Meeting News - August 11, 2008 - (Page 50)

chapter 3 2008 meeting planners handbook The Main Event: Face-to-Face Is in the Details N ever underestimate the value of face-to-face contact. That’s a mantra easily forgotten by many busy meeting planners, myself included. This year, I’m striving to make in-person meetings a priority. It is a challenge, to be sure. But having face time—be it a few hours for a networking event or a few days for a site inspection— is endlessly more valuable in the long run. Prioritizing In-Person Meetings Like you, my tasks are plentiful and complex: There are forms to fill out, e-mails to send, phone calls to make, research to conduct, and files to fax, among many other daily concerns. I’ve got a desktop, a laptop, a BlackBerry, and a cell phone all within arm’s reach to help me streamline the planning process. It’s amid the hustle and bustle of office life that opportunities to get away from my desk—and speak with vendors, host properties, and fellow meeting planners up close and personal—are often overlooked. HERE ARE A FEW REASONS WHY: Hands-on experience. Sleeping in a guest room, tasting the food, and traveling to a location are things one could never fully glean from video footage or online images. An in-person visit can instantly make or break a site selection. q Networking. Cultivating meaningful, in-person connections is an integral part of an event’s success. Sharing ideas and resources with fellow meeting planners, as well as suppliers, leads to many helpful relationships down the road. q Time management. At first blush, time away from the office might not seem worth the effort. But months of Internet research, countless back-and-forth phone calls, and an endless stream of e-mails could all be eliminated with just one efficient q From the Forum Defending the Site Inspection Our next conference board meeting is coming in September, when I will once again defend the practice of the site visit. As many of you know, if you were on a pleasure trip, you wouldn’t be spending three or four hours reviewing a convention center; seeing 10, 12, or more hotels; and visiting three to five off-site venues. In the past, a board member actually asked, “What’s the point?”Another saw that he hit a nerve when he said, “Oh, you just want a nice trip out of the deal.”Yes,working in Prague for a few days is a nice change from working in the office for a few days. But if I was on a pleasure trip, my schedule would be hugely different! How do you combat this thinking? Anonymous I once convinced a reluctant supervisor to allow a site visit by choosing a questionable property located near the office. I put together all the info using only phone and website information. Since she knew the property and knew that the website made the very old property look really nice, she quickly understood why I wanted to take a day out of the office to do a site visit. Cindy Panioto, Program Manager Connecticut Business & Industry Association, Hartford, CT I’d recommend trying to think through this in a way that highlights the benefits and risks to an event by doing a site inspection. Following are a few examples that may make sense. Site inspections help set the stage for successful negotiations. Developing a personal relationship and seeing firsthand what the facility offers allows me to know what’s best to ask for and strike the best deal for our association. Going on a site inspection helps save time in the long run. The few days of on-site work help expedite the planning process, saving at least twice as much time later. Being able to see all of the meeting space and plot it out helps make sure that we are contracting right. Some hotel brochures aren’t accurate with their capacities, ceiling heights, etc. Seeing the meeting space first-hand helps keep us away from problems. Have you ever seen a hotel brochure or video that didn’t look at least decent? If we were to contract a hotel and later cancel,we would likely be on the hook for a substantial cancellation fee. We are signing contracts that create six-figure liability. Before we do that,we need to be sure that the organization is willing to take on that risk. Hope these help. Dave Lutz, Managing Director Velvet Chainsaw Consulting, Aurora, OH 50 MeetingNews August 11, 2008 www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - August 11, 2008

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