Meetingmax Spreads the Holiday Spirit

Jeff Duncan, C.O.O. of Meetingmax and Education and Learning chair of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s Vancouver Chapter, is coordinating this years “Give Back Event” which provides care packages to residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.  

Meetingmax staff along with Vancouver entrepreneurs and their families will be fanning out across the Downtown Eastside to distribute specially prepared care packages to residents.

For the past few months the group has raised funds and collected items to create more than 1,500 care packages. The packages include simple items such as socks, holiday treats, and spare clothes.  The group hopes to provide some tangible help during what is a difficult season for many.

The MMX office was packing head quarters for the annual event. Thanks staff and friends for pitching in and building 1500 care packages this year!

This is the seventh year that the organization has created and distributed the packages.

Meetingmax staff looks forward to handing these out tonight at 6PM together with the EO Vancouver Chapter. 

The Future of Housing: Meetingmax 2.0 Webinar

Big things were happening at Meetingmax last week! In case you missed it we hosted The Future of Housing: Meetingmax 2.0 webinar last Wednesday. 

The hour long session consisted of two parts. Part one was a panel discussion featuring individuals from destinations and corporations that provide successful housing management or have unique insight into the industry. Part two consisted of the unveiling of the company’s newest online reservation system.

Expert panel members included:

1. Bill Geist, Chief Instigator at Zeitgeist Consulting
2. Ryan George, CEO at simpleview
3. Spero Batistatos, President and CEO at the South Shore CVA
4. Dan O’Neill, Vice President at the Bloomington MN CVB
5. Janine Wachter, Director of Housing at the Greater Madison CVB
6. Ann Gillespie, Sales Assistant at the Spokane Regional CVB  

Guests tuned in for a variety of reasons, such as:

• To familiarize themselves with Meetingmax
• To keep up to date on the latest industry trends
• To find out what other bureaus and organizations are doing and why
• To learn new best practices
• To get a sneak peak at MMX 2.0 

One attendee found the most beneficial portion was “hearing from highly respected individuals in the industry doing the work of promoting online housing and talking about online housing and its importance. It makes it all worthwhile because I feel they "know" because they live it each day in their jobs and it would be easy for our hotels to relate to for our destination.”

Please email webinar@meetingmax.cc if you would like access to a recording of this webinar. 

Meetingmax Gives Back

This morning members of the Meetingmax team started their day early, dropping off toys at the 24th annual Pan Pacific Christmas Wish event.

As stated on Room with a View, “back for the 24th straight year, is the Pan Pacific Vancouver’s Annual Christmas Wish Breakfast. The Hotel, alongside partners Global BC and JackFM are back for another epic toy drive benefiting the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau on Wednesday, December 7, from 6am-9am.

Each year the Hotel hosts one of Canada’s largest toy drives where the public is asked to bring down a toy to donate to needy children around the Christmas Holiday season. As a thank you to everyone who makes a donation, the hotel will offer a hot buffet breakfast from the Cafe Pacifica Restaurant.

Last year the hotel saw over 5,000 visitors come through the hotel and received 27,000 toys and over $25,000 in cash donations. As for our hungry visitors, the Hotel served over 25,000 eggs, 20,000 sausages, 3,000 kilograms of potatoes and 5,000 croissants!”

While Meetingmax staff didn’t have a chance to sample the delicious breakfast we did take the time to listen to a few tunes from the multi-talented fire fighters on hand!

Feeling festive? You can help too! Drop off unwrapped toys in donation bins found at Oakridge Shopping Center and many Vancouver fire halls or make a cash donation directly to the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau. 

Marketing Mastery Summit

This past weekend Meetingmax’s Client Services Manager, Sureena Parmar, attended the highly anticipated Marketing Mastery Summit and brought a ton a great new concepts into our workplace.

The event, held at the stunning Vancouver Convention Center, taught attendees how to position themselves as the “Go To Expert” in their given fields. Marketing Mastery Summit states “In today’s competitive market, in order to be successful, you need to stand out from the crowd. One sure fire way to achieve that is by positioning yourself as the “Go To Expert” in your industry.”

