gulf coast business review meeting planners’ guide · june 2010 gulf coast business review...

Business ReviewGULF COAST

MEETING PLANNERS’ GUIDE 2010

10 STEPS To A PowERfUL MEETINGAlso InsIde …• Meeting Trends: All new World / 6• Make Your Presentation sizzle / 8• Anatomy of a Conference Costs / 10• Unusual Venues / 14

dina Vann, owner of The Type-writer, Tampa

JUNE 2010 Gulf Coast Business Review Meeting Planners’ Guide 2

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1 HAVE A REASON TO MEET

Nothing irritates Jane Toombs more than clearing her calendar for a pointless meeting. As executive direc-tor of the CEO Council of Tampa Bay, Toombs has her daybook filled with five monthly meeting obligations for her organization alone.

The CEO Council of Tampa Bay is a 150-member organization consist-ing of chief executive officers in seven counties surrounding Tampa Bay. In addition to steering the organiza-tion’s large membership meeting — a highly attended breakfast assem-bly that draws 100 to 120 people a month — the organization also hosts a board meeting every other month, five roundtable discussions and monthly networking/happy-hour events.

Toombs’ time and her fellow council members’ time is precious.

“If you don’t have a reason for a meeting, don’t have one,” Toombs says. “The reason and the value for a meeting have to be clear in the invita-tion.”

Make a meeting worth your at-tendees’ time by outlining your goals from the beginning. Whether you’re sending out an e-mail blast, faxing a memo, mailing a formal invitation or making an in-person announcement, make sure your agenda is worthwhile and your goals are clear from the start.

2SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

We’ve all probably walked into a conference room or banquet hall and been handed a misspelled nametag. Sure, you might not make a fuss about it as you stick the label to your shirt

and proceed to your table, but later, as you converse with fellow attendees, you’re apt to point out the error, which easily could have been avoided.

Take the minutiae seriously. It will set a conscientious tone.

When Toombs hires a speaker, she always checks to see if the person has published a book. If he or she has, the CEO Council will purchase the book and distribute it among members a month prior to the meeting.

“You can have a great speaker,”

Toombs says, “but if people don’t rec-ognize his name or value what that person has accomplished, then you won’t have as large an audience.”

Also mundane, but no less signifi-cant, is parking.

If you’re planning an off-site meet-ing, you’ll want to make sure the ven-ue has adequate and accessible park-ing. Are you comfortable with having people pay for parking?

If not, make sure there are enough free spaces near your venue to accom-

modate the guest list. Toombs holds all her meetings at

the Centre Club on the eighth floor of the Urban Centre off Kennedy Bou-levard in Tampa. The club’s parking ramp is free and easy to navigate.

“In many ways, the details are as important as the big things,” Toombs says. “You show people that you care by having things ready and perfect beforehand. Too many meetings are

10Steps to aPowerful Meeting

From providing PowerBars to organzing scavenger hunts, an effective meeting plan is a marriage of common sense and creative thinking.

It doesn’t take much prodding to get meeting plan-ner Dina Vann, owner of The Type-Writer in Tampa, to share her worst meeting experience.

Prior to starting her own marketing, public rela-tions and event company in 2005, Vann worked in the meetings and promotions department at an insurance company in Miami. When it came to plan-ning meetings, she recalls her boss had a habit of hiring speakers who were a poor fit for the audience.

One time Vann’s boss hired a speaker, who midway

through his presentation, made a slanderous com-ment about used-car dealers, oblivious to a large percentage of his audience having clients in the used-automobile industry. The jab may have passed had the speaker been working as a stand-up comedian, but in this situation the comment prompted half of Vann’s colleagues to leave the room.

“That was a disaster,” says Vann, who now serves as the vice president of communications and admin-istration for the Tampa Bay area chapter of Meeting

Professionals International (TBAMPI). “It will stay in my mind forever.”

It’s a lesson about which she reminds her clients. Talk to Vann about meeting planning, and she has an arsenal of suggestions, advice and insider tips that she and her industry colleagues repeatedly use to pull off successful meetings. We’ve narrowed much of that wisdom down to a Top 10 — 10 things you can control to execute a powerful and successful meeting or event.

See 10 StepS page 4

COVeR StORY by Heidi Kurpiela

Mark WempleDina Vann of the type-Writer: Outsiders coming into a city want a venue that gives them an experience they can’t get at home.

