Signage for the Budget Minded

We all have clients who are very careful about how money is spent on their signage. We have done everything from large banners and foam core signs to an inexpensive slip-in sign holder. In many cases we have done a combinations of all these options for one client.

If you are looking for an inexpensive way to produce signs for your client try using slip-in sign holders. We use commercially produced sign holders from PC Nametag. These holders are 16X20 inches with a vinyl pocket that holds 8 ½ x 11 inch paper. In addition to having the signs in multiple colors, they also have one that is a large red arrow with the vinyl pocket. The signs are inexpensive and we used our first set almost 10 years. Although we have lost some to shipping, the wind, and even once to a lawn mower, these signs still fill many of our signage needs. We now have a large portfolio case that we use to ship the sign holders to our events and that has increased their survival rate.

The key to making these sign holders look like they belong to the event is the consistency of the message on the insert. The logo and name of the conference needs to be large enough to be recognizable from a distance. Once attendees key into the signs being a part of their event, they know to look for them and the information they convey, either in terms of what is happening in a meeting room, or directions to difficult to find rooms. The vinyl pocket allows room for multiple pieces of paper so, for each session, the old sign can come out and the next page is ready with the new information.

These portable sign holders can be used either landscape or portrait. Sometimes we have arrived on site with our signage produced portrait style to find that the only way an arrow will work is landscape. We have learned to bring some of each style and/or produce new ones on site. We always have the template for our signs with us in case we need to make changes to the information, such a new speaker or a cancellation.

Another cost savings tool we use focuses on the large foam core signs. We set them up to allow for the customization of information by having generic general signage with space to place a smaller sign, attached with Velcro, that makes the sign specific to an event. Our inserts are usually 2-3 inches in height and the width of the sign, though they can be done at any size you need for your functions. The same sign or series of signs can be used to welcome attendees, direct them to a reception or a luncheon, and they can often be moved to off-site events and customized accordingly. We even have had red arrows made for our signs to convert them to directional signs. For local events, the large signs can be reused each year, providing the basic information and design is generic enough.

We find that using these combinations of signs has represented a significant cost savings for our client. The slip-in signs and the inserts for the foam core signs are inexpensive, representing a significant cost savings over custom signs for our clients’ events.

~ Linda Begbie • Executive Director and Meeting Planner, RDL enterprises

A New Way to Do Business with the Federal Government

As meeting, conference and event planners, it is always a challenge to find ways to work with the Federal Government. The newest strategy we have seen in requests for quotes has been for NO COST contracting. This means that the planner is required to recoup all of the costs incurred in planning the event, usually including the meeting site costs. This is done through registration, exhibitor, and sponsor fees. The challenge is to determine reasonableness in building a budget based on anticipated costs and projected income, including no charge to government employees. This is, of course, much easier when you have a meeting that will draw your anticipated number of attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors. Sometimes the government gives you a range of attendees, which is another challenge for budgeting.

I know the government agencies are looking for ways to save money, but we must caution ourselves, not to lose money in the process of contracting with the government. One of the recent bids we did required no more than a 10% profit to the contractor. In building a budget, that is easy to project, in reality I am not sure how that works.

We find this to be a new and interesting trend. We have seen it in the private sector for a long time, but now the government is engaging in this practice, without a full understanding of the consequences. When bidding, you don’t have a contract with a meeting site, an audio-visual vendor, a drayage company, or a caterer. This means that much of what you use to determine a registration fee to propose to the government is based on your experience and best guesses as you are projecting costs.

We will keep you posted on how this trend as we continue in our efforts to work with the Federal Government.

~ Linda Begbie • Executive Director, RDL enterprises

A real paperless meeting

In today’s meeting environment we are all looking for ways to be digital friendly. Do we use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or do we look for ways to really use our electronic resources? I have been researching the use of smart phones and tablets by attendees as they prepare to attend an event and while they are on-site...

In my research, I have found applications that can be customized by the planner and allows the attendee to log in and gets all the most up to date information about the event. It can include:

Customized logos
Conference Agenda
Speakers
Map of the meeting site
Exhibitors
Map of the exhibit hall
Special Events
Evaluations
Links to social marketing for the event
Last minute changes to the program

Some events are using Bar Code or QR Code Readers that allows planners to embed a barcode with the confirmation information and email it to the attendee. The attendee can print the confirmation with the barcode, or they can scan it directly from their smart phone. They just needed to scan the code on a Barcode or QR Reader and they get a nametag printed. If the attendee has not registered, they can do so on site and get a bar code generated at that time. The QR Reader could also be used as a sign in for attendees registered for continuing education or special events.
This gives the planner immediate feedback as to who is actually in attendance.

