HSMAI - Affordable Meetings West, McEnery Convention Center - San Jose, California

The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International recently held their Affordable Meetings West conference at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California and I attended both days. Attendance was free, as was lunch both days. Very kind.

It was a trade show, networking and learning opportunity for suppliers, meeting and event planners which takes place annually in three locations across the country. This year's locations are/were: Chicago back in April, San Jose June 10-11, and the national meeting in Washington, D.C. in September.

I attended two of Joan Eisenstodt's programs. She is a savvy meeting industry veteran. They were: Meeting Planning Fundamentals and an Ethics course. She is very talented and managed to keep the room entirely engaged while imparting lasting ideas.

I caught Colleen Rickenbacher's Becoming an Independent Meeting Planner course. She too was great. She is strong and you can sense her aura of capability. She taught me the correct way to present my business card. Both hands on the upper corners, face the card to the receiver and bow slightly, keeping eye contact. Subtle, but it makes a big difference.

Lastly, I attended Sheryl Sookman Schelter's Marketing 101 course. She is knowledgeable, was entertaining and provides an invaluable placement service for meeting planners.

I met some wonderful people and made a few great connections:

• Edie Hafdahl, CMP, CTC at the Kauai Visitors Bureau
• Courtney Williams at Workspring - Hip new, innovative meeting place in Chicago - She is a fellow Michigander
• David Markham, Founder of Convention Planit - A very powerful meeting planner search engine
• Ian Shea, Founder of Maestro Market - A talent based search engine, beautiful website
• Amy Alcorn, National Sales Manager at Harrah's and Harveys in Lake Tahoe - She is a fellow mountain biker
• Nancy Johnson, CMP of Helms Briscoe - She provides an invaluable service to meeting planners who want to offload the tough task of hotel site selection and negotiation
• Erica Phipps of National Cinemedia - Use their service to broadcast your events to theaters across the U.S.
• Jason Neary, Director of Sales at the North Lake Tahoe Visitors and Convention Bureau
• Kris Hillard, Director of Sales at Inn Marin and fellow MPI member
• David Tewelde, Director of Sales at Four Points by Shearton in San Rafael
• Kelly P.K. Sheather, Sales Manager at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Waikiki - She's a straight shooter
• Tamah Vega, Co-owner of Amaree Living - She is a master organizer
• Tom McCarter, CMP at The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• Lauren Richardson, Meeting and Conference Specialist at the State of California's Department of General Services - She's a sweetheart and really gave me an education on how to do business with the State of California - just a real nice gal
• Ana Kitchen, Supervisor at UC Davis for Campus Events and Visitor Services - This is my Alma Mater and she was kind enough to give me two UC Davis lapel pins, one I gave to my stepfather, also a UCD grad.
• Christine Bohlke, Sales and Marketing Director at the Marin Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Cheryl Ollila, National Sales Manager for the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau - We talked Red Wings and Detroit happenings, I'm originally from the area
• Lila Schmall, Associate Executive Director for the California Psychiatric Association - Very nice gal
• Scott McGowan, Marketing Director at Solid Concepts - They make prototypes of inventions, mostly it seems in manufacturing
• Doreen Cooke, CMP, Meeting and Event Coordinator at the Judicial Council of California - another very knowledgable person on how to do business with California
• Alice Hamamoto, Senior Event Coordinator at Newport Corporation - She knows her stuff, when she talked, we all listened

Next is MPI's World Education Congress in Salt Lake City, July 11-14, 2009. See you there.