Quality Relationships are Key to Successful Meetings
Whether you are the in house meeting manager, the administrative assistant to the CEO or the intern in charge of the next quarterly company conference, one thing is for sure, if you do not have your key outsource vendors and key interdepartmental people lined up for this production, you will not be in a "good place." While you may be the "planner extraordinaire," you certainly cannot do it successfully on your own. You are dependent on others who can hold their own.
With the constant changes in the company personnel roster as well as the key vendors who "come and go" in this business, the first and most important step in planning your next meeting or conference is the lining up all your "cast of characters." This means, touching base with your audio/visual vendor, block of hotel sources in the locale you are considering for the host property, the printer who will be on the ready for your next project, the speaker bureau from who you had great luck with in booking solid and meaningful keynote speakers, the entertainment booking agent who was on top of all the details and looked after all your last minute needs, the theme decor company that helped you in the past to come up with powerful themes that helped get through the main message of the conference, and all the other important people who come together to make it a flawless event. There is part science and part art in putting together your complete team.
The best time to develop and keep these vendors and various sources is to contact them right now, when you do not have a meeting planned yet. If you know your next planning session is not until months from now, you had better contact your sources to confirm they are still in business or if that they have any referrals for other vendors that you may need. Keeping the current roster of vendors and developing new relationships with other vendors goes a long way in making you a better planner. Also, if you should leave your current company for whatever reason, you are totally prepared to work with your vendor list and not miss a beat!
This issue of "tips and tricks" written by Bruce K. Inouye of www.P2 Events.com
(Please contact this author for permission to reprint in any other publication.)