The possibilities are limitless and we have only to challenge our creative minds to find ways to move into the paperless meeting environment.

~ Linda Begbie • Executive Director, RDL enterprises

Women Owned Small Business in the Government Market

You may have heard that the Federal Government has really put an effort into getting contracts into the hands of women-owned small businesses. In February of this year, they formalized their certifications so that women-owned businesses are now required to go through a certification process. You can qualify as a Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) or an Economically Disadvantaged Woman Owned Small Business (EDWOSB). The difference is not money, but whether or not your NAICS code (code that the government uses to identify your business type) is underrepresented or significantly underrepresented. Meeting Planning Services are significantly underrepresented so we qualify as an EDWOSB.

If you are registered with the government as a contractor, then go to the SBA login. If you are not registered, go to https://eweb.sba.gov/gls and set up an account. It is populated with the information from your Federal registration with CCR and ORCA. It is on this site that you get the information regarding what is required to qualify as a WOSB. You can upload the required information, or if you are already certified by one of the very few approved certifying organizations, (ours was WBENC) you can upload the certificate. You also have a form to complete. Once you have completed your paperwork, then go to CCR/ORCA and update your status.

I have not seen much in the way of Federal agencies doing set-asides for WOSB, but I keep hearing it will be happening in this next fiscal year. We certainly are hoping that we benefit from this new program. If you have any questions about how we got our certification and/or I can direct you to where you need to go to get started, please feel free to email me at Linda@RDLent.com.

~ Linda Begbie • Executive Director, RDL enterprises

Things we have learned since getting onto the Federal GSA Schedule

It has been quite the learning curve, figuring out the best ways to market to the Federal Government, as well as learning how the GSA process works. Here are some of the things we have learned so far…

1. You do get to see bid opportunities prior to the general public, although sometimes they have a short turn around time
2. Your questions often get answered immediately
3. You still have no guarantee of winning the bid
4. You can still ask for a debrief if you are not awarded the bid
5. If you have a positive relationship with a contracting officer and the bid is less than $15,000 they can send the request for a quote out to three organizations on the GSA Schedule and select one of them for the award
6. Relationships, relationships, relationships - they are always the answer for growing your business, even with the government

If you are already registered to do business with the government and are interested in getting onto the GSA Schedule as a small business, check out http://www.gsa-sba.com. There are many businesses that will write up your application for you for a fee, but if you want to do it yourself, there is help. We used the local Federal Technology Center and the gentleman we worked with was more than helpful. It took over a year to finally get approved but it finally happened. It is now up to us to keep up with all the different ways to find opportunities to work with the government. They include:

• FedBizOps
• Ebuy.GSA.gov
• FedConnect.net
• Contacting contracting officers who have sent out bids for services similar to what we offer
• Researching the budget forecasts for agencies that plan meetings and events

If you are thinking of working with the Federal Government, there are some new programs that are being targeted for woman owned small businesses that are designed to be set-asides for those services and products where women are underrepresented. Check with your local SBA office and they can you started.

~ Linda Begbie • Executive Director, RDL enterprises

RDL enterprises Joins the GSA Schedule!

The staff at RDL enterprises has spent the last year working through the application process with the Federal Government to be awarded a GSA Schedule. This schedule puts RDL on a list that State and Government contractors can go to and locate services to bid on for up and coming contracts, as opposed to posting it on a public website. We are pleased to announce that we received our GSA approval on March 8th, 2011!

There were many steps in the application process and reams of paperwork & Internet searches. We were able to connect with the local Federal Technology Center and can’t say enough about the positive support we got from their representatives. This service is provided at no cost to small businesses.

LD Ventures, dba RDL enterprises, submitted its application last March and were told over and over again, by the GSA office, that our application was in the very tall pile of other applications for review. We finally heard from the GSA office in December 2010, that we had some additions & corrections to make on our application.

Finally, in February, all the paperwork was finalized. Now that has been completed, the next step is to create our personalized GSA Schedule for approval and then we will need to upload our schedule to GSA’s eLibrary. Once that has been completed, our schedule will be available for other federal contractors to locate us for services our company can provide, as well as government agencies.