Notable speakers included:

• Stephan Stavrakis: Perceptual Positioning
• Iman Aghay: Success Road
• Mike Schell: Thought Leader Inc
• Sandy Chernoff: Soft Skills for Success
• Robin Elliot: Dollar Makers
• John Chow: John Chow Blog
• Bob Burnham: Expert Author Publishing
• Katherine Lazaruk: ICU Image
• Jason Bax: Pitch Masters

Follow these 3 tips from Sureena to position yourself as the Go To Expert:

1. Sell Yourself Effectively: Know how to answer ‘What do you do?” Sandy Chernoff suggests this question should be answered in 3 phrases or 1 sentence. Take the time tonight to polish your answer to this frequent question.

2. Dedicate 15 Minutes Everyday to Building Your Social Presence: A great way to build a brand for yourself is to begin online. Create profiles on all the social media sites you wish to be active on (the more the better) and dedicate a minimum of 15 minutes per day to grow your online presence.

3. Quality over Quantity: When building your business keep in mind that it is more valuable to have fewer clients who generate more revenue versus an unmanageable vault of clients who don’t generate much revenue. Rather than 100 clients, focus on 5-10 clients that will make you as much money as the 100 would. 

Book Review: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Meetingmax’s book of the month for November was How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. This is one of the most renowned motivational books in history and has sold over 15 million copies since its release in 1936. We chose to listen to the most recent version which is more applicable to today’s society.

As stated on Amazon.com “Carnegie’s first book is timeless and appeals equally to business audiences, self-help audiences, and general readers alike. Proven advice for success in life: Carnegie believed that most successes come from an ability to communicate effectively rather than from brilliant insights. His book teaches these skills by showing readers how to value others and make them feel appreciated rather than manipulated.”

The Meetingmax team found a lot of value in this book. It’s common sense, but often overlooked, techniques are easy to implement into your every day live.

Eight Things This Book Will Help You Achieve:

1. Get out of a mental rut, think new thoughts, acquire new visions, discover new ambitions. 
2. Make friends quickly and easily. 
3. Increase your popularity. 
4. Win people to your way of thinking. 
5. Increase your influence, your prestige, your ability to get things done. 
6. Handle complaints, avoid arguments, keep your human contacts smooth and pleasant. 
7. Become a better speaker, a more entertaining conversationalist. 
8. Arouse enthusiasm among your associates

Overall the Meetingmax team gave How to Win Friends and Influence People a score of 9.5/10 on a scale where 1 equals a book with little value one would not wish to read again and 10 equals a fantastic book with the ability to grow an individual personally, professionally or both.

If you haven’t read this book yet go pick it up today! 

Meetingmax Saddles Up With Oklahoma City

Online housing reservation system to help CVB affordably manage group bookings

Oklahoma City, OK and Vancouver, BC: November 16, 2011– Meetingmax Systems, provider of the travel industry's most flexible online housing reservation system, today announced the signing of a contract with the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). The CVB will use the system to manage group housing reservations for the city's 16,000 hotel rooms.

"Our city has changed drastically over the past few years. We now have 1,600 rooms within half a mile of the convention centre and we needed the right system to manage room bookings for groups," says Mike Carrier, President of the Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau. "Meetingmax's user-friendly system makes it easy for delegates to see their housing options and simplifies room-block management for planners."

Home to more equine events than any other city in the world, Oklahoma City is the venue of choice for more than a dozen top national and world championship horse shows. The city also hosts a wide variety of state and national conventions in numerous business sectors. The city's central location, affordable rates, and friendly atmosphere make it an ideal location for any size meeting, from a corporate conference of 25 persons to conventions with 10,000 delegates.

"When researching housing systems, we received great feedback from other cities that use Meetingmax," continues Carrier. "The ease of use was key, but it is also a very affordable system for our bureau as well as for our hotel partners."

