Welcome to our ongoing series, “Two Minutes With”. We’re getting to know a little more about the Elettra team, our clients, and our partners/suppliers. Today we chat with Meetingmax's Community & Marketing Manager, Kelly Heesterman.

​Alma Mater: BCIT Marketing Communications. And soon to be graduate of The Institute of Holistic Nutrition.

Favourite restaurant or food: Mexican! Salsa and Agave is right around the corner from my office. They were sold out of guacamole today… I was devastated.

Favourite author: Louise Hay, Shawn Achor, Brene Brown

Morning beverage of choice: Green Juice! Today was lemon, ginger, cucumber, dandelion greens, and an apple. Lately I’ve also being starting the day with a glass of water and bentonite clay to flush out toxins. That’s right, I willingly drink dirt…

Favourite spot in Vancouver: Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver.

Favourite font: Calibri, 10.5

Best piece of career advice you have received? That failure is okay. Failure to change however is not okay.

If you didn’t work in marketing, what would you choose to do? Holistic Nutrition or Interior Design.

What are you most proud of in your career? Several of the Meetingmax crew recently went to the SXSW Festival in Austin, TX to exhibit at the Interactive tradeshow and to connect with our client (SXSW). It was pretty surreal to see that our reservation technology was powering such a substantial event. Not to mention the housing team was able to spend time with us in the evenings, something almost unheard of in prior years as they would often have to work late into the evenings. I love knowing that our software can actually enhance our clients’ personal lives by improving processes and giving them the gift of time.

What characteristic do you value most in your work colleagues? A positive attitude.

Why do you choose to live in Vancouver? It’s my hometown.

Natural talent you wish you had: Public speaking

What is something you learned in the last week? Every month our team reads a book together, currently we’re reading Leadership and Self-Deception by the Arbinger Institute. In a nutshell, self-deception occurs when we hold on to a certain belief and then justify our actions to fuel that belief. It brought on a lot of self-reflection and is changing the way I interact in certain situations and relationships. It’s a goodie.

What is your favourite PR campaign (local, national, or international): There’s a lot of cool stuff going on. Here’s a couple that caught my attention:

• Volkswagon and DDB Russia recently launched a Think Blue campaign which encourages people to recycle their old batteries in exchange for small tokens - http://www.psfk.com/2015/04/volkswagen-vending-machine-batteries-money-think-blue-campaign.html
• Burger King is paying for the wedding of Mr. Burger and Ms. King…. Clever - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/burger-king-to-pay-for-wedding-of-mr-burger-and-ms-king-in-illinois/article23826308/

Vancouver-based Meetingmax selected by renowned festival to provide hotel reservation software

Vancouver, BC; February 24, 2014 – In keeping with its mission to support industry innovators, South by Southwest (SXSW) has signed a contract with Meetingmax Systems, provider of the travel industry’s most flexible online housing reservation system. Through the agreement, Meetingmax’s online accommodation platform will handle hotel room bookings for SXSW’s roster of events and conferences. The companies expect the system to process more than $15 million in hotel transactions during the first year.

The Canadian company’s technology has gained popularity in the United States amongst meeting planners, conference organizers, and convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs), however this agreement marks the first time Meetingmax will work with an annual festival on the scale of SXSW.

“Since 1987, SXSW has been a standard-bearer for independent business and independent thinkers," says Mike Shea, Executive Director, SXSW. "Meetingmax is cut from that same cloth and we think their housing technology is the right system at the right time."

Discussions between the two companies began in 2012 when SXSW started researching options to replace its previous system, developed internally more than 20 years ago. That software was not designed to handle the increasingly complex requirements of SXSW’s ever-growing line-up of events. After considering its options, including internally redeveloping the software, SXSW decided to engage Meetingmax.

“Meetingmax’s core competency matched exactly what we were looking for. They know housing inside and out,” says Michael Brown, Technical Project Manager, SXSW. “Rather than building a system with similar capabilities, working with Meetingmax means we know the system will function at the level it needs to. We’re now free to focus our energy on innovation in other areas.”

Recognized for its stability and ease of use, Meetingmax’s software also allows for customizable features. For SXSW this will mean special comprehensive billing and refund options and an integrated logic enabling the system to provide unique options to guests based on their role at the event. The housing technology began testing with smaller SXSW events starting in fall 2013, with the full launch projected for August 2014 with registration for the SXSW 2015 Austin conference.

“This contract is a long term, significant investment for Meetingmax and SXSW. Ensuring the fundamentals of our organizations aligned was important to both of us,” says Jeff Duncan, COO and Founder of Meetingmax. “It feels great to be working with a team that will benefit from our software and that also functions like ours in terms of goals and culture. We’re excited to develop this relationship in the years to come.”

First held in 1987 in Austin, TX, SXSW was founded as a conference and festival for the music industry but has since blossomed into a tool for creative people and organizations from different disciplines to share ideas. In 1994, SXSW added film and interactive components, and has since added events spotlighting education (SXSWedu), sustainability (SXSW ECO), and entrepreneurs (SXSW V2V). Today, the SXSW flagship event attracts more than 40,000 registrants to Austin every March, with a local economic impact calculated at more than $218 million in 2013.

Meetingmax recently announced that it had signed an agreement with Oklahoma City to manage their online housing needs. Read the full release here.

Software expected to help region secure convention business Tacoma, WA and Vancouver, BC: September 22, 2010 – Tacoma Regional Convention and Visitor Bureau (CVB) announced today the signing of an agreement with Meetingmax Systems to handle its online housing reservation needs. The CVB made the decision in order to meet the growing calls from meeting planners for a simplified housing solution.

“Meetingmax’s system has an excellent reputation within the travel industry,” says Shauna Lunde, Director of Sales and Marketing for the Tacoma Regional CVB. “Meeting planners have had positive experiences with the system in other destinations and have been requesting the service from us.”

