Saratoga Convention and Tourism Bureau
Saratoga Springs, NY
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Saratoga Convention & Tourism Bureau Blog

Virtual Tradeshows??

A friend of mine wrote a weekly sports column once called “Things I’ll Never Understand if I Live to Be 100” with column entries like “Is Reggie Jackson REALLY worth a million dollars?” 

Okay, this was a while ago.

Today I’m just as baffled by some things that perhaps will become clear with time – like Reggie Jackson in October.

My conundrum – virtual tradeshows.

We’re in the meetings business.  The real, get-‘em-in-a-car-or-on-a-plane-bring-‘em-to-your-town-put-their-head-in-a-bed-and-their-rump-in-a-restaurant-seat business.  Which is why sending clients to a web-tradeshow has me jumping up and down.  Don’t we know by now that sitting behind a desk and double-clicking has far less economic impact than actually traveling to interact with people?  It’s not even close.

I’ve even looked at the avatars that wander through make-believe tradeshow corridors.  Where’s the fun?  I don’t get it.  No smells, no pervasive hum of business activity.  Instead, you’ve got mute and pause buttons so you can tone down the din or escape to the fridge whenever you want.  Total economic impact: about $.55 for a Coke.

If I’m missing something, tell me.  That’s the beauty of this, I guess – interactivity…sorta.
 

David Zunker, President

Using Online Chat to Connect Quickly with Team Members

Online chat or instant messaging can help you have quick conversations with members of your meeting planning team.

Free tools like AOL instant messenger, Skype and others provide an instant connection with colleagues for asking questions and having important time sensitive dialogue.
 
Unlike email, with Instant messaging you can have more than one person communicating at a time.
 
You can also tell when another person is online and is ready to be connected with. This helps you manage your time more effectively.
 
How does your organization use instant messaging?
 
Thanks for leaving a comment below and continuing the conversation.
 
Click here to submit your RFP and qualify to win an iPod.

Marie Moynihan, Senior Sales Manager

Using Online Documentation to Plan Meetings, Save Time & Money

Meeting planners save time using free online documentation services like Google Docs.

Google docs is a 100% free service provided by Google that gives you word processing like Microsoft Word and spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel in an online tool.
 
Here’s how you can use it to help plan your meetings.
 
Create a document on Google docs to get input and prioritize speakers for your convention.
 
Then invite other team members to collaborate.
 
This process eliminates having multiple versions of the document on several computers and allows the meeting planner to manage the process easily and efficiently.
 
Feel free to leave your comments and ideas about how your organization is using Google Docs or other online collaboration tools.
 
Click here to submit your RFP and qualify to win an iPod.
 
Heather McElhiney, Convention Services Manager
 

S.E.O.

Since we launched our new and improved website back in August, our popularity has increased amongst the search engines on the Internet! Yahoo, Google, Ask.com are just some examples of popular search engines. What search engines do you trust or use the most?

The Bureau worked with Mannix Marketing to develop our interactive, user-friendly and easy-to-navigate website. Mannix puts together monthly reports for the Bureau on our website’s statistics such as top search phrases, number of visitors, hits, page views and so on. There are certain keywords that are plugged into our website and you’ll see most of our site contains the words Saratoga, Saratoga Springs, New York, group tours, convention and meetings. This is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The more keywords we have the better the search engines can find and rank the Bureau’s website amongst other sites that feature Saratoga. It’s a contest to see whose website can be ranked #1!
 
Test it out and see where your website ranks! What were your keywords? What websites do you go to when searching Saratoga tourism, meetings and conventions?
 
Example:  I went to Google.com and typed in “Saratoga, New York” and the Bureau’s website came up #4
           
So, even though SEO sounds boring, it is a necessary tool when developing and maintaining a website. It is a constant effort to make sure your website is being seen by the most people and ranks the closest to that #1 spot on a search engine.
 
That’s it for now—I will be back with another topic related to social media, technology and the Internet, or cool tech gadgets that make your life easier!

Angela LaTerra, Sales and Communications Coordinator

Online Networking

So, I recently started using my Facebook page.  I say using because I have had an account for a while, but never did anything with it until recently.  Now I am obsessed…  But I am also amazed. I am amazed at how many people I know who are using this “networking medium.”  And more so, they are really using it!  My friends post daily and I am more in touch with them now, when they live all over the country, than I was when they lived next door.  Amazing…  But it doesn’t end at Facebook.  There is MySpace, Plaxo Pulse, LinkedIn, Flicker, Google Groups, Craigslist, YouTube, countless blog sites, etc.  I have an account on a few of these and I try to keep them current, but it takes time and perseverance.  I am afraid to use other mediums, such as Twitter, as I do not need another technological addiction.  My RSS feeds keep me busy enough, thank you very much.
 
So my question for all of you is: how do all of these great networking sites affect all of us in the meeting community?  Do you use the technology?  Does it help you do your job more efficiently and effectively?  Would you use them for business purposes?  Right now I have a separation between my personal life and my professional life, but I am seeing that line being blurred. We at the SCTB have been talking a lot lately about how to use these tools to the advantage of our members and clients and we want to hear from you!  So, do you tweet?

Heather McElhiney, Convention Sales Manager

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Saratoga Convention and Tourism Bureau • 60 Railroad Place, Suite 100 • Saratoga Springs, New York 12866 • Tel: 518-584-1531 • Fax: 518-584-2969
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