The Decision to Attend

Credits: None available.

1 Clock Hour | Domain A: Strategic Planning

Attendees are consumers; discerning travelers who may choose to attend conventions and exhibitions—or not. That’s why the mutual goal of both meeting/exhibition professionals and DMOs is generating positive word-of-mouth: repeat bookings and increased attendance. Discover insights from the second Decision to Attend Study, and how it could dramatically impact the way you design and market your meetings and events.

Learner Outcomes:

  • Discover the Top 3 drivers of attendance to meetings and events globally.
  • Learn how people decide whether or not they will come next year and recommend the event to their peers.
  • Learn how treating your participants like your clients could increase your attendance and drive business value for your organization.

This Session Graciously Sponsored by Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau

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Flair for the Dramatic: Your Intro to Stage Management

Credits: None available.

1 Clock Hour | Domain G: Meeting or Event Design

From the apron to the fly gallery, discover the amazing world of the theater, and how it mimics the production elements of live event design. Learn the terminology your audiovisual and stage management professionals use and how you can better design your main stage experiences. Discover how stage elements, lighting equipment, sound engineering--even props--can impact your meetings and events.

Learner Outcomes:

  • Understand the key terminology, players, roles and skills involved in producing an event in a theater or in a stage-based environment.
  • Discover the basics behind light, sound and properties management and design and how that could affect your meetings and events.
  • Learn how to effectively communicate, coordinate and even consult with the technical crew that manages your events.
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Food For Thought: 2018 Trends in Menu Design

Credits: None available.

1 Clock Hour | Domain G: Meeting or Event Design

Food and wellness-based meetings trends are transitory by nature; however, over the past several decades, we have seen an unprecedented increase in health-orientated foods that are driving consumer spend and cross-sector operations. Discover the trends that are shaping conference food and beverage from a comprehensive survey of IACC conference venues, meeting planners and culinary experts around the globe, and how those trends can help you rethink the ways you feed your attendees.

Learner Outcomes:
  • Discover the latest and greatest catering ideas from venues across the globe.
  • Learn how meeting professionals are using meals and menus to prepare audiences for learning, engagement and business.
  • Find out how you can better utilize F&B to maximize the event experience.
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Breaking Barriers: Budget & Cost Savings Strategies

Credits: None available.

1 Clock Hour | Domain A: Strategic Planning

The combination of the great recession and the Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) initiative have increased senior management's expectations for improved planner productivity, meeting value and ROI. Although SMM delivers an umbrella of measurable benefits, cost savings remains a high priority for corporate and association planning teams. In the meeting budget and cost savings strategies webinar, review specific methods to generate real cost savings, including metrics to define and measure results.

Learner Outcomes:
  • Understand industry issues and trends that impact value based negotiations.
  • Review key cost savings strategies, including room rates, concessions, F & B and audio visual and internet / technology support services.
  • Learn methods to create value formulas and metrics to define, measure and report success.

This Session Graciously Sponsored by Great Wolf Lodge

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Meetings Outlook: A Deep Dive into the Latest Business Trends 2/18

Credits: None available.

1 Clock Hour | Domain A: Strategic Planning

Meeting professionals are so over-taxed in the present, they often forget—or don't have the time—to look ahead. Take a moment to preview the future based on MPI's most recent Meetings Outlook research, published quarterly in The Meeting Professional magazine and then discuss the trends that are most affecting you and your peers. Brainstorm ways to start planning for the uncertain future with case studies and best practices from around the globe.

Learner Outcomes:

  • Review the forecast for events in the coming year, including budget, attendance and business conditions.
  • Deep dive into trends that matter and discuss next steps with your peers.
  • Learn how these trends affect you and the future of your meetings.

This Session Graciously Sponsored by MGM Resorts and IMEX Group

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Be Hip with the Way You Ship

Credits: None available.

1 Clock Hour | Domain H: Site Management

No matter event length or type, meeting professionals most likely will need to ship things there. Make sure your materials arrive on time and in good condition with tips on best and next practices in shipping goods and services from recent MPI research.

Learning Outcomes:
  • Understand service providers, roles and responsibilities.
  • Discover best practices to help you prepare shipments for your next event, and learn how to pack like a pro.
  • Learn the ins and outs of international shipping.

