In light of this, I really want to encourage all of our members to shop our Open RFP’s, every week.  Planners are conducting new searches everyday and you never know, your venue might be exactly what that planner needs.  Even if the planner is not looking in your area – charm him or her with your state of the art technology, air conditioned facilities, beautiful grounds, or what ever your claim to fame might be!

Just because you didn’t receive that lead in your inbox doesn’t mean it’s not fair game!  And remember, strike while the iron is HOT!

Shannon Glover, Lead Manager

I think that the most positive thing we had going for us this year was our section game and our PRIZE WHEEL. Yes, that’s right – I said prize wheel. This year we encouraged planners to visit with the venues in our section by playing BINGO. They needed to get six stamps on their BINGO card in order to be eligible for a spin on the Unique Venues Prize Wheel. The wheel had lots of different prizes, from Starbucks gift cards, other larger denomination gift cards, our signature Affirmation Ball and extra entries into our Wii give away. But the prize that got the most attention was our UV Dance Party! If a planner landed on this prize, we cranked up the music and ‘busted a move’ with all of the planners in our booth! And there were lots of them. We even enticed the booths across the aisle to dance with us. Everyone wanted to know what was happening in the UV Booth and the UV section. We had a line going on both days of the show…that’s unprecedented.

We even caught the attention of show management!

At last count, we received over 300 sales leads from this show. It was terrific! I’m sure next year will be even bigger!

1. Don’t offer deep discounts.
2. Don’t cut the advertising and marketing budgets.
3. Don’t make your marketing sound like a fire sale.
4. Don’t cut the number of people on the sales team.
5. Don’t fall off buyers’ radar screens.
6. Don’t become invisible.
7. Don’t overlook the SMERF market.
8. Don’t stop learning.
9. Don’t overlook your local and regional market.
10. Don’t take a business-as-usual stance.

Add to this list! Let’s hear your thoughts on what you are doing (or not going to do) during this shift in the meeting industry.

A couple of weeks ago our company held a retreat in Chicago to get away from the phones and the distractions of the office. It was hard for me to imagine not being distracted in Chicago with all that is available in the city.

I now think of Chicago as a retreat city even though we were in the center of the city, two blocks from Michigan Avenue. For three days, we were tucked away in a meeting room in the Terry Student Center, which is part of the new residential community on the campus of Loyola University Chicago. The meeting room felt more like a study in an old home including stained glass and rich wood. So, we were away from the phones and the distractions of the office during the day. It was the most productive retreat we have had in years. We did retreat in Chicago.

I will confess that we did enjoy the amenities the Windy City has to offer during the evening.

Thank you to Mary Cashman, Tim McGuriman, Dana Owen & Judy Sunvold for the great accommodations, meeting facilities and customer service!

Tony McGuirt, Director of Marketing

Here’s to perpetual dress down days!

Last weekend I was to be in London, but due to the ever-increasing pain that air travel has become, I instead spent 72 hours trying to get back to my home in Pennsylvania. Cancellations, mechanical difficulties, you name it…I could NOT get to London. When it came time to travel from Newark to Johnstown, I weighed all my options. Do I pay $419 to fly to Pittsburgh and then train to Johnstown? No…instead I paid a total of $102 and took the train straight home. What a delight! I traveled regular coach class, but the seats were more comfortable than first class airplane seats. I had a wonderful gourmet cheese and cracker tray for only $4! I had two electrical outlets at my seat which allowed me to work all 7 hours on the train (well..I did watch some Law and Order episodes). The coach was clean, quiet and the staff on the train seemed to want to do their job! How refreshing!

When you are selling your venue, think bout developing a strategic alliance with AMTRAK. They can literally connect you to tons of possible business.

BE UNIQUE!