April 2004
Volume 6, Issue 4

Newsletter for the
Indiana Chapter of
Meeting Professionals International

Winner of "Best Layout & Design" Online Newsletter from Meeting Professionals International -- 2003

In This Issue:

From the President
May Meeting Info
New Members
Plannner Spotlight
Supplier Spotlight
Board Member Profile
Feature Article
Volunteers Who Shine!
CMP Question of the Month

IMPI Contact Information

IMPI Chapter Services
MP Records Communications
8444 Castlewood Dr., Suite 400
Indianapolis, IN 46250
Phone:(317) 841-8205
Fax: (317) 841-8206
info@mprecords.com

Chapter Vision Statement
MPI-Indiana shall be the leading voice committed to shaping and defining the future of the meeting and event industry in the State of Indiana.

Kim Wilkeson, CMP, CMM
Account Manager
VMS, Inc.

Staying Current in an Upside Down Industry…a “Titanic” Hit!

I’ve recently returned from attending the 4th Annual MidAmerica Education Conference held in Cincinnati, OH. What a fantastic program! Two days jammed packed with motivating and inspiring speakers, educational breakout sessions, tantalizing food, resources galore trade show and awesome networking events!

Wow, what an exciting venture – our first joint conference with four chapters collaborating with one goal in mind…to provide our members with a premier educational conference. Our partners were once again Ohio and Kentucky, along with this year’s addition of Tennessee.

Dr. Colin Rorrie, president and CEO for MPI along with Terri Breining, CMP, CMM the 2003-2004 MPI Chairwoman of the Board welcomed us at the conference. What a tremendous honor and privilege it was for us to have such distinguished leaders in our industry attend our conference. This was a first for us! I mean the president and CEO of Meeting Professionals International flying in from Dallas to attend our conference was truly amazing. Dr. Rorrie spoke about the Future Watch 2004 report that was recently published. (To view the Future Watch report, visit www.mpiweb.org) Terri Breining then spoke to the audience about MPI’s Strategic Plan for Excellence. (For more information on MPI’s Strategic Plan, visit www.mpiweb.org)

Next was Mike Rayburn, our Opening Keynote Speaker. Wow, that man can play a guitar! His message was “what if…” and he successfully demonstrated this message throughout his presentation by playing his guitar combining lyrics from one song with the music of another song. It’s kind of difficult to explain if you weren’t able to witness it for yourself, but trust me when I say he did a great job of motivating the group!

Then it was off to the tradeshow for some networking and resource gathering. We had over 80 exhibitors this year from several destinations around the world! My arms were overflowing with materials. Just as I was about to drop everything, (oh, who am I kidding? I dropped stuff more than once ?), the lights dimmed and it was our clue to head on over to the breakout sessions.

Our breakout sessions consisted of “Food and Wine Pairings” (and yes they did have real wine to taste); “Attrition” (which was a heated topic) and Roundtable discussions on APEX (Accepted Practices Exchange), WLI (Women’s Leadership Initiative), CMP designation (Certified Meeting Professional) and CMM designation (Certification in Meeting Management). All of the breakout sessions were very well attended!

After the breakout sessions, the group reconvened for the General Session with Jim Carroll. His insightful presentation was on “The Power of Partnership” where he discussed future trends in the meeting industry. Then we headed over to the Hilton Netherland Plaza (the host hotel) for a very creative team building activity involving rubber gloves, aprons, frosting and cake. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. Just know that everyone participating had a great time! The Hilton Netherland Plaza then hosted us later that evening for a Reception with a plethora of food and drinks!

Day two began with leading industry expert Joan Eisenstodt who spoke about “Ethics: Your Competitive Advantage”. Even at 7:30 in the morning, Joan’s topic attracted a large audience and the information presented was well received. Then it was off to the tradeshow floor for more networking and resource gathering. Two more breakout sessions were offered, “Cutting Edge Themes” and “Risk Management and Contingency Planning”. Both sessions were very well received and attended!

Our Closing Keynote Speaker was Dr. Dale Henry. His presentation was so powerful it literally brought attendees to tears during his talk and to their feet at his conclusion! His message was clear, “I never say that’s not my job and I never say I wish…” His presentation was so moving and his message so true. For those not able to attend the conference, I’ll try to summarize. He spoke about serving others and about not wishing that you had more of, less of, etc. in life. If we just adopted his simple philosophy we could all be as happy as he is.

Well, that about wraps up my review of the MidAmerica Education Conference. In my opinion, it receives “two thumbs up”! So, with that said…mark your calendars to attend the 2005 MPI MidAmerica Education Conference March 21-22, 2005 at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky.

