Featured Links

Other Topics
Sponsored Links







Quote of the Day

"It takes an endless amount of history to make even a little tradition."

Henry James





Click here for eBay Motors!


 






 
Featured Business Articles

Extended Enterprise In The Nesting And Cutting Business
In Italy there are a lot of small and medium enterprises (SME) that often act as subcontractors to bigger firms. For example, most of the Italian shoes come from industrial districts, where the organization heavily relies on subcontracting. Many ...

Understanding Ergonomics and How it Affects Your Cleaning Business
Ergonomics has been a "buzzword" throughout many office buildings these days, but it is an area that many in the cleaning industry have not addressed. Understanding ergonomics along with using ergonomically designed products and procedures in your ...

Yes, There Are Opportunities For Christian Work from Home Businesses
There are specific Christian work from home businesses around, with more opening up every day, although some would argue that any business can be a Christian one. Before you make any decisions though, ask yourself a few questions such as:What are my ...




Small Businesses Make a Big Impression: Use a Meeting and Conference Center to Connect with Clients
 
You've got a great business plan, a phenomenal product or service, and the energy and drive to promote your business. There's only one problem. You're running your entire company out of a corner of your living room, or your garage; or you've rented a hole in the wall office furnished with ancient office furniture scrounged from anyplace you could find it, and you're not really comfortable inviting high power prospective clients to your location.

Your regional meeting and conference center may have the perfect answer. These centers are springing up all over the country, and offer a range of options for meetings, conferences, and conventions. Designed to project a modern, professional corporate image, they allow even small start ups to make a dynamic impact on potential clients and management personnel. Whether you need to schedule a ten o'clock meeting with a few representatives from a major corporation you're targeting for business, or you need to rent a room for an entire day to interview a series of potential management hirees, an attractive, functional meeting room will reflect your company's professionalism.

When you're choosing a meeting and conference center, be sure to research the availability of communications technology; the best centers will offer the latest high tech media equipment, so that if you have to project a Powerpoint display, a CD-Rom, or a DVD presentation, you have access to the equipment you need. A competently operated business center will also provide high speed Internet access and dial-up, as well as a number of business services including secretarial and clerical support, photocopying services, and FAXing capability. If you're going to be holding a lengthy meeting, you also need to make arrangements for your clients to have lunch or morning or afternoon food breaks, depending on the timing of the meeting. If you hold annual meetings for your employees, your partners or stockholders, or your board of directors, you may want to splurge on an informational meeting which includes a sumptuous catered meal.

If you're expecting potential clients or vendors to travel to meet with you from out of town, you may want to pay special attention to the meeting center's ease of access, both from Interstate highways and from regional airports. Business people who travel frequently want to get to a meeting quickly, have a productive experience, and then get back on the road, to the airport, or to their hotel room with as little fuss as possible. Choosing your meeting's location to facilitate this will make a positive impact on those you're meeting; putting them in a position of getting snarled in city traffic will definitely not.

Of course, the best meeting and conference center in the world is only as impressive as the presentation you make. Make sure you're prepared, and have all the documentation you need at the meeting, polished and organized. If you have a media presentation to make, be sure it says what you want it to say, and then communicate with the tech experts at the meeting center to be absolutely certain you know how to operate the equipment. If possible, troubleshoot the equipment, and practice the presentation, well before your meeting so that you can make a smooth, polished performance.

Even if you're operating a start-up company on a shoestring, creative use of your regional meeting and conference center will allow you to project a professional, successful image to your business associates; and nothing sells like success.

About the author:

Aldene Fredenburg is a freelance writer living in southwestern New Hampshire and frequently contributes to Tips and Topics. She may be reached at amfredenburg@yahoo.com.


Google


Business News

Warning: Call-time pass-by-reference has been deprecated - argument passed by value; If you would like to pass it by reference, modify the declaration of xml_set_object(). If you would like to enable call-time pass-by-reference, you can set allow_call_time_pass_reference to true in your INI file. However, future versions may not support this any longer. in /mnt/web7/31/89/51742389/htdocs/business/rss1.php on line 36



ZDNet UK

Microsoft names Muglia president of server business
Reuters - 14 hours ago
O) said on Monday it has promoted longtime executive Bob Muglia to president of the company's server and tools business. Muglia's new title makes him one of ...
Microsoft promotes Bob Muglia to president of Server and Tools ... Seattle Times
Microsoft's Muglia Makes Comeback Wall Street Journal
Bob Muglia: Microsoft's Newest President Microsoft Watch
Seattle Post Intelligencer - Computerworld
all 41 news articles

Vision Solutions' Migrate While Active Helps Businesses Save Time ...
CNNMoney.com - 2 hours ago
Generally, upgrades and migrations happen during off-hours to avoid business disruptions during the day. With Migrate While Active, IT departments are no ...

The Miami Herald

With Billions at Stake, Business Lobbyists Vie for a Piece
Wall Street Journal - 10 hours ago
The measure, said chief lobbyist Dan Berger, is "a way to provide small businesses access to much-needed credit without costing the taxpayer a dime. ...
Obama stimulus plan boosts business tax refunds WTTE
Business welcomes talk of tax breaks in stimulus The Hill
Team Obama Adds Business Tax Cuts [Larry Kudlow] National Review Online Blogs
Wall Street Journal Blogs - Politico
all 1,783 news articles

MasterCard reorganizes business units
Forbes, NY - 1 hour ago
In the US, the credit card company established an expanded business unit that encompasses its US-based global accounts along with its US region. ...