Keep America Meeting Wins Two Industry Awards
The industry-wide Keep America Meeting campaign was celebrated by the New York Metro Chapter of International Special Events Society (ISES) last week, when ISES judges awarded Keep America Meeting two Big Apple Awards for Best Use of Social Media and Best Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiative. The awards recognize honor and excellence in the special events industry.
“It is only fitting that Keep America Meeting won two ISES NY Metro Big Apple Awards because it was such an incredible initiative,” said Jennifer Quinones, president of ISES NY Metro Chapter and a certified special events professional. “Keep America Meeting took action at a time when the meetings and events industry was at a crossroads. Keep America Meeting went above just promoting meetings and events; they took a stand to protect our industry, secure jobs and bolster our national economy.”
Keep America Meeting was launched in February 2009 to support the meetings, events and incentives industry. The petition drew widespread support from individuals in all 50 states and around the world. In May, the U.S. Travel Association (USTA) delivered more than 21,000 signatures from Keep America Meeting’s online petition to the Senate Commerce Committee.
Keep America Meeting also activated its audience to support the USTA’s first Travel Rally Day on May 12th, leveraging the power of social media to connect the community simultaneously live and online.
“We are thrilled Keep America Meeting won two ISES NY Metro Big Apple Awards,” said Lee Rubenstein, president and chief operating officer of TBA Global, the agency that originated the Keep America Meeting campaign. “We are proud to have created a program of such great significance to the industry, and hope that the members of ISES and the many individuals who promoted the campaign take pride in this award.”
“In addition to the ongoing promotion by TBA Global, ISES and official endorsing organizations, we would like to thank two individuals who worked to spread the news through social channels,” added Rubenstein. “Terri Hardin and Rachel Globus worked tirelessly to keep the dialogue fresh and continual through Facebook and Twitter.”
Globus, Event Solutions’ editor in chief, worked with Keep America Meeting to leverage social media to expand the Travel Rally Day activities.
“We designed the social media component of Travel Rally Day to enable meeting, event and hospitality professionals around the country to participate in and drive the conversation about the value our industry offers businesses,” said Globus. “TBA Global created the space for a remarkable crowdsourced campaign, and its success shows how forward-thinking and innovative our industry truly is.”
Keep America Meeting is encouraging the industry to join the pro-event community through its online social networks on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter (@KeepMeeting) to receive relevant industry updates and continue the conversation about the value of events, meetings and incentives.
Keep America Meeting was created by TBA Global in partnership with the USTA with support from the Event Marketing Institute. It is endorsed by a non-partisan group of associations, publishers and companies.
For more information, visit KeepAmericaMeeting.org.