Conference Event Planning

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Conferences on a Shoe-String Budget
by Ajeet Khurana

These days, we really cannot do without instant communication. No business today can afford to wait for too long. Time means money, and businessmen and businesswomen the world over are not ready to let pass a single opportunity to make profits. The speed of life has increased several-fold. As a result, no business shall progress by only using the older methods of functioning. New age problems call for solutions that are more modern. Hence, business organizations have to work at keeping abreast of the more recent business solutions. Among the various modern business solutions at our disposal today, the conference call is a popular choice.

One of the main reasons for the popularity of conference calling in these days is the fact that it provides quite a cost-effective way of doing business with people who are placed in different parts of the world. Globalization has changed the way in which we do business. The office is no longer limited to a few floors in a single building. It now spans across continents and oceans. As a result, the workforce is distributed across hundreds and thousands of miles. Hence, it is becoming unfeasible to conduct meetings where the various delegates are flown in to a single destination. More importantly, we now have other more economical means that we can use.

Imagine if you are responsible for the transport of people from foreign lands. You will have to pay for the air fare. There will be some accommodation costs. Depending on how high up the delegate is, the hotel expenses will also swell. Then there will be the headache of transporting him/her from the hotel to the office or to the place where the meeting will be held. By making use of the conference calling system, you could just be assisting your organization to save a considerable amount of money. When you are on a budget, conference calls are an affordable option.

Now, most companies are keen to reduce their costs so that the money thus saved can be used more productively. Thus, if you are looking for audio conferencing services, it would be a good idea to look out for services which would suit the budget. With a little looking around, you should be able to find a lot of good deals. Remember that most conference calling services will give you good deals if they feel that you are a good client to have. If you are on a budget, finding great conference call deals should not be too tough.

Find out about a Budget Conference Call at http://www.budgetconferencing.com/conference-call-services.php Audio Conferencing Services at http://www.budgetconferencing.com/web-conferencing.php Budget Conference Calls at http://www.budgetconferencing.com/conference-call-services.php Ajeet Khurana may be contacted at

Occupational Therapy: A Key to Wellness

OT Presentations Featured at 2007 National Prevention and Health Promotion Summit

BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- At the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) 2007 National Prevention and Health Promotion Summit held this week in Washington, occupational therapists highlighted their profession's contributions to prevention and wellness.

American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Vice-President Florence Clark, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA joined fellow practitioner Diana Baldwin, MA, OTR/L, FAOTA in presenting at the Summit.

"The field of occupational therapy is proving the old adage about how much an ounce of prevention is worth," said Dr. Clark. "Our interventions keep people of all ages active and participating in life. The science of occupational therapy has proven that participation in daily activities helps maintain health."

Dr. Clark's presentation was titled, "Improving the Health of the Elderly: Lifestyle Interventions," and showed that key improvements can be achieved in the health of seniors who are exposed to activities to help them achieve a healthy lifestyle.

Baldwin's presentation was titled, "Promoting Employee Health: Interventions in the Workplace," and explored how occupational therapy interventions can keep arthritis patients in the workplace longer. Arthritis is second only to heart disease as a cause of work-related disability with significant financial costs associated with the loss of work for persons with arthritis.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and the CDC hosted the Summit. This groundbreaking event unites health professionals, business entrepreneurs, and government leaders at all levels who are dedicated to health promotion, chronic disease prevention, health preparedness, birth defects, disabilities, genomics, and wellness.

The American Occupational Therapy Association, established in 1917, represents more than 37,000 members. AOTA is an active advocate for the profession, and for individuals who can benefit from occupational therapy services.

Source: American Occupational Therapy Association

Web Site: http://www.aota.org/

Find the Perfect Facility for your Business Meetings and Conferences
by Aldene Fredenburg

Whether you need to hold a meeting with half a dozen business associates or a conference for over a hundred attendees, there are definite advantages to hiring a facility specializing in corporate functions.

