Online RFP Simplifies Vendor Search
Los Angeles-based event producer Jim Stark has launched Producer Resource — an RFP-submission service for event professionals seeking technical suppliers. The service draws from a database of more than 2,000 audiovisual, lighting, computer rental and other production-related vendors.
Stark explained that event planners can use the site to request a proposal for an entire event, for specific aspects such as lighting or staging, or even for a single piece of equipment such as a projector of certain brightness and image size. He said that unlike directory sites, which may list potentially qualified vendors and involve users in “the usual methods of getting on the phone, leaving messages, sending faxes, writing e-mails, managing all that information as it's returned to you,” Producer Resource provides “a direct link to the suppliers.”
The site also includes news about industry developments such as Web conferencing, which has seen a leap in interest since Sept. 11. What it does not include, Stark said, is “lots of fluff like banner ads telling your how to lose weight or how to get free coupons from Amazon.com. This is a business site — a way to get down to business.”
Producer Resource
9841 Airport Blvd., Suite 1200
Los Angeles, CA 90045
310/258-8218
www.producerresource.com
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Send your news items to Natasha Garber at fax: 310/317-0264, e-mail: [email protected].
Access California Opens Palm Springs Office
San Diego-based destination management company Access California has opened a Palm Springs, Calif., office and appointed 10-year company veteran Pete Samulewicz director.
Originally founded under the name California Leisure Consulting in 1979, Access once served the Palm Springs area, but left the market for close to five years, according to company president Christopher Lee. He explained that the decision to re-establish a local office in the desert community was “based on customer requests,” after Access returned to serving the area in 2001.
Lee added that it is “critical” for a destination company to maintain a physical presence in any destination it serves. “It's important that we have daily contact with [vendors], and that we can meet them at a site to do an inspection or a walk-through,” he said. “We need to know everything up to the minute, from traffic patterns to which restaurants are opening and which are closing.”
According to Lee, the demand for services in Palm Springs has grown since September 2001. “After 9/11, rather than doing a separate incentive trip and regularly scheduled regional or national meeting, a lot of companies are looking to save dollars,” he said. “Palm Springs is the perfect destination to do both.”
Access California
1551 Fourth Ave., Suite 100
San Diego, CA 92101
949/454-2111
www.accessdmc.com
What's new with you is news to us.
Send your news items to Natasha Garber at fax: 310/317-0264, e-mail: [email protected].
