A Computer Rental Company Contemplates i-Meet, the New Hot Location for Event Planners and Suppliers

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Chip Stockman, the membership and marketing manager over at i-Meet.com, to discuss the implications of this valuable enterprise-centric website.

Our initial conversation started because I had contacted him as a supplier of computer rental equipment, but my interest was piqued when I learned that i-Meet could become a whole lot more for us, and I decided to interview Chris.

Erin: What is i-Meet?

Chip: i-Meet.com is the online social community for people who plan meetings and events around the globe. Really, that's it. We could say we're the largest (50,000+ members), larger than the top paid Meetings Associations combined, but numbers are just numbers and we like to think the real power of i-Meet-.com is the connectivity that it offers our members for free. With free membership or members can request to connect with members around the globe - for knowledge, experience, help, ideas... Or they can simply search our database of suppliers, view photos and videos on some, rate them all, "Follow" and "Like" those with upgraded interactive listings which can include Twitter and Facebook widgets, YouTube videos, see links to all of the supplier's employees already on i-Meet, even start a Request For Information for potential business and much more.

Erin: What prompted the website’s creation?

Chip: i-Meet was developed (launched in the fall of 2008) by John Pino, who founded StarCite for the Corporate Meetings industry. He saw what social media / social connectivity could do for meeting planners and suppliers and decided to help foster that connectivity.

Erin: How are you different from LinkedIn?

Chip: Many people describe us as one part LinkedIn, 2 Parts Facebook: which we love to hear since Linkedin is a great business tool but focuses mostly on Groups and offering you the ability (for pay) to let you get introduced to a friend of a friend. i-Meet lets you reach out to any other member and request to be friends. Planner to Planner, Supplier to Supplier, Planner to Supplier - we look at everyone as a member of the i-Meet Community. We work together in the same industry for the basically the same reason - to hold great meetings and special events - why not offer an equal playing field where we can all get the job done with great human, facility, location, technical and service oriented solutions?

Erin: How can i-Meet benefit the event community?

Chip: i-Meet tries to give every member the ability to share their own voice, experiences, knowledge - while being the connective tissue to solutions, options and business.

Members are free to write their own blogs, embellish their profiles with photos or videos, reach out to any other i-Meet member, "follow" supplier listings to stay on top of changes in their world, search for new destinations, suppliers and much more. We even offer a job board for the meetings industry.