this year's holiday gatherings. Take a look at some of the best meeting promotions in the Chicago area for the holiday season:

Fulton Lounge

Fulton lounge is located in the West Loop. This relaxed but intimate Chicago party venue is a perfect place to host a holiday event. With space for up to 300 guests, the lounge serves as an ideal Chicago banquet hall and offers several packaged options to make the event planning process proceed with ease. This year, Fulton Lounge has a new menu crafted by OTOM Restaurant. If you book your event by November 30, you will receive 20 percent off the beverage minimum for parties of 25 or more guests!

theWit

theWit Hotel is located in the Downtown Loop. This relatively new Chicago boutique hotel has many event spaces available for private events. From their three amazing restaurants to their high definition theater, theWit is sure to please any guest. If you book a holiday party in one of this Chicago hotel's unique spaces, you will receive a $150 gift certificate to one of its three in-house Chicago restaurants.

Ditka's Steaks, Seafood & Chops

Located in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago, this traditional steakhouse is one of Chicago's prime restaurants. Named after Mike Ditka, former coach of the NFL Chicago Bears, this Chicago banquet facility is filled with Chicago sports memorabilia to give it a local touch. When booking with Ditka's, you will receive 10 percent off your food or beverage package of your choice, an autographed Mike Ditka football, as well as entry into their holiday raffle, which includes a chance to win prizes ranging a winery trip for two to a dinner for six prepared by the restaurant's executive chef in your home!

Spiaggia

Spiaggia is located at the end of the Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago. This highly-rated Italian restaurant offers space overlooking Lake Michigan. The fact that it will be celebrating its 25th anniversary over this holiday season makes it an even more special option for your Chicago events. If you book an event in one of their private dining rooms, Spiaggia will over 25 percent off selected menus.

Today, let's look at some ways to decrease your event budget on the Food & Beverage front:

*Limit the amount of attendees' alcohol intake - consider beer and wine in place of a full liquor selection to slash some costs, or distribute only a couple of free drink tickets per person (of course, you can still opt to follow complimentary beverages with a cash bar).

*See if the venue can serve food on smaller plates and drinks in smaller cups to shrink the portion sizes and the amount of money you need to spend.

*Can the can: choose to serve cold beverages in pitchers and ditch individual bottles and cans. Remember that you'll have to pay for every individual container opened, whether or not all of it is consumed. On another note, tap water is cheaper and eco-friendly!

*Don't feel obligated to serve food at all times; Instead of serving breakfast, start the first session of your event later so that attendees eat on their own beforehand. They may appreciate a later start, anyway! If you do keep breakfast on the menu, simply switching from hot to cold meals results in significant cost savings.

*Go directly to the source with your budget and pick the chef's brain - he or she is the person who can provide the best recommendations for what is available and affordable based on your numbers.

eBay is a go-to resource for just about everything under the sun: electronics, clothing, cars, jewelry, events? Yes, you can even find this year's holiday party on the auction site, as various UK firms have listed Christmas parties for sale.

Consider The Ultimate Christmas Party, to be held Friday, December 18, for up to 100 people. Starting at £4,000, it includes a three-course dinner, accommodation, and party games and dancing to DJ "Gayzer."

Or, book a Stunning Christmas Party on The Thames, starting at £3,500. The historic Havengore vessel will ferry up to 40 of your event guests along the river for an unforgettable nighttime cruise of dinner and unlimited wine and beer.

Impulse Events is featuring its venue on five separate dates for a starting bid of £5,875. Canapes provided by Mint Catering, unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks, professional security, an on-site event manager and beautiful decor are among the benefits of this all-in-one package.



So far, no bids have been placed on these pre-packaged holiday events. What do you think: would you buy a pre-made event on eBay?

Today the new Sheraton Puerto Rico Convention Center Hotel & Casino will opens its doors! Conveniently located next to the Puerto Rico Convention Center, the 503-room property will boast 35,000 square feet of meeting space, a sizeable supplement to the convention center's 580,000 square feet of space. Additionally, the Puerto Rican hotel features 57,000 square feet of outdoor event space at its pool deck, which has panoramic views of San Juan Bay and multiple pools.

The hotel will be the first new full-service hotel and casino built in San Juan in over 10 years. It's also part of the brand's $6 billion worldwide, multiyear revitalization program.

"Sheraton Puerto Rico will be one of our brand’s signature properties and we are eagerly anticipating its opening," Hoyt Harper, senior vice president for Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, said in a statement. "This property will reflect the new, superior level of amenities, offerings and services of the Sheraton brand and I’m confident both business and leisure guests will be impressed."

Other amenities at the urban resort are three fine dining restaurants, a 7,000-square-foot spa, 24-hour fitness center, over 70,000 square feet of retail space, and a 20,000-square-foot casino—the largest in Puerto Rico.

View more information about Sheraton Puerto Rico Convention Center Hotel & Casino on the Cvent Supplier Network

Meeting planners often tell us that they don’t need to send requests for proposals (RFPs) through the Cvent Supplier Network because they hold events at the same venues year after year, and they already have established relationships with contacts at the property. While this loyalty and consistency can certainly help establish trust and improve your bottom line, repeatedly defaulting to the same venue and event agreements may be throwing precious company dollars out the window.

