Meeting content and planning 3

How to Simplify Staffing at Your Events

by levi_hb | Sep 5, 2018 | Meeting content and planning, Uncategorized

Once your event is in full swing, you and your global meeting planner will have a lot of priorities to attend to. The last thing you need is to find yourself micromanaging a disorganized event staff. You need a reliable team you can delegate simple tasks to so you have the bandwidth to focus on more pressing concerns.

Of course, part of how well your staff performs relates to the overall complexity of the training and directives you provide. If your staff scheduling is a nightmare and you fail to clearly assign posts and duties, staff confusion is to be expected.

Says Josie Rubio, Director of HR & Global Talent Acquisition at AMI, “If you want your staff to perform like a well-oiled machine, you have to create a simple and streamlined plan so that every team member knows where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there, and what they’re supposed to be doing.”

How can you and your corporate meeting planner ensure that your staff is well prepared to best serve event attendees? Here are a few tips to simplify staffing concerns at your upcoming event.

Have Your Corporate Meeting Planner Suggest Posts

Once you have your venue locked down and a clear plan of where meetings, presentations, and exhibits will take place, it’s time to sit down with your corporate meeting planner to determine where best to place staffers throughout your event space.

You’ll need registration staff and team members posted throughout the venue to direct attendees and provide assistance. You might also need staffers posted at doors to check badges, people assigned to act as ushers for presentations, and professionals that can man food and beverage stations, activity booths, and other service locations.

Knowing ahead of time where you’ll need to strategically place staff members can help you to secure the right volume of staff and select professionals that have the experience and personality to excel in their assigned position.

Simplify Scheduling as Much as Possible

Every event presents challenges for the host, global meeting planner, and staff members, and to some extent, you might need to compensate on the fly. However, it’s best to create a firm schedule for staffing ahead of time. What if someone doesn’t show up or a staffer needs to leave their post for an unscheduled restroom break?

Your best bet is to have a backup plan, such as a couple of extra team members that can act as runners or fill in as needed. A well-planned schedule and extra staffing can help you to optimize the usage of event staff and ensure that no post is ever left unattended.

Ask Your Global Meeting Planner to Streamline Maps and Itineraries

Event attendees are certain to approach staff members with questions, and some of the most common will focus on the timing and location of activities. You and your corporate meeting planner can prepare for this by providing staffers with maps and itineraries and going over them before the event begins.

A good bet is to offer attendees maps and itineraries via the app so they have their own copies, but giving staff members hard copies is also wise since it can help to make their jobs a lot easier and account for potential snafus like a low battery on devices or in-app crashes.

15 Tips to Green Your Meetings and Events from AMI

by levi_hb | Aug 14, 2018 | Featured-Sustainability, Meeting content and planning, Sustainability

Before you finalize planning for your next meeting or event, consider developing a green plan of action. There are a range of eco-friendly steps you can take to improve your event without compromising effectiveness or your budget.

Green Your Hotel

Is your hotel green friendly? Ask them to detail their Green Policies in your RFP. Also, ask the hotel to provide green options and alternatives prior to your final approval of the hotel contract.
Select hotels that offer guests the option to reuse towels or linens during their stay.
Ask hotel to provide cards that individuals can leave in the bathroom stating they don’t want to have their toiletries replaced.

Green Your Food & Beverage

Serve “Box Lunches” buffet style.
Provide attendees with branded event mugs or water bottles.
Where possible, donate surplus food to local shelters.

Green Your Travel

Choose a destination with minimal travel requirements for delegates.
Purchase electronic tickets for airline travel whenever possible.
If transportation is being arranged for delegates, choose a vehicle that is eco-friendly.

Green Your Promotional/Printed Materials

Make sure all printed items are printed on at least 30% recycled paper per the EPA standards of recycled content.
Use electronic advertising, promotion and registration whenever possible.
Only mail confirmation of registration and any significant changes to the event program. All other communication should be sent electronically.

