“This partnership brings together the resources and brand power of two highly successful events to provide an even better experience for our attendees — from UMA’s operators to NTA’s travel packages, not to mention hotels, attractions, destinations, restaurants and all those who service dynamic group travel markets — everyone will benefit,” says Victor S. Parra, UMA president and CEO.

The NTA and UMA first partnered in 2007 when collaborating on each associations annual event. Since then, the UMA has managed the motorcoach exhibits at the NTA’s Convention and NTA has handled the destinations and attractions aisle at the UMA’s Motorcoach Expo.

“The decision to file a lawsuit will hurt the interest of millions of travelers and tourism workers in Florida,” says Andrew Weinstein, spokesman for the Washington-based Industry Travel Services Association. “It will make it more expensive for visitors to come to the state.

The Florida lawsuit claims Expedia and Orbitz have failed to pay the state the full amount of taxes collected on hotel room rentals through their sites and are keeping taxes as profit. Cities and states believe they’re being cheated out of million of dollars in tax revenue when online travel companies charge consumers more than hotels are being reimbursed, allowing them to pocket service fees. Expedia issued a statement denying the allegations saying the lawsuit is “meritless and does nothing but detract from our efforts to bring visitors to Florida.”

“China is one of the most dynamic, exciting and important countries in the world, and this approval marks a very significant milestone for The Walt Disney Company,” says Robert A. Iger.

The park will include a Magic Kingdom-style theme park with characteristics tailored to the Shanghai region and occupy more land than any other Disney park in the world.

Meetings Innovation offers adaptive space suitable for travelers accustomed to less formal, more flexible meetings. The design of the space is based on feedback from meeting planners and allows smaller, more collaborative discussions.

Sheraton Boston’s second meetings offering, Alive on Five is dedicated to environmental and social responsibility. The concept is a green alternative to traditional corporate meetings with sustainable menus, ergonomic workspaces, recycled paper products and carbon credits. Sheraton Boston partnered with Native Energy to establish carbon neutrality for Alive on Five.

“Sixty-seven Days of Smiles was a new milestone for the Orlando CVB as we dove into social media head first by bringing Kyle and Stacey on board to tell Orlando’s story in a way that had never been done before,” says Gary Sain, Orlando CVB president and CEO. “Through the eyes of this fun-loving pair, thousands not only learned more about what Orlando offers, but really became engaged and connected, which is what social media is all about.”

The Orlando CVB created the Smile Ambassador positions to launch its social media sites and showcase the diversity of experiences Orlando has to offer. The positions were billed as the year’s top social media job by applicant.com.

As the largest Hyatt property in the world, Hyatt Regency Chicago features 2,019 guestrooms, 228,000 square feet of meetings and event space, and six restaurants and lounges. The nomination process for the Workplace Excellence Award included site visits by the chamber’s selection committee, which included a team meeting with various managers and associates questioning what it’s like to work at the hotel.

Not sure what H1N1 means when it comes to your meeting? Join the crowd. While news reports seem to spread panic about the pandemic, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and medical experts advise a calmer, more sensible response. For meeting planners, this means:

1. Know the facts.
2. Develop a plan.
3. Share the facts.

Dr. Jonathan Spero with InHouse Physicians broke these points down in a Webinar presented by Meeting Professionals International (MPI).

The facts:
• H1N1 is a pandemic by definition only, not because it is highly deadly, which it is not. It is a new virus so there is limited immunity (mainly in those people over 55-60 years old). It is highly contagious, because it can spread easily from person-to-person (as opposed to the deadlier avian flu, which is not contagious). It has spread globally.

• The symptoms are similar to seasonal influenza, though 20 percent of those afflicted have no fever). The death rate is low (1-5 out of 1,000; same as with seasonal flu. Avian flu had a 60% death rate or six out of 10 people afflicted). Where H1N1 differs from seasonal flu is that the elderly have some immunity and the highest rate of complications and hospitalizations are in the young.

• It has raised alarm because of the potential to infect a large percentage of the population, which could severely impair the public health system and the economy, and because it can mutate.

So what can you do?

Develop a 2-part plan, detailing prevention procedures and contingency plans, and make sure you communicate with senior management and event sponsors:

• Assess the risk — the physical risk to your attendees, which in most cases will be low, except to pregnant participants, and the financial risk to the business of the event, e.g., people dropping out, sick attendees needing to change travel arrangements, etc.

• Put basic prevention measures in place. Make sure there is easy access to plenty of hand sanitizers onsite (order self-dispensing stands, not touch dispensers). If possible, ask venue manager to wipe down high-contact surfaces in all common spaces daily.

• Deliver pre-conference information to attendees: If they are sick, stay home. If someone in the household is sick, stay home.

• Develop your monitoring and reporting system. How will you notify people if there is an outbreak? Dr. Spero suggests you carry out a tabletop exercise with all staff and stakeholders, e.g.. “We have a key meeting in January. What are we going to do if there is an outbreak of H1N1 at the meeting?”

