Meeting News - November 10, 2008 - (Page 16)

CVBs Visit Jacksonville has initiated efforts designed to snatch more convention and citywide business, notably from medical and cultural groups. It has relocated director of sales Kevin Shea to the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center for him to work more closely with the venue on the sports market, citywides, and trade shows, and, in a marketing move, it has dubbed the city “America’s Health Center.” It is also offering group discounts to sweeten the city’s appeal. The bureau has launched a microsite aimed at cultural, ethnic, and religious meetings, at www. visitjacksonville.com/multicultural. The site contains the usual city collateral but also information on cultural events and houses of worship. Visit Jacksonville has said that it wants to substantially raise its volume of multicultural group business (Jan. 28 MN, p. 12). Meanwhile, another microsite trumpets Jacksonville’s medical care, research, and biotechnology hub, at By William Ng william.ng@nielsen.com Jacksonville Markets Its Medical & Cultural Group Adeptness www.visitjacksonville.com/medical. The site’s collateral has information on meetings venues and hospital partners that can supply speakers for keynote sessions and symposiums. The portal has an online RFP tool. Visit Jacksonville also has partnered with local hospitality suppliers to give meeting planners costsaving deals if they book meetings by Jan. 31, 2009. The suppliers and their deals are found at www. jacksonville.com/meeting-planners/ endofyearoffers. Participants include hotels, restaurants, as well as museums. H SF Has New Rep for the Midwest Walden Agustin is the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau’s new Midwest regional director of sales, based in Chicago. He will oversee citywide and hotel-based meetings business from Chicagoarea and Midwest clients. Agustin was previously Midwest regional director of accounts for the Hawaii Convention Center, and he has worked in San Francisco for the SFCVB. He also has worked for several Hyatt and Hilton hotels there. Join us on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2008, at 2 PM EST / 11 AM PST for a FREE Succcessful Meeting and MeetingNews Webcast Delivering Top Notch Meetings in Tough Economic Times MODERATOR Elliot Markowitz, Editorial Director, Nielsen Business Media, Webcasts/Digital Events HOW MISERABLE WILL THE ECONOMY GET AND HOW WILL IT AFFECT COMPANIES’ BUSINESS MEETINGS AND SPECIAL EVENTS? With the economy heading in the wrong direction, corporations are looking for ways to contain costs and operate more efficiently. One of the areas that are always evaluated first is meetings and events. In such a challenging economic climate, meeting planners and event coordinators are forced to cut back on expenditures, and still deliver a quality event. As more and more companies re-evaluate their meeting and event budgets, planners must solidify their policies and reaffirm their long-term relationships with vendors whose relationships they value. Planners must also have effective budgetary tracking mechanisms in place so that management can see the return on investment that meetings and events provide. Reaffirming relationships with vendors who value their business, will allow planners to negotiate better deals in a declining economy. Join Successful Meetings and MeetingNews magazines for this live, interactive Web Seminar, sponsored by MGM, and hear from experts how to maximize your meeting budget in a declining economy. Attend this online-only event and learn how to solidify long-term relationships to secure better deals and how to effectively track the ROI that meetings and special events generate. SPEAKERS Corrie Dosh, Destinations Editor, Successful Meetings Michael Green, President and Creative Director, Liquid Assets Consulting Group Brian Keenan, Assistant Vice President of Sales, MGM Grand Sponsored by Presented by TO REGISTER FOR THIS FREE WEBCAST AND BECOME A MEMBER OF VIRTUAL MEETING WORLD GO TO: www.successfulmeetings.com/webcast www.VirtualMeetingWorld.com 16 MeetingNews November 10, 2008 www.meetingnews.com http://www.visitjacksonville.com/medical http://www.visitjacksonville.com/multicultural https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn012808/index.php?startid=12 http://www.jacksonville.com/meeting-planners/endofyearoffers http://www.jacksonville.com/meeting-planners/endofyearoffers http://www.successfulmeetings.com/webcast http://www.successfulmeetings.com/webcast http://www.VirtualMeetingWorld.com http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - November 10, 2008

Meeting News - November 10, 2008
MN Exclusive Research
Green & Social Responsibility: The Year that Was in Meetings
Incentive Special: Recovering from AIG
Perspectives
What's Up @ MeetingNews.com
Letters to the Editor
Inside the Meetings Industry
South Africa Supplement
Newsmaker Q&A
People Making News
Hotels & Resorts
Starwood Hopes E-Portal is Small Meeting Utopia
Intercontinental O'Hare Puts Art at Forefront
Convention Centers
Dallas and Philadelphia Move on Their Projects
CVBs
Jacksonville Markets to Medical, Cultural Groups
International
Jamaica's Rose Hall Area Blossoms with Resorts
EIBTM Puts Together an Ambitious Program
Transportation & Services
Meeting News South
Technology
Green Beat
Destination Insider
Fort Lauderdale
Cleveland
Incentive Report
Mexico
MN Webcast Report
Ad Index
Live from the Forum

Meeting News - November 10, 2008