Now that we’re on the GSA schedule, we have to market, market, & market some more to the federal agencies where we believe our meeting, conference, and event-planning services are needed. On that note, the Executive Directors of RDL will be flying to Chantilly, Virginia in April to the Annual OSDBU Conference (Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization). Attending this conference will be our first big step in networking with many of the federal contractors that may be interested in purchasing our services.

Working with the Federal Government is a huge challenge, but we at RDL are excited about the opportunity to meet that challenge. So, with GSA Contract number in hand, we are off for an adventure in Government Networking! We are going equipped with all of our new tools, so wish us luck! It will boost our confidence even more!

~ Linda Begbie • Executive Director, RDL enterprises

What is Happening with Federal Travel

Recently the Federal Government issued a Federal Travel Regulation Bulletin (GSA Bulletin FTR 10-6) regarding Travel Policies and Practices. The stated purpose of this bulletin is to “enhance travel cost savings and reduce green house gas emissions.” This travel policy was established in response to the President’s Executive Order requiring heads of agencies to consider reductions associated with “implementing strategies and accommodations for transit, travel, training, and conferencing that actively support lower-carbon commuting and travel by agency staff.”

The travel bulletin goes on to say one of the ways to enhance cost savings is by reducing or eliminating travel. The new guidance encourages eliminating travel when possible by utilizing technology in lieu of travel. Agencies are encouraged to use teleconferencing, video conferencing, webinars, social networking options, etc. We have heard all of this before. It will be interested to see if we see an increase in demand for electronic conferencing.

Both travel costs and carbon reduction strategies are encouraged in the guidelines when planning any travel. Suggestions include traveling lighter (less luggage), using public transportation, and ridesharing and or walking, to and from lodging and meeting sites. When cabs are used, the traveler is encouraged to use cabs that use alternative fuels. If rental cars are required, the traveler is encouraged to use the smallest, most fuel efficient vehicle or if available under a government agreement, use alternative fuel or hybrid rental.

Lodging should be “Green”. Travelers are encouraged to look for lodging that is LEED certified, or has an EPA Energy Star rating or participates in EPA’s Waste Wise and Watersense program and has a stated commitment to practicing environmentally preferable purchasing in the products and services used. The guidance also asks travel to participate in the hotels reuse of linen to conserve water and recycling programs. It also encourages turning off AC/Heat, radio and TV in the room when leaving. These are good suggestions for all us as we travel for either business or pleasure.

When hosting meetings and conferences requiring travel, the guidance encourages strategies such as offering an alternative for remote conferencing, ensuring the site is easily accessible to public transportation, assuring the property incorporates green principles, and that if possible, schedule concurrently with other meetings so attendees can overlap their attendance and avoid multiple trips.

What does that mean to both government planners as well as independent planners? I think this is the wave of the future and we should all consider these guidelines when working with all of our clients and planning for our future events.

~ Linda Begbie • CEO & Executive Director, RDL enterprises

Ed Note: If you are traveling in or to California, check out this web site for a list of green-certified hotels and learn what it takes for them to become certified. - KB

An Update on What is Happening in the Hotel Industry and How it Affects Meeting Planners

An article in the Oct. 11, 2010, edition of Business Travel News (posted online October 15th) warns meeting planners to expect more difficult negotiations in 2011. According to the author, attrition clauses, demands for room cut-off dates, and deposits will become much less negotiable and planners should be prepared for this new trend. The article goes on to say that planners can still expect to negotiate freely for food and beverage credits, room upgrades, and waivers on resort fees and parking. This is helpful to know as we begin moving forward in sending out RFP’s and negotiating for sites for future meetings.

We have all been reading room rates are rising. One source for the article predicts that we could see anywhere from a 7 – 11 percent increase in room rates. Others have projected a 5 percent increase. I think we have all been expecting this increase and have just been waiting. This can be interpreted as an optimistic move on the part of the hotel industry. We also are encouraged to watch out for the hidden fees such as occupancy tax, resort fees, etc. Some properties have increased those fees in order to keep their rack rate low, yet still raise their bottom line.

The one thing not taken into account is the issue of Video Conferencing. Everyone pays lip service to this type of meeting as it a method of cutting travel and lodging costs. The question is how will this affect the bottom line in the hotel industry? Are they gearing up for meetings that include this component? If not, they need to be developing marketing strategies to the planners with ways for attendees to be video conferenced into a live event. We are constantly dealing with this issue with clients and expect to see an increase in this demand as the government begins implementing their new travel guidelines. An increase in room rates may not deter a client from using a convention property, but not having the facilities to conference others in or do a live feed out could eliminate a property from consideration.

