HOW CAN A QR CODE HELP YOU?

Have you ever seen one of these?  That my friend is a QR Code. OK, so you may ask, just what is a QR code and how can it help me?  It is a kind of barcode that a computer can scan to automatically receive information.  In this case, it's coding a website address that can be scanned by smart phones.

If you have a Droid, for instance, you can simply take a picture of this code with your camera, or use the bar code scanner ap available in you Market, and it will automatically take you to my HelmsBriscoe homepage on your phone.  Pretty cool isn’t it?  This will work with most smart phones, though for some of them you'll need to download an application to be able to read the code.  So, go ahead-scan it now-take a test drive to see my smiling face.

We're seeing more of these codes in public these days.  You can see them everywhere from magazines to product labels.  QR codes allow you to take the "click for more info" idea and turn it into "scan (with your phone) for more info."  I would personally love to just scan a hotel’s QR code at a tradeshow than to carry around a paper sales kit that I may not be able to fit in my luggage home.   

Of course, your people will need to have a smart phone to use it, and will need to have some idea what the QR code is and what to do with it.  It's still not particularly mainstream for that reason -- it's only going to reach a particular segment of the population.  But as the population becomes more likely to have a smart phone and be savvy with it, it's likely to grow in usage.

Nonprofit organizations are starting to use QR codes too.  There are some interesting possibilities -- not just in ads, but also for direct mail and to create virtual tours.  I even know of groups that have used them to create scavenger hunts.  Some other examples of how QR codes can be used for you: add the image of code to your newsletter that would allow people to easily get to a webpage to sign up for your eNewsletter instead.  Or a direct mail piece code could provide easily access to your online donation functionality.  A museum could put a QR code next to each displayed piece to allow people to view much more detailed online than could practically be displayed. Think of a way to create a contest wrapped around people scanning YOUR QR code. 

QR Codes are free to create.  I personally used Kaywa to create this one (http://qrcode.kaywa.com).  I see QR codes as an amazing, free way to bring your info into 2011.

HAPPY SCANNING!!!

When you are walking in your purpose...work can be a good thing

I felt lead this morning to share a blog post I wrote last year for the Deserving Diva Makeover:

Many people have called me a workaholic-telling me to slow down-relax-recharge-find things that make me happy and to take time for those things.
Here is the irony…God has opened doors for me to do the things that make me happy-with amazing, precious, successful, movers & shakers for His Kingdom AS MY JOB!! I am happiest when running around a property working out the details for another awesome event-or just selling T-shirts for one of my clients. That is what God wired me for!

As the Community Outreach Director of Way of Life Community Church; I interact with the people of Tyrone and the surrounding area. We reach out to them whether it is Shop With A Cop, Thanksgiving Dinners, making goodie bags for the women’s shelter, overseeing the town Easter Egg Hunt, or planning and carrying out our baby-the Annual Back To School Bash. Is it a lot of work? YOU BET!! But when you see the kids’ smiles when they can’t carry the book bags filled with school supplies they just got free or the look of gratitude on the parent’s faces…IT IS SO WORTH IT!!!!

As Events Coordinator for NorthStar Pastoral Ministries, I work with the Directors on multiple international missions trips, training classes, retreats and conferences each year. I am part of a growing network of people and resources from all over the world. I travel with these people reaching and teaching thousands of people. Is it taxing? Sure it is. But the relationships, the wisdom of the team, the reactions of the attendees, being able to speak into people’s lives…IT IS SO WORTH IT!!!

As Manager of Global Accounts with HelmsBriscoe, much of my client base is the “Religious Market”. I don’t like that word! I work with ministries, speakers, recording artists, producers, etc. whose day to day work is furthering the Kingdom and spreading the Gospel. I am able to help them get the best deals on hotel and meeting space-FOR FREE! It cost them nothing to tap into the buying power and experience HB brings them. Plus-I am able to bring savings to their overall program. There are connections with properties and vendors worldwide that my clients may not have access to otherwise, AT NO COST TO THEM. Again-frustrating? At times. BUT SO WORTH IT!!

