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Volume 2 – Issue 4     August 13, 2008

Experient: THE source for integrated meeting and event solutions

Attendee Management

Event Logistics

Exhibition Services

Experient News

Where to Find Us – Tradeshow Participation

Contact Us

We want to hear from you! Share your own tips and tricks for that perfect event, something funny or outright crazy that happened at a meeting or event that you attended, or just feedback for us on how we’re doing. Give it to us, we can take it. Chances are we’ll use your story in an upcoming issue.

EventROI@Experient-inc.com

This issue of EventROI brought to you by

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

and

SMG Convention & Exposition Venues

Material in the pages contained herein is the intellectual property of Experient and may not otherwise be copied, modified, distributed, reproduced or reused without the express written permission of Experient.

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To unsubscribe click here or send a blank e-mail message to EventROI@experient-inc.com with “unsubscribe” in the subject line.

For additional information regarding EventROI please contact:

Lisa Zastawnik, CPS
Managing Editor
lisa.zastawnik@experient-inc.com

©2008. Experient
All rights reserved.

Factoid:  Attendees travel great distances to experience an event—and conventional event marketing wisdom says the drive-fly decision rests at the 300 mile circle of distance.

Factoid:  The Center for Exhibition Industry Research says that 62% of attendees travel more than 400 miles for an event; 30% of attendees travel from surrounding states and 28% of attendees travel from within 200 miles.

Conclusion: A full third of your event attendees may be within driving distance of your event.  In this age of expensive gasoline, are you marketing specially to potential attendees within 200 miles of your venue?  Contact Marian Calvin, Vice President of Communications for Experient for a free Hour of Power event marketing evaluation. She can be reached at: marian.calvin@experient-inc.com.

For more information, click here:  Read this article from the fall issue of Meeting Mentor to see if it is cheaper to fly or drive!  Fuel for Thought: Gas Prices Got you Down?  Consider the Economies of Flying, by James Gilden.

http://www.experient-inc.com/solution/publications/meeting_mentor/mm_fall08.pdf

A major software company wanted to attract new customers and bring back previous attendees to reach their goal of more than 1,500 attendees while also reducing spending. How did they do it?

To read the case study click the following link or copy and paste to a web browser: http://www.experient-inc.com/solution/publications/case-studies/cs_5_siteselection.pdf

The Meeting Mentor staff thanks all those who took the time to provide us important feedback on how we can make our quarterly newsletter of even more value to all readers.  Congratulations to Joy Brand, Associate Director of Professional Development at JCC Association (Jewish Community Centers) in New York City, who was randomly selected from the respondents of Experient Meeting Mentor’s readership study to receive the gasoline card incentive.  Drive carefully, Joy!

This issue’s green comments are from John M. Schulte, Executive Director of the National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA). He writes:

“Based on the comment by Anne-Marie McCartan of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences in your June 25, 2008 issue, our association will begin adding this specific language to all of our RFPs: "In your bid, please confirm whether the hotel recycles plastic, glass and aluminum containers (whatever types of containers used by the hotel), as well as newspapers.  Also, confirm that the hotel will provide recycling bins at all meal and refreshment breaks to allow NADCA attendees to conveniently recycle these products."

If planners add something like the above language to their RFPs, hotels would quickly get the message that recycling is important to planners.  All other things being equal, and often the factors are equal, NADCA will select properties that have a basic recycling program as described above. 

I used to work on the hotel side (700+ room property) and on Earth Day one year, we recycled all of the newspapers from the guest rooms.  I volunteered to drive the papers to the recycle facility myself in my pickup truck.  The cost to the hotel was negligible.  My point: if the hotels can't find a way to make recycling a common practice, it's because they're not trying very hard.  My guess is that most hotels would be able to find volunteers, if needed, to help with a recycling program.  I realize I could be wrong on this.  Regardless, the hotels should invest in recycling and pass those costs to customers as needed.  This is a matter of social responsibility.”

If you have a tip or question or a comment like the one posed above please send an e-mail to eventroi@experient-inc.com. You could see your words of wisdom printed here in our next issue.

Or, if you prefer, blog your response to Green Tips!  Click here to keep the Green Tips conversation going via Ning blog! http://eventroi.ning.com/