We would love to hear your thoughts.

~ Linda Begbie • CEO & Executive Director, RDL enterprises

Our Experience as a Vendor at a Virtual Trade Show

In the spirit of “Green Marketing”, RDL attempted something new. We participated in a Virtual Trade Show. We built our trade booth using the tools provided, which was fun since it had the potential of being totally interactive, and times were posted for it to be interactive, with an open chat room for folks going through the booths.

As part of the trade show, visitors can pick up a copy of your brochures and other marketing materials. You can post videos, articles, do a giveaway or be as creative as you wish in terms of what you post at your booth. There is a record of who visits your booth, what they took, and if they left a business card so you can do follow-up. This all sounded like great way for us to reach a larger market.

The Trade Show was to a have an interactive grand opening and then was to be open for 30 days with at least one more “live chat” event. The target market was to be the west coast and, as an added bonus, it was being marketed to the Far East. We purchased the booth through a regional organization that is part of a nationwide organization whose mission is to support small, women-owned businesses. We believed in their ability to follow through on their marketing commitment to the booth holders.

Our experience was dismal to put it kindly. Over the 30 days that became 60 days, only one person who was not part of the sponsoring organization or one of the other vendors visited our booth. They were selling, not buying. The marketing commitment from the sponsoring organization was non-existent, so the only marketing efforts made were those we made using our own traditional marketing outreach tools. In our mind, we had a trade show and no one was invited except our closest friends and colleagues and they had no reason to go. They either already knew us or could check out our website as a link in our marketing materials.

In hindsight, there were flaws in what potentially had some great opportunities. Of course the first one was depending on the sponsoring organization to fulfill their commitment. We were new to the organization and did not know the organization’s reputation for offering great ideas with a total lack of follow-through. Some lessons are hard met. Another flaw was having the site up for too long. It needed to be a short-term, highly publicized event, hopefully tied to another event such as a webinar or other electronic marketing activity.

I am not sure that RDL would do another virtual trade show. It was a costly mistake in terms of time and money for us, but I still think it may be viable tool for marketing a business in our virtual world. I would recommend approaching it carefully in terms of who is sponsoring the site, how it is marketed to others, and who else is part of the show. Our partners were a combination of small service providers and large corporations. It should have been a successful mix.

~ Linda Begbie • Executive Director, RDL enterprises

Ed. Note: Linda’s original post on this topic can be found here.

Thoughts on Surviving this Economy as a Small Service Business

After over 20 years in business, the economy finally came knocking on our door, walked in, did a little staff reduction, and found a place to stay for a while. As is true for all businesses, this has been a challenging eighteen months. We are under no delusions that it is over, although we maintain hope that things are easing.

How have we survived? I can only say our survival is based on some tangible and some intangible reasons. Probably the biggest reason is commitment. The staff here at RDL have maintained a commitment to success in spite of the months our client base had dwindled, and we were marketing as creatively as we knew how in spite of our limitations both financially and experientially.

The RDL staff are an amazing group of people. They are absolutely positive that we will continue in our success and are unwilling to think or hear that there are any other options. Everyone has been a part of the belt tightening that keeps us going and although the belt has not been moved up or back a notch, we are breathing a little easier as our hard work has begun to show some results.

Some of our existing clients continue on planning their events, and some have postponed them in hopes of future funding. Our hard work and commitment has paid off in the new clients we have added to our base. One came as a referral from an existing client, one came as a result of good networking, and others have come through following leads.

Whoever said that positive thinking doesn’t work, should spend a day at RDL. We are positive that as the economy gets healthier so will our bottom line and we can loosen that old belt buckle or maybe even just buy a new belt.

~ Linda Begbie • Executive Director, RDL enterprises

The Value of Meetings

Meeting “different” has been the theme for the past couple of years. Meeting professionals have always known the meeting in person is a far more effective networking tool than meeting electronically. When meeting and conference evaluations are compiled, often the highest rated component of a meeting is the networking opportunities. Now we can quantify the value.

Oxford Economics USA recently completed a study for the U.S. Travel Association. The focus of the study was to determine the return on investment for business travel when workers travel for meetings, conventions, training, or as an incentive. Studies show that businesses spent over $200 billion dollars in 2008. The findings for this study show that for every dollar invested in business related travel, $12.50 in incremental revenue and $3.80 in new profits is realized. Check out the U.S. Travel Association website http://PowerofTravel.org for more information.

