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Meeting planners advisory council meets

Members of the ConventionPlanit.com Meeting Planner Advisory Council met for a strategic planning retreat at the Washington Hilton, which is near completion of a property-wide renovation. Participants included (back row, left to right) Ashley Spitzer; Debra Carter; David Markham; Katherine Markham, CHME; Maureen Pickell (all of ConventionPlanit.com), Walter Holtsmaster of International Destinations; Madelaine Morgan, CMP, of the American Gear Manufacturers Association; and Mike Tringale, MSM, of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Shown in the front row are Al Rickard, CAE, of Association Vision; Windy Christner, CMP, of the American Pharmacists Association; Julio Rodriguez, CMP, of the Binge Eating Disorder Association; Betti Kelso of Patriot Meetings and Management; Jeffrey Wood of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; Jane Berzan of JMB Business Solutions; Lin Campanile of ADI Meetings & Events; and Barry Zidel of Meeting Connections.

Meeting professionals guide direction ConventionPlanet.com

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — As they work with various suppliers in the meetings industry, many meeting professionals have no doubt said to themselves, “I wish I could help shape this service so it can help me even more in my business.”
 
That wish came true recently for members of the ConventionPlanit.com Meeting Planner Advisory Council, which spent a half day brainstorming about the popular online search engine and recommending ways to make it even more effective.
 
The meeting was held at the newly renovated Heights Executive Meeting Center in the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC. The hotel’s $140 million renovation will be completed by June 1, 2010.

“This group of high-level meeting professionals actually created the structure and features of ConventionPlanit.com when we launched it in 2003,” said ConventionPlanit.com Principal and Co-Founder Katherine Markham, CHME. “For example, they told us they wanted a registration-free and commission-free search directory, so that’s the business model we used to build the site from the beginning.”

Their original wish list also included a desire to make ConventionPlanit.com a powerful industry portal filled with resources such as meeting industry best practices, templates and checklists for doing business, ideas from fellow planners, industry news, links to industry organizations and publications, and more.

As ConventionPlanit.com evolved, input from the Council helped drive the addition of more popular features such as the RFP ValetTM service, the 24-Hour RFP Response Guarantee, interactive destination maps, and a blog for discussing industry issues.

ConventionPlanit.com also publishes a biweekly e-Alert e-newsletter that reports on industry news and provides useful resources.

Meeting Planner Advisory Council Members who participated included:

Jane Berzan, CAE — President —  JMB Business Solutions

Lin Campanile —  Vice President of Sales —  ADI Meetings & Events

Windy Christner, CMP — Senior Director, Meetings & Exposition —  American Pharmacists Association

Walter Holtsmaster — Managing Director — International Destinations, Inc.

Betti Kelso — President— Patriot Meetings and Management, LLC

Madelaine Morgan, CMP— Director of Meetings— American Gear Manufacturers Association

Ruth Murphy — Senior Technical Advisor for Scientific Meetings— U.S. Department of State

Julio Rodriguez, CMP— Director of Marketing and Conference— Binge Eating Disorder Association, Inc

Mike Tringale, M.S.M— Director of Marketing & Communications— Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

Jeffrey Wood — Director of Meetings— American Institute of Chemical Engineers

Barry Zidel — Owner— Meeting Connections Inc.

“The camaraderie and chemistry among this group was amazing, and the recommendations they developed will be extremely useful,” Markham said. “They gave us the real-life user perspectives that we need to make it better. For example, they told us what features they really like and use regularly so we can display them more prominently on the home page. They also gave us ideas for new signature events and industry reports we can develop to benefit the industry.”

Designed by meeting professionals as an efficient registration-free online search directory, ConventionPlanit.com is a popular website that quickly refines searches to identify suitable destinations, facilities, and service providers. ConventionPlanit.com connects buyers with sellers and there are no commissions or third party fees.