Archive for April, 2010

Competitive vs. Non-Competitive Team Events: What Works Best?

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

by Ed Graziano, Corporate Event Interactive

There are many decisions for a planner to make when hosting a team program for a company meeting or retreat. These decisions include selecting the right teambuilding company or facilitator, finding the right venue, deciding on the best program activity and understanding what participants should “walk away with”; such as making new connections, or better understanding everyone’s role within the team.

Often lost in this process is deciding if a program should be run competitively or non-competitively. It is a misconception to think that a competitive group will only do well within a competitive environment. These groups actually are often the ones that would benefit the most from an opportunity to work together on an activity or project run non-competitively, where the entire group wins by participating. The insight that a team’s collaborative efforts helps the entire group succeed is often more valuable than knowing their team can “beat” other teams in a particular challenge.
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Posted in Team Building | No Comments »

Does Face-Time Mean Revenue Time?

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

by Eva Niewiadomski, Catalyst Ranch

This blog was originally written and posted by Blogger Harvey Chimoff on September 16, 2009. Harvey Chirnoff is a cross-functional marketing leader who relies on a special blend of pragmatic strategy, vision, organization, and action to achieve marketing and business results. Contact Harvey at hchimoff@att.net. Click here to see the original blog:

I’m always intrigued by companies that are able to promote and market without direct price cuts, especially during a time of declining demand.

The recession has wiped out a large amount of business travel, particularly international travel, and those who are still allowed to get their passports stamped find themselves traveling coach, even on long overseas flights. This poses a significant problem for airlines who make excellent margins on high-paying business travelers, especially those in business and even first class. And online meeting tools such as WebEx and GoToMeeting are making it easier for remote productivity. What to do?
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Posted in Strategy | 1 Comment »

Learning How To “Bounce”

Monday, April 12th, 2010

by Janet Elkins, EventWorks, Inc.

Here at EventWorks we are a multi-generational and multi-cultural crew. Each in our own way we try to stay informed about our industry and economic trends in general as best we can. Besides this blog, we read trade magazines, weeklies, dailies and more. We follow television and social media. But for all of us, balancing time between “real” production work and ongoing research and learning efforts poses a challenge. We need more than 24 hours in a day.

As an original Mid-Westerner I have come to appreciate the tweets of fellow Chicagoan Barry Moltz, entrepreneur, public speaker and book author. Barry travels to many conferences in many different industries and shares his findings on Facebook and Twitter as well as his website, www.barrymoltz.com.

According to his bio, he has “founded and run small businesses with a great deal of success and failure for more than 15 years.” He also authored three successful books about business and his most comforting theory espouses the idea that business ups and downs are part of life. We just have to learn how to BOUNCE”. Following his tweets has allowed me to stay informed in 140 characters or less.

Barry just returned from SXSW in Austin, Texas. I checked in with him by phone to specifically ask for advice for the event industry.
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Posted in Productivity, Strategy | No Comments »

Great Ideas for Planners to Help Maximize Relationships at Meetings and Events

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

by Ed Graziano, Corporate Event Interactive

While meetings are valuable for providing training, conveying company content and motivating “the team,” what is often forgotten is the sheer power that meetings have to create and enhance relationships. If at a meeting of 100 participants, each person creates or strengthens five relationships, the meeting is responsible for upwards of 500 stronger relationships within a company. That is powerful stuff and is often overlooked when a meeting is being evaluated or its ROI (return on investment) is being discussed.
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Posted in Meetings, Results Measurement | No Comments »