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Event Planning in the Age of Terrorism, Are You Prepared?

April 24, 2013 By Comments
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In light of last week’s Boston bombings, I began to reflect on how the event planning industry has changed since 9/11. Unfortunately we live in an age where terrorist attacks are an ongoing threat. Emergency preparedness, it seems, is becoming a “must include” component to an event planning checklist. Any meeting or event planner that is not prepared to react to a terrorism threat is, quite frankly, leaving their group vulnerable.

The Terrorist Attacks of 9/11 Had a Huge Impact on Event Planning

Back in September of 2001 I was part of a full service Destination Management Company (DMC). Anyone involved with event planning knows that September can be a very busy month for our industry. Like everybody, I remember exactly what I was doing when I heard the awful news on that fateful Tuesday morning.

We had a group that was just getting underway (they were from Chicago). Of course in those days, we all had the false security that terrorist attacks didn’t happen on North American soil. Needless to say, it became obvious to us that this group’s activities, and the meeting itself, would not be proceeding. But, as air travel was shut down for days, the task for us was to get this group back to Chicago. Because of our supplier contacts in Toronto, we were able to secure coaches to transfer the attendees home. My company kept in contact with our local CVB, Tourism Toronto, as well as Canadian and American border officials. This coordination, albeit in the middle of chaos like we’ve never seen before, enabled us to get this group home within a couple of days.

My advice to any event or meeting planner working with a DMC would be to ask, upfront, what are their emergency plans. If they don’t have one, don’t use them.

An Event Planning Checklist Must Include Emergency Preparedness

Like many businesses, my company’s revenues were devastated after 9/11. After all, that was the goal of the terrorists. According to a study group that was put together by New York City officials shortly after 9/11, some of the economic losses hit the event planning industry hard. For example:

  • over 138,000 jobs were lost in the airline industry
  • roughly 15,000 jobs in the travel industry (hotels and service companies) were lost
  • hotels, restaurants and theaters in the greater New York area lost an estimated $2.3 billion because of 9/11

Since 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security has issued guidelines on how to prepare for an emergency situation. On their website, The National Terror Alert Response Center, are excellent tips on how to prepare for a terrorist attack as well as many other types of emergencies.

Some of the topics on the website include:

  • creating an emergency communications plan
  • having a disaster supply kit
  • an evacuation plan
  • what to do if disaster strikes (and you are not injured)

Event Planning and Emergency Preparedness, Did the Boston Bombings Reflect a Change?

What we did see during the reaction to the Boston bombings was a city prepared. From the emergency services personnel, to the good Samaritan citizens, Boston reacted in a way that made us proud. While a tragic loss of life did occur, the citizens stood strong, the businesses pitched in where necessary, and best of all they brought the hunt for the culprits to a quick, successful close.

While there’s no doubt there was economic loss to the area, what’s nice to see is that people got back to their normal lives quickly. While we will always remember those that did lose their lives from this horrible crime, the best that we can do to honor those lost souls would be to stand up and fight the fear.

Additional resources:

Unfortunately we have not seen the last of terrorist attacks. But we have learned that the best way to deal with terrorism is to not allow the fear and therefore major economic losses that these criminals are trying to achieve. It is vital that your event planning checklist includes a contingency plan for an emergency. Plan for it and then pray that it never happens.

 

 

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Infographic – 5 Helpful Tips When Planning Your Wedding

May 23, 2012 By Comments

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5 Key Items for a Conference Planning Checklist

March 27, 2012 By Comments

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You don’t have to look very far to find a conference planning checklist. And when you Google the term, there certainly is no shortages of websites where you can get conference planning checklist ideas. So they must be important then, right? Well, of course the answer is yes (with some caution). I do have to say, that a good conference planning checklist is only as good as the thought that was put into making the checklist itself. Which started me thinking about which items would be considered crucial for a conference planning checklist.

Items That Should Be Included on Your Conference Planning Checklist

1) Location. This item should be first and foremost, obviously. After all you can’t do much planning, or rather logistics, until you know where it is the conference will be held. Most conference planners will begin to scout locations well in advance of their conference to make sure that they can pick dates, hotels and venues which would be suitable for their conference.

2) Dates. The dates of your conference are almost equally as important as the location of your conference. Of course depending on where your conference will be held, the dates may be dependent on factors such as temperature and other citywide activities occurring in the location over the dates that you are considering.

