Document text
Event planning business goes online By DAVID PRESZLER Over the last four years, Medford's Bob Treadway has built a national reputation in the event coordinating business. He's organized conferences, meetings and retreats for high-profile firms such as Microsoft, Arthur Anderson and Cisco Systems. And now his company is using the Internet to take much of the hassle out of registering and planning for such events. This spring, Treadway Meetings and Adventures spun off a new company, Register 4.com, to better meet the expectations of technology-savvy clients. "Working with all those high-tech companies, we had to have the technology to do Internet registration," says Treadway. The capabilities of the Web site and software, developed by Ashland's Project A Inc., go far beyond allowing people to register online. Attendees can make hotel and airlines reservations as well as browse recreation opportunities and get recommendations from a concierge page. It also allows event organizers to create a Web site for the event online without technical expertise in as little as 90 minutes. The newly created site can begin taking online registrations immediately. The idea was to create a one-stop tool for event organizers and attendees that would ease logistical difficulties. And by adding accommodation, travel and leisure services, Register 4.com and event organizers can generate additional revenue by arranging of those services. "We take a percentage as a referral fee much like a travel agent would," says Mike Stallcop, who helped develop the software while working at Project A and took a job at Register 4.com to run it. The Web site has been a hit with both private companies and tourism agencies. The Convention and Visitors Association of Lane County Oregon recently has started using the software in its activities. Southern Oregon and Jackson County tourism officials are still evaluating how it might be used locally. Treadway Meetings and Adventures and Register 4.com have eight employees between them. Treadway hopes Register 4.com alone will generate $1 million in revenue this year. Treadway founded his core business four years ago in his garage in Fremont, Calif. He moved to the Rogue Valley about six months later with well-known clients such as Lucent Technologies and Adobe Systems in tow. Before going out on his own, Treadway spent nine years with a national meeting planning firm and 10 years before that in the hotel business in Phoenix, Ariz. Now, he coordinates 35 to 50 events a year, ranging in size from 15 to 2,000 people. The 47-year-old says the business certainly brings him into contact with movers and shakers. "You really get to meet some interesting people," he says. "Every time Business Week comes out with its top 100 influential people, somehow along the way I've run into 50 to 75 of them." He coordinates events connected with major sporting events like the Masters and the NCAA Final Four that have brought him into contact with people such as former UCLA coach John Wooden and baseball pitcher Roger Clemens. His work includes everything from scheduling dinner parties to running golf and basketball tournaments for executives. "We get to deal with a lot of clients with money to spend," he says. "It's very much high-end. Anything they want, they get and you get it for them." While it might seem glamorous, he says, catering to the whims of the powerful has its challenges. "Imagine doing a golf tournament with 50 CEOs," he says, "and all of them think they should tee off first because they have something more important to do." Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA