Whether it's a small off-site corporate meeting, a networking event or party, or the total annihilation of most life on Earth, we here at eVenues believe that there is the perfect space for every occasion.

While we officially do not believe the world will end today, we do like to be prepared. What with the speculations of deadly superflu viruses that threaten to destroy humankind, asteroids, zombies, nuclear holocausts, robot slave rebellions, and apocalyptic demons summoned by evil wizards, there's plenty to be concerned about. Do not fear. Our crack research team went out and found the best venues available should the world end.

Here they are:

A Room of Requirement

Meeting Room of Requirement

Considering that it's a room that furnishes itself with whatever you need (except in-house catering), rooms of requirement are an excellent choice should you be confronted with an armies of evil wizards or a run of the mill zombie horde. Each room of requirement comes fully equipped with essentials like fanged frisbees--just what you need should the world be overrun by unspeakable evils.

What’s that you say? Magical rooms of requirement don’t exist? Then why is there a listing on eVenues?

A Biker Shop

This really is the best place to be if you’re anticipating a nuclear holocaust. We all know that when the world turns into a desolate, dusty wasteland the only thing that’s going to save you is a baddass leather jacket and aviator glasses. A good biker shop should be replete with these essentials. While the evenues staff knows all and sees all, we have selfishly reserved all the biker shops for ourselves. We’ll let you know if we have any spares.

Chuck Norris' House

Martian invasion? Meh. Chuck Norris has already been to Mars, that’s why there’s no signs of life.

Overpopulation? This is only a problem if Chuck Norris gets tired of allowing so many people to live.

Since Chuck Norris’ house comes equipped with ICBMs, laser gun turrets, and reinforced titanium walls, we believe that this could be the safest place in the world...granted that Chuck doesn’t feel like roundhouse kicking you to the face. Get on his good side by liking this facebook page, and you’re set.

eVenues does not have any rooms in Chuck Norris’ house listed, but we do have dojos rentable by the hour. While it’s not quite the same as Chuck Norris, at least you’ll have an army of badass black belts to protect you in the case of an impending zombie or motorcycle bandit gang attack.

Note: There’s is a 50% chance that the apocalypse will be caused by Chuck Norris. In that case, you’re out of luck.

A Warehouse Full of Exploding Barrels

We don’t know why, but whenever heroes in action movies shoot a barrel it will usually set off an explosion. Since the explosions never seem to injure the heroes themselves, we feel that this would be an ideal venue for you to rent out in the event of a zombie apocalypse. eVenues does have barrel rooms for rent, but to the best of our knowledge these barrels do not explode when you shoot them (we respectfully ask that you do not try).

Martha Stewart's Kitchen

Martha Stewart's Kitchen is perfect in every way, from the shelf of Chinese teapots to the Russian honeys strategically placed above a phone and walkie talkie, to the doggie wardrobe and toy repository--this place shouldn’t exist. Since nothing on the planet could be so perfect, we are convinced that the kitchen is actually part of a parallel universe. Should any catastrophic event should befall the planet,  this could very well be the safest place (not) on Earth.

Photo Credits:

Zombie Apocalypse Public Service announcement photo by: Dr. Stephen Dann

Photo of Toxic Barrels By: Aidan Morgan

Martha Stewart Photo By: David Shankbone 

Research on Chuck Norris provided by the fine folks at chucknorrisfacts.com.

In June, we reached out to some of the best and brightest in the meetings industry to get their input on the best career advice they had ever received (or had learned the hard way). Considering how well that post was received and also considering that 2012 is coming to a close, we thought we'd reach out again to get their 2013 predictions. 

 

Behold! Here are their predictions:

 

Venues will focus more on "local" flavor

Jessie States--Editor, meeting industry at Meeting Professionals International"In MPI's future of meetings research, architect Robert Hopkins says, 'Flexibility is often badly interpreted as sliding and folding walls where spaces attempt to do many things badly. The key is to be more specific.' We see venues becoming more and more specific in terms of their time and place.

We'll see fewer isolated and cookie-cutter institutions, and more venues that embrace their place—from design of space to décor. They'll "go local" by featuring local materials, local foods, local artists, local icons and local talent. Meanwhile, delegate needs are changing. They want more peer interaction and learning and less lecture time, and meeting professionals are relying on their suppliers to provide spaces for these kind of experiences."

--Jessie States, Editor, meeting industry at Meeting Professionals International


More generous budgets and quicker turnarounds

Lisa Kraus Director of Business Development & Events for Plan Your Meetings"I believe we'll start to see wider booking windows for corporate events, with more generous budgets and quicker turnaround with decisions and commitments. With so many online booking tools and mobile apps, planners will continue to be more tech savvy and web-based when researching and sourcing their meetings, but there will still be a strong demand for customer service and planner/supplier relationships that will ultimately secure the business."

