Handy Room Size Calculator: This little tool calculates approximate square footage based on your number of attendees or exhibitors. Results take into account a variety of common room layout schemes.

World Clock: Planning an event across the country or across the globe? Find out what time it is there ... and even include a link to the destination's clock on your own website. Free.

Currency Converter: A link to Excite.com's Standard & Poor's currency converter.

Excel spreadsheets for meeting planning FREE for download, also includes HTML versions that you can open and use in your browser. Includes tools such as Site Selection Rating Sheet, Conference Calendar and Timeline, and Sign List Worksheet.

Articles:

• Uncovering the 'Hidden' Costs of Name Entertainment

• Negotiating: What's the 'Total Value' of Your Meeting to a Hotel?

Websites:

Officialtravelinfo.com links you to the official tourism organizations of worldwide travel destinations. Each destination provides official information about acommodations, attractions, dining, events, entertainment, shopping, sports/recreation, and transportation.

Gameops.com is an interesting site that is geared toward professional sports executives. We find it highly useful in staying informed about special events and promotions in the professional sports industry, so that we can design creative, timely events around professional sports teams and games. Visiting this site is a good way to spark some creative genius, and perhaps get some ideas about creating special events or activities around the professional sports teams in your destination.

High Performance Teams: Team building has always been an integral function of corporate meetings. This website is not specific to team-building events, but is an excellent information resource about team-building in general. It is a very good background source for meeting planners who need to understand the basics, and can help generate creative ideas for making team-building an underlying theme in corporate meetings. We incorporate many of these team-building techniques in the design of our corporate games, sports, and adventures.

Meeting planning basics: Here's a thorough guide to the basics of meeting planning. Always good to refresh ourselves on the ABC's.

Successful Meetings Magazine: Online version of this comprehensive industry publication.

Wide selection of well-known meeting planning publications: Access these industry publications from one site -- Insurance Conference Planner, Corporate Meetings & Incentives, Medical Meetings, Religious Conference Planner, Technology Meetings, and Association Meetings magazines. An excellent resource site.

Industry Associations:

Meeting Planners International (MPI): Online education programs, resources for meeting planners.

American Society of Association Executives (ASAE): Includes specific information and resources for association and non-profit meeting planners.

Miscellaneous Info, Related Links

Requires password for access. Click here to request a password.