Here’s immediate guidance for meeting planners seeking to “define the service, understand what the venue has to offer, and negotiate the price” for their meeting’s Internet needs.

The APEX Standards Committee of the Convention Industry Council released the RFP Strategy Guide for Event Internet and Communications. It is designed as the companion to the committee’s Excel RFP workbook tool. And it makes use of the Bandwidth Estimator for Meetings and Events on the CIC web site.

Section 1 presents a chart to customize with:
• Key event details: number of attendees, presenters and exhibit booths; timetable of events; show management needs; number and type of attendee devices; any special devices; any issues from last event; changes in the upcoming event; prior year bandwidth and device utilization metrics.
• Event service requirements, relative to reliability, performance, price.

Section 2 provides a table that focuses on the venue with:
• An array of questions and answers on bandwidth.
• Guidelines for infrastructure standards for supporting various numbers of devices.
• Considerations for on-site and off-site support.
• Issues around monitoring and reporting.

Section 3 addresses contingency planning:
• Cost factors, revenue factors, bandwidth-based pricing, connection-based pricing, long-term contract terms, and more.

To get started, access the guide here. — Maxine Golding