--Lisa Kraus, Director of Business Development & Events for Plan Your Meetings


2013 is the year for planners to start thinking about sustainability

Shawna McKinley, Director of Sustainability at MeetGreen"The meetings industry is impacted by several global sustainability trends. Food prices have increased over 6% in 2012, and are expected to continue to rise in 2013. Climatic events present risks as well, increasing pressure on companies to manage and reduce their carbon footprint, in addition to having a response plan to emergency situations.

Fortifying ourselves to be resilient to these issues will be a key challenge, and opportunity for innovation. Solutions include taking practical steps to reduce food waste, control portion size, and promote healthier alternatives on event menus. Planning to measure and reduce event carbon by 5% per year is also critical, so think practically about how your property uses energy, how much air travel is necessary, and where footprint can be reduced. This includes embracing the trend toward hybrid meetings."

--Shawna McKinley, Director of Sustainability at MeetGreen


2013: upping the ante for online social engagement

Michelle Bergstein-Fontanez Marketing Maven Event Industry Marketing by BeatCreative"2013 is all about upping the ante for online social engagement ROI that transfers back to the real world and for businesses to actually reap the results of their marketing efforts. We will see experiential incentives like Viggle and social incentive sharing platforms like Expect Referrals  and tools in all types of markets become more prevalent and cross over into the meeting and event industries. Foursquare and Instagram will also integrate into events with wide spread force and will evolve into more ROE (Return on Experience) for event planners and marketers. Social curation utilizing visual platforms like Pinterest and Loveit will remain hot and will transition into a must need tool in the event industry. The help of these visual boards allow #eventprofs to transfer ideas more visually and get real time feedback from clients to gain better synergy."

--Michelle Bergstein Fontanez, Marketing Maven Event Industry Marketing by BeatCreative


Still scaling back on event budgets

Julie Ann Schmidt, Managing Partner at Lithium Logistics Group" I think 2013 will see the industry staying as is or a very slow increase in the industry – with the outcome of the 2012 election we continuing to see layoffs in many industries. This slower economy will continue to negatively impact growth in the meetings and events industry. My global clients say that the US economy has an impact on all of their business globally, and that other regions of the world have slowing economies. When the economy is down it impacts our industry as for many meetings and event are deemed to be a luxury. My clients that are not cutting events have continued to scale back the event budget."

--Julie Ann Schmidt, Managing Partner at Lithium Logistics Group. (LinkedIn Profile).


Social media and technology is allowing for 3 BIG changes

Mike Malinchok, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at i-meet.com"Looking at how social media is evolving to support the business needs of the meetings & event industry, we clearly see three specific trends that have gained significant momentum in 2012 with full expectation of even more in 2013:

1. Increased use and power of peer networking over traditional informational databases: Social media driving a shift in the primary source of supplier and destination information from traditional supplier-provided databases to peer references, informational blogs, and experiential webcasts/videos.

2. Event Life Extension: The value and life of an event has moved well beyond the dates of the actual event. Social media makes it possible to build collaborative and engaging communities for attendees both pre and post event dates to richly expand the life and influence of a single event.

3. The beginning of the end of the RFP: Information gathering, supplier services evaluation, and reputation checking have moved into the social media arena which circumvents traditional RFP processing. Buyers have access to richer, deeper sources of information to make decisions without having to go the historical route of engaging the supplier UNTIL they are ready to buy. This is changing the way suppliers create and nurture relationships that drive actual business."

--Mike Malinchok, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at i-meet.com.


Online engagement skills will be no longer optional

Elizabeth Glau, Owner and Chief Foundation Strategist at Building Blocks Social Media"Online engagement skills will transition from being delegated to the youngest person at an organization to being expected of every professional. Suppliers who have established a personal brand and are comfortable building relationships online will be more successful. Meeting planners are being asked to incorporate online elements into all aspects of their meetings (virtual/hybrid, mobile apps, social media) and the ones who have practiced the art of the online relationship will be much better equipped."

--Elizabeth Glau CMP, Owner, Chief Foundation Strategist at Building Blocks Social Media.


Tight budgets, smarter social media, and a tougher job for the planner

Sue Pelletier, Editor of Medical Meetings, a MeetingsNet Magazine"Prediction #1: Budgets will stay tight in 2013, leading to more SMMP development and implementation in corporations, more procurement involvement involvement in meetings, more short lead times, continued emphasis on cutting costs, possibly more local/regional meetings, unique venues.

