Tips & Tools

Corbin's Meetings Technology Software Tools
Send me your meeting planning spreadsheets, sample database files, checklists, and any other tools you have developed using standard off-the-shelf software. I will review and post the best ones here and include your name as the author and other contact information if desired. Let's share from each other's experiences!

Excel Spreadsheets

The spreadsheets below (unless otherwise noted) were developed and honed over years of planning international, city-wide technology meetings. Although designed for large, association meetings, many of them are applicable to many types and sizes of meetings. All are fully functional Excel files -- just click on the hyperlink and save if you wish to keep for your own use. Thanks to my colleagues at SPIE who assisted or advised in their creation.

Downloading notes: On some browsers, a username and password is requested. Simply hit "cancel" and the spreadsheet will load. In order to save the document, click "File" and then "Save As" and name and place the document on your hard drive where desired.

Meeting Specifications Spreadsheets:

Conference Matrix Grid View
This provides a one-page view of a large, multi-session, multi-day meeting. This works especially well for meeting room assignments and finding out at a glance what is happening where.
Conference Resume
Answer all the questions the hotel may have even before they have a chance to ask them! Convention Services Managers (CSMs) will love you for providing this information before they have to track it down. This document should be the opening pages of the Specifications Document and it addresses most of the department of the hotel.
Complete Conference Specifications
This spreadsheet contains an example of the full specifications that are sent to the hotel CSM. This should follow the Conference Resume listed above. Included in this are numerous ideas on how to streamline and improve your communication with the hotel. Many CSMs have mentioned that these have been the clearest an easy-to-use specifications that they have every received! Check them out.
Specialized Tracking Spreadsheets (listed alphabetically by function):
Attrition Calculator MeetingU.
Is your sleeping room pickup coming in short of the block? How bad is it? With this worksheet you enter your historical pickup pattern, your room block and your pickup up to date. It will automatically calculate the variance and note a danger flag based on the amount of contracted slippage is allowed.
AV Equipment Bid Worksheet
This worksheet provides a bid sheet that can be emailed to AV companies. It computes the total daily unit total for equipment from the day-by-day totals entered. A unit cost can then be assigned  by the AV company, and automatically calculating a total cost per equipment type. The sheet provides cells for discounts to be inserted, as well as for sales tax, labor, and delivery charges. The total cost is found at the bottom.

Catering Cost Estimator Worksheet
The handy spreadsheet will calculate daily and overall catering costs, inclusive pricing, and event how many gallons of coffee, tea and decaf should be served..

Budget: Cost Estimate vs. Actuals With Savings Template MPI Global Circle of Excellence

Budget: Event Budget Template
Fill in the blanks and it totals and graphs the budget and expense items.

Budget: Meetings Savings Template MPI Global Circle of Excellence

Budget: Meeting Expense Tracking Workbook
Track your budget, forecast, and actual meeting expenses over several meetings in this easy-to-use, well planned and documented spreadsheet. Please note: the SUMMARY page is protected (you can't make changes to this page as it contains the formulas that consolidate the data from the meetings pages).

Exhibitor Tracker
This worksheet graphs three important exhibit variables:
1. The total number of companies exhibiting at a particular show over the years
2. The total net square footage sold over the years.
3. Exhibitor company registration pickup.

Hotel Room Pickup Trackers(2 worksheets in the same document)
This worksheet monitors the hotel sleeping room pickup for a single hotel (the first worksheet tab) and multiple hotels (the second tab). They calculate individual hotel and collective room totals, compares these totals to a percentage of the room block, estimates total revenue and graphs it out on a weekly basis compared to the block. The single hotel tracker will even calculate your comp credits.

Hotel Rack Rate Discount Calculator MeetingU.
This worksheet calculates discounts off of the rack sleeping room rate and future years' inflation increases.

Hotel Site Selection Rating Sheet by Marcia Neu.
This decision-making aid for a site selection assists in comparing multiple sites. It allows for the decision-making factors and the weighting to be tailored to a particular meeting's priorities and needs. Ideally, the weighting of factors is set before the property review, so that a personal bias for or against a particular property won't show up in the weighting. After reviewing properties in detail or doing site inspections, you assign each property a number and rate it on a Likert scale (probably of 1 to 5 or 1 to 7).

Marketing Campaign Tracker

Packing List Worksheet
The packing list is another item that naturally fits into a grid format, and, therefore, a good candidate for an Excel spreadsheet. It is broken down into areas (AV, Registration, etc.). This location is marked on the address label, making it easier to unpack on site. Each box is numbered as well. As the equipment is packed, the box number is noted on the master packing sheet. Then it becomes easier to track onsite.

Registration Pickup Tracker
This document tracks and graphs registration totals by category over years. The second graph looks at the registration pickup, and how it compares to the previous year. Note color coding by
year.

Sign List Worksheet
Yes, even the sign list can be made in an Excel spread sheet. The idea is that, using the multiple-tab worksheet feature, all of these documents can be combined into one larger document, and kept in one place with all of the relevant data. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of this sheet, to find many tips on how signs should be used in a conference setting. This document also demonstrates the multi-tab feature -- look at the bottom for the tab for "Signs" as well as one for "Sign Guide."
Temporary Staff (Security Staff/AV Staff) Hours Worksheet
This worksheet will calculate hour worked, standard pay, overtime pay for individuals and a total. It also servers as a bid sheet to send to temporary staff agencies, security, AV firms, or any firm where you will be hiring staff on an hourly basis.

