Meeting News - January 28, 2008 - (Page 23)

Edited by Elizabeth West elizabeth.west@nielsen.com Technology Accor’s Pullman Brand Enlists MeetingMatrix Portsmouth, NH—MeetingMatrix, the drawing application and room diagramming solution, has been chosen by French hotelier Accor to provide planners with diagramming tools for its Pullman Hotels. Attendee Interactive is best known for its speaker management module, which coordinates speaker data, content, travel, and other logistical data, allowing speakers to send in required information on the front end and the planner to monitor the information, send out reminders to speakers, preview presentations and handouts, and pull reports on the back end. “The content that a speaker offers at the meeting has a life, and the content provided through the system can be a marketing tool to build attenof formats, including text, spreadsheet, or PDF. It will continue to include capabilities based on Windows, as well as MS Office, used by planners who rely on Word, Excel, and Access to manage their meetings. Meetings and data management, badges, and task management with reminders are other features of ePlanner. Attendee itineraries can be imported from corporate travel dance,” said Michael Tydings, Attendee Interactive’s president.“Our customers are realizing the power of the two parts, managing speakers and marketing events.” Speaker management can be essential for events with intense breakout sessions, Tydings noted. Moreover, individual speakers may fill different roles at the meeting, including a keynoter in one session, a moderator in another, and a panelist in yet a third, making automated tracking even more important. —Christopher Hosford agencies. It does not offer registration or site-selection tools; it is geared toward corporate events, which are typically invitation-only. Pricing for ePlanner is based on the number of meetings done per year, regardless of the number of users or number of attendees. The price could be as low as $50 a meeting, Buck said. —Christopher Hosford Attendee Interactive’s Version 3.0 Widens Scope Provider of speaker management technology takes a more holistic approach to events Ellicott City, MD—Attendee Interactive last month unveiled the latest version of its event-management solution, AI Evolution, at the International Association of Exhibitions & Events’ eMerge:E2 Tech Showcase in Las Vegas. The new version adds more features to its separate modules, which include tools for exhibitors, speakers and speaker management, attendee management, and event management. There’s also a web-based module that allows planners to produce conference websites. Live from the Forum For a lively meeting planners’ discussion on their room diagramming needs, see Dec. 17 MN, page 58, or meetingnews.com/forum. MeetingMatrix will supply Pullman’s planner clients with two webbased tools, Planview.net and ActiveMatrix.net, to navigate stacked floorplans of the hotels and view digital images and descriptions of lobbies, restaurants, bars, and meeting rooms, respectively. Planners will be able to click on a specific meeting room to get capacity details and use the diagramming tool to create an event setup. The diagrams are accurately scaled, and the setups can be amended, saved, printed, and e-mailed from within the program. The tool also can produce 3-D images of event setups. According to MeetingMatrix, Pullman is the first hotel to offer its planner clients the developer’s room diagramming tool. Pullman has properties in France, Germany, Belgium, China, and Thailand. MeetingMatrix is developing room diagramming tools for other Accor brands, including Sofitel, Novotel, and Mercure. Meanwhile, it anticipates launching its newest program version this winter. More on MeetingMatrix’s products can be found at www.meetingmatrix.com r —Christopher Hosford MeetingNews 23 Developer Readies ePlanner For Windows Vista, MS Office Denver—The developer behind ePlanner is readying the program for compatibility with the Windows Vista operating system, as well as the new version of Microsoft Office. According to Joan Buck, president of eMeetingExperts, the new version will enable planners to produce reports and e-mail them in a variety Virtual Walk-Throughs Arrive at Resort Near Atlantic City I n November, the 297-room Marriott Seaview Resort & Spa just outside Atlantic City, NJ, became the first meetings property to use on its website an application that offers “walk-through” virtual tours of the entire property. This month, the Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort in Las Vegas will rolled out the feature on its website, as well. Created by Sarasota, FL-based tech firm MotionVR, the Marriott Seaview tour lets planners take a step-by-step journey through the resort’s guest rooms, meeting space, restaurants, pool and spa areas, and even across sections of the property’s two golf courses. MotionVR does not utilize photo stitching software, which it said can lead to a distorted, “fisheye” effect or patchiness in the views. Instead, special panoramic cameras produce a series of high-resolution photos taken every three feet. Tour users need only a web browser and Adobe Flash Player. Check out the technology on Marriott Seaview’s website: www.seaviewmarriott.com. —Robert Carey www.meetingnews.com January 28, 2008 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn121707/index.php?startpage=58 http://groups.google.com/group/MiForum http://www.Planview.net http://www.seaviewmarriott.com http://www.meetingmatrix.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - January 28, 2008

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