3) Budget. Before you can begin promoting, and then executing a conference, you will need to determine what your budget is for the conference itself. Sometimes a budget is set by the conference’s committee members ahead of time and then handed to the conference planner for execution. Other conferences may need to determine what their conferences itinerary will be in order to determine what the budget is. Whichever is your case, budgets are a crucial part of a conference planning checklist as it will have a direct impact on your conferences registration.

4) Registration. Of course the success of your conference will be judged by how many people attend. A good conference planning checklist will address registration at the onset. It is crucial today that you have a good registration marketing plan in place. There are many registration software services available to help conference planners in this area.

5) Program/Itinerary. A good conference planning checklist is all about planning for the various elements, or itinerary, of your conference. It should be well thought out in advance and then assigned due dates based on which items need to be decided and secured first. The itinerary is also key when it comes to the conferences budgets. It is vital for a conference planner to know how much money they have to spend on the various components to their conference.

With conference planning, the devil is in the details. Therefore a planner requires a conference planning checklist to help them break down vital components to their overall program. And then to address those items in the order in which they need to be addressed. A conference planning checklist can be a valuable tool as the planner works through their program. The five items listed above are crucial to a good conference planning checklist.

 

 

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Planning a Conference Checklist Items

March 25, 2012 By Comments

For anyone planning a conference, a checklist is important for a number of reasons. Of course the most obvious reason why you would use a checklist when planning a conference is to keep track of all of the small details that are required as part of your planning. After all, it is all about the details.

Which begs the question – when planning a conference what checklist items should be covered? Well of course it does depend on which type of event you’re organizing (i.e. corporate conference, an incentive trip or a wedding). But, generally speaking the graph below outlines the major checklist items that are often covered when planning a conference.

 

As you can see, there are many areas that need to be covered when planning a conference. Planning a conference checklist items are based on the type of conference that you’re planning. But the one thing that is certain is that a checklist is an important part of the planning process.

 

 

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Finding a Good Meeting Planner Template on Microsoft Office

February 16, 2012 By Comments

Finding a good event planner template to assist you with your meeting or event can, in itself, take a little bit of time to find the right one for you. We’ve talked a lot about meeting and event planning templates here in the past. Many planners that I speak with tell me that often they develop their own templates based on their previous experiences. Basically, you want to look at in event planning checklist or template as an overview of what’s needs to get done and when.

Meeting and Event Planning Templates Helps You Keep Organized

When a lot of people think of making or utilizing a meeting planner template they often get a bit stressed out as they think the task of creating the templates will be quite the undertaking. Well I guess it depends on exactly what the templates going to be used for as to whether or not it needs to be complicated. Most do not need to be that extravagant. Microsoft Office has free event planning templates  that will provide you with a basic outline that you can customize. But what I also like about the Microsoft Office event planning templates site is that it tells you how many people downloaded the document as well as how they rated it. Depending on your own personality type, sometimes it helps you if you know that other people in your industry have found the meeting planner template helpful for them.

Additional meeting planner templates from Microsoft Office includes:

  • monthly and weekly planning calendars
  • the scheduler
  • meeting management
  • monthly planning guide
  • project planning calendar
  • and many, many more

A Meeting Planner Template to Fit Your Needs

Meeting planner templates are as unique as the individuals that use them. For me, personally, I usually download one of the free meeting planner templates offered by Microsoft Office and then tailor it to my specific needs. It gets very easy to customize your own template once you have done a few meetings or events. If you’re new to the industry you’ll soon find your work groove and then you’ll tailor any templates towards your style.

 

 

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What Do You Look for in a Conference Planning Guide?

January 24, 2012 By Comments

It might be an obvious question – what do you look for in a conference planning guide? However, you would be amazed at how many different answers I get when I ask that question to meeting planners. Which leads me to believe that conference planning guides, while offering the basics on conference planning, provide different ideas for different meeting planners.

A conference planning guide is a great resource for organizing and executing a conference. Many times I get different ideas from the various conference planning guides that I read. What I tend to do is take each of these ideas and incorporate them into my own conference planning checklist. Meeting planners, being human, tend to go about the task of organizing a conference based on their own personality type. Some are better at organizing, while others are better at promoting. Where I find a conference planning guide useful is for ideas on how to tackle conference planning tasks that I tend not to like or put off until the end because of my personality type. It helps me focus, as well as addressing those key items, when I should be (not leaving them until the end as I am known to do).

