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What If You Plan an Event and No One Wants to Come

May 3, 2013 By Comments
Stadium event with empty seats

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Have you ever attended an event and wished you were somewhere else? Or perhaps there have been times when you couldn’t wait to get to a particular function. Can you remember what it was about the events that you didn’t want to attend? Or better yet, do you remember what it was about the events you wanted to attend. These are the questions meeting and event planners tackle as part of their everyday jobs. For me, I have attended events that I dreaded as well as events where I couldn’t get there fast enough. Truthfully, it all depended on the event itself.

Having been in the event planning industry for more years than I wish to state, I began to recognize early on in my career that the key to winning a meeting planner’s business was to create events that sparked interest, made people have fun and sometimes they even learned something new about their industry.

Five Event Planning Tips to Consider for Your Next Event

  1. five tips for events

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    The event should be something that an individual could not do on their own. Early on in my career, this became one of the main focal points. What I found work best was to propose events that the individuals attending would not have been able to do on their own. Of course the ideas depends entirely on the type of groups. Receptions and/or dinners in a museum is something that the average person would not be doing on their own. Depending on your client’s budget, there are many unique venues in most cities that rent their facility for private functions.

  2. Don’t plan it for yourself. I had the luxury of taking a management course with the Walt Disney Corporation a number of years back. One of the things that has always stuck in my head was a quote from Walt Disney himself. He was once asked to describe his success. One thing he said was “you don’t build it for yourself, rather find out what the people want and build it for them”. A lot of new planners tend to plan events around their own interests. What they are forgetting, however, is that the attendees do not necessarily want to do the same types of things as the event planner.
  3. Make it fun. I know this sounds so simple but it’s also something that gets overlooked often. Making an event fun doesn’t mean that people have to jump into bouncy blow up things (mind you, for the right group, those can be fun). If you are considering having sponsors for your event, this might be an area where they can help you. Whether it be a draw for a trip of a lifetime, or perhaps a take away prize, a little creativity can make people want to come out knowing they’re going to have a good time.
  4. Have a star at your event. Now I’m not saying go out and hire Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie to circulate at your event (if you have the budget, go for it – I’ll bet people show up). Rather, look at some of the superstars in your industry and see if you can get them to attend your event. Maybe it’s a keynote speaker that has a topic that people want to hear.
  5. Become known for a specialty. If you do multiple (or regular) events, become known for a certain aspect of your events. One example might be the food that you offer. Rather than the typical passed hors d’oeuvres or food stations, why not make your food unique by offering something that stands out. By becoming known for this one item, you’ll soon develop a following. People want to come to your next event to see what type of food you’re going to be offering “this time”. After all, if you go off the beaten path just a little bit you’re going to get noticed.

Creating an event that people want to attend can be a difficult task. The key to creating successful events is to think outside of the box. Reflect on the events that you’ve attended and think about the successful ones. What was it about the ones you liked? Build an event template that covers the key areas that will help make your event stand out.

 

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10 Ways That a Convention Center Helps Meeting Planners

February 20, 2013 By Comments
how can I help you card in a hand

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Pretty much every city has a convention center. When you speak with meeting and event planners about using convention centers, usually the comments are about group sizes. Seems the conventional wisdom out there is that convention centers are best utilized by larger groups.

While convention centers are very well equipped to handle large groups, you’d be surprised to know that the sales staff also target medium and small sized groups as well.

Types of Convention Center Events

Convention center events range from trade shows to large association conferences. It’s ideal for trade shows as a convention center is designed with setups in mind. Quite often on set up days you will see large flatbed trucks drive right on to the tradeshow floor. For large associations, the benefit would be the breakout rooms (rooms where smaller meetings or meal functions can be setup while the conferences’ meetings are occurring simultaneously).

But smaller groups should also take a look at hosting their event at a convention center. Nowadays, there are down times at many centers where meeting planners would be able to negotiate good rates for their smaller groups. And the way that many centers are designed today, you don’t get the feeling that you are lost in a huge sea of meeting rooms.

