01 Jun 11 Break out of the boring and go for unforgettable at your next meeting
At every conference and corporate meeting, attendees are crammed into a hotel ballroom or conference center and basically told what they are expected to do. Whether its motivating them to do something, teaching them to do something different, or setting expectations for what you envision them doing, the message remains the same; you are telling them to change their ways because yours is better. That’s the main point behind David Gurteen’s article We must stop doing things to people. He goes on to say that “we need to approach people with ‘How can we work better together?’.”
Tags: Antithesis, Attendees, Audie, Auto Pilot, Cookie Cutter Approach, Cruise Ship, Engagement Team, Excitement, Free Time, Gurteen, Hotel Ballroom, Invitation, Little Time, Meeting At Sea, Meeting Center, Middle Of The Ocean, Rsquo, Social Interaction, Team Building, Traditional Hotel, Typic, Typical Conference, Voicemails
18 Feb 11 When Did Fun Become a Dirty Word?
Over the past couple of years, economic conditions and the state of the business world have created a corporate culture for many companies where a fun and relaxed atmosphere was “outlawed”. Any resemblances of fun or enjoyment were viewed as lack of focus or dedication. In the end, employee morale suffered and stress levels rose to new heights.
More and more, research is proving that FUN can actually be a good thing for the overall health of a company. As Maureen McKeon quotes in her article How to get from good to great – the shocking truth, “an increasing body of research demonstrates that when leaders lighten up and create a fun workplace, there is a significant increase in the level of employee trust, creativity and communication — leading to lower turnover, higher morale and a stronger bottom line.”
For event and meeting planners, fun translates into greater participation and increased overall satisfaction from attendees. After all, who wants to sit all day in a cold, sterile meeting room listening to one monotonous session after another then lunching on the infamous rubber chicken? Instead, try spicing things up with exotic locations, fine dining, and a bevy of recreational activities to keep the “juices flowing”. Hosting a corporate function on a cruise ship might just be an ideal, economic way to inject FUN into a stale program and create excitement before it even begins.
It’s time to put the fun back in FUNction and remember…nobody ever complains when they’re having a good time!
Tags: Bevy, Business World, Corporate Culture, Cruise Ship, Dirty Word, Economic Conditions, Employee Morale, Employee Trust, Fine Dining, Having A Good Time, Juices, Mckeon, Mdash, Meeting Planners, Meeting Room, Recreational Activities, Relaxed Atmosphere, Rubber Chicken, Shocking Truth, Stress Levels
07 Sep 10 What kind of inclusive incentives can be had on a cruise ship?
Cruises are popular for many reasons, but one of the most appealing reasons to businesses is the fact that cruises come with all sorts of travel incentives that are built right into the price. Inclusive incentives are popular with businesses for so many reasons, including:
- Easy pricing – Inclusive pricing is great, and inclusive incentives are simply amazing. What kind of incentives, how about food, fun, activities, and possibly even souvenirs?
- Less time spent shopping around – Nobody like spending their day calling 100 different caterers trying to see who will offer the best deal on a specific set of meals. The good news is that no caterers need to be called as the cruise price has top notch meals and a staff ready to serve them on call 24/7.
- Plenty of options – Want to make sure that you and your guests are pampered? Ask for free time with a certified massage therapist or personal trainer be included with the price of each participant.
- Some cruise lines go the extra mile – Concierge services are truly amazing, and can add a little something extra. Don’t be shy when asking, because you might be surprise to find out that some cruise lines offer business customers a wide range of time and money saving services such as special assortments of alcohol and even access to branded products/gift baskets made to order and placed in the cabins of participants prior to the cruise.
Tags: Assortments, Branded Products, Business Customers, Caterers, Certified Massage Therapist, Concierge Services, Cruise Lines, Cruise Price, Cruise Ship, Extra Mile, Free Time, Fun Activities, Gift Baskets, Money Saving, Personal Trainer, Rsquo, Ship Cruises, Time And Money, Top Notch, Travel Incentives
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
25 Aug 10 Could a Cruise Meeting be In Your Organization’s Future?
Cruise meetings are a time honored and tested alternative to holding meetings in more traditional locations, yet they strangely remain a secret. The tendency of cruise meetings as an alternative to land-bound meetings is puzzling, especially with the amazing incentives and tantalizing prices being offered by cruise lines. Could a cruise meeting be right for your next event? Maybe, but ask yourself these questions first:
• Are you and your guests looking to see amazing views? Some people just like the same old boring office interiors all day, but they won’t get that on a cruise ship. On the other hand, many people will actually benefit from the creative art designs on most cruise ships as it can get the mind working in new ways.
• Are you ready for 5 star meals and entertainment? Cruise ships have an amazing assortment of top-quality restaurants and amazing night clubs. Add to this gyms, pools, and other activities, and you really have two choices: schedule some downtime or run the risk of people being a little late to meetings because of all the entertainment. The good news is that alternative meetings are available as are group-specific mixers or bar nights.
• Are you ready to be pampered? This is more of a trick question because just about everyone says yes! That is what you and your guests will get when you plan cruise meetings. It sure beats hotel service at the same price by an unbelievable margin.
