Despite all the bells and whistles offered by the Internet, planners still crave the basics, according to a survey by meeting technology experts Corbin Ball and Rodman Marymor.

“They want the fundamentals: floor plans, capacity charts, services, and amenities,” says Marymor, CEO of Berkeley, Calif.-based Cardinal Communications. “What planners are telling us is ‘Give us the information you would give us in a meeting planner kit; we're not interested in fluff.’”

Ball and Marymor were surprised by planners' destination research preferences; 70 percent reported using CVB sites most often, followed by general search engines (66 percent). Well down the list were site-selection portals designed specifically for meeting planners (36 percent).

The survey, designed to gauge how meeting professionals use technology, analyzed responses from 274 planners (evenly divided among associations, corporations, and independent planners) and 153 suppliers. Respondents were polled on their search habits, e-mail use, and opinions of Web site content.