With 87 hotels and 6,000 hotel rooms, the Tacoma Regional CVB was looking for a system that could simplify the process of reserving room blocks at a variety of hotels. Instead of having to use each hotel’s system to track bookings, a meeting planner can secure blocks of housing through the CVB and manage their bookings through one central portal. Conference attendees are sent a link which allows them to explore participating hotels and book their own rooms.

“In today’s competitive market, having an online housing reservation system is another service that CVBs can offer their meeting planners,” says Jeff Duncan, COO, Meetingmax Systems. “It’s a value added benefit that can help Tacoma and Pierce County attract business.”

Meetingmax’s system was selected based on its user-friendly interface and the fact that it does not have minimum booking requirements. The system has received positive feedback from other Washington destinations and is now used by CVBs in Spokane, Tri-Cities, and Yakima.

Located just 18 miles south of the Seattle-Tacoma Airport on the I5 corridor, Pierce County is an easy to reach destination for convention attendees. The region offers a wide variety of activities ranging from fine dining and harbor tours, to kayaking and hiking at Mt. Rainier. Visitors can easily explore Tacoma’s historic and cultural attractions on foot, including the Museum of Glass featuring the work of renowned glass artists.

Meetingmax Systems to provide housing reservation technology for film festival Vancouver, BC; September 16, 2010 – While organizers of the Vancouver International Film Festival have countless details to worry about, this year they won’t be worrying about hotel reservations. As a festival sponsor, Vancouver-based Meetingmax Systems will be providing its online housing reservation technology to manage room bookings for visiting filmmakers, VIPs and guests. This follows the successful use of the online platform at last year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

“We were looking for a way to make sure that housing arrangements for our guests would run seamlessly and were impressed with the results that Meetingmax produced at Sundance,” said Betty Verkuil, Director of Development, VIFF. “Having the support of local companies for our festival is critical for our success. We’re pleased to have technology developed by a Vancouver business play a key role in the festival’s logistics.”

With eight hotels providing rooms for the festival, VIFF organizers wanted to simplify the process of reserving rooms for VIPs and guests. Instead of having to use each hotel’s system, organizers can manage all hotel bookings through one central portal.

While Meetingmax is based in Vancouver, the organization primarily works with convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs), meeting planners, and organizations in the United States. This will mark one of the first times that the system will be used in Vancouver by local hotels and event planners.

“Our partnership with VIFF will allow potential clients to explore the customizable features of our online booking platform,” says Jeff Duncan, COO, Meetingmax Systems. “In turn, our system will streamline the housing reservations process for festival organizers, which can otherwise be an unnecessarily time-consuming element of event management.”

Duncan developed Meetingmax’s online housing reservation platform after years of organizing events and conferences. Given the time required to manage rooms at various hotels for events, he began looking for an existing software solution that could streamline the process. After an unsuccessful search, he spearheaded the development of Meetingmax’s own software in 2007.

Since then, the company has seen steady growth. The software is now used by CVBs in more than 20 destinations across North America. In 2009, Meetingmax was responsible for processing more than $7 million in hotel transactions.

“Our CVB clients have responded with positive feedback on their experiences with the Meetingmax system,” continues Duncan. “We are hearing that conference planners are now asking for the service from CVBs before making a final decision on which city gets their conference business.”

CVA signs agreement to streamline housing reservations for visiting sports teams

Hammond, IN and Vancouver, BC; August 25, 2010 – As part of its ongoing investment in technology, the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority (CVA) has engaged Meetingmax Systems to handle its online housing reservation needs. Through the agreement, South Shore CVA will use Meetingmax’s system to manage housing bookings for conference and event attendees, including teams traveling to the region’s numerous sports tournaments.

“While convention traffic is important to us, our region’s core strength lies in our ability to host major sports tournaments,” says Speros Batistatos, President and CEO of the South Shore CVA. “But this type of business requires that we book teams and their families into numerous hotels across the region. Meetingmax’s system helps us streamline that process for our customers and hoteliers.”

By using Meetingmax’s system, instead of having to call different hotels and reserve rooms with their own credit card, a coach or event planner can make one call to the CVA to secure room blocks. Each tournament attendee is then directed to log onto the system to book and pay for their own room.

“Instead of spending our budget on visitors’ guides, we are investing in technology and improving the efficiency of our marketing efforts,” continues Batistatos. “By having people reserve their housing through us, we can break down the demographics, learn more about our customers, and build a targeted email database.”

Meetingmax’s system ties directly into the CVA’s award-winning email marketing program. Once guests have booked in, the CVA sends them their room confirmation along with information about what to do when they arrive and coupons for partner restaurants and attractions. After checkout, the CVA emails visitors a survey to gauge their satisfaction with the hotel, local restaurants, and sports facilities. South Shore then provides this feedback to the other organizations.

“Our system helps South Shore build relationships and alleviate their clients’ stress by not having to run around and contract with different hotels,” says Jeff Duncan, COO, Meetingmax Systems. “We can provide their event planners with quantitative data that they can use to plan next year’s event. For example, by tracking bookings, we know that their teams want to book at hotels with a pool, that offer continental breakfast, or are close to certain facilities.”

As part of its selection process, South Shore looked at several other housing systems but ultimately selected Meetingmax for its user-friendly interface, customizable features, and affordable per-reservation fee.

In addition to deploying online housing, South Shore has also embraced other technology to improve service and efficiency. Recently, the organization launched a mobi site for mobile phones and has deployed advanced database marketing tools to help drive tourist traffic.

About South Shore CVA: The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority is the sales and marketing organization leading the hospitality industry and supporting its partners in the development and promotion of tourist attractions along Indiana's south shore of Lake Michigan.