01 Sep 10 Ship Charters For When You Need to Call The Shots
Cruise events are an obvious choice for many companies and organizations, as well as an obvious fit for certain needs. The problem that many organizations planning cruises run into is that they do not necessarily want the cookie cutter cruise that takes x number of days to stop at y number of ports in a specific order. The solution is simple: ship charters. Here is what you need to know about booking ship charters:
- Ship charters can be very cost effective – Booking an entire ship might seem expensive at first, but charters are almost always more cost effective than renting cabins on a generic tour when everything is factored into the equation. Why? Simple: it is an extra tour for the cruise company and one in which they are presented with a chance to build a long lasting relationship with many high-powered guests and clients.
- Ship charters let you have incredible flexibility – Want to book a 4 am spinning session so everyone has time to shower before the breakfast seminar at 7am? No problems. Want specific menu items planned? That can almost certainly be arranged with a little preparation and advanced notice.
- Stop where you want to stop and when – Most ship charters are generally very flexible in terms of where and when stops take place so long as no scheduling conflicts exist. See what you want to see and when, it’s your call when you charter a ship.
Tags: Breakfast Seminar, Charter, Conflicts, Cookie Cutter, Cruise Company, Cruise Events, Cruises, Extra Tour, Fit, Flexibility, Ports, Relationship, Ship Charters
30 Aug 10 When Do You Need to Hold a Cruise Event?
Cruise events have been a popular choice for meetings and events of all kinds for years now, but not every meeting/event planner knows all that they need to know about planning cruise events. In fact, the lack of knowledge might turn some away from cruise ships. Here’s what a cruise ship has to offer:
- Low prices – Cruises are actually less expensive than hotels plus catering services plus entertainment expenses plus renting a conference room or meeting venue in almost all cases. Why? Because cruise companies build in the cost of all these services and distribute them across all of their customers all year long
- All inclusive options – All inclusive pricing makes cruises a cinch to plan. One price, one call, and the event can be planned. This saves time and money!
- Amazing catering – Want custom catering? You’ll have a hard time finding a better catering troop than those found on cruise ships. Shipboard caterers do catering day in and day out, every day and night. Nobody knows catering like these people!
- Custom meetings and entertainment – Want to have meetings in amazing locations instead of just a closed in room at the convention center? Try finding a better alternative than a cruise ship for even twice the price and you’ll be stumped!
- Some of the best restaurants and clubs anywhere in the world – It is important to play hard when you work hard, and that is why cruise ships pack some of the best restaurants, bars, night clubs, and even shopping centers around.
Tags: Best Restaurants, Caterers, Catering Services, Cinch, Cruise Companies, Cruise Events, Cruise Prices, Cruise Ship, Cruise Ships, Cruises, Entertainment, Event Planner, Hard Time, Lack Of Knowledge, Meeting Venue, Meetings And Events, Night Clubs, Rsquo, Shopping Centers, Time And Money
23 Aug 10 Tricks to Making Morning Meetings Merrier
Morning meetings can be sluggish, and may even be tepid by any measure. This is doubly true for Monday mornings, and triply true for Monday mornings after a three day weekend. Good meeting planners have a few tricks up their sleeve to make morning meetings less of a drag:
- Freshly ground coffee – Fresh coffee has more caffeine than the pre-ground varieties sold in most supermarkets.
- Energy drinks, on the house – Energy drinks are a great way to get people moving, as is coffee. Weigh the cost of beverages against the value of the time spent sloshing through a meeting, and the beverages usually come out on top.
- Lights – All lights should be on, not just most of the lights. This is true even when the sun is up.
- Morning radio – Start by finding the most annoying morning radio shows in town, but skip those that are offensive. Then, let the crew at the morning zoo antagonize your staff until the meeting starts. Everyone will be wide awake and thankful that the mindless dribble is over with.
- Open a few windows – Letting the fresh air in often helps, especially if the meeting room is packed.
- Set the temperature – If the temperature is too cold, people will naturally be inclined to start drifting off. Keep the temperature in the meeting room slightly warn, but not hot.
- Suggestions – Everyone has problems, but few people ask for help. Ask the boss to help develop an incentive program where workers can start meetings with some aspect of their job that they wish was easier to perform with some teamwork or with a fresh approach. Give rewards to the employee(s) with the best solutions to problems. It’s a win-win situation and a great way to get the creative juices flowing early in the morning.
