The best source for referrals is our peers, and meeting planners can turn to these online discussion groups for suggestions and referrals.
Whether you need a travel director in France or a rooftop venue in New York City, the meeting planners in these online discussion groups are there to assist you.
MeCo
The granddaddy of all online discussion groups, the MeCo (short for Meetings Community) Google group has been dishing out advice since its founding in 2006. It delivers on its goal of educating and fostering the sharing of information on issues that affect the meetings industry with knowledgeable moderators and robust conversation and is the first place to look online if you need a recommendation.
MPI Forum
Meeting Professionals International’s members have access to a helpful online forum for referrals on everything from signage to space to speakers. It is not commercial, it is useful, and (like most forums) its digest emailed to members is a quick way of keeping up with the topics.
PCMA Catalyst
The PCMA Catalyst is a portal for members that includes a discussion group, job listings and articles all in one place, or as PCMA describes it: “the perfect place for knowledge exchange, content curation, idea incubation and professional networking.”
LinkedIn Groups
There are literally dozens of meeting industry LinkedIn groups, with some (like EventPeeps) counting members in the hundreds of thousands and others tied to industry associations, such as FICP. Since many are public, there is some blatant commercialism you must put up with to get to the useful posts. Here’s info on a few.
