SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - March 6, 2013 - Meeting planning trade publishing company Meetings Focus has dramatically improved both its website, www.MeetingsFocus.com, and print magazines with a March relaunch of its online presence and a major reconfiguration and redesign of its five magazines, which are now combined into one individual title.
 
“Why not do it all at once?” asks Chief Content Director Tyler Davidson. “Actually, our editorial calendar aligned well with a March reconfiguration of our print effort, in which we combined all of our regionally focused magazines--Meetings Focus East, Meetings Focus MidAmerica, Meetings Focus South, Meetings Focus West and Meetings Focus International—into one edition that is customized to allow our planner/readers to receive a national features section combined with the geographically focused destination sections they have selected through their current subscriber profile. We combined this reconfiguration with a complete redesign, which logically led to updating our website to reflect our new, unified direction.”
 
MeetingsFocus.com has been completely redesigned to reflect a cleaner, more colorful design and more-efficient organizational structure that better showcases its award-winning content and creates a more user-friendly navigation experience. Besides meeting planning tools such as a robust global destination and facility search tool, the redesign emphasizes tips from leading meetings industry figures to accompany its emphasis on destination coverage.
 
On the print side, Meetings Focus combined all of its titles into a unified brand that will provide both nationally relevant features coverage with destination sections that remain targeted to where its meeting planner subscribers have been authenticated to book and/or plan their meetings, conventions and/or incentive programs. The new Meetings Focus premiered with the March 2013 issue.
 
“Apart from a fresh new design and a content strategy that better utilizes our 55,000-strong subscribers as sources, readers will benefit from a consolidated, nationally focused features section that is augmented by the regionally specific destination sections they’ve enjoyed for years,” Davidson said. “Advances in printing and distribution technology have allowed us to create multiple permutations, so readers who only plan in one of our regions, such as in the West or South, will still receive targeted destination coverage, but will also benefit from features and departments sections that know no borders.” 

Each issue will be “custom-designed” based on the areas in which planners confirm their interest and needs for future bookings. Every edition will also benefit from the inclusion of Meetings Focus’ recent expansion outside of North America, with its Meetings Focus International brand included in its May, July and October editions.
 
Flagged with the unified Meetings Focus brand, each magazine will begin with a departments section covering the meetings industry as a whole, including how-to tips, cutting-edge incentive and promotional gifts, contributions from columnists, profiles of major industry movers and shakers, helpful checklists and editors’ picks, among other features.
 
The destination sections will still include the award-winning coverage meeting planners have come to rely on, but will also include their own individual departments sections in order to provide a convenient overview of regional facility and industry happenings in each of our five demographic areas: East, MidAmerica, South, West and International.
 
Besides providing individual subscribers with content that is focused on the overall needs of planners, Meetings Focus will also deliver destination content that is targeted to where they specifically plan meetings. The re-conceptualization of the Meetings Focus print brand will allow advertisers to more-specifically target meeting, conference, trade show, event and incentive planners where they are most likely to hold meetings.
 
“We are truly excited about the new opportunity this offers our advertisers,” said Karen Smith, VP/Brand Solutions of Meetings Focus. “For years, we’ve offered them the most cost-efficient way to market their destination or property, with five distinct issues, each targeted to the planners who book their particular area of the world. Now, we’ll do it all in a single issue. While we will serve our readers more efficiently with a single ‘custom-designed’ issue each month, our advertisers will enjoy the simplicity of this new ‘Demographic Buy’. Consumer publications have been offering demographic editions and special buying options for years. We are thrilled to be the first company to offer the same choice to properties and destinations in the b2b world.   Along with the re-launch of MeetingsFocus.com, we offer the most cutting-edge, creative and attention-getting products in the market, all designed to serve the hospitality market, and the hotels, resorts, destinations, airlines and service companies looking to reach planners as they are sourcing their next event.” 

About Meetings Focus
Meetings Focus is a San Francisco-based division of Stamats Communications Inc., based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Meetings Focus publishes content covering the meetings industry, including the print publication Meetings Focus, as well as e-media content channels such as www.MeetingsFocus.com, various e-newsletters and educational webinars, and live events, among other products.