JUNE 20104 Meeting Planners’ Guide Gulf Coast Business Review

Meeting Planners

Corporate SpeakersBarbara glanz Communications6140 Midnight Pass Rd. #802 Sarasota, FL 34242 941-312-9169 www.barbaraglanz.com

Event PlannersCorporate event services330 S. Orange Avenue Sarasota, FL 34236 941-232-0623www.corporateevents.biz

Maestro events941-807-0734www.eventsbymaestro.com

Marlene Hauck7325 Meadowbrook Dr. Sarasota, FL 34243 [email protected]

VenuesMise en Place442 W. Kennedy Blvd. Suite 110 Tampa, FL 33606 813-253-6473www.miseonline.com

the Centre Club123 Southwest Shore Blvd. Tampa, FL 33609 813-349-2747www.clubcorp.com

gulf Coast event and Conference CenterGirl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida 4780 Cattleman Rd. Sarasota, FL 34233 941-921-5358www.gsgcf.org

Hyatt regency Clearwater Beach resort & spa301 S. Gulfview Blvd. Clearwater Beach, FL 33767 727-373-4443www.clearwaterbeach.hyatt.com

intercontinental tampa4860 W. Kennedy Blvd. Tampa, FL 33609 813-286-4033www.intercontampa.com

longboat Key Club442 Gulf of Mexico Dr. Longboat Key, FL 34228 941-387-9449www.longboatkeyclub.com

Manatee Convention Center1 Haben Blvd. Palmetto, FL 34221 941-722-3244www.manateeconventioncenter.com

Mote Marine laboratory1600 Ken Thompson Pkwy. Sarasota, FL 34236 941-388-2252www.mote.org

Powel Crosley estate1 Haben Blvd. Palmetto, FL 34221 941-722-3244www.crosleymuseum.com

sarasota Convention & Visitors Bureau701 N. Tamiami Trail Sarasota, FL 34236 941-957-1877www.sarasotafl.org

CateringCatering by Design12960 N. Dale Mabry Highway Tampa, FL 33618 813-333-2281Catering-bydesign.com

Morton’s gourmet Market1924 So. Osprey Ave. Sarasota, FL 34239 941-955-9856www.mortonsmarket.com

tooJay’s gourmet Deli Westfield Southgate 3501 South Tamiami Trail Sarasota, FL 34239 941-362-3692www.toojays.com

Photographyswain Film & Video1404 So. Tuttle Ave. Sarasota, FL 34239 941-365-8433www.swainmedia.com

guide

thrown together and are sloppy. Noth-ing bothers me more.”

3PROVIDE SOMETHING USEFUL OR EXCITING

Lynda Keever, former longtime pub-lisher of Florida Trend magazine, always reminded her events staffers to hold one image in their minds when they planned events: Think of everyone walking into the room with a stamp on his forehead that said, “What’s in it for me?”

That’s always on the audience’s mind.Vann sees a lot of groups that meet

to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

Industries that require professional licensing mandated by societies, as-sociations or governmental licensing boards will offer the opportunity to earn CEUs at meetings.

“It provides one more incentive to get people to come,” says Vann, who’s plan-ning a meeting scheduled for January for a group of financial advisers looking to receive CEU accreditation.

It also helps to hire a popular speak-er with marquee appeal. In February, business leadership coach and New York Times bestselling author Marshall Goldsmith spoke at Toomb’s member-ship council meeting. His presentation drew one of the organization’s highest attendance numbers to date.

4PUT THOUGHTINTO YOUR VENUE

Think of yourself as a homebuyer when you’re hunting for a meeting venue. What do you want from the space? If you’re looking for a spacious non-descript room with round tables, a pull-down screen, portable podium and blackout drapes, you better make sure your presentation is riveting. Peo-ple need visual stimulation, and the easiest way to provide it is by selecting a venue that’s interesting.

“The venue depends on the group,” Vann says. “Some groups like the tra-ditional conference room. Others want to experience new and different things. Usually, if you’ve got a group traveling

to a city they don’t live in, they want to experience something they can’t experi-ence at home.” (See “Unusual Venues,” page 14)

Once you pick your city, you can begin researching venues. Start by contact-ing that county’s convention and visi-tor’s bureau. Most county CVBs have detailed meeting venue lists on their websites or available free for order. The Sarasota Convention & Visitor’s Bu-reau, for example, has its list online, sorted by unique venue versus hotel venue with square footage and meeting capacity provided for each location.