In other news, legislation was introduced in Congress this February by Representative Sam Farr (D-California) called The TRIP Act (Travel Regional Investment Partnership). This legislation creates a matching grant program in the U.S. Department of Commerce that will promote domestic tourism through local and regional partnerships between convention and visitor’s bureaus and other community tourism entities. Hopefully this will be an incentive to get tourism back on track in the future.

Those of us in the meeting industry are eager to see a return in business travel and especially the return of business meetings and events. Hopefully studies like the one done for the U.S. Travel Association and legislation offering incentives for travel will help.

- Linda Begbie, Meeting Planner • RDL enterprises

What is Collaboration?

We all use the word collaboration pretty freely. As meeting planners, we say we "collaborate" with the client to plan an event or we "collaborate" with a team to determine an outcome. What does this really mean?

I thought I would Google the word "collaboration" and see what I found. According to Wikipedia, “collaboration is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together in an intersection of common goals — for example, an intellectual endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus." I knew immediately I was in trouble since I had no idea what recursive process meant. So I looked for a reasonable explanation.

Back to Wikipedia I went, to learn that recursion is the process a procedure goes through when one of the steps of the procedure involves rerunning the procedure. This sounds like a circular definition if ever I saw one. An analogy Wikipedia provided was that a procedure is like a menu in that it is the possible steps, while running a procedure is actually choosing the courses for the meal from the menu.

The question for me now goes back to, do we typically use the recursive process when we are collaborating with a team on a project? I believe the answer is “absolutely!”

Let's use the menu and the meal analogy again. When we work collaboratively with a team, we are looking at the many options available to us to come to consensus on an issue or to produce an outcome. By listening to input from all members of the team, coming up with the options (menu), analyzing those options, and then selecting the best solution or plan (meal), the team has used the recursive process to reach consensus. I think we all know this as “Brainstorming” but it is a process that can be utilized throughout the entire project, not just at the beginning.

I think if I were to define collaboration, I would also include words like: communication, respect, trust, knowledge, experience, and negotiation. It is clear to me that, by truly collaborating with others on a project, we have the opportunity to glean the best of everyone’s expertise and come to consensus on the optimal conclusions.

- Linda Begbie • Executive Director, RDL enterprises

A Virtual Trade Show Booth…? What is That?

According to an article in the July issue of Forbes Magazine, Virtual Trade Shows are a way to generate leads for your business without spending a significant amount of time and money. You can build your own trade show booth in about 30 minutes or use one of the on-line booth designers to build it for you. The booth can be interactive by being logged on to your site, or you can set up a virtual chat rooms you can interact with visitors in real time. Many businesses have been turning to the virtual world for ways to market their business, generate leads, and save money – and Virtual Trade Shows are one more way to do this.

We are building our first Virtual Trade Show Booth in preparation for a Virtual World Trade Mission beginning December 2nd. This event is sponsored by the ASTRA Women’s Business Alliance and will run from December 2nd to January 30th.

The booth is created largely with tools you should already have for your business – such as brochures, business cards, company websites, blogs, and the like. It is a different way to participate in a trade show and we are curious to see how this will ultimately play out.

If you are interested in seeing how a virtual trade booth works, come join us on December 2nd at 8am for the ribbon cutting ceremony. The first four hours (8am – 12pm PST) will be live and after that, we will be available for on-line chats. To log-in as an attendee, click here.

Once the Trade Mission is completed, we look forward to sharing our experiences with you.

Linda Begbie • Executive Director, RDL enterprises

“Surviving the Holidays” Business Strategies

The holidays are a funny time for Meeting and Conference Planners. The typical client does not want to plan any type of a business event (other than a Holiday Party!) between Veterans’ Day and New Year’s. Normally, this is a time for many meeting planners to wind up their fall events and start preparing for spring events. In the current economy, though, it is important to look at ways to keep clients coming to your business year-round. Here are a couple of ideas to consider:

One is to offer a ten percent (10%) discount on your services to anyone who, for example, books their 2010 event by the end of 2009. This may motivate those who know they need to have an event to move beyond the “thinking about it” stage and get a meeting planner on board to get things moving for them (site selection, etc.) so they can relax and enjoy the holidays.

Another strategy to keep clients thinking about your business is to offer holiday specials for any events they are planning during your slow periods. Even those planners who do not specialize in holiday parties can handle those types of events – and, if this is not currently a service you offer, you really should consider adding it!

Not every approach or strategy is right for every business. You need to take your own particular circumstances into account but, even if you only use these suggestions as seed ideas, you can generate strategies that are right for you.

