Prevue January/February 2015 - (Page 10)

fresh meets Hilton's Idea Network A range of how-to's address meeting planner 'pain points' bringing fresh insight into sustainability and green meetings. Check out "Why Socially Conscious Meetings Are a Growing Trend," which proﬁles how Hilton San Francisco Union Square assists groups with CSR programs at local shelters and children's recreation centers. "All of these are based on conversations that meeting professionals are having, either with their own teams when they're developing content for their events, or with their hotels when they're booking venues," says Lesley Brasesco, managing director of sales effectiveness for the Americas at Hilton Worldwide. "We're addressing all of their pain points by having people within the meetings community offer solutions. This isn't about Hilton preaching, it's about going out to the customer to ﬁnd out who is doing something well or better, and sharing those best practices with the rest of the meeting professional community. "We're also looking to expand with a news feed pulling in content from major bloggers and the meetings media industry," says Brasesco. "People want to hear from Hilton, but they also want to hear from the rest of the community, so we have a mixture." A COMPANION TO HILTON ELEVATED DISCUSSIONS Hilton Pattaya, Thailand H ilton Worldwide is listening to what meeting planners have to say to each other, whether they're learning how to use an audience response app or sharing ideas for keynote speakers. And now, the hotel company has taken all this knowledge and created a comprehensive online educational program called Idea Network, which it launched in October. Building on Hilton's Connect+ website, the Idea Network is organized into four aspects of meeting planning: Creating Experience, Driving Results, Building Connections and Doing It All Responsibly. The information is produced by experienced meeting planners and Hilton's in-house meeting experts and includes everything from how-to tips to in-depth white papers. Some topics are technical, while others are much lighter, such as how meeting suppliers are incorporating selﬁes into their events. In the Doing It All Responsibility section, Hilton does a good job The Idea Network comes on the heels of the Hilton Elevated Discussions video series launched last year-HED Talks-bringing together industry thought leaders to discuss major meeting trends. HED Talks has evolved since its inception to include longer videos in different formats, including Q&As and panel discussions at major meetings industry events. Interviewees include leaders from many of the various industry associations, such as US Travel and PCMA, with the videos bucketed in the same four categories as the Idea Network. Brasesco anticipates the content pipeline for the two platforms to include ﬁve new stories a week on the Idea Network, and 6 to 10 new videos per quarter at HED Talks. "We've had an overwhelming response from the planner community regarding Hilton Elevated Discussions. I think it's one thing for a hotelier to come out and talk about something, but it's quite another when you have a peer in your own industry talking to you about what they did that was so successful, and giving you step-by-step reasons why. "That's the power behind these-it's all about the ability to learn from each other."-Greg Oates connectplusathiltonworldwide.com "We're addressing all of their pain points." 10 | prevue magazine 10-11_Fresh.indd 10 1/8/15 3:08 PM http://www.connectplusathiltonworldwide.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Prevue January/February 2015

Planner’s Pick: New Orleans
Fresh Meets: Hilton
Bureau Buzz: Raleigh
Good Business: Monaco
Sea Shores: Royal Caribbean International
The Era of Personalization
CONVENTION CENTERS INNOVATE
CORPORATE RETREATS
ONLY IN FLORIDA
On Location: Barcelo Bavaro
SOUTH KOREA
DUBAI
On Location: Caesars Entertainment
On Location: Grand Geneva
On Location: Guadalajara

Prevue January/February 2015