5FEED, DON’T BLOAT YOUR ATTENDEES

The subject of food is less tricky than you might expect. In short, provide it.

The type of food and how much or lit-tle you serve depends on several factors: the time of your meeting, how long you expect it to last, your audiences’ palate and your budget. (See “It’s an All-New World,” page 6)

CEO Council’s membership meet-ings occur in the morning over a buf-fet breakfast. Toombs opts for buffet-style meals for bigger groups because it moves meetings along fast and gives attendees a variety of menu options. It’s economical and her CEO members pre-fer it.

“Planners want attendees to have food that helps them with the meeting,” says Scott Gentile, director of meetings and special events at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota. “Foods that will help with concentration and learning and not put people to sleep in the middle of the day.”

For all-day meetings, Gentile recom-mends PowerBars or something “sweet and savory” to perk people up mid-af-ternoon.

“I’m a proponent of having some type of food in the room at all times,” Gen-tile says. “Salted nuts or freshly baked cookies, just something to give them that edge; keep that blood sugar up.”

6EMBRACE RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

To PowerPoint or not to PowerPoint? “PowerPoints are still a really good

10 steps from page 3

JUNE 2010 Gulf Coast Business Review Meeting Planners’ Guide 5tool,” Vann says. “But that depends on your speaker. Some speakers are so phe-nomenal they don’t need devices to capture people’s attention.” (See “Make Your Presentation Sizzle,” page 8)

PowerPoint presentations have gotten more interac-tive thanks to the preva-lence of high-speed wireless Internet. Rather than hand out paper materials, attend-ees are now encouraged to bring laptops to meetings so they can follow along online. Many speakers now make references to websites in their presentations.

“You want your attend-ees to be comfortable,” Vann says. “If they’re comfortable with a laptop in front of them, so be it.”

7FLEE THE BOARDROOM

Eric Bailey organized his first corporate retreat five years ago. As a founding principal of CapTrust Ad-visors, a private, indepen-dent investment consulting practice headquartered in Tampa, Bailey was feeling disconnected from his team of investment consultants. What was once a small, tight-knit staff had doubled in size since the company started 13 years ago.

Bailey planned an overnight strate-gic-planning seminar at the historic Belleview Biltmore Resort in Belleair to rekindle the company’s team men-tality. The experience refreshed, re-focused and deepened relationships between colleagues, many of whom spend their workdays traveling.

“It’s something people look forward to every year as a forum to discuss policies, debate direction and think of better ways to serve our clients,” Bai-ley says. “The result has been a more unified group, a more team-orientated workforce.”

The company is now looking into planning a more extensive, long-dis-tance retreat and extending the invita-tion to employees’ families.

“The key is to do it off-site,” Bai-ley says. “You can only accomplish so much in the office. It helps to be iso-lated. You stay focused.”

8ORGANIZEMEANINGFUL ACTIVITIES

People get antsy. Give them some-thing to do.

Vann suggests meeting planners or-

ganize an activity that “touches the five sens-es,” whether it’s a team-building or problem-solving exercise.

Three years ago, Vann organized a scaven-ger hunt in downtown Tampa for an interna-tional financial con-glomerate. She picked specific city landmarks for each team to locate and photograph, and when they were fin-ished, the group cel-ebrated at Channelside Bay Plaza.

“Scavenger hunts are great for any size group and are pretty econom-ical to facilitate,” says Vann, who last month participated in a sto-rytelling exercise with a small group of meet-ing professionals on her TBAMPI board.

The meeting facilita-tor handed out colored sheets of paper and asked each board mem-ber to share key details about their personal and professional lives. The stories provided fodder for later con-versations and helped make attendees feel comfortable with one another, which is im-

portant for a new group of board members who

will work closely with one another for a year.

Toombs recently began working with Business-Wise, a professional al-liance of senior business advisers from Tampa Bay who use an interactive presentation format in their strategic-planning seminars.

Rather than engage in traditional Q&A sessions, presenters ask the group for actual business problems and, using rehearsed role-playing sce-narios, the group solves the issues by fielding questions from the audience.

“It works beautifully,” Toombs says.

“It’s educational, yet far more power-ful than Q&A.”

9TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FACE TIME

Last October, Dr. Peter Curcione, a Fort Myers-based orthopedic sur-geon, began hosting a series of public seminars to introduce people to a hip-replacement procedure new to Lee County. According to Curcione, sim-ply marketing the procedure in tradi-tional advertising markets just wasn’t cutting it.

