MARY M. MCMILLAN
Meeting Coordinator
The Association of Theological Schools
Pittsburgh

We focused on travel for the individuals — how easy it is to get to our destinations. Travel has become such an issue that it is becoming more and more imperative to be by major airport hubs.

Our people travel here from all over. Cost is a part of it, but because there are fewer flights than there used to be it has changed some of our preplanning.

STEVE ALLGEYER
Director of Special Events
Life Teen International Inc.
Chesterfield, Mo.

We added a lounge to all our conferences, so our participants have a place where they can hang out with our staff. We provided water, fresh fruit, and couches. It just gave us more time with participants, so they can understand the family atmosphere we promote. It was very well-received.

Our conferences go from session to session, so the lounge gave attendees a place where they could have some down time. And the lounge was open in the evenings to allow people to hang out, sit, unwind. We also had a comedian in there one night. It allowed the participants to meet us all on a more casual level.

Our only cost was purchasing the water and coffee. We had it all wrapped into the total; it was well worth whatever it cost.

It gave participants an atmosphere that said staff is available for them year-round.

DANIEL CORNELIUS
Director of Conferences
Andrew Wommack Ministries
Colorado Springs, Colo.

For our hotel registrations, the hotels provided us with a link from our site to their site, so people could make accommodations directly. It cut down on our work, and it was well-received.

Usually we send out a brochure where attendees can see the hotels available and make a call. Now they can go on the Web site and do it all. We still had the brochures for those not online.

We had a greater room block because of the change. It was very satisfying for us.

MARGUERITE ANDERSON
Travel Planner
Greater Refuge Church/Bibleway Worldwide
Richmond, Va.

When we went to set up one of our meetings, I went to the Chamber of Commerce in Virginia Beach and they really helped us.

For example, the chamber set up the hotel. I normally go through the books and find a hotel and speak directly to the hotel. This Chamber of Commerce had a coordinator whom I could go to. That worked well. I plan to do that in other areas.

The chamber gave me a lot of information about how to approach the hotel and what to ask for. They went over the contracts with us and made sure we understood. They were able to tell me what the city offered.

We will try it again. It really helped.

JACKIE BISHOP
Manager of Hospitality and Conference Marketing
The Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary
Louisville, KY

We're just beginning online registration for some of our events.

We have an on-site conference center, so our office has encouraged on-campus planners from other departments to use the regonline.com site, which we learned about at RCMA. We've only used it for a few conferences so far, but we've found it to be useful. It has streamlined the process and made check-in smoother.

What we've done for those who can't register online is take phone calls, and then staff goes online to do the registration, rather than receiving huge stacks of paperwork. There's much more ease in the planning process. We've received only good feedback.

We have built in the extra costs on registration fees, and we have to stretch the budget to cover all the programming. It's allowed us to be better stewards of our time.