Lauralee Shapiro - Hospitality Pro

Your Trusted Advisor in the Hospitality Industry

2021 Connect Association 15 over 50 Recipient

About Lauralee Shapiro

Lauralee's strength lies in her ability to help her customers find the best location to meet their needs and negotiate a contract that will offer meaningful concessions and at the same time reduce their liability. She has worked with leading hotel sales teams in the United States and Puerto Rico since 1999. She was an associate with ConferenceDirect 2007 – 2011 and returned in April 2014 after three years with an Orlando, Florida convention hotel.

Lauralee attended Seneca College in Toronto Canada where she studied Tourism Industry Administration. In 2010 she received a certificate in Meeting & Event Planning from the University of South Florida and in 2011, Lauralee became a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) through the Events Industry Council. In 2020 Lauralee earned two more industry designations. She became a Certified Incentive Specialist through the Society of Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) and she completed a certificate course offered in partnership by Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and the Event Leadership Institute (ELI) for Virtual Event and Meeting Management (VEMM).

She is an active member of the Greater Orlando Chapter of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and the Florida & Caribbean chapter of the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE). Lauralee continues to hold leadership roles within these industry organizations. Through an affiliation with Travel Planners International, she opened Where To Next Agency to serve the needs of those customers looking for custom vacation planning and business travel. Lauralee is a proud Rotarian and has held leadership roles both at the club level and in her District. After leaving Canada she spent 8 years living in San Juan, Puerto Rico prior to relocating with Starwood Hotels and Resorts to Orlando Florida in 2002.

Our Services

At ConferenceDirect, meetings and events are our passion, and helping our clients succeed is what we do every day. We work tirelessly to reduce costs and mitigate risk while maximizing income potential and enhancing attendee experience.

We work with a variety of state and national associations, corporate clients and non-profit service organizations. Whether you are planning a board meeting, a customer appreciation trip or an incentive for your top performers, we can help.

In addition to the below noted services, we also offer housing, registration, cruise travel for groups, assistance with sponsorship, marketing and mobile apps. We also have a network of vetted providers for additional services such as Audio Visual, ground transportation, linen rental, speakers and much, much more!

site search

Our site search services range from destination research and site visits to negotiating contracts and everything in between. At no cost to you, we will find all available best-fit venues for your event, facilitate the bidding process, and help negotiate contracts, taking into account both hard dollar costs and hidden risks.

Understand your goals
Search all available options
Find the best-fit venue
Utilize data driven insights
Leverage our buying power
Negotiate best terms and rates
Mitigate risk

contract NEGOTIATION

We negotiate more than 11,000 contracts every year, which gives us tremendous insight into the economics of the meetings industry. Insight and experience we put to work for our clients. Let our buying power, be your buying power.

Single Point of Contact
Global Reach
Independent Representation
Seasoned Negotiators

conference management

With over 90+ Conference Managers globally, we can assist with your events anywhere in the world.

We fully recognize that every event is unique. With each event we produce and manage, there are characteristics requiring a customized set of services that directly align with each client’s objectives.

Our extensive suite of professional management services give our clients peace of mind knowing that we are well positioned to effectively manage the most simplistic of programs as well as the most complex city-wide conventions.

incentive travel

Reward performance, increase sales, build loyalty, and enhance customer engagement with well-planned incentive programs.

*Incentive Program Services

* Branded & Customized websites
* Marketing & Communication
* Gifts & Amenities
* Crisis Management
* Mobile Technology
* Program Measurement
* Supplier Management
* Logistics & onsite execution
* Travel Services & Ground Transportation

individual travel rewards

Through an affiliation with Where To Next Agency, we can assist with Individual Incentive travel certificates for ocean cruises, river cruises, all-inclusive resorts and more......