16 Nov 09 Event and Meeting Planning Tools
Marriott offers some good event and meeting planning tools on their Web site, including:
Budget Calculator
What will be the cost of your event… for hotel rooms… for food and beverage service… for each attendee?
Event Space Calculator
How much space do you need to host a banquet or reception for 150 people? Get the answer with Marriott's Event Space Calculators:
Checklists
Invite speakers. Check. Notify guests. Check. Schedule your meeting at Marriott and relax. Check and double check. Use the downloadable checklists and check off every important detail.
Tags: Amp, Attendee, Budget Calculator, Calculators, Downloadable Checklists, Exhibits, Food And Beverage, Food And Beverage Service, Hellip, Hotel Rooms, Marriott, Meeting Planning, Negotiation Techniques, Planning Tools, Publicity, Sessions, Site Selection, Space Calculator, Speakers, Square Footage
14 Sep 09 “No-Show!”
No meeting planner likes to hear those words, especially when it comes to a speaker. It means that there is a disaster in the making–unless she has made contingency plans. Here are some ways to make sure that your event has a speaker, and on time.
Contract Clauses
Make it part of your contract with a speaker that he or she will provide a replacement in the event of absence. Make sure you have all the pertinent information about the replacement’s travel plans, contact information, etc., as you would have for the original speaker.
Web Speeches
Make an agreement with your client that if an important speaker gets grounded in another city, he can make himself available by webcast. Set this up in advance so that you don’t have to scramble at the last minute, which almost ensures failure under these circumstances.
Prerecordings
Another possibility may be a pre-recorded speech. Nothing is quite the same as a personal appearance, but if an airport is socked in from weather problems and a webcast gets rubber out for one reason or another, you have one more backup plan.
Last Minute Local
Every town has great speakers, even small towns with no Toastmaster club. There are two ways to approach this possibility: either get the local to deliver the other speaker’s words, or have them deliver their own.
There are no doubt many more ways to approach this problem that exceed the scope and depth of this humble blog. Do some mind-storming and be prepared.
Tags: Absence, Backup Plan, Blog, Circumstances, Contingency Plans, Contract Clauses, Disaster, Failure, Last Minute, Meeting Planner, No Doubt, Personal Appearance, Scope, Speakers, Speeches, Time Contract, Toastmaster Club, Two Ways, Weather Problems
31 Aug 09 How Regulations Help Your Business
Meeting planners today are faced with a changing environment, and these changes are not always friendly. Regardless of who is to blame, perhaps you should be thinking about who to thank. Here’s why.
Let’s take the medical meeting regulations. These guidelines change often and sometimes without ceremony or warning. They squeeze a little tighter every time, and give you less freedom to make decisions and offer variety. However, this can be a good thing–when you and your client are pressed for money, time, or both, who needs to be worrying about choices?
For example, let’s say that the regulations now include how much you can spend on a keynote speaker. You have a slew of them that you often use for your medical meetings, but now three of them no longer qualify because of their level of pay. This may leave you two. Now you only have two people to call.
The rub comes when you can’t fill the position. Let’s say that neither of those two speakers is available. You can offer less money to the other three–quoting the new regulation–or you will have to find another way. (more…)
Tags: Business Meeting, Business Relationships, Business Today, Choices, Debris, Decisions, Flexibility, Freedom, Keynote Speaker, Medical Meeting, Medical Meetings, Meeting Planners, Money Time, Slew, Speakers
20 Aug 09 Motivational Meetings
There may be sometime in your life as a planner that you will get a call to plan a motivational meeting. The CEO of a corporation that has maybe had layoffs or a high employee turnover would like the bring up her workers’ morale for various reasons. You have to put a one-day meeting together.
You already have some team-building exercises that the Big Boss wants to include. You also have meals planned and some other activities, as well as motivation psychologists or speakers peppered throughout the meeting. This is all wonderful, but it still doesn’t pull in the emotional stragglers, the ones who may want to turn in their resignations in the next month or so.
The last blog was about booking entertainment for meetings, and you may have your entertainment for this kind of meeting right under your nose. A company talent show could get many more people involved who would not normally give a hoot in the holler. It will require a basic screening process (auditions) so that you don’t have any nasty surprises, but it would be well worth it when your client calls a few days after the event and says, “I think it’s working. Let’s do another one at the company picnic!”
Not only do you have appreciation, but you have another event coming up in a few months. What’s better than clients who like your work enough to find excuses to hire you again?
Tags: Auditions, Big Boss, Blog, Booking Entertainment, Ceo, Company Picnic, Few Days, High Employee Turnover, Holler, Hoot, Layoffs, Motivation, Nasty Surprises, Psychologists, Resignations, Right Under Your Nose, Speakers, Stragglers, Talent Show, Team Building Exercises
17 Aug 09 Choosing Entertainment for Your Next Meeting
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
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