June 19th, 2017 @ Michael Pinchera

Orange juice is about the best thing ever. Growing up right in the middle of Florida’s 200-mile-long Indian River Citrus District, orange juice was always a bright part of my life. I always envisioned the act of drinking it as like that of consuming a sweet, liquid extract of the sun (we all know what that tastes and feels like, right?). Lately, however, the cost of orange juice has been on the rise—whether due to myriad general economic factors or the spread of the Asian citrus psyllid, which can lead to bacterial infection, “greening” and the decimation of citrus crops. In fact, just this winter, orange juice futures—yes, that’s a thing—hit an all-time high.

Of course, the high price of orange juice isn’t in and of itself a significant problem—nothing like what you’re experiencing in the meeting landscape. You’re seeing costs at nearly every stage of planning and executing your meetings and events creep up and up and up. At the same time, if you’re lucky, your budgets are growing as well. However, the associated trend that is proving a challenge is that your budgets are not increasing at the same pace as costs.

The good news is that solutions for your cost challenges exist within the minds of your ever-creative peers—and they’re not closed off to the idea of sharing these strategies and tactics. That’s especially suitable in that various ways of sharing with other planners to save costs pop up throughout the cover story of the newest issue of Plan Your Meetings—including sharing menus to leverage bulk purchasing of F&B and sharing speakers to minimize travel expenses.

Notably, you can also get an in-depth look at how one peer, Pat Guerrero, CVA, senior manager of volunteer engagement and programs for Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society, saves staffing expenses by leveraging the power of more than 150 volunteers for her group’s national conference.

“This conference is a light in the darkness that we sometimes see in animal welfare,” Guerrero says. “It’s our volunteers’ job to be that light because together we can illuminate the world!”

The hope is that within these cost-saving tips and other articles from the newest issue of Plan Your Meetings, you’ll find some ideas that can act like a sun-filled glass of Florida orange juice—bright, eye opening and refreshing.

P.S. Don’t miss free education opportunities at PYM LIVE events throughout North America—see future dates and register. And we’ve also created an interactive map of event venue-related gun laws, state-by-state, a data-intensive follow-up to education provided in the previous edition of Plan Your Meetings.

The post Bright ideas in the new PYM magazine! appeared first on Plan Your Meetings @ Meeting Professionals International.

June 19th, 2017 @ Michael Pinchera

Orange juice is about the best thing ever. Growing up right in the middle of Florida’s 200-mile-long Indian River Citrus District, orange juice was always a bright part of my life. I always envisioned the act of drinking it as like that of consuming a sweet, liquid extract of the sun (we all know what that tastes and feels like, right?). Lately, however, the cost of orange juice has been on the rise—whether due to myriad general economic factors or the spread of the Asian citrus psyllid, which can lead to bacterial infection, “greening” and the decimation of citrus crops. In fact, just this winter, orange juice futures—yes, that’s a thing—hit an all-time high.

Of course, the high price of orange juice isn’t in and of itself a significant problem—nothing like what you’re experiencing in the meeting landscape. You’re seeing costs at nearly every stage of planning and executing your meetings and events creep up and up and up. At the same time, if you’re lucky, your budgets are growing as well. However, the associated trend that is proving a challenge is that your budgets are not increasing at the same pace as costs.

The good news is that solutions for your cost challenges exist within the minds of your ever-creative peers—and they’re not closed off to the idea of sharing these strategies and tactics. That’s especially suitable in that various ways of sharing with other planners to save costs pop up throughout the cover story of the newest issue of Plan Your Meetings—including sharing menus to leverage bulk purchasing of F&B and sharing speakers to minimize travel expenses.

Notably, you can also get an in-depth look at how one peer, Pat Guerrero, CVA, senior manager of volunteer engagement and programs for Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society, saves staffing expenses by leveraging the power of more than 150 volunteers for her group’s national conference.

“This conference is a light in the darkness that we sometimes see in animal welfare,” Guerrero says. “It’s our volunteers’ job to be that light because together we can illuminate the world!”

The hope is that within these cost-saving tips and other articles from the newest issue of Plan Your Meetings, you’ll find some ideas that can act like a sun-filled glass of Florida orange juice—bright, eye opening and refreshing.

P.S. Don’t miss free education opportunities at PYM LIVE events throughout North America—see future dates and register. And we’ve also created an interactive map of event venue-related gun laws, state-by-state, a data-intensive follow-up to education provided in the previous edition of Plan Your Meetings.

The post Bright ideas in the new PYM magazine! appeared first on Plan Your Meetings @ Meeting Professionals International.