Prediction #2: More and smarter use of social media to not just promote events/meetings, but also to engage participants before, during, and after an event.

Prediction #3: Hotel and air rates look to continue to rise, and we can expect both to find new and creative things to charge a fee for. Planners will have to work harder than ever to provide compelling reasons to pay increasing costs to attend. Will that lead to better, more engaging, interactive, wow-inducing meetings? I sure hope so!"

--Sue Pelletier, Editor of Medical Meetings, a MeetingsNet Magazine.


Digital extensions of face-to-face events will accelerate

Tony Lorenz, Founder at bxbOnline"The industry's adoption of technology, particularly the digital extension of face to face events, will accelerate. Those extensions in aggregate will drive stronger attendance at market facing events.

More importantly, our smarter and smarter utilization of technology available to us will also become evident."

--Tony Lorenz, Founder at bxbOnline.


More content marketing, more virtual meetings, and more hybrid events

Jenise Fryatt, Co-Owner and Director of Icon Presentations"As a result of my experience marketing my Icon Presentations blog, I have become very involved as a blogger, presenter and consultant on Social Media Strategy and Content Marketing.

1 - With the advent of content marketing and the plethora of tools for dispersing a message and engaging with attendees online, the importance of quality content creation will gain a renewed focus among event planners. Planners will begin to realize the value of capturing conference content and dispersing it in an easily digestible way with the goal of increasing the value of events and marketing them online throughout the year.

2 - Meeting planners will adjust to the fact that many face to face meetings are no longer necessary due to the ease with which multiple parties can now meet online. They will begin to take more of a lead in mastering the skills needed to organize virtual meetings and more and more face to face meetings will feature experiences that cannot be duplicated in a virtual context.

3 - You will see more targeted use of hybrid event experiences: for instance, streaming only certain sessions and offering an online Q &A with the speaker afterward; separate virtual tracks targeted to the audience that couldn't attend in person; streamed sessions lasting 10 to 20 minutes at the most geared toward the easily distracted remote attendee. "

--Jenise Fryatt, Co-Owner and Director of Icon Presentations


Gen X and Gen Y will take over

Doreen Ashton Wagner, Chief Strategiest at Greenfield Services"I believe one of the biggest trends to affect the meetings industry in 2013 will be the accelerating shift in demographics, as more and more boomers retire and Gen X and Gen Y take over. It's a trend I've written about earlier this fall.

With this will come a fundamental shift in how organizations regard meetings. Younger generations want more information about the purpose of meetings (unlike boomers who often were happy to meet for the sake of meetings). They are more protective of their private time and will resent meetings being scheduled on weekends or taking them away for extended periods. Of course younger generations will continue to bring mobile technology and social meeting into meeting rooms, forcing planners to accommodate them with free WiFi and opportunities to share and engage. Finally because of the increased used of social media, and the inherent multi-tasking this brings about, younger generations will look for agendas with more frequent breaks and more dynamic presentation styles."

--Doreen Ashton Wagner, Chief Strategist at Greenfield Services and The Meeting & Event LEAD Blog.


Meetings are becoming more unique

Janis Ross, Vice President of Convention & Sports Marketing at Eugene Cascades Coast"One important new trend we are seeing in meetings is delivering content in new and different ways, whether it’s through CSR and teambuilding activities, TED formats, or the use of technology and social media to engage attendees before, during and after the conference. As a convention and visitors bureau, we are being called upon more often to assist planners in suggesting unique activities – such as for the Pacific Tree Climbing Institute or Iron Chef Competitions – as well as to add lift to the conference’s social media channels. This has become so important, in fact, that we recently added a complimentary Social Media Toolkit for Planners as a download on our website."

--Janis Ross CMP MBA, Vice President of Convention & Sports Marketing at Eugene Cascades Coast.


2013 will Be a year of growth

Randall Whatley, President at Cypress Media"I believe 2013 will be a good year for the meetings industry. Now that the Presidential election is over, businesses will get back to focusing on sales and growth and meetings are necessary to accomplish such. Company executives are now looking back and seeing that several years of budget cuts on meetings may have helped with incremental improvements in their bottom lines but did nothing to improve top line sales growth."

--Randall Whatley, President at Cypress Media Group


Social media has hit prime time

Cameron Toth, Owner at Toth Event Staffing"Social Media integration seems to have hit prime time this year. Caterers that I work with have all moved to having in house folks working on their social media campaigns or at least making sure they set up a Facebook page. In 2011 people were skeptical, in 2012 they thought it was necessary and in 2013 they will be looking to maximize presence.