Business runs more and more on its ability to use the latest communications technology, from broadband Internet connections to the latest in computer generated AV presentations. A competent business facility should be able to not only interface with the communications hardware and software you use to present material to your attendees, but to help you work out the technical details so that your presentations happen smoothly and without problems. Before you decide on a meeting or convention facility, make sure you can talk to the technical support team to find out what communications equipment they have available, what you need in order to be able to interface your equipment with theirs, and what kind of technical support you will have both before and during your meeting or conference should problems arise. Many of your participants may also need to communicate, either by Internet or over any number of phone or instant messaging systems, with the outside world during the time they spend at your conference. A facility that makes this easy will reflect well on you and your company.

Choose an easy-access facility.

The location of the facility is also important. Meeting and conference centers located near major highway arteries, with easy access to airports and other public transportation, make a lot of sense for busy businesspeople who log substantial travel time; the less time and effort they have to spend getting to you, the better.

If a number of your attendees will be coming from out of town, and especially if your meetings or conference will be taking place over more than one day, consider renting a facility attached to a hotel with enough guestrooms to accommodate all of your out-of-town participants.

If necessary, work with a conference planner.

You may have staff at your company who specialize in putting together conferences; if you don't, you may be able to find a conference center that will take over the planning for you, communicating with your own staff and then doing the scheduling as well as developing conference topics, taking on the responsibility of communicating with prospective participants, signing them up, and even lining up hotel accommodations for them. An experienced conference planner can save you enormous amounts of time as well as helping you avoid wasted effort.

Don't forget the human touch!

If you're holding a conference, your primary focus is on imparting significant information and perhaps on generating new business for your company; but the success of the conference will depend not only on its stated goals, but on the comfort level and enjoyment factor of its participants. Attractive and functional meeting rooms, adequately heated or cooled and with comfortable seating, will make a big positive impression on the participants; on the other hand, rooms which are too hot or too cold, with bad acoustics and uncomfortable chairs, will reflect badly not only on the conference center but on your company as well.

Access to good food and beverages, during meal times and for morning and afternoon snacks, is a necessity; if you cannot provide this yourself, you need to make sure participants have easy access offsite to food and drink. Of course, if the option to provide refreshments is available to you, it makes sense to do so, as providing on-site meals and snacks gives you more control over scheduling throughout the day.; you have a "captive audience," and won't spend valuable time waiting for stragglers to show up from area coffee shops and restaurants after a meal or break.

Start by interviewing the conference center's event planner.

A good first step is to contact a meeting and conference center, armed with a ballpark budget figure, and ask to speak to the center's conference or event planner. The resulting dialogue will give you and idea of what sorts of physical facilities and services they offer, but will probably give you plenty of ideas which will help you develop your conference or meetings.

Aldene Fredenburg is a freelance writer living in southwestern New Hampshire and frequently contributes to Tips and Topics. She has published numerous articles in local and regional publications on a wide range of topics, including business, education, the arts, and local events. Her feature articles include an interview with independent documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and a feature on prisoners at the New Hampshire State Prison in Concord. She may be reached at amfredenburg@yahoo.com. Aldene Fredenburg may be contacted at or articles@tipsandtopics.com

Conference Bags Aren't Just For Conferences
by Gareth Parkin

If you're looking for a classy, high value incentive for your employees or a different type of marketing gift for your clients, then why not consider imprinted promotional conference bags. Conference bags, usually handed out to delegates at conventions and filled with promotional materials and goodies, are often one of the most prized and valued souvenirs from the conference or event. Most of them continue to be used years after the conference is forgotten thus providing the perfect vehicle to keep your message working for you.

Why force your employees to attend a conference just to get a great bag for their personal or business use? Promotional conference bags are one of the most useful incentive or recognition gifts that you can give. They can be styled similar to a briefcase, or sling over the shoulder like a laptop case or rucksack. Conference bags may be as simple as a foldover carry bag, or offer many zippered folders and compartments and pockets for calculators, pens, mobile phone and iPod.

Promotional printed conference bags are meant to carry your documents safely, but the newest ranges of conference bags do far more. Some are even padded and spacious enough to serve as a laptop carrying case. A stylish conference bag imprinted with your company logo makes an excellent incentive or recognition gift. The same stylish conference bags can serve as special thank you gifts to your corporate clients and customers.

