Control your Employees and be Invisible (FAIL)

So many companies are having a hard time grasping new marketing. I recently spoke to a woman who cannot access social media site from her office. But her job is sales and she wants to get in conversations with people via online. She is right and I suggested she look for another job that will let her succeed. I can remember a while back when companies would to let their employees use email for fear they would be able to transmit company secrets or waste time emailing friends. Look at us now? Know anyone who does not use email at work in some capacity?

Look at Southwest Airlines they have given control to their employees to be creative and have build a great brand. Check out the below videos and tell me if you think these passengers talked about their experiences flying with southwest. If they have a choice between another airline don’t you think this type of stuff will put them over the top? As one of the flight attendants says after his rap. “You wont see this on United”

Toilet Paper Races (Just some crazy memorable fun)

 Control your Employees and be Invisible (FAIL)
 Control your Employees and be Invisible (FAIL)

MeetingsPodcast Show 36 The Events & Meetings Industry Fights Back!

travel industry fights back events industry fights back meetings industry fights back MeetingsPodcast Show 36 The Events & Meetings Industry Fights Back!
The Meeting Planners podcast source for what’s new and exciting in meetings and events industry!

Mike McAllen of Grass Shack Events & Media
Tom Hillmer of Creative Group
Jon Trask of Alliant Event Services

MeetingsPodcast Sponsors-
Hilton Hotels Eevents- Now featuring green meetings and weddings
BlueSky Factory- Our email service provider choice

Tom and Mike from a program at Gaylord Texan in Dallas, Texas and Jon from Los Angeles California. [Read more...]

 MeetingsPodcast Show 36 The Events & Meetings Industry Fights Back!

Airline Losses Are Higher Than Expected

carbon air travel counter Airline Losses Are Higher Than Expected

Airline losses in the fourth quarter higher than expected

Airline losses in the fourth quarter were $4 billion, considerably higher than first expected and leading to a total 2008 loss of $8 billion, according to a Monday report from the International Air Transport Association.

Two weeks ago, the trade group forecast a $5 loss for the full year. “Unlike earlier in the year, airlines are now losing money at the operating level,” IATA said in a statement. Airlines also parked 73 older aircraft in the recent quarter as they cut capacity to meet falling demand. “Load factors have been falling sharply since September, as airlines have found demand falling away faster than they have been able to cut capacity,” the group said. “In January average load factors were 2.8% points below the level of the previous year.”

Source: Market Watch

 Airline Losses Are Higher Than Expected
 Airline Losses Are Higher Than Expected

Stop Congress Ban on Companies from Hosting Events and Conferences

Stop Congress Ban on Companies from Hosting Events and Conferences

Jon Trask just forwarded me this link as an efficient way to email our government leaders to oppose the ban on Companies hosting events and conferences.

Please take a second and respond.

http://capwiz.com/nbta/issues/alert/?alertid=12773376

Congress to ban companies from hosting events and conferences.
We can’t let Congress be the nation’s travel manager
Sen. Kerry has introduced legislation that would ban all 421 firms including the nation’s largest banks that received money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) from hosting, sponsoring or paying for conferences, holiday parties and entertainment events.

If passed, I don’t need to tell you the profound impact on the business travel industry and the nation’s economy it would have. This legislation would not only impact the affected companies it would have a chilling, immediate impact on all companies. This hurts travel managers, hotels, airlines, rental cars, EVERYONE! It is estimated that without the jobs generated by meetings and conventions unemployment would jump from 7.6% to 8.2!

You, as the expert in business travel must educate Congress on the importance of managed travel and the benefits it brings. NBTA has issued a set of guidelines to the U.S. Treasury for effective managed travel based on your practices. You have made travel for meetings and events a cost effective tool that help businesses grow. We need to give these real world practices time to work. We can’t afford negative news stories to drive Congress to manage travel. You have to make sure our government knows that.

