Successful Meetings - December 2007 - 88

Best Practices > MiGurus experts’ blogs from www.MiMegasite.com Words from the Wise WOULD YOU PROVIDE A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE FOR YOUR CONFERENCE? Imagine this conference opening: “Welcome. You have given us $1,000 to attend this conference. We want to give you $1,000 worth of results or more.” The secret is putting a dollar value on these results. Consider doing the following: Record ideas and insights. The most value comes from ideas that you see as useful. Ideas are the highest value as they involve many actions: $100. “The best questions are like an ‘idea deferred’ if you Rob Schron Robert P. Schron Assoc. think about it back at work. They offer potential value. Add $25 per question. Record quotes, references, memories. A “quote” can be something you hear or read, or a reference to a book or website: add $20. Record actions: what can you do? Actions are simple: read this, call them, or review something. Make them tangible and practical. Add $20, perhaps $50 if it’s big. List people with whom you want to follow up. Add $20. “By the end of this conference you need to add up the value you get from this conference. For example, imagine this result: WHOM—AND WHEN—DO YOU TIP? There has never been a doubt in my mind that a venue’s conference services manager is the key to a successful event, particularly when the logistics involved require a better than average attention to detail. There is no question that all CSMs are not created equal and, as a result, shouldn’t be treated the same when it comes to evaluating their services. Hence, to reward them with a gratuity at the conference’s end just because “they’re there” doesn’t make sense to me. In my view, each situation should be judged on its own merits and the amount with which you decide to recognize effort should be based on your evaluation of what was done to make your program a success. As for others involved with your program—management people, maitre d’s, housekeepers, bell captains, and so on—tipping isn’t always necessary or in some cases (in Europe and Asia, for example) even expected. And in certain situations, gratuities are already built into the prices you’re paying, although you need to read your contract to make sure. Recently, a gala dinner we arranged for a client—a “tasting menu” at a little over $160 per person, including wine—had a 26-percent service charge added to it, 21 percent of which was to go the maitre d’ and wait staff and five percent to the venue’s administrative people. The client and I agreed an additional gratuity here wasn’t necessary, by the way. More often than not, most planners I know include tips in formulating their meeting budgets despite the fact that there are no guidelines or formulas for doing so. We have most often advised clients to use a flat amount, ranging from $3 to $10 per attendee, based on the number of people participating in the event and the length and number of days the program is running. When outside “forces” such as tour guides or DMC staff is involved, however, we recommend the client disperse tips based on a percentage of the total cost of each offsite event. The word “tip” is usually interpreted to mean “to insure promptness” but meeting planners might want to consider a different take on it. In this case, consider “to indicate professionalism,” which, as we all know, is what it takes to make a meeting successful and something no one in our business—planner or supplier—should take for granted, tip or no tip. —Rob Schron DECEMBER 2007 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS Ed Bernacki The Idea Factory 1. Ideas: I found six ideas. $600. 2. Questions: I have eight questions I want to consider later. $200. 3. Quotes: I captured two quotes and two books I want to read. $80. 4. Actions: I found five immediate actions I can take. $100. 5. Contacts: I have four business cards of people with whom I want to follow up. $80. “If you can’t come up with $1,000 worth of value, our staff will help you squeeze out some extra ideas. If we really can’t find enough value, we will refund the difference between what you paid and what you got back.” Would your conferences make a financial promise like this? —Ed Bernacki 88 mimegasite.com

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - December 2007

Successful Meetings - December 2007
Contents
Editor's Note
Special Report
Research
Industry Trends
2008 Meeting Events
Planner Spotlight
Websites of the Month
Mouth for Sale
Technology Talk
Food & Beverage
Pre-Event
On Site
Pre-Event
Tools of the Trade
Goodbye, Booth Babes
Five Tips to Improve Your Golf Events
When Crime Pays
Office for Hire
More Miles for Your Money
Places & Spaces
South Florida
Biloxi / Mississippi Gulf Coast
Fort Worth
Monterey
Beijing
Gurus
Special Supplement: Hawaii Island-by-Island Guide

Successful Meetings - December 2007