Meeting Planner Careers

Planning a career as an incentive travel specialist?  Take a cue from these ladies, and aspire to be the best in the industry.  Read more about the acheivements of Landry & Kling.

Incentive Travel Specialists Landry & Kling Named among Top Women-Led Businesses in Florida 2009

The Commonwealth Institute and Florida International University recently named Landry & Kling, corporate cruise specialists, among the ”Top 50 Women-Led Businesses in Florida.” The Miami-based cruise meeting experts ranked #13 in the state.

Coral Gables, FL (Vocus/PRWEB ) July 31, 2009 — The Commonwealth Institute and Florida International University recently named Landry & Kling, corporate cruise specialists, among the ”Top 50 Women-Led Businesses in Florida.” The Miami-based cruise meeting experts ranked #13 in the state.

Joyce Landry and Josephine Kling, Pioneers of the meetings-at-sea concept and founders of cruise event firm, Landry & Kling, in South Florida.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by TCI South Florida and FIU,” said Joyce Landry, CEO, Landry & Kling. “This, plus our recent induction into the CLIA Hall of Fame (Cruise Lines International Association) at the Cruise3Sixty Gala dinner, fills us with gratitude for having been able to create a business in the cruise industry, where many women have achieved top leadership roles.”

The College of Business Administration at Florida International University and The Commonwealth Institute (TCI) undertook this study to discover what distinguishes women who have made it to the top in Florida-based organizations. Nationwide, only 3% of top positions in organizations are filled by women although 50% of professional and managerial positions are held by women.

Women who are the senior executive or primary owner of companies or corporate subsidiaries with at least $1M in revenues or 25 employees were surveyed about their backgrounds, career progression, work habits, life choices, and motivation, along with their approaches to business strategy, operations, leadership, and personal development.

The study found that women-owned businesses are faring better in the down economy. One reason is that women tend to incur less debt so their businesses were less encumbered by financial obligations and stress. And, women are more optimistic about the future, which results in changing business practices to adjust with the times in order to retain good employees. They are less likely to cut staff as a first cost savings measure.

About Landry & Kling
Landry & Kling Inc. is a business-to-business resource founded in 1982 by Joyce Landry and Jo Kling to produce incentive cruises, full ship charters and all types of cruise events & meetings, team building, and business meetings at sea. In the fall 2009 they will introduce Seasite.com, the first online platform for cruise meetings and events. The company is based in Miami, the Cruise Capital of the World and is certified as a diversity supplier by WBENC (Women’s Business Enterprise National Council). Find oceans of information at www.landrykling.com and www.seasite.com

About The Commonwealth Institute
The Commonwealth Institute is a dynamic non-profit organization founded in 1997 to help women entrepreneurs, CEOs, and senior corporate executives build successful businesses. The goal of TCI is to reach women leaders during critical stages of their business and to provide them with the tools and resources needed for growth. Since its inception, The Commonwealth Institute has worked with several hundred woman-led companies in New England and Florida. www.commonwealthinstitute.org

You can study online to get your event planner certification, there are courses for event planning and wedding planning. In addition you’ll find career information on becoming a certified corporate meeting planner.

Corporate meeting and event planning is an in-demand profession. Learn what it takes to succeed in this exciting and lucrative career path, or take another path and become a bridal consultant.

Whatever path you choose, here are a few (not all) of the certification programs that are available:

Certified Event Professional (CEP)

US Event Guide’s CEP is one of the few certifications you can pursue without having any prior experience in the event or meeting industry. This Certification Program is your chance to learn about this lucrative field and how to begin your new career within a few months.

Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)

The CMP is perhaps one of the most recognized certifications in the event and meeting planning industry. If you plan on a lifelong career in event planning, this certification is an added bonus. Candidates must have three years’ experience and a full-time job in the industry in order to apply for the program.

Certified Special Events Professional

The CSEP designation is the hallmark of professional achievement in the special events industry. It is earned through education, performance, experience, and service to the industry, and reflects a commitment to professional conduct and ethics. Just as with the CMP, candidates must have three years’ of experience in the special events industry and be currently employed (or employed within the last twelve months) in a special events job.

Certified International Meeting Professionals Association
CIMPA offers three certifications; as with the others, there is a minimum of 2–5 years of experience in the field (depending on which certification you are interested in) or a minimum of 3-5 years of volunteering with events.

• CPPM – Certified Planner of Professional Meetings
• CGMP – Certified Global Meeting Professional
• CIMP – Certified Internet Meeting Professional

It’s a hard world out there right now for meeting planners. From government restrictions on meetings to a ruined economy, companies just are not planning what they used to. On top of that, many are no longer going to self-employed planners as contract help for their needs. So how will you survive in this jungle? Look to the properties.

Many of the hotels are using inside people to help companies plan their events. Why? Because companies are asking them to do it. Rather than pay a freelancer, they are asking the hotels for help with planning events, sometimes holding the entire shindig in one place.