By offering monthly seminars with free sandwiches and coffee in the com-munity room at Lee Memorial’s Gulf Coast Hospital, Curcione was able to make personal connections and an-swer prospective patient’s questions face-to-face.

“Seminars in medicine are very use-ful in forming bonds with patients and doctors,” says Curcione, whose semi-nars draw 40 to 75 people a month. “If you can get a person to see that you know what you’re talking about and see that you’re a regular person, he is more likely to trust his health with you.”

10STAY ON TASK AFTER THE MEETING

What’s the point of having a meet-ing if the dialogue ends after the at-tendees leave?

Almost as important as having a reason to meet is continuing to ad-dress your goals long after the micro-phone is switched off.

Vann suggests launching themed incentive contests to motivate your at-tendees to continue working at specif-ic goals. Offer rewards and keep tabs on attendees with e-mail messages that continually pump them up.

If you’re not into creative motiva-tional strategies, Vann recommends the old-fashioned way of assigning deadlines and regrouping mid-year to measure progress.

Says Vann, “Accountability is a much stronger force when sitting in a room with your peers reviewing plans than it is in a string of e-mails.”

Nancy DeNikeFort Myers orthopedic surgeon Peter Curcione uses seminars to help him form personal bonds with potential patients.

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Organizing a stale team-building ex-ercise will only elicit team eye rolling. Business leaders are looking for a new mix of activities and off-site adventures, something less contrived and more fun.

The Sheraton Sand Key Resort on Clearwater Beach offers meeting attend-ees glow-in-the-dark “Night Spiker” beach volleyball and cardboard boat re-gattas, which involve (as the name sug-gests) building a boat out of cardboard and then sailing it in the Gulf of Mexico.

If you’d rather explore the gulf in a real six-passenger sailboat — or a 49-pas-

senger catamaran — Marco Island Sea Excursions in Collier County offers team sailing regattas with scavenger hunts on the water. One of the company’s popular excursions entails sighting dolphin, not-ing behavior and recording location. The eco-tour has a practical application too. The sightings are folded into a long-term study of the abundance distribution, movement and travel pattern of bottle-nose dolphins in Southwest Florida.

Owner Rocky Beaudry has seen as many as 300 people venture into the gulf at once to survey dolphins.

It’s an All-New WorldPlanners and venues are adjusting to changes in technology, reduced budgets, shifts in eating habits and the ever-present green movement.

MEETING TRENDS by Heidi Kurpiela

To better understand the trends shaping today’s meetings, you need only pay attention to the things shaping your life. Today’s meeting trends are a microcosm of everything from organic eating to communicating via Facebook to smarter spending.

Here are five top meeting trends identified by meeting planners and events directors from Tampa to Naples:

Do not underestimate the power of Facebook. Social media devices can drive up meeting attendance, disseminate information and keep track of RSVPs.

Priority Marketing in Fort My-ers has used social networking tools in its meeting packages for years, a trend that has become a mainstay as attendees have be-come younger, more Internet sav-vy and eco-conscious.

Websites, blogs and social net-working platforms have helped eliminate the drudgery of paper-work. Meeting and retreat web-

sites provide online registration, daily agendas and places for at-tendees to interact and view ma-terials before and after a meeting. Companies are able to negotiate better deals with speakers, spon-sors and other vendors by includ-ing ads and links on their site.

“By creating an online presence, you increase the credibility of your event,” says Teri Hansen, founder, president and creative director of Priority Marketing. “Not to men-tion companies are looking for strategies that are budget-sensi-tive and green.”

Holly Boldrin, marketing and public Relations coordinator for Priority Mar-keting, a public relations and event-planning firm in Fort Myers, has seen a rise in informal happy-hour meetings and catered in-office lunches.

Companies in a financial slump might not be able to splurge on lavish retreats and elaborate conferences, but that doesn’t mean they skimp on meetings. To accommodate budget cutbacks, ven-ues have added more cost-effective op-tions.

The Centre Club, a private business and social club at the top of Urban Centre in

Tampa, now offers groups of 30 people or more a $15-per-person breakfast or lunch buffet package, which is half the cost of the club’s plated-dinner menu.

“Buffets are not so pooh-poohed any-more,” says Centre Club Private Events Director Kelly O’Donoghue. “Plus it takes a lot of menu pressure off the meeting planner.”

