In This Issue

23 Novel Gift Ideas for Delegates, Speakers, Incentives
Go on Safari in San Diego
Which Invitations Work Best?
Around the Industry
Krisam & GEP News

23 Novel Gift Ideas for Delegates, Speakers, Incentives

Delegates. Speakers. Incentives. Rewards. Awards. In-room. Holidays. So many occasions for gift-giving, so little time to focus on them while handling other meeting details. Sure you can go to a premium catalog or web site and order umpteen of this or that. But searching for the right product takes time and what you end up with may not be as personal as you'd like.

Here's some help from gift and premium professionals. They know what's out there, what's new, and how to adapt an item to fit a theme. They search outside the industry. They brainstorm for you. You give them a budget, they do the rest. You check one more thing off your to do list and move on. In the end, you get the kudos for being really creative. To inspire you, here are some gift ideas old and new for budgets large and small:

Gift idea number 1...

Go on Safari in Sunny San Diego

Ah, San Diego. Holding meetings there has so many pleasures, let us count the ways. Near-perfect weather. Gorgeous hotels. Fantastic restaurants. Colorful history. African safaris. African safaris? Yes, it is so. When you are in the back of a truck, camera in hand, in the midst of 1,800 acres, shooting giraffes mingling with gazelles and rhinos gathering at a watering hole, it's pretty hard to tell you aren't in Africa.

So, if you don't have the time for, or the budget luxury of, a meeting or incentive to the African continent, consider the urban and wildlife paradise of San Diego. The famous San Diego Zoo. The San Diego Wild Animal Park. Sea World. Whale watching. A naturalist tour of the coastline.

Take a look at the host of San Diego activities for animal lovers, adventurers, and environmentalists.

Question of the Month: What Sort of Invitation Works Best?

Technological advancements make our lives easier. They also increase our choices and reduce response times. Our question this month is which medium actually works best when you send out invitations to events. Since it actually could be a combination of things, we've included those choices too. Take the poll and let us know. Next month, see how your preferences compare with your fellow planners.

Please respond by Dec. 7th and we'll include the results in the next newsletter.

Last month's poll results: Which of the following applies to your organization during the holiday party season. (Check all that apply).

• One big company party not planned by me. 17%
• One big company party, planned by me. 8%
• Spouses invited. 18%
• On site. 8%
• Off site. 20%
• Departmental parties. 11%
• One client party. 2%
• Numerous client parties. 3%
• Client lunches. 5%
• Gift to charity, instead. 0%
• No parties. 2%

Around the Industry

• Australia ranks second in world for meetings. Australia has been ranked second in the world, in terms of the number of future scheduled meetings. According to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), only the USA is ranked higher. Sydney is ranked seventh and Melbourne eleventh in the city rankings. Brisbane, Adelaide and Cairns also feature in the top 50 cities. Sydney also has been named the world's best city for a record ninth time in the Conde Nast Traveller Readers' Choice Awards. Get more information (PDF format).
• Survey reports on why people join trade associations. A new survey, sponsored by IMEX, on why people join and stay with trade associations shows the majority (61%) join in order to gain access to best practices. 58% do so to keep up-to-date with industry news whilst 51% want to benefit from educational activities. Networking for business or social reasons (49%), learning about job vacancies (35%) and meeting professional requirements (33%) were also important 'attraction' factors. Preliminary results were issued during the M&IT show at Olympia (UK). A fuller, more detailed report, following six months' further research, will be presented at the IMEX Association Day in Frankfurt on April 18 next year.
• Zagat names top city, cuisine, tippers and more. Zagat has just released two new surveys which show that New York is still number one as a place to visit, Philadelphians tip the best, and Italian is tops everywhere as favorite cuisine. Second favorite city is San Francisco. Second favorite cuisine is Asian. Worst tippers in the 12 largest cities are in Seattle. The survey also suggests that people dine out more often in warmer climes with the highest average in Los Angeles at 3.8 times per week.
• LAX to be upgraded. The Los Angeles City Council approved an $11 billion plan to modernize Los Angeles International Airport - the first upgrade of the world's fifth busiest airport since 1984. The initial phase calls for spending $3 billion to expand capacity nearly 30% to 78 million passengers a year, realign a runway and build a new transit hub, rental car center and elevated "people mover."
• Helpful air travel websites. Want to know how long the security wait is likely to be at the time you'll be hitting the airport? Check out TSA's site on wait times. Want to know what seat to select on what airplane? Visit the Seat Guru. Want to share your thoughts on airline food? Visit AirlineMeals.net.
• Orbitz guarantees lowest fares. With a bit of fine print, Orbitz now guarantees that airline tickets purchased on its Web site are the cheapest anywhere. The guarantee offers a $50 voucher to any customer who finds the same flight at least $5 cheaper elsewhere. It's limited to domestic routes, same-day discoveries, and doesn't include Orbitz's $6 booking fee.
• Hotel occupancy and rates rise nationwide. Industry occupancy rose to 62.7 percent in the nine months ending September 2004, up 3.6 percent versus the same period in 2003, Smith Travel Research reports. Average room rates increased 3.7 percent to $86.41 and revenue per available, or RevPAR. a key measure of industry productivity, grew 7.5 percent, to $54.20 for the nine-month period.
• Best cities for sleep. People sleep best, in order, in Minneapolis, Anaheim, San Diego, Raleigh-Durham, and Washington, DC., according to a new survey by researcher Bert Sperling, known for his "Best Places" studies. Get the survey's criteria and the worst cities for sleep.
• USPS offers new e-service for print greeting and gift cards. Select a holiday card, create your own message, include a gift certificate, address, stamp, & mail it while never taking your fingers from the keyboard. The USPS offers a new service where you can dispense with holiday greetings in a jiffy. Choices for gift cards that you can enclose in your greeting card include Bed Bath & Beyond, Circuit City, Lowe's, Macaroni Grill and Safeway. You can upload your own image for the greeting card, if you like. Visit CardStore.com to learn more.