Imprinted conference bags are also an excellent choice as a fund raising item for a school or club. Imprinted with the organization name, they'll serve as exposure for the organization while raising money for it. A mid to high quality conference bag could be a very popular loyalty item in a school or university store.

Other choices to conference bags include executive business bags which are available at a range of price points to suit the majority of budgets. Ideal incentive and recognition gifts for the traveling businessman, executive business bags are available in a number of different styles and quality ranges. Your company representatives will offer a polished and professional image when making presentations and appearing at conferences when they carry an executive styled business bag with pockets for documents, pencil loops, a laptop compartment and spaces for just about anything you can imagine a traveling business man needing to have at hand.

Executive trolley airport bags are yet another increasingly popular choice. If your business had a corps of salesmen or executives who travel frequently, providing them with a company-branded travel case can not only help ensure that they arrive at their destination with their belongings intact, but offer a polished, professional image of your business while they're en route.

You'll find a wide selection of conference bags, business bags and laptop bags that can be branded with your corporate logo or name on the internet from many of the UK's leading suppliers. When you're looking for the best in branded and promotional items, and incentive gifts, check out the top sites on the internet for the best prices.

Gareth Parkin is the co-founder of Ideasbynet, the UK's leading online supplier of conference bags and promotional items based in the north of England. Established in 2001, he has taken the UK gift market by storm. Gareth Parkin may be contacted at http://www.ideasbynet.com

Are trade shows & conferences worth the effort in B2B marketing?
by Susan Tatum

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard a CFO rant about the high cost and no measurable results of trade shows, I'd have, well honestly, I'd have about 10 bucks. But the point is: the CFOs may be right.

There's no doubt about it, trade shows can be a huge black hole for marketing investments. However, I've learned that, when handled correctly, trade shows can be a very good marketing tool - and they are experiencing a surge in popularity after the post-bubble, post-911 crash in attendance.

Here are 8 keys to making trade shows work for you:

• Do it for the right reasons. Trade shows are a great place to get face-to-face with both your customers and your prospects. The same is true for media, industry analysts, investors and even suppliers. On the other hand, participating in a trade show just because a) you always have, b) your competitors are, or c) you're afraid everyone will think you're in financial trouble if you aren't there is not a good way to invest marketing dollars.
• Pick the right show(s). Be sure the show attracts the people who are part of the buying process at your target customer. Check with show management to see who's expected to attend, sure; but also ask your customers and prospects which shows they attend. Audiences change. So, even though a particular show may have delivered a good audience for you in the past doesn't mean it still does.
• Invest in some pre-show marketing. The trade show organizers will conduct a marketing campaign to build attendance for the event, but that won't necessarily get the right prospects to your booth. I've found that direct mail, email, telemarketing and press releases are great avenues for giving prospects a reason to see you at the show.
• Go for quality. Meeting a handful of well-qualified prospects is infinitely more important for your future sales than collecting the names of 100 people who could care less about your product or service.
• Capture the right data. This is a great opportunity to find out as much as you can about the prospect or customer's needs. Many of our clients use it as an opportunity to conduct brief surveys. In any case, a fish bowl of business cards with no notes attached makes qualifying and categorizing leads back at the office a daunting task.
• Follow up! Research (and experience) shows that an astonishing number of trade show exhibitors never follow up with booth visitors - even if the visitor requested additional information. What a waste.
• Qualify leads before passing them to the sales team. This may be the greatest secret of trade show success: Do not dump trade show "leads" onto the sales force. Only those prospects who qualify as "hot" (by your company's own definition) should be sent to sales. Put the others into the marketing pool for on-going development.
• Measure results. This will give your CFO something to be happy about.

Trade shows wouldn't be my first choice as a lead generation tool. But once the primary tactics are in place, they do have a role in a well-integrated marketing system. Good enough that they shouldn't be ignored.

