25 Jan 10 Adding Unique Additions to Your Meeting Planning Services
Every meeting planner needs a niche. While you are sure to continue getting clients when offering generic meeting planning services, finding a niche or offering something a little different to your clients is the best way to really make a name for yourself and stand out from the masses of meeting planners in the industry.
You may choose to cater to a specific type of corporate clients, to become well-known as a green meeting planner, become famous for your ability to plan exceptional international meetings or become the go-to planner for companies looking for exceptional quality on a budget. Whichever type of niche you choose, specializing is a great way to make your job easier, focus on work that you truly enjoy and increase awareness of your meeting planning services.
When it comes to adding special services to your meeting planning, it could be as simple as offering something inexpensive and easy to organize, such as an opening meditation with a meditation instructor. Meditation instructors are easy to find in just about any meeting destination and can help meeting attendees center themselves before getting down to business.
This is a great way to assist attendees in setting aside outside stresses and refraining from thinking about everything else going on in their lives so that they can focus on the task at hand. This will also improve productivity during the meeting, which will please your client, make the event memorable and make you look even more effective as a planner.
Tags: Additions, Attendees, Budget, Corporate Clients, Focus, Getting Down To Business, International Meetings, Job, Meditation Instructor, Meeting Planner, Meeting Planners, Meeting Planning Services, Niche, Opening Meditation, Organize, Productivity, Stresses
08 Jan 10 The Importance of Knowing a Little About a Lot
Knowing at least a little about a lot of different topics is important to your success as a meeting planner. You never know when your next client might need food planned around a Hindu diet, may insist on a LEED-certified meeting location, will ask if you can arrange to feng shui the meeting space before their arrival, or will need a space that will accommodate attendees with various disabilities.
If you have taken the time to familiarize yourself with these particulars before you ever have a client in need of them, it will make the planning process much simpler and will allow you come across as knowledgeable and sensitive to their needs.
If you also acquire a basic understanding of the ins and outs of various industries, cultures, diets and more, it will help you communicate better with your diverse clientele and will certainly increase your referrals as folks who have a difficult time finding meeting planners sensitive to their needs will be happy to tell their friends and colleagues how wonderful you are.
While it may seem like it will take a lot of time and effort to increase your knowledge base on multiple fronts, it is well worth the effort. It will make your job easier in the long run and will open the door to an ever-expanding potential client base.
Tags: Attendees, Clientele, Colleagues, Cultures, Diets, Disabilities, Feng Shui, Food Diet, Hindu, Ins And Outs, Job, Knowledge Base, Lot, Meeting Planner, Meeting Planners, Meeting Space, Particulars, Planning Process, Referrals, Success
14 Nov 09 Tips for Cutting Meeting Costs
With an increasing emphasis on savings these days, it seems everyone is looking for a deal. Resourceful meeting planners still can find new and innovative ways to cut meeting costs. It is just a matter of creativity and looking carefully at every single expenditure.
Here are some tips to help you cut costs on your next meeting or event:
- Find some great hotels in second-tier cities or near a major city that has easy access to the downtown area. Town center hotels tend to be much more expensive, and often have higher taxes than hotels outside of the city center.
- Consider when the best rates are available. Is it mid-week or weekend? Find the lowest cost dates for the venue you select based on the rate patterns.
- Be flexible with dates and scheduling and location, in order to take advantage of cost savings.
- Save on meeting room rental by serving food in the meeting room or allowing the hotel to book an evening meal event there.
- Get sponsorships from vendors who add value to your meeting attendees.
These are just a few of the ways bargain planners save. You can probably expand on this list and find many more creative ways to save on your next event.
Tags: Attendees, Bargain, Creativity, Cutting, Easy Access, Hotels, Meeting Planners, Meeting Room Rental, Nbsp, Sponsorships, Venue
01 Jul 09 Latest Trends in Event Planning
The event planning industry is a great place to work in. Even in times of economic crisis, the business of event planning never really slows down. Individuals always want to get together and discuss business or celebrate personal events. An event-planning career is in high demand in the contemporary corporate scenario.
Considering the high demand of event planners, it only becomes natural that competition gets fierce among fellow event planners. This means newer methods of conducting events, which again implies the use of advanced tools and technology.
Today’s corporate market expects much more from event planners and it’s not just a few pamphlets and a simple slide show that will do the trick. Corporate groups expect high standards of presentation when it comes to events, and event planners need to constantly stay updated about the latest event planning tools available in the market. (more…)
Tags: Advanced Tools, Attendees, Corporate Groups, Detailed Map, Economic Crisis, Event Management, Event Planner, Event Planners, Event Planning Career, Event Planning Company, Events Planners, Ice Breaking Games, Informal Chats, Interactive Sessions, Latest Trends, Management Technology, Market Technology, Pamphlets, Personal Events, Planning Tools
26 Jun 09 Ordering Break Beverages for the Stressed Out Planner
Here’s a quick multiple choice quiz: If you have 100 people attending an event, how much coffee should you order for a morning break?