Green Your Venue

Encourage speakers to provide electronic copies of handouts of any visual presentations and post them on your website.
Ensure that you can recycle any materials that are generated at the event.
Make sure the convention center has recycling containers.

How to Plan for Emergencies at Meetings and Events

by levi_hb | Aug 10, 2018 | Meeting content and planning, Uncategorized

Your plan is probably to nail down every possible detail of your event in order to ensure it goes off without a hitch. As an experienced corporate meeting planner can tell, you, though, never know when an unexpected emergency might arise. This is why it’s so important to work closely with your global meeting planner to come up with a plan for emergency preparedness that ensures you address any emergency, large or small, with a suitable response.

How can you plan for emergencies at meetings and events when you have no idea what types of situations could arise? Here are a few tips to help you ensure the safety and security of event attendees in the unlikely event of an emergency.

Ask Venues about Emergency Preparedness

Says Chelsea Litos, VP Account Management at AMI, “Your event is not the first rodeo for most venues, which means they’ve already got plans in place for emergency situations, from a person experiencing a seizure or heart attack to a disaster level event like a mass shooting or a fire. They’ll have first aid on hand, numbers for the nearest emergency services, and protocols for evacuation, if necessary. This is your best resource when it comes to emergency preparedness for your event.”

Collect Info on Local Emergency Services

Even though your venue likely has solid plans in place for emergency or disaster situations, it behooves you and your global meeting planner to take steps to become aware of emergency services available in the venue and the local environs, especially if you have off-site activities planned. Collecting contact information for local PD and fire departments is a good idea, as is finding the nearest hospitals, pharmacies, alternative lodgings, alternative airports (and other travel hubs), and so on. This will only help you and your global meeting planner to create a comprehensive plan for reacting should emergency situations arise.

Talk to your Corporate Meeting Planner about Adding Event Security

There’s a chance your venue has security services in place, but you may want to go the extra mile to ensure the safety of guests by hiring additional event security. At the very least, you’ll want security details at points of entry to ensure that only registered attendees get into your event, but you’ll also want extra bodies in place to direct an evacuation, for example. Your corporate meeting planner should be able to help you hire an appropriate security team for the size and scope of your event.

Work with Your Global Meeting Planner and Venue on Evacuation and Disaster Plans

Although the odds of a disaster during your event are slim, you need to be prepared nonetheless if you want to avoid liability and keep guests as safe as possible. Working with your corporate meeting planner and the event venue staff, you should be able to come up with suitable plans for coping with disaster scenarios, including those that require a full-scale evacuation. Having these plans in place and being prepared to execute them if necessary could not only help you save face in the aftermath of an emergency but actually save lives.

Attendees are Acting More Like Vacationers: They Want a Fun Experience

by levi_hb | May 31, 2018 | Attendee marketing, Meeting content and planning

Modern professionals work pretty hard, so when they’re able to break out of their normal routines, it’s only natural they’d want to cut loose and have a little fun. Unfortunately, more and more professionals are trying to squeeze vacation time into their work trips, and that can compromise their ability to soak up all the information you hope to provide.

How can meeting and event hosts and corporate event planning companies get attendees back on track and draw their focus to the task at hand? One great way is to make your meetings and events more fun so they don’t have to look elsewhere to have a good time. This not only keeps attendees interested, but also ensures an immersive experience, positive reviews, repeat attendance, and a growing list of attendees at future events. Here are a few ways you and your event management services partner can make your event vacationer-friendly.

Corporate Event Planning Companies Must Sell the Destination

What do vacationers look for when seeking destinations? Often, they won’t resort accommodations, area attractions, and access to local favorites like cuisine and cultural events. When you go to Hawaii, you stay at a beach-front hotel and go to a luau, right? How can you and your event management services partner incorporate this same principle into your event?

First, you have to choose an appropriate destination, one that offers the exciting and adventurous vibe vacationers expect. From there you can find ways to work the destination into the theme of your event to make every aspect of the affair unified and add the vacation aesthetic to what would otherwise be just another industry event.