Unlike other systems, Meetingmax does not require CVBs to meet minimum monthly bookings. The company has developed an affordable fee structure that allows online housing for bureaus of all sizes and only charges a nominal fee per room night booking.

"We feel that housing systems shouldn't be limited to big-budget CVBs," says Jeff Duncan, COO, Meetingmax Systems. "Our system can be tailored to meet the needs of each of our clients –they can select the features and functions that make sense for them and that fit their budget."

Meetingmax Annual Unconvention 2012

Registration for Meetingmax’s Annual Unconvention is live today! We call it the ‘Un’convention because we plan a very unique user conference using out of the norm venues and locations. There is also usually a few fun curveballs on the itinerary such as Ziplining through Whistler Mountain or visiting Grinder and Coola, the Grizzly Bears who inhabit Grouse Mountain.

This year’s theme is about achieving success in housing through a perfect blend of art and science. “In the business of housing, come learn to paint like Picasso and compute like Einstein.”

• An effective mix of peer to peer sharing and tactical expert led learning
• For organizations and destinations that want to succeed at housing this event as become a ‘must attend’.
• You will walk out with the tools you need to establish, increase or refine your housing services.

Join us in Vancouver, BC April 25-27, 2012! 

Book Review: The Other Kind of Smart by Harvey Deutschendorf

Meetingmax’s book of the month for October was The Other Kind of Smart by Harvey Deutschendorf. The book focuses on simple ways to boost your emotional intelligence (EI) for greater personal effectiveness and success.

From the books website: “Emotional intelligence has been called advanced common sense and is proven to be a far better predictor of success than IQ. And unlike cognitive function, your emotional capacities are flexible, adaptable, and highly expandable. Filled with inspiring stories from companies who have tapped into the power of EI, along with profiles of people facing real-world dilemmas and easy-to-implement action plans, The Other Kind of Smart opens your eyes to crucial, yet often ignored life lessons.

EI is not a sideline, soft issue, but a critical factor in your personal and professional well-being. The Other Kind of Smart uncovers deep insights and simple strategies for building the life you want.”

The Meetingmax team enjoyed the concepts of this book, particularly because individuals can focus on enhancing their own EI levels, where as IQ is a little harder to increase!

Overall The Other Kind of Smart achieved an average rating of 7.7/10 on a scale where 1 equals a book with little value one would not wish to read again and 10 equals a fantastic book with the ability to grow an individual personally, professionally or both.

To test your own EI quota today take the following quiz: EImini quiz

Meetingmax Goes Full Throttle With Cabarrus County

Concord, NC and Vancouver, BC; October 26, 2011 – Meetingmax Systems, provider of the travel industry’s most flexible online housing reservation system, today announced that it has signed a contract with Cabarrus County Convention and Visitors Bureau to handle its online housing reservation needs.

The Cabarrus CVB will use the system to track the economic impact of large-scale events held in the county and make it easier for planners to manage hotel room bookings for their events.

“In order to draw sports events to Cabarrus County, we often have to invest in the events themselves, whether that is through bid fees, sponsorship, or staff time,” says Tracy Aldridge, Senior VP, Sales & Services, Cabarrus CVB. “At a minimum, we need to ensure that we are recouping enough room fees to cover what we’ve invested in an event. Our stakeholders need to know what kind of ROI we are getting. Meetingmax will help us effectively track that.”

Cabarrus County, ”Where Racing Lives,” boasts an array of motorsports attractions. More than 300 events are held annually at venues including the 167,000-seat Charlotte Motor Speedway and the state-of-the-art zMAX Dragway. These large-scale events require room blocks at multiple hotels around the county.

“Cabarrus County was looking for a one stop shop housing solution,” says Jeff Duncan, COO, Meetingmax Systems. “Our system will not only simplify the reservation process for planners and guests, but it will track the room nights associated with an event, giving the CVB accurate data and results.”

