Now you can carry your vertical holders and neck wallets with ease!

Cheers can be heard nationwide! Is it because of the start of football season? Or the kids are back to school?…Not quite!  These cheers are from Meeting Planners once they got word that a NEW neck wallet organizing system was available!

For years Meeting Planners have been voicing a need for a neck wallet transportation/organizer/display solution. As far as we know, pc/nametag® is the ONLY supplier that took on the challenge! Double Cheers!

The Redi-Reg™ Deluxe Combo Case is actually two organizers in one. Exclusively designed by pc/nametag®, it provides a 90-Attendee Neck Wallet solution in addition to a 90-Attendee Vertical Nametag Holder solution, in one case!

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, why not check out our product profile video and see what the cheers are about! We guarantee you’ll gasp!

At pc/nametag® we love creating products that give Meeting Planners a hand – almost as much as we love getting a hand! Cheers!

So Many Travel Apps, So Little Time!

The iPhone and other smart phones are changing the way we stay in touch.  More and more people are leaving their notebooks at home or the office and traveling light – with just their smart phone.

One scary thought though is having your travel plans upset by weather and suddenly you are scrambling trying to find new flights and a hotel to stay for the night.  There are over 200,000 apps for the iphone and most business people don’t have the time to dig through all of the applications to find ones that will work for them.

We found a great site that takes all the travel applications and puts them on one site so that you can determine which ones might be most useful to you.  The site is http://meetingapps.com/.  It categorizes the various sites into 23 categories such as airlines, hotels, restaurants, GPS and global maps, sparts activities, travel, and even meeting management.

Each category has about 20 applications so you can quickly see descriptions of some 400-600 websites, if you care to, but most likely you will find 3-4 you might want to add to your phone.  Imagine being able to go to hotels.com at 11PM when your plane lands at O’Hare and you’ve missed your connection.  Pull out your iphone and do a quick search.

A great tool.

Tote at MPI WEC in Vancouver

The MPI WEC was a great hit in Vancouver as over 2500 people attended. The weather was superb with temperatures in the high 70s during the day (that’s about 20 degrees Celsius for those of you who haven’t adapted.)  The opening reception was held at Canada Center where the second flame of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics were held.

pc/nametag is again the sponsor of the tote bags and the lanyards at the 2010 Meeting Professionals International WEC meeting in Vancouver Canada.  Our TEC tote bags were warmly received by attendees at the event.  They liked the functionality and style, and the many pockets.  Click here to see the Tech Exec Compu Brief. People stopped by the pc/nametag booth and told Angie Brown and Nick Topitzes that they loved the bags.

Custom PC/NAMETAG Big Meeting2 Full-Color Lanyard designed for MPI WEC

The lanyard which pc/nametag also sponsored was a recycled material with great color and it used a two point attachment to minimize any spinning.  The fabric was soft and silky and one attendee, a man, told us that a woman he was sitting with liked it so much she wanted to use it to tie up her hair.  Here’s a pciture of Angie’s nametag and the lanyard.  Click here and see the Big Meeting2 Full-Color Lanyard from our PC/NAMETAG catalog.

Inside you’ll find New innovations to make your job faster, easier and all-around better. With new items in every category, even quicker production times on dozens of our current products, and new thoughtful details that make your pc/nametag® favorites even better! Plus FREE samples so you can see the difference for yourself. View all of our new products for 2010 HERE.

So now you know the back-story to our latest catalog production—Let me know what you think of it.

Insert template help is just a click away.

It happens more often than we like. A harried phone call from a planner the morning of the event. She’s been up late trying to figure out printing the nametags and now it’s really crunch time.

But we hate the idea of our customers waiting for help until the office opens. Especially when you don’t have to. We’ve actually posted our Complete Instructions for Microsoft Mail Merge in our Online Resource Center. And we’ve got Video Tips on assembly, and design at your disposal 24/7.

While we certainly don’t wish any midnight disasters on you, at least now you can get help as soon as it happens.

Have any midnight disaster stories of your own to share? Let your fellow planners laugh along by posting them on our facebook page.

Did you know your kindle is fully compatible with international travel?

Blessed are we the techno un-savvy, for we have folks like GaiaGeek to clue us in to the finer points of using our high-tech tools. A recent entry taught me how to figure out which carrier my Kindle was using on the road. And it occurred to me many meeting planners may not even realize that their high-tech com gear is as useful, and serviceable outside the country as is in the states. In the case of your Small Kindle this little tip can give you access to Amazon, and perhaps more importantly Wikipedia, wherever your travels take you.

What's the question Jeanne gets asked most? Find out now.

One of the many benefits of having seasoned staff is the amount of knowledge they can share with our customers. It’s especially valuable when the customer is new to meeting planning – or when an experienced planner bumps into a last-minute problem and needs to shoot from the hip.

