Ninety Nine Web Sites Every Meeting Professional Must Know About

Transcription

1 Ninety Nine Web Sites Every Meeting Professional Must Know About URL A Few Words Attendee Management (Registration, Housing & Travel) Attendee management & event registration services provider. Couples Register123 attendee management with Meeting Planner Plus, windows-based logistics management. Attendee management ASP with strong marketing focus Registration management, with RSVP and membership dues components Integrated resource for housing, registration and meeting management solutions. Registration, housing, lead retrieval & messaging services Handles housing, registration travel for planners Creators of TRS (The Registration System), an online registration system developed by meeting planners Registration, with strong Association membership component

2 Cybercasting & Virtual Meetings Webinar service. Cybercast using PowerPoint & telephone audio. Recently became wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. Top notch webinar service provider. Web conferencing and online meeting provider. Facility Management Software Newmarket Intl., makers of Delphi software systems. Manufacturers of ConCentRIC facility management software Industry Portals Portal for information on special events for New York and other cities Global meeting portal, including a DMC quick finder tool. Go to Corbin s Famous Favorites File. The best industry portal. Portal with complete CVB & Exhibit Hall links. Related to conventionbureaus.com Information on real-time and historical information about flights which help lower travel related costs. Special event portal, with event sites, services & sources. Industry Vendors Meeting industry decorator

3 Provides on-site audio, videotaping of sessions, as well as integrated multimedia educational enhancements Exhibit decorator Full service provider of services from meeting production to e- learning development and delivery. Decorator for convention trade shows. Rental provider of inexpensive LCD and Computers for meetings and conferences. Great newsletter as well. Interactive Audience Response Systems for meetings & conventions. On-line survey outsourcing provider. Company specializing in helping planners capture & repackage conference content Meeting Planning Outsourcing Complete outsourcing option for planners Special event company providing full service design, production and management of event. Hotel site selection services for meeting planners Meetings Publications (Virtual & Printed) Online regional destination guide for meeting planners east, west, south and midamerica. Online versions of six meeting industry publications.

4 Online industry newspaper Meeting Registration & Networking Creates pre-event networking information via website that compares your interests with others in attendance. Event technology solutions provider, including ntag interactive nametags. Company produces Rio, an attendee networking and scheduling engine. Provides web-based attendee networking solutions for conferences. Customized social networking application for meetings & events. Winner of EIBTM 09 best technology award for meetings industry. Software and products for meeting registration Handheld registration product, allowing for short distance attendee communication and radar locating specific attendees Meetings Software & Solutions Creators of Vivien virtual event designer software (3D room diagramming), as well as WYSIWYG production design suite. Tools including SpeedRFP and Facetime allow planners to easily send RFPs, and setup hosted buyer appointments.

5 New in Web-based logistics & registration solution. Includes built-in abstract management feature. Logistics management software, currently coming out with ASP-based product. Attendee messaging software which can use any computer as an event messaging center Event management company with registration, lead retrieval and other services for planners Floorplan and agenda builder for conferences and tradeshows. Room layout software provider Online conference management tool, with registration, call for papers, websites and other tools. Room diagram software Text messaging audience response system, provides webbased results, as well as integration into PowerPoint Web-based service allowing attendees to choose their own seating at banquets, as well as other functionality. Developer of Turning Point, Audience Response System which seamlessly integrates into PowerPoint presentation. Producers of Aspire, web-based integrated conference management software.

6 Mobile Meeting Applications & Wireless Resources Service to help meeting industry create mobile landing pages for their event and web pages Meeting app developer for events and conferences. Information resource about smart phone hospitality industry apps for Android, Blackberry and iphone. Smart phone meetings app for event planners & hotels to increase sponsorship revenue & enhance the attendee s experience Meeting-based applications (and others) for PDA and WAP smart phones Creators of Hotel Evolution, mobile app for hotels to provide guests with smart phone access to their services Cross platform information about various mobile solutions. Industry app creator, both for events as well as facilities. Free QR code generator Office/Virtual Business Software Previously named Atomica, this once free service now only provides at no charge one click dictionary information. Premium service offers additional one click search features. VoIP provider, primarily for personal use. Service free to and from Skype users

7 On-line survey ASP, with free and additional pay features. Other Sites of Interest & Cool Tools Site which indicates amount of bandwidth being provided. Excellent tool for site inspections to determine if adequate bandwidth is available. Free service allowing instructors to create on-line educational platform. Online guide to 150 cities with in depth local information. Resource for information and availability on high speed internet connectivity around the US. Aka broadbandreports.com Technology and meeting planning training. Best site for researching industry work opportunities Site for exchange-style finding of meeting space Free online restaurant reservation service for over 25 cities worldwide Travel Industry of America site full of statistics and information about economic impact of the travel and tourism industry. Digitally teleport images anywhere, appearing as if you were live, within 3D environment. Listing of international DVD & VHS standards (NTSC,

8 PAL, SECAM) for video playback. World currency converter. Restaurant & other info for various cities Professional Organizations Media company which has created & manages Collaborate, Connect and Rejuvenate Marketplaces. Convention Industry Council - Organization that oversees CMP exam Provides CVB info for meeting industry, as well as industry tourism association. Site created by Travel Industry Association, designed as the official travel & tourism website of the United States National HSMAI website National website of Meeting Professionals International, industry s largest member association. National website for Professional Conference Management Association. National association for Society of Government Meeting Planners. Search Engines & Portals Really? You even need to read this? Extensive reference capabilities on almost anything

9 Site Selection & RFP for Services Extensive sub-category search (eg. luxury, economy). Has large international inventory, some with destination maps. International alliance of convention bureaus, with CVB RFP capabilities. IACVB-endorsed search engine to locate hot rates in selected cities. DC-based portal to 50+ CVB cities, allowing planner to communicate & send leads directly to bureau Service of Destination Marketing (formerly IACVB), providing one stop shopping to locate and submit RFP s to convention & visitors bureaus. Just starting in late 09, site will showcase video fam trips of various cities (starting with Canada). A global buyers & seller marketplace, allowing planner to find various services complete with internal, e-bay style rating system Destination search engine, helps locate meeting services as well New England based hotel and hospitality search Extensive information with panoramic room inspections; large industry portal.

10 Luxury searches, international in focus Extensive search engine, with RFP & auction features. Includes Regweb online registration software Search for alternative meeting facilities formerly theguide.com Speaker Bureaus Good speaker subject search engine Leading education and networking organization for professional speakers, includes online speaker directory. Virtual Tours Library of hotel videos on the web. Multi-faceted virtual property tour services

11 Extra Information Industry Blogs & RSS Feeds In order to stay on top of all of the latest news and information pertaining to the hospitality industry, here is a short list of some of my favorite RSS news and blog feeds. As with all RSS feeds, they can be automatically sent to your RSS reader. You say you don t have one? Check out Google s igoogle or Yahoo s MyYahoo for two options. RSS-URL A Few Words Excellent educational resource focused on helping planners improve their meetings & education. MPI s feeds cover News and Updates and Featured Articles PCMA news stories Over 10 feeds pertinent to industry technology, including food service, hotel & POS. Sue Pelletier (Meetings Net magazine) awesome blog on our industry Hospitality Net s hospitality industry news feed, primarily focused on hotel and supplier information Trade Show Week offers 24 news feeds and blogs for trade show industry HSMAI s news feeds