The Sandy Butler, a gourmet market and restaurant near Fort Myers Beach, has seen an increase in its in-office ca-tered “box lunches” — an economical alternative to off-site banquet-style din-ners.

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Nancy DeNikeTeri Hansen, president of Priority Marketing in fort Myers: “by creat-ing an online presence, you increase the credibility of your event.”

JUNE 2010 Gulf Coast Business Review Meeting Planner’ Guide 7

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The No. 1 factor influ-encing today’s meetings: the economy. But when the economy gets tough, the tough still have meet-ings.

Rhonda Holliday, director of sales at the Longboat Key Club & Resort, explains the key difference between plan-ning a meeting in 2005 and planning a meeting today:

“The recession changed a great deal, though we are happy that resort meetings are in demand again. Committees or boards that once met on their own now travel with their larger annual meeting. (Whereas) in the past, ballpark figures might have been used from previous meetings, planners now require precise budgets for travel consideration and rely on the resort’s assistance in outlining everything from restaurant pricing to transportation.”

5. d-i-Y meetings on a whim Luxury hotels are booking more last-min-

ute meetings than ever. “It has a lot to do with the finances of a

company,” says Stephanie Burkhart, direc-tor of catering and conference management at the Don CeSar. “Companies are planning short-term because they want to make sure the bottom doesn’t fall out.”

According to Burkhart, companies used to plan meetings at least a year in advance, often working with a professional meeting planner. These days it’s not uncommon for a company to book a venue 30 days out.

The DonCesar recently hosted a meeting for more than 200 people over three days planned less than six weeks in advance.

Another trend and an obvious cost-cut-ting measure: CEOs are passing on hiring

professional meeting planners and handing over the prep process to administrative as-sistants instead.

“It always cascades down to the planning team on the property,” Gentile says. “We give a lot of guidance when we’re dealing with less experienced planners. In turn, we make the process simple and personal be-cause these ladies and gentlemen have an-other full-time job to deal with.”

Rod MillingtonScott Gentile, director of meetings and special events at the Ritz-Carlton, sarasota, says a decade ago, one or two vegetarian requests was normal. Recently, 20% of an event’s attendees were vegetarians.

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Says Scott Gentile, di-rector of meetings and special events at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota: “Or-ganic foods, farm-fresh foods … but even more than that, dietary restric-tions and requests are much greater than they’ve ever been.”

Gentile recently or-ganized a college event where 20% of the attend-ees were vegetarians. When he started in the industry 11 years ago, it was customary to accom-modate one or two veg-etarian requests.

He says meeting plan-

ners are leaning toward wholesome lunch and dinner spreads, with fresh deli buffets, salad-based items, high-protein fish entrees, lean meats and locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Even refreshments have undergone an epi-curean makeover. The Don CeSar on St. Pe-tersburg Beach, a prop-erty of Loews Hotels, re-cently introduced a new breakfast program that features a juice bar, com-plete with pomegranate, carrot juice and wheat-grass hand-shaken and served in martini glasses, in addition to a French press-style organic-cof-fee station.


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The most difficult crowd Barbara Glanz ever had was for the Singapore Police Force.

Glanz was nervous. And she doesn’t often get nervous.

A Sarasota resident and a certified speak-ing professional for more than 20 years, Glanz had never ad-dressed such a stern crowd.

Glanz has stood be-fore crowds of 3,000 people in cities all over the world. Her client list includes Nordstrom, Disney, Southwest Airlines, Bank of America, Boeing, the Social Se-curity Administration and IBM, to name a few. She is the first motivational speaker on record to lecture on all seven conti-nents. Her friends in-clude business leadership luminaries Ken Blanchard, Dr. Stephen Covey and Zig Ziglar.

She has written 11 self-help books on a variety of topics from employee motivation to balancing work and life, to overcoming loss, to making a dif-ference. These works have sold thou-sands and thousands of copies in the United States and overseas.

Nominated five times for the Na-tional Speakers Association Hall of Fame, Glanz is rated one of the top 10 speakers in the United States. She is not easily intimidated.

But this group of Singapore police officers was something else. Hired to give a half-day lecture on customer service, Glanz was the only female in the room.

For the first 45 minutes of her pre-sentation the men sat rigid and un-smiling with their arms folded across their chests and guns in their holsters.

“I thought, my gosh, this is going to be my first bomb,” Glanz says. “But by

noon they were like puppy dogs.”