So the same things that frustrate and wear on me also recharge and revive me. Add in time with my hubby and kids, the occasional pedicure/massage and pure girl time with these same friends I work with, and I am good.
Thank you God, You are so good to me!!

Meeting Numbers Add Up

Thank you to Jennifer Garrett and Rejuvenate Magazine--

Think face-to-face meetings are facing extinction? Think again. After two years spent pushing back attacks on the value and cost of meetings, industry leaders now have real facts and figures backing up their Meetings Mean Business campaign. “Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy,” a study just released by the Convention Industry Council, found that 205 million people attended 1.8 million meetings in 2009—one of the worst years for the meetings industry. Those numbers directly resulted in 1.7 million jobs, $263 billion in spending, a $106 billion contribution to GDP, $60 billion in labor revenue, $14.3 billion in federal tax revenue, and $11.3 billion in state and local tax revenue.
“After a time in which our industry was significantly misunderstood and vilified to a certain extent, we needed common data to demonstrate the contribution this industry makes to jobs, the economy, and taxes,” said Bruce MacMillan, president and chief executive officer of Meeting Professionals International, speaking at a press conference Feb.17. “Now we have that benchmark data, and we can demonstrate once and for all the significant economic impact that meetings have on the economy.”
The ripple effect of meetings is widespread: Another 4.6 million U.S. workers have jobs supported by meetings, including industry suppliers and those who rely on meeting output for sales and revenue. In total, direct, indirect and induced contributions from meeting activity add up to $907 billion in economic output to the U.S. economy including a $458 billion value‐added contribution to GDP, 6.3 million full‐time and part‐time jobs, $271 billion in labor income including wages and salaries, benefits and proprietors’ income, $64 billion in federal tax revenue and $46 billion in state and local tax revenue.
“Meetings are how business gets done in virtually every state, city and town in America,” said CIC’s Karen Kotowski. “They are the very definition of working together and are essential to help win our future.”
The study also found the meetings industry generates more jobs than many U.S. industries, including broadcasting and communications (1.3 million), truck and rail transportation industries (1.5 million), and computer and electronic product manufacturing (1.1 million).
Of the 1.8 million meetings studied, 1.3 million are classified as corporate or business meetings, 270,000 are conventions, conferences or congresses, 11,000 are trade shows and 66,000 are incentive meetings. The vast majority of meetings (85 percent) were conducted at venues with lodging. Meetings generated 250 million overnight stays by 117 million Americans and 5 million international attendees.
PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted the study, funded by an alliance of 14 membership organizations representing the collective meetings, travel, exhibitions and events industries in the U.S. brought together by the Convention Industry Council. Besides MPI’s MacMillan, CEOs from six of the other supporting organizations attended the press conference, including Roger Dow, U.S. Travel Association; John Graham, ASAE; Michael Gehrisch, Destination Marketing Association International; Karen Kotowski, CIC; Joe McInerney, American Hotel and Lodging Association; and Deborah Sexton, Professional Convention Management Association; as well as Robert Canton, director, convention and tourism practice at PwC US. Details on the study can be found at MeetingsMeanBusiness.com.

10 Reasons to Love Being a Meeting Planner By Christine Born

Great post from Rejuvenate Magazine...


10 Reasons to Love Being a Meeting Planner By Christine Born



All around, it’s been a rough couple of years. Tight budgets (more than ever), sensitivity and constraints about appearing overly extravagant (if only), travel problems (what next?), and the pressures of learning new technologies (Facebook’s new messaging system, anyone?). But it’s a new year with the excitement of a fresh start, despite only slightly brighter predictions. We’re an imaginative, can-do group—always ready to welcome the next new idea. We adapt. We make the most of what we have. And we have a lot. Here are reasons enough to love being a meeting planner…


#1 We know how to party.
OK, we call it convening, assembling, networking, learning, sharing, etc., but we know how to pull it off, from the perfect invitation to the grand finale. We make it happen, weaving together the business and the socializing into a seamless whole, often with some memorable surprises thrown in. We may not have the budget to pull off three-dimensional mirror invitations with eggplant-colored velvet envelopes like those that went out to 1,300 guests invited to the New Year’s opening of the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas (at more than $100 a pop), but we can sure borrow creatively and, hey, even the Cosmopolitan sent backup electronic invitations. You have to love being part of an industry that includes over-the-top openings.


