Launching Event TALK! For Planners by Planners.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (May 15, 2013) EventInterface.com, a Scottsdale-based event management software and attendee engagement software company launched Event TALK! a bi-weekly podcast show by planner for planners broadcast on the Entrepreneur Podcast Network.

“Working with planners we are asked many questions that have nothing to do with our software.” said Al Wynant, company CEO. “Many times our staff becomes a consultant to the planner.  We believe that providing a content-rich podcast in which the best professionals around the country share their advice would be a fabulous additional resource to planners.” Wynant said.

EventInterface.com is partnering with the Entrepreneur Podcast Network in the production of the show. Eric Dye is the host. The inaugural show features Wynant who talks about why the show has been created and the types of topics that will be covered.

Upcoming guests are Valerie Bihet, Founder of The V!BE Agency in Miami, FL. who talks about best practices; Darren W. Johnson, Event Producer, Best Selling Author and Corporate Event Trainer will talk about the importance of site visits; Andy Perez, PR Guy Extraordinaire will talk about the do’s and don’ts of event public relations.

Catch the show at http://www.eventinterface.com/resource-blog.

ABOUT EVENTINTERFACE.COM
EventInterface provides innovative and cost-effective Web-based and mobile App software for meeting and event planners. We are a robust registration tool that lets planners manage registrations, speakers, private event social networks, virtual events and collaborations. We're one solution to manage all aspects of an event or meeting, and the software has been designed by planners for planners. Our clients include the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Expedia, Soroptomists, Up with People International Alumni Association, AHS, NAISA, Research Corporation Technologies among many others.  The company is based in Scottsdale, AZ. More information at http://www.EventInterface.com. 

Dutch hospitality and whimsy

Dutch hospitality, imagination and a sense of history are reflected in this newly opened hotel in Zaandam, The Netherlands. Minutes from Amsterdam and with a direct train connection from the international airport of Schiphol, this hotel is ideally located for any meeting or event.

 

 

Inntel Hotels, founded in 1982 has a handful of properties around Amsterdam and Rotterdam, each modern with friendly service and a unique sense of design. We were drawn to their property in Zaandam, just minutes away from Amsterdam. Built to look like a group of stacked Dutch row houses, the hotel is striking and perhaps a little puzzling to look at. It offers 160 guest rooms and meeting facilities for up to 350 attendees.  The 4-star property is located next to the Zaandam train station and offers its own Tourist Information Office.

MEETINGS

The Inntel Hotels Amsterdam Zaandam offers flexible meeting space. It supports small meetings to conferences with 300, and receptions for up to 350 guests. Meeting spaces are modern, with an industrial style finish, honoring the area’s manufacturing past. All meeting spaces are air-conditioned, have 10 feet + ceilings, offer complimentary WI-FI, and dedicated staff. 

The hotel offers meeting specials that include everything you need to host a successful meeting. Packages start at a 4-hour deal and go all the way up to a 32-hour package. Called the Saen Special, the 4-hour package include meeting room space, note paper and pens, use of flip-chart or whiteboard with markers, LCD projector with projection screen, office supplies, and unlimited coffee, tea and ice water.  Longer packages include intercontinental breakfast buffets, lunch buffets, 3-course dinners and overnight stays in a Taste Deluxe Room.

GUESTROOMS

The hotel features 160 air conditioned rooms, and all of them are unique.  Rooms are modern and spacious with plush bathrooms and beds. Some rooms offer Montis sitting areas, extra-large beds, a whirlpool bath and private sauna. We especially like the large mural depicting the regions proud history and people.

FOOD AND BEV

The onsite restaurant Puur Saen presents seasonal meals made from local ingredients. The menu is friendly for an international clientele with options ranging from local to Italian, American, Mediterranean and Asian inspired dishes at reasonable prices.  For groups, the hotel has a unique offering of interactive dinner games to entertain guests.

RELAX

The hotel offers a well-equipped Wellness Club with indoor swimming pool, Finnish sauna, Turkish steam bath and a Life Fitness Gym.  Massages are offered also.

MORE INFORMATION

To learn more, book your meeting or event at the Amsterdam Zaandam click below. More pictures at http://www.eventinterface.com/blog-article?id=95

http://www.inntelhotelsamsterdamzaandam.nl/Inntel-Hotels-Amsterdam-Zaandam.html

- Al Wynant

Partnering for success

Collaboration; how one festival skyrocketed to success in its first year. More than 350 collaborators, hundreds of volunteers and countless science, technology, engineering and math professionals came together to produce over 200 events for 220,000 plus attendees.