The men stayed for four hours after Glanz’s speech to get her autograph and ask for her picture. They later asked the prime minister of Singapore if she could come back to spend three more days with them.

How did she do it? “Easy,” says Glanz.

“Everybody has a heart, and once they trust that you are authentic and you believe what you’re sharing with them, it breaks down all bar-riers and you connect at that heart level.”

Glanz’s presenta-tions are more than just touchy-feely sto-ries and Hallmark moments. Here’s why she is regarded as one of the best:

She’S fun.Audiences enjoy Glanz because she

uses humor and storytelling tactics to hold people’s attention. She’s up-beat and bubbly, without being overly cheerful.

Her tagline? Spreading contagious enthusiasm.

“People need to enjoy learning,” Glanz says. “It needs to be interactive.”

She makeS the content perSonal and relatable.

Glanz shares powerful, uplifting personal stories. Many speakers do this, but Glanz does so sparingly. She chooses her stories wisely and makes sure they’re relevant to the topic and offer helpful life lessons.

She doesn’t spout off stories for the sake of spouting off stories. Her lec-tures are meticulously organized and broken up by thoughtful anecdotal evidence.

“Most speakers get an idea and

BARBARA GLANZ’S DO’s and DON’Tsdo’s• Organize your thoughts before speaking.• Share a few powerful personal stories.• Practice what you preach.• Be positive and energetic at the podium.• Give people advice they can implement.

don’ts• Don’t wing it. • Don’t focus only on yourself.• Don’t cram too much rhetoric down people’s throats. • Don’t lay it on too thick.• Don’t shamelessly pitch your own books and DVDs.

Make Your PresentationSizzle

international motivational speaker and self-help author Barbara Glanz shares her presentation

wisdom. One of her ‘musts’: Touch people’s hearts.

talkInG poIntS by heidi kurpiela

JUNE 2010 Gulf Coast Business Review Meeting Planners’ Guide 9write a presentation without knowing how adults learn,” Glanz says. “When you know what you’re doing, you can design a presen-tation so it will touch hearts. You have to be a good presenter and a good storyteller.”

Her advice is easy to follow and sHare.

Glanz always leaves audiences with what she calls “action ideas,” or steps toward changing behavior. They’re usually simple, inexepensive and easy to accomplish.

One of her favorites is an idea being used in company boardrooms all over the world. Rather than start a business meeting with what’s going wrong, Glanz suggests her cli-ents start a meeting with three minutes of good news.

The meetings have become more positive and shorter in length. Employees are arriv-ing on time to hear the good news and share their own good news — be it professional or personal.

She says presenting action ideas is one of the most critical functions of a public speaker.

“There are times you might hear some-one speak and you’re all pumped up after-ward, and then you try to tell someone what you heard and you can’t put it into words,” Glanz says. “It’s why most ministers make three points in a sermon.”

sHe uses sensory stimulation.Glanz uses PowerPoint differently than

other speakers. Her visual aids are funny, vivid and uplifting.

She uses funny cartoon projections to

transition into new topics and PowerPoint presentations with bright fonts and clever graphics. Even her penchant for bright blouses and giant silk-flower prints draw attention.

“It’s the reiteration of the visual image,” Glanz says.

She also uses candy and pleasing aromas as subtle morale boosters. From placing a chocolate on everyone’s seat to choosing a black dry erase marker that smells like lico-rice, Glanz knows it takes more than just verbal communication to enthrall an audi-ence.

sHe’s genuine. “The authenticity of your speaker is key,”

Ganz says. “People may not always agree with everything I say, but they will always respect that I believe what I’m saying with my whole heart and soul. I’m not just doing this for a job. It’s how I live my life.”

People know when you’re being phony.

sHe exudes confidence.Glanz boosts her credibility on stage by

making mention of her achievements and listing some of her high-profile clients. While this might seem like bragging, it’s not.

People need to know who Glanz is and why her lectures carry weight.

“Your expertise is important,” Glanz says. “They need to know I have a Master’s degree and have written 11 books and spoken on all seven continents. I might want to throw up when I listen to myself, but it’s critical your audience have confidence in you.”

Sizzle

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Jennifer Grondahl • [email protected] • www.eventsbymaestro.com

Coordinating Award Winning Events in Sarasota & Beyond

Photo by Rod Millingtonsiesta Key-based motivational speaker Barbarba Glanz has delivered her message of “contagious enthusiasm” on all seven continents.