Susan Tatum, co-founder of http://www.TatumMarketing.com, is a recognized expert in business-to-business marketing. She has been helping companies achieve greater marketing results Susan Tatum, co-founder of http://www.TatumMarketing.com, is a recognized expert in business-to-business marketing. She has been helping companies achieve greater marketing results for more than two decades. She regularly publishes B2B marketing strategies and actionable tips on her blog at http://www.technobuzz.tatummarketing.com. For a limited time, you can get a complementary copy of her latest executive report 5 Fundamental Strategies of B2B Marketing by visiting http://www.TatumMarketing.com/b2bsuccessfor more than two decades. She regularly publishes B2B marketing strategies and actionable tips on her blog at http://www.technobuzz.tatummarketing.com. For a limited time, you can get a complementary copy of her latest executive report 5 Fundamental Strategies of B2B Marketing by visiting http://www.TatumMarketing.com/b2bsuccess Susan Tatum may be contacted at http://www.tatummarketing.com or tatumgroup@yahoo.com

Are You Making a Fool of Yourself During Video Conferences?
by Nahshon Marini

Video conferences are not new to the business world. In fact, they have become so common anyone with an Internet connection, a substantial bandwidth, and a fully functional computer can now hold video conferences with friends, employees, clients, or business contacts from anywhere in the globe.

You could video conferences when you:

* want to hold meetings online. * need to demonstrate products and services to potential clients from half a world away. * train new employees in another country. * Conduct after-sales servicing of products or software.

While video conferences may strike people as informal versions of the usual corporate meet and greet with the bigwigs, never forget that it is still a meeting. Here are some tips that will help you look and sound professional during a video conference.

1. Pay special attention to lighting. You need to view the speaker and the presentation. Thus, good lighting is important. If, on the other hand, you are the speaker, avoid staying in a dark area. If you stay in one, all that the conference participants would be able to see of you is your silhouette. The same holds true for areas that are overly flooded with light.

2. Maintain eye contact. Eye contact is essential to almost all forms of human interaction. Video conferences are no exemption. As much as possible, look participants directly in the eye, even if you have to do this from a webcam.

3. Speak audibly. In video conferences, audio could sometimes be garbled. Make it a point to speak in a very clear voice. Do not chew your words or speak in monotone.

4. Make your presentation interesting.

5. If you are not the one speaking, give the speaker your full attention. Show that the other person's presentation interests you. Avoid yawning or fidgeting. These two actions are a dead giveaway that you are not following the discussion.

6. Hours or even days before the video conference, check on your computer's technical settings. Try holding a mock video conference with a colleague. Ask your colleague to evaluate your audio and video quality. Can your colleague see you? Can your colleague hear you? Tests like these are useful because they will reveal possible glitches that you might encounter during the actual video conference.

Without a doubt, video conference is an efficient and effective medium for online interaction. With the advent of the Information Age, it is seeing wider and more accepted use not only in the corporate world but also from homes and universities.

Why not hold a video conference ? Learn more about video conferencing facilities and video conferencing rooms when you visit our site today.

Nahshon Marini may be contacted at http://www.video-surveillance-guide.com or vsg@articlemarketingsolutions.com

Internet Business Conferences and Expos  Mark Your Calendar
by Daniel Moro

Attending internet business conferences not only allows you to improve your knowledge about doing business online, it also provides an opportunity to forge new business relationships and strengthen existing ones.

Affiliate marketing conferences are also important events to mark on your calendar, as they provide an opportunity for advertisers, publishers, and affiliate networks to come together and discuss strategy.

Here is a small list of upcoming online business conferences you could consider attending.

Search Engine Strategies, San Jose - August 20-23, 2007
Quickly learn how to maximize search engine marketing and optimization opportunities and stay informed of the latest search developments and solutions in this area.

CJU Commission Junction University 2007, Santa Barbara, CA - September 9 - 11, 2007
A premier pay-for-performance industry event for publishers and advertisers.

Affiliate Summit, London - September 28, 2007; Las Vegas - February 24-26, 2008
Learn about Trends in Affiliate Marketing, Super Affiliates, SEO, Domain Strategies and more.