Do you have a unique approach to motivating clients to use your services? If so, please share your thoughts and leave a comment. We’d love to hear how you “Survive the Holidays”.

Linda Begbie • Executive Director, RDL enterprises

As you may have guessed, both of the options presented are ones that we offer – not just to our current clients, but also to new clients. For more information about the 10% discount or our holiday specials, please email Linda Begbie with the subject line "Holiday Special". – ed.

Client Relationships in Today’s Business Climate

As I network with other business owners in our field, I find we are all in the same position. Our long term clients are no longer able to fund meetings or events. They are told that if they do any meetings they will be planned ”in-house”. Whether the client is corporate, government, or association, the answer seems to be the same. In this economic climate, no one is spending money on meetings.

I talked with a representative from CISCO who told me their solution was to do their annual meeting using video conferencing. She said it saved them thousands of dollars. When I asked about what kind of feedback they got from those attending the video conference, she said they “did not like it” and that the typical response was that they missed the networking component of getting together. It was too impersonal. There is a message to all of us in this as we keep hearing that video conferencing is the wave of the future.

So what does this change in the elimination of meetings and conferences mean to us? It means that instead of relying on our old tried and true method of marketing (referral from a satisfied client or attendee), we need to dig in and learn how to market our services. That means we need to be the ones networking, getting involved, and following up with potential leads. In the past a lead usually meant a potential new client, now we talk about soft leads, warm leads, and hot leads. It is also teaching us patience. We need to develop relationships with potential new clients and keep our name in front of them as often as possible.

Another thing that we are doing is ensuring that we have all the certifications we need to keep us viable and visible. Things like being federally certified as a Small Business, a Women Owned Business, and as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (because we are women, if you can imagine that!). We are registered with the State and the Federal Government, signed up as vendors with the major corporations that need to have set-asides for small business, women owned, etc., and we are marketing to those companies that require those set-asides.

Most importantly, we are not forgetting our loyal clients – those relationships are as critical as ever! They can’t use our services today, but the economy will change and will they will once again require our services and support. We don’t want them to forget us. It is always about RELATIONSHIPS!

Linda Begbie • Executive Director and Meeting Planner at RDL enterprises.

A New Direction for RDL?

As independent meeting planners, we are all wondering “where is all the money that used to go into meetings and conferences?” More state agencies are doing meetings in-house and, even in the private sector, companies are cutting back on the number of trainings and events that they are doing. So is anyone still doing meetings…?

I recently spent three days in an intensive training on how to find opportunities to work with the one sector that seems to have money to spend – the Federal Government. Not having done much work with the Federal Government before, there was a lot to learn! Once we learned how to navigate the government websites and received the correct codes and labels, we began searching for agencies looking for meeting planning services. To our surprise (and great pleasure), several opportunities have already come up in the short time we have been searching. They are still doing meetings and hiring meeting planners to do them!

We’ve also learned that the government expects you to do a lot of work before you can even submit your bid – and that work has to take place in a very short amount of time. Unlike most of our clients, where fees and event costs are separate, the entire cost of a federal event is included in the bid and if you underbid, then you pay the difference. This means we do a great deal of research, gathering numbers, looking for available meeting sites, hotels, etc. prior to putting the proposal together. Most of the time, writing up the scope of work for the bid is the easy part.

We have not yet had any success in this new endeavor but we are looking forward to beginning work with the Federal Government and expanding into this new arena. Though taking RDL in this “new” direction could certainly change our business to some extent, our core services will remain unchanged. And, no matter what new path we follow, we will always be meeting planners.

- Linda R. Begbie, Executive Director & Meeting Planner

Model Policy for Meetings, Events and Incentive/Recognition Travel for Those Businesses Benefiting from TARP Funds

The meeting and travel industry has developed a Model Board Policy for meetings, events, and incentive travel that is designed for businesses receiving TARP monies. It is recommended that any agency receiving government monies consider adopting guidelines similar to these.

The guidelines clearly emphasize that meetings, events, and incentive/recognition travel serve legitimate business purposes and are cost-justified. They propose that any meeting exceeding $75,000 must have a written justification. It also suggests that at least 90 percent of the incentive program attendees shall be other than senior executives from the host organization. The U.S. Travel Association has published these guidelines along with examples of legitimate business purposes for meetings, events and travel. If your business expects to receive TARP monies, you should definitely look to have a policy in place to address meetings and conferences. To get started, you can download a copy of the guidelines here.


- Linda Begbie, Meeting & Conference Planner