One of our most experienced Customer Service Reps. is Jeanne. Before joining us all the way back in 1997 she had spent the previous decade as a meeting planner.

With that much time “in the business” folks are constantly asking her for advice. That’s why we were so happy she agreed to sit down with us on camera and walk us through one of the most common questions she gets over the phone. To see what it is – and what the answers are, watch here.

International events call for a welcoming feel all their own.

Ever since we were confronted with stories of the ugly Americans travelling the world, I think we as a nation have gotten better at being respectful of other cultures and their languages.  Sure, we could always do better, but in my travels to Europe and Asia, I think other nations may have even  taken our place at the top of the list of Ugly Travelers. 

One thing that really stands out in my mind is that the Europeans and Asians who want our business really work at learning English.  Granted it is becoming the language of business but what is interesting is that most Europeans don’t just learn English, they learn two and three languages beyond their own.  In a sense they are blessed with the proximity to different tongues.  But they also see it as a way to advance.   Walk in to a restaurant and it’s relatively easy to find and English-speaking member of the staff to service you.  And most places have a menu in English as well as the native language.  Many even have French, Italian, German, and other translations all available. 

So what does this have to do with meeting planning? I always try and learn some of the language in the land I am visiting so that they see I at least am making an effort to understand, but you have to admit we all feel instantly more welcome and comfortable when  that person caters to me in my native tongue – or finds someone who can.

And I think there’s a lesson for all of us meeting planners in this. We all feel more welcome when others reach out to understand us.

For years, I’ve thought US stores and restaurants should put up the little flag decals on the windows of their stores when they had someone who can speak a foreign tongue. The same could go for your even staff. Many cities are blessed with thousands of students who are required to have taken a language ­- that’s an outstanding opportunity to take advantage of when you’re looking for event staff and translation resources. And when you’re hosting an international crowd wouldn’t it be great if we could reciprocate and offer menus in their languages and staff that could help them.  Little pins on uniforms with German or Spanish or Mexican or French flags would bring smiles to the folks who come for your event but would love to speak to someone in their own tongue.  Oui?

Lights, camera, assembly! We’ve got the helpful “how to” videos you need.

Even after 30 years in the meeting planning business I find there’s still plenty to learn.

That’s why I’m thrilled to introduce pc/nametag® Nametag U – a series of E-mails dedicated to the ins and outs of name tag design and assembly.

Over the next few months we’ll be covering topics like speeding assembly, different techniques for segmenting and identifying guests, hassle-free onsite printing and more. In print and video so you can get the knowledge the way you learn best.

We’re also giving you a chance to win the praise of your fellow planners by posting your best name tag tips on our Facebook Wall – we can all learn from each other, get the job done faster and easier.

Look for the e-mails in your in-box or, if you don’t currently receive our pc/nametag e-mails, sign up here.

The Red Carpet Club. My refuge on the road. Photo: Erik Charlton

Most of the places I go to in my 100,000 miles per year are major cities.  The airports are generally jammed with people since most of the cities are either airline hubs or major destinations, particularly at the end of the day when people are trying to get home or to their next morning business destination.

Throw in a little bad weather when flights are delayed or cancelled and you’ll find people yourself doing the “airport weave” through a mêlée of people sitting on the floor, folks running for their flights, plus airport carts, leaky roofs, food carts, etc.

I’m fortunate enough that with my 100K status I get a discount for the United Red Carpet Club.  It is my refuge.  Comfortable chairs, electrical outlets, wireless service, television, and free coffee and snacks.  No crying kids, no people screaming at the desk agent.  It is a sanctuary.

Now before you start saying Topitzes is a spoiled, wealthy, elitist who doesn’t travel like the rest of the world – let me remind you about the stress of travelling 100,000 miles a year and spending over 100 days on the road.  That is a lot of uncomfortable airplane seats, back aches, and Chicago style hot dogs.

So the Red Carpet Club is where I get my chance to sit down, make some calls, and log on to view the emails, spreadsheets and dashboards of the day.  Or simply get a chance to read the newspaper and get caught up on the news.  Here’s another benefit. Because most of the people in the room are elite fliers, the airlines put in their most experienced ticket agents – which means quick access to information about alternative flights or seating preferences.

I can also bring in two guests – free of charge.  Occasionally, when flying to a convention or expo of meeting planners, I see a customer or colleague on my flight or sitting at the gate and I invite them to join me.  They enjoy the comfortable chairs and free coffee, and I get a chance to build a relationship.

With around 100 flights per year, it cost me about $5 per visit.  The price I’d pay for that free coffee if I had to buy it in the terminal.  So you see that it is a fairly good deal.

United has the Red Carpet Club, Continental the President’s Club, American has the Admiral’s Club.  All the major airlines have these clubs in their major airports, so whichever brand of the friendly skis you fly, you can have access to a friendly refuge on the ground as well.

So, what tips do you have for staying sane on the road?