For more information on convention centers and how they can assist, you may also want to read:

Here Are 10 Ways That a Convention Center Can Help Meeting and Event Planners

Top 10 list

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  1. Convention centers are usually connected with the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). Being associated with the CVB means that there are many planner tools available at no additional cost.
  2. Convention centers have a conference services department. These people are experts in executing events in their own facilities. My advice, utilize them when the opportunity allows.
  3. Ample access for disabled attendees
  4. They are green meetings equipped. Many convention centers are LEED’s (leadership in environmental and energy design) certified.
  5. Many brand name hotels are located near convention centers
  6. They have in-house suppliers (Cater, AV). And these in-house suppliers know the facility inside out.
  7. Internet and Wi-Fi access
  8. Parking on-site
  9. Access to public transportation. This is ideal if you’re meeting or event includes local participants.
  10. Location, location, location. Most often a convention center is located in the best part of the city. Lots of access to great restaurants and attractions.

There are many benefits for hosting your meeting or event at a convention center. These facilities are designed with meetings in mind. Many meeting and event planners may shy away from using a convention center because they feel they may be cost prohibitive. However, once you factor in all of the components and tools that a planner needs to do their job, the overall cost of utilizing a convention center is very competitive.

 

 

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Event Planning Tips for Staying Cool

July 4, 2012 By Comments
event planning tips to stay cool

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We seem to be having our fair share of heat waves already this summer. And, of course, for those event planners out there there is always a worry when we get extreme weather during an event. The number one rule of thumb is not to ignore the extreme heat that many parts of the East are currently enduring. With a little bit of planning there’s no reason why your group can’t still proceed with all of the activities that you have planned.

A Few Items to Add to Your Event Planning Checklist to Keep Your Guest Cool

Here are a few tips to help keep you and your delicate cool during the hot weather:

Hydration. First and foremost always keep hydrated. So make sure you add plenty of water to your checklist. Here’s a little tip that I implemented for group that we were operating during a heat wave. The delegates needed to walk from their hotel to an auditorium for an evening function. The auditorium was close enough to the hotel that buses were not necessary to move the group (or at least that was the thinking when we planned the group before the heat wave struck). So we stationed staff on every major street corner (it was about a three block walk) with plenty of bottled water. As the delegates were being escorted, our staff was offering bottles of water along the route.

Sunscreen. You will be amazed at how many people do not bring sunscreen during summer meetings. So why not pitch the idea to your client to, perhaps, provide sunscreen as part of the welcome gift. You can even do a little corporate branding by asking one of your suppliers if they can put a logo on the product.

Location of Events. Sometimes you may need to have a meeting with your client to evaluate certain parts of your program. We were doing a scavenger hunt one year during hot weather. We did approach our client as we were concerned with the amount of time that the delegates would be required to be active outdoors. What we came up with was that we were able to still have the scavenger hunt proceed. We just moved the bulk of the activities to indoor locations. Talk to your hotel, DMC (Destination Management Companies) and CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau ) contacts. They are the local experts and will be able to assist you should you need to move your event to a more desirable location given the heat.

With a little extra planning, along with being on top of the weather forecast, group functions should still be able to proceed normally. Add a few key hot weather items to your event planning checklist to make sure that you have all of the bases covered. Your client will be happy and so will the delegates.

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5 Best Uses of Twitter at Conferences

June 22, 2012 By Comments

conference room stageIf you’re an event organizer, you’re too busy to set up engaging twitter feeds for big screens, filter them, and promote the feeds to all the folks who couldn’t attend in person.

If you’re a conference attendee, following along on the fast-moving Twitter streams can be overwhelming, especially when there are too many retweets and off-topic conversations.

These 5 tips may help you keep up, whether you’re an attendee or an organizer:

  1. Start watching the official hash tag (example: #adobeMAX) at least 7 days prior to the start of the event. You can start following people you may want to meet, learn about the latest conference-related news, and make some early connections before you even get on an airplane. If you’re feeling brave, join in give your opinions about the conference, which sessions you’re looking forward to, and start a conversation with a “celebrity” in your industry. If you’re a bit shy, there’s nothing wrong with just following along and “listening”.
  2. See if the event has an official Twitter Dashboard, like the ones Refynr produces. For conference organizers, the benefit of a Refynr dashboard is that a) Refynr does all the custom work of designing the dashboard, b) the Refynr team manages and filters the feed for you so that you can concentrate on all your other tasks, c) and remote attendees can follow along virtually. Refynr estimates that for every 100 attendees, 20 additional will follow along on such a dashboard, because with the photo slideshow they feel almost like they are there in person. For attendees, the advantages are that they don’t have to figure out the best Twitter search on their own, and don’t have to waste time sifting through the extra retweets and spam that ofter occupies an unfiltered Twitter feed.
  3. Follow interesting tweeters and the people they follow. If someone tweets something relevant to you or your industry, follow them. Then, dive deeper by seeing who they follow on Twitter. Twitter.com and the official Twitter iPhone app has the best interface, in my opinion, for viewing who someone follows. Go through that list to read the bio and Twitter stream from each person in the list to find people/companies worth following.
  4. Create reports on the usage of the hash tag. Refynr can create custom reports for event organizers, or you can use free tools like HashTracking.com, which will analyze the tweets on the hash tag quickly and easily, but keep in mind that the free tools may not include all the data that Refynr curates, and so the data might not be exact. Either way, finding trends on who tweeted the most, which tweets induced the most engagement, and some key demographic information can be valuable to planning the next event and improving engagement with your various audiences.
  5. Follow up with all the Twitter connections you made. Make sure to follow your top people/companies of interest from the hash tag stream, and then tweet or DM them a short message to connect. It’s best to do a little research about each person before initial contact. To do so, read their Twitter bios and follow the links on their Twitter profile. You may be able to find their professional website, blog, or LinkedIn profile. Those websites are better than a personal twitter or Facebook account because it gives you insight into how their business and professional life may be connected to yours, rather than some personal information which may not be relevant.

Sure, at any given conference you’ll still meet people face-to-face and exchange business cards the old-fashioned way, but technology is changing rapidly. With new social media tools, event organizers and event audiences alike can engage in interesting, industry-focused conversations days or weeks before, and after, an event. And the connections made from Twitter, LinkedIn, or a Facebook Fan Page can be more powerful and permanent than a business card that will probably be lost or forgotten in your suit pants pocket anyways. Make lasting relationships, have a ball, and feel like the next conference brings a higher RORI (Return on Relationship Investment) for everyone!

 

 

This post was written by guest blogger Aaron Longnion,Founder & CTO of Refynr

About Aaron: Former senior engineer at Adobe, HomeAway (employee #12), and Lynda.com, who started Refynr in 2010 to clean up the Twitter streams, but found out that conferences and events need this technology more than your average twitter user. Aaron wants to see the event industry join in on to social media’s underutilized ability to easily connect like-minded people and businesses in a genuine and long-lasting way.

website: refynr.com, FB Page: facebook.com/refynr

 

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Hesitant about Green Meetings? Two Easy Steps to Get You Underway

June 15, 2012 By Comments
Green meetings can be easier than you think

photo by blogs.softchoice.com

Are you an event planner that has been considering hosting a green meeting? And is the reason that you haven’t done so already, is that you think that it involves a lot of planning and execution? Well, you would be surprised at just how easy it is to turn your meetings green. And the beauty of it all is that you can even do it in small steps, working towards your overall goal.

Implementing Green Meeting Ideas Is Easier Than You Think

At most conventions that I attend there are always green components nowadays. As our governments continue to point fingers and be pretty much in denial of environmental changes, it’s nice to see the meetings and events industry taking its own initiative. Lord knows if we wait for our government to act today then we could be in for a very long wait. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do whatever we can to help preserve this wonderful planet of ours.

Two green meeting ideas that you can easily implement

One suggestion that I always offer a meeting or event planner is to suggest that try not to think of green meetings as one overwhelming task. Rather, break down the various components to your meeting and then review which ones you can easily apply sustainability ideas to.

Tip # 1) Go Paperless. Going paperless, especially today, is easier than you think. Do you really need to print a brochure for your meeting or conference? Can you host it on your website? There are also a lot of event planning software that is free to use that helps you communicate with your attendees electronically.

If you find you have to arrange flights or any other means of transportation for your attendees then make sure all ticketing is done electronically. Why not even take it one step further and encourage all of your attendees to download their boarding passes to their smart phones. Set up a twitter account where you can provide all of your attendees up to the minute updates as well as any changes that you need to communicate.