In addition to professional motorsports events, the county hosts a variety of recreational sports events, such as soccer tournaments like the FCCA Carolina Shootout on Nov. 12-13. Meetingmax will also benefit the organizers of those events.

“Most sports and recreation event planners do these tournaments in their spare time. They don’t have time to negotiate with the hotels and manage blocks of housing,” continues Aldridge. “By working with us and setting up a simple link in the Meetingmax system, they can quickly arrange housing for all of their participants.”

2011 Conde Nast Gold List

The 2011 Conde Nast Gold List results are in! Conde Nast readers ranked their favourite cities, islands, cruise lines, airlines, hotels and resorts worldwide through the Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Survey. A record 28,876 readers cast a total of 8 million votes this year. The winners are:

Top hotel in the world: The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong
Top hotel in the US: Chicago’s Elysian Hotel
Top hotel in Canada: Langdon Hall Country House Hotel & Spa, Cambridge, Ontario

Top city in the US: Charleston, S.C.
Top city in Canada: Quebec City, Quebec (Vancouver was second!!)

Full awards list will appear in the November issue which hits news stands on Oct 18th, or view it online here.

Occupy Vancouver Protest Hitting the City on October 15, 2011

This Saturday, the BC Federation of Labour and thousands of supporters will take a stance outside the Vancouver Art Gallery in order to protest in a "non violent movement for social, economic and political change in Canada."  The Occupy Vancouver protest is modeled after the New York demonstrations known as Occupy Wall Street. The protest is scheduled to last until December with supporters bringing tents and setting up camp.

Businesses in the area may be affected by the protest and are being told to designate security at entrances and areas that are susceptible to more damage. The Vancouver Police Department is aware of the protest and will be speaking with event organizers to make sure the demonstration is a safe environment. Traffic is said to be effected as well on Howe and Georgia as the crowd is expected to exceed the capacity of the lawn around the Vancouver Art Gallery.


Through social media it has become apparent that over 3,000 supporters have confirmed their attendance, making the protest a significant event in the downtown core. For more details take a look at these links from The Globe and Mail and the Downtown Vancouver BIA.

30th VIFF Closing Gala on October 14, 2011

The 2011 Vancouver International Film Festival comes to a close this weekend with the final screening of the highly acclaimed film, The Kid with a Bike. The Meetingmax team is excited to attend the last feature at the Vogue Theatre and, later in the evening, the closing gala party.

The Kid with a Bike, directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, is a deeply meaningful tale about a young boy, Cyril, whom has been neglected all his life; however, through a fortunate event the boy is introduced to, single hairdresser, Samantha who wants to do everything she can to help him.

Peter Debruge from Variety compliments the Dardenne brother’s stating,

"Belgium's Dardenne brothers make movies that remind you the most compelling stories are unfolding right outside your window...”

After the film The Meetingmax team gets to indulge at the VIFF closing gala party, taking place in the Olympic Village. The 30^th VIFF Closing Gala is most definitely an event one should not miss!

                                                                                    

IMEX Conference in Las Vegas October 11-13th 2011

Meetingmax COO, Jeff Duncan is currently attending IMEX Conference in Las Vegas. The IMEX Conference is a desired venue for agencies, associations and corporations looking to connect with key meeting industry suppliers from across the world. The headquarters for IMEX is located at, the always opulent, Venetian/Palazzo hotel where events will be taking place at the Sands Expo Convention Center. 

This year’s attendees are looking forward to this acclaimed event stating;

 "We are extremely excited about attending IMEX America.  We think the hosted buyer program is going to change the schematics of this type of show and will bring serious customers to meet with us.  Being in Las Vegas, we also feel that this will bring more US and international customers to the show."

IMEX conference is filled with a number of educational and networking events, many provided by IMEX’s Premier Education Provider, MPI. The exhibitors include a US and Global line-up as well as over 50 hotel groups and their top clientele. This particular show will become the largest hosted buyer program ever held in North America with over 2,000 buyers to be expected.


