Washington, D.C. – The Knowland Group, the largest data company in the global meeting and event industry, announced today the launch of expanded training, dedicated to the art and science of meeting and event sales.

"Our industry has evolved tremendously in a very short amount of time." Said Jim VanDevender, Knowland's Chief Development Officer. "Preferred vendor agreements, above property sales teams, the mega third party planning companies like Conference Direct, RFP tools such as Cvent or Starcite, all of these things have revolutionized the way meetings are planned, booked and executed. We at Knowland have realized that many property level sales professionals lack a core understanding of some of these topics. To this end, we are launching a greatly improved and expanded Knowland University to go in depth on some of these topics. Naturally, SMMP was chosen as the first one."

Jim VanDevender will be hosting the initial webinars. Jim is a hotel industry veteran with over twenty years of experience working for Hilton, Hyatt, and le Meridien Hotels in a variety of sales capacities including on-property as well as national sales positions. Jim was also Vice President of Training and Development for seven years at Conference Direct, one of the largest third parties, making him uniquely qualified to share his inside knowledge of third parties.

The training will be offered as part of the core training available exclusively to existing customers through The Knowland Group's online training platform, Knowland University. The goal of the training is to provide a better understanding of what Strategic Meetings Management Programs are and how they operate, why corporate organizations implement them, and how you should sell to those groups. The class will also discuss strategies on how to approach organizations utilizing SMMPs so that you are prepared to address the needs and requirements for each and every client. Some time will also be spent on how Knowland's latest product, Advanced Researcher Profiles, can greatly improve your successes in this area.

For the month of January, Knowland will be making these classes available to the general public. Please click here to sign up and to view the date and time offerings.

Space is limited, so it is highly encouraged that participants register online to reserve a spot.

About The Knowland Group

The Knowland Group is a proven innovator, developing intuitive data products and services that streamline and support event and group sales in the hospitality industry. Headquartered in Washington, D.C. in historic Chinatown, the Knowland Group serves more than 3,000 hotel clients and 25,000 users globally. Knowland is ranked as the 76th fastest growing software company in North America by Deloitte and the second fastest growing private company in the travel industry for both 2009 and 2010 by Inc. Magazine.

For more information, please visit Knowland's website or call (410) 860-2270.

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Laura Witherspoon
(202) 312-5880