In my December 2006 column I observed that “A modern event manager spends 90 per cent of their time interacting with a keyboard! No wonder events can be bland and repetitive”. Not surprisingly, that led to some interesting debates fuelled by more than a modicum of Christmas spirits.

There was one thread to the discussion that flawed me – the apparent lack of understanding about what, and how much, IT “stuff” a meeting and event manager needs. So drawing on my experience at Event Planners Australia here is a list of what any competent company must have:

• A registration system, preferably with on-line capabilities – it needs to be secure, manage speakers, exhibitors, delegates, sponsors, email outs and very much more. Those using Excel spread sheets or home grown programs need to realise what is at stake here and invest in serious technology. We use EVENTS Pro and Interactive and could not imagine offering expected services using lesser programs. We run this on a dedicated heavy duty Dual Xeon running MS 2003 server. It is connected to the internet via a 100Mbps full duplex link (up to more than 100 times faster than most PCOs have).

• An email system – MS Exchange Enterprise runs on another dual Xeon MS 2003 server. Each event can generate tens of thousands of emails. Lower-cost Linux-based email servers don’t offer the flexibility of Outlook Web access or other telecommuting tools.

• An office productivity system – we use MS Office 2003 (primarily Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook) on every desktop. In addition we have PDF converters (from Office to PDF and visa versa). Office is the only way we can guarantee compatibility of documents between our clients, suppliers and ourselves. We do use other products such as MS Visio, MS Project, MS FrontPage (HTML design), Adobe Indesign (for DTP) and Adobe Premier for photo editing.

• Desktop computers – all staff have their own MS XP Professional PC with an LCD screen, quality keyboard and mouse.

• Event accounting – we use MYOB Premier for full job costing and PCounter to keep track of printing, photocopying and other costs.

• Support environment – the environment was standardised using MS Terminal Services running on another dual Xeon MS 2003 file and print server lowering support costs considerably. It is supported by a full-time system administrator and a part-time helpdesk officer.

• Intranet and in-house information system – we have developed a comprehensive staff support system and have programming skills.

• Website hosting – we have a dedicated e-commerce server and a dedicated web-site hosting server. Their effectiveness (hits, visits, countries) is measured by a Web Trends server.

• Output devices – there are more than 20 heavy duty printers, ticket printers, faxes, scanners and output devices connected to the system.

• Antivirus, Spyware and internet attacks – the system is protected with Norton Corporate Edition Antivirus and MS ISA proxy and firewall server.

• Phone – we have an integrated Splicecom Voice over IP (VoIP) phone system for true transparent call access anywhere in the world.

• Telecommuting – the whole system is available to staff via any broadband connection in the world. We cover the cost of home internet for senior staff.

The above list only gives a small insight into the system. Cost – well, about $500,000-plus around 20 per cent annually in maintenance costs, but who’s counting?
Let’s simply say that the above system provides all the features and functionality we need to do the job expected of any competent PCO.

Ray Shaw is an accredited meeting manager (AMM), IT journalist and Chairman of Event Planners Australia. To contact him, email ray@im.com.au or visit www.eventplanners.com.au.

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