CEO Blog: Are you coming to San Diego?
Are you coming to San Diego?
CEO Blog: Vol. IV
By John K. Ramsey, CAE
Executive Director/CEO
Hello, colleagues! Summer is coming to an end but is still sizzling here at the CEFPI Headquarters. Not because we are located in the one of the world’s hottest cities, (Scottsdale, Arizona) but because we are in high gear and operations tempo preparing for an historic CEFPI Annual World Conference and Expo. If you have attended previous CEFPI annual conferences and are coming to San Diego, you are in for a surprise (or two). It will be unlike anything you have ever seen from CEFPI. We started with a blank sheet of paper and built a brand new conference from the ground up. You spoke, and we listened…
One notable change is in the educational program. It was designed and chosen by a committee of members, not staff. It will be packed with relevant state-of-the-industry information that you, the member, asked for and planned! Some other notable changes will include; a change in format for our opening session, an overhauled exposition, new social events, newly designed food functions (I’ll talk about that in a minute), and an overhauled closing event. Over the course of this year we have been asking our members what’s important to a conference and what delivers the most value. We have listened and responded. You will not be disappointed!
In past years we have invested the largest percentage of our resources obtained from registration fees, sponsorships and exhibit fees on food functions. After listening to you, we realized that you are coming for a power packed educational program, not private social events or very early breakfast meetings where so much food is served that sometimes over half has to be thrown out! Will there be food at this year’s conference? Of course, YES! We just want to ensure you that the quality of the program is at the top of the priority list this year – that’s the value you told us you wanted.
Another change this year was to create an incentive to attract a greater number of school district personnel to attend our conference. Again, you spoke and we listened. We cut the price in HALF for those members who work for school districts or other government entities. It’s a risk, but I believe its already paying off. At the time of posting this blog, we have over 70 school districts that will be represented and we haven’t hit our big post Labor Day surge yet. Compare that to the less than 30 – total, we had last year!
In addition to saving food and food costs, we are going as paper-free as possible. We have kept our registration brochure (in our business we call that “the brick”) online, which not only is an exercise in corporate responsibility, but also is a better way to get more information to you. We will be participating in the City of San Diego’s Recycling Program throughout the conference and you will see NO plastic water bottles being served by CEFPI, no petroleum based ribbons on name badges, no paper evaluations (they will be online), and we will try to comply with guidelines set by the “Convene Green Alliance”. Convene Green is an organization that sets sustainability guidelines for association and corporate meetings to keep them as eco-friendly as possible.
So, what do you think of some of the new changes being announced? I look forward to hearing from you! By the way, if you haven’t registered yet, please do so at: www.cefpi.org/sandiego2008 Tell your friends to register too!
CEO Blog: Vol. IV
By John K. Ramsey, CAE
Executive Director/CEO
Hello, colleagues! Summer is coming to an end but is still sizzling here at the CEFPI Headquarters. Not because we are located in the one of the world’s hottest cities, (Scottsdale, Arizona) but because we are in high gear and operations tempo preparing for an historic CEFPI Annual World Conference and Expo. If you have attended previous CEFPI annual conferences and are coming to San Diego, you are in for a surprise (or two). It will be unlike anything you have ever seen from CEFPI. We started with a blank sheet of paper and built a brand new conference from the ground up. You spoke, and we listened…
One notable change is in the educational program. It was designed and chosen by a committee of members, not staff. It will be packed with relevant state-of-the-industry information that you, the member, asked for and planned! Some other notable changes will include; a change in format for our opening session, an overhauled exposition, new social events, newly designed food functions (I’ll talk about that in a minute), and an overhauled closing event. Over the course of this year we have been asking our members what’s important to a conference and what delivers the most value. We have listened and responded. You will not be disappointed!
In past years we have invested the largest percentage of our resources obtained from registration fees, sponsorships and exhibit fees on food functions. After listening to you, we realized that you are coming for a power packed educational program, not private social events or very early breakfast meetings where so much food is served that sometimes over half has to be thrown out! Will there be food at this year’s conference? Of course, YES! We just want to ensure you that the quality of the program is at the top of the priority list this year – that’s the value you told us you wanted.
Another change this year was to create an incentive to attract a greater number of school district personnel to attend our conference. Again, you spoke and we listened. We cut the price in HALF for those members who work for school districts or other government entities. It’s a risk, but I believe its already paying off. At the time of posting this blog, we have over 70 school districts that will be represented and we haven’t hit our big post Labor Day surge yet. Compare that to the less than 30 – total, we had last year!
In addition to saving food and food costs, we are going as paper-free as possible. We have kept our registration brochure (in our business we call that “the brick”) online, which not only is an exercise in corporate responsibility, but also is a better way to get more information to you. We will be participating in the City of San Diego’s Recycling Program throughout the conference and you will see NO plastic water bottles being served by CEFPI, no petroleum based ribbons on name badges, no paper evaluations (they will be online), and we will try to comply with guidelines set by the “Convene Green Alliance”. Convene Green is an organization that sets sustainability guidelines for association and corporate meetings to keep them as eco-friendly as possible.
So, what do you think of some of the new changes being announced? I look forward to hearing from you! By the way, if you haven’t registered yet, please do so at: www.cefpi.org/sandiego2008 Tell your friends to register too!
I registered this morning and the conference sounds great! What! No ribbons on the name badges.....
I would suspect that the few school districts at the Toronto conference was in part due to the very high cost of these conferences on top of the higher cost to get to Toronto, passports, etc. Our local school districts have cut much of this type of expense.
Reply to this
Left the San Diego conference with another year of high energy. Did my job and brought one educator this year. He was so "stoked" and ready to spread the word about CEFPI to his colleagues.
Aloha and Mahalo from Hawaii.
Reply to this
It’s a good thing that people today are willing to impose change for the betterment of everyone. Nowadays, people are more like busy on how they are going to survive in the present crisis that we are facing. Some people worry about getting online payday loans when they stock up on groceries, but they didn't use to when they shopped for Kraft foods. The company is trying to get some extra cash together after a corporate restructure and decided to raise prices. Usually people don't want to look into online payday loans if they want a few boxes of macaroni and cheese, which probably had a hand in why their profits dropped dramatically. College students across the nation were probably tired of getting online payday loans to feed that food habit they somehow acquired.
Reply to this
I am happy that you are really following guidelines set by the “Convene Green Alliance”
Reply to this
How can i calculate trend of the stock market traded script?
Reply to this
Would be great to have more information about This kind of meetings, because they are interesting. Ill be checking this site more frequently
Reply to this
Very informative post.
Reply to this
Good post, but have you thought about Council of Educational Facility Planners International before?
Reply to this
The problem with the brokerage industry is not the calibre of individuals that it attracts.
Reply to this
Hey - Nice and interesting post, just looking around some blogs, seems a pretty nice platform you are using.
Reply to this
Thanks for a sharing this articles. That's very interesting.
Reply to this
Thanks for a sharing this articles. That's very interesting.
Reply to this
To find the material in pdf format quickly with the help of PDF Search engine is easy. This SE http://www.pdfqueen.com is my favorite.
Reply to this
Thanks for such a nice blog post....i was searching for something like that.
Reply to this
That's great, I never thought about CEO Blog: Are you coming to San Diego? like that before.
Reply to this
I was just thinking about CEO Blog: Are you coming to San Diego? and you've really helped out. Thanks!
Reply to this