 
Read the full post here.

EventInterface launches iPhone App that enhances the event attendee's experience

EventInterface continues to revolutionize the planning experience for meeting planners and their attendees. Our newest tool, the EventInterface iPhone App enhances the attendee’s experience by placing all event data, communication tools and event social media at their fingertips.

“The App was designed to seamlessly fit in with our online management tool.” said Rod Bridges, company CTO and App Lead Developer. “Some registration software companies provide ticket scanning tools. Some companies provide costly one-time use Apps for conferences. At EventInterface, we aimed to provide the planner with an App that streamlines operations and engages the attendee, creating a much richer and more valuable event experience at no extra cost.” said Bridges.

The EventInterface iPhone App allows attendees to quickly access event confirmations and QR-Coded tickets. They can view and share event photographs. Planners can easily post schedules, event documents and videos to view pre-, during and post-event. Attendees can effortlessly gather other attendee contact information by scanning QR-Coded nametags. The App’s chat feature invites attendees to communicate with other attendees at the event using the App, a great tool to ask questions, set meetings, find each other, and even send pictures to other users. The forum feature allows attendees to view and participate in event specific forums. There are event directions and a growing library of planner resources.

The EventInterface iPhone App is free to download from the App Store. This powerful and innovative App is for Meeting and Event Planners who plan and manage events using EventInterface.com. Click here to download the free EventInterface iPhone App.

To learn more about EventInterface, visit EventInterface.com.

An invitation hard to resist.

This summer, Seattle celebrates the 50^th Anniversary of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. We thought this would offer us a great opportunity to take a fresh new look at the city, and boy, we are not disappointed. Seattle is a vibrant city with fabulous venues, amazing new exhibitions, an exciting food scene, and attractions galore. With so many unique options to attract attendees and entertain them before, during or after the event, how can you resist an invitation to meet in Seattle?

Read the whole story here.

W Hotel Seattle

The new Le May Car Museum in Tacoma
Photo courtesy of David Imanaka

The Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibition

Read the whole story here.

Be yourself, be creative, take chances!

Imagine, classic rock pounding, a silhouetted artist stands before a wall-size canvas clutching six brushes at once, wielding them like a rock ‘n’ roll drummer. As furiously wrought images of icons like Mick Jagger and Marilyn Monroe emerge, artist Brian Olsen swivels and jumps, attacking the portrait with fistfuls of paint. The crowd goes wild.

Read the full story here.
Learn more about EventInterface here.

Building your brand with schwag

As a planner you get to agonize over the types of goodies or schwag you want to distribute at meetings. I don’t even recall the many items I’ve received in registration welcome packets. At first, I found extra space in my suitcase and took the items home, only to toss them in a box in the garage. Once a year, usually when unpacking the Christmas decorations, I’d discover the box and it would be donated to a charity shop. Rarely would I keep an item. I do feel guilty about that, it seemed like such a wasted effort of time and money.  As an attendee I now rarely even take an item home.

Meeting clients however still want to give away schwag, and there will always be an audience for stuff. It is determining what to give away and its potential impact during and post-conference that is key to the success of the giveaway and your brand. It doesn’t help the cause if a large percentage of your attendees leave the stuff in their hotel rooms upon departure.  Once I asked hotel housekeeping to track items tossed during a conference.  In this casual observation we learned that more than 75% of the attendees left their schwag upon checkout. Who knows how many chucked out the items when they got home? This obviously was waste of money.

I don’t think there is a magical solution, but I reached out and asked other planners and attendees what they consider schwag worth taking home and therefore valuable to your brand.

HERE IS A LIST OF THOSE DESIRABLE ITEMS

1.       Designer laptop sleeves with discreetly placed event or vendor logo.

2.       High quality, well designed pens.

3.       First-class thermal coffee mugs to be used at the event, and then taken home.

4.       Well-made t-shirts or sweaters with discreetly placed event or sponsor logos.

5.       Thermal blankets with subtle logo. At least half of your audience will be too cold during sessions in hard to control meeting and ballrooms. Attendees will love these blankets, and since you no longer get them on the plane, they are great for the trip home too.  

6.       Care package of personal goodies including a nutrition bar, water, sunscreen, candies, product samples and more. Stuff to sustain attendees during the conference.

7.       Usable coupons or offers for items during the conference. A Starbucks gift card to be used at the coffee house in the venue, a complimentary cocktail offer at the resort bar, etc…  

8.       An item suggested by some, but perhaps out of range for most was the iPad. If you’re hosting that conference, let me know. I want to attend!