A. Lots! People drink more than one cup.
B. 1 cup for around 90% of the expected attendance
C. Tear out hair and close event planner business
The correct answer may be C depending on how panicked you are about ordering food and beverage for your meetings, and A used to be the answer. However, if you want to save your client money and do your reputation a favor, choose B. Why? Not everyone drinks coffee, and coffee is much more expensive per pound than it used to be, so plan on anywhere between 80% and 90%. (more…)
Tags: Attendance, Attendees, Beverages, Choice Quiz, Client Money, Coffee, Correct Answer, Diligence, Event Planner, Food And Beverage, Homework, Little Bit, Multiple Choice, Participant, Price Per Gallon, Reputation, Sake, Soft Drinks, T Pay, Venue
04 Jun 09 How Meeting Planners Deal with Competition
Call it a work hazard or a part of the parcel, competition is unavoidable in a business scenario. Many times it may so happen that your competitors might be organizing a conference at the same day and in the same venue as you. This leads to a lot of confusion and unwanted chaos. You or your competitor might end up losing some valued customers who would not know where to go first or not even turn up for one of the events.
Another disadvantage of hosting an event at the same day as your competitor is the unnecessary comparisons between the two events that are bound to trigger up discussion among the attendees.
Nobody likes to share the same dates and venue with their respective competitors. However the good news is that there are many ways to avoid this unwanted and uncomfortable clash of dates, ensuring you of full attention from your attendees. (more…)
Tags: Attendees, Business Scenario, Chaos, Clash, Competitor Companies, Confusion, Full Attention, Hotels, Marketing, Meeting Planners, Organizing A Conference, Venue, Work Hazard
14 May 09 Event Planning for the Recession: Banquetology
Ten years ago a company holding a big business event was expected to lay out a lavish feast for all those in attendance and their spouses. Businesses often spent tens of thousands of dollars on spreads that sometimes produced almost as much waste as it did fulfillment. Well, the recent crippling of the world’s economy has made these affairs a relic of the past.
With company event planners now wondering how they will feed attendees at their next function, enter Banquetology, the brainchild of the Crowne Plaza Melbourne Oceanfront Resort. Banquetology is a way of presenting meals in small portions with greater variety to satisfy guests, their diets, and the company’s financial limits–in other words, everyone’s bottom line. (more…)
Tags: Attendees, Brainchild, Budgets, Business Event, Calorie Meal, Calories, Chefs, Crowne Plaza, Dieticians, Diets, Event Planners, Event Planning, Feast, Girths, Psychological Aspect, Pushcarts, Recession, Relic, Sponsoring Company, Thousands Of Dollars
08 May 09 Environmentally Friendly Event Planning
The world is getting greener, much to the delight of environmentalists and nature lovers, and it extends to the event planning industry too. Good news is that event planners are taking initiatives to go green with meetings. Rooftops that are green with plants and shrubs are no longer uncommon event planning venues.
It is no longer surprising to find the rooftop of a meeting center filled with green plants, blooming flowers, lush leaves, and trees. Yes, and all of this is a great boost to energy conservation. There are many benefits of going green on rooftops.
These patches of green avert storm water that can trigger off unwanted floods. (more…)
Tags: Attendees, Beehives, Bees, Business Sense, Energy Conservation, Environmentalists, Event Planners, Floods, Going Green, Green Plants, Green Rooftops, Host Meetings, Meeting Center, Meeting Facility, Nature Lovers, Plants And Shrubs, Storm Water, Summer Heat, These Patches, Uncommon Event
05 May 09 Goals of Meeting Planning
Planning a meeting is no easy task and efficient handling of the many event activities can result in desired success. However meetings can go wrong owing to many factors- lack of coordination between staff, insufficient budget, and most importantly miscommunication between the event planner and the client. One of the main goals of an event planner is to ensure that he clearly understands the demands of the customer. Miscommunication can lead to a lot of confusion and in the end, unsatisfactory results.
Proper time management is another crucial goal for a successful event. If the event planner is not organized and unable to manage his/her time, things are bound to go haywire. Multi-tasking is unavoidable in the event planning industry and a competent event planner should be able to multi-task with ease and deliver services right on time. For example, on a given day of work, an event planner might have to decide the design for the invitations of an event, prepare an invoice for a past event, and work on an event budget for a future event, and so on. Deadlines are to be met with impressive speed and the goal is to maintain high quality service within the available time limits. (more…)
Tags: Attendees, Clash, Desirable Goals, Event Planner, Event Planners, Future Event, High Quality Service, Important Dates, Impressive Speed, Invitations, Invoice, Main Goals, Meeting Planning, Miscommunication, Multi Tasking, Planning Tools, Proper Time Management, Successful Event Planning, Time Limits, Unsatisfactory Results
Advertisement
Corporate Meeting Planner Resources
- Cruise line Expansion in Chinese Market Good News for Meeting PlannersChina is becoming a popular destination for MICE events due to its rich cultural heritage, beautiful natural landscapes and most of all - its high economic growth. Everyone wants to do business in China right now. Naturally, that translates into lots of meetings, trade shows, conferences and other events. According to The China Incentive, Business […]
- Time to step out of the ZoneSo often we find ourselves repeating the same patterns both professionally and personally because it feels “safe”. While that perceived safety may or may not be real, it explains why so many people feel their lives are in a rut. It is that comfort zone that so many long for that ultimately is their worst enemy. In order […]
- Stimulating Your Attendees in a Positive WayAfter reading the article Boost the Brain Computer, Don’t Crash It, I got to thinking about how foods definitely have an effect on mood and concentration. Anyone who has ever seen a child at a birthday party, loaded with candy, snow cones, cake and soda can attest to the fact that while the sugar will […]