Vanessa LaClair, CMP is vice president of communications and marketing for MPI NENY, and the event coordinator for IPPNY, a trade association in Albany, N.Y. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.

It’s that planning time of year again!  The holidays are over, the decorations are put away and 2010 has begun.  Although spring may seem far away with the bitter cold still hanging over our heads, in a planner’s world a spring meeting is right around the corner and there is a lot of work to be done — and soon!

This year my association has decided to host an expo and sell exhibit space to those involved in our industry — energy.  I am new to the expo-showcase scene in that I have never hosted one, but have attended plenty.  Does attendance make one an expert?  Probably not, but we have 15 slots to sell for our first event (small time for many expo experts) and I plan on making it happen.

Already, I wake in the middle of the night thinking about how many prospects we might have.  Are there too many on the list?  Are we charging enough to cover our costs? Will I have to turn people away?  And the worst case, will no one show up?  I have a pretty good feeling that we will get a handful of exhibitors who will ultimately spread the word and turn the event into an annual success.  As you well know, a word of mouth recommendation is one of the best marketing campaigns out there.

What am I doing to make this work? Tell one, tell all, and tell them early.  Save the date cards, invites, brochures, e-mails and finally — a personal phone call.  A good location and flexible venue staff (make friends with your director of sales or sales manager) are key.  I’m working with a great rental company (Total Events) and I have found that they are an asset to a meeting planner — the right company can give you lots of insight.

With fingers crossed and promotional materials still in draft on my desk, I’m throwing myself into the fire and giving it my all.  Quite honestly, you can accomplish anything by putting your mind to it, working hard and having the right people by your side.

Sterling Raphael is an entrepreneur, speaker and the founder & CEO of @NFiStudios, focusing on delivering innovative technology to associations and events around the world.

Being a meeting planner is a tough gig. You’re responsible for facilitating a meaningful experience for hundreds or thousands of people. For most industry meetings there’s the location, registration, education topics and speakers, keynotes, trade show marketing, awards, sponsors and more. And recently resources are not as easily afforded to planners due to tighter budgets, lower attendances and sponsor declines.

So how can one ensure the ultimate meeting by leveraging the voice of those who you’re planning for?

Crowd sourcing! Today there are approaches and tools that allow any planner to enhance their meeting experience by getting audience input, while also getting their buy in.

Here are some ideas and strategies on using crowd sourcing to select speakers and topics, as well as engage and involve your audience with live polling and keeping the conversation going after the meeting.

Speaker selection: NTEN uses crowd sourcing to pick their speakers. SXSW also allows user input for 30% of the speaker selection decision.

Topic selection: ASAE has an experimental site for finding out what topics they should focus on for their Association Now magazine.

Polling and surveys: There’s a lot of great ways to aggregate user feedback, before, during and after your meeting. Using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or embedding tools on your own site such as Involver, allow your audiences to have a voice from multiple locations.

Other approaches include:

- Using LinkedIn’s Questions & Answers to get feedback/buy in
- Using an app such as TwtPoll to launch a quick Twitter Poll
- Use text messaging (SMS) to facilitate audience responses using a tool like Polling Everywhere

Additional resources:

• http://mashable.com/2009/09/28/social-media-feedback/
• http://technorati.com/posts/_Y7f84WXiB3TFyaqHQKYWxaj7hhMh8Es_c8KBEquuiY%3D
• http://www.readwriteweb.com/readwritestart/2009/10/6-great-twitter-quiz-and-polli.php
• http://www.socialfish.org/2009/09/crowdsourcing-asae.html

Vanessa LaClair, CMP is vice president of communications and marketing for @mpineny, and the event coordinator for IPPNY, a trade association in Albany, NY. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter. She will be a contributing blogger for SmartBlog Insights.

This was my first year attending the World Education Congress in Salt Lake City, Utah, and what an experience it was. More than 2,300 meeting planners and suppliers attended the event from July 11 to 14 — proof positive that the economy is improving and people are still meeting!

There were many fabulous speakers, wonderful educational sessions, a 2-day trade show and entertaining receptions; but by far my favorite was Kyle Eastham, Black Belt Speaker for the Self Defense educational session.

Kyle Eastham and his self defense session were an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. As a meeting planner, like so many others out there, I spend a great deal of time walking to and from a location, setting up, breaking down, running errands, etc. I also know that there are times that I do all these things without a care or second thought as to what might be lurking around the corner! This session was both informative and highly interactive! Attendees were taught hands-on tactics to fend off would be attackers — and that no matter how big or small you may be, you still have the power to escape.

Tip 1: During an attack, make lots of noise, attackers don’t want attention drawn to them.

Tip 2: Never let yourself be taken from the primary crime scene to a remote, secluded spot.

Tip 3: Do something! Kick, punch, slap, bite, stomp — whatever it takes! Even if your technique is not perfect, doing something is better than doing nothing. It is more likely your attacker will break off the attack if you fight back!

And did you know how many “weapons” you have in your purse that you carry around on a regular basis? I didn’t realize it either. Check your purse for things like a nail file, hair spray, lipstick, keys, pens/pencils, or brushes/combs — all of which can be used during an attack. And here I thought I needed to buy a can of mace!

Kyle was kind enough to dedicate a section of his Web site to the MPI WEC attendees — check it out at www.BlackBeltSpeaker.com.