planning a meeting Archives

Planning a Meeting – Booking the Right Venue

April 14, 2012 By Randy Markus Comments

Photo courtesy of BrittneyBush on flickr

When your boss told you it was your responsibility to plan the next meeting, you freaked out. You weren’t sure what to do and how to go about doing it. But most importantly, you didn’t want to mess up.

So you spent months planning it and you’re sure you’ve got everything right. You agonized over every decision and second guessed yourself on most of them. But after asking questions and determining the needs of your company, you’re sure you booked the perfect hotel. It’s right in the heart of an amazing area with all of the amenities that your boss asked for. So what if meetings aren’t their specialty, the contact person has been great and you feel like everything is ready to go. You’ve double checked, confirmed and approved all of the details. What could go wrong?

But when you show up your contact person is nowhere to be found (yikes) and all of sudden they are telling you that the property is over booked. But don’t worry, the hotel assures you that they can accommodate both you and the other group booked into the space (double yikes). “This happens all of the time” they tell you. “You won’t even notice the difference.” But you will. And you do.

And that’s every meeting planners nightmare. Arriving at the venue and being told that there is a problem (or double booking) with your confirmed space. What’s a planner to do?

Hopefully, that’s a scenario that you will never have to deal with! But take a look at what happens when one company meeting doesn’t go quite as planned, courtesy of our friends at Hyattmeetings.com.

Double Booked – watch more funny videos

Filed Under: Planning An Event Tagged With: comedy, comedy video, company meeting, Hyattmeetings.com, meeting planners, meetings, planning a meeting

When Planning A Meeting It’s All in the Planning….

January 7, 2012 By Randy Markus Comments

Photo courtesy of HikingArtist.com on flickr

It’s all in the planning, whether you’re arranging an offsite meeting or conference, designing an agenda, organizing a seminar or even just want to add some fun into a meeting. One of the greatest tools in communications is planning a meeting. Being prepared and gathering all the appropriate team members in the same space, with the same agenda to encourage conversations and interaction. Face to face meetings recognize and accomplish your intentions and goals at a faster, more effortless pace. And I think we can all agree, efficient and valuable meetings help build more dynamic, happier and productive employees.

Meeting participants are the name of the game. Any successful meeting of course, depends on the structure and content (content! content!) but equally important are the participants and their contribution and involvement. The preparation and development of meetings takes a great deal of time, energy and resources with the ultimate goal being success. So when planning meetings it is imperative to keep in mind those attending and a way to fully support and encourage their input.

A successful meeting doesn’t happen by accident, they happen because of good meeting planning. A good meeting delivers an exceptional opportunity to share and accomplish professional goals and assist participants in reaching those goals. Here’s an example of a meeting gone wrong, horribly wrong, thanks to our friends at Funny or Die as they share another extremely funny example of what not to do.

The Corporate Monkeys #1 – A meeting gone wrong …. horribly, horribly wrong – watch more funny videos

The Planning Meeting-You Won’t Do What? (plananevent.org)
Controversial Corporate Meeting Planning (plananevent.org)

Filed Under: Planning A Conference Tagged With: comedy video, funny or die, meeting planning, planning a meeting, planning meetings, successful meeting, video

Controversial Corporate Meeting Planning

October 1, 2011 By Randy Markus Comments

Photo courtesy of Voka on flickr

Get ready; it’s time for an in-office business meeting. Possibly a strategic meeting and that poses some internal questions. Who looks forward to those pesky in-house meetings? Who comes prepared (besides you)? And what the heck are they talking about anyways?

Whenever planning in-office business meetings, the approach and tactic is to ensure that the meeting is productive, informative and that there is lots of take away information and knowledge for all of the participants. By ensuring that you meet these goals, when the meeting is over and the attendees depart, they will understand what just transpired and will recognize exactly what is expected of them and the direction the department and/or company is going.

When meetings end up in the controversial corporate meeting planning pile, it’s never a good thing. Because that means the meeting didn’t achieve the goals it set out to do. Have a look (and a few laughs) at this video as outlined by our friends at Funny or Die.