Email marketing is still effective but the power of social is still growing and I think we will see many more tools that utilize technology in 2013. As we become more connected and information is more easily attainable we will see lower cost web events aimed at wider audiences to utilize the power of volume. On the same note we will see large conferences shrinking to 'hyper target' qualified buyers for their sponsors and main stake holders."

--Cameron Toth, Owner at Toth Event Staffing


More mobile apps

Jessica Levin, President at Seven Degrees Communications"I think that the biggest trend that we will see widespread is the use of mobile applications. More and more, planners are implementing mobile apps into their events. Because there are so many great providers out there, organizations no longer need to develop apps from scratch. They can simply go out to the market and find an app that has features That meet the needs of their attendees. Attendees are starting to expect quick access to information and a high level of engagement and the majority are carrying smartphones making the adoption of mobile event apps easier. "

--Jessica Levin MBA CMP, President at Seven Degrees Communications


Meetings technology will become cheaper and easier to use

Corbin Ball, Owner at Corbin Ball Associate"This trend in software programming is driven by continued advances in web services  and open-source technology. This makes it easier, cheaper and faster to create, distribute and use technology to help in meeting planning.  There are hundreds of free, freemium, low cost, and do-it-yourself (DIY) options providing lower costs and more flexibility for planners. Examples include ContantContact’s new Online Event Registration starting at $20/month, a small fraction of typical online registration costs. Guidebook offers a free meeting DIY mobile guide app with up to 500 downloads per event. Google Hangouts On Air offers free multipoint video conferencing, steaming and recording. Joomla provides free web site building and content management tools with over 9,000 plugins. …just to name a few! These forces are also driving mobile app development with hundreds of thousands for free or very low cost app available; many of them of great help to meeting professionals."

Above quote used with permission from an article on Corbin Ball's Website.

--Corbin Ball CSP CMP, Owner at Corbin Ball Associates.


Short term requests and bookings will continue

Tahira Endean, Director - Creative and Production at Cantrav and Blogger at Events, Life and Impact Points"I believe 2013 will continue the trend of short term requests and bookings as our industry continues to be responsive and reactive to creating meaningful meetings and fantastic events. I look forward to seeing how the changes in social media and technology affect our event planning, execution and ultimately the guest experience from marketing to evaluation, and all the touch-points in between. I believe this is something that will be affected partly by generation and adoption phase of both Planner and Participant. 2013 will be a year of evolution, globally and in North America as clients who understand the power of face-to-face meetings, incentive travel and responsible fundraising respond to the economic realities that we are in."

--Tahira Endean CMP, Director - Creative and Production at Cantrav and Blogger at Events, Life and Impact Points


App 2.0 should be pursued for meetings and events

Dennis Shiao, Director of Product Marketing at INXPO and blogger at It's All Virtual"In 2013, I'd like to see the meeting industry (e.g. meeting planners, in conjunction with technology vendors and providers) pursue App 2.0 for meetings and events. While App 1.0 was successful in providing the basics (session and exhibitor listings, social media integration, some degree of profile matchmaking), App 2.0 goes deeper to enable our mobile devices to be a more valuable and trusted "partner" to make the most of our meeting experience. What does that mean? That's for the industry to determine."

--Dennis Shiao, Director of Product Marketing at INXPO and blogger at It's All Virtual


Jobs will continue to be more niche oriented

Dawn Penfold, President at Meetingjobs"Social media seems to be the 'go-to' place for networking and making contacts. Personal branding (knowing who you are, what you do and what differentiate yourself from others) is an important step in 2013. It sets you apart from the rest of the pack internally within your organization and externally if you are searching for the next opportunity. Jobs continue to be niche oriented. Medical companies wanting medical meeting planners, financial companies wanting financial planners, associations seeking association planners. Specialties within the niches also have become important."

--Dawn Penfold CMP, President at Meetingjobs


The industry needs to focus on transparency and ethics

Mariela McIlwraith, President at Meeting Change"In 2013 our industry will need to focus increasingly on transparency and ethics. These are multi-faceted issues, and incorporate everything from ethical bid processes, to the social and environmental impact of our events, to intellectual property in a social media age and to acceptable elements in our events within the global economic context. We've made great progress in recent years in being able to articulate the business value of meetings, and we need to ensure that our actions and professionalism as an industry support the delivery of this message."

--Mariela McIlwraith CMP CMM MBA, President at Meeting Change


Content (marketing) is king

William Thomson, Head Honcho at Gallus Events"This year has been the year of "content marketing" as organizers start to see the value of promoting the true value of their content rather than relying on the old tried and tested marketing messages. In 2013 content marketing will continue to help the good events differentiate themselves from the bad and the down right ugly. "

--William Thomson, Head Honcho at Gallus Events