Share any items you have received or given to your attendees. I’ll include them in an update to this post. Click here to message me.

Thanks to everyone who sent in suggestions for this post!

See more helpful advice in our Resource Blog here.

Learn more about EventInterface

Inspired by champagne and caviar, this new hotel does not fail to impress.

• 

  Open just a few months, the new Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto is garnering high praise. It was just named one of the best new hotels in 2012 by Travel + Leisure Magazine. Located in the heart of downtown Toronto at the corner of Bay and Adelaide Streets, the hotel is located on the 11^th through the 30^th floor in Canada’s tallest residential building at 65 stories. This is Trump Hotels’ first foray north of the border. Toronto is definitely booming, with at least 4 new properties opening this year. It is near the newly expanded Royal Ontario Museum and the Toronto International Film Centre building. Many of the 261 rooms and the stunning 12,000 square-foot health club and spa have views of Lake Ontario and the CN Tower.  
  Read the full story here.
  Learn more about EventInterface here.

Great Destinations: The City Beautiful

With more than 6.5 million feet of convention and meeting space, the second largest convention center in the United States, hundreds of hotels, this city is the ideal location to hold an annual meeting, tradeshow or convention.

Orlando is a world-class meetings destination that hosts more than 3 million delegates each year, and offers a variety of facilities that accommodate small groups as well as large citywide conventions and trade shows. The Orange County Convention Center is ranked second in the United States in terms of exhibition space with more than 2.1 million square feet. The Center also offers 479,190 square feet of meeting rooms. There are more than 11,000 hotel rooms within walking distance of the center. An additional 4.6 million square feet of meeting space is available in the area's hotels and cultural venues.

Exterior of North/South Building at the Orange County Convention Center
© 2012 Visit Orlando

A SUSTAINABLE, SMART MEETING DESTINATION

More and more of Orlando is going green.  The area’s attractions, hotels, restaurants, corporations and civic leaders are all engaged in ongoing efforts to develop sustainable practices and programs to transform Orlando into a leading environmentally-conscious city.

Central Florida offers an impressive – and growing – array of accommodation options certified by Florida’s Green Lodging program.  More than 100 Orlando-area hotels have become designated properties in this program managed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. To achieve this recognition, the facilities must follow certain eco-friendly practices including water conservation measures through low-flow plumbing  fixtures; linen reuse programs; energy efficiency and programmable thermostats; waste reduction programs such as recycling, purchasing items in bulk and purchasing recycled materials; as well as the use of green cleaners, high-efficiency air filters and clean air handler units.

Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando Resort
© Loews Hotels

Among the convention center hotels to achieve this distinction are the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes, Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando Resort, Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes, Orlando World Center Marriott Resort & Convention Center, Rosen Centre Hotel, Rosen Plaza Hotel, Rosen Shingle Creek and the Peabody Orlando. A comprehensive listing of Orlando green-certified hotels can be found at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection website.

Peabody Orlando King Suite
©2012 Peabody Hotel Group

NEW AND EXCITING VENUES

Along with Orlando’s theme parks and world-class hotels, the city’s collection of unique venues for teambuilding activities, cocktail receptions and other special events keeps on growing.

Eco-minded groups will love Forever Florida, a 4,700-acre ranch and wildlife conservation area in the heart of Central Florida. The ranch debuted a new Zip-line Safari Experience, which includes a hike on Florida’s Trail (one of only eleven National Scenic Trails in the country) to the zip-line course where participants can speed over treetops 55 feet above the ground at 25 mph. Indoor event facilities include the Cypress Restaurant and Visitor Center for groups as large as 200 people. Planners with corporate responsibility on the brain will appreciate that thirty percent of tour revenues go directly back to Forever Florida’s conservation efforts. 

Grand arrival at Grande Lakes Orlando Resort
Photo courtesy of Grande Lakes Orlando Resort.

Another new outdoor teambuilding option is available at the popular Grande Lakes Orlando Resort, which includes the 584-room Ritz-Carlton, Orlando and 1,000-room JW Marriott. The resort opened The Grande Lakes Adventure Course for groups up to 30 people. The course offers a playground of high wire experiences including aerial walkways, dueling zip-lines, a 40-foot swing and a ropes course for teambuilding challenges. Cubicle dwelling attendees can breathe easy - the course is built for children as young as eight.