In the spirit of Dr. Henry’s presentation…Take care of yourself and others!

Special Thanks

A special thank you tho the following people for their help at the 4th annual MidAmerica Education Conference.

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May 20, 2004
Topic: Attrition and Booking Outside the Block
Location: Marriott Downtown
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

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Be sure to welcome IMPI's newest members!

Kim Settles, CMP
Meeting Planner
Indiana Credit Union League

Our planner this month is from Indianapolis and graduated from Purdue in RHI. Kim Settles, CMP is an Association Planner for the Indiana Credit Union League. She has been with the League for 7 ½ years. They are the state association for credit unions in Indiana. The League serves credit unions from around the state with consulting and education, government legislation and public relations, just to name a few areas.

Kim has over 6 years of management and operations experience in Contract Food Service. She has been in the planning aspect of the League for 5 ½ years.

Picture this: Kim had not yet formally been named the meeting planner for the ICUL, the former meeting planner had retired and had given 5 weeks notice. She retired 6 weeks before convention. This, along with the following, is typically a recipe for disaster:

Take one new meeting planner, add 10 staff members who have strong opinions as well as meeting support responsibilities, mix with three days of tightly-scheduled activities planned for trade association members and bake with budget constraints.

In Kim’s case, this was the opposite of disaster. Her first convention in Indianapolis was memorable because everything went just the way it was supposed to. Every detail was well executed. From unlocking the dock doors on time and providing set up assistance, to having fresh flowers delivered to the right place and adding chairs at the last minute. The “big stuff” went well too. Facilities, hotels, restaurants and entertainment were all perfect for her group. No one was disappointed. For the last 15 years the Indiana Credit Union League has held their event in Indianapolis and they will be back again next year.

Kim is a volunteer for a women’s center located in Westfield, IN called the “Center for Women’s Ministry.” Everyone there is a volunteer. They offer Christian counseling to help abused and hurting women. The Center opened last fall. They offered some classes and she volunteered. The rest as they say, is “His Story!” The Center for Women’s Ministry has a national headquarters based out of Bloomington, IN. She currently meets with a client on a weekly basis to encourage and mentor her.

Submitted by Vicki Lee, Indianapolis Marriott East

Kimberly Nees
Director of Sales
Holiday Inn Select North

Our supplier spotlight this month is Kim Nees, Director of Sales at the Holiday Inn Select North. Kim oversees group sales for the Sales and Catering department. She motivates her team members to be the best that each if them can be.

The Holiday Inn Select North offers 344 guestrooms and over 12,000 square feet of flexible meeting space accommodating up to 550 attendees. Meetings and group business are their top priority. The guestrooms will undergo renovation in the Spring of 2004 and a 30,000-sq. ft. indoor waterpark will open in the winter of 2004.

Kim began her career in this industry in 1995 as a Sales Manager in Boise, Idaho. She had been in marketing for a rental car company and hotels were her clients. She was working with the CVB and they suggested that she look into hotel sales. After working as a sales manager for 1-½ years she was promoted to Director of Sales. Shortly thereafter, Kim moved back home to Indiana.

Kim loves working with the many clients she has met over the years and is fortunate enough to have made some lifelong friends along the way. She enjoys meeting new people.

The best event Kim has been involved with so far is the Hewlett Packard Women’s Challenge in 1998. This was the International Women’s Bike Race preparing them for the Summer Olympics. They had their entire parking lot loaded with SUV’s with bike racks, washing stations, etc. They had such a large crowd, they had to put a tent in the parking lot to accommodate the large amount of people attending the opening and closing receptions. The attendees had the run of the hotel. Can you picture a ballroom full of bikes lined up and ready for action? It was great to participate in an international event with such major sponsorships and participants.

On the opposite side is the event that could have gone bad, but due to quick thinking, turned out great. An outside catering company forgot its event of 30 people for dinner. Needless to say, a barbecue grill comes in mighty handy in situations such as this. A good time at the old fashioned barbecue was had by all.

Training for the Mini Marathon, meeting friends for dinner and cutting hiking trails in Brown County are a few of Kim’s recent activities” Is it golfing weather yet?” she asks. She also volunteers for the Indianapolis Jaycees and is on the Foundation Board.

Kim’s greatest concern for this industry is the internet and losing the face to face customer service aspect.

Her advice to someone getting into this industry is “If you love people and are customer service oriented, this is the industry for you. You reap the rewards when you hear that an event went off without a glitch and you have made your client into a hero in their companies eyes. That is what we are here for. That is what makes it all worth while.”

