Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 30

* * * MEETINGS MBA
Advance Planning:
A Meeting Planner's Best Tool
You can't predict cancellations or staff levels, but you can build in flexibility
BY NICOLE MCCOY
A
t a recent international event that had
been rescheduled three times due to
Covid, a major sponsor backed out of
reserved rooms at the last minute. There goes
the room minimum! With literally days until the
event, there was nothing the event planner could
do-except plan ahead for the next event.
As an event planner, last-minute cancellations
(or registrations) can raise your blood
pressure and jeopardize your plans. But right
now, as we adjust to " normal/not normal " postCovid
times, those fluctuations go with the
industry.
How can you, as a planner, structure contracts
to be flexible? Can you include clauses
requiring minimum levels of staffing or locking
in F&B pricing? What can you do at the
contract level to make sure that last-minute
changes don't have a negative impact on your
event or your budget?
STUDY THE MARKET
Guest and Site Knowledge
Getting Room Numbers Right
The first thing to consider is leisure demand
at your host hotel over your program dates. If
that demand is high (as it is in so many destinations
right now, and always will be at peak
holiday periods), you may be able to get more
space than you normally would as hotels know
those extra rooms will sell to leisure guests.
The flip side of that is the demand for pre/
post stays for that particular location and/
or with that particular group of attendees.
Look into the history of pre/post stays with
your attendees and contract accordingly. The
contract signor may not want to take the risk
of increasing a block to accommodate those
stays, but review and discuss, particularly
for destinations with long travel times or indemand
destinations.
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OCTOBER 2022 * smartmeetings . com
Trust But Verify
In terms of staffing, while minimum staffing agreements
is a good start, seeing is believing. As
you build your budgets, if possible, aim for an
additional planning visit (if not more than one) to
assess staffing levels first-hand.
With that knowledge, you can decide if a contractual
clause mandating a certain number of
employees is helpful. If staff is in constant flux,
due to labor shortages, the minimum level may not
help, but you'll be better prepared to have contingency
plans. You can tell a lot by observing staff
in action, too. Are they calm or flustered? How
do guests interact with staff? You can't put all
the weight on one site visit, but you can use it to
inform the rest of the data the host site provides.
Start Sooner
If you can start the contract sooner, even
though it means numbers are harder to gauge,
you could consider a tiered attrition schedule
with a more generous allowance. That creates
regular checkpoints between the hotel and you
to provide accurate updates with real numbers
as registrations are finalized.
Motivate Early Registration
Last, this is a great time to incentivize early registration.
In general, there seems to be a strong
desire to meet in-person again and registrations
numbers are trending higher. If you can make
the price more palatable to lock in your numbers,
all the better.
Plan for the Unplanned: Labor and Food
Even with the best knowledge of your host
hotel and your clients, and the most flexible
contract, you will still face cancellations.
Right now, many are due to last-minute travel
delays and, unfortunately, positive Covid cases.
There's no way to predict that volume, so how
do you adjust for labor and food pricing, the
two large contract variables?
Avoid the Elaborate
In terms of food pricing, if a hotel will agree to
lock in F&B pricing now, that's a great way to set
some common ground in a contract. Approaching
menus with some flexibility is critical, given global
inflation and hiccups in the supply chain. And
back to staff issues-a buffet option may be better
than an elaborate seated dinner, for example, if
staffing levels are at all in question.
From a frantic switch to online events and now
a pivot back to in person, the meeting planning
industry continues to need agile and creative leaders.
Last-minute mayhem goes with the territory,
but the more we can plan ahead and build-in flexibility,
the more successful and less stressful our
events will be.
Nicole McCoy, BishopMcCann
head of global
sourcing, and her team
understands that events
need the perfect setting,
which is where global sourcing
comes in. They bring an
extensive knowledge of the
best venues for meetings
and events of all sizes.
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue
