Meeting Planner Careers

Orlando, Florida is an excellent destination for corporate events and meetings, offering year-round sunshine and warm weather, exceptional event venues, luxury resort hotels, world-class dining, shopping and entertainment, virtually endless outdoor activities and numerous well-known attractions. With the close proximity of several major theme parks, family-friendly tourist attractions and golf courses, attendees can easily take in a round of golf between meetings and can bring their family with them to combine a fun family vacation with their business trip.

Family-friendly things to do and see while in Orlando include:

• Disneyworld
• Disney’s Magic Kingdom
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom
• Epcot Center
• Universal Studios Orlando
• SeaWorld Orlando, including Discovery Cove where you can swim with dolphins
• Wet ‘n’ Wild
• Orlando Odditorium
• Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum
• Skull Kingdom Haunted House
• Orlando Museum of Art
• Islands of Adventure
• Busch Gardens
• Cypress Gardens
• Silver Springs
• Gatorland

Additionally, attendees will find plenty of opportunities for outdoor activities, such as cycling, horseback riding, air boat rides, water sports, fishing, tennis, golf, miniature golf and hiking. For those who prefer urban adventures, Orlando is home to a wide variety of spas, restaurants and shopping opportunities, as well as a lively nightlife.

The life of a meeting planner is fast-paced and hectic, and there always seem to be a million things to order, reserve, follow up on, confirm or plan on a daily basis. With a full schedule and a mile-long to-do list, planners can easily find that their mind is constantly racing ahead to the next task – and the one after that – making it difficult to remain focused on the task at hand. When they are meeting with one client, they suddenly find themselves thinking about the caterer they need to call that afternoon or coming up with venue ideas for a coming event, while the client sitting in front of them is trying to explain the type of event they need them to plan.

While it can be difficult to train yourself to focus on the present, it is incredibly important that you do. When you allow your mind to wander while completing tasks, you can easily miss something or have to go back and double-check your list to make sure you did not forget something while your mind was wandering. At best, this wastes time. At worst, it results in missing things that will later cost you money or, possibly, your reputation. The same goes for client meetings: When you do not stay focused when meeting with a client, you are bound to miss important details, and the last thing you want to do is have to call your client to ask them about information they already gave you face-to-face.

To help you focus on the task at hand, keep a to-do list nearby where you can jot down a quick note or reminder. This will allow you to comfortably continue with your current task without worrying about remembering what you need to do next.

Are you looking for exciting, new venue options that offer a completely unique environment and have not been completely overdone? If so, it is time to look outside of the typical resort, hotel and convention center options and explore the world of meeting venues that lies beyond these common options. In every major city, almost all mid-size cities and even most smaller towns you will find a variety of unique venue options that will impress your guests and show your clients that you can think outside of the ballroom.

Holding meetings at zoos, aquariums and museums is becoming a hot trend and has broadened the array of meeting venue options available to meeting planners. For example, elegant galas and fundraisers are held at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in beautiful Balboa Park each year and meeting, event and wedding planners are planning weddings, award ceremonies and fundraisers at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle on a regular basis. A wide variety of events also take place at the Miami Science Museum each month, including holiday parties, fundraisers, movie screenings, corporate events and meetings, cocktail receptions and weddings.

Planning your next event or meeting at a museum, zoo or other attraction is an ideal way to offer your clients new venue options and provide an interesting backdrop that will appeal to attendees. Many of these venues work with caterers and other vendors that are well-versed in working with the space and facilities available, making event planning a breeze.

Whether you are looking for an affordable option for incentive travel packages or are in search of the ideal venue for a wedding or corporate event, group cruises are an option that should not be overlooked. Cruises offer a variety of benefits to both the event planner and the cruise participants and usually provide significant cost savings over land-based events.

