Meeting News - February 11, 2008 - (Page 3)

Perspectives Calling All Communities In late January, I went to an industry colleague’s home for dinner. We have worked together for a while on different projects, including sister publication Successful Meetings’ face-to-face events. He and his wife, who also works in meetings industry marketing, invited a few other guests, and one of them had a great story that bears repeating. Her son is a student and very involved in his school’s football program as manager of the team. He is responsible for making sure the field is ready, water is available, and various logistics that have to go on behind the scenes occur (something sounds familiar, right?). But one winter day, he was flattened by a bad cold. He was in bed when he got the call from the football coach. An overnight snowstorm had dropped two feet of snow on the field. If it wasn’t shoveled in the next few hours, there wasn’t going to be a game. Necessity is the mother of invention, as the saying goes, and in his feverish state, the young man had an idea. He got onto a social media site where he knew a lot of his friends and team fans log on. He sent out an SOS and slowly began to pull himself together so he could go out and shovel. The phone rang again. It had been a while, so he knew what was coming, and he decided to cut it off at the pass: “Hi, coach, I’m on my way, but I’m sick.” The response, however, was unexpected. “What did you do?” the coach asked. “There are 100 people shoveling the field. Go back to Elizabeth West, bed.” That’s a great story. And, I think there’s a lesson Editor-In-Chief in there for meeting planners: You don’t have to solve every problem on your own—even if you are the only planner in your organization. There are many industry groups and active online communities that you can use as resources—just like the football fans who pulled together for the young man in a pinch. In fact, MeetingNews offers its very own online meeting planner community, which you should check out, at www.meetingnews.com/forum. Our editors found planner resources there for our cover stories this month, so we know it works! r Editorial F e b r u a r y 1 1 , 2 0 0 8 Vo l u m e 3 2 , N u m b e r 3 Corporate/Sales Scott Pierce, Vice President Travel Group Phone: (646) 654-7325 Editor-In-Chief, Elizabeth West (646) 654-7360; elizabeth.west@nielsen.com Executive Editor/Hotels, Rayna Katz (646) 654-4421; rayna.katz@nielsen.com Managing Editor/International, William Ng (646) 654-4451; william.ng@nielsen.com Senior Editor/CVBs/Technology, Marshall Krantz (510) 530-3776; marshall.krantz@nielsen.com Online Editor, Jennifer Levey (646) 654-7356; jennifer.levey@nielsen.com Research Director, Nancy Lazarus (646) 654-7272; nancy.lazarus@nielsen.com Editorial Fax: (646) 654-4428 Editorial Address: 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003-9595 Southeast/Mid-Atlantic/Ohio Larry Mischik, Ad Director/Account Manager 3054 Four Oaks Drive, Atlanta, GA 30360 Phone: (770) 604-9641 NYC/NJ/New England/Bermuda/Caribbean Diane DiMaggio, International Advertising Director 770 Broadway, NY, NY 10003; Phone: (646) 654-7332 Florida/Cruise Arthur Hyman, Associate Publisher/Account Manager 1267 Via Fiume, Boynton Beach, FL 33436 Phone: (561) 736-5374 Contributing Editors Sari Krieger, Emily Carrus, Fred Gebhart Christopher Hosford, Bob Curley, Irene Korn Phillip Hennessey, Kinley Levack, Suzie Amer Terri Hardin, Robert Carey (Editor-At-Large) Midwest/Texas/Louisiana Patrice Carman, Account Manager 200 West Jackson Blvd., 27th floor, Chicago, IL 60606 Phone: (312) 583-5522 Art Group Creative Director, Amy Bothwell Art Director, Richard Prestia (646) 654-4424; richard.prestia@nielsen.com California/Hawaii/Nevada Sharon Freeark, Account Manager 2950 31st Street, Suite 100, Santa Monica, CA 904053037; Phone: (626) 578-0700; Fax: (626) 578-0720 Marketing Marketing Manager, John Toler (703) 488-2739; john.toler@nielsen.com Promotions Associate, Jennifer Ginsberg (646) 654-7210; jennifer.ginsberg@nielsen.com Asia/Pacific/Southwest/Colorado