Tip #2) Energy. Nowadays, most hotels and meeting venues utilize environmental light bulbs. When you are booking your meeting make sure to request that this is the case for the room where your meeting will be held. It’s also not a bad idea to ensure that all of the lights are turned off as well as the heating or cooling is set to minimal levels while you are not utilizing the room.

Going green does not need to be considered simply added responsibilities to your job. The two tips above can be easily implemented. The Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) is an excellent resource for the convention industry on green meeting standards as well as additional ideas that you can implement. Green meetings also show your delegates and attendees that you are serious about sustainability. Our planet will love you for it.

 

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3 Tips for Your Business Plan Outline

May 24, 2012 By Comments
business plan outline

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A business plan outline is crucial for anyone considering starting their own event planning business. Basically a business plan shows that you have an understanding of the process involved with getting your business up and running. And even more importantly into a profit position.

If You’re New to the Industry Consider Event Planning Internships

The good old American dream that we all can own our own companies. And for many people that dream does indeed come true. But ask anyone involved in their own event planning company and they’ll tell you that you need a solid business plan in order to help you grow. And you also need experience. I see many people fresh out of college just itching to start their own business. While I appreciate that energy and enthusiasm, sometimes a reality check is also needed. There’s nothing wrong with working for somebody else when you are new to an industry. In addition, there are many event planning internships that can help you. Very good grasp on how the industry operates.

The first thing that any potential investor will ask you for is your business plan. So it is crucial that your business plan outline accounts for the research that will be required.

Three Tips You Should Include in Your Business Plan Outline

We’re not outlining all of the sections that should be in your business plan in this post. Check the related articles below for more information regarding business plan sections. For this post, we’re providing tips on three of the key components of a business plan.

  1. Executive Summary. While this is at the beginning of your business plan it doesn’t mean that you should write it first. Actually it’s strongly suggested that this section is written last. The reason is that you want to provide your reader with an overview of the information that is contained within your business plan. And a good overview of the information can’t be written until the information itself completed.
  2. Financials. Of course the financial section is the place where any potential lender will probably flip to first. They want to know that you have made realistic projections for your growth. I’ve seen a lot of people that provided financials which showed a very rosy growth picture. My advice is that you want to show your potential lender that you understand the risks involved with a startup or new business. Do three financial projections. You want to do one for best case scenario, worst-case scenario and one for probable scenario. Your probable scenario will not look the best on paper but it will give any potential lenders a comfort level as you have demonstrated that you have also planned for the worst. Don’t forget, lenders have been around the block and are really looking for your management ability to steer, direct and grow your business. And by the way, those people that I know that overestimated their growth projections never received any financing.
  3. Your Competition. An analysis of your competition is usually in the marketing section of your business plan. What I recommend for competition is that you do considerable research. And by research I don’t mean goggling them and copying information that is readily available for anyone to see. You need to have a solid grasp on your competition’s strengths as well as weaknesses. Having a detailed analysis of your major competitors proves to people that you know what you’re up against when it comes to winning business.

Compiling a business plan outline is a crucial step when starting a new business. Perhaps you work for a corporate event planning company and have been considering starting your own event planning business. The three tips outlined here are all crucial components to your overall business plan. The one main item for any new business is to make sure that you do your homework ahead of time. Not only will potential lenders appreciate it, you’ll also have a better understanding of where your challenges lie.

 

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Mother’s Day Event Planning Tips

May 13, 2012 By Comments
event planning tips for Mother's Day

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As our website name indicates we like to talk about planning events. And with Mother’s Day upon us we thought we would give you some event planning tips for this very important day. Mother’s Day, of course, is a day where we recognize and celebrate one of the most important woman in our lives.

Event Planning Tips on Mother’s Day-Make the Gift Personal and about Her

I remember when I was a young boy in school. Our teachers would help us make our gifts for Mother’s Day (and Father’s Day too). Then we would hurry home and be so excited to present them with this homemade wonder. And, if your parents were like my parents, they would go on and on about how homemade gifts were the best possible gifts for them. Then, as I got older, I would start to purchase my gifts. I know they like their bought gifts but I couldn’t help wondering: did they like those homemade ones more than the ones that I was buying them.

