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Local Business  » Small Businesses Make a Big Impression: Use a Meeting and

Small Businesses Make a Big Impression: Use a Meeting and

Article:

You've got a great business plan, a phenomenal product or

service, and the energy and drive to promote your business.

There's only one problem. You're running your entire company out

of a corner of your living room, or your garage; or you've

rented a hole in the wall office furnished with ancient office

furniture scrounged from anyplace you could find it, and you're

not really comfortable inviting high power prospective clients

to your location.

Your regional meeting and conference center may have the perfect

answer. These centers are springing up all over the country, and

offer a range of options for meetings, conferences, and

conventions. Designed to project a modern, professional

corporate image, they allow even small start ups to make a

dynamic impact on potential clients and management personnel.

Whether you need to schedule a ten o'clock meeting with a few

representatives from a major corporation you're targeting for

business, or you need to rent a room for an entire day to

interview a series of potential management hirees, an

attractive, functional meeting room will reflect your company's

professionalism.

When you're choosing a meeting and conference center, be sure to

research the availability of communications technology; the best

centers will offer the latest high

tech media equipment, so that if you have to project a

Powerpoint display, a CD-Rom, or a DVD presentation, you have

access to the equipment you need. A competently operated

business center will also provide high speed Internet access and

dial-up, as well as a number of business services including

secretarial and clerical support, photocopying services, and

FAXing capability. If you're going to be holding a lengthy

meeting, you also need to make arrangements for your clients to

have lunch or morning or afternoon food breaks, depending on the

timing of the meeting. If you hold annual meetings for your

employees, your partners or stockholders, or your board of

directors, you may want to splurge on an informational meeting

which includes a sumptuous catered meal.

If you're expecting potential clients or vendors to travel to

meet with you from out of town, you may want to pay special

attention to the meeting center's ease of access, both from

Interstate highways and from regional airports. Business people

who travel frequently want to get to a meeting quickly, have a

productive experience, and then get back on the road, to the

airport, or to their hotel room with as little fuss as possible.

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Choosing your meeting's location to facilitate this will make a

positive impact on those you're meeting; putting them in a

position of getting snarled in city traffic will definitely not.

Of course, the best meeting and conference center in the world

is only as impressive as the presentation you make. Make sure

you're prepared, and have all the documentation you need at the

meeting, polished and organized. If you have a media

presentation to make, be sure it says what you want it to say,

and then communicate with the tech experts at the meeting center

to be absolutely certain you know how to operate the equipment.

If possible, troubleshoot the equipment, and practice the

presentation, well before your meeting so that you can make a

smooth, polished performance.

Even if you're operating a start-up company on a shoestring,

creative use of your regional meeting and conference center will

allow you to project a professional, successful image to your

business associates; and nothing sells like success.

About the author:

Aldene Fredenburg is a freelance writer living in southwestern

New Hampshire and frequently contributes to Tips and

Topics. She may be reached at amfredenburg@yahoo.com.