Incorporate Area Locations with Your Event Management Services Team

All work and no play…well, you know the rest. Event attendees are going to want to sample the local flavors of your destination, and you can help them by setting up soirees that feature local foods and planning group excursions into the local environs to see area attractions.

The more you’re able to keep the group together, the greater opportunity you have to add value and impart your message. Experienced corporate event planning companies should have some ideas about how to weave together fun and education through destination-specific activities.

Switch Up Locations Annually

Sometimes, coming back to a place you’ve already been is like coming home, but well-traveled vacationers are always on the lookout for something new. Choosing a new location for your annual conference or event can maintain interest levels for repeat attendees, as well as draw new attendees that live closer to the current location.

Don’t Lose Your Core Focus

Says John Cotter, COO at AMI, “It’s true that more attendees are seeking the novelty of a vacation destination, but the main purpose of attending any event is still education, so you can’t skimp on content.” Corporate event planning companies can find ways to make destinations more inviting and fun without dropping the ball on hiring notable speakers and choosing relevant and engaging topics.

With an experienced event management services partner like American Meetings, Inc. (AMI) on your side, you should be able to make every event more like a fun vacation experience while still providing the educational resources attendees expect.

Sustainability in Meetings and Events

by levi_hb | May 25, 2018 | Meeting content and planning, Uncategorized

Whether you’re hosting meetings and events in your own backyard or you’ve chosen a global destination, the last thing you want to do is create excessive pollution and waste in the course of planning and executing your gathering. Not only is this detrimental to your host city, but it could offend attendees and perhaps tarnish your image in the process.

This is why so many event hosts and their event management teams are working to find ways to make events, both large and small, more sustainable. The good news is, there are several avenues to explore, and some could even save money and add convenience for guests. Here are just a few strategies you and your event company can employ to add sustainability to your upcoming events.

Partner With Experts

Says Aurelio DeMendoza, SR VP Marketing and Strategic Alliances “Sustainable events are easier than ever to plan and execute because so many businesses are seeking ways to do their part and offer green products and services. You just have to search for resources that contribute to your event in suitable ways.” For the past 3 years, AMI has been a promotional partner and has attended the SPLC Summit in Minneapolis, MN. The Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council works to improve sustainability efforts globally and the annual conference brings over 400 professionals together yearly to find ways to improve. The partnership with the SPLC has given AMI the opportunity to improve sustainability efforts in meetings and events.

Ask Your Event Company To Focus On The 3 R’s

The three R’s are: reduce, reuse, and recycle. You and your event company have endless options to implement these eco-friendly principles. A good place to start if you’re interested in sustainability is by going paperless. Many companies have already done this in the office setting, at least to a degree, by upgrading to digital file storage systems, and you can gain the same benefits when you go paperless for events.

Technology has paved the way for an easy transition to paper-free affairs, now that everything can be managed online and through apps. Not only can attendees find information, sign up, and pay online, but you and your event management partner can find ways to continue the trend at your event.

Your registration booth could utilize digital check-in via tablets or you could provide attendees with an app for remote check-in that allows them to skip the line. You could provide digital passes (instead of paper badges) that attendees can flash on their smartphones and you can upload all materials (itineraries, maps, etc.) for attendees to access digitally. This will cut down on all kinds of paper and other waste and provide added convenience for guests.

In addition to going paperless, you could reduce energy use by hosting meetings, panels, or other activities in sunlit rooms or even outdoors, weather permitting. Instead of stocking welcome baskets with prepackaged items, you could include reusable water bottles and fresh fruit, or opt for snacks produced by companies subscribing to sustainable practices

Go Local

Sustainability takes many forms, and one thing you and your event management company can do to create sustainability on every front is a partner with local businesses, especially those that have their own eco-friendly initiatives. For example, you might choose a caterer that offers an organic and locally-sourced menu. You could work with a local taxi service that uses hybrid and/or electric cars. You could find hotels and venues that prize sustainability.

