Here’s how to earn your CEU hour. Test Time CERTIFICATION MADE POSSIBLE
Once you finish reading this CMP Series article, read the following article from a previous issue of Convene: “Meetamorphosis,” in which 16 experts inside and outside the industry explain what innovations they would like to see applied to meetings and conventions: http://bit.ly/ckAPNv.
Then, to earn one hour of CEU credit toward your CMP®, visitwww.pcma.org/convenecmp to answer questions about the material contained in these two articles.
THE CERTIFIED MEETING PROFESSIONAL (CMP) IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF THE CONVENTION INDUSTRY COUNCIL.
The APA Coffee Shop offeredfree break- fast, coffee, andWi-Fi in the exhibit hall.
Cathy Nash, CMP, APA’s director of meetings, has what could be described as a passion for continuous improvement. “What do you have to lose by trying new things to increase atten- dance at your meeting and in the exhibit hall?” Nash said. “If you aren’t moving for- ward and keeping your meeting on the cutting edge, then your attendees will tire of the same old thing and stop coming.” In the past year, Nash and her team
have tried out a variety of new ideas: Giving back. For APA’s 2010 Annual Meeting, held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, an “APA Gives Back” program gave attendees the oppor- tunity to make a donation to a local char- ity—the New Orleans Mission—as part of the registration process. “It was easy to do,” Nash said, “and makes peo- ple feel good about attending the meeting and giving back to the community, with- out squeezing the schedule.” APA raised $7,000 for the charity, which serves the homeless population in New Orleans, and plans to repeat the program at its
2011 AnnualMeeting in Hawaii. APA Coffee Shop. At the 2010 Institute on Psychiatric Services (IPS), held at the Boston Marriott Copley Place, Nash and her team tried out a new initiative in the exhibit hall that was so successful they plan to reprise it for the 2011 AnnualMeeting. They created a
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lounge set up like a coffeehouse, with sofas, free breakfast, and little “pods” with charging stations for cellphones and laptops. Fitness pavilion. This year’s IPS also included a fitness pavilion featuring Nin- tendo’sWii Fit game; other fitness- and health- related items will be added to the exhibit hall at next year’s AnnualMeeting. Nash said: “It will give attendees the opportunity to play against each other and release a little stress.” Food vouchers. Another new initiative to drive traffic to the exhibit hall next year will be to give each paid registrant a coupon good for purchases in the exhibit hall’s food court. The vouchers have severaladvantages over a reception, Nash said, including eliminating the problem of not knowing how many peo- ple are going to show up, and the danger of running out of food. An added bonus is that APA can tally up the number of redeemed coupons for a precise accounting of how many attendees the promotion brought to the exhibit hall. E-newsletter. APA’s meetings team has cre- ated a specialized electronic newsletter just for the 2011 AnnualMeeting, to be sent to APA members and posted to the organization’s website every six weeks. The newsletter will highlight various educational and leisure events, as well as new initiatives at the meeting —all in an effort to increase interest and boost registration. —Barbara Palmer