Because cruises offer a contained environment with meeting and event facilities, meals, beverages and entertainment, planning group cruise events is generally much simpler and more convenient than planning events that take place on land and require separate planning for each event component. Further, because most meals, drinks and onboard entertainment are included in a single, all-inclusive price, participants and the event host both benefit from predetermined costs without the concern of incurring significant additional expenses during the event.

Cruises travel to exotic locations and provide a relaxing, stress-free break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. While exploring port cities or spending time on the ship between stops, there are abundant entertainment and activity options, or participants can simply choose to lounge by the pool, receive luxury spa treatments, shop or relax in their rooms, which allows for travelers with a variety of travel styles or preferences to all enjoy their cruise experience.

To make planning group cruises even more convenient, planners should try out the group cruise planning tool available on Seasite.com and will find an abundance of other helpful information on the site as well.

The benefits of volunteering and community involvement are vast, including the opportunity to do something positive for your local community, give back and help others. Getting involved in the community also provides plenty of networking opportunities and will assist you in increasing awareness of and good will towards your brand.

Almost every non-profit organization is in need of volunteers, making this a great place to start if you are just beginning to look for ways to get involved in your community. From phone banks, mailings and administrative tasks to hands-on volunteer opportunities organizing fundraisers, working with children, feeding the homeless or knitting scarves to support the local women’s shelter, there are volunteer opportunities to fit anyone’s schedule and preferences.

If hands-on opportunities do not sound appealing to you, or you are not sure how you could fit them into your schedule, you can also donate much needed funds to support local organizations or donate your services to be sold as an auction item at a gala or given as a raffle item at a fundraising event. Making donations of your services or money that have your name attached to them offers the additional benefit of increasing awareness of your services and assisting you in becoming locally known as a professional that gives back to the community.

Meeting planners are always looking for new, innovative ways to improve their services, lower costs, satisfy their clients and make their jobs easier. It turns out that there is a simple way to do all of these things effectively without reinventing the wheel. Breakfast meetings and events are making a comeback and offer several advantages over lunch and dinner events. One of the most significant advantages is the cost savings associated with serving breakfast, rather than lunch or dinner. Breakfast events are far more cost-effective when it comes to food and morning meals are easy to plan. Whether you opt for a traditional breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon, an easy-to-plan continental breakfast or a healthy spread of yogurts, granolas and fruits, you will delight in the ease of planning breakfast events offer.

Planners will also discover that booking venues for breakfast events can be much easier than booking a space for later in the day. Due to the lower demand for morning events, planners will likely have increased options for dates and venues, and may even be able to negotiate better pricing.

Breakfast events are a great way to start the day and to harness the attention of attendees before they begin to wear out later in the day.

It is no secret that incentive travel is an excellent way to improve staff morale, motivate your sales staff and encourage top performance. Opting for an incentive cruise allows you to treat your hardworking employees to a fun, memorable reward for their loyalty and commitment and is a more cost-effective option than raises and bonuses. Of course, companies who have a budget that allows for all three of these options can motivate their staff even more by using a combination of earned bonuses, merit raises and incentive travel, but all companies can benefit from incorporating affordable incentive travel, regardless of budget.

One of the most cost-effective options for incentive travel is incentive cruises. All-inclusive cruises that make stops in exciting ports and offer plenty of onboard activities at no additional charge are great for your company’s budget, as well as your employees’ wallets, making them an ideal option that meets the needs of both the company and the winners. Incentive cruises have a high level of appeal, which make them an ideal choice for incentive travel. And, the added benefit of most meals, snacks, drinks and onboard activities being included in a single price makes all-inclusive incentive cruises and enticing option.

To make your incentive cruise planning simple and convenient, check out the cruise planning tool at Seasite.com.

Miami, FL (Jan. 28, 2010) – Planning a meeting at sea requires searching for detailed ship information and not always finding what you need. Now, with Seasite.com, the first cruise portal for meetings and events, incentive cruise and group travel buyers will find all the ship data they need in one place – at no cost.

