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Situation
Since 1971, WE Travel has been one of Vancouver´s leading conference and event management companies, organizing the smooth running of over 100 events a year. The company clients are mainly Canadian unions including the Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Public Service Alliance of Canada, Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Communications, Energy & Paperworkers Union. WE Travel also manages conferences and events for over 100 over 100 provincial, regional and division unions as well as over 500 locals, affiliates and labour councils.
Most conferences are in the 100 - 300 delegate size, but it is not uncommon for the company to arrange meetings for as few as 20 or as large as 3000 delegates in the case of national conventions. WE Travel also provides a wide range of travel services, from charter flights and vacation packages to hotel and car hire. Other services WE Travel provide include:
- Site Selection
- Event Co-ordination
- Accommodation Contract Negotiation
- Airline and Train Contract Negotiations
- Real-time Internet Accommodation Reservations
- Real-time Internet Conference Registration
- Real-time Internet Function Reservations
- Bi-lingual On-Site Travel Desk
- Detailed Pre and Post Convention Reporting
Solution
WE Travel first began using eventsPro in the late 1990s for housing, functions and travel. When eventsInteractive was developed they began to put it to use with great success.
“We use eventsInteractive for every meeting and its great. The biggest asset is the management login for our client´s key conference people. We still receive a lot of faxes and phone calls because they book small groups of 10 or so, usually with one name and “tba´s” to block the space until they determine who exactly will be attending. We have used the ESP scripting for Exhibitor Booths and plan to use it for an upcoming event for all aspects of the meeting," says WE Travel Senior Executive, Ian Sinclair, who is a devotee of eventsInteractive.
WE Travel´s activities with Canada´s union movement includes the planning and management of the “Union School”, which is achieved using a number of the eventsPro modules.
“The school is four week-long sessions that start on Sunday and finish Friday. There are 10-15 classes per week and one price gets you your room, meals, class and inclusive functions each night. Where it gets complicated is when a delegate changes the week they´re attending and the prerequisites,” says Ian Sinclair.
Results
Ian Sinclair is impressed with the flexibility of the various eventsPro modules, remarking “I think its great because no matter how similar each event is, they´re all very unique in their own way. The people running the events each have their own way they want things done, how it looks and what part of the conference for which they use our services. eventsPro and eventsInteractive give us the flexibility to handle any kind of event.”