See What's Cooking with Meetings Michigan - Indiana MPI Sponsorship

Trisha Olach, BOYNE Resorts

"See What's Cooking with Meetings Michigan" Indiana MPI Sponsorship

Earlier this month, Meetings Michigan headed to Indianapolis to sponsor the Indiana MPI May Luncheon with 8 partners from across the state:

Mission Point Resort
BOYNE Resorts
Detroit Metro CVB
Ann Arbor CVB
MotorCity Casino Hotel
MGM Grand Detroit
Grand Hotel Mackinac Island
Westin at the Detroit Metro Airport

Sara Faircloth, Mission Point Resort

In an effort to make the event fun and encourage networking, we decided to host a "See What's Cooking with Meetings michigan" recipe exchange.  Leading up to the event, we invited attendees to bring in their own, original recipe to be entered to win various giveaways.  In exchange, all of our partners handed out recipes from their region such as the famous pecan rolls from the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

The event was a huge success and I'm pleased to report that we received over 25 delicious recipes from various Indiana MPI chapter members!  Everyone had a great time interacting and networking with colleagues. We look forward to sponsoring another Indiana MPI event in 2013!

2012 HSMAI's MEET Mid America Recap

Earlier this month, Meetings Michigan headed to Chicago's Navy Pier to attend HSMAI's MEET Mid America conference. We exhibited with two partners: BOYNE Resorts and the Westin at the Detroit Metro Airport. As in years past, our booth was located in "Michigan Row" along with our friends from Visit Ann Arbor, Discover Kalamazoo and the Detroit Metro CVB.

New for 2012, the show received a complete format overhaul.  In addition to the usual trade show exhibition, planners and suppliers alike were invited to set up pre-scheduled face-to-face appointments.  We met with several planners during the conference who expressed interest in placing their next meeting in Michigan.  Time and time again we meet planners who are just hours away from Michigan but have never considered bringing their conferences or meetings to our great state.

Overall, it was a great show and we hope to exhibit again in 2013!

MPI Mid-America 2012 by Kim Corcoran, CMP

Meetings Michigan recently attended MPI Mid- America in Sandusky, Ohio.  We attended with 8 partners, including Boyne Resorts, The Henry Ford, Ann Arbor Area CVB, Traverse City CVB, MotorCity Casino Hotel, Great Lakes Bay Region CVB, DoubleTree by Hilton Bay City and Bavarian Inn Lodge.   It was a great conference with two themes emerging for me:  Collaboration and Leadership. 

Angela Rampin from The Henry Ford is posing in front of their latest and greatest exhibit: Driving America!

Those that know me know I have always been a big fan of collaboration.  I truly believe you can accomplish more by partnering with other individuals and other organizations.  It certainly rang true for the MPI Mid-America Conference with the partnering chapters of Ohio and Kentucky.  They pooled their resources, had an outstanding committee of volunteers and worked together in every aspect of the event.  They put on an impressive regional conference with national caliber speakers.  The host hotel, Kalahari Waterpark and Resort, did a phenomenal job as well.  The food and beverage was out of this world!  Even “foodies” were impressed by the culinary prowess of these folks!

I was hard leaving the shores of beautiful Grand Traverse Bay on an 80-degree March day, but Sarah Barnard packed up to join Meetings Michigan at the recent MPI Mid-America Conference.

Leadership was another key theme I took away from this conference.  Several speakers honed in on our need to be leaders within our organizations and within our industry.  My favorite was Dr. Todd Dewett.  He is a professor, a scholar, a leader… but he is also a real person.  He boasts about his tattoos and his Harley.  While I’m not a huge fan of tattoos, he helped me break through the typical stereotype one might acquaint with those who choose to don their body with tattoos.  He opened my eyes to many different aspects of leadership through his unique stories and engaging rapport.  I would highly recommend him if you are ever in need of a speaker on leadership!  For your reference, www.drdewett.com

Patti Ingleson & Kristy Poore from Visit Ann Arbor joined Meetings Michigan at the recent MPI Mid-America Concerence. Above is Patti at Zingerman’s Deli. One of their biggest fans is Oprah Winfrey, who bit into one of their sandwiches and remarked: “On a scale of 1 to 5....11!”

The conference concluded with our closing luncheon hosted by Meetings Michigan.  Everyone loved our Meetings Michigan t-shirt promotion.  Attendees will be taking their t-shirts home to find a creative and fun place to take their photo of themselves.  We look forward to seeing all of their photos on our Meetings Michigan facebook page and notifying our winners in each of the unique categories!

-Kim Corcoran, CMP

Boosting Event Attendance by Rick Elamin

BOYNE Resorts, located in picturesque Northern Michigan, recently sat down with Rick Elamin, owner and event promoter of SinglesDetroit.net. Rick Elamin offers 3 ways to boost event attendance:

1. Use Social Media to promote and brand your Event - Social Media is the new way of communication for events. This promotion type is essential for a successful event. People must be aware of your event in order to attend. Besides traditional event promotion, social media offers new and effective ways to market your event. Especially the most famous networks like Facebook and Twitter can be a key to boost attendance. Social media is also critical in post-event recap. This includes photos, attendee feedback and testimonials.

2. Word-of-mouth marketing has been the single most effective tool for increasing attendance that I have seen. Instead of just sending out blast e-mails about an event (which you should still do) build a group of people that are responsible to invite people during the course of regular conversations. So, if you send an e-mail to a friend that might benefit from attending ask if they are going to be at the event and let them know that you are going to be there. Creating incentive for people to spread the word to others can prove beneficial.

3. There is no doubt that the right venue can compliment an event, but it can also play a big part in making the event a success. The right venue will portray your company in the right light and making the event even more appealing.  For my larger events at BOYNE Resorts my guests will find a wide choice of accommodations, from hotel room's to three bedroom condominiums. And the wide array of recreation choices is ideal for the annual MLK Ski Weekend sponsored by SinglesDetroit.net.

With my newest endeavor, owner of the renown Marylyn's on Monroe in Greektownbit closer to home.  Come check us out!  419 Monroe St, Downtown Detroit