http://www.eventective.com/forum//forum/topic279-meeting-planners-turning-to-nontraditional-venues-in-2007-to-host-business-conferences-events.aspx Eventective Forums - Press Releases - Meeting Planners Turning to Non-Traditional Venues in 2007 to Host Business Conferences, Events - Messages en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Jitbit AspNetForum Tue, 20 Apr 2010 12:29:53 GMT Tue, 20 Apr 2010 12:29:53 GMT http://www.eventective.com/forum//forum/topic279-meeting-planners-turning-to-nontraditional-venues-in-2007-to-host-business-conferences-events.aspx Portland, Maine — February 27, 2007 — In terms of "what's new"
regarding business meetings in 2007, look to non-traditional venues that make the
most of participants' down time, advises Steve Robertson, Chief Technical Officer
at Eventective, the Internet's most comprehensive and popular meeting and event
space search engine.

More and more business meeting organizers are researching special interest or non-traditional
venues such as resorts, campgrounds, ranches, inns, country clubs, estate mansions,
museums and stadiums as alternatives to booking traditional full-service conference
centers to host their business meetings.

The reason, Robertson said, is that meeting organizers are recognizing the "unique
value" that "non-traditional" venues can bring to a sales meeting, business conference,
or team-building get-away.

"Smaller, specialty venues can offer a much fuller range of off-time team building
and/or recreational activities for attendees — ranging from BBQs to horse
trail riding to golfing. Not only do the participants benefit from a wider range
of available activities, but the organizer — often tasked with finding 'something
new' each year for an annual event — can shine with a new twist on an old
routine. It's all about creating a new and unique experience for the attendees,"
he said.

"Non-traditional venues often pull out the stops in terms of service. Organizers
appreciate the high levels of creativity, flexibility, and even the personal touch
that a smaller or specialty facility goes to lengths to offer. Specialty venues
also exhibit equal enthusiasm to compete on the cost front — and generally
can offer lower overall costs than traditional venues," he said.

A fourth reason is simply a greater availability of choice — the result of
the marketplace dynamics of a continuing, steady increase in the supply or availability
of such venues, which Robertson has witnessed over the past several years at Eventective.

At the start of 2007, Eventective's database featured a record-setting 87,000 venues,
298,000 meeting spaces, and 28,000 related service providers throughout the U.S.
Most are non-traditional venues, he said.

"More and more non-traditional venues are getting into the conference business as
means to round out their own seasonality in their off-season. They've got the accommodations
and catering resources in-house, or have partnered with someone to provide them.
They're adding larger meeting and breakout rooms with the required high tech internet
and wireless connections," he said.

Robertson said the trend, which has been growing in strength, will get even hotter
as 2007 progresses. "Conference and meeting planners will benefit from a greater
choice among a more diverse selection in venues. The venues, of course, benefit
from the potential new business," Robertson said. "The result is win/win for meeting
organizers and event hosts."

About Eventective

Eventective (http://www.eventective.com), headquartered in Portland, Maine, is the
Web's most comprehensive meeting and event space search engine. With more than 25,000
visitors a day, Eventective is also one of the most popular venue search resources
on the Internet.

For professional event planners, business meeting organizers, and individuals planning
weddings and parties, the portal's listings feature more than 87,000 venues and
298,000 meeting spaces throughout the U.S. and include traditional hotel and restaurant-based
properties as well as niche and special-interest facilities that are often not presented
elsewhere.

For venues, Eventective delivers qualified leads to assist hospitality and restaurant
facilities to better market their available resources and compete in the growing
$300 billion U.S. meeting and event industry.

# # #

Press contacts:

Traci Freed, 207-253-1653 x185, tfreed@eventective.com]]> Tue, 20 Apr 2010 12:29:53 GMT