Hotels, on the other hand, are having to dedicate an employee’s time to helping each client. Rather than dump the complexity of a conference in the hands of a desk clerk, they are looking to their own in-house planners to serve the clients. Read more…

You, as a meeting planner, are not a lone wolf, even if you own your own planning business. Whether you are aware of it or not, there are lots of people who work in the background to help make your work successful. If you are inclined to run your army of helpers efficiently and want them to want to work with you, you need to know who they are and how they help you.

Hotels

Of course you know that a good hotel can make or break your trip, but what about the people who work there? Perhaps there was a desk clerk who helped one of your travelers get late bags from the airport. What about the room service waiter who went the extra mile for your diabetic meeting participant? Make sure you recognize them with a small gift–money works very well–and the entire hotel will remember you. Read more…

Many people want to become event planners but don’t want to work for themselves. They understand their limitations and realize that they are not the entrepreneurial type, can’t take the risk required to start a business, or just simply don’t have the knowledge foundation to do so. Whatever the reason, those folks will be looking for employment in other companies. Here are the major places they will be hunting.

Human Resources Departments

Human resources positions often involve setting meetings for orientations, educational programs, company meetings, product launches, and celebrations. A planner who finds employment as a human resources officer may also be called upon to arrange press attendance, catering, photography and more. Read more…

Meeting and event planners working in larger cities will  have higher income potential than those working in less populated areas. Areas like Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles have larger populations and more large corporations based there, so they tend to have more demand for event planners.

Event planners who start their own business  may struggle getting started, but those who are good at what they do, and who have good business sense, will see their income rise with no “ceiling.” However, working for a  hotel or other venue or an event planning company will give stability.  Depending on the metropolitan area, a meeting and event planner salary can range anywhere from $30K to $80K.

Being a meeting or event manager requires business sense.  A business or hospitality degree and then work within the hospitality industry to see how venues work with meetings are definitely beneficial. This type of experience will give you the background you need to succeed in the industry.

In fact, get as much hands on experience as possible.  Go work somewhere where you can get hands-on knowledge, whether working in catering or as an event coordinator for a hotel or independent venue.

Being an event planner entails long hours, weekend and holiday work. You must be able to see the big picture. When working with events, you have to see and anticipate every eventuality and plan for the worst. If you don’t have the gift to plan ahead and see the big picture, events probably aren’t for you.

The last blog mentioned networking as one of the most important things you can do for your career. But how do you do that in the digital age? The answer consist of more than developing Myspace pages and logging in to Twitter once a day. It consists of leaving the digital behind and finding ways to meet people face to face.

Why Meet Face-to-Face?

Once of the most important purposes of meeting people personally is to develop trust. Anyone can say anything on the internet, but most folks have fairly decent built-in lie detectors. When they meet someone and see their facial expressions and body language, their lie detector is either silent or not. Read more…

Once you have completed your degree and are ready to start your career as an independent meeting planner, you may be wondering where to start. Even if you had an internship somewhere–and let’s face it, almost every graduate has had at least one–you still may not know how to approach self-employment. A word to the wise here would be, “don’t.”

Although you can certainly end up with your own meeting planning company, the fact is you will want some experience with an established company related to your future plans. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Event Planners

If you want to work with special events and festivals, try getting jobs in booking agencies, promotional companies, theaters, and public relations before you try this on your own. While you’re employed elsewhere, you can build relationships with people you will need to know later while you build your skill sets. Read more…

So you are an organized person who has a lot of contacts in the travel world as well as in businesses of all sizes. You have at least a two-year degree in business. You have decided, based on all this, to be an even planner. Whoa, Nellie! Don’t hang out your “open for business” sign just yet–take a look at this list of questions to see if it’s a good career choice for you.

Are you social and sociable as well?

If you love spending time with people–often in large groups–and enjoy talking with them, give yourself a point in favor of becoming an event planner. However, enjoying talking with people and being a good conversationalist are two different things–you have to be able to think on your feet, talk on your feet, solve problems on your feet, and sometimes sleep on your feet when you’re an event planner, all while staying personable.

Can you change one person’s concepts into an experience?

If you can listen to a client’s idea of what she wants in a meeting or conference and be able to form a whole event in your head, you may be right for the job. However, no matter how organized you are, if you can’t conceptualize an event without constant detailing from your client, all you’re going to do is make her mad. Turning words into pictures is key.

Are you organized?

If the answer is no, don’t even try to plan an event until you have good structure and habits in place. An offshoot of being organized is immediacy–if you are a procrastinator, work on that first.

Do you have good budgeting skills?

A business degree does not make a good planner. Make sure you can set up and execute a budget efficiently.

Can you read a contract?

Much of your job is going to involve contracts. Even if you can read a contract well, you may get one that leaves your head spinning around. In addition to having the basics down yourself, always make sure you have access to a good contract attorney–he will be worth his fees if it keeps you from making mistakes.

While these skills are not the be-all and end-all of even planning, they are deal breakers if you have continued and/or insurmountable difficulty with them. Make sure you can handle all the pressures of any career you choose and the result will be success.