“Be inspired, make great contacts, do more business. Don’t miss IMEX America 2011.”

30th VIFF Anniversary Gala on October 8, 2011

This weekend the Meetingmax team is very excited to attend the 30th Vancouver International Film Festival Anniversary Gala. The wonderful evening includes the gala screening of Ken Scott’s Quebecois film, Starbuck. 


The feature is noted to be a humorously endearing spectacle about David Wosniak, a failed marijuana grower, whom is also a sperm donor on the side. Wosniak is faced with his greatest obstacle yet, when his 533 grown children ask him to reveal his identity. Will Wosniak continue to fail in his endeavours, or will he use this opportunity for the ultimate redemption?


After the feature, the fantastic night continues with access to an all-inclusive after party at the Citytv Atrium at the Vancouver International Film Centre. A night filled with such quality entertainment is bound to be a great success! 

2012 Sports Planning Guide and Directory

 The time has come sports planners; the 2012 Sports Planning Guide and Directory has been released! The Guide is a valuable tool that provides readers with an extensive index, including topics covering everything from Budgeting for Events to Communication and Marketing tactics.  

Every year the Sports Planning Guide and Directory is delivered to 10,000 rights-holders, governing bodies, and event planners looking to expand their networks and improve upon their service initiatives. The Guide is also filled with helpful hints regarding planning tips and ideal destinations for special events.

Sports planners, be sure to get your hands on a copy of the newly released 2012 Sports Planning Guide and Directory! 

Genumark Showcase 2011

Meetingmax has been invited to the Genumark Annual Supplier Showcase this year taking place at the Renaissance Vancouver Hotel. The showcase will provide its viewers with a collection of new products from over 30 suppliers.

Genumark is one of the largest companies in Canada that specializes in selling promotional merchandise. Genumark has been crowned with 7 Distributor of the Year Awards, including its most recent 2010 National Distributor of the year award. Not only does Genumark provide a great service; but, the company takes the time to support many charitable organizations such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Children’s Miracle Network.

With Genumark’s successful history, the trade show is sure to be a success today and the Meetingmax team is looking forward to attending this annual event!

TEAMS Conference 2011 in Las Vegas Oct 3-6

Dave Clark, Director of Business Development at Meetingmax, is currently at the TEAMS Conference in Las Vegas. The 2011 TEAMS conference provides valuable information from leading experts and a great deal of networking opportunities with sponsors from the sports event industry. The conference offers a unique program that consists of one on one sessions with event organizers, expo hospitality pavilions and a variety of networking sessions in order to expand relationships between CVB’s and persons within the Sports Association.

Past attendees have thoroughly expressed their appreciation for the TEAMS conference quoting;

“We attend a number of conferences and trade shows around the country each year. I can say unequivocally that TEAMS provided us with the greatest return on our investment of any conference we will attend this year. Sign us up for next year!"

At the TEAMS Conference, relationships are constantly expanding between all attendees including convention bureaus, travel managers, and sports consultants, to name a few. With a large list of sponsors and partners, the TEAMS Conference is a great venue to exchange valuable information and expand networks.

If you are at the event, make sure to contact Dave! 

The 2011 Vancouver International Film Festival

It’s almost that time of year again… our attention was rapt in May with Cannes, waiting for the reviews and awards… a few weeks ago we were teased by TIFF, so close to home but just out of reach… now the wait is almost over for the 2011 Vancouver International Film Festival!

The festival begins on September 29 and runs until October 14, 2011.

This year marks the 30^th anniversary for VIFF. Over the years the organization has presented 10,879 screenings of 7,656 films to a total audience of 3,139,412 film lovers.

This 30^th birthday is the perfect opportunity for VIFF to celebrate the power of cinema and the arts. This year’s lineup showcases movies focused on literature, theatre, arts, music and dance. Meetingmax’s sponsored movie falls into that last genre; our sponsored movie this year is Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse

USA/France | Director: Frederick Wiseman

Legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman (La Danse) continues his behind-the-scenes look at the Parisian dance world with his most entertaining and eye-popping film to date. In the can't-miss Crazy Horse, Wiseman follows the gruelling rehearsals and preparations for Désirs, a new show at the world's greatest and most chic nude cabaret club.

