Official Airlines Assist Meeting Planners

Selecting an airline as the official one for a convention or meeting can save meeting planners time, money, and a lot of work. The author discusses ways in which airlines can work with conferences of all sizes.

International conference site selection criteria : And a case study of Stockholm as an international conference city

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the destination site selection criteria for internationalconferences from the perspectives of the three main players of the conference industry,conference buyers (organizers and delegates) and suppliers. Additionally, the researchidentifies the strengths and weaknesses of the congress cities of Stockholm and Vienna.Through a comparison with Vienna, the top city for hosting international conferences, a roadmap for Stockholm has been designed, to strengthen its congress tourism opportunities, thus,obtaining a higher status as an international congress city. This qualitative research hascombined both primary and secondary data methods, through semi-standardized expertinterviews and secondary studies respectively, to fulfil the study’s aim. The data have beenanalysed by applying the techniques of qualitative content analysis; the secondary dataadopting an inductive approach according to Mayring (2003) while the expert interviewsusing a deductive approach according to Meuser & Nagel (2009). The conclusions of thesecondary data have been further compared and contrasted with the outcomes of the primarydata, to propose fresh discoveries, clarifications, and concepts related to the site selectioncriteria for international conferences, and for the congress tourism industry of Stockholm. Theresearch discusses the discoveries of the site selection criteria, the implications of thestrengths and weaknesses of Stockholm in comparison to Vienna, recommendations forStockholm via a road map, and future research areas in detail. The findings andrecommendation, not only provide specific steps and inceptions that Stockholm as aninternational conference city can apply, but also propose findings, which can aid conferencebuyers and suppliers to cooperate, to strengthen their marketing strategies and developsuccessful international conferences and destinations to help achieve a greater competitiveadvantage.

A study of the top executive conference centers in the United States and an examination of the corresponding corporate meetings market

Introduction: The United States today has become "meeting-conscious." The complexity of conducting business has led to the need for sophisticated coordination of decision-making processes on all levels of the organization. Company meetings have played an increasingly important role in the success and future of many companies. Strategies and decisions are developed at meetings that can determine future policies of crucial importance. Executive training can mean the difference in whether the company will even survive. Large and growing companies have increased their off-premise meeting budgets annually in spite of the state of the economy. however, the rising costs of travel and lodging have made management monitor these budgets more closely than ever. Thus, the need to use every dollar efficiently has compelled companies to examine newer methods of running meetings and alternatives to the usage of typical off-premise meeting facilities. The importance of off-premise meetings in the United States economy has greatly increased due to the billions of dollars spent annually. These factors make it vital to explore the effectiveness of time and monetary expenditures. Up until the mid-1960's, company meetings were held in facilities of various design and purpose, none of which were specifically designed for the small to medium corporate meeting. Upon gathering information concerning the meetings market and the corporate meeting planner, certain individuals endeavored to change the situation. This study is designed to investigate this new concept, which will hereafter be referred to as "conference center." For the purpose of this study, the following two definitions will be used. 1. Conference center - that meeting facility primarily marketing its facilities for the small to medium-sized corporate meeting. The center is operated by specialists aware of market needs in as much detail as are those people working for the company involved. On-premise sleeping rooms are not mandatory provided such facilities are within easy access. 2. Meeting planner - that person within an organization who has primary responsibility for arranging off-premise meetings and all other related items necessary for meeting effectiveness. This person may spend anywhere from 10 to 100l of his time in this capacity. The conference center has effectively satisfied the need for specialized corporate meeting facilities. This study will show the depth of the corporate meetings market and trace the growth and development of this relatively new conference center concept. Information will also be compiled on the top centers in the country. It is hoped that by presenting this research meeting planners will become more aware of the nature and location of these centers, especially for use by the small to medium-sized company. Such exposure of the centers will hopefully increase existing demand and enable the construction of new, innovative centers.

The effectiveness of corporate Web in small and médiumsized business: an analysis of Web Usability

Internet and the Web have changed the way that companies communicate with their publics, improving relations between them. Also providing substantial benefits for organizations. This has led to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to develop corporate sites to establish relationships with their audiences. This paper, applying the methodology of content analysis, analyzes the main factors and tools that make the Websites usable and intuitive sites that promote better relations between SMEs and their audiences. Also, it has developed an index to measure the effectiveness of Webs from the perspective of usability. The results indicate that the Websites have, in general, appropriate levels of usability.

Meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Caribbean Planners Network (CPN)

This report summarises discussions and presentations on the following agenda items: the Caribbean Planners Network (CPN); website and the CPN online newsletter. Guidelines for submission of material to the website, the concept, content of and approach to the newsletter, and guidelines for theme-based articles are among the areas covered. Annexes include a list of action items for follow up, and the summary of the preparatory discussions for the Istanbul+5/Habitat meeting.

Three essays on corporate governance and meeting-beating or missing analyst forecasts

The beginning of the 21st century was plagued with unprecedented instances of corporate fraud. In an attempt to address apparent non-existent or “broken” corporate governance policies, sweeping measures of financial reporting reform ensued, having specific requirements relating to the composition of audit committees, the interaction between audit committees and external auditors, and procedures concerning auditors’ assessment of client risk. The purpose of my dissertation is to advance knowledge about “good” corporate governance by examining the association between meeting-or-beating analyst forecasts and audit fees, audit committee compensation, and audit committee tenure and “busyness”. Using regression analysis, I found the following: (1) the frequency of meeting-or-just beating (just missing) analyst forecasts is negatively (positively) associated with audit fees, (2) the extent by which a firm exceeds analysts’ forecasts is positively (negatively) associated with audit committee compensation that is predominately equity-based (cash-based), and (3) the likelihood of repeatedly meeting-or-just beating analyst forecasts is positively associated with audit committee tenure and “busyness”. These results suggest that auditors consider clients who frequently meet-or-just beat forecasts as being less “risky”, and clients that frequently just miss as being more “risky”. The results also imply that cash-based director compensation is more successful in preserving the effectiveness of the audit committee’s financial reporting oversight role, that equity-based compensation motivates independent audit committee directors to focus on short-term performance thereby aligning their interests with management, and that audit committee director tenure and the degree of director “busyness” can affect an audit committee member’s effectiveness in providing financial reporting oversight. Collectively, my dissertation provides additional insights regarding corporate governance practices and informs policy-makers for future relevant decisions.^

Merging Paradigms: A framework for meeting the goals of sustainable development and corporate sustainability for cruise industry firms

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06