#2 Scars are tattoos with better stories.
Actually, that saying is written on a baseball cap from the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina that I bought for my husband after he finished another solo kayaking trip down the Nantahala River, successfully navigating the final stacks without a spill. It’s a tough thing to do. It’s the scary moment when families on the rental rafts grit themselves for the big, final set of rapids, leading to a fast and furious climax that may leave one of them flailing in the water, needing a rescue. When it’s over, there may be a few bruises, but there will surely be stories to tell and memories to relive.


We often navigate rough waters. A more familiar saying among meeting planners is “making lemonade out of lemons.” No matter how much we plan ahead, no matter how many details we arrange ahead of time, there are bound to be some scary moments and some spills. What we do with them is what matters in the end. How we make it right, how we rescue the situation, how we satisfy our attendees, how we shape the stories that will be told after the event is over.


#3 We get to meet celebrities, sort of.
Kirk Franklin
In 2010, we introduced our Marketplace attendees to a talented musician and storyteller from Nashville. Billy Kirsch is not a household name (yet), but he’s a terrific songwriter (for some famous names), plays a mean keyboard and can get any group, no matter how tone-deaf or self-conscious, up and singing. They also met Bruce Turkel, an author who writes about branding and marketing and speaker who plays the harmonica to help get his message across. Hall of Fame coach Bobby Bowden fired up the crowd at lunch, and Kirk Franklin, who has won Grammy, Dove and numerous other awards, brought everyone to their feet with his closing night performance. In 2009, Marketplace general session speaker Andrew Young, former U.N. ambassador, politician, pastor and civil rights activist, made the case that meeting planners play an important role as ambassadors, bringing people of different cultures and ethnic backgrounds together. Speakers, trainers, hoteliers, destination managers, suppliers, attendees—they may not be national media celebrities, but they are talented and they rock our world.


#4 Site visits broaden our horizons.
Palm Springs Convention Center
Sure they’re exhausting. You’re bused, walked, led from place to place, from early in the morning to late at night with hardly a break to change shoes. You eat more than you want to, even if it is all delicious. You’re not sure you’ll remember everything when you get back; it’s been such a whirlwind. On the other hand, you got into this business because you like to travel and you’ve seen so many places you never would have otherwise. You’ve developed more resources, learned first-hand what will work (or won’t) for your convention and you’ve become even more valuable to your organization as a result. Who knew the Palm Springs Convention Center had such a great view in the general reception area and was so easy to get around? Or that Milwaukee had all those crowd-pleasing spaces like the Harley-Davidson Museum and historic breweries for tasting events? Or that Providence has all those classic Italian restaurants your group will love to try when in town for the conference? You can build a memorable event from what you’ve learned by experience, with the assistance of all those people you met on your site visit.


#5 We are gourmands.
We get to sample the latest, tastiest and often prettiest offerings from top chefs and caterers. On any given day, we might have a tasting at the new hotel restaurant or be treated to a presentation of a creative break from the convention center catering team. Yes, the downside can be an added 10 pounds—but you’ll know the best spa to go to or you might get it for free with your site visit. One of the latest twists? At Hyatt’s Midtown Manhattan Andaz hotel, guests enter an open kitchen when they leave the elevators to a separate banquet floor for their event. They can grab a cocktail while they watch and talk to a chef about a dish he’s preparing. “You’ll see this make its way around the world,” Bill Paley, one of the hotel’s designers from famed design firm Tony Chi and Associates, told USA Today. Of course, you also could wind up with more than you bargained for, as in one very special (so I was told) evening that included a 10-course raw dinner from a top sushi chef that left me with an aquarium in my stomach all night.




#6 We get great exercise.
There is nothing like running from one end to the other of a 150,000-sq.-ft. exhibit hall upwards of 12 hours a day for days on end for taking off any extra pounds gained when sampling food. Of course, there’s also the walk back to your room at the far end of the hall away from the elevator. And then there’s the walk to the off-site event space—the one that seemed close and easily walkable when you first visited. You’ll also need a wardrobe of shoes—practical shoes or shoes that seemed practical until you walked and stood on the concrete floor for hours.




