For the first time in the event's history, meeting planners were able to pre-book appointments with exhibitors at the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International's (HSMAI) Affordable Meetings West Exhibition and Conference at the Long Beach Convention Center from June 16-17, 2010.
"HSMAI received tremendous feedback from both exhibitors and meeting planners in regards to the turnout at this year's event and the success of the new Meeting Concierge service for scheduling one-on-one appointments between the two parties," said Fran Brasseux, executive vice president of HSMAI.
"We conducted in-depth research prior to this year's show and found an overwhelming number of planners place high value in pre-scheduled meetings with vendors. It is always our goal to continually enhance their experience at Affordable Meetings conferences based on the needs of the attendees and exhibitors."
Approximately 200 appointments were booked prior to the first day of Affordable Meetings West. HSMAI's One-to-One Meeting Concierge worked individually with planners prior to the show to schedule appointments with exhibitors they were most interested in meeting with during the show.
Hundreds of meeting planners were at HSMAI's Affordable Meetings West, meeting with exhibitors and getting information about venues and meeting services.
"I loved the implementation of the pre-meeting concierge technology," said Dennis Smith, World Hotels' regional director of sales. "The system was very efficient in helping us accept appointments and allowed us to book a full schedule of meetings each day. I hope more shows start to make this option available."
More than 800 meeting and hospitality industry professionals were on-hand for this year's Affordable Meetings West, making it a prime platform for connecting planners with representatives from some of North America's top meeting venues and service providers.
Joan Palmtag, regional director of accounts for the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, commented, "We were able to see 50 people each day, which equals three weeks worth of sales calls. Affordable Meetings West makes it very efficient for us to develop relationships with key meeting planners."
Beyond fostering these important relationships, planners were encouraged to attend seminars led by industry experts.
During the course of the two-day conference, attendees were privy to 22 seminars covering a wide-range of topics including successful email marketing strategies, overcoming the challenges of planning food and beverage in a "green" environment, social media as a marketing tool to increase meeting attendance and the top meetings technology trends for 2010.
An advanced seminar and networking breakfast for Certified Meeting Professionals (CMP) sponsored by the Mexico Tourism Board and Let's Meet Mexico City kicked off the second day of the show.
The CMPs enjoyed an in-depth presentation from Tim Brown, CEO of Meeting Sites Resource. Brown enlightened the audience to the multiple layers of a Strategic Meeting Management Program (SMMP).
Covering such areas as proving the worth of meeting planners to senior management and measuring the seven dimensions of attendee experience, Brown encouraged the CPMs, "Don't just find the best meeting practices, be aware of the next meeting practices."
HSMAI's last show for 2010 will be HSMAI's Affordable Meetings National and Event Technology ExpoT, Sept. 8-9, 2010, Walter E. Washington Convention Center - Washington, D.C. The National show will also feature pre-scheduled appointments scheduled via the Meeting Concierge service.