Break out of the boardroom with a rousing round of healthy competition at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex, which was re-named the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in February 2010. The 220-acre complex encompasses a multitude of venues for meeting and event options including a 271-seat restaurant, a 9,500-seat Major League Baseball park and the 70,000-square-foot Milk House, an indoor sporting facility. Newly introduced teambuilding and special event options include an ESPN Poker Club Challenge, tailgate parties with truckloads (literally) of food for up to 1,000 guests, sporting tournaments (choose from softball, volleyball, soccer, or flag-football) complete with cheerleaders and announcers, team challenge scavenger hunts and Sports Central, a “sports bar meets television studio” event where sportscasters joke and jab with guests.

Sak Comedy Lab, Orlando’s popular improv comedy theater, is housed in an 8,000-square-foot space at the CityArts Factory. The downtown theater offers private shows and interactive teambuilding seminars for groups up to 200 people. The venue’s newest offering, “Cocktails & Comedy,” starts off with a round of drinks and follows with a live improv performance by Sak’s world-famous comedians. Sak’s unique approach of gathering information about a group beforehand makes for a hilarious and personalized experience. And if a group is stuck in the boardroom, the Sak team will travel. At Pointe Orlando within walking distance of the Orange County Convention Center, the Improv Orlando is both a comedy club and the Fat Fish Blue restaurant under one roof. The comedy club accommodates seated functions up to 350 guests, and the Mardi Gras-themed Fat Fish Blue seats up to 300 for private events.

The Amway Center, Orlando’s new arena opened in October 2010, is steps from downtown Orlando and serves as the home of the Orlando Magic NBA basketball team. The 875,000-square-foot center features the largest high-definition scoreboard in NBA history, 20,000 spectator seats and a slew of new amenities including 70 suites at three levels. For private events, the center offers a hospitality room overlooking downtown Orlando, the rooftop Sky Club bar, a full-sized practice court seating 500 for events, and five banquet rooms and one boardroom on the club level floor. The 31,000-square-foot arena floor is also available for exhibitions, meetings and events.

Riders on Manta, SeaWorld Orlando’s new attraction, get ready to drop over 100 feet
and find out what it’s like to spin, glide, skim and fly like a giant ray as they experience
the only flying roller coaster of its kind in the world.
Photo by – Jason Collier, SeaWorld Orlando

SeaWorld’s Manta roller coaster attraction can be used for special events during the park’s after hours. The hybrid attraction is part rollercoaster, part animal encounter with more than ten aquariums holding about 3,000 fish and rays. Cocktail receptions and dinners can be held inside the aquarium exhibit area for groups up to 600 and can include use of the 60-mph coaster.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™
© 2012 Universal Studios

Universal Orlando Resort’s famed land, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Islands of Adventure theme park is also a themed wonderland for meeting events. Inspired by J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series, the park includes shops, dining, rides and attractions that bring the book’s setting, the world of Hogsmeade, to life. Groups can enjoy an exclusive performance by the Frog Choir - a group of Hogwarts students who sing along with their croaking frogs, or cheer on the Hogwarts students as they march from Hogswarts castle to the Triwizard Tournament.

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

It’s a breeze getting to and from Orlando. Orlando International Airport (MCO) has more than 30 scheduled airlines, four charters and five cargo companies provide non-stop service to 88 destinations in the United States and 24 international cities. The airport is located about 15 miles from the Orange County Convention Center.

For ground transportation and parking information click here.

The city is also services by Orlando Sanford International Airport with eight airlines serving 31 U.S. and 17 international destinations, and Orlando Executive Airport.

Train service is available to Orlando as well. Amtrak serves Florida with the daily Silver Star and Silver Meteor trains from Orlando, Winter Park and Kissimmee and south to Miami or north to New York, making connections with Amtrak trains from the Midwest and Canada. Nearby in Sanford, Amtrak also operates the daily Auto Train overnight without scheduled stops to Lorton, Va., a Washington D.C suburb, carrying passengers and their cars, minivans, SUV’s and motorcycles. More information is available atAmtrak.com.

LYNX, Central Florida's public transportation system, provides economical and dependable bus service in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties. LYNX bus stops are marked with a pink "bus'' or  "paw" print and include the route numbers served at that stop. Buses run in 15, 30 and 60-minute intervals, depending on location. Complete schedules are available online at golynx.com. LYNX also operates LYMMO, a free circulator bus in downtown Orlando with 21 stops reaching from the Amway Arena to City Hall. LYMMO buses run every five to 10 minutes.

For more information about holding a meeting in Orlando, visit orlandomeeting.com, call the Visit Orlando Convention Sales department at 800-662-2825 or 407-363-5847 or email Visit Orlando at sales@orlandocvb.com.

With appreciation to Visit Orlando for their support with this post.

Learn more about EventInterface here.