Tags: Art Designs, Assortment, Creative Art, Cruise Lines, Cruise Ship, Cruise Ships, Downtime, Gyms, Hotel Service, Incentives, Lines Cruise, Mixers, New Ways, Night Clubs, Office Interiors, Pools, Quality Restaurants, Star Meals, Trick Question, Two Choices
02 Aug 10 Cruise Ship Meeting Secrets
While many people planning cruise ship meetings simply make the meetings on cruise ships somewhat similar to landlocked meetings, this does not have to be the case. In fact, planning meetings and events on a cruise ship that do not take advantage of the inherently unique nature of a cruise ship are missing the point. Follow these helpful tips to take full advantage of even the secret features available to planners of cruise events:
Alternative meeting environments – want to book a large meeting room? Ask about the theater or onboard dining halls. Chances are good that one or two such rooms are reserved for possible meetings, but may be freed up once the ship leaves port.
Super-alternative meeting environments – want to have a face to face while getting a massage in one of the onboard spas? Go for it!
The menu is not necessarily limited – cruise ships are extremely competitive when it comes to dining and lodging. This virtually assures that any ship is likely to have a wonderful assortment of top notch chefs are always on hand and are probably climbing the walls wishing that somebody would order something that is not on one of the many menus.
Compensation – Booking larger groups and venues can result in special forms of compensation once the hard price limit is reached. Free cabin upgrades, exclusive access to a little known VIP gym or club could be the result for those that know to ask.
Tags: Assortment, Case In Fact, Chefs, Climbing The Walls, Cruise Events, Cruise Ship, Cruise Ships, Dining Halls, Environments, Forms Of Compensation, Helpful Tips, Large Meeting Room, Meetings And Events, Menus, Missing The Point, Planners, Secret Features, Spas, Top Notch, Vip
23 Jul 10 Can Your Company Afford NOT to Hold Cruise Events?
If you have been looking at cruise meetings as an alternative that is not cost-effective, then you may be missing out on some of the math. Here is how you should be looking at the whole picture: even if your company does not pay for the meals and entertainment of participants at a meeting or event, then someone else might. IF given the choice between a cost effective cruise or a compensated hotel with continental breakfast, which would you choose? That’s right, you’d go with the cruise ship, and that is exactly what other people would do 9 out of 10 times.
When you consider all that cruise ships offer, they are truly a bargain destination for meetings. Those that look only at hotels and conference centers might forget this, and may be completely insensitive to the fact that they are actually costing their customers, partners, clients, suppliers, colleagues, or even branch offices to incur expenses simply to participate. This might be the cause of barriers to successful events and productive meetings, so be sure to evaluate your strategy carefully in this regard.
Also remember that cruise events are typically cost effective when measured against landlocked alternatives. The all-inclusive prices can often be lowered when booking multiple cabins, and there are plenty of compensated bonuses to be had. These bonuses, such as a massage in the spa, can be used as incentives to further enhance the profitability and success of a cruise.
Tags: 9 Out Of 10, Bargain, Colleagues, Continental Breakfast, Cruise Events, Cruise Ship, Cruise Ships, Hotels, Incentives, Massage, Math, Participants, Productive Meetings, Profitability, Regard, Spa, Success
16 Jul 10 Meeting at Sea: The Perfect Meeting Destination and Surprisingly Affordable
Planning meetings can be fun, but it tends to be more fun whenever the meeting is someplace exotic or interesting. What is more interesting than a meeting on a cruise ship? Possibly a meeting on the International Space Station, but at around $20 million a ticket, it is probably better to go with meetings on exotic cruise ships bound for sun drenched destinations. Surprisingly, meetings at sea are not only more affordable than blasting off into low-orbit, but they are often more affordable than meetings held at hotels. Consider the following:
Hotels are forced to compete with many restaurants in terms of quality and offerings. Today’s cruise ships bring the restaurants and hotels with them, reducing the competition and overhead associated with advertising while simultaneously increasing the power buying authority of the vendor.
Safety is job number of all cruise ship employees, while job number two is ensuring that you and your business guests have a great time. This means you get more bang for your buck on a cruise ship than you would with a hotel in virtually any city.
Top quality business meeting rooms and chambers are available on cruise ships, big and small. Most cruise ships have rooms that can be easily converted from theaters to huge meeting rooms to dance floors with relative ease as well as standard meeting rooms. It does not matter how big or small your event is, a cruise ship is perfect!
Tags: Business Guests, Business Meeting Rooms, Chambers, Cruise Ship, Cruise Ships, Fun, Great Time, Hotels, International Space Station, Job, Low Orbit, Meeting At Sea, Meeting Planning, Offerings, Quality Business, Restaurants, Sun, Theaters, Top Quality
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
21 Jun 10 Great Reasons to Hold Cruise Events
The truth is that just about everyone wants to go on a cruise at one point in time, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to do that with the mounting pressures of work and family. Luckily there are cruise events that can be held for nearly any reason, and those events could prove to be irresistible to anyone who has ever wanted to sail away from their problems. Here are *** great reasons to hold a your next even on a cruise ship:
Everything is included – No more trying to coordinate rooms, catering, and events; cruise ships have this taken care of. In fact, many cruise ships have a helpful planning staff that can handle everything from travel to special needs and requests.
Complete and total care – No other event venue is as self-contained yet complete as a cruise ship. A world-class gym, spa, restaurants, casinos, theaters, places for the children to play and more are all included.
Accessible to everyone – It would be harder to find a venue that was as friendly to those who are differently-abled as a cruise ship.
Elevators and ramps are everywhere, making a cruise liner very accessible.
No need to worry – Unlike destinations on land, everyone on a ship is a tourist. No more thieves or pickpockets to worry about.
Tags: Casinos, Catering, Class Gym, Cruise Events, Cruise Liner, Cruise Ship, Cruise Ships, Cruise World, Elevators, Pickpockets, Point In Time, Ramps, Restaurants, Spa, Special Needs, Theaters, Thieves, Travel Special, Truth, Venue
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