4.1.a     Components of an Annual Meeting: 

•·         ERAPPA Board meetings and Receptions

•·         Exhibit Hall

•·         Professional Development Program

•·         Annual Business Meeting

•·         Awards Banquet

•·         Lessons Learned Meeting

•·         Tours

•·         Entertainment

•·         Golf Tournament

The components will be referenced throughout this document and are reviewed in detail in Section 5. 

4.1.b     Exhibit Hall Booth:

At the preceding Annual Meeting, an exhibit booth space is made available to next year's Annual Meeting HC and advertisement space is provided in the conference program so that next year's Annual Meeting can be marketed.  The booth size is generally 10' wide x 7-8' deep and in a high profile area.  The standard booth set up (refer to Section 5.3 for details) is done by the drayage company contracted for the current year's Annual Meeting and the  cost is covered by the current year's Annual Meeting budget.  If any equipment/furniture is required in addition to the standard setup, these will be at the expense of the next year's HC and arranged directly with the drayage company.  Any audio-visual requirements and associated costs are to be co-ordinated directly with the current year's HC and funded by the next year's HC.  Past HC booths have included professional 10' wide x 6' high pop-up type floor stand display backdrop with spot lighting or smaller table top pop up type displays, large banner/sign on the backdrops, display of raffle & give-away items, "fishbowl" for collection of business cards, monitor for broadcasting of promotional video from future Annual Meeting location.  The booth is usually manned by future HC member(s) while the Exhibit Hall is open.  If storage space is required in or near the Exhibit Hall, the next year's HC is to co-ordinate their requirements with current HC.

4.1.c     Marketing:            

Apparel:  Future HC members generally wear apparel (golf shirts, long or short sleeve shirts, vests, etc.) with the future conference logo during the current Annual Meeting.  ERAPPA Board members are also provided with a HC shirt.  Additional volunteers who will be helping at the AM should be provided with HC shirts as well so they are easily identified.           

Give-Aways:  Booth giveaways with future Annual Meeting logo are optional.  Past examples include:  pots of office grass (supporting sustainability theme), stuffed crabs (supporting seaside location of future Annual Meeting), pens, "Save the Date" cards (business size) with lapel pins inserted in the cards, luggage tags with delegate business cards laminated right at the booth.            

Raffles:   Raffles are not mandatory.  If decided upon, the type and quantity of raffles (in addition to the future Annual Meeting registration) are optional and at the discretion of the future HC and are generally open to all visitors to the booth.  Raffle items can either be purchased by the future HC as part of the marketing budget or donated by future HC chapter institution members.  Past raffle items include:  clothing, mugs, pen sets, bags, etc from chapter member institutions; and items from the future Annual Meeting location such as books, artwork, apparel items, regional food items, etc.  Raffle winners are generally announced publicly in the Exhibit Hall at a time coordinated with the current HC and/or posted at the booth. 

Future Annual Meeting Registration:  Business cards are generally collected at the HC booth from current Annual Meeting attendees for a series of raffles.  One raffle is sometimes done for a complimentary basic member (not Business Partner) attendee registration (not including travel, hotel or additional entertainment costs).

Literature:  These items are at the discretion of the future HC.  Items in the past have included:  travel & tourist information pamphlets obtained from future Annual Meeting location tourist bureaus, letter from ERAPPA President inviting everyone to attend the future Annual Meeting, Call for Presentations document and Business Partner package for future Annual Meeting.  The content for Call for Presentations and BP package  should be reviewed by VP Annual Meetings prior to printing.

4.1.d     Conference Program:

A full page is allocated to the future Annual Meeting's advertisement.  The location of the ad is decided upon by the current year's HC.  The future HC is responsible for providing camera-ready artwork for the ad and this is generally due by the end of August before the current Annual Meeting.

4.1.e     Presentation:

An approximately 10 minute presentation is done by the future HC Chair(s) at the current Annual Meeting Annual Business Meeting and Lunch on Tuesday.  The timeslot is determined by the ERAPPA board who develop the agenda for the Business Meeting. The presentation is an opportunity to advertise the future Annual Meeting, including highlighting the theme and location of the future Annual Meeting.  Past presentations have included power-point presentations and/or videos of future sites.  Additional items have also been used to      market the future Annual Meeting, including:  mint tins with future Annual          Meeting logo at each lunch place setting (co-ordinated with current HC to have tins placed by hotel staff), future HC members at entrance to room distributing lapel pins with future Annual Meeting logo. The hand out of any items should be co-ordinated with the current HC.

4.1.f      Future Annual Meetings:

It is important to note that the focus for any HC marketing is on the HC for the next year's Annual Meeting.  On occasion however, other future HC's market their Annual Meeting informally.  Past examples include stickers with location & date of future Annual Meeting placed on current Annual Meeting name badges, etc. Any HC, other than the next year's Annual Meeting HC, wanting to market at the Annual Meeting should review strategy with the VP Annual Meetings.