09 Jul 10 The Value of Great Gifts
Businesses often find that offering affordable trinkets as incentives makes participation at meetings and events more personal. Furthermore, the trinkets and gifts often prove to be tangible reminders of the relationship between the participant and host, but that means that there is a potential for both good and bad gifts to make an impression. Here is how to decide which kind of gift or trinket you need to consider:
Saving is good, but too much of a good thing is a bad thing – It is important to stay on a budget, especially for a company looking to enhance their bottom line. It is also possible to be too frugal, and that can ruin the investment in the meeting or event itself while still costing money.
Branding – If a company buys trinkets and wants recipients to know where they came from in a year, then they need to associate that item/trinket with the brand. This is easily done with simply adding a logo, which is rarely expensive.
Buy in bulk – It might be intimidating to look at pricing for branded or even non-branded trinkets until you discover that bulk prices are available for almost everything.
Needs and appropriate gifts – Choose gifts that will be appreciated. A USB key might be great for a meeting of staff accountants, but the IT gurus probably have more USB devices than they need and are unlikely to appreciate anything but the most high-tech of gizmos.
Tags: Bottom Line, Budget, Buy In Bulk, Gizmos, Great Gifts, Gurus, Incentives, Investment, Meetings And Events, Money, Participant, Participation, Personal Gifts, Relationship, Staff Accountants, Tangible Reminders, Trinket, Trinkets, Usb Devices, Usb Key
28 May 10 Four Tools Every Meeting Planner Must Have
Four basic tools every meeting and event planner must have
While meeting planners and event planners both need to be organized and accurate, it sometimes helps to have a little help. Here is a list of the four best investments a meeting and/or event planner can make to help their career along:
A book on Feng Shui – Feng Shui offers many ideas on how to organize everything from seating to room arrangement, and many of the ideas behind Feng Shui have stood the test of time very well.
A smartphone – There are many smartphones to choose from, but a smartphone that can handle a professional calendar capable of synchronizing with a laptop and/or desktop is essential. E-mail and SMS features are also vital, especially to a meeting planner on the go.
A netbook or small laptop – Working on the road or in various offices is important, as is the ability to take notes virtually anywhere. A smartphone can only perform this task so well, and it simply will not do to be using anything but a full-fledged word processor for taking detailed notes for meeting schedules, participant contact info, or even ideas.
A good online backup solution – with so much reliance on electronics, be prepared for the inevitable crash, data loss, or theft. An online backup solution is essential for keeping meeting/event/conference records safe.
Tags: Backup Solution, Basic Tools, Crash Data, E Mail, Event Planner, Event Planners, Feng Shui, Four Tools, Inevitable Crash, Meeting Planner, Meeting Planners, Meeting Schedules, Participant, Professional Calendar, Room Arrangement, Smartphones, Sms Features, Synchronizing, Test Of Time, Word Processor
02 Apr 10 Sparking Interest in a Cruise Meeting
An all-inclusive cruise is an exciting spin on meeting planning. Participants are well aware meetings formats may center on focused blocks of hard work and it becomes all too easy to forget how to relax. One way to generate excitement for an upcoming cruise meeting is to educate the group about life on board and at their ports of call.
This will be the first cruise experience for many people in the group. Add a list of commonly used “ship slang” to the packet of materials provided to each participant. A simple game of ship speak bingo can break the ice and give group members a chance to get to know one another. By the time the game is over, participants will feel confident that they know their fore from their aft.
Go beyond the standard travel brochure and create guides give group members a few helpful hints on local social graces. These could include: how much and who to tip, how to stay please and thank you in the local language, suggestions for appropriate dress, and portable currency exchange guides. A section discussing which situations are friendly photo opportunities (or not) will give camera buffs something to mull over. Good manners are easy to pack, improve communication, and guarantee a welcome on a return trip.
Tags: Bingo, Camera Buffs, Communication, Cruise Experience, Currency Exchange, Excitement, Good Manners, Group Members, Helpful Hints, Many People, Meeting Planning, Participant, Participants, Photo Opportunities, Ports Of Call, Return Trip, Simple Game, Slang, Social Graces, Travel Brochure
24 Feb 10 Fun Ways to Break Participants into Work Groups
Many trainings, retreats and meetings require breaking your large group of attendees into smaller working groups for games, task completion, brainstorming or team building activities. While you can always simply assign each attendee a number or break them into groups according to how they are sitting, there are also options that are a bit more fun and will get your participants activated and involved in the process, leading to more productivity and more fun.
Little games that break them into groups also serve to re-energize the room and bring more life to your meetings, and for team building.
One example is the comic strip game. This game is easy to organize and takes minimal preparation. Simply clip comic strips out of a newspaper and separate each frame of each comic. During the meeting, have each participant pick a piece of a comic strip out of a bag or bowl. Once all of your participants each have one comic strip frame, the objective is for them to find the folks who have the rest of the comic strip and to line up in the correct order to piece the comic strip back together.
To add a bit of competition, you can also give a prize to the group that is able to find each other and arrange themselves correctly quickest. Upon completion of the game, you now have small working groups that can get to work on a task of brainstorming session.
Tags: Attendee, Attendees, Brainstorming, Break, Comic Strip, Comic Strips, Fun Games, Large Group, Little Games, Minimal Preparation, Objective, Participant, Participants, Productivity, Retreats, Strip Game, Task Completion, Team Building Activities, Work Groups, Working Groups
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
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