FLEXIBLE,ACCOMMODATING& IN YOUR BUDGET!

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Features auditorium with large stage

Audio/visual equipment

Available for business meetings and conferences

4740 Cattlemen Road Sarasota, Florida 34233Conveniently located off I-75

The CosT of a ConferenCe Marlene Hauck,

events and exhibi-tions coordinator at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sara-sota, has worked as a freelance corporate meeting planner for 25 years. Working with the MoneyShow, she has planned public-investment seminars for as many as 5,000 people and exclusive meetings with high-profile money managers and brokers for groups of 100 people in more intimate settings.

Hauck has booked national speakers, rented top-of-the-line audiovisual equipment and made extraordinary menu decisions on a budget.

What does it cost and what does it take to put on an all-day, 300-per-son conference? Hauck shares her cost-estimat-ing checklist.

COSTS• Venue rental without food: $7,000 to $10,000 for one day• AV rental (flipcharts, LCD projector, screens): $1,300 to $2,000• Breakfast and lunch catering: $50 per person• Speakers: The average national speaker costs $35,000• Registration materials (cards, graph-ic design, brochure printing, postage): $2,000 to $3,000• Collateral material (name badges, portfolio packets, loot bags): $2,000 to $3,000• Print advertising: $1,500 to $3,000• Signage: $350 to $750

TIMELINE• 8 months to one year: Select a venue and caterer. • 6 months to one year: Book a speaker.• 6 months: Hire a graphic designer for website and print media. Order cards and brochures. • 4 months to six months: Pre-registration materials should be mailed or available online. Contact an audiovisual vendor, if the venue doesn’t already have one. • 1 month: Heavily advertise your event.

Rod Millingtonevent planner Marlene Hauck has put on events for as many as 5,000 attendees.

Catering,TooJay’s Style.

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Get into our meeting culture.

Located on the beautiful Manatee River, this full

service facility features a 32,400 square foot main

hall which holds 4,000 theatre style or 180 10' x 10'

exhibit booths. On site catering and full service bar

can accommodate 10 persons to several thousand.

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A fantastic 1920's era estate overlooking scenic

Sarasota Bay. This 21-room Mediterranean mansion

boasts 11,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor

meeting space perfect for retreats, conferences,

meetings, wedding and social events.

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Photo by Al Gordon


MeetingSenSeFounded in 2004 by former IBM and

Macromedia management, Meeting-Sense software is billed as “a simple, but effective way to collaboratively manage meeting information and ac-tion items in order to optimize business productivity.”

With the popularity of web and phone conferences, meetings have be-come less personal, more frequent and harder to manage.

Think of MeetingSense as a strainer in which you pour all of the data from your (hypothetically speaking) Micro-soft Outlook account — your e-mail, contacts, notes, task manager and cal-endar. MeetingSense filters out the most important stuff. It reorganizes your appointments and places priority on action items.

Among other functions, it integrates with online and telephone conferenc-ing software.

Its scheduler lets you e-mail invita-tions to attendees and attach agenda items straight from your planner by simply by clicking the agenda tab.

The software’s interactive capabili-ties are what make it so useful to peo-ple who are in and out of meetings all day. Rather than try to keep up with discussed changes and incoming files, MeetingSense saves a copy of every changed file in a shared workspace and distributes it among attendees.

The software starts at $300 for an in-dividual package.

SpotMeDubbed “The Swiss Army Knife of

Interactive Meeting Tools,” Spotme is a wireless handheld device meant to eliminate the things we fish for in our briefcases — cell phones, business cards, planners, binder material, survey tools, maps, you name it.

A Spotme device can be used to send

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Technology upgradeMake your meetings more

productive with these three high-tech solutions.

tooLS oF tHe tRADe by Heidi Kurpiela

Contact Sarah at [email protected] or813.421.8381 to begin to plan your success.

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Barbara works with organizations that want to improve morale, retention, and customer service. She is the author of

11 bestselling business books and has spoken on all 7 continents. Her

personal motto is “Spreading Contagious Enthusiasm™.”

Barbara’s clients include Southwest Airlines, Nordstrom, KFC, Publix, General Mills, AT&T, Honda... and hundreds more.

Barbara Glanz Communications, Inc.6140 Midnight Pass Rd. #802 • Sarasota, FL 34242Phone: 941-312-9169 • Fax: 941-349-8209Email: [email protected]

www.BARBARAGLANZ.com

text messages, track and survey at-tendance, print badges, electronically exchange business cards, schedule ap-pointments and interact in real-time with presenters via Q&A.

