Last Thursday, Meeting Professionals International announced its new chief operating officer, Cindy D’Aoust (left). D’Aoust will leave her job as vice president, shared services & business development for Maxvantage, the alliance between Maritz Travel Co. and American Express, to begin with MPI on April 9. A few weeks ago we had an informal talk with D’Aoust to find out a little more about her interests and inspirations. One thing we learned (maybe not surprising): She loves reading books about leadership.

Hotel rates are rising because demand is up and supply is flat. July 2011 marked the highest number of rooms booked in a single month ever, for example, and 70 percent of current demand is in the luxury and upper-upscale segments—the hotels where you book your meetings. Meanwhile, there will be no new supply for three years, says Michael Dominguez (left), vice president, global sales, Loews Hotels & Resorts, who offers 10 insights into hotel operations designed to help meeting planners find the appropriate leverage to help them in meeting contract negotiations.

Last week, after much anticipation, the Convention Industry Council’s Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) and the American Society for Testing and Materials International announced that their green meeting standards are finally available for purchase. The first of their kind for meetings, the standards are now available in seven areas—audiovisual, communication and marketing materials, destinations, exhibits, food and beverage, on-site office, and transportation—with two additional sets on their way. Find out more about the standards, how to get them, and the cost, here.

Plan a virtual meeting and you’re likely to include many elements that mirror a face-to-face event: keynote presentations, panel discussions, and expert-led breakouts. But what do you do if the face-to-face meeting you want to translate online doesn’t follow a standard format? Can an “unconference” be virtual?

That’s the question Dave Nielson, co-founder of CloudCamp, a participant-driven unconference for early adopters of cloud computing technologies, began asking a few years back. Recently, he discussed his experiments in unconventional virtual meetings—in particular the success of his “unpanel” sessions—during the Virtual Edge Summit.

Calling all meetings industry presenters: The Professional Convention Management Association has introduced a new online portal called EduGate for the submission of presentation proposals—or even just great session ideas. The centralized proposal system is expected to mean big efficiencies for both PCMA and the people who want to propose sessions. Here’s why.

Why, in 2012, do we still accept room sets that would look right at home in a Victorian schoolroom? I’ve been to a lot of meetings in the past few months, and all too many of the session rooms were stark and sterile, with rows and rows of chairs locked together like some sort of furniture chain gang.

Why is this still OK? What are you doing to breathe a little fresh air into your room sets? C'mon over and share your ideas on face2face, the MeetingsNet blog.