A Conference Planning Guide Can Provide New Ideas

Anyone in the meetings and events industry has probably read several conference planning guides. In addition to tips on how to orchestrate the conference itself, a conference planning guide will also provide new insights or ideas that you can introduce to your conference planning. After all, the goal is to keep conferences moving forward with fresh ideas. And quite often to a get the attendance level that you are seeking you do have to offer unique incentives for people to register.

The Following Are A Few Items That You Should Expect a Conference Planning Guide to Include:

Ideas- while this is a very general term what I think you could expect are interesting themes and decor ideas that may complement your conference. Many good books will also provide tips and tactics on how to invite people to your conference as well as some incentive ideas to help your registration process.

Budgets -while not a very exciting topic it is a very important topic. A good conference planning guide will show you how to plan all of the various components for your conference and how to assign a budget for each of those items. In the future, were going to feature some of our blog post here on how to compile a budget. It’s something that many of our readers have been asking and, especially in today’s economy, budgeting has become a vital part of conference planning (like it wasn’t already).

Logistics – breaking down each component to your conference and how to attack all of the smaller parts to make sure that the overall event goes off without a hitch. Basically showing new ways to see the trees in the forest and not focus entirely on the forest itself.

Negotiations – a vital skill for a meeting planner. Yet a person’s negotiating ability is often overlooked during the interviewing process. And don’t kid yourself, negotiating is a skill that takes time to become good at. You don’t want to appear overly forceful or belligerent. A good conference planning guide will provide tips on how to negotiate room rates, hotel contracts etc.

If you’re looking for a particular book or conference planning guide to do the job for you, then you may be disappointed in your search. However, if you look at a conference planning guide as a resource for fresh ideas and helpful hints on how to attack the various tasks involved, than you may find value in many conference planning guides. But the one take away is that a good conference planning guide is going to help sharpen your overall meeting planning skills.

 

 

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Why It’s Important to Have a Conference Planning Timeline

January 20, 2012 By Comments

There’s no doubt that conference planning requires strong organizational skills. When I think of all the meeting planners that I know, one characteristic that stands out is their ability to multitask. A conference planning timeline is a vital part of conference planning for a number of reasons. For example, it would be a total waste of time if you booked your off-site restaurant on a specific date for your group only to find out that there is no hotel space available for your group during on that date. Obviously, that would be a total waste of your time.

The Conference Planning Timeline Prioritizes Your to Do List

You may have read here our thoughts on the importance of conference planning checklists (if not I suggest you check out some of the related articles below). Well taking the importance of a conference planning checklist one step further, a checklist timeline would then be applied to all of the “to do” items that are on your checklist. The conference planning timeline prioritizes which items need to be addressed initially.

As I said at the beginning of this post, what would be the sense of booking a restaurant when you haven’t secured your hotel and/or meeting rooms yet. Therefore, in addition to determining what needs to get done, on what dates, it also helps you prioritize what needs to get done first, second, third and so on.

Here’s a quick and easy overview of some of the larger conference planning items and which ones you would address first:

  • Hotel/Meeting Facility – obviously first and foremost you want to make sure that the venue for your conference has been selected and secured.
  • Transportation – once you know your dates and you’ve received confirmation that space is available it would now be time to look at transportation requirements for your conference delegates.
  • Speakers -this would be the stage to look at what outside components that you have to secure in order to fulfill your meeting’s obligations
  • Off-Site Venues- it would be at this stage that you would now consider ideas for taking your group off-site. By now you should know which evenings or times are open (that you would need to fill with these types of activities).
  • Tours and Attractions- while not necessarily a main component of your conference, tours and attractions can often be a draw for your conference. After you scheduled and confirm the nuts and bolts of your conference, you would now want to consider what tours are available and at what times.
  • Entertainment – again this area is not necessarily the main part of your conference. But, like tours and attractions, entertainment can also play a vital role for promoting your conference or event.

Like a conference planning checklist, a conference planning timeline is also vital towards your planning. It helps you prioritize which items on your conference planning checklist would need to be addressed first and foremost.

 

 

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What Items Make up Your Conference Planning Checklist?

