​On today's podcast we talk with Janee Pelletier, MBA, CMP, DES of Conference & Logistics Consultants about her educational session at the upcoming CMP Conclave in Baltimore.  

Her session, "Budget-Driven Meeting Planning: Contracts, Expenses and Your Career" is a terrific overview of how planners can look at their events with a budgetary perspective at the forefront of their thinking.  Flawless logistics are no longer the measure of a successful meeting.  And, with a greater focus in organizations on the budgetary side of an event; to progress your career and be more valuable to your company, you need to be able to work comfortably within the budget realm.

Janee will offer practical advice she's found for cost savings, as well as guidance for setting up a budget template and making well considered projections of possible variable expense areas of your event.  There's still time to join us in Baltimore at the CMP Conclave, September 16-18.

​On today's podcast we talk with Carol Norfleet, MBA, CMP, DMCP of Destination Nashville about her pre-conferece session at the upcoming CMP Conclave in Baltimore.  Carol's session is a workshop that will bring together planner and supplier CMP's to begin the process of revising the legacy documents of APEX that need to be refreshed and updated.

APEX is an initiative of the CIC that promotes the development and implementation of industry-wide accepted practices to create and enhance efficiency throughout the meetings and events industry.  It's vital that the APEX be updated to maintain it's relevancy and usefulness.  Amongst the topics to be considered in the session are: Event Specification Guide, Housing & Registration Guide, Site Profiles Guide and Post Event Reporting Guide.

​There's still time to join us in Baltimore for the annual CMP Conclave on September 16-18!

​Our guest today on the podcast is Jim Clarke, CAE; the Senior Vice President, Public Policy at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).  Jim's will be leading a session at the upcoming CMP Conclave in Baltimore called: "Meetings in the Crosshairs - Current Legislation and issues affecting your events."  We previewed some of the major issues that he will cover in the session and bring some attention to topics that have the potential to significantly effect the meetings industry.  

First up we look at a proposed overtime rule revision that will go into effect on December first of this year and impact organizations nationally by changing the salary level of exempt employees.  There's a potential compromise bill that could alter this rule and it's very important that as an industry we let our representatives know of our support.  To that end, and as mentioned in the podcast, here's a link to find your Congressional Representative: United States House of Representatives

We also discussed recent ASAE Board Policy enacted on the subject of Diversity and Inclusion as it relates to our industry and actions like recently passes RFRA laws in some states.

Lastly, we touched on recent progress for easing federal rules regarding attendance of federal employees to meetings.

​Each of these topics has significant impact on the meetings and events industry.  If you're interested in learning more, you can attend Jim's session at the CMP Conclave in Baltimore coming up later this month.  If you can't attend you can learn more about the work ASAE is doing on our behalf at their site: The Power of A.  You can also find out specific ways to become more involved in advocating and advancing our industry. 

On today's edition of the podcast we talk with Dr. Jan Roy of Kaplan University about her session slated for the CMP Conclave in Baltimore next month.  She'll be looking at a terrific area for self-improvement and career advancement.  

"The Importance of Soft Skill Competencies for Meeting Professionals" will help attendees better understand the area of soft skills and how it's an area of growing importance within organizations and an individuals potential to advance their career.  Her focus will be on the leadership aspects of soft skills and some of the ways that attendees can better understand and develop them.
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There's still time to join us at the CMP Conclave in Baltimore on September 16-18.  You can learn more here:  CMP Conclave.

As event planners and suppliers we are all aware of evolving threats that can impact our venues and attendees.  The industry has never established a uniform set of international standards for safety and security.  To address that need, the international Secure Venue Standard is being developed in collaboration with a number of industry organizations.

Paul Bridle and Vicki Hawarden will lead a session at the upcoming CMP Conclave in Baltimore to review the importance of standards in this critical area, then break into smaller groups to provide feedback on how the proposed standards can bets meet the needs of the industry.

​They join me on the podcast today to preview their session and talk about the vital role that providing a safe and secure environment for our attendees and guests plays in planning any event.  If you're attending the CMP Conclave you should plan to attend this session and assure that your concerns and needs are met by the proposed standards.

Internet access at venues is a topic that causes significant challenges for planners.  In this smart device connected age, attendees carry multiple devices and expect constant access and high speeds wherever they go.  Internet access is not longer an option and free is not always the best answer.

We spent some time talking with Michael Owen of Eventgenuity and he gave us a preview of his upcoming session scheduled for the CMP Conclave in Baltimore.  We cover not just the nuts and bolts of internet access, but some specific areas for planners to begin to improve their results from HSIA (high speed internet access).

We also spent some time talking about APEX and the many free tools and information available to planners to help them begin to speak a common language with their vendors about bandwidth and much, much more.  Here's a direct link to the APEX Bandwidth page: APEX Bandwidth & Connectivity 

You can register for the CMP Conclave here: CMP Conclave
And you can learn more about APEX and the information provided there via this link: APEX