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1. Make presentation handouts available online, send them electronically on request after the meeting or copy them onto reused floppy disks to distribute. When needed, print handout materials on both the front and back sides of the paper.
2. Reduce paper by allowing attendees to register online. Confirm registration by email when possible.
3. Print materials on recycled-content paper and include a note identifying the percent of recycled content in the paper used. Avoid goldenrod or bright, fluorescent colored paper because it is hard to recycle. Use soy ink if possible. Try to print only the amount needed to distribute.
4. Use nametags in reusable holders. Be sure to have a collection box so that after the meeting, attendees can leave their nametags for your future use.
5. Use reusable or recyclable signs to direct people to appropriate meeting rooms.
6. Remove unused papers from the meeting room for reuse within your own office or deposit unneeded paper in designated recycling bins.
7. If you are going to give away promotional items to your meeting’s attendees, consider purchasing useful reusable items that are made from recycled materials. Also consider promotional items that are energy efficient and only use items that do not contain toxic material.
8. Ask speakers to use an overhead or a slide projector to present material instead of using flip charts or handouts. Remind speakers when they are booked that many handouts end up in the trash.
9. Be sure to tell green meetings attendees about your efforts in pre-meeting brochures, meeting updates and with verbal reminders during the event. Ask participants for their cooperation and participation. If a meeting evaluation is conducted, ask attendees for feedback and suggestions on the “green” efforts included.
10. Post minutes or other handouts on the Internet or circulate them electronically after the meeting.

Large market buyers, even without the volume advantages of the largest travel buyers, are keeping hotel rates under control by boosting compliance, compiling data to benchmark their performance by city, following such best practices as vendor consolidation and enacting tiering down strategies.

Download the complete details from BTN

Meeting planners who need to book a meeting in North Carolina before the end of the year can earn big rewards and value-added benefits if they take advantage of Marriott’s Meetings Matter Promotion for meetings booked at the Charlotte Marriott City Center, Charlotte Marriott SouthPark, or Renaissance Charlotte SouthPark Hotel.

With the Meetings Matter Promotion structure, planners earn 3 Marriott Rewards® points for every $1 spent at the hotel. Each event or meeting that actualizes at least $16,667 in revenue will earn the maximum 150,000 Marriott Rewards points (50,000 base points + 100,000 bonus points). This means that the planner will earn 6 FREE nights at any Category 6 hotel including the Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino, Kauai Marriott Resort & Beach Club, or Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa through this Charlotte, NC hotel meeting promotion.

Additionally, the group booked at any of the participating Marriott hotels in Charlotte benefit from the following:

• 25% allowable attrition

• One complimentary room for every 35 rooms booked

• Plus for each qualifying meeting of over 100 cumulative nights that a planner books, they will receive a 2% rebate off the master bill.

Here are the Marriott ‘Meetings Matter Promotion‘ details

Yesterday we reported in Meeting Planner Poll Gives Atlanta Mixed Review that meeting planners gave Atlanta a mixed review when responding to a ‘Metropoll’ issued by the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Today, Duffie Dixon with 11 Alive writes about the same poll results but asks the question “Would Longer Bar Hours Combat Atlanta’s ‘Boring?‘” 

Atlanta’s a great city but will need more than extending bar hours to become even greater.

Your thoughts?