From all of the research I did on gifts (well, truth be told, in all of my discussions with my mother) I think I have an understanding as to why mom loves the homemade gifts. You see, what she loves most about those gifts that didn’t cost much money was that they were personal for her and only her. It’s not that she doesn’t like to receive flowers on occasion, it’s just that a unique homemade gift has that extra special meaning to her. Now, I’m not suggesting that everybody crack open the scissors and construction paper and start making something special for mom. Rather, my suggestion is that her gift from you should be something that has special meaning for her. Sometimes it can be something as simple as a little pampering at a local spa, or treat your mom to one of her favorite meals prepared by you.

Event Planning Tips on Mother’s Day-When You Have To Buy Something Keep It Personal

Now I also realize that it’s not always possible to be with your mom because you may not be in the same town on Mother’s Day. So my suggestion for those who do look to buy mom that special gift is to make sure the gift matches her needs or likes. Being from the meetings and conventions industry I can tell you firsthand the top of all event planning tips is that you do it for the people you are planning for not what you would like.

The very popular gifts.com site has a great selection for Mother’s Day. What I like about the Mother’s Day page is that it breaks the gifts down into various categories as well as various price ranges. In other words it’s very easy for you to find the right gift in your price range.

Mother’s Day is just one day out of many that we should be taking a moment to thank our mothers for all that they have done in our lives. The best event planning tips for Mother’s Day include making sure that the event or gift is something that is near and dear to your mom’s heart.

From all of us here @plananevent.org we wish all of you moms out there the best day possible -Happy Mother’s Day!

 

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Has Stand Your Ground Had an Impact on Event Planners Decisions

April 13, 2012 By Comments

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Unless you’ve been living on another planet, you have heard all the news surrounding the tragic Trayvon Martin shooting. We’re not going to get into the political debate surrounding this controversial law but it did get me wondering if all this attention has had an impact on whether or not event planners will hold meetings in states where this type of law exists.

Event planners walk a fine line. Their main objective is to successfully execute and host meetings and conventions where all the delegates are satisfied. And let’s face it that’s probably a pretty tall order to execute. You know the old saying – you’ll never please 100% of the people 100% of the time. So I’m sure there are always those that will approach meeting planners with some type of an issue that needs to be resolved.

Event Planners Do Not like Controversy

But there’s also another side to event planners. The last thing they want is for their meeting or event to be held in an area where controversial issues are taking place.

With all the negative news coverage that we’ve been seeing around Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, Convention and Visitors Bureau officials are raising alarm bells. After all, tourism plays a very large role in the Florida economy.

In a recent Tampa Bay Times article, it reported that Nikki Grossman, director of the Broward County Convention and Visitors Bureau, would be the first person to present to a state task force on the negative impact that the law has had, or is having, on Florida’s tourism.

Are Politicians Making Life Difficult for Event Planners?

There is no doubt that the Stand Your Ground law is having a political impact. Obviously laws are often legislated as a result of the majority party making good on promises that they have made to their constituents. That, in and of itself, is understandable as an elected official will need those constituents to be on their side for the next election. But are our elected officials implementing the right laws that will help their states economies? Well, judging by the reaction from the state’s tourism officials, I would have to think the answer is no.

If any event planners reading this article are currently planning meetings or events in states where Stand Your Ground type laws exist I would be interested to hear how they plan on proceeding. I guess time will tell as to whether or not there will be a dramatic effect on meetings and events where event planners feel there’s too much controversy to host a successful meeting.

 

 

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Four Ways That Corporate Meeting Planners Can Trim Budgets

March 9, 2012 By Comments

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Corporate meeting planners are always looking for creative ways that they can trim their meetings budget without losing too much of the overall program. To say that that’s a bit of a juggling act might be an understatement. Today, corporate meeting planners have a tough job. Of course for many corporations and associations meetings are a vital part of their operation. But the question for many corporate meeting planners is “how do I still put on a top-notch program with a reduced budget?”.

Corporate Meeting Planners Take a Fresh Approach to Orchestrating Their Meeting

Many corporate meeting planners that I speak with tell me that, for their organization, meetings are still proceeding at full speed. However what they do concede is that these meetings must be executed with a much lower budget than they are used to in the past. So we thought that, after getting some feedback from these corporate meeting planners, we would share a few tips on how you can still execute a successful meeting and save a bit of money at the same time.

