Personalize your Convention Experience with Boston’s iPhone app

Today, the Boston Convention & Exhibit Center announced the launch of a proprietary application for iPhone and iTouch users that combines center navigation with a robust set of add-ons including built-in social networking capability. Named “myBCEC,” the application is a personal concierge for your phone with information about wayfaring around New England's largest building, local restaurants, hotels, and retailers, transit and travel information, and a custom Twitter client designed specifically for events.

The iTunes application description notes that “the myBCEC app is a mobile concierge for visitors to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, one of the Top 10 convention centers in the nation. The myBCEC application combines networking and navigation in one united platform." Features include:

• Wayfinding around New England’s largest building
• Nearby restaurants, hotels, retailers,
• A Twitter client customized for events
• Real-time transportation information for departing flights from Logan Airport, MBTA (subway) alerts and traffic alerts; and
• Visitor information about the venue.

With this app, Boston is leading the way in becoming more accessible to visitors through their mobile devices. Other centers are sure to follow. The app is compatible with iPhone and iTouch, and available to download for free at:

itms://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mybcec-for-boston-convention-exhibition/id347104218?mt=8

Eco-Friendly U.S. Convention Centers

Centers in the U.S. are designing green rooftops and growing herb and vegetables gardens and harvesting the growth to be used at the dining table. Others are implementing sustainable decisions to include climate control system, reduction or elimination of poisons used at the facility like pest control and toxic cleaning products, recycling, reducing the use of non-recyclable items, composting, and water and energy conservation.

So glad to learn of the many, many convention centers in the United States updating their designs and operating with the environment in mind. In our own backyard, the Baltimore Convention Center is designing a green roof top and the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (D.C.) has a 10-page online brochure outlining various methods of implementing environmentally-friendly initiatives to make our world a greener place.

Meetings professionals are including green initiatives in their RFPs, asking valid environmental questions about the sustainability of the convention centers and hotels and analyzing their own events for improvement and more execution of eco-friendly initiatives. Don't forget to pass along to conference attendees every little and every huge step you're taking to help the environment.

Streamlining & Simplifying to Protect your Bottom Line

All across the conference sphere, organizations are looking for ways to minimize the financial risk associated with holding their meetings. If you haven’t already done so, tying registration and housing together provides one-stop convenience for attendees and allows you to better manage your housing block.

When implemented correctly, a unified housing and registration system increases registration numbers and collects your revenue earlier in the registration process, optimizing your cash flow. It also ensures that all persons in the housing block are registered for the conference and prevents non-registrants from cannibalizing your housing block – which is important if you have an excellent rate in a popular city. Most importantly, you have ultimate control of your housing block, which minimizes wash and cancellation exposure

A number of registration providers now offer housing as an add-on service to the basic registration package, including RegOnline , eShow, and EventRebels. Alternatively, some housing bureaus are also offering convention registration. For a small cost, these companies can also collect attendees’ housing data and transmit it to the hotel(s) at a predetermined time. Housing deposits can also be processed directly through the registration interface allowing organizations greater control over last-minute cancellations and refunds.

Packaging registration and housing together protects organization and provides a one-stop shop for your conference delegates.