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
If you are a budding event planner and has not yet been intimidated by the idea of booking entertainment, you will be in the future. If you have already been, you know that it will happen again. To make your life a little easier, here’s what’s hot and what’s not for 2009.
What’s Not
Many people are offended by religious leaders these days, even if they are religious people. There are so many religions and so many splinter groups it’s hard to know what the predominant religion will be.
Along those same lines, politicians can be absolutely deadly to the success of your meeting. There will always be people who disagree so strongly that they will be offended at the choice. So steer clear of both religious leaders and politicians unless you are scheduling speakers for that particular group.
What’s Hot
Who doesn’t need a good laugh now and then? While some comedians can be offensive, there are some that have notoriously good taste when it comes to general audiences. You can often find them through entertainment agents.
Improv groups are becoming all the rage lately, and they are often comedians as well. Almost every city has a popular improv group or two–again, check with entertainment booking agencies for the best choices.
Really want to wow them? How about jugglers with a sense of humor? A magic act that is truly amazing can hold people’s attention and let them escape into, “How did he do that?” for just a little while.
Because entertainment will be one of the signatures of some of your events, start building a file of ideas now. Then when you need them, they will be there.
Tags: All The Rage, Audiences, Booking Entertainment, Choices, Comedians, Entertainment Agents, Entertainment Booking Agencies, Event Planner, Good Taste, Improv Group, Improv Groups, Jugglers, Laugh, Magic Act, Politicians, Predominant Religion, Religions, Religious Leaders, Sense Of Humor, Signatures, Speakers, Splinter Groups