Krisam & GEP News
Updates on Krisam member properties & GEP partners.

Havas Creative Tours Helps Teen Get His Wish
Stephan is a 14-year-old from Toronto, Canada, who has a life threatening illness and a wish to visit his mother's native Brazil and meet his father for the first time. The Make-A-Wish Foundation contacted Havas Creative Tours, a GEP partner in Rio de Janeiro, and asked for help.

Havas went to work and provided so much help that Andrea Dicks, manager of wish granting, wrote back:

Wow! Thank you so much!! This is incredible - you have gone above and beyond for Make-A-Wish and for Stephan's wish. I have no doubt that his wish will be a magical experience. I have already called Stephan and his mother and they are very much looking forward to this wish trip. Again, many many thanks!

Francisco Inacio Havas, president, reports that his staff arranged complimentary hotels for Stephan and his mother in Sao Paulo, Salvador, and Rio De Janeiro, and some very favorable rates for land services. As the Make-A-Wish Foundation has no branches in Brazil, Havas played a key role in making the December wish trip a reality.

Empire Force Events Helps Plan $500,000 Tag Sale in Central Park
Empire Force Events served as the Event Producer for Real Simple magazine's Get Organized New York, the city's biggest tag sale ever, which generated $500,000 for the Fund for Public Schools. The fund supports school libraries and after-school sports programs. Over 20,000 people made their way through the Get Organized New York tent in Central Park's Rumsey Playfield October 15-17. New Yorkers from all five boroughs donated over 300,000 items to the tag sale.

Empire Force not only managed all aspects of the event in Central Park, but also the coordination of collecting, trucking, warehousing and inventorying the 300,000+ donations during the several weeks leading up to the event, Robert W. Hulsmeyer, CSEP, DMCP, CMP senior partner, reports. Jaclyn Bernstein of Empire Force adds enthusiastically "Just a little more about the scope...10 day load-in, 3 day Event, 5 day load-out! Exciting!! And it was covered on all the national morning shows, and in the newspapers." Incidentally, for those of you outside New York, a "tag sale" is also known as a "yard sale."

Topnotch Resort kicks it up a notch.
Topnotch Resort at Stowe, Vermont, is investing more than $10 million in property renovations and expansion, including wellness rooms, guest rooms, and the spa. Highlights include: Wellness rooms. Now complete these guest rooms are for those with allergies or looking for an enhanced visit. Each room is hypo-allergenic, and is cleaned without the use of chemicals. They feature wood floors and blinds, all cotton sheets, and products that promote wellness through the use of magnetic and/or pi technology. Spa Expansion. The $4 million complete makeover is due for completion this month and includes the addition of 15,000 square feet to the existing space. North wing guestrooms. Renovation is just starting that will include new soft goods, sateen sheets, new duvets with shams, pillow-top mattresses, and plush feather comforters. Conference level. This area is being updated with new carpeting, trim, lighting, wall coverings, and artwork...due to be complete in the spring of 2005. WiFi Services. Guest can now enjoy convenient high speed internet access without being restricted to a meeting or guest room. The Wayport wireless network is available throughout the resort.

Big D Gets Good PR
Ken Thornton of the Fun Factory in Dallas reports that a new public relations campaign by the city's Convention & Visitors' Bureau is reaping big-time rewards. The Washington Post travel section ran a front page feature on October 17, 2004 heralding "The Art of Dallas"(PDF format). The bureau is also working with the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times on possible stories on the "new" Dallas.

Emeco Travel Wins Marketing Award
Emeco Travel, a GEP partner in Cairo, Egypt, has just won has won the Bronze Award in the prestigious Meeting Industry Marketing Awards 2004 in the Best Brochure - Destination Category, for its Travel Incentive & Conference Manual 2004 edition.

This award is sponsored by the International Meeting Association with an over all objective of improving the quality of the Meeting Industry collateral materials.

Mrs. Noha ElZayat, vice president of corporate and out bound, accepted the award at the Gala Dinner Oct. 4 at the Royal Garden Hotel, London. Emeco has been in the travel and meetings industry in Egypt since 1976.


New Krisam Members
* The Hershey Hotel in Hershey, PA
232 Rooms, 23,500 sq. ft. of meeting space
* Hershey Lodge and Convention Center in Hershey, PA
665 Rooms, 100,000 sq. ft. of meeting space

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