“Everyone who procures group travel should bookmark Seasite.com to simplify cruise sourcing and planning” said Jo Kling, CEO Seasite.com.

Seasite.com provides 24/7 access to all cruise brands, so that you can: 

1-   Search and compare cruise options; then create an online RFP and submit it to multiple cruise lines.
      (Seasite’s group pricing is the same as booking direct.)

2-   Find ship data never before offered online or in print, such as:
      - Meeting/function room capacities
      - Details about private group dining
   

3-   Identify the cruise lines most committed to groups, and search their mini-sites (all laid out the same —
      when you’re familiar with one, you’re familiar with all.)

4-   Search for a cruise anywhere in the world by any date range. Sort your results by meetings-specific
      criteria.

5-   Refer to the Knowledge Center to answer all your questions, e.g.
      -  What will your group travel budget buy?
      -  What’s a typical budget for an Association cruise?
      -  How do Cruise vs. hotel costs compare, including tax deductibility?

For cruise sourcing, visit www.seasite.com

As a meeting planner, considering today's economy and government intervention into business, you may be inclined to put up your photon shields sooner than answer questions about your job. Inasmuch as photon shields do not exist yet, you might have to identify a fresh approach of responding to this question so that you do not get the evil eye for proclaiming you are a conference planner.  Here are various ideas to establish to associates what you organize without getting their hackles up and yourself down.

The synopsis Pitch

You can inform people what you do in just a few seconds, and tell them alsot that you are not the enemy. A few people seem to imagine that meeting planners are currently an additional expense that companies must not be paying for. Attempt a few of these replies by saying them to yourself in a mirror, and modify whatever you need to so that they work exceptionally well for you and does not sound rehearsed.

• I help businesses stay within government meeting regulations by planning their events.

• I help the government and businesses work together to save money on meetings so they don't have to sacrifice value and their bottom lines.

• I motivate a company's employees by providing training, technology sharing sessions, and programs.

• I help companies improve their bottom lines by providing motivational and training sessions that are well within government guidelines.

Depending on the type of planning you perform, you can modify these sentences and adjust them particularly for your requirements. Although you may well feel as if you should not have to do this, it is in reality excellent practice in support of your elevator promo speeches and sales pitch. In actuality, the stress the federal government has placed on your chosen work is like a nugget in the tide–it is a bit rough at times, but you will come out sparkling.

When preparing for a different career, one of the most crucial aspects you must consider is the salary. Meeting planner income varies broadly depending on the specialty, but there are a few common guidelines to check when deciding on a career.

National Statistics

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.Bls.Gov) reports that in May of 2006 a convention planner's median annual wages were $42,180, with the bottom end of the income scale at under $26,000 and the upper ten percent making more than $70,000. The agency further separated the specialties, stating business, professional, and political event planners made the highest amount, around $45,000, and the lowest wages were earned by persons in the travel industry at $38,270. Salary.Com reports current salaries at $53,532, with variations allowed for location and category.

Salary by Type

The type of planning you would like to do will determine a lot vis-а-vis your income and benefits. Corporate Meeting planners can get paid around $45,000 as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, but there are diverse types of corporate event planners. For example, meeting and convention planners could make a bigger salary than those who put together department and team building meetings.

Outside the corporate world, employees of nonprofits often have somewhat lesser salaries than corporate planners, but freelancers experience a more tough time — they are self employed and many times labor extra hours as well. College and university event planner incomes may be more in the middle to low end of the event planner income range.

Salary by Location

If you are interested in a definite location for your event planner career, you must look for statistics by state and city. For example, if you presently reside in a little town in Iowa but plan to relocate to the East coast, do a study not only on average salaries, but also on cost of living, commute times, job availability, etc., before you reach your final decision. You may uncover that a city that offers extraordinary salaries also has a high cost of living and it would benefit you to look for an alternative place.

Nonetheless how you make your career decisions, investigation and education are important.