#7 We contribute to the local economy.
Meetings and events are responsible for 15 percent of all travel-related spending, create nearly $40 billion in tax revenue at the federal, state and local level, and generate more than 1 million jobs, according to Meeting Professionals International. Doesn’t that make you feel good about what you do? Industry experts project that without the jobs generated by meetings, events and incentive travel, the current unemployment rate would be even higher and cost the average American household an additional $136 in taxes annually. “The hospitality industry has more jobs than the automobile industry,” said Don Reynolds, a financial analyst, at a 2009 MPI conference, where he encouraged those in the industry to “push back” within their organizations and the business community about the importance of face-to-face meetings.


Miami estimated the economic impact of small meetings (30 to 700) scheduled from Jan. 3 to Jan. 13 this year at around $1.5 million. The World Religious Travel Association estimates that faith-based tourism adds $18 billion per year to the global economy.


Some of the services and business that benefit from meetings include …


airport transportation…hotel rooms…concierge, doormen, room service…catering, restaurants, bars, service people…office supply stores…hardware stores… movie rentals…gift shops…




#8 We’re great networkers.
We meet on the plane, at the registration booths, during sessions, during meals, over cocktails, on site visits. We show off our latest event on Facebook and YouTube. We stay in touch as we move from one organization or hotel or city to another (changing places has always been endemic in this business).


#9 Sometimes everything works perfectly.
There were no Icelandic volcano eruptions to force you to redo travel arrangements for your international attendees. No surprise winter storms to force you to cancel your annual convention. No swine flu or H1N1 (what was that anyway?), though everyone likes the Purell hand sanitizer dispensers. No speakers who didn’t show—in fact, no speakers who got angry because the lunch audience was noisy and wouldn’t stop texting. No complaints about the food, or the food service. The hotel bill was ready for you, complete and accurate. Wow!


#10 The best part. It’s over.
For now.


We could go on and on. But why don’t you?

“Brand” New Hotels

BIG thanks to my HelmsBriscoe Teammate- Lisa Amundsen for this great info!!

Autograph Collection

The Autograph Collection is a new brand within Marriott’s global portfolio comprised of upper upscale and luxury, independent, hotels with distinctive personalities in major cities and desired destinations worldwide. This diverse collection of hotels will offer every travel experience, from resort, to iconic historic, to boutique arts. Each hotel will be highly unique and distinct with its own identity, appealing to a growing segment of our customers who are looking for an experience that only an independent hotel can deliver. Ranging from modern and stylized, to traditional, The Autograph Collection will consist of exclusive hotels which offer guests a wide variety of authentic travel experiences.

                               

             Courtyard Refreshing Business

Courtyard is repositioning its brand to better meet your needs. These newly opened and renovated hotels have a sleek, stylish look and feel. Guests are able to be more productive and comfortable outside the guest room, thanks to the new public spaces that provide easy access to power, media and technology. The GoBoardTM and complimentary WiFi enable customers to connect with the local area, their office and home all while enjoying our new restaurant and bar.

Element

Inspired by Westin® Hotels & Resorts, Element Hotels promotes balance through flowing, multi-purpose spaces. Influenced by nature, the smart, environmentally-friendly design maximizes space and enables you to use each area in multiple ways.  Element believes it’s important for you to achieve a sense of balance – particularly while traveling for extended periods. By stimulating the senses and soothing the spirit, Element helps you relax and refresh, so you can get back to your best self.  With its open social areas and relaxing guest rooms, Element serves as a personal retreat from the stresses of travel. So whether you are here for days or weeks, business or fun, you have an experience that enables you to grow, prosper and flourish.