Meetingmax is proud to be an official sponsor of VIFF again this year. Take a peek on pg 36 of your movie guide to view our cheeky ad, or see it here!

Other notable movies to put on your must see list are the following Cannes winners:

Elena

Winner, Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize, Cannes 2011

Footnote

Winner, Best Screenplay, Cannes 2011

Stopped On Track

Winner, Best Film: Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2011

Las Acacias

Winner, Camera d'Or, Cannes 2011

For more information please check out the VIFF website.

Lunch With Friends In Portugal Chatting About The Future Of Tourism In Western Europe

Chrissy and Jeff Duncan with Andres Araujo e Sa, Sales Manager for Palacio Estoril Resort and Jorge Coelho, Director of Sales for the Abreu DMC.

Meetingmax Summertime Martini

At Meetingmax our core values drive all that we do. For those who are curious they are:

1)      Create Success

2)      Do More With Less

3)      Make It Fun

4)      Nurture All Relationships

5)      Exceed Expectations

6)      Continually Grow

This afternoon we’re focusing on making it fun with liquor cart Friday. We present to you the Meetingmax martini of the week…. Summertime-tini!

Combine

1½ oz vodka

½ oz Blue Curacao

Sparking lemonade

Garnish with lime

Serve in a chilled glass and enjoy. Whether you’re in the office or at home enjoying the sun on your back patio this weekend we guarantee this Meetingmax-tini will help to Make It Fun!

What Martini should we make next week?

Grow Conference in Vancouver Aug 17-19

The 2011 Grow Conference kicks off today! Grow is a technology conference that brings together entrepreneurs, thinkers, influencers and investors to inspire innovation. If you’re in the technology business and in Vancouver tomorrow you don’t want to miss this event!

The speaker line up includes key players such as Neeraj Arora, Principal, Corporate Development at Google; Brian Church, Country Manager, Canada at LinkedIn; Ryan Holmes, CEO at Hootsuite; and Cameron Herold, Founder of BackPocket COO.  This is just a preview, there will be over 30 other acclaimed speakers at the event.

For more info check out Grow2011. We hope to see you there!

2 Ways To Wow At A Trade Show While Keeping Your CFO Happy

(1)   Ask A Friend–People are often willing to lend you tradeshow supplies they aren’t using at the time. Chances are, they could use the extra space in the office. Make sure you consider other avenues as well. We were able to secure an unbelievable deal on our hotel suite just by talking to our hotel partners.

(2)   Stand Out, Have Fun – We brought a bed to our tradeshow. Yes, a bed. Based on our company core values, namely Make It Fun, we chose the fun concept and ran with it. As it was out first show we were hesitant straying from the norm but the feedback was fantastic. Many people commented on the originality of our booth, it generated talk and brought us a large amount of traffic. This curiosity proved to be a great conversation starter in person and online. 

Results from the Unconvention

The results are in from the 2011 Unconvention and they are great! The attendees really enjoyed the discussions and information sessions. Here are some of the things they loved about the Unconvention:

“Tips & tools to develop hotel relationships, the use of Meetingmax as a sales tool, best practices for post event reconciliation, attempting to reduce error and questions, the entire conference!”

“Networking, Networking, Networking! Learning how others use the system's revenue generation.”

“I love meeting fellow users face-to-face. It will make it so much easier to give them a call if I have a question on how they handle a certain MMX issue. And it's so nice meeting others that can completely relate to the complexities I face in the system. Experiencing Vancouver "Meetingmax Style" is so much fun and I feel lucky to have that opportunity." 

"You all do a great job in making the event unique, memorable, and beneficial."

"This was such an enjoyable event! Thank you so much. I have no improvements!"