Tags: Best Solutions, Beverages, Boss, Creative Juices, Energy Drinks, Fresh Air, Fresh Coffee, Ground Coffee, Incentive Program, Meeting Planners, Meeting Room, Mindless Dribble, Monday Mornings, Morning Meetings, Morning Radio, Morning Zoo, Radio Shows, Rewards, Supermarkets, Teamwork
16 Aug 10 How to Choose a Venue for Your Next Big Event
Planning your next big event almost always involves picking a venue near the beginning of the process. With so many different venues, there must be an easy logic flow for determining how to pick the venue for your next big event. Try this logic flow:
- Size counts – Venues that are too small are not worth looking into and venues that are too large will look empty and deserted if unfilled. Determine a reasonable number of participants and use that as the basis for a venue.
- Look for deals – The number one reason why many people do not attend events and/or seminars is that they feel it is too expensive. If a deal can be arranged that includes the event and meals/accommodations, participation generally increases. Hotels often have large meeting facilities and/or deals with local meeting halls/convention centers and many such centers have deals with reputable hotels.
- Themes and art are important – If your event has some sort of theme, then assign additional importance to venues that work well with that theme over money if it is feasible. A seminar about online art and graphics design would be ideally located in a venue with an artistic theme, and perhaps offer all-inclusive stay options at an art-deco themed hotel or another hotel with a noteworthy sense of style.
Tags: Artistic Theme, Event Planning, Graphics Design, Hotels, Logic Flow, Meeting Facilities, Money, Participants, Participation, Seminars, Venue
11 Aug 10 Four Guidelines For Getting Great Catering Deals
Catering can be one of the most expensive aspects of any event or meeting, but there are ways to save money. Savvy planners can save a bundle on catering by following a few simple steps:
- Discuss long term relationships – If you can talk to an owner and/or manager at the catering company, it is often possible to save money by discussing long term agreements. Consider the first event to be a demo for long term work and prices might drop perceptibly.
- Exchange – Is there a possibility of a goods/service exchange? If so, then determine what your bottom line is and weigh it against the possible gains. If it proves to be a wash or profitable then the decision is simple. If there is a slight loss, remember that caterers are a good source for word of mouth and may consider a mutual word of mouth exchange to be valuable.
- Remember your manners – Everyone is busy, some of them may actually be more busy than you! Caterers tend to be very busy, and often appreciate both brevity and good manners. Keep things brief and polite in order to build rapport that can be leveraged later.
- Start small and get big – Start discussing price by starting with a small number of people, usually around 80% of the actual amount, and then ask for pricing on additional plates/heads. This method is often effective reducing the possibility of being oversold.
Tags: Bottom Line, Brevity, Catering Company, Demo, Good Manners, Long Term Relationships, Planners, Service Exchange, Simple Steps, Term Agreements, Ways To Save Money, Word Of Mouth
14 Jul 10 Is Your Business Ready to Plan Its First Event?
If your business seems like it is on the verge of making it big but needs something to carry it over a hurdle, then consider planning a major event. Events can include various departments, partners, suppliers, customers, or even a combination of elements of these different groups. Here are a few key signs that you need to start planning an event:
• Squeezing efficiency out of departments is becoming harder – It might be that the departments are on the verge of losing their self-motivation to perform at their best. Threatening to downsize or outsource only creates a workforce that is willing to work just enough to not lose their jobs. A nice company picnic event at the park might not cost much and it could inspire loyalty that is impossible to put a price on.
• Getting new customers to commit seems difficult – A tour complete with local business meetings, brunches, and seminars could inspire potential customers to take the leap and buy.
• Suppliers are becoming less reliable – In down economic times it pays to not only track companies surreptitiously via D&B and other services, but it pays to plan meetings and look the other party square in the eye. Never underestimate the value of a gut feeling when looking suppliers and partners in the eye.
Tags: Amp, Brunches, Business Meetings, Business Plan, Company Picnic, Economic Times, Efficiency, Elements, Gut Feeling, Hurdle, Jobs, Leap, Loyalty, Nice Company, Outsource, Self Motivation, Seminars, Signs, Verge, Workforce
12 Jul 10 Choosing Destinations
When it is time to plan a meeting, there are plenty of possibilities. The brochures and promotional materials make sound arguments in favor of many different venues, but ultimately a single venue must be selected for a single event. Here are some ideas to help you effectively reduce the number of options being seriously considered:
• To go all the way or not – If you are too busy to plan every little detail, look for all-inclusive options that handle some or all of the planning for you. This can lead to significant time savings and surprisingly, as well as a tangible amount of money saved.
• Local or long distance – There are both local venues and venues in other cities. If all the participants are from your city, then a local venue might make sense unless travel and attendance is to be considered a perk. If customers are the focus of the meeting/event, then go where they are.
• By land or by sea – Do not discount cruise ships as venues for meetings and events. In fact, cruise ships make amazing destinations for many different kinds of events. Remember that cruise events are more appropriate for certain audiences and companies than other.
• Consider price – Price is important, but that makes apples to apples comparisons difficult.
