HSMAI University Audio

Vicky A. Betzig, CMP is the President and Owner of Meetings Industry Consulting. Her company provides meeting and convention management services as well as a wide range of consulting for meetings and hospitality companies. Her expertise and experience of more than 24 years in the industry make her a sought-after consultant, speaker and trainer. Formerly the vice president of a leading third-party meeting management and consulting company, Vicky headed the company’s meeting, convention, tradeshow and event management team.

Vicky is active in meetings industry organizations, having served on the Boards of Directors for the Greater Midwest Chapter of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), and for both the Chicago and Wisconsin chapters of Meeting Professionals International (MPI). Vicky has received numerous industry awards, including the prestigious Planner of the Year Award twice – from MPI chapters in both Wisconsin and Chicago, as well as the 2004 Co-Author of the Year award from PCMA and the 2006 Robert J. Donovan Award from the Greater Midwest Chapter of PCMA.

This interview gives highlights of her presentation at HSMAI's Affordable Meetings National, Sept. 9-10, 2009 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington DC, "Tricks of the Trade: The Magic of Successful On-Site Meeting Management." It also touches on how to establish cost controls in the area of food and beverage, including quantity and guarantee controls, menu planning, and negotiating.

For more information, visit www.affordablemeetings.com.

The search engine landscape is continually changing and so is the impact of SEO on event marketing. One thing that remains constant is the continuing exponential increase in online information competing with the essentially finite attention span of your target audience.  Increasing the visibility of your event online, through search engine optimization and social media marketing, are keys to attracting attendees and creating a sustainable event.  Each step of your online footprint creates a path to enhance event attendance and increase profitability. 

This interview gives highlights of his presentation at HSMAI's Affordable Meetings National, Sept. 9-10, 2009 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington DC. For more information, visit www.affordablemeetings.com.  

David Serino, e-Strategist/Founder, Gammet Interactive is a travel, tourism and hospitality industry veteran who has leveraged Internet technologies to drive the sales and marketing process for the past 15 years. Prior to founding Gammet Interactive in 2000, Dave held sales and marketing positions at resort hotels and convention and visitors bureaus. An Internet pioneer, he deployed his first website in 1995. To-date, his organization has served clients in all sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. Dave has presented educational sessions at more than 60 travel industry conferences.

Mike Song is one of America’s leading experts on email and meeting effectiveness. His best-selling business productivity book, The Hamster Revolution, has sold over 125,000 copies and has been translated into 11 languages. A sought-after corporate trainer, consultant, and keynote speaker, Mike has helped millions of professionals save time, reduce stress, and get more done. Mike’s has been interviewed by CNN, Good Morning America, NPR, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Entrepreneur, Inc., The Washington Post and the New York Times. His clients include industry leaders such as CapitalOne, Pfizer, GE, P&G, Novartis, Fox, Sprint, General Mills, and HP. They know firsthand how Mike combines hard-hitting research, humorous stories, and hundreds of best practices to produce results. He is co-founder and CEO of Cohesive Knowledge Solutions. His second book, The Hamster Revolution for Meetings was published in June of 2009. 

This interview gives highlights of his presentation at HSMAI's Affordable Meetings National, Sept. 9-10, 2009 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington DC. For more information, visit www.affordablemeetings.com.  

It may seem that all the news out there about the hospitality industry is bad. Not so. HSMAI Marketing Review contributor and one of the world's foremost futurists Marvin Cetron, Ph.D, gives a fresh outlook on where we're headed in this interviewed based on his special bonus HSMAI Marketing Review article: "The Bad News & Good News About Hospitality Today." 

Go to http://www.hsmaimarketingreview.org for more information. 

Bill Carroll, a senior lecturer at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration where he teaches courses in economics, yield management, pricing and marketing distribution, is interviewed by Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) President & CEO Robert A. Gilbert. The subject is the evolution of online distribution and the dramatic changes that are taking place in revenue management and travel Internet marketing.  Carroll will be the moderator at the HSMAI Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference, June 25 in Anaheim, CA, in conjunction with HITEC, where this subject will be explored in even greater depth. For details, go to http://hsmai.org/Events/event.cfm?id=1525