Four of the Top Areas That Corporate Meeting Planners Review Are:

The Times That Your Meeting Will Occur- a lot of corporate meeting planners have been able to save money on the hotel portion of their meeting by negotiating room rates and whether or not they can be lowered by moving their meeting two different days of the week. Additionally there can be even further savings, at times, by moving the meeting to a different time of the year are altogether.

Transportation – we’ve talked a lot about transportation here in the past. For corporate meeting planners especially, transportation is an essential part of their program. Their delegates have come to expect that they will be transferred from the airport to the hotel where the meeting is occurring. What a lot of corporate meeting planners are now doing is narrowing the timeframe of which they are offering complimentary transportation. Also they are looking at the type of vehicles they are booking. For example they may group arrivals within a timeframe of 30 to 45 min. into the same vehicle. Additionally if corporate meeting planners are hosting evening functions then transportation also plays into that budget as well.

Evening Events/Food and Beverage Functions- many times corporate meeting planners have to include special events outside of the actual meeting itself. This is a chance for the delegates to relax and network with each other (especially if they come from different parts of the country). We touched above on how transportation also plays a part in evening events, especially if the event is away from the hotel. Some corporate meeting planners have told us that they still have evening functions but instead of busing their delegates to a venue away from the hotel they either host the function inside the hotel or select a venue that is within walking distance from the hotel. The benefits for having a function in the hotel is that you will save not only on transportation costs but, quite often, there are also savings from room rental and service and equipment charges that are associated with off-site venues.

Entertainment – a lot of times corporate meeting planners view entertainment as a fringe element to the program. In other words something that they can easily cut out to save money. But many corporate meeting planners also say that there are ways to still offer entertainment yet save considerable budget dollars at the same time. Often times entertainment is during the evening function or perhaps as part of the last day of the meeting. And many times corporate meeting planners have spent a small fortune booking a very popular band or special presentation for their group. Today many are still offering entertainment. It may however be reduced somewhat in style and format. For example a trio would still be a nice complement for an evening function. Or, on the last day, there’s nothing wrong with hiring a comedian to entertain the troops for the last 30 to 45 min. of the program.

Today corporate meeting planners are becoming very creative at putting together their programs. Many still want to offer the more traditional elements to their events but need to shave budget dollars at the same time. It may take a little more planning time, but there are definitely ways that corporate meeting planners can achieve their desired results without blowing the budget.

 

 

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How Do I Choose Between Event Companies? – Focus, Focus, Focus

February 21, 2012 By Comments

So, you’re the lucky person who’s been chosen to create this year’s holiday party.  Or, your company’s president wants this year’s executive retreat to really “blow the team away”.  There are literally thousands of meetings and event companies out there. How do you choose?

The meetings and events industry tends to be segmented with many event companies specializing in one or more market segments – corporate events, association meetings, conventions and events, social events, fundraising for not-for-profits – to name a few. So start by searching for a company in your city that specializes in the segment that best reflects your company or organization.

Who’s Already Using the Event Companies

Obviously most of us will start by searching through websites to see what type of events the event company has already created.  Search the list of existing clients to see if they “match” your company/organization’s culture.  Reputable event companies will give you a list of client contacts so that you can speak with people who are actually using the planner’s services.

Price is Important when Selecting Event Companies – But It’s More about Value

Reputable event companies understand and respect the fact that you’re on a budget.  The better planners will work creatively to ensure that you get value for your dollar.  They won’t necessarily just recommend the cheapest option but rather they may suggest you cut back in one area so that you can spend more in another area. For example, décor is very important but so is the food. Cutting back a bit on the lighting or special affects may mean a higher quality meal.  The planner will help you with these decisions to ensure your event is memorable, for the right reasons, even if you’re working under tight budgetary restraints.

Look for Event Companies on Business Directories and CVBs

There are a number of convention, meeting and event companies directories out there.  Industry sites such as mywelcometothecity.com will give you a good overview of the meeting and event companies operating in your area.  Also, take the time to visit your local Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB).  A good CVB can direct you to the very best industry suppliers – including meeting and event companies – in your city.  If you’re planning an event in another city – again, the CVB is a good place to start your search for qualified event companies.

 

 

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