Close Your Eyes, Then Say ‘Om’
Meditating before a meeting can significantly improve attendee performance, according to new research by the Kyoto Convention Bureau. In a study, task completion improved by more than 12% when meeting delegates performed a 10-minute meditation exercise before a session, as compared to a session preceded by no such preparation. Meeting attendees are often tired and stressed, spokesman James Kent noted on the website. “If they are to take onboard new information and be at their most productive, they must first make room in their minds. Simple meditation exercises can make all the difference.”

Useful Stuff for Planners – Online and Free
To grab planners’ attention – and capture their email addresses – vendors often offer valuable freebies online. Here are two current offers.
     - Event Marketing 2.0: How to Boost Attendance Through Social Media, an e-book available from meetings management firm CVent. Content includes: rules for social media success, using social media to build a social infrastructure of events, how to social media-tize your website and integrating social media with online registration.
     - Hybrid Meeting Tool Kit, to help planners decide whether to convert a live event to a hybrid event, is available from Digitell, which provides live broadcasting of educational sessions. Contents include: research, articles from industry experts, survey data, attendee feedback, case studies and how to get started. 

Miami Heat
“It’s good to catch a destination when it’s just catching on and before it gets too hot – and too expensive. Right now I’m seeing Miami as a hot destination that is still affordable.” – Sherry Awbrey, SMMC, planner, EMC Venues

Keeping Up With the ‘Virtual Buzz’
A free e-newsletter about virtual and hybrid meetings has been created by two experts in the field. Called Virtual Buzz, the newsletter covers trends, news and best practices and aggregates news on virtual and hybrid technologies from other sources. Donna Sanford, former publisher of EXPO magazine and now a producer of virtual events, and Cece Salomon-Lee, who is active in the virtual events industry, are behind the venture.

Making Meetings More Philanthropic . . .
Starwood has partnered with Coca-Cola to offer team-based philanthropic events. They include: Literacy Builders – where teams build and stock bookcases, then participate in a book drive for a local charity for kids; Green Casino – where winning teams at casino table games and eco-activity stations donate Get Green Kits to help local families green up their homes; and Go Green Racing – where teams build miniature solar cars and racing vehicles and learn about sustainability.

. . . Or Just More Fun (Tasty Too!)
In Culinary Showdowns at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler in British Columbia, competing teams cook three-course meals for opposing teams, while racing the clock. Judges factor in the team’s sales pitch, menu creativity, food presentation and flavor. Afterwards, the teams sit down and, well, eat.

DMOs: Accommodating & Flirtatious
As they seek to rebuild their meetings business, destination marketing organizations (DMOs) seem eager to please planners. Case in point: “If a planner tells us they have never stuck their feet in the Pacific Ocean, we will make arrangements for them  to do that,” Margie Sitton, senior vice president of sales for the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, told Travel Market Report. Here’s another instance: “There are a lot of planners who are flirting with Indianapolis – and we are flirting right back,” said Chris Gahl, spokesman, Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association.