Timeline: Conference Calendar and Timeline
This automated calendar allow you to enter a date and it will automatically calculate the deadline dates leading up to it. Thanks to Lisa Shimuzu, Corporate Meeting Planner for Milliman & Roberston, Inc., who contributed this sheet

Timeline: Meeting Planning Timeline  Jonathan Ricketts, DIY Conferences
Web, Word, and PDF Tool Links:

Checklist/Forms Compilations:
MidWest Meetings Checklist Package:Includes the following checklists: Timeline, Site Inspection, Site Selection, Post Meeting Evaluation, Safety and Security, Speakers Success, Teambuilding, Spa Inspection, Planner Education, Meeting Budget, Risk Management, Golf Tournament Planning,

Experient Guide to Meeting Management (PDF)

APEX Tools and Templates:
Event Specifications Guide Convention Industry Council APEX Initiative
Glossary Convention Industry Council APEX Initiative
Housing and Registration Accepted Practices Convention Industry Council APEX Initiative
Meeting and Site Profiles Convention Industry Council APEX Initiative
Post Event Report Convention Industry Council APEX Initiative
Requests for Proposals (RFP)Convention Industry Council APEX Initiative
Green Meetings Task Force Report Convention Industry Council APEX Initiative
Audio Visual/Computer:
Choosing a Digital Projector
Connecting A Laptop to a Projector
Dolce Technology/AV Essentials
AV Checklist (PDF)  Planning Helper
AV Checklist for Event Planning Yale University
AV Equipment Checklist  (PDF) Calvin University

Budget Tools:
Meeting Budget Calculator
Sample Budget Measurement Tool (PDF) MPI Global Circle of Excellence
Dolce Budget Guide

Catering:
F&B Cost Savings Checklist
Food and Beverage Checklist
Dolce Food and Beverage Planning
Event Planning and Catering Checklist Remmy's Catering
Catering Checklist Food-Lover.com
Green Catering Checklist, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
Catering Questions, Checklist and Tips, FrenchGourmet.com

Contracts and Negotiations:
Contract Checklist,  MeetingsNet
20 Ways to Cut a Better Deal (Word Doc)

Destination Management
CIC-APEX Destination Management Best Practice Guide (Word Doc)

Housing and Room Block Management:
Convene Room Block Management (Word Doc)
Docle Housing Management
Experient Guide to Room Block Management (PDF file)

Internet:
Bandwidth Estimator for Meetings and Events
Internet Speed Tester (mobile and computer app)

Meeting Timeline:
Event Planning Checklist (PDF file), Planning Helper
Event Planning Timeline Planning Helper
Event Timeline Gantt Project Management Sourceforge
Generic Meeting Planning To-Do List (Word Doc) Barry Seidenstat of Multimedia By Design

Peer Review:
Peer Review Checklist

Registration:
RegFilter Links and filters 120 online registration systems based on you needs.
Dolce Event Registration Management - Part 1
Dolce Event Registration Management - Part 2
The Perfect Registration Desk ConferenceBadges.co.uk

RFPs:
RFP Management
Dolce Request for Proposal Process
Site Facility Information Request Template (Word Doc) eMeetingExperts.com.
RFP Tracker (Word Doc) Holly Murray, Meeting Services Manager for Prime.

Pre- and Post-Conference Meetings:
Dolce Pre-Cons and Post-Cons

Room Set-ups:
Room Capacity Calculator (Courtesy of Stage America)
Dolce Meeting Room Setup - Part 1
Dolce Meeting Room Setup - Part 2
Meeting/Banquet Space Calculator Hotel Planner
Meeting Space/Booth Calculator
Meeting Room Capacity Calculator Navi-Gator
Banquet and Meeting Room Calculator Banquet Tables

Safety - Security - Accessibility:
Planning A Barrier Free Meeting (PDF) from North Caroline Office of Disability and Health
Event Safety and Security Action Plan (Word Doc)

Site Inspection:
Site Inspection Handbook (PDF file) Mike Lyon, Write Style Communication
The Tech Check: Site Inspections for Today’s Wired Meetings Jeff Rasco, CMP
The Technology Site Inspection Technology Meetings
Dolce Site Selection Process
Site Inspection Checklist (Word Doc)
Site Inspection QuestionsM&C Magazine
TechSpec: Hotel Techology Checklist App

Speakers:
Dolce Speaker Management - Part 1
Dolce Speaker Management - Part 2
Speaker Management ChecklistITANET
Speaker Checklist
Speaker Event Checklist

Suppliers:
Working with International Suppliers ICCA
General Services Contractor Sample RFP (Word Doc) Sabina Timlin, Director of Exposition, American Academy of Audiology
Tips and Gratuities:
Tipping Guideline MeetingsNet

Virtual Meetings:
Time Zone for Virtual Meetings Conversion Tool Act Conferencing
AnyMeeting.com Free webinar and video conference tool
Join.MeFree screen sharing utility
SkypeFree video conference softwarde in HD
Google Hangouts Free video conference software with up to 10 simultaneous sessions

Send in your favorite tool links!
Send in your meeting planning spreadsheets, sample database files, checklists, and any other tools you have developed using standard off-the-shelf software. I will review and post the best ones here and include your name as the author and other contact information if desired. Let's share from each others experiences!
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