• Determine what your policies and procedures will be for managing ill attendees. How will you handle social distancing? (CDC currently recommends up to 5 days isolation.) How will you deal with privacy issues? (Dr. Spero advises planners to involve HR early, if possible, as these managers are familiar with HIPAA privacy laws.) How will you make arrangements for extending room nights and changing transportation schedules?

• Put a medical treatment plan in place. The emergency room is not going to be your best default procedure, says Dr. Spero, who predicts emergency rooms are going to be a nightmare this winter, with hundreds of sick people contributing to waits of more than six hours and the further spread of the virus. “They’ll be expensive petri dishes,” he says.

• Hotels may be able to help with advance plans as many have been proactive in developing procedures for sick guests and have sophisticated pandemic systems in place that include food handlers and room staff.

For meetings of more than 400-500 attendees, Dr. Spero recommends extra steps, mainly having a vendor on property that can provide support for those who fall ill.

More information is available from the CDC. For background information, visit cdc.gov/flu/. For current status updates, visit cdc.gov/H1N1flu/.

When 290 meeting planners and more than 500 suppliers gather in a city for multiple room nights, there’s bound to be an economic stimulus. According to the Greater Birmingham CVB, the 2009 Rejuvenate Marketplace generated $704,000 in visitor spending in Birmingham, Ala., Oct. 28-30. But there was also a contribution of another kind — 100 bikes and trikes were donated to the Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM).

The build-a-bike service project booth, sponsored by Visit Milwaukee, was open throughout the three-day conference. Conventioneers took time out of their busy appointment schedules to assemble the training wheels for the bikes, gifts for lucky children selected by GBM, an interfaith organization dedicated to bringing faith communities together to serve the less fortunate.

“Greater Birmingham Ministries is very appreciative that Rejuvenate chose us,” says Rose Jones, direct service chair of the ministry. “The bikes you donated and put together will go to make many children happy at Christmas. May God bless and keep you all.”

Jones enjoys working for the GBM’s Direct Services branch, which provides clothes, food, emergency financial services and Christmas assistance to those in need.

“We’ve received 250 applications for Christmas assistance this year and the bikes will be used to fill those requests,” she says. “During our intake for holiday assistance I spoke to many people that had never asked for assistance and were broken hearted that they had to now. The children who will receive the bikes come from hardworking, loving families that are just trying to make ends meet. They have mothers that just want their children to have a nice Christmas like other children.”

Jones is inspired by people who are committed to the cause of the needy and considers it a pleasure to work beside people at GBM. “They really care and that’s not something you can pay a person to do,” she says. “They are people of faith who are dedicated to seeing things change for the better. The Bible says that he who does the least does also unto God. I believe that and I know that my coworkers do as well.”

View the service-project slideshow on Flickr.

Checkout planners and suppliers in action on the tradeshow floor in our Photo Gallery.

Planning meetings and events is a challenging job that keeps growing. Budgeting skills are more important than ever in the current economic environment, but marketing has taken on a new dimension with social media now an essential part of the meetings mix. While many planners for faith-based conferences do not have industry certification, they are exceptionally motivated and informed, driven as much by a commitment to fulfill the mission of their organizations as the demands of their job. And, like other meeting planners, they face an increasing emphasis on meeting effectiveness and return on objectives and investments.

Professional industry groups continue to expand their education programs. Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and the Convention Industry Council (CIC) have joined together to upgrade the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation to ensure it encompasses increasing performance expectations and expand it from a North American to a global standard.

“Enhancing the relevance and global availability of the CMP program is a critical next step in the ongoing development of the meeting and events industry,” said Bruce MacMillan, president and CEO of MPI.  “As meeting and event professionals face increasing challenges to deliver elevated performance results, MPI believes it is imperative to invest in the future of our professionals and the contribution they make to global business …”

Getting in on the game, the National Business Travel Association launched its Strategic Meetings Management Certification (SMMC) this week with classes at Emory University in Atlanta.

“The business community has enthusiastically adopted the concept of strategic meetings management, first developed by the NBTA Groups & Meetings Committee more than five years ago,” said NBTA President & CEO Craig Banikowski, CCTE, CMP, CMM. “When NBTA members and meeting professionals came to us seeking a professional development program to help advance this maturing concept, we listened and got right on it. Now, after much dedication from the SMMC task force and industry thought leaders, the program is complete and ready for its first registrants.”

The SMMC program consists of two core weeks and elective classes. The curriculum is designed to drive further development of accepted best practices, lead to creative new “next-practices,” and enhance communication and leadership skills in developing and implementing meeting policies, workflows and technologies. Upon completion of the course, graduates will earn the SMMC designation, indicating a proficiency in strategic meetings management.

Meeting planning is identified as a growing career by the U.S. Labor Department. How much pressure these new programs will put on meeting planners overall to prove their industry credentials remains to be seen. Whatever the outcome, we remain impressed with the performance of the 300 faith-based planners we met last week, many of whom did not carry the “CMP” designation after their name — maybe because they answer to a higher authority.

Additional information on the Convention Industry Council and the CMP program can be found at conventionindustry.org.

For more information on the SMMC course from NBTA, visit nbta.org.