The Meetings Community

MeCo Policies

Welcome to the Meeting Community or MeCo!

MeCo is a place for meeting planners and suppliers to discuss the issues surrounding the meetings industry. If you have a problem, post it and we might be able to help. This is a community for all to share and educate themselves. If you have a question, ask it and the community will try to help as best they can.

Below are the policies for MeCo on what can and can’t be posted on the Google Group, as well as what you can send or not send to our members. This is a free service, and is supported through the hard work of the moderators. To subscribe to Me Co just use the box at the bottom of the page.

Mission

The Meetings Community (MeCo) Google Group was formed on Jan. 6^th 2006. The goal of this group is to educate and foster the sharing of information on issues that affect the meetings industry.

POLICIES:

To keep MeCo the best interactive, non-commercial educational discussion group for industry professionals, we have fairly strict "no marketing" and "no mining" policies.

If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask one of the moderators.

MEMBER DIRECTORY PROFILE: Next, you may want to take some time to complete your profile on the MeCo Membership Directory. A dedicated Membership Committee developed this directory, offering a free "opt in" web listing resource to all MeCo members.

To access the membership directory, go to the www.meetingscommunity.org web page; click on the membership directory and then click "submit a listing"

JOB BOARD:   A job board has been added to the site. This allows Meeting Industry and Hospitality Industry employers to post their current position openings for job seekers. This is a Worldwide MeCo feature. The service is complimentary and does not require membership. Position listings remain active and can be viewed for 120 days from the post date.

Job postings and members seeking full time employment are allowed on MeCo. (Please note: Offering your services as an independent contractor on a per project basis or marketing any services provided by your company is not allowed on the job board.)

MANAGING YOUR ACCOUNT/SETTINGS: "Managing individual emails is easily accomplished by creating a ‘rule’ in your incoming mailbox in which to drop all emails with “MeCo” in the subject line.  This will place MeCo posts into a separate file if that functionality is available through your software or email server "

The volume of emails varies on a day-to-day basis, so you can easily manage what you’d like to read by content and subject heading.  If you delete any email and find yourself needing material to reference on the same topic down the road, all posts are archived and you can search by subject matter

FEEDBACK:  Be sure to participate on the list! We listen to members and we welcome your input if you have an idea that may benefit MeCo members.

PASSWORD:   Please make sure you write down your password as you may need to access the MeCo website from time to time.  Also note that the 'second step' of creating a Google Group account is a valued tool to manage your own account with email settings.  This is particularly helpful when you're out of your office and want to put MeCo email on hold, or not have automated 'out of office' responses sent to each poster while unavailable.  Please follow the link on the front page or go to www.groups.google.com and follow the steps and then join the MeCo group.

MeCo's SOCIAL NETWORKING GROUPS

The moderators highly encourage networking amongst MeCo list members.  Any MeCo lister can volunteer to coordinate an informal gathering.  Over the past few years, “MeCo MeetUps,” informal in-person MeCo gatherings, have been arranged during meeting industry conferences and in specific geographical areas by active MeCo list members. These "Off-List" groups have been created by fellow MeCo Members for networking, marketing and educational opportunities.

FACEBOOK: MeCo group link: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8436375221

PLAXO: MeCo group link:  http://meco.plaxogroups.com

LINKEDIN: MeCo group link: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/52366/419E29596A8F

TWITTER: MeCo group link: www.twitter.com/mecotweets

SHUTTERFLY: MeCo group link: http://meco.shutterfly.com

MeCo POLICIES: (Please read the full policies at www.meetingscommunity.org)

UNACCEPTABLE MEMBER ACTIONS:

• There is no marketing of your company or you allowed on this group. (For example, do not share links that refer back to your own blog or website; it will appear as marketing.) Any marketing attempt that is found will be dealt with in the following way:
  1. The first offense will result in a warning.
  2. The second will result in a banishment status for anyone from your company that uses MeCo
  3. We reserve the right to remove any post or thread that we feel is disruptive to the meetings community or is in violation of the no marketing policy.
• No flaming or spamming of any community members.
• No religious or political remarks (except factual issues relating to meetings). This is a listserv for meetings-related discussion.
• The membership directory is for members to contact other members. This is not for sending marketing emails about your product or services.
• Sending emails about your product or services to multiple members through this forum is not allowed. You are welcome to snail mail a letter to the members.
• Posts to the listserv with no identification about you, the sender. The following is the minimum required: Name and company or at least type of industry affiliation, such as corporation, association, student, etc. Please add a minimal signature line.
• Pursuant to Antitrust Laws (which apply to all of us), please be aware there should be no discussion of salaries or how you price your services on this public discussion forum.
• If you have a bad experience with a vendor or planner, you may NOT directly post who they are on the group. The following is proper way to post:   "I had a bad experience with a hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota. If you want more information please contact me directly."
• We reserve the right to remove any post or person we feel which is not in accordance with the mission of the group.

Legal Stuff

By posting and using the on-line services at the Meetings Community you agree to the following:
Privacy/Ownership - All content that users contribute via email message to the MeCo by posting to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , directly to the google group site http://groups.google.com/group/meco/ or replying to a MeCo message is the property of that poster. All posts made to the Meetings Community website are also the owned by the poster. We reserve the right to delete a post that violates the rules above or is disruptive or off topic. If you wish to use information in a post please contact the original poster.

Liability – All Modeators and Co-Moderators including their respective employees, agents, or subcontractors (will be referred to hereafter as "MeCo" ) do not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any of the information or content or advertisements contained on, distributed through, or linked, downloaded or accessed from any of the services contained on this website or the Google Group, nor the quality of any products, information or other materials displayed, purchased, or obtained by you as a result of an advertisement or any other information or offer in or in connection with this website or Google Group. You hereby acknowledge that any reliance upon any information, advertisements or other content shall be at your sole risk. MeCo reserves the right, in its sole discretion and without any obligation, to make improvements to, or correct any error or omissions in any portion of this website or Google Groups and all information contained in those locations.

The website and all contents are provided by MeCo for its members on an “AS IS” Basis. MeCo expressly disclaims any and all warranties, expressed or implied, including without limitation warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to the service or any materials and products. In no event shall MeCo be liable for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, or consequential damages of any kind whatsoever with respect to the service, the materials and the products.

MeCo encourages you to exercise discretion while browsing the Internet using this website or the Google Group. The website or Google Group may direct you to sites containing information that some people may find offensive or inappropriate. MeCo makes no representations concerning any endeavor to review the content of sites listed in the website or Google Group or any of the content of the sites. So MeCo isn't responsible for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality or decency of material contained in sites listed in the content of this website or the Google group.

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