1. Two Questions to Begin (Text responses to 22333) Do You Test Bandwidth on a Site Inspection? Yes – 56068 No – 56094 What’s Bandwidth? - 56457 Do You Negotiate Connectivity Costs in Your Contracts? Yes – 186306 No – 186308 I Can Do That? - 186310

2. The Ultimate Meeting Professionals Guide to Internet Connectivity Jim Spellos January 29, 2015

3. Can You Talk the Talk? Bandwidth The amount of data that can be transferred every second across the internet. Typically measured in bits per second (bps)

4. Do you include bandwidth & internet data on your RFP and Post-Con Reports?

5. Bandwidth - Shared vs. Dedicated 4 Streams Guest Room (Shared) Presentations/Services (Dedicated) Event Operations (Dedicated) Attendees (Shared).

6. Can You Talk the Talk? Bandwidth IP Request The number of times a device “requests” to visit a web page

7. Can You Talk the Talk? Bandwidth IP Request Digital Density The number of devices (not people) accessing the internet at a given time.

8. The Tech Inspection Places & spaces to review Lobby/public space Meeting space Guest rooms.

9. Some Helpful Site Inspection Tools TechSpec app Speed Test app APEX bandwidth estimator Pocket Planner app Coverage ? app. For the site visit, how about Point & Measure (iOS) or Smart Measure (Android) to confirm room sizes?

10. Planner Pet Peeves About Connectivity & Hoteliers Charging for amount of bandwidth used Double dipping for multiple devices Having to purchase before testing And what’s with that %@&! Convention Center pricing?

11. Supplier Pet Peeves About Connectivity & Planners Discussing needs a few days before the event Not knowing your usage history Demanding it for free Discussing needs a few days before the event (did I mention that already?).

12. What Does It Really Cost??? The speed and consistency of the connections, and not the cost, should be your most important consideration…usually. Expenses Current Revenue Model Fairer Revenue Model? Hardware/Installation$700,000.00 Annual Staff Sal/Benefits$80,000.00 Annual Tech Expenses$20,000.00 Years Between Upgrades3 # Guest Rooms 700 Occupancy % 70.00% Internet Fee/RoomNight $11.99$3.00 % Guest Rooms Purchasing Package 25%N/A Meeting Room Internet Revenue0N/A TOTALS$1,000,000.00$1,608,308.63$1,609,650.00 PROFIT MARGIN 160.83%161%

13. Critical Questions

14. Previous Hotel How much bandwidth did we use at our meeting (which times/places were most heavily used?) How many IP requests did we make (hourly basis)? What was our peak bandwidth & IP usage?

15. Hotels Under Consideration Who manages the bandwidth? How big is the pipeline? How many concurrent IP requests can you handle…and where? Is it shared or dedicated…and where? What is the age of the pipeline? Also ask how much bandwidth is dedicated for the guest rooms

16. App Provider Is the app native or web-based? How much bandwidth/device is recommended? What else at your event requires bandwidth? Shouldn’t be that much today…but that’s also changing!

17. Your Friend, the Hotel’s IT Director Include him/her in the site visit Copy them on all your technical questions.

18. Odds & Ends How usable are 3G, 4G & LTE? Issues with MiFi Analyze your WiFi – WiFi analyzer app (Android).

19. Recap of Key Points Understanding the terms Identifying critical tools Knowing which questions to ask.

20. Thank You! James Spellos, CMP President, Meeting U. jspellos@meeting-u.com www.meeting-u.com www.jspellos.wordpress.com facebook.com/meetingu twitter.com/jspellos paper.li/jspellos scoop.it/way-cool-tools and on… and on … and on …