Meeting of the Minds

Meetings Media released their Meetings Trends for 2008. I found the following to be most notable:

· It seems that of the men that are in the event/meetings profession, most of them are independent planners while a majority of women are either corporate- or association-based.
· In 2008, most event budgets either stayed the same or increased. {Note: To me, that illustrates that the corporation, association or client sees the importance of events within their overall brand strategy. }
· I thought it interesting to see the vast difference in the placement of the importance of the attrition policy and guest room technology for Association planners versus Independent planners. {Note: I have an extreme dislike for attrition charges and have been known to scare some hotel sales executives!}
Read all about 2008 Meeting Trends: http://www.meetingsfocus.com/pdf/2008_meetings_trends_results.pdf

Which brings me to introduce you to one of my favorite Meeting Planning websites: Meetings Focus {http://www.meetingsfocus.com/}. I first came in contact with them through their great meetings and events magazine. Also check out their Best of List: www.meetingsfocus.com/bestofawards {Note: I always get asked my favorite event venue. My absolute favorite both personally and professionally is the Wynn Las Vegas.}

Meetings Focus, along with mPoint, has a very useful and extensive database for venues and city-specific contacts. {Note: Its been know that I tend to became slightly addicted to mpoint.com and their online system when I need a multi-city RFP – its fabulous!}