I have long been skeptical about the trend toward signature scents in hotels. I know chains have spent big bucks on consultants and studies to determine just what scents will prove appealing to the most folks, but for those with chemical sensitivities, or who just don’t like that particular scent, well, it isn’t going over all that well.

So I thought it was interesting that Hampton Hotels is scenting its air with something call “Non-Scents.” From the Hotels magazine article:

Here’s a networking idea for conferences I never would have thought of: Carry an extension cord (click on the link to learn more).

Many seem to struggle with what to post to a show blog, for some reason. All too many end up just being not-so-subtle PR and promotion, but they can be done well (witness ASAE and The Center’s coverage on its Acronym blog). Anyway, if you’re looking for some tips, check out this post from Contentious.com.

(Thanks to Paul Conley, who alerted me to this post eons ago.)

Speaking of blogs—there’s a new video blog from Matt Baehr called 501cTV. The first episode mentions paperless meetings, along with other association-related topics. Check it out!

For the moms among us…enjoy!

Thanks to Chris for sending me the link! I needed the laugh (and I’m not even a mom).

OK, so not everyone thinks the new IAEE blogs are all that great (see the comments to this post). But I challenge anyone to quibble with this one: Confabb. So far, the posts are uniformly good, I think. And it’s featuring Tim Bourquin, one of my favorite bloggers in the trade show space with Tradeshow Startup (check out his first post is about naming a show). The post on Web 2.0 and the tradeshow industry also is well worth checking out.

Meetings marketing tends to preach to the choir, which I suppose it how it should be. You know who they are, what they want, and how to get them fired up so that they hopefully will bring along a few friends and colleagues. But check out this story on FC Experts, by Chip Conley, about an event his Joie de Vivre Hotels held to celebrate its 20th anniversary:

we invited 10,000 people (I’m assuming mostly women) from the state of California with the name “Joy” to a JOY PARTY at our luxurious Hotel Vitale on San Francisco’s waterfront. Our company has spent 20 years understanding the significance and responsibility of having a name associated with such a positive emotion so we thought it would be provocative to invite these women together to share their experience of living with this name their whole life. Excuse the pun, but we ended up with a roomful of joy (or Joys) — 125 women sharing the name with dozens and dozens of husbands, significant others, friends, children and even a few media there to capture the occasion. What was miraculous was how these strangers bonded in their storytelling so quickly. As if they were long-lost friends.

He concludes:

While I think it could be dangerous to allocate the majority of your marketing funds to a missionary event like this, I also believe that the word-of-mouth (which has been huge for our JOY PARTY) and internal and external goodwill that comes from this kind of marketing proves that being a “karmic capitalist” pays off in the long-run. Doing good can mean your company will do well. The next time you’re thinking about how to make a splash with your promotions, think about making a difference in someone’s life in a profound way that will serve as a peak experience for them.

Think about it: Is there some way to hitch some deeper meaning to what your organization does, and create an event for strangers around it that could do for your meeting what this event did for Joie de Vivre.

Ever wonder why all those AV cables and mic wires tend to tangle, no matter how well you think you have them organized? Here’s the answer, which has to do with motion. It doesn’t supply any real solutions, though, except this:

to avoid tangles, keep a cord or string tied in a coil so it can’t move.

There’s a slew of interesting-looking new blogs now being brought to us by the International Association of Exhibitions and Events. Check out the eMerge blog for updates on the upcoming show, and a listing of expert advice available on topics from housing to technology. I just signed four of them up on my RSS feed reader.

So many great blogs, so little time…

Does this not describe every meeting planner’s daily job?

COR
The latest C-level title - Chief Obstacle Remover.
Nominated by Michael Thiel, president of IC Intracom US, but whose business card lists his title as COR

From Buzzwack.com.

Rob at has put together a list of some technologies that can be used to give those not at a face-to-face event some of the same experiences that make an event worth going to, from networking to product demos. Well worth checking out.