If you want to plan sustainable events, start by partnering with an experienced global event management company like American Meetings, Inc. (AMI) that has the knowledge and resources to put you on the right path.

Top Event Venue Trends for 2018

by levi_hb | May 1, 2018 | Meeting content and planning, Venues and sourcing

Consider unique, non-traditional venue options to wow your attendees.

Any meeting or event leaves the corporate host and the event organizer with a lot of balls to juggle, including attendees, guest speakers, activities, transitions, catering, entertainment, lodgings, and of course, the venue where the event will actually take place. Between strategic planning, logistical concerns, and finding the latest technologies for your event, it’s only natural that certain features of an event might take a lower priority.

There’s no denying the ease of simply booking a hotel ballroom, a convention center, or other traditional venues for your event. In truth, there’s nothing technically wrong with instructing your convention planner to do just that. However, if you want your event to wow, you cannot overlook the smallest detail, and the venue can either add a memorable element to your event or fade into the background.

When you stay up-to-date with the latest trends in finding suitable venues for your meetings and events, you have the best opportunity to impress your guests on every level, starting with the setting. While you might not have the time to research this topic on your own, the experienced professionals at a global meeting services organization like American Meetings, Inc. (AMI) can keep you informed of current trends and help you track down the perfect venue for your event. Here are just a few things you should know about the top event venue trends for 2018.

Consider Non-Traditional Event Spaces

Corporate meeting rooms, hotel ballrooms, and convention centers are designed to provide ample space for meetings and events, as well as a neutral canvas on which a convention planner can build the foundations for a particular event. Unfortunately, these traditional venues can also come across as bland and forgettable if the corporate host and event organizer go minimal where the décor is concerned. For this reason, many planners are turning to non-traditional event spaces.

According to Tessa Cameron, VP – Strategic Sourcing “The venue sets the scene for your meeting or event, and if you choose a boring venue, you’re setting the tone right off the bat. When you think outside the box and transform a non-traditional space like a craft brewery or an industrial warehouse for your purposes, you’re going to catch the interest of attendees immediately and create a lasting impression.”

Even better is the fact that these non-traditional spaces can save you money in a variety of ways. In some cases, they cost less than traditional event spaces to rent, and they might offer built-in decor and catering opportunities, as well.

Go Local and Green as an Event Organizer

Whether you’re planning a one-off event or hosting an annual shindig, one of the first things you’ll have to decide is if your event will require travel to an off-site venue or if it will take place locally. Many consumers are getting on board with the idea of local, sustainable practices, and you should consider working these ideas into your choice for an event venue.

This could mean choosing business establishments that are owned and operated locally. You can also choose venues that tout sustainability with eco-friendly, low- or no-emission spaces, energy-conscious planning, or organic products, just for example. Supporting local businesses that are sustainably built and operated is not only good for your community (and your standing in the community), but it also gives you an added selling point when inviting attendees, guest speakers, and so on.

Use a Virtual Convention Planner

Is there anything in the real world that can’t take place in virtual space these days? If you’re looking for an innovative means of hosting an event, consider that you could allow guests to attend your event from the comfort of their own home or corporate office.

With the rise of new communications and virtual reality technologies, a hosting company can team up with a talented convention planner to create an event that takes place entirely in a virtual space. It’s just a hop, skip, and jump from webinars to interactive, virtual events, and forward-thinking companies can find ways to make virtual meetings and events just are enticing as real-world soirees (if not more so).

Pay Attention to Branding

Any event organizer is tasked not only with pulling off an impressive event, but also creating the perfect event for each client. This means getting a handle on an event host’s branding and particular corporate culture. A massive, medical industry conference, for example, may require a very different venue than an event for those working in retail startups. With a reliable and experienced partner in meeting and event planning like AMI to help out, your business can find the perfect venue for any event, especially if you’re willing to try out new trends.

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