metroConnections created a first-class space for presentations, exhibits and stages – all within one environment – and managed the details on a variety of levels.

Rolling out a new brand to the marketplace requires careful planning and strong execution. As Life Time Fitness announced LifeTime: The Healthy Way of Life Company™, metroConnections helped plan and execute a face-to-face and interactive brand rollout conference for company leadership.

Conference Services
• Meeting Management — metroConnections managed food and beverage, breakout rooms, online registration and housing. As online registration customers, Life Time Fitness used Attend-eSource Expedite. Their event team was trained on the registration technology so that they could manage the registration in-house, saving them additional costs. The registration form was created and then housed in a professionally branded Life Time Fitness Web site.

Event Services
• Expo Management — Each presenter hosted a booth representing a particular brand (i.e., Basketball, Triathlon, Swimming).metroConnections kept the environment consistent with banners and signage positioned throughout the expo. Because the expo space was in the convention center, participatory exhibit booths were easily implemented. Attendees could climb a giant rock wall or immerse themselves in a yoga studio or life spa.

Production Services
• Speaker Management — Over the course of one and a half days, the production team managed the content, presentations, rehearsals and props of 19 speakers for 19 presentations representing individual “inside company” brands. Each presentation was allowed 15 minutes, so timing and seamless transitions from speaker to speaker were crucial in keeping the program on schedule. The (3) large screen solution allowed for great visuals of the newly created brand videos.
• Stage Environment — The production team worked with the presenters during rehearsals and organized props and performers as part of each speaker’s presentations.

Transportation Services
• Shuttle Management – Arrivals and departures were arranged for attendees between hotels and the airport.

In today’s marketplace, planners expect better, faster, smarter solutions and technologies. It’s the standard by which the meetings and events world operates. When Bob Kilbury, Director of Marketing at Preferred Brands, worked with metroConnections and its Attend-eSource® suite of solutions for their 2011 Showcase convention, in Las Vegas, he found that “better, faster, smarter” has a human side from beginning to end.

When Preferred Brands needed a custom Web site, online registration process, as well as some onsite registration assistance during the Showcase convention, metroConnections assembled their Preferred Brands Team and it was off to the races.

Kilbury relied on Veteran Team Leader and Account Manager Amy Sterud from start to finish. For coordinating the custom Web site build, Sterud looked to Brad Neuman, Director of Attend-eSource Technologies. Once the registration Web site was up and running, Registration Lead Amanda Haase kept a keen eye on the attendee details from inside our registration support call center.

“Please let me reinforce the notion of what an outstanding crew of people you have working for you,” explains Kilbury. “Amanda went out of her way throughout the online registration process to be very responsive and helpful. Her follow-up was excellent. She was a great initial contact [for our attendees].”

By the time Sterud arrived in Las Vegas to assist with the Showcase registration onsite, she knew the attendees names inside and out, and handled walk-ups in an instant. Kilbury added, “Amy was superb! She was always there with her ‘can-do’ attitude and a big smile. Our members and vendors felt welcomed, and when a challenge did come up, Amy handled it quickly and without drama. She is a true pro!”

As part of the environment for The Mosaic Company’s Leadership Forum, the metroConnections creative team got into “gear” and carried the theme “Shifting into High Gear” throughout the event space. The following elements enhanced the theme of the conference.

• Gears came to life in the workshop when Artist and Shop Foreman Adam Gale designed and built a working gear structure that was featured in the meeting kick-off and then in the dining space.

• Both sides of the pipe and drape were accented with gear room dividers.

• Melanie Armada, metro’s in-house graphics extraordinaire, designed and created various “gear” décor elements for the theme. On the ceiling, 30 four-foot diameter gears were hung throughout the space.

• On the cocktail tables, giant styrene gears were adhered on top of a black spandex.

• Vinyl gears were adhered to the carpet for a “Yellow Brick Road” effect. It led attendees from the Winter Garden, across their dining space and into the general session space. metroConnections split the event space in two and designed the floor plan so that one side was used for general sessions and the other side for dining. Metro also provided production management throughout the two-day general session, all audio and visual needs for six breakouts and all entertainment needs.

metroConnections has been awarded the contract to manage transportation logistics, shuttle services and group tours for 12,000 attendees of The American Legion Convention to be held in Minneapolis, MN, August 26 through September 1, 2011.

The American Legion needed a company with experience in all aspects of transportation operations, logistics, traffic management, vehicle/fleet management, as well as experienced personnel to plan and coordinate transportation for the crowd of 12,000. “Coordinating major transportation shuttle systems and tours for events and conventions the past 27 years showed The American Legion Convention committee that we’re ready to serve them,” explains Sam Thompson. “And with our enthusiasm for this great metropolitan area, we were able to showcase Minneapolis quite positively.”

In addition to assuring smooth, timely and courteous pick-up and drop-off services during the event, metroConnections will manage tours, transfers, even parade buses during the convention. “This will be a great summer,” says Thompson. “We’re looking forward to orchestrating this one-of-a-kind program and exceeding all expectations.”

The Award-Winning City Tours motorcoach hit the streets last summer and is on the road again, kicking off the 2011 Tour Season. The Twin Cities Highlights Tour has new pick-up times and a new sightseeing stop, the Guthrie Theater (time and weather permitting). This public tour is also available privately for your prospective and relocated employees, or as part of your shuttle program from ‘here’ to ‘there.’

Please visit www.metroconnectionstours.com