Meetingmax would like to thank all the attendees for making this year's event such a success.

Visit Detroit Revs Up with Meetingmax

The Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau (Visit Detroit) announced today the signing of an agreement with Meetingmax Systems. Visit Detroit will now be able to offer meeting planners a simple tool to manage hotel room bookings for large-scale events held in the city.

“Offering housing support is essential in attracting conventions and groups to The D,” said John Francis, Manager, Sports and Destination Support, Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. “While we have used a number of housing products in the past, we hadn’t found a vendor that could meet all of our needs. Meetingmax’s system is the best I have seen - it is easy to use and extremely cost-effective.”

Visit Detroit was looking for a system that could help meeting planners manage blocks of hotel rooms in the region’s 250 hotels. Instead of having to use each hotel’s system to track bookings, a meeting planner can secure blocks of housing through Visit Detroit and then manage their bookings through one central portal. Conference attendees are sent a link which allows them to explore participating hotels and book their own rooms.

“For a meeting planner, housing is the single largest headache and is often a deal breaker when selecting a destination,” says Jeff Duncan, COO, Meetingmax Systems. “Our system offers hotels, planners, and CVBs a powerful and customizable tool that makes it easy to manage their inventory.”

One of Visit Detroit’s challenges lay in the fact that it didn’t have a consistent annual volume of housing reservations. Some years it had a large number of conventions requiring the service, while other years it did not. While other products require CVBs to meet a minimum number of room bookings through the system, Meetingmax has no set minimums.

“With Meetingmax, we are only paying for the services that we use,” continued Francis. “Since we don’t pass on the fees to our member hotels, other products just didn’t justify the costs.”

Third Annual Meetingmax Unconvention Agenda Released Today

We are very excited that the Third Annual Meetingmax UNconvention is just around the corner. We hope it will be as fun to attend as it was to plan. If you are still on the fence we dare you to review the agenda and then tell us you aren’t coming!

We also wanted to share a note we received from one of your fellow Meetingmax users about the program coming up:

“When the York County CVB implemented a housing bureau in 2006, we felt we had to "invent the wheel" for housing procedures and documents.  If we had access to an event like the Meetingmax UNconvention, it would have saved an untold amount of time, resources and challenges. 

I cannot express how excited I am to have the opportunity to spend 2 full days with other Meetingmax users in April.  Organizations and destinations should take advantage of this opportunity.  Housing can be a challenging business, housing providers should take every chance to learn from those that went before them.

I look forward to seeing you in Vancouver!”

-Christina Smith, Services Manager, York County Convention and Visitors Bureau

To save you from a 12 page document, the educational sessions on the attached agenda are simply numbered #1 to #10. You will be provided with an outline of what sessions are taking place at what times in your arrival kit at the airport.

Meetingmax Unconvention Session Annouced: "Overcoming Obstacles"

Dear Meetingmax User,

We are drawing closer to this year’s user conference and we are looking forward to welcoming many of you to Vancouver on April 27, 28 &29. We wanted to take an opportunity to announce another of our user-led sessions. A perfect mix of peer learning and expert teaching will prepare you to take your housing bureau to new heights this year. Don’t miss this year’s event! Registration can be completed at: www.eplyevents.com/MMXUNCONVENTION2011

Session Announcement:

Join Janine Wachter, Director of Convention Services at the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau, as she facilitates a working and interactive lunch session focusing on allowing your peers to help solve problems you face at your destination. Whether it is lack of hotel buy-in, issues with post event reconciliation, problems with planners just not ‘getting it’, problems with marketing the system due to severe rate sensitivity or any other issues you or your destination faces with housing, this will be a forum to get solutions from your peers. Each group will take real life issues submitted by you and work to solve them, bringing back plausible solutions to discuss as a large group. The power of accessing ideas and perspective from your peer group is invaluable. It is true that you can’t always see the forest through the trees! Join us for this fun and informative session.

As always, should you have any questions or concerns, please just let us know. We look forward too seeing you next month!