It is especially useful at conferences or seminars where networking might seem daunting in a sea of attendees. Spotme’s “people radar” feature allows you to synch up with other meeting at-tendees who are also carrying a Spotme device, namely the 15 to 20 people with whom you absolutely should be net-working. It cuts the fat out of network-ing, and it’s how the device got its name.

According to the Spotme website, the gadget “can slice-and-dice a 1,000-per-son delegate list in no time.”

Meeting planners are purchasing these conference friendly tools and handing them out to attendees at the door. Initial set-up starts at $14,500

with a $36-per-person-per day fee.

GooGle AppsGoogle Apps is the free alternative

to MeetingSense. The company’s web-based business applications are user-friendly, require no hardware or soft-ware and like MeetingSense, interface with Microsoft Outlook.

Perhaps the most valuable of Google’s online application suite is Google Docs — an online document sharing applica-tion that allows users to edit from the same file using any computer and any operating system. The appearance may not be as slick as MeetingSense, but it accomplishes many of the same things.

However, the newest Google App to wow tech geeks is Google Wave, a com-puting platform released this spring, which organizes Internet discussions in a live transmission feed conducive to video, photo and text sharing.

While Google Wave is designed to appeal to fans of trendy social network-ing sites such as Twitter and Facebook, it can easily be used to conduct simple Internet conferences.

spotme is the swiss Army knife of meet-ing tools.

14 Meeting Planners Guide Gulf Coast Business Review JUNE 2010

Hiring a motivational speaker isn’t the only way to in-spire attendees. A venue can set the tone for an entire meeting. To that end, Gulf Coast business leaders don’t need to stray far from home to find a creative confer-ence venue or exciting executive retreat. From aquari-ums to safari reserves, here are some of the region’s not-your-everyday-banquet-hall locations:

123 S. Westshore Blvd. | Tampa, FL 33609 813.286.4040 | centretampa.com

CONNECT.

MEET. DINE . ENTERTAIN . NETWORK .

© 2010 ClubCorp USA, Inc. All rights reserved. CLB0111_SJ_5/10

Meet. Dine. entertain. network.

ConneCt.

123 S. Westshore Blvd. | Tampa, FL 33609 813.286.4040 | centretampa.com

CONNECT.

MEET. DINE . ENTERTAIN . NETWORK .

© 2010 ClubCorp USA, Inc. All rights reserved. CLB0111_SJ_5/10

HILLSBOROUGH The Florida Aquarium Tampa Adventure Island, TampaMOSI Museum of Science and Industry TampaMise en Place Tampa

PINELLAS Nova 535 St. PetersburgThe Salvador Dali Museum St. PetersburgThe Studio @620 St. PetersburgCuesta-Rey Cigar Bar at Tropicana Field St. Petersburg

SARASOTA/MANATEE Mote Marine Aquarium SarasotaCrowley Museum and Nature Center East Sarasota John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Sarasota G.WIZ Science Museum Sarasota

LEE/COLLIERNGALA Private Reserve Naples Edison Ford Winter Estates Fort Myers International Design Center EsteroNaples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens Naples

Places that break the mold

Mark Wemple Restaurateur Maryann Ferenc owns one of the hottest meeting spaces in Tampa. Mise en Place is sexy, trendy and a favorite among the city’s influencers.

The Gulf Coast features an assortment of out-of-the-ordinary sites. Some of them are downright wild — that is, with wild ani-

VENUE VARIETY by Heidi Kurpiela

JUNE 2010 www.review.net Meeting Planners Guide 15

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insights and developments. If you really want to get some

big things started, pick up a copy or subscribe today.

Subscribe today, and make the most of it.

review.net | 877.231.8834

16 Meeting Planners Guide www.review.net JUNE 2010

A WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES

Special Events813-987-6065• [email protected]

The Museum of Science & Industry’s unique spaces are the perfect setting for board meetings, vendor fairs, fundraisers or any other special occasion. MOSI’s twin diplodocus dinosaurs serve as a signature backdrop for galas, weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs or corporate events. Our catering options offer amazing and delicious cuisine from breakfasts and luncheonsto plated dinners and dessert action stations.

MOSI is a world of possibilities, and our creative special events staffwill plan your event down to a science.

mosi.org • Tampa, FL

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