09 Apr 10 Group Cruise Events are More Affordable
For many years companies have planned group meetings and events in cities all across the country. While there are many destinations in the U.S. and abroad that are ideal locations for corporate events, employees and clientele may be less impressed with these venues than in times past. This is because there is a new frontier now being discovered by companies that truly want to impress. This new frontier is custom cruising, and it may be more affordable than companies think.
Group cruise planning, cruise event planning, and cruise meeting planning are the new wave in corporate events, getaways, and retreats. There are organizations available to assist event planners in designing the perfect custom cruise event or cruise meeting. Group cruise planning requires attention to many details and specifics, and these organizations can assist with this venture as well.
Custom cruises are often less expensive than land meetings because with an all inclusive cruise practically everything is included. Lodging, meeting spaces, food, entertainment, linens, florals, and superior customer service are part of a custom cruise package. In addition, employees and clientele will experience breathtaking destinations and exotic ports of call. All of these features creates an atmosphere more conducive to building camaraderie and building solid relationships among those within or associated with the company.
Tags: Breathtaking Destinations, Camaraderie, Clientele, Corporate Retreats, Cruise Events, Cruise Package, Custom Cruise, Custom Cruises, Event Planners, Event Planning, Florals, Food Entertainment, Group Cruise, Group Meetings, Meeting Group, Meeting Planning, Meetings And Events, New Frontier, Ports Of Call, Superior Customer Service
11 Jan 10 How to Know a Little Bit About a Lot
So, you have come to realize that knowing a little bit about a lot will make your job easier, instill greater confidence in your clients and will assist you in acquiring a more diverse clientele. Now, it is time to determine the best ways to begin expanding your knowledge and acquiring the information that will help you grow your meeting planning business and better serve your clients.
This is actually much easier than you might think and you can begin the journey to broaden your horizons right now. You probably already attend seminars and trade shows, read trade publications and search online for the latest news in the meeting planning industry, so all you need to do is take this desire to learn and grow, and apply it to other topics.
Here are two ways you can begin your journey towards learning about new cultures, diets, industries and other particulars:
1. Read. A lot. Whether it is an eco-friendly magazine, a book about a particular religion or websites with information about particular groups of people or particular industries, reading is a great way to begin this journey.
2. Watch documentaries. There are documentaries on everything from farming and healthcare to being vegan or growing up Amish. While it is important to be careful not to assume that everyone, or every company, in a group shares every characteristic, documentaries are a great way to learn something new without even having to leave the house.
Tags: Being Vegan, Clientele, Confidence, Cultures, Desire, Documentaries, Farming, Group Shares, Groups, Growing Up Amish, Horizons, Journey, Little Bit, Meeting Planning, New Diets, Particulars, Religion, Seminars, Trade Publications, Two Ways
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
23 Oct 09 Reaching Your Business Goals
Sometimes during a rough economy, people just grit their teeth and try to get through it. While there is something to be said for that position, it shifts focus away from goals to mere survival. Don’t allow dust to gather on your meeting planner business goals during hard times.
Formalize your goal. Write it down and have a good long look at it. Are you dreaming the impossible dream? If you’re planning to buy Trump Towers sometime in the next year and your checking account is overdrawn, well good luck with that. Most people don’t latch on to the extreme and unreachable, still, it’s important to know where you’re going and how to get there.
Break your goal into workable sequences that can be achieved in manageable periods. Every milestone passed moves you closer to your big ultimate goal. Persistence pays off in every field of endeavor. Increasing your clientele is an admirable and attainable goal even during a recession.
Build a work ethic that surpasses your competition. Will Smith credits his success more to his work ethic than natural talent. He comments: “I will not be outworked. You may be more talented than me. You might be smarter than me. And you may be better looking than me. But if we get on a treadmill together, you are going to get off first, or I’m going to die. It’s really that simple.”
Tags: Attainable Goal, Business Goals, Checking Account, Clientele, Endeavor, Good Luck, Impossible Dream, Latch, Meeting Planner, Milestone, Periods, Persistence, Recession, Sequences, Survival, Teeth, Treadmill, Trump Towers, Will Smith, Work Ethic
06 Aug 09 Fourth Quarter Play Strategies–Vacations
While this sounds like a chapter out of a football playbook, it sort of is and sort of isn’t. Like football, it describes the final chapter of an arbitrary time frame that we use to determine our actions and push for a winning game. However, it is being applied to our business in this blog. What are we going to do for the rest of a stressful year?
What We Do Best
As planners, what we do best is help others. Sure, it’s a business, but it’s one that can help others from losing their marbles trying to book their own events. What may change about that in the fourth quarter is that some of them may want to save money on events by planning some of it themselves. You can be prepared by having a short list of things that they can do that won’t be too difficult but can lop off at least a little bit of your bill. Consider this another service in your collection of offerings. (more…)
Tags: Arbitrary Time, Blog, Clientele, Exotic Travel, Financial Scene, Football Playbook, Fourth Quarter, Game, Hideaways, Little Bit, Marbles, Money, Offerings, Planners, Professional Life, Sounds, Time Frame, Travel Packages, Vacations
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Corporate Meeting Planner Resources
- What Makes Travel Events and Meetings Amazing?The act of hosting a meeting in an exclusive or interesting location can be made more impressive with a little planning or can be ruined as a gesture with carelessness. Here is what you need to think about in order to keep your travel events purely amazing: Events – Going to an exotic destination and failing [...] […]
- Best Plan for Meetings at SeaPlanning a meeting at sea is not as difficult or as different as it might sound on the surface but there are still a few key differences to be aware of. Some of the best meeting planners keep the following advice in mind: Equipment and space for equipment is at a premium – It might be [...] […]
- 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 [...] […]