Tags: Amount Of Money, Apples To Apples, Attendance, Audiences, Brochures, Cruise Events, Cruise Ships, Different Kinds, Discount Cruise, Long Distance, Meetings And Events, Might Make Sense, Participants, Possibilities, Promotional Materials, Significant Time, Sound Arguments, Time Savings, Venue
06 Jul 10 How to Plan Travel Incentives
Travel incentives can be one of the most difficult things to plan for employees, employers, customers, and even employers. Here are some easy to follow tips for planning travel incentives:
All inclusive travel incentives such as an incentive cruise are easy to budget, but they may not be very personal. Travel incentives are only incentives when they are remembered and thought of fondly. An additional excursion or bonus gift can be the difference between a trip that is remembered and appreciated for years, and one that bores the recipient(s) to tears.
Not everyone gets to go on any excursion, so make some criteria. Do not randomly or purposely assign people to go on trips unless there is a reason. Instead, allow multiple people or parties to compete for the privilege of traveling on the company dime. Those that do not get to go should be thanked for their effort and it might be worth planning a secondary incentive in order for those that tried to earn a trip on the company dime to feel appreciated.
All inclusive travel may or may not be tax deductible, so check with a qualified accountant for further details. In some cases, it might be possible to add business-related events such as meetings to a trip in order for it to qualify for a tax deduction.
Tags: Bonus Gift, Budget, Company Dime, Excursion, Incentive Cruise, People, Personal Travel, Planning Travel, Privilege, Qualified Accountant, Related Events, Tax Deduction, Travel Incentives
02 Jul 10 What Does Your Choice of Venue Say About You?
Meeting and event planners often have many choices in venues whether they know it or not. While the boss or powers that be might specify a particular venue, it should not be assumed that such specific requests mean that the powers that be are not open to other ideas unless explicitly stated. Knowing what your choice in venue says about you is important; perception is reality after all. Consider the following when thinking about different venue possibilities:
Hotels – Hotels are tried and true venues for meetings and events, but they also show a lack of imagination and a commitment to doing things the traditional way. Traditional businesses tend to behave in very specific ways and are not fond of change.
Cruise ships – Cruise ships show an amazing flair for the dramatic and an appreciation for the finer things in life. Hosting meetings and/or events on a cruise ship shows that you value the other party/parties, and that you are not bound by the confines the old ways of doing business.
Convention centers – Convection centers generally have big and small chambers, but even hosting in a small chamber gives the appearance of a large organization with significant reach.
BBB conference rooms – Many local BBB offices have chambers that can be rented, and they lend a significant amount of credibility at bargain basement prices.
Tags: Bargain Basement Prices, Bbb Offices, Business Convention, Chambers, Confines, Convection, Credibility, Cruise Ship, Cruise Ships, Doing Business, Event Planners, Finer Things In Life, Flair, Imagination, Large Organization, Meetings And Events, Party Parties, Perception, Possibilities, Traditional Businesses
30 Jun 10 Save Time When Planning
Meeting planning can take a long time, but it can also be streamlined with a little bit of practice. Here are a few tips for learning how to streamline meeting and/or event planning:
Mailing/SMS lists – If the participants are notified electronically, create lists. If certain people get left out of Monday meetings but not Tuesday meetings, then make two lists. Lists make sending notices both more reliable and much quicker. Some programs can also be used to track whether e-mails were opened or not.
Anticipate needs – Excellent meeting planners observe carefully what participants ask for at meetings and anticipate those needs recurring. If Mr. Jones from accounts receivable likes a coffee with two sugars and cream today, then chances are he will like it again next week. If Bob from sales likes an extra-soft chair cushion today, he will probably want one next week too.
Backup plans – It pays to remember that there is a heightened chance for things to go wrong when events or meetings are being held off-site. Having a backup plan makes recovering from an unforeseeable problem a lot easier. A few minutes preparing a backup plan can help save hours and save face.
Send reminders – Send reminders to participants, catering, and all other relevant parties just to ensure that everyone is on time and ready to perform their part when they are supposed to.
Use the Internet – book travel arrangements and source group cruise events entirely online to save time and money.
Tags: Accounts Receivable, Backup Plan, Backup Plans, Book Travel, Chair Cushion, Cruise Events, Event Planning, Few Minutes, Group Cruise, Internet Book, Mailing Sms, Meeting Planners, Meeting Planning, Relevant Parties, Reminders, Soft Chair, Source Group, Sugars, Time And Money, Travel Arrangements
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Corporate Meeting Planner Resources
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- Factors to Consider When Shopping For a Cruise EventAnyone planning on hosting a cruise event should certainly check to see which cruise companies can get the job done at the best price, but there is often more to consider than just the bottom line. In fact, some customers that have not given a lot of thought to the logistics and organizational side of [...] […]