January 18, 2012 By Comments

For many of us, a conference planning checklist is a custom tailored document. What I mean by that is that we all have our own way of scheduling our own to-do list. There’s no doubt that a conference planning checklist helps you by breaking down all of the little components of a larger event or conference. And if anyone has ever tried to orchestrate a conference without a checklist than they probably know all too well how stressful and chaotic that can be.

A Conference Planning Checklist Will Help You See the Trees in the Forest

I know we’ve talked about event or conference planning checklist here a lot in the past. But I can’t stress enough at just how helpful a conference planning checklist can be to help put the conference itself into perspective. When I attend networking events and when I’m talking to meeting planners, a common question that I get asked is what items do I put on my conference planning checklist. My answer usually covers the basic items (which I’m going to review below), but I also stress that really the checklist should be developed around the work style of the person that’s going to be using the checklist. And really the overall goal of the checklist is to make sure that each and every component, no matter how small, gets addressed. After all it only takes one small item being overlooked to have a negative impact on your overall conference or event.

Think of the Conference Planning Checklist As a Map of Your Conference or Event

Once the overall conference itself has been planned, you should now be in a position where you can take the larger components of your conference and start breaking down the various steps that are needed to execute it properly.

The following are some basic conference components as well as suggestions on how to break down those components into smaller “to do” actions:

Hotel

  • conference dates determined
  • rates negotiated
  • meeting rooms allocated
  • room setups determine based on meetings format
  • equipment needed to be brought for the meeting
  • speakers, outside suppliers required for meeting
  • food and beverage requirements

Travel/Transportation

  • car company rates negotiated for airport transportation
  • additional transportation requirements (shuttle bus tickets, coaches for mass transportation)
  • system in place regarding flight manifests and how the car company will handle changes
  • local transportation provider (i.e. airport meet and greets) selected

Tours/Attractions

  • determine if a local destination management company (DMC) is required
  • determine free times and availability for tours
  • schedule appropriate tours

Off-Site Activities

  • determine which dates require off-site scheduling
  • determine theme for off-site (i.e. local restaurant, renting an attraction, venue)
  • as in tours and attractions, determine if a local destination management company (DMC) is required

A conference planning checklist helps you take a large conference or event and break down the various components so that you can see, at a glance, what needs to be done for a successful conference. In addition to a general outline of items (as above), you also need to address the due dates and how they will fit with your overall conference. When you take the time to sit down and map out all of the components to the conference, you’ll find it helps relieve the overall stress of getting things completed. A conference planning checklist is also a great tool for delegating the various components of your meeting or conference.

 

 

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Conference Planning Tips on Promoting Events

January 17, 2012 By Comments

For many of you involved with conference planning, you’re all too familiar with the term “the devil is in the details”. It’s hard enough to set up the conference or event itself but then being tasked with  promoting the event can add a whole other stress level to your workload. In other words, for many of you, including myself, one of the toughest challenge to conference planning is promoting the conference or event itself. After all there’s nothing worse than having the big event day arrive and only a half filled room.

Conference and Event Planning Tip for Promoting-It’s All about Your List

First thing I ask a party and event planner about promoting their event, is who are they going to invite. First and foremost you need a good clean list that you can promote your event to. And you have to make sure that your list is the right audience. We’ve all heard the term “opt in” list. And today it’s becoming more and more common to have a double opt in list. If you currently do not have a clean opt in list then making one should be priority number one for you. Unless you have very deep pockets to do an extensive advertising campaign for your conference or event then it’s vital that you have a current database that is relevant to the conference planning you’re doing. Opt in basically means that the person on your list has requested to receive information or to be part of your overall database. The term double opt in means that the person has not only requested to receive information, they have also completed the additional step of verifying that it was indeed them that requested to be added to your list. An event planning checklist should include techniques for promoting events. And more importantly time to develop your list properly

The old days of just collecting names and e-mail addresses are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Social media can play a vital role in helping you create a clean opt in list. Unfortunately there is no quick fix or expedited track to developing a clean list. It takes time to build an opt in list as you’re basically establishing yourself as someone to be trusted on the topic you’re talking about within your industry. And that takes time.

