Wednesday, February 15, 2012

It's You... Vancouver

Need another reason to attend our 2012 Unconvention this April? It's in Vancouver, one of the best cities in the world! 

Check out this stunning video released by Tourism Vancouver yesterday morning showcasing our beautiful city. Original song "It's You... Vancouver" by local artist Wastsun. Enjoy. 

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The 2012 Meetingmax Unconvention - Why You Should Attend

Meetingmax's Unconvention is an industry-best learning event for any CVB, association, corporation, sporting organization or meeting planner using, or looking to dive into, online housing. 


Success in housing = a perfect blend of art & science. In the business of housing come learn to paint like Picasso and compute like Einstien.
  • 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 has become a “must attend.”
  • You will walk out with the tools you need to establish, increase or refine your housing services.

Full agenda to be released soon; potential sessions include:
  • Social Media From The Ground Up – How To Promote Your Events
  • System Revenue Generators – Getting The Most From Your System
  • Post Event Reconciliation – Best Practices For Closing Your Events


Please contact Kelly Mackay at kelly@meetingmax.cc with any questions.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Are you Pinterested yet?

Pinterest just recently came onto my radar about a month ago. Since then it seems that not a day passes when I don’t hear about this new social media site. Reading a few articles today, it got me thinking…. are you using Pinterest to showcase your destination?

When I think of my favourite places in the world I instantly envision the beautiful scenery. When looking for new vacation destinations it’s most often photos that have me thinking, I need to go there and see that in real life. Pinterest is such a great tool to show off your city!

For those who have not had a chance to check out the site yet, Pinterest is a vision board-styled social photo sharing website and app where users can create and manage theme-based image collections. 

A recent article in the Entrepreneur states that Pinterest “registered more than 7 million unique visitors in December, up from 1.6 million in September. And it's driving more traffic to company websites and blogs than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined.”



Troy Thompson of Travel 2.0 Consulting recently sat down with the Interactive Marketing Strategist for Experience Columbus, Joe Vargo, and asked him 5 questions on how he is using Pinterest to promote his destination. 

Vargo describes Pinterest as “a good blend of the visual emphasis of YouTube and Flickr combined with the social aspects of Facebook and Twitter” that “allows destinations to show their complex personalities – something that’s nearly impossible to write into web copy.”

He states that people are using Pinterest to share their aspirations, and “it’s really the best form of social marketing when someone takes an image of your destination and adds it to their aspirational life (endorsing the destination to their followers.)”

If you are active on Pinterest please share your handle with us so we can follow your picture updates. 

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Book Review: We Are All Weird by Seth Godin

What’s your weirdness? Meetingmax’s book of the month for January was Seth Godin’s latest novel, We Are All Weird. 

The book reviews the need for mass marketing to be replaced with niche marketing – specifically to consumers “weirdness”; how the normal or the mass, is melting as consumers are connecting with others over their own quirky interests.


From Seth’s blog: “During the age of mass (mass marketing, mass manufacturing, mass schooling, mass movements) the key was normal. Normal was important because you needed (were required) to fit into your slot. Manufacturers insisted because profits depended on it.

Normal diets made it easier for mass food manufacturers to generate a profit. Normal driving habits made it easier for mass car manufacturers to reach their production minimums. Normal behavior made you easier to control.

But what happens when mass disappears? When we can connect everyone, customize and optimize--then what happens to normal?”

The Meetingmax team had mixed reviews on the book; some loved it while others were indifferent. Overall it scored a 7.6/10 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. Read it? Let us know what you thought.