Behind the Curtain: Rio Olympics

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While planning events (and sometimes even attending them) can feel like an Olympic accomplishment, our day-to-day events can't hold a torch to the history, pomp, and complexity of the actual Olympics. This year's summer games take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 5-24 and will mark the first time a South American country has hosted the games.[Tweet "Behind the Curtain: Rio Olympics #GovEventsBlog"]

The bay that Rio sits on is one of the most recognizable features and in fact was the inspiration for naming the city. Legend says that Portuguese explorers, who landed in present day Rio in January 1502, mistook the bay for the mouth of a river. They named the area Rio de Janeiro ("River of January"). The iconic Christ the Redeemer statue that looks over the bay is the largest Art Deco statue in the world but only the fifth largest Jesus statue. Continue reading →

Using Events to Counter the Challenge of Long Procurement Cycles

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Market Connections recently released a study on the marketing practices of Federal Government Contractors. Here at GovEvents we were excited to see some great feedback on the use and effectiveness of events in the marketing mix.

The study took the pulse of the contracting community by surveying 200 government contractors occupying various roles within their respective companies. In terms of marketing, the study found that the long government procurement cycle was the top challenge for marketers and business developers to overcome in reaching government buyers. The study also identified some key marketing tools that have helped contractors use the cycle advantageously.[Tweet "The study identified some key marketing tools that helped #government contractors. #GovEventsBlog"]

The use of thought leadership programs was ranked as the most effective marketing tool by a majority of contractors surveyed (75%), and events are a big part of this mix. The second most effective method cited was specific to event strategy. A large percentage of respondents (71%) reported that speaking at industry-wide tradeshows and conferences was a highly effective strategy for their companies. But it's not just big events that get results. When the data was sliced to look at the responses of executives, "speaking at smaller events" proved to be high ranking in terms of effectiveness.  Hosting events also ranked high with 66% of total respondents saying that vendor-hosted events were an effective marketing strategy.[Tweet "Vendor-hosted events were an effective #govcon marketing strategy. #GovEventsBlog"] Continue reading →

Unconventional Facts About Conventions: Democratic Convention

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We continue our look at interesting facts about conventions past and present. The Democrats are the focus of today's post, with their convention slated for July 25-27 in Philadelphia, PA.

While the Democratic candidates' delegate counts heading into the conventions may not be as close as the Republicans', a nominee still needs to have at least 2,383 delegates out of 4,765 to secure the nomination. What gets a bit complicated is the Democratic Party's use of superdelgates, as they are not bound to align their votes with the outcome of a state's primary or caucus. While this seems counter intuitive to the democratic process, it actually falls in line with what the founding fathers envisioned. The Constitution originally allowed only state legislatures to elect U.S. senators until passage of the 17th Amendment. This was seen as part of our system of checks and balances to protect against votes of the "uneducated masses."  Continue reading →

Unconventional Facts About Conventions: Republican Convention

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The 2016 Democratic and Republican conventions look to be full of drama and historical significance. With the wild election cycle this year, we were inspired to look beyond the basics and find some interesting facts about how these conventions are organized and how they run.[Tweet "We were inspired to find some interesting facts about the GOP convention. #GovEventsBlog"]

Cleveland and Philadelphia will play host to the Republicans and Democrats respectively. For host cities, besides the revenue brought in by the influx of conventioneers, the convention provides an opportunity to highlight what their town has to offer to an international audience. Selection committees look at a number of factors when choosing host cities including available venues and infrastructure. In fact, Baltimore hosted many of the early conventions because it was an accessible port on the eastern seaboard. With the arrival of the transcontinental railroad system, the Midwest became a more viable location and has remained popular. In fact, Chicago has hosted Democratic and Republican conventions 25 times - more than any other city. Continue reading →

How Venues are Changing to Meet Event Needs

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Each day there is a new article out talking about how the meeting and event industry is changing. From use of social media, to the growth of virtual events, to attendee and sponsor budget constraints, the meetings industry has embraced change as the new normal. As part of the industry, hotels and event venues are also making some changes in what they offer to event planners and attendees.

Below we share some of the more interesting changes or enhancements venues are making to entice planners and attendees alike. [Tweet "Interesting enhancements venues are making to entice event planners and attendees #GovEventsBlog"]

  • Social Media Manager - The Hilton Anatole Hotel, near downtown Dallas, TX is offering a social media manager to support the social media efforts of event organizers. At the Hilton, this role includes doing social media for the property as well as providing social media strategy and tools to people using the property for events.
  • Light - This may seem like a really minor thing, but traditionally natural light has been hard to come by for events. Windowless ballrooms may be great for projecting to screens, but as events veer towards more collaborative sessions rather than power point- heavy presentations, the use of natural light becomes logistically desirable. New facilities are building meeting spaces with views that can inspire creativity or at the very least help attendees better gauge what time it is.[Tweet "New facilities are building meeting spaces with windows and views. #GovEventsBlog"]
  • Wellness - Hotels are offering more healthy and sustainable catering options including more spa-like food and drink choices. Water stations are being set up rather than offering all attendees bottled waters. Event planners can also add on extra perks for guests like the "Sleep Advantage Program" at the Crowne Aire Plaza in Bloomington, MN which offers upgraded bedding and aromatherapy kits for guests.
  • Technology - The network capacity of a venue is quickly becoming a discriminating factor. Hotels and conference centers alike are upgrading their technology infrastructure to offer fast WiFi that can accommodate all attendees using it on multiple devices.[Tweet "The network capacity of a venue is quickly becoming a discriminating factor. #GovEventsBlog"]
  • Flexible Spaces - Venues need to offer more than a massive room to house attendees for keynote presentations. More and more hotels and conference centers are taking care to build in smaller spaces designed to facilitate collaboration and small group discussion.

We'd love to hear from you what are some of the newer amenities you see offered by venues? How are they impacting where you hold events?