Posts Categorized: Event Scams

kchopson

Beware of Fake Conferences!

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Event Scams, What's New.

Fraud Theft Stealing

You have heard of fake news, but have you heard of fake conferences? Fake conferences (or “predatory conferences”) grew out of the predatory publishing industry, which focused on academics and researchers who were eager to get their papers published.  Predatory publishing expert Jeffrey Beal first noticed a handful (11) of predatory conferences back in 2011.  However, this list has now grown to over 900 and continues to expand. Fake conferences are NOT non-existent conferences that simply take registration and publishing fees.  They are real conferences, but they are marked by poor quality and a high level of deception. As this... Read more »

lbradford

Room Block Piracy Affects More than the Bottom Line

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Event Scams.

An Update on Room Block Piracy and Poaching in the Meetings Industry Photo credit: Online Trading Academy via flickr.com. Earlier this year, the Convention Industry Council’s (CIC) Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) Initiative organized a workgroup to focus on the issue of room block piracy and poaching. The APEX Room Block Poaching Workgroup conducted an initial survey of meeting professionals in April to gauge the scope of this issue. Meeting professionals from a wide variety of industries responded to the survey, providing insight on how this issue has affected their events. In a presentation at the IMEX Exhibition in Frankfurt in... Read more »

lbradford

Don’t Let Suitcasing Trolls Rob Your Sponsors and Exhibitors!

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Event Scams.

To the average person, the word “suitcasing” may conjure up images of travel or adventure. But for many people in the event industry, it simply means trouble. What is suitcasing? Suitcasing is an unethical business practice that is frowned upon at events. It occurs when someone who has not purchased a sponsorship or exhibit space distributes promotional materials or solicits business at an event. For example, a company representative may register as an attendee and then work the exhibit floor, passing out promotional items and information in the aisles. Or, a company may rent a conference room at the event... Read more »

kchopson

Why You Should NOT Give Out Thumb Drives at Your Trade Show

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Event Scams, Internet Security, Resources Trade Show, What's New.

No Flash Drives

Giving out thumb drives (aka USB Drives) at your show or booth seems like a good idea. They are small, can be packaged attractively, and the attendee can just stick the device into his or her PC and view your material. And that material can be anything from brochures to a movie to Power Point slides to links to your web site. Sounds great – right? Wrong! This article is written to discourage you from giving out thumb drives and attendees from taking them. This author personally throws away any thumb drive he is given, even if they are in... Read more »

lbradford

Protect Your Room Block from Pirates

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Event Scams, What's New.

Pirate Flag

These days, pirates are not just found on the high seas, they’re also abundant in the meetings industry. However, room pirates are not in search of buried event treasure. These unauthorized housing companies are after your exhibitors and attendees instead. They profit by deceiving attendees into making their hotel reservations outside of the room block. Often, housing pirates will misrepresent their companies, faking an association with your event. They will contact attendees and urge them to book their rooms immediately, saying that the room block is either sold out or near capacity. In the best case scenario, they may book... Read more »

kchopson

How to Detect Counterfeit Money at the Onsite Registration Desk

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Event Scams, Onsite, What's New.

If you work onsite registration at a conference, you may find yourself occasionally in the position of accepting cash. You probably have already taken steps to make sure onsite registration payments go smoothly such as having a cash box, a good online registration system with a strong onsite module, and a procedure for transferring cash and checks to the office manager, possibly including a safe for overnight holding. One thing that may not have occurred to you is a process for identifying counterfeit money. Retailers often have procedures to check large cash denominations because this is what they do every... Read more »