Strategic Meeting – watch more funny videos

Company Meetings – LOL (plananevent.org)
Meeting Planner – Tee Hee! (plananevent.org)

Filed Under: Planning An Event Tagged With: business meeting, comedy, comedy video, controversial corporate meeting planning, event planning, meeting planning, planning a meeting, strategic meeting, video

Meeting Planner – Tee Hee!

September 10, 2011 By Randy Markus Comments

Photo courtesy of MyDigitalSLR on flickr

Whenever the term “meeting planner” comes up in a conversation with non-industry folks, I am always asked the same question over and over again… what does a meeting planner actually do? As anyone in our industry is aware, a meeting planner does “everything”!

A meeting planner plans, coordinates, tweaks and delivers all the significant (as well as the minutiae) parts and details required to ensure a successful meeting, conference and/or event. The meeting planner ensures each and every item that requires attention gets it and in the end every “i” is dotted and every “t” is crossed.

Over the years I have learned that a meeting planner makes sure all the particulars that go unseen and are never given a second thought by the attendees, gets done in the best possible way.

In this video from Hyatt, they prove why working with a meeting planner (and the Hyatt) is important and that no detail will be missed to ensure a most successful meeting.

Pretend Food – watch more funny videos

Meeting Planning – Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh! (plananevent.org)
Sarah Palin’s Message to Meeting Planners International (MPI) (plananevent.org)
Conference Planning – Gotta Share! The Musical! (plananevent.org)
Meeting Planning – Getting it Right the First Time – NOT! (plananevent.org)

Filed Under: Planning An Event Tagged With: comedy, comedy video, event planning, Hyatt, meeting planner, planning a meeting, video

Meeting Planning – Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh!

August 27, 2011 By Randy Markus Comments

Photo courtesy of Baltic Development Forum on flickr

There are so many cliches in the meeting planning world. A favorite, that I myself am guilty of uttering a few thousand times is “what can go wrong may go wrong”. We’re all well aware that, when planning a meeting, whether with a planner or solo, sometimes “stuff” happens. There are so very many details involved that no one person (or team) can be on top of every single plan and detail. We always think we have it covered. We review, and review again, all the specifics; the bookings, the service companies, everything that we’ve planned and are responsible for. But really, who can oversee it all? Who can be in all places at all times?

Meeting Planning – I Can’t Do it All – WHAT!

When a problem arises, I can’t tell you how many times (a lot!) I’ve heard a meeting planner say “I can’t do it all, drive the coach, cook the food, set the rooms, etc.”. You know what I’m saying; we’re expected to be all things to all people. But truthfully, this is an impossible task and we realistically can’t be everything for everyone. But we can and do perform the best job possible and we can definitely rely on our in-house team and our hired service providers. And with all that experience, professionalism and hard work (and a hope and a prayer) put on the best, trouble free meeting possible.

Have a laugh and take a look at how Hyatt Meetings proves this point in a funny take on the meeting planning world.

The Teppanyaki Chef by HyattMeetings2010

Conference Planning – Gotta Share! The Musical! (plananevent.org)
Business Meeting Planning Gone Bad (plananevent.org)

Filed Under: Planning A Conference Tagged With: conference planning, meeting planner, meeting planning, planning a conference, planning a meeting

Meeting Planning – Getting it Right the First Time – NOT!

August 13, 2011 By Randy Markus Comments

Photo courtesy of bade_md on flickr

When working in a city that I am unfamiliar with, I am a big proponent of hiring and working with a good meeting planner or meeting planning company. There are a plethora of details involved with putting on a valuable, useful and successful conference. So why risk it? If your budget allows for a good meeting planner or meeting planning organization to assist with all of the tasks at hand, don’t take a chance. Go for it and make your conference, and your job, a lot easier!

Check out this amusing and entertaining way this video by Hyatt Meetings gets the point out there.

The Lounge by HyattMeetings2010