Big Seminar, Atlanta, Georgia - October 5-7, 2007
Hosted by Armand Morin. The world's top marketing experts come together to teach you Xtreme Marketing for 3 full days.

SMX Social Media, New York - October 16-17, 2007
A new generation is finding information not by searching at traditional search engines but rather through discovery at social media sites. Communities at these sites gather content, comment about it, vote on the best material and share their finds with others. Discover how to reach these communities in an appropriate and respectful manner.

SMX, Stockholm - October 31 - November 1, 2007
The Search Marketing Expo debuts in Europe with its inaugural SMX Stockholm event. Features sessions on organic and paid search. Sessions will be conducted by SEM experts and tailored to the needs of professionals in the market.

BlogWorld & New Media Expo, Las Vegas - November 8 & 9, 2007
The largest blogging conference in the world including more than 50 seminars, panel discussions and keynotes. If you are currently blogging, vlogging, podcasting, or producing other forms of new media content, then this is the most comprehensive blogging convention for you.

SMX, London - 15-16 November, 2007
The Search Marketing Expo is a two-day conference and expo. It will expose marketers to actionable search marketing tips and techniques, as well as the winning strategies for orchestrating campaigns and measuring results.

PubCon, Las Vegas - December 4-7, 2007
WebmasterWorld's Search & Internet Marketing Conference. Topics include Search, Web 2.0, Net Marketing, SEO/SEM, Affiliates, Domainers, Video, Multimedia.

SMX West, Santa Clara - February 26-28, 2008
The Search Marketing Expo is 3 days of educational sessions, keynotes and access to the leading vendors in search.

Daniel Moro has been successfully building online businesses for ten years. For direct links to these events and the latest internet business conferences, conventions and expos, along with a Free Report on '10 Remarkably Effective Traffic Building Techniques' visit http://www.DanielMoro.com/conferences.htm Daniel Moro may be contacted at http://www.DanielMoro.com

Music Industry Conferences
by Jaci Rae

Freelance Musicians' Association (FMA) http://www.freelancemusicians.org AFM Canadian Conference http://www.afmcc.org International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians http://www.icsom.org (ICSOM) http://ocsm-omosc.org Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians (OCSM) Recording Musicians Association (RMA) http://www.rmaweb.org Regional Orchestras Players' Association (ROPA) http://www.ropaweb.org Theater Musicians Association (TMA) http://www.afm-tma.org South by Southwest http://2007.sxsw.com/ CMJ Conferences http://www.cmj.com/ Millennium Music Conference http://musicconference.net/mmc11/ RockGirl Music Conference http://www.rockrgrl.com/ Winter Music Conference http://wintermusicconference.com/

Jaci Rae s grit and determination have brought her from an impoverished childhood to a career as an award-winning singer, No. 1 best-selling author and entrepreneur who tours around the world. Jaci is a music industry columnist as well as as the relationship advisor/expert/dating coach many top sites and a money saving expert.
Jaci Rae's latest book is, Shop for a Day with Jaci Rae  How to Get Almost Anything for Free. For more information Jaci Rae To find out where you can see / hear Jaci Rae Jaci Rae Tour Jaci Rae may be contacted at http://www.jacirae.com

Picking the Best Real Estate Conferences
by Rick LeForce

Going to conferences and meeting other Realtors is a great way to stay ahead of the industry learning curve, but not all events are created equally. Some will open your eyes to new marketing strategies and networking opportunities, and others will be a waste of time. It's common to see conferences billed as "The Real Estate Event of the Year," and necessarily some of these fall short.

So how do you ensure the next conference you go to is the event of the year? It's fairly straight forward, as long as you know what you want to learn, and who you want to meet.

