 Meeting Consultants Press Release January 25, 2010 30 Years of Growth Celebrated at Meeting Consultants Company Credits Management Culture, Strategic Investment, Focus on ROI as Keys to Success (Atlanta, GA) In the midst of a challenging economic environment, one small business is celebrating a 30 year anniversary and eagerly planning future success. Meeting Consultants, a corporate event planning company founded in 1979 today manages some of the largest corporate events in the world and has made strategic investments during the downturn to fuel future growth. Carol Cote is the founder of Meeting Consultants and continues to lead the company today as CEO. She is widely recognized as a pioneer in the event management industry and as a successful woman business leader. Today under Carol’s leadership, Meeting Consultants attains WBENC (Women’s Business Enterprise National Council) certification every year. “When I founded this company, event planning was a relatively new industry, and I was often the only woman in the room when meeting with clients,” said Carol Cote, Meeting Consultants Founder and CEO. “I knew a focus on providing clients flexible solutions, jaw-dropping levels of service, and creative but cost-effective management of events would lead to our success. I couldn’t be more proud of the team.” The company acquired Core Lan, a software solutions provider for the planning industry, earlier this year. The move makes Meeting Consultants one of the only companies in the industry to provide both meeting services and technology products under one roof. The strategic move allows the company to provide services to the widest array of customers, from independent meeting planners to enterprise level customers. Meeting Consultants’ core value is ensuring that clients realize excellent return on their investment in events. The acquisition brings software products in house to help customers measure ROI. The company works with over 4,000 events annually and provides registration services for over 207,000 attendees in 38 languages each year. Clients include some of the largest companies in the world. “ROI is important in any environment, but critical in the current business climate and economy,” said Casey Cote, Meeting Consultant’s President. “We know that meetings matter in the digital age, and helping our clients demonstrate positive returns to their management is setting us apart in this industry.” Meeting Consultants is privately held with $10 million in revenues annually and employees in locations worldwide. The company provides management of customers’ meeting portfolios, delivering turn-key events globally. It is now also well positioned to establish strategic relationships with other third-party meeting companies by providing its new software products. About Meeting Consultants Founded in 1979, Meeting Consultants, Inc. provides the industry’s most complete solution for global events management with experience that extends to the world’s most complex event portfolio. We can support customers ranging from the large enterprise to the independent meeting planner with a portfolio of services and products. Learn more at www.meetingconsultants.com. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Meeting Consultants Press Release October 22, 2009 Meeting Consultants Taking Major Event Green Focus on Measurement of Recycling, Re-use and Waste Avoidance to Help Improve Sustainability of Major Corporate Events (Atlanta, GA) Meeting Consultants, a leading corporate event planning company, is testing new “green meetings” efforts with a major corporate event this month. Results of waste avoidance, recycling and reuse efforts at the 5000 person event to be held in Las Vegas beginning Oct. 25, will use new event planning tools that help make corporate events more sustainable. The Las Vegas effort supports an industry initiative to avoid, divert or recycle one million tons of trash from corporate meetings in 2009. The Green Meeting Industry Council, actively supported by Meeting Consultants, is leading the “1 Million Tons of Trash Challenge.” “Green meetings are not a brand new concept but are increasingly important as clients want to make events more resource-efficient. We are confident the sustainability strategy we implement at this event will be successful, and provide us tools we can use to help other clients green their events. Our focus on sustainability of events is a natural extension of Meeting Consultant’s strategy of providing excellent return on investment for any event we manage,” said Allyson Wagner, project manager for Meeting Consultants. Meeting Consultants, working with its client and a number of supporting organizations including Greener Vegas, has instituted a four-tiered strategy to help “green” this event:
Some key efforts to be tested at the event include:
The event will be held for four days during the last week of October and Meeting Consultants expects to be able to report results soon after the event. This annual event has already made dramatic efforts to reduce waste in the past. At the 2008 event, based on statistics provided by the conference venue, 92 percent of waste generated was recycled. Meeting Consultants believes it can raise that percentage even higher with these new efforts. About Meeting Consultants Founded in 1979, Meeting Consultants, Inc. provides the industry’s most complete solution for global events management with experience that extends to the world’s most complex event portfolio. We can support customers ranging from the large enterprise to the independent meeting planner with a portfolio of services and products. Learn more at www.meetingconsultants.com. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Meeting Consultants Press Release ROI For Immediate Release August 17, 2009 Meeting Consultants' metrics support necessity of business meetings (Atlanta, GA) Meeting Consultants, a leader in event management services for 30 years, helps business leaders weather the current economic challenges by enabling carefully targeted corporate meetings that combine opportunity for face-to-face contact with measurable ROI. At a time when many are scrutinizing bottom lines as well as the very character of industry leaders, the quality face time afforded by meetings and conferences has become more important than ever. Meetings that cultivate and attract a strategic audience provide a firm foundation for moving business forward. “The kind of measurable ROI provided by Meeting Consultants dispels the idea that business meetings are somehow optional. A handshake is not a luxury, it’s a necessity, especially in today’s business climate,” said Meeting Consultants President Casey Cote. Meeting Consultants is the only company in the industry to provide a fully integrated offering of strategy, logistics, and tools. This combination of expert services with