Edie Garfinkle, International Advertising Director 2510 G Las Posas Road, #505, Camarillo, CA 93010 Phone: (805) 383-1326; Fax: (646) 654-4456 Production Production Manager, Adam Schaffer (646) 654-7295; Fax (646) 654-7318 adam.schaffer@nielsen.com Subscription Information: (847) 763-9050 Subscription Fax: (847) 763-9037 Single Copy Sales: (847) 763-9050 E-Media Jared Smith, National Account Manager 770 Broadway, NY, NY 10003; Phone: (646) 654-5520 Marketing Services Peter Hirschhorn, Director of Marketing Services 770 Broadway, NY, NY 10003; Phone: (646) 654-7556 Steve Moore, Account Manager 770 Broadway, NY, NY 10003; Phone: (646) 654-5533 Reprints The YGS Group Kristi Fulkerson (800) 290-5460 x144 MN@theYGSgroup.com List Rentals For postal mailings: Julius Single, (845) 731-2731 For emailings: Nicole Guarascio, (845) 731-3828 International CANADA: Wayne St. John, President; Penny Dickenson, VP Sales; Alex Kinninmont, VP Sales/Admin.; Francoise Chalifour, Cyndy Fleming, American Publishers Canada Phone: (416) 363-1388; Rosalind Genge, Western office, Phone: (604) 988-0730; MEXICO & LATIN AMERICA: Veronica Castro; CASS Media; Phone: 52-55/5605-1757 EUROPE/AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST: Diane DiMaggio, International Advertising Director, Successful Meetings/MeetingNews; Phone: 646-654-7332; Fax: 646-328-0218; Cell 914-299-4394 ASIA/PACIFIC: Singapore Lavendar Tan, Al Media, 733 Bukit timah Road #03-05, Singapore 269748; Phone: (65) 469-9321; Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines Annie Blanchard & Associates, Tel/Fax (632) 645-7296; Korea Mr. Jung-Won Suh, President, Singesi Media Inc., Phone: +82 2 3275 5969; Japan Etsuko Ichinohe, Pacific Business, Inc.; Phone 81-3-3661-6138; Fax: 81-3-3661-6139; Macau, Hong Kong, China Stephen Hutton, Hutton Media Limited, International Media Representatives, Suite 2102 Fook Lee Commercial Centre, 33 Lockhart Road, Wanchai Hong Kong; Phone: 852 2528 9135; Fax: 852 2528 9281 Group President William J. Cooke VP Finance Rhonda Linovitz elizabeth.west@nielsen.com IN THIS ISSUE ® ® ® ® ® ® ® ® What’s Up @ MeetingNews.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Convention Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Insider Report: Insurance Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 MN Webcast Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Successful Meetings University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Colin Rorrie to Temporarily Lead CIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Advertisers Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 Live from the Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 President, Greg Farrar Senior Vice President/Human Resources: Michael Alicea Senior Vice President, Finance: Derek Irwin Senior Vice President, Travel, Performance, Life Sciences & Marketing Services: William J. Cooke Senior Vice President, Marketing & Media: Sabrina Crow Senior Vice President, Film & Performing Arts: John Kilcullen Senior Vice President, Music & Literary: John Kilcullen Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & Planning: Thomas Kuczynski Senior Vice President, Retail: David Loechner Senior Vice President, OnlineMedia: Linda McCutcheon Senior Vice President, Building Design: Joe Randall Senior Vice President, Central Services: Mary Kay Sustek Vice President, Licensing & Events: Howard Appelbaum Vice President, Marketing Services: Drew DeSarle Vice President, Manufacturing and Distribution: Jennifer Grego Vice President, Audience Marketing: Joanne Wheatley www.meetingnews.com February 11, 2008 MeetingNews 3 http://www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com/forum http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - February 11, 2008

Meeting News - February 11, 2008
Contents
What’s Up @ MeetingNews.com
Convention Centers
Insider Report: Insurance Meetings
MN Webcast Report
Successful Meetings University
Colin Rorrie to Temporarily Lead CIC
Advertisers Index
Live from the Forum

Meeting News - February 11, 2008