Here is the link again!

http://capwiz.com/nbta/issues/alert/?alertid=12773376

 Stop Congress Ban on Companies from Hosting Events and Conferences
 Stop Congress Ban on Companies from Hosting Events and Conferences

Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Debuts Hard Hitting Program

Yesterdays opening session was a unique experience for Meeting Professionals International (MPI) to dive in to new technology with the stage being webcasted to the world from to taking questions from the world viz text messaging. I applaud the production teams for their hard work on this. Obviously, this type of thing is a new landscape for or industry and they went after it. The gist of the event was Meeting Professionals International (MPI) trying to tackle the economy and give meeting planners real solutions to real problems. Honestly it was very much doom and gloom but I walked out feeling like that I can “Survive and Thrive” I will write more about my experience and share some video from the event later, but I am running off to catch a session.

 Meeting Professionals International (MPI)  Debuts Hard Hitting Program
 Meeting Professionals International (MPI)  Debuts Hard Hitting Program

5 Ways To Save Money by Using a Events & Meetings Production Company

10 reasons to use a production company 5 Ways To Save Money by Using a Events & Meetings Production Company

1) The time spent on pulling all the pieces of production together is very consuming and stressful for the meeting planner or marcom executive charged with the program or meeting. Having a production company handle these aspect saves time & money. The production company will stick to the event/program wide budget by having the best resources and people in place. icon smile 5 Ways To Save Money by Using a Events & Meetings Production Company
2) A good production company will make sure the look and feel is cohesive for your attendees. Saving money by keeping the pacing and creative to maximize the time on presenters have on stage.
3) Designing the environment(stage), logos and slide templates to meet creative branding of meeting. This also will blend with any online or print collateral. Cleaning up and running slides for executives, avoiding all onstage mishaps that take away from your objectives. Having rehearsal time to work with the executives and presenters giving them tips and tricks to look better and and feel more comfortable. Also, saving the executives time in cleaning up presentations. Keeping that central look and feel to program is very important. [Read more...]

 5 Ways To Save Money by Using a Events & Meetings Production Company

Extra: Interview with Mike McAllen of MeetingsPodcast.com

Well, it is not the usual MeetingsPodcast interview. But Mike was interviewed by Josh Hinds at the Business Networking Advice Blogabout business networking. Also make sure to check out the other interviews Josh has done with all sorts of experts who give great advice on business networking and tips on developing networking skills.

 Extra: Interview with Mike McAllen of MeetingsPodcast.com
 Extra: Interview with Mike McAllen of MeetingsPodcast.com

How to Grow a Creative Team for your Company

I saw this pass by my Twitter stream today and had to share it. Another brilliant video on how to grow your creative team. Just another example how you can keep people engaged through creative video.
Thanks to our sponsor Blue Sky Factorys Greg Cangialosi and dwplanit from Twitter.

 How to Grow a Creative Team for your Company

What do lead paint, asbestos and PowerPoint presentations have in common?

What do lead paint and PowerPoint Presentations have in Common?
death by powerpoint What do lead paint, asbestos and PowerPoint presentations have in common?

Well they have Jim Haudans book: The Art of Engagement all in common. I have really been enjoying reading this book and learning more about helping our clients be better more efficient presenters [Read more...]

 What do lead paint, asbestos and PowerPoint presentations have in common?

Where would you use this Smart Surface Table?

I was forwarded this video about Microsofts tabletop technology by Rob Balmer of the Doubletree Hotel San Jose and I wondered how you might use it at an event. Of course the video shows the different ways business could use it but what about something interactive for an event. They say it will eventually have smart surfaces everywhere which really bends the imagination. Think about walls, tables and counters. I wonder what the rental prices will be for these tables?

One thing is for sure the future looks like fun.

How would you use it?

Also if you want more information of this technology do a quick search on Youtube.com

 Where would you use this Smart Surface Table?
 Where would you use this Smart Surface Table?