Real estate conferences come in a wide variety of formats, from small weekly networking sessions to industry-wide events featuring a panel of the most successful brokers and marketing experts. Real Estate Connect, organized by Inman News once or twice per year, might be the industry's largest event. It takes place in major cities across the nation every eight months or so, and always covers a wide range of topics, such as search engine optimization, interactive marketing, and market forecasts. Real Estate Connect typically draws more than 1,200 industry professionals - it's so big that sub-conferences have been necessary in the past, so that attendees can network and share ideas exclusively on topics that interest them. The July 2007 edition of Real Estate Connect in San Francisco featured a sub-conference called Bloggers Connect, where the industry's top web-writers compared notes with each other and passed on skills to new bloggers for a couple days before the main event.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) also lends its name to regular high-profile conferences for industry professionals around the world. In Fall, 2007, NAR sponsored events in Hong Kong, Paris, Florida, Greece, Singapore, Sao Paulo, and Guateng, South Africa on topics as diverse as international trade, human rights, and global home market trends. The NAR events help some of the nation's brightest minds stay in touch with economic conditions abroad, and help put the domestic real estate market in perspective.

While Real Estate Connect and NAR events can usually be counted on for useful content, depending on what interests you, other high-profile conferences might not be as strong. Communicating on real estate forums and looking at previous events held by a particular company is a good way to find out which conferences will work best for you.

For Realtors based in large cities, trial and error might work for attending conferences, but for anyone who has to travel to an event, a little research can go a long way. Thankfully, most conferences produce extensive discussion before and after the fact, so there is usually a lot of information readily available.

Rick & Jennifer LeForce are experienced Peoria Arizona real estate professionals. Visit their website for local information, a Peoria real estate area home search, and buyer and seller resources. Rick LeForce may be contacted at http://www.personalizedhomesearch.com or articles@personalizedhomesearch.com

Promotional Conference Folders Aren t Just for Conferences Anymore
by Tina Rinaudo

Promotional conference folders are most often seen at -- what else -- conferences, but they're not just for conferences. The handy combination of a pocketed folder, portfolio, pad and pen holder makes them ideal for many different uses. If you buy a padfolio at an office supply store, you'll pay a pretty penny for them -- which is why they make very nice employee incentives and corporate gifts.

Promotional conference folders as employee incentives Who doesn't love a nice, quality piece of equipment? Padfolios, portfolios and conference folders have nearly taken the place of the ubiquitous briefcase for salesmen and associates on the run. If your employees have jobs that include a lot of meetings and conferences, a conference folder with room for all their gear is a more than welcome incentive. You can up the incentive value by including little extras -- a fully stocked promotional conference folder might include a high quality pen, business cards, calculator, USB drive and company cell phone -- all in their appropriate pockets. That should be incentive for anyone to do their best.

Promotional conference folders for meetings Why hand out loose agendas and informational handouts to your board of directors at monthly meetings? Promotional conference folders can be filled before each meeting with a copy of the agenda and any important paperwork or information for the night's meeting. If meetings frequently include calculations and figures, you might choose conference folders with a calculator pocket and fill it with a calculator. A pen is a must, of course. The idea is to make sure that each of your board members has everything that he or she might need during the course of the meeting. The folders can be collected at the end of the meeting and used again next month.

Promotional conference folders for marketing Are you prospecting for investors in a new company? You can make a very professional first impression when you deliver the prospectus and all related documents in a promotional conference folder imprinted with the project name. Using a high quality conference folder as a presentation folder hints at the exclusivity of the opportunity -- something you won't do if you choose cardboard presentation folders. When you're seeking funding for a new startup or business service, first impression is all important. A conference folder used as a promotional jacket will make that first impression count.

Promotional conference folders for sale Another way to make a profit using promotional conference folders is to sell them. Many of the big boys in the stationery and office supply industry now brand their own portfolios and conference folders and sell them in their stores. School stores and other retail outlets are ideal outlets for branded items like conference folders. Choose one or two styles to stock, and have them printed with your school crest, company logo or brand name. They're especially appropriate for secretarial schools, IT schools and other informational and service seminars and educational institutions.

If you're not certain which promotional conference folders are the best for your needs, you can get great advice from representatives of promotional products companies who know their products well.

Tina Rinaudo is one of the leading lights in the UK promotional products industry. Tina is a key member of YesGifts, the UK's fastest growing online promotional items resource specialising in promotional pens, mugs, mouse mats, umbrellas, conference items and much more. For more information please visit www.yesgifts.co.uk. Tina Rinaudo may be contacted at

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