Meetingmax Heads to Australia

Jeff Duncan, Chief Operating Officer of Meetingmax, has landed in Australia!

Jeff will be out of town from February 14 - 17 as he has gone to explore new business markets for Meetingmax's technology platform and to strengthen supplier relations for Meetingmax's managed housing sources.

While in Australia Jeff will be meeting with various companies including Carlson Hotels Worldwide, The Czech Tourism Board, Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre and The Government of Dubai Department of Commerce.

Meetingmax & The Variety Show of Hearts Telethon

Kelly Mackay and Zita Rose will be representing Meetingmax this Saturday February 12th on the Gold Panel of Variety, The Children's Charity, Show of Hearts Telethon.

Variety is dedicated to building a better future for children in BC who have special needs.

Last year's Variety Show of Hearts Telethon raised an incredible $7,431,869! Help us make this year even better!

Meetingmax will have their own private direct line from 9pm - 10pm on Saturday February 12th. Please call 604-529-3018 to donate. If you cannot reach us by our designated number, but would still like to donate, please call 604-310-KIDS (5437).

Meetingmax UNconvention Session Announced: "The Little Engine That Could..."

We are thrilled to announce this week’s confirmed session for our UNconvention in April. This event will provide significant takeaway value to your destination and it must not be missed. If your destination is interested in turning your housing bureau into a profit center, the launching point starts in Vancouver. We look forward to seeing you here!

Session Announcement: “The Little Engine that Could…”

Join Mr. Peter Armstrong, Founder and Chairman of Rocky Mountaineer, who will explore his 20 year journey into becoming the largest privately owned passenger rail service in North America. Mr. Armstrong will speak about his struggles, successes and how he took the fledgling Rocky Mountaineer service, which was being operated by Via Rail in 1989, into the achievement it is today.  The company's turnaround and subsequent success has been achieved without government subsidy.

Mr. Armstrong contributes considerable time to business and community boards.  He is currently the Chair for the Vancouver Police Foundation, serves on the Board for the Business Families Centre (Sauder School of Business), the Board of BCAA and the Public Private Partnership Board (P3).  He is also the past Chair for the Board of St. George’s School.  Mr. Armstrong has received a Doctor of Technology from BCIT, a Doctor of Technology from Thompson Rivers University and a Honorary Fellow of the Sauder School of Business.  He is a recipient of the Canadian Venture Capital Association's Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Tourism and Hospitality and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for contribution to Canadian communities.  He has also been inducted into the Canadian Railway Hall of Fame and was named the 2007 Tourism Leader of the Year by Tourism BC.

Meetingmax UNconvention Session Announced: “How to Treat Your Housing Bureau Like a Business... and Get Results!”

We are very excited as we count down the time until the 2011 Meetingmax UNconvention. I am sure it’s tough to believe we are less than three months away from this exciting program. We will begin to filter information out to you on the specifics of the informative and educational sessions taking place.

We are very excited to announce the following session:

“How to Treat Your Housing Bureau Like a Business... and Get Results!”

Description: Join Dan O’Neill, Vice President of Strategy and Sales for the Bloomington Convention & Visitors Bureau, as he takes you on their destination's journey going from no housing projects to more than 10 in less than a year. Find out first hand from Dan how he structured their new housing bureau to act and breathe like a traditional business, from systems and processes to production reports and accountability mechanisms. Mr. O’Neill will demonstrate how Bloomington has been able to become a housing savvy destination that makes money.

Mr. O’Neill will be joined by not just his housing manager, but also his CEO.

We kook forward to welcoming the Bloomington team here in April!

This is a sample of the quality of the programs we are running this year. If you are serious about ensuring you are making the most of your system, or simply want to take the business of your housing to another level this year, you will not want to miss this or any other session. Come by air, car or train but don't miss this years’ UNconvention!

Referral Program Prizes Revealed

Check out Meetingmax's fun Vancouver themed prizes for their first-ever referral program!