Today was the final day of MPI MeetDifferent 2010. And, it started with keynote speaker, Marty Neumeier, author of The Brand Gap and The Designful Company.

Mr. Neumeier’s mission is to incite business revolution by unleashing the power of design thinking, a creative process based around the “building up” of ideas.

According to Mr. Neumeier, clearness, simplicity and utility are the three cornerstones of success. To improve your business, you have to know, make and do

Branding, says Neumeier, is the biggest barrier for competition. Brand is not a logo or trademark. Neither is brand an identity or a product.

Brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or organization. It’s a gut feeling because people are emotional intuitive beings who make their decisions without much logic. The brand is created in the customer’s mind. A brand is not what “you” say it is. It’s what “they” (people outside the company) say it is. This puts the emphasis on customers who are the driving force behind company’s these days.

Brand is important because people have too many choices and too little time. Most offerings have similar qualities and feature so buying choice is based on trust.

Mr Neumeier also talked about the ways that business needs to change in order to be successful.  Following “best practices” is an old idea because they are set-up to follow, which means that someone else has already done it. To be successful, business needs to be good — and different. To really start a business revolution, companies need to be radical. Neumeirer gave as the examples of Apple, FedEx, Virgin, Google, Orbitz and Dell as companies who are successful.

To sum up, businesses can start their own revolution by completing the following statement: My company is the only  _________ that _______.

MPI has posted a conversation with Marty Neumeier. You can listen to it here.

Yesterday morning I attended the session “Software Trends for Today’s Meeting Planner” presented by Danilo Bernal of Ungerboeck Systems International.

Danilo focused on the importance of using integrated event management systems for controlling and linking the information required for business and annual reports. While many planners still use Excel spreadsheets to track and report, problems arise when registrations and travel arrangements have to be integrated into a single report. What planners need is software that allows them to compare the bottom line of past events with present performance.

Danilo suggested looking for event management software that integrates the following activities:

* Registration
* Event planning and budgeting
* Networking
* Travel management (such as hotel rooms, airlines and ground transportation)
* Exhibition management

Before purchasing software, Danilo suggests you ask about technical support and whether it is included in the package. You might also want to ask about additional costs associated with maintenance and training. Be sure of any additional hardware requirements as this will add to the bottom line. And, as always know your budget and what you have to work with before making any sort of a financial commitment.

Some of the software vendors recommended by Danilo include: Certain, Eventsforce, Eventbrite, onPeak from TTG (Travel Technological Group) and his own company –
Ungerboeck Systems International, which sells an “all-in-one” event management software solution.

All in all before acquiring special software, you should look at your needs and goals and ensure that you get the right software for your size and expertise.

Paola Osorio (@HTOMpaola) is a post graduate student at Toronto’s Humber College and a guest blogger for “The Meeting Planner’s Best Resource.”

This afternoon I attended the knowledge session, “This is not your mother’s green meeting! How to make your green meetings fun and inventive”,  presented by Cathy Kretz of Travel Portland, Cindy Wallace of the Oregon Convention Center, and Joanna Kysler of Doubletree Hotel Portland.

This session was all about new and innovative ways to incorporate exciting green elements into meetings. From venue selection to recycling programs, the presenters covered the many ways that a meeting could be make more eco-friendly. We were advised to make demands of our suppliers and to let them know that if they wanted our business they would have to develop better practices and be more environmentally friendly.

We also heard about some fun and inventive green ideas:

* Ask attendees to bring their own bottle of water.
* Do double-duty with your desserts by using them as center pieces.
* Involve attendees in charitable outdoor activities such as cleaning-up local parks or painting schools.
* Bus attendees to a local farmer’s market and encourage them to buy local foods.
* Award attendees by giving away green pins decorated with your logo or the logo of the venue.
* Hire local artists to draw your event signage.
* Collect left-over pens, markers, notepads and conference bags and donate them to local community centers or schools.

All of these practices are cheap to execute and could event warrant an additional discount from the venue as you’re helping to reduce waste.

One of the most important things…we were told…was to market the process to attendees by carrying the “green” theme throughout the entire event.

Session attendees were very interested in learning more and many added to the discussion by talking about some of the practices they already have in place.

Paola Osorio (@HTOMpaola) is a post graduate student at Toronto’s Humber College and a guest blogger for “The Meeting Planner’s Best Resource.”