Why did you choose that venue for your event the first time around?  Was it in a convenient location?  Was it the only property with the amenities your group needed? Or did it all come down to the price? Whatever the reason, the hospitality industry is constantly in flux, and you could stand to benefit from all the changes. Perhaps several new hotels or restaurants have been built in your event destination in the last few years.  Maybe a run-down property has undergone a huge renovation. And - most importantly - maybe your preferred event venue has significantly changed its pricing.

One benefit to searching the 100,000+ global suppliers on the Cvent Supplier Network is that it’s a great way to learn about new venues in your area and stay up-to-date on what they have to offer. For instance, you can filter the search results in your metropolitan area to show only venues that are offering special Cvent promotions! Even if you insist on having your event at the same location every year, it’s good to know what else is available.  Sending an RFP using the Cvent Supplier Network is a great way to get some proposals from other area venues.  With these proposals in hand, you may find that you could negotiate a lower rate at your current venue! Just because they gave you a great deal two or three years ago doesn’t mean that it’s still the most competitive rate out there (especially given the recent changes in the marketplace). 

So, do a little homework on the Cvent Supplier Network today to make sure you’re getting the best deal at your next meeting or event!

Establishing the proper LA venue is key in planning the perfect gathering. Whether it's at an elegant LA restaurant, opulent Los Angeles banquet hall or intimate private residence, the locale will set the tone and influence every detail of your holiday party.

These are a few of my favorite things this holiday season:

• Elegant Los Angeles restaurant venues:
Il Cielo
Locanda Veneta
Il Giorgio

• Opulent Los Angeles banquet rooms:
Maggiano's
Beau Rivage
Sportsmen's Lodge

• Other festive Los Angeles party venues:
Petersen Automotive Museum
Pasadena Museum of History
Pali House Lobby

Cvent Planner Insider Tip: Remember to consider how formal you want your event to be as well as how much leg work you have time to contribute when choosing your perfect Los Angeles banquet facility. Keep in mind your budget will dictate your choice as well. Restaurants can be really convenient as they cut out catering, clean up and party rentals.

Booking a venue other than a restaurant? Check back tomorrow for catering details including menu options and bar suggestions.

Find more festive holiday venues on the Cvent Supplier Network.

If you talk to anyone in Las Vegas about sandwich shops, Capriotti’s will always come up in the conversation. Did you know that they also offer Las Vegas catering?

There are about 20 Capriotti's locations in the Las Vegas Valley, my location of choice being in Southern Highlands. The sandwich selection includes vegetarian "meat" sandwiches and a selection of hot and cold subs.  

My personal favorite is the "Bobbie."  It has been described as "the day after Thanksgiving special," and I give thanks every time I eat one! Complete with turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing and mayo, all on a tasty fresh baked roll.  Oh, it is so yummy.  

A lunch catered by Capriotti’s will not disappoint. I have used them for Las Vegas corporate meetings, sports events and personal gatherings.  Their family atmosphere and friendly customer service are a joy to work with for any Vegas event. The Southern Highlands location also has a selection of Nothing Bundt mini cakes, which are a perfect complement to the perfect sandwich.

While using a system like Cvent's certainly makes sense for the traditional corporate event planner, our association clients are a little different. We count nurses, teachers, doctors, engineers, dentists, psychologists, and pharmacists as our clients and users of Cvent! These volunteers give their time and energy towards increasing the value of their respective associations and professions - in addition to demanding full time jobs.

Because of this, volunteer board members need to ensure that their time is spent effectively. Here are some tips and tricks we have seen that will save you and your board a lot of stress when it comes to crunch time:

• Automate your communication. We all know how big of a pain it can be to manually add your entire database to an email invitation, or reply to each individual registrant as they sign up for your event. Sending the right message to the right person can be confusing and time-consuming. With Cvent, this entire process is automated. Simply design your email templates, and the system will intelligently know when to send confirmations, regrets, and reminders - based on a schedule that you pre-determine.

• Use your resources. Part of the beauty of an association is that everyone involved has a passion for the material and dedication to the chapter. Delegate tasks to board members, form committees, and plan ahead. Cvent allows you to have multiple user logins, so that different people can use your account to complete different tasks. Especially with a limited budget, associations must make good use of their most valuable resource - people.

• Clone previous events. We know that associations typically have reoccurring events that are fairly similar each time - annual conferences, monthly luncheons, etc. With Cvent, you can simply clone these events, change the pertinent details (date, time, location, menu options) and open for registration. When you don't have to reinvent the wheel, you are able to spend time focusing on more important aspects of your event.

• Put fee collection in the hands of the experts. Managing and collecting funds from each event can be a giant headache, especially when fees are different for members and non-members, you have early-bird discounts, or when some sessions command a certain fee and others do not. Simply ensuring that you are collecting the right amount is hard, and you can forget about getting complete payments at registration time! With Cvent, this headache is erased completely. With each account, you receive a commercial-grade Verisign account, which allows you to directly deposit fees into your bank account. Furthermore, our system automatically totals everything in your invitee's registration. There is little room for error, and no need to wait around for you to receive your money from a third party.

• Source your event with the Cvent Supplier Network. Our comprehensive listing of venues and service providers is so easy to use and dramatically cuts down on the time it normally takes to find the perfect spot for your next event. Even small board meetings need a location, and we can help you find and negotiate the best rate for your group. Best of all, this service is free - certainly the best price tag for a non-profit. Sign up for your complimentary account today.

Of course, these tips are only a few of the ways that Cvent can help streamline your processes. We'd love to hear from you with more ideas!