Other telltale signs that your current list may need to be revisited are the stats that you can review from an e-mail blast that you have completed. Today, most all e-mail marketing software will provide you with statistics. Here are a few areas that you can review and evaluate your current database;

Bounces- (or more specifically hard bounces). Bounces are usually referred to as either hard or soft bounces. A soft bounced e-mail can generally mean that you are out of office or on vacation and may have an auto responder replying to any e-mails that you receive. A hard bounce, on the other hand, means that the e-mail address doesn’t exist anymore. Basically it’s in your better interest to remove your hard bounces often as you can run the risk of being flagged as a spammer if you continually send additional e-mails to hard bounced e-mail addresses.

Opt outs and reported as spam – for my guidelines, I always want my opt outs to be well under 1%. Averages for opt outs vary by industry but it’s safe to say that if you aim for 1% or lower you are in a safe range.

Open rates – while we would all like to think that 100% of our e-mails sent are opened the reality is that the majority will never be opened. A good open percentage could be anywhere from 15% to 30+ percent depending on your industry.

Conference Planning and Promoting-There Are Great Resources at Your Fingertips

Today promoting an event is a crucial component for conference planning. For any of you setting up a marketing campaign you would be best served to read up and become aware of what your e-mail marketing benchmarks should be. MarketingSherpa provides a yearly e-mail marketing benchmark guide. This guide provides very useful information on what you can expect, or rather should expect, from your e-mail marketing campaigns for your industry. If you’re not hitting your conference planning targets then it’s very likely assign that your database list needs to be reworked. While this is no easy task it is crucial that your list is relevant and geared towards topics in your industry. A quick look at your e-mail distribution stats will give you an idea of what work may or may not lie ahead for you.

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Party Planning Checklist – If “It” is the Key, What is IT?

December 17, 2011 By Comments
green check

Photo courtesy of PNASH

When it comes to party planning a party planning checklist is one of the greatest finds.

We hear about it all the time. There have been countless (and I mean countless) blogs written about “it”. And in this scenario, the “it” is organization. The word on the street is when planning a party you can never be too organized. And I couldn’t agree more.

As the thoughts of party planning creep into our minds, we all seem to get bogged down with the what’s and how’s of it all. So before we even are clear on what direction our party planning will take us, we start stressing out. Not good! Especially this time of year when there are more holiday parties then we can count. Again, not good!

So sit back and take a minute. Yes there’s a great deal to be accomplished and yes, it can be very overwhelming, before the actual party planning even starts. But there’s no reason to freak out because there are a lot of resources out there to make party planning a breeze.

Party Planning Checklist – And the Secret to Party Planning

Everyone has arrived, drinks in hand and the party has started. Decorations are up, food is plentiful and delicious. The entertainment is happening and everyone is having a terrific time. With the exception of one, YOU! Of course someone has to pour drinks, manage food, serve and clear and ensure the overall success of the soiree. But there is good news! With some organization and pre-planning your guests won’t be the only ones enjoying the party…so will you!

Organization is the answer to party planning and, as it turns out, the reason for the majority of most parties’ ultimate success. When getting started there are some crucial party planning questions you should ask yourself; what’s the budget? When is the date of the party? Where will the party be held? How many guests will be invited? What kind of party do I want it to be? By asking and answering these questions, you’re on your way to planning the party you want.

Party Planning Checklist – Don’t Leave Home Without It!

One of my favorite planning resources that I wouldn’t consider throwing a party without is a party planning checklist. Or as I like to call it “my savior”. A party planning checklist can include everything from the guest list to invitations to food and beverages to decor. It will help you plan a stress free party. Not only will a checklist help you get started and keep you organized, it will help you stay sane, assisting you in keeping control and staying on track of all things party. And most importantly, it will allow you to enjoy the fruits of your own labor and actually have fun at your own party.

Party planning checklists can easily be downloaded from so many different websites or you can simply create one of your own. It really just depends on the scope of your party. Instead of recreating the wheel, some find it more useful and efficient to download a tried and true checklist, one that has been designed by someone in the know and has been successfully used. By creating one yourself you will ensure that all the specific information you require including timing, budgets, present and future tasks that must be accomplished, will all be there. Plus you will easily be able to remove and add certain line items whenever needed. Either way, a party planning checklist will be just the tool you will find you can’t plan without!

It’s not hard to have a successful party, it just takes some enthusiasm, creativity and a great checklist. A party planning checklist will function as a hands-on manual for all your party planning needs. It will help you to be extra organized from start to finish and ensure you spend more time enjoying the party and less time planning it.

 

 

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