‘Medical City’ Research Institute Partners with Duke University

The Burnham Institute for Medical Research recently announced a partnership with Duke University to study and measure the levels of metabolites found in the human body. The research will take place at the new Burnham campus at Lake Nona Science and Technology Park — also known as Orlando's "Medical City." Read more about the announcement.

This development further solidifies the destination as a biomedical hub, which provides numerous educational programming options for your next medical meeting in Orlando. Find out more.

Burnham Institute for Medical Research at Lake Nona

Returning the Investment on Business Travel

According to The Return on Investment of U.S. Business Travel, a recent study prepared for the U.S. Travel Association by Oxford Economics USA, for every dollar spent on business travel, companies benefit an average of $12.50 in increased revenue, and $3.80 in new profits. The results of this collective analysis show a robust and irrefutable relationship between a company’s investment in business travel — including internal meetings, trade shows, conferences, incentives, and sales — and its profitability. Among the chief findings:

- Curbing business travel can reduce a company’s profits for years. The average business in the U.S. would forfeit 17% of its profits in the first year of eliminating business travel. It would take more than three years for profits to recover.

- Both executives and business travelers estimate that 28% of current business would be lost without in-person meetings.

- Both executives and business travelers estimate that roughly 40% of their prospective customers are converted to new customers with an in-person meeting compared to 16% without such a meeting.

- More than half of business travelers stated that 5-20% of their company’s new customers were the result of trade show participation.

- Executives stated that in order to achieve the same effect of incentive travel, an employee’s total base compensation would need to be increased by 8.5%.

- An increase in government travel spending of $1 million will increase government worker productivity and therefore output by between $4.6 million and $6.3 million.

For more information on this study, visit meetingsmeanbusiness.com/value-meetings.

'67 Days of Smiles' Could Inspire Attendance Building Ideas

Meeting planners can now follow along online via a blog, Twitter and Facebook as an adventurous duo from New York experience more than 100 Orlando attractions during the 67 Days of Smiles promotion. This is a great opportunity to learn more about Orlando and the world of social media.

Kyle Post and Stacey Doornbos are only three weeks into their 67-day adventure and they’ve already tackled several theme parks, wrestled alligators, learned to surf, drove four-wheelers, swam with dolphins, been pampered at a spa and more! The pair also recently visited Florida's Restaurant and Lodging Show at the Orange County Convention Center.

Earlier this month, Kyle and Stacey beat out hundreds of applicants from more than a dozen countries for the coveted position created by the Orlando CVB. Be sure to watch their journey for inspired attendance building ideas at VisitOrlando.com/67DaysofSmiles, Twitter.com/VisitOrlando or Facebook.com/VisitOrlando.

Panel Discusses Current Meetings Climate

The Orlando CVB’s Marketing Briefing & Member Luncheon was held on August 26 at the Orange County Convention Center. The annual event provides members with a preview of the upcoming 2010 destination marketing and sales programs, and presents industry insights via numerous panel discussions during the morning sessions.

Of special interest to meeting planners was the Meetings & Conventions panel, which focused on current factors influencing meetings bookings and the “AIG effect.” The session was lead by George Aguel, board chairman of the Orlando CVB. Participants included Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association; Christine Duffy, president and CEO of Maritz Travel Company; Steven Hacker, president of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events; and Bruce MacMillan, president and CEO of Meeting Professionals International.

The lively panel included discussion on how face-to-face meetings are true drivers of business, the need to quantify the industry’s impact and the importance of practicing strategic meetings management in today’s economic climate.

Try These Five Attendance-Building Tips

Once you’ve completed the meeting planning basics — booking rooms and space, as well as locking in the programming — it’s time to think about building attendance. Especially in today’s bottomline-focused climate.

The Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.® provides time-saving online attendance building tools, special services, as well as the expertise of our knowledgeable staff, to make your next event a success. Effective favorites include registration staffing, limited-hour attraction tickets for groups and free or low-cost promotional materials. Another very popular offering is the Orlando Magicard® for meeting attendees, which offers a variety of significant savings on restaurants, attractions and shopping.

- Offer a unique activity that relates to your attendees. Then arrange for a portion of your educational sessions to be hands-on at a location that ties in with that unique aspect.

- Survey your attendees. To keep them interested and engaged in the process, ask what would draw them to a destination and your conference.

- Offer an activity pre- or post-conference that has a direct impact on the destination in which you are meeting, or even one with a larger reach. Example: Find a local charity that has a world-wide impact such as Give Kids the World.

- Make it personal. Increase your pre-conference activities to get folks excited about attending the conference. Create a blog so attendees can “meet” before ever reaching the destination.

- Develop an ambassador program for your conference. This can be a committee of people who are designated, or open it up to attendees that are dedicated supporters.

New OrlandoMeeting.com. Planning Made Easy.

You spoke up and we listened. So get ready for an Orlando meeting planning Web site like you’ve never experienced before. The newly redesigned OrlandoMeeting.com provides a streamlined RFP process, powerful search options, as well as attendance-building tools like downloadable meeting checklists and destination videos. Here’s a quick preview:

- Simple is sometimes better. But not always. Especially when it comes to RFPs. That's why we offer two convenient online tools to send us yours — Quick or Custom.

- Our search engine for venues, entertainment and services are quick, easy and powerful. And you can create an online account and save them as you develop your RFP.

- Plan your next Orlando meeting or build attendance using our online toolkits that provide you with checklists, resources, videos and photos, and promotional copy.

See how easy planning your next Orlando event can be by visiting OrlandoMeeting.com today.