Submitted by Vicki Lee, Indianapolis Marriott East

Carol McCormack
National Account Manager
Conferon Sales Network

During my career as a hotel Director of Sales and Marketing, I always encouraged my sales staff to participate in industry organizations including IMPI. With budgets and expenses always being scrutinized, I bypassed membership in IMPI for myself so that more of my staff could join. When my career path changed directions almost two years ago and I found myself in the position of a planner and only responsible for my own expenses, one of the first decisions I made was to join IMPI.

My entire career has been in the hospitality and meetings industry. I graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Management. I quickly discovered that I enjoyed the sales side of the business and was fortunate to land a sales manager position with Marriott Hotels upon my graduation. The last 13 years of my hotel sales career were spent at the Omni Severin Hotel. In March of 2002, I decided I needed a career with more flexibility so I could better keep up with my active family (husband Jeff and daughters Erin age 12 and Kiera age 8). I joined Conferon as a National Account Manager in April of 2002 and now enjoy the benefits of working in a home based office along with experiencing a different side of this business.

Once I had the opportunity to join IMPI, I wasted no time getting involved. I currently serve on the Board of Directors as the Director of Monthly Programs. Along with the V.P. of Education and the Education Committee, we are responsible for coordinating the monthly educational programs which usually occur in the form of a monthly luncheon. Committee responsibilities involve determining the educational topic and securing the speaker as well as handling all logistics of the monthly program including selecting the venue and working with the venue on menus, meeting set-ups and audio visual needs. This year’s committee has been charged with incorporating the “WOW” factor into the monthly events. Each month we hope to make the program more exciting, informative and memorable. If you are interested in getting involved with the Education Committee, please call me at 317-841-0740 or Cathy Thuerbach, Education Committee Chair at 317-345-6278. I look forward to seeing you at the next monthly meeting!

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Essential Tips For Meeting Success
by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

Corporate meeting planners are continuously mired in details, trying to keep it all together for the next meeting, and already worrying about the ones after that. We need to learn how to work "smarter," not harder, in mastering details.

Tip #1
After every meeting and event, do an "after action analysis." Write down what went right, what went wrong, what you would do differently if you were planning the meeting today, and who the vendors were who made your life easier.

Tip #2
In hiring vendors, do not always go for the lowest price. Whoever you hire, it affects your image. Reliability and follow-through are more important than a lower bid. Everyone is downsizing and looking for new ways to cut costs, but a vendor at a lower price may not be the answer.

Tip #3
Learn to make other people heroes. Whether dealing with vendors or people in other departments of your own company, if the person works hard and well, write a note of thanks to them and send a copy to their boss.

Tip #4
Make sure your speaker knows the terms used in your association i.e. these people use "client" not "customers." Also, alert the speaker to particulars of his/her audience...for example, mention the women in the audience are members, not spouses. One professional speaker was not warned and spoke "down" to his audience, making them feel bad, and the meeting planner look bad.

Tip #5
If you do mailings before a meeting or convention, be sure to put the speaker on the mailing list. This way the speaker knows what else is going on at the meeting, what the various topics are, if the schedule has been revised, and if his/her speaking time has been changed and no one remembered to tell the speaker.

Tip #6
If you are expecting a speaker to arrive the night before an event, leave them a note asking them to let the meeting planner know they have actually arrived. If you know the speaker has in fact arrived, you will undoubtedly sleep better. Leave an emergency number where you can always be reached.

Tip #7
Don't save the best for the last. Often corporations take their top performers to a fancy resort for a meeting of several days. They have one important outside speaker and they want to send the employees back to work with a bang. You will get more value for your money if you schedule the speaker the first day instead of the last. At the end of the conference the employees may be tired, hungover, or worried about packing and making the plane.

Tip #8
Use E-mail. Get on-line with networks of meeting planners who can share their experiences. Find a group similar to yours and find out the names of the most successful speakers they have used and which vendors made their lives difficult or easy.

Patricia Fripp CSP,CPAE is the author of this article which is adapted from one she first published in Western Assn. News. As an award-winning professional speaker, her areas of expertise include Sales, Customer Service and Speaking Skills. If you would like more information (800) 634-3035, (415) 753-6556, web-site address: www.pfripp@fripp.com, or write to Patricia Fripp at 527 Hugo Street – San Francisco, CA 94122

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The members of committees and chairs show the strong volunteer support our chapter enjoys. To see the complete list of members serving on committees, click here.

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CMP Question of the Month

1.You need to book a meeting with overnight guest rooms near Chicago Airport. Which of the following patterns best suits your negotiating power with O’Harethe hotels?

a. Friday-Sunday
b. Tuesday-Thursday
c. Monday-Wednesday
d. Sunday-Tuesday

Answer: a

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