automated systems enables event planners to bring the right people together in the right place while ensuring the highest return possible. “When facing economic challenges, it’s important to focus on the fundamentals, which include strategic corporate events. Our long-term expertise helps businesses assess opportunities, mitigate risks, and flawlessly execute successful meetings and conferences,” Cote said. Meeting Consultants’ integrated approach benefits event planners at every level. For the enterprise or midmarket customer, Meeting Consultants brings an unprecedented ability to manage and evaluate events at every stage of the event life cycle and across a global event portfolio. For the independent planner or consultant, the result is a new empowerment to seamlessly automate processes and successfully compete with larger firms for business that may have been out of reach in the past. Meeting Consultants works with over 2,000 events annually and provides registration services for over 100,000 attendees in 29 languages each year. Clients include some of the largest companies in the world. Meeting Consultants is privately held and has approximately $10 million in revenues with about 40 employees. The company provides management of some customers’ entire meeting portfolios, delivering turnkey events worldwide. About Meeting Consultants Founded in 1979, Meeting Consultants, Inc. provides the industry’s most complete solution for global events management with experience that extends to the world’s most complex event portfolio. We can support customers ranging from the large enterprise to the independent meeting planner with a portfolio of services and products. Learn more at www.meetingconsultants.com. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Meeting Consultants Press Release Core Lan Acquisition For Immediate Release May 26, 2009 Meeting Consultants’ acquisition creates a unique integration of services and tools (Atlanta, GA) Meeting Consultants, a leader in event management services for 30 years, has acquired Core Lan, a software solutions company that has developed tools for the world’s most sophisticated events portfolio for 15 years. The Core Lan acquisition enables Meeting Consultants to merge its core competency of expert services with automated systems and measurable ROI throughout the event management process. The ability to track ROI is especially important in today’s increasing regulatory environment. “With growing pressure from Washington to restrict expenditures related to corporate incentives at conferences and events, the ability to track event spend and ROI across the event is of utmost importance,” said Meeting Consultants’ President Casey Cote. With this strategic acquisition, Meeting Consultants becomes the only company in the industry to provide a fully integrated offering of strategy, logistics, and tools. For the enterprise or midmarket customer, these integrated and expanded offerings bring an unprecedented ability to manage and evaluate events at every stage of the event life cycle and across a global event portfolio. For the independent planner or consultant, the result is a new empowerment to seamlessly automate processes and successfully compete with larger firms for business that may have been out of reach in the past. Meeting Consultants solutions include:
“In today’s challenging economic climate, where efficiencies are more critical than ever, Meeting Consultants’ integrated yet modular services and solutions provide cost-effective answers for event management,” Cote said. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Meeting Consultants Press Release Vegan Meetings For Immediate Release May 14, 2009 Event planner’s vegan stint aids in planning business events (Atlanta, GA) Katja Morgenstern, a food and beverage specialist with Meeting Consultants, an Atlanta-based firm that plans and manages corporate events, recently went vegan for 30 days to gain a firsthand perspective on a food trend that is making inroads in corporate America. Morgenstern discovered early on that to remain within the parameters of veganism at a business lunch or dinner, one often goes hungry. At one event, she ended up eating a half cup of plain lettuce after the vegetarian dish the waiter steered her toward proved decidedly unvegan. “The dish looked vegan-friendly. It was mushroom ravioli with no sauce. Then I opened up the ravioli and saw the creamy Parmesan cheese and had to pass,” Morgenstern said. The waiter had assured Morgenstern that the meal was vegan-friendly. He did not know that vegans do not eat any animal products, including cheese. Some even eschew honey. Morgenstern found a general lack of education about veganism and other special diets prevailed among banquet staff at corporate events. She hopes her experience will help shift that trend. “Vegetarianism is easy. The chefs and staff have that down absolutely. But planning a vegan meal is more like planning a kosher meal. You have to think through every aspect of the meal. Banquet staff are really just beginning to pay attention,” she said. Vegans make up roughly 10 percent of the business population who attend business meetings and events. Although this is a relatively small percentage of attendees, Morgenstern said that as the general population grows more food savvy, event attendees have increasing expectations that their dietary needs will be met. One of the reasons Morgenstern went vegan was to find out how event planners can meet the needs of attendees on special diets. She recommends that event planners, chefs, and banquet staff be versed in the subtle differences between vegetarian, vegan, and macrobiotic diets. While vegetarians may consume products derived from animal products such as milk, cheese, and eggs, a vegan will not. Vegan and macrobiotic diets are similar, but the macrobiotic diet allows the consumption of hormone-free poultry and fish. Morgenstern says the easiest way to ensure that all three camps have something they can eat is to provide a vegan choice, and then everyone will be happy and satiated. As a food and beverage specialist with Meeting Consultants, Morgenstern is in the business of ensuring that those who attend meetings leave the events feeling well taken care of. Becoming a vegan for 30 days has helped her do her job better. “I’ve become much more conscious of menu planning. I know the questions to ask the chefs about how the foods are prepared. For example, I know that a veggie burger is not automatically vegan because of the egg binders often used in the patties,” she said. Morgenstern said her vegan experience has also made her more aware of the need for balance where the planet is concerned. “A vegan diet uses less of the planet’s resources. In many ways it’s healthier for the planet,” Morgenstern said. |
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