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.

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 Media Presence and Meet-Ups:

The moderators highly encourage networking amongst MeCo members. In addition to the MeCo Google Group, MeCo has created social media networking sites as well. See below and join in the conversation!

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

FACEBOOK: for Political Junkies : https://www.facebook.com/groups/575323752486368/

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

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

GOOGLE+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/106372897854661360847

Meet-Ups:
MeCo encourages in-person networking as well as the educational posts online. Any MeCo member can volunteer to coordinate an informal gathering.

Over the past few years, “MeCo Meet-Ups,” which are 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. One moderator likes to create Meet-Ups every time she travels, for example.

Questions? Please contact the moderators.

MeCo Archives (information posted in the past):

If you need information concerning a topic or past conversation thread on MeCo, please check MeCo’s listserv archives. Available articles and posts go back to day one of MeCo (2006) and contain a lot of interesting and valuable information. You can access the archives at http://groups.google.com/group/meco (now called “Search for topic”).

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.

Sharing Member Contact Information:

It has come to the Moderators’ attention that member contact information has been passed on to people outside of the MeCo community. One thing MeCos pride themselves on, and spend a lot of time defending, is an environment dedicated to education and inter-community networking. By agreeing to MeCo Guidelines, each MeCo has promised to keep member information within the group; that MeCo members do not offer member information to non-members. It is up to all MeCo members to uphold one another’s privacy. MeCos must be able to trust that posts requesting goods and services recommendations on the listserv will not be met with unintended, uninvited vendor contact.

Tip to Invite Wanted – or Avoid Unwanted – Vendor Emails:

• Moderators realize that, from time to time, someone will (perhaps with the best of intentions) violate this privacy policy. Because of this, MeCos each need to take a bit of precaution as well.
• When members ask for goods and services ideas and/or vendor feedback, the member needs to make sure he or she includes “no vendor contact, please” into those posts. If vendor contact is welcome, please say so.

ALLOWABLE CONTENT (Posting Guidelines):

Signatures:

• Please remember to always to use a signature when you make a post.
• Your signature can contain who you are, your company or school, and reasonable informational and contact data.
• Posts without names or contact data get little response. Members like to know the source and context of the post (are you a student, experienced supplier, new planner, etc.?).

MeCo encourages members to disclose - whenever possible – your relationship to organizations and/or venues about which you may comment or to which you refer others. (As an example: as moderators, when we post, we disclose any relationship with a recommendation or clarify that we do not get any type of payment of commission for the recommendation.)

Signatures for gmail users (note: gmail procedures are subject to change):

1. Log into your gmail account

2. Click on Settings, then Tabs

3. Search for Signature Tweaks and enable

Now, when you reply using Gmail, your signature is at the end of your reply and not at the end of the entire message.

Moderators are always seeking to enhance MeCo's community atmosphere of sharing, building relationships and increasing member knowledge.

Marketing Posting Guidelines:

• The 'no-marketing policy' is a condition of membership in this community.
• The membership is encouraged to “self-police” all posts, and to let moderators know of any questionable posts deemed as violations (examples include blatant marketing posts on the listserv or posts received individually because someone “mined” the listserv for emails.
• Members can also approach a “marketing” party directly. Please do this OFF LIST (privately).
• Members can share and refer other MeCo members to links for their own blogs, articles or companies, provided full disclosure is given and that the links are directly related to meeting and events issues.

Green Meeting Posting Guidelines:

• Emails involving green/sustainable meetings are appropriate to post.
• Green/sustainable meetings are recognized as a part of the meetings industry by our associations and the trade media.
• Discussions regarding environmental or political issues or whether “green” is appropriate or relevant are NOT OK to post. Please take those discussions to political or environmental forums.
• Please keep discussions on track regarding the application of GREEN MEETINGS in our industry (such as their implementation, certifications, etc.)
• The moderating team may intervene when necessary to keep discussions directly related to green meetings.

What the moderators will/will not do:

• Moderators will not proactively determine if a link, quote or statement is considered marketing anymore.
• The moderators will not request a poster to make changes to a post. The members – that’s you – can decide its appropriateness.
• Moderators will check for posts having offensive language, or that may represent conflicts of interest (price-fixing, speaking ill of another professional service, etc.) and politically/religiously-charged posts outside of their relevance to events of all types as a whole.

To Summarize:

• No blatant marketing: Do not place posts on MeCo about your latest offer, hotel promotion or information about your destination.
• The members will self-police posts.
• Moderators will allow most posts unless moderators receive a significant number of complaints. For example, sharing green/sustainable meeting content is valuable.
• MeCo members are encouraged to engage one another with industry questions and comments that will benefit the community as a whole.
• Disallowed content: Politics and Religion are prohibited topics (NOTE: you can post political comments on MeCo’s PoliticalHQ on Facebook)
• Questions on posting content: please contact any of the moderators.

Unacceptable Member Actions:

• There is no marketing of you or your company allowed on this group.

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 which (or person who), we feel is not in accordance with the mission of the group.

• Flaming, bashing, negative discussion, or spamming of any community members or their companies (individuals can discuss whatever they desire in private, off-list emails).
• Sending emails about your product or services to multiple members’ emails obtained through this forum is not allowed. You are welcome to mail a letter to members, offering your goods or services.
• 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 Anti-Trust Laws (which apply to all of us), please be aware there should be no discussion of salaries or of price-setting of services on this public discussion forum.
• Posts about 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 off-list directly.
• Moderators reserve the right to remove any post or thread that moderators feel is disruptive to the meetings community or is in violation of MeCo policy.

MeCo Etiquette:

If your company procedures require that you put “out of office” messages on your email when you are not available, please be considerate. Change your MeCo Google Group settings to "read on the web" or ask a Moderator to help you make the change. Then those who post will not receive your auto-replies. You can change your settings as often as you wish.

When posting the same question/post to one or more listservs:

Please use the convention: XPOST OR CROSSPOST. People will see it and avoid trying to post to other lists to which they may not belong.

Legal Stuff

Legal Advisements:

We are a non-commercial Google Group: As such, this list is to be used for education and information sharing, not for marketing and/or self-promotion.

By posting and using the on-line services at the Meetings Community you agree to the following:

• Privacy/ownership of posted content: All content that MeCo users contribute via email message to the MeCo list by posting to This email 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 owned by the poster.

• Moderators reserve the right to delete a post that violates the MeCo Listserv Guidelines or is disruptive or off-topic.

• If a member wishes to use information found in a post (such as for a blog or article), please contact the original poster.

Liability

All current and former Moderators and their respective companies, including their respective employers, employees, agents, or subcontractors (will be referred to hereafter as "MeCo") did not or 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.

If you have any questions, contact the Moderators at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Google's Terms of Use Click Here

Google's Privacy Policy Click Here

Help Section on Google:

To look at all of the features, Google has a Help section for Google groups. Please reference:

http://groups.google.com/support/.

Please read the full policies at www.meetingscommunity.org.

We are a non-commercial Google Group. As such, this listserv is to be used for education and information sharing. It is not intended for marketing and/or self-promotion.

If you have any questions contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.