Home2 Suites by Hilton®

This new brand is an all-suite, extended-stay hotel chain that was designed with you, the savvy and thrifty traveler - in mind. No matter how long you're out on the road, they want you to feel like this is your Home2®. Home2 Suites, a complement to the current Hilton family of Brands, will embody the following attributes: An authentic new design and      personality that greets guests upon arrival and is reflected throughout the property.  The “Oasis,” an expanded living zone with a community table, individual work zones, a pantry, integrated guest laundry and activity room.  More amenities and services such as complimentary continental breakfast; walking/exercise course; fitness facility; indoor pool; outdoor living rooms; outdoor grills and more. Their innovative guestroom design       features an iconic “working wall,” a series of modular, brand-designed millwork pieces that serve as workspace, closet and storage.

Religious Planning-Is it a “Ministry” or a “Job”. Can the two co-exist?

This is a question have had to confront myself.  I came into HelmsBriscoe seeing this as a ministry.  In my opinion the “Religious Market”-(I HATE THAT LABEL!!) is one of the hardest to serve. 

I tell planners and hotel partners all the time, you either “get” this market or you don’t.  There is no in-between.  There are many properties I work with that do “get it”.  And, I place business with them repeatedly because of that.  As a Christian-you are compelled to be a good steward with the resources you have, but at the same time most concessions are based on what you spend.  That is one heck of a Catch-22. You want to keep your overall cost down-so more people can be reached, but we should always demonstrate excellence.  We are to be an example to “The World”.  And unfortunately-the market has a reputation for wanting “everything for nothing”.

So-on the ministry side-the passion and desire help you push through the issues.  It is truly my desire to help make every program a raging success.  The meeting of 100 people at the local church should not be any less excellent than the 40,000 attendee meeting in an arena.  And I want everyone to realize that.

Now, I may step on some toes here, but it will be ok-I promise.  Serving and sacrifice is involved with “ministry”.  There isn’t one person working in the ministry that would argue with that.  For that matter-this entire blog would apply to any part of the "ministry", not just planning.  But…

On the job side-when you are putting in full-time hours to plan an event-you are due full-time pay. The Bible says-1 Timothy 5:18-..."Those who work deserve their pay".  God sees and remembers; but unfortunately, your treasure in heaven doesn’t keep the lights on.  If you are forced to “squeeze it in”, it is much more difficult to produce an excellent event, without passing out as soon as it is over, or worse yet—in the middle of it.  I have a picture of a friend of mine on my phone.  If I hadn’t sworn it wouldn’t see the light of day, I would post it here-but my word is my bond.  So, this picture was taken mid-conference and she is curled up on a bench, sleeping, with her clipboard in one hand and her walkie-talkie in the other.  This was only day 2. 

If I were to get in trouble with the law-I wouldn’t expect my lawyer friend to represent me for free or on the side.  I want his best.  I really don’t want my painter friend to use whatever he had laying around to paint my house.  Don’t give me left over crumbs for my banquet dinner.

I am WELL aware that not every ministry is set-up to have a full-time, paid planner.  Volunteers are AMAZING and they will get the job done with zeal and passion---But, it is my opinion that someone needs to be in charge and be able to give their focus to the event at hand.  There are unbelievable free resources and advice available.  Allow your people as much time and resources you possibly can. Such as HelmsBriscoe.  You had to know I would bring it up!!!  See, this is my ministry, as well as my job.  So, I say YES-they can co-exist.  Now, go check out what HB can do for you & let me know how I can help you--FOR FREE!!!!!

htrompke@helmsbriscoe.com

http://www.hbpdf.com/agent/htrompke.php

http://www.helmsbriscoe.com/associates/HTrompke

"Thank you for helping with hotel rates in London, and...everywhere" Israel Houghton, Multiple Grammy and Dove award winner-on liner notes of “Love God.Love People” album released August 2010

Gasparilla 2011

She looks tired now, but was smiles before this

My welcome amenity-like I said-cookies, chips, salsa, drinks good combo

 Just a few of the images from my adventure of Gasparilla 2011.  The Hyatts of Tampa really rocked the weekend.

Ahoy Mateys--The Pirates unload

They're getting closer!!



My golden passes for the brunch and VIP seating during the parade.  After seeing the parade route as we were leaving, there is no other way than VIP to attend!



This little boat lasted all of 5 minutes before the police removed them