This Session Graciously Sponsored by FedEx Office

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Your Key to Designing Successful Business Events

Credits: None available.

1 Clock Hour | Domain G: Meeting Design

Meeting design is a hot topic; it’s an effective way to make any event or meeting more meaningful and valuable. In most meetings, the focus and budget lie mainly on logistics. Little attention is given to improve content and format to align with the objectives and create meaningful experiences for participants. Discover how you can integrate logistics, content and format to drive business results and impactful experiences.

Learner Objectives:

  • Understand why meeting design revolutionizes the meeting industry.
  • Learn about all the basic elements of Meetovation and how to create more valuable and meaningful meetings and events.
  • Learn about the Meeting Design Game, a tool to design better meetings.
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Art Of The Deal: Strategic Hotel & Contract Negotiations

Credits: None available.

1 Clock Hour | Domain D: Financial Management

Hotel contract risk reduction and cost containment have become an important metric in the Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) landscape. In this interactive workshop, we will address industry issues and trends that impact planner / hotelier negotiations, including specific methods to validate and report contract risk mitigation. Additionally, we will review key hotel contract performance clauses and methods to calculate damages. Attendees will also learn the pros and cons of utilizing a hotel contract addendum vs. a custom hotel contract process (ready for signature) and methods to create a cost savings / risk reduction / cost containment report, by meeting.

Learner Outcomes:
  • Understand industry issues and trends that impact hotel and contract negotiations.
  • Examine key hotel contract performance clauses and specific methods to assure risk reduction / cost containment
  • Know the essential components of a cost savings, risk reduction, cost containment report.

This Session Graciously Sponsored by Great Wolf Lodge

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MPI Ottawa Presents: Airtable & World Cafe

Credits: None available.

1.5 Clock Hours | Domain A:Strategic Planning

Airtable: Streamlining Event Planning and Collaboration

Hands up those of us who still use Excel for critical path and a multitude of other spreadsheets to track our event planning processes! Do you ever think, there must be something out there that is more efficient and easier to use, lets us collaborate better with team members in real time, and that we can use on our tablets or smartphones as well as our computer? If you answered yes to any of these questions then you won’t want to miss session 1 of our live webinar. Hear from Shani Taylor of Airtable--a new project management cloud-based tool for your desktop, tablet and smartphone that’s streamlining the event planning and collaboration process by merging the functionality of a spreadsheet with the power of relational database into an easy-to-use collaborative planning tool. Don’t take our word for it. Join us and hear what other planners are saying about Airtable.

World Café: Knowledge through Conversations that Matter

How can we design a conference program that allows for authentic attendee engagement and knowledge-sharing and elevate our attendees’ conference experience? Attend Session 2 of our live webinar to learn about “World Café,” an effective approach to group learning and thinking that accesses the creative and shared knowledge of your attendees. Hear about this innovative learning technique and how you can incorporate it into your event programming. Morna Ballantyne, executive cirector of the Childcare Advocacy Association of Canada, will show attendees how to use World Café at your event, taking into consideration the type of event and size that works best for this learning format, room design and technical needs, the advance preparation for facilitators and conversation collectors, and tips on evaluation and measuring success.

This Session Graciously Sponsored by the MPI Ottawa Chapter

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Risk Management: Band-Aids to Bad Guys

Credits: None available.

1 Clock Hour | Domain E: Human Resources 

Acts of violence seem to happen more often today than in years past, and in more vulnerable places, especially where people gather. Could the location or venue of your next meeting be a target? What are you doing to make your conferences and meeting safer and more secure? Are you doing it the right way? Join Alan Kleinfeld, meeting planner and law enforcement officer, and learn what questions to ask in order to keep your attendees and your staff from harm’s way. From Band-Aids to bad guys, get an idea of the scope of planning it takes and why you need a public safety mindset from the minute you begin to plan your event.

Learner Outcomes:

  • Learn the questions to ask to keep your attendees and staff safe.
  • Understand risk from a law enforcement perspective.
  • Ultimately, discover key steps to keep your meeting risk-adverse.

This Sessions Graciously Sponsored by Marriott

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