SPINCon 2012 The Conference for senior-level planners

"It's NOT About the Chicken!"

A SPIN member from Minnesota recently gathered up her courage and scheduled a meeting with her CEO. He immediately assumed she wanted to discuss the logistics of her meetings, so he started inquiring about menus and such. She politely interrupted him and boldly asserted, "It's not about the chicken!" Then she began a discussion that really got his attention. She discussed aligning what she does to achieve his corporate objectives. The result? She now has a seat at the proverbial table.

We, as an entire industry, need to change how we talk about what we do. This is precisely the goal of SPINCon 2012. What we do is NOT about ordering chicken, printing name badges and sending out emails. Sure, that's part of it, but have you ever stopped to think about how you change people's lives? In big ways and small, what you do actually changes people's lives. You produce meetings and events that educate, inspire, solve problems, expand networks, increase earnings, and raise job satisfaction, all while achieving the strategic goals of the company hosting the event. You also impact every community where you bring your events. Your expenditures contribute to the local economy, your event helps vendors pay wages that help individuals feed their families, and your Corporate Social Responsibility helps those in need. Who else can say all this about their job?

SPINCon 2012 will give us, the veterans of our industry, the ideas, tools and confidence to lead the industry in thinking differently about what we do.

Why Telluride?

Simply put, we visited and we fell in love. With their down-to-Earth vibe, with their unusual mix of innovation-meets-history, with the whole town’s obsession with —and abundance of—dogs, with their big city cultural offerings wrapped in a cozy mountain village. Clearly, we drank the Kool-Aid while we were there.

TOP 11 REASONS TO COME TO SPINCON
(THE Conference for Senior-Level Planners!)

11. Attending the conference earns you 11.75 CEUs, as verified by the Convention Industry Council.

10. SPINCon won Event of the Year in 2011 for its extreme innovation and collaboration in all sessions and aspects of the conference. 2012’s conference will be EVEN MORE innovative and collaborative!

9. We're featuring four different "Villages" which are groupings of content by theme. Day one will be all about Technology. Day two will be Strategy in the morning, Solutions in the afternoon. Day three will be Marketing in the morning, then we adjourn.

8. Come for the amazing mix of senior-level planners just like you, facing the same issues and challenges, and enjoying peer-to-peer networking and sessions.

7. You’ll love the lack of pretense (flip flops encouraged!). Last year, attendees signed 'waivers' agreeing to leave their preconceived notions at the door, and this year will be no different. We will let down our guard and learn from each other without judgment, and help each other without competition.

6. Extreme ROI like no other industry conference. No 'Contracts 101' discussions here! We focus on what matters to you, because it matters to us, too.

5. Events and sessions that will get you out of the traditional ballroom, and into the sunshine and beauty of Telluride, while still providing you with the education and networking you expect.

4. The limited ratio of suppliers, which helps planners (and suppliers!) create more meaningful relationships at SPINCon.

3. The start time. This event starts when you get on the shuttle in what we've deemed Knowledge Transfers. Discounted flights into Montrose Airport give us an hour of structured networking and education on the shuttles, so you have maximum ROI and meet new peers right away.

2. SPINCAKE WARS! Have you seen the Food Network TV show 'Cupcake Wars'? Well then, you get the idea! We're competing for glory AND for charity. If you're arriving prior to July 11, we hope you'll join us in this fabulously fun pre-conference event.

1. We can't reveal the details, but we can say that a major event at SPINCon will be like nothing you've ever experienced at an industry conference before, and we think you'll agree that it is a game-changer.

BONUS: c’mon, it’s TELLURIDE!!