Meeting Planner Careers

The media got their first look at Seasite.com, the first online web portal designed solely for the cruise meetings industry, at the Motivation Show in Chicagto.

At the press conference, Seasite’s CEO, Josephine Kling along with Joyce Landry, CEO of Landry & Kling, unveiled their groundbreaking new product to the international media. Also participating were executives of the nine group-savvy cruise lines who view Seasite as an innovative productivity tool that will expand the global cruise group market. Seasite’s founding marketing partners are Royal Caribbean International, Carnival Cruise Lines, Regent Seven Seas, Silversea Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines, MSC Cruises, SeaDream Yacht Club, and Sea Cloud Cruises. Each line has a deep and rich “mini-site” within Seasite.

In attendance at the press conference were Ron Gulasky, Celebrity Cruises; Konstantin Bissias, Sea Cloud Cruises; Aideen Mulholland, Carnival Cruise Lines; Mark Conroy, Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Front row, from left: Brandon Townsley, Norwegian Cruise Line; Lori Cassidy, Royal Caribbean International; Clem Galindo, Royal Caribbean International; Maritza Bush, Sea Cloud Cruises; Sean Mahoney, Silversea Cruises; Joyce Landry, CEO, Landry & Kling; Jo Kling, CEO, Seasite.com; Bruce Setloff, Seadream Yacht Club; Cherie Weinstein, Carnival Cruise Lines; Mario Villalobos, Regent Seven Seas; and Chris Stanley, Silversea Cruises.

“It’s a planner’s dream,” said Lori Cassidy, Royal Caribbean’s director, corporate & incentive sales, adding,“It’s something the industry has needed for years, and will definitely help our industry grow.” Sean Mahoney, Silversea’s global vice president, corporate sales stated: “I am thoroughly impressed… Seasite provides planners with a powerful and independent resource.” Rick Sasso, pesident of MSC Cruises, added, “Seasite’s innovative tools, such as those meeting space grids and the unique charter search will help every group make sound cruise choices.” And Aideen Mulholland, Carnival’s director, corporate & incentive, calls Seasite “a cutting edge tool…they’ll have to see it to believe it! What a time saver.”

The brainchild of global cruise event specialist, Landry & Kling, Seasite’s searchable database of 35 cruise lines provides the single most comprehensive source for savvy, do-it-yourself planners and novices alike. Featuring never-before-published data harvested exclusively by and for Seasite, planners can now find all the facts, tools, and resources needed to launch a successful incentive cruise event or meeting-at-sea in one place. Best of all, there are expert cruise advisors to support Seasite users from beginning to end.

Furthermore, Seasite transforms users into educated cruise buyers with ship-sourcing tools and provides the first group cruise RFP online. One single RFP can be sent to multiple cruise lines, generating electronic bottom-line quotes for a quick and accurate “apples to apples” comparison. Pricing is the same as buying direct from the cruise lines; there is no cost or membership fee to use Seasite.

For more information on Seasite.com, visit www.seasite.com or call 888-713-1371 for a personally-guided introduction.

A great meeting planner is an exceptional listener. Developing good listening skills can be hard work, especially when so much of the work takes place over the telephone or through emails. Do you spend a good portion of your time thinking about how you are going to respond to client’s queries as he is talking? If you do, you’re likely to miss something important. Clients are often anxious about their budgets and their public reputations, especially if they are asking for help planning incentive travel.

It’s common to jot down notes when speaking with a client over the phone. It can be helpful to mirror back to the client what you understood him to say. This can help him clarify exactly what he means, which may not be what he said at all.

Listen optimistically. Don’t shoot down his ideas immediately even if you know what he wants can’t be done. It could be possible to amend his ideas or build on them to the satisfaction of both parties.

The ability to stay positive during an economic downturn inspires confidence in your client. That doesn’t mean you promise him the world when you know all you can reasonably deliver is the Jersey shore. It just means committing yourself to the project enthusiastically.

“Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” – Zig Ziglar

Things are different for meeting planners in 2009 than 2007 or even 2008.  Attendance is down, there are fewer events to handle, and that’s just work. No doubt, everyone’s personal lives have had a few setbacks or downright tragedies as well.

Welcome to life.  Accentuating the positive side of a situation simply means focusing on what you can do now instead of mourning what you could have done a year or two ago.

Clients may come armed with negative thoughts and anxiety levels through the roof. You can feed into that or offer positive solutions to meeting planning. Meeting planners have always had challenges to overcome; the speaker didn’t show, the audio visual system went haywire, it rained every day of the event and no one was able to use the gorgeous golf course close to the convention center. It wasn’t the end of the world then and it isn’t now.

Tough times have valuable lessons to teach. Meeting planners are more creative, inventive, and hard working than ever before. Be proud of every successful meeting you host and give yourself permission to learn from mistakes. You have probably discovered suppliers and host sites that you never heard of before the recession kicked in. You stayed the course and you’re better for it.

Renaissance Orlando Hotel at SeaWorld

Everyone is concerned about how the public perceives their meeting plans. So much so, that hotels such as the Renaissance Orlando Hotel at SeaWorld have dropped the word “resort” from their names.

The former Renaissance Orlando Hotel Resort at SeaWorld changed its name for “perception’ sake” according to the director of sales and marketing but also because it does not fit the image generally associated with a resort.

The Ritz-Carleton Hotels recently introduced a new package they hope will attract new meetings in 2010. Aptly named Meetings Within Reach, the package reminds the business community “It’s not extravagant if it produces results.”

Privacy has never been more important to meeting planners’ clientele. Properties, which have a proven record of accomplishment of protecting guests’ privacy, are in high demand. Limo services and lavish meals are the exception now rather than the rule. Do not attract attention to yourself seems to be the order of the day.

Is it necessary to use a company pseudonym when booking a hotel? Will you request that the hotel switchboard block media calls to the company’s VIPs? Will virtual meetings become the rule of the future? No doubt, there will be some permanent changes in meeting planning, but face to face meetings will not fall by the wayside, just the perception that meeting planning is party planning.

Tarmac delays do not happen often, in fact, only .05 % of the time are passengers ever forced to remain on a plane waiting for the aircraft to take off. The infrequency of occurrence is little comfort when you are the one forced to spend hours listening to unhappy passengers and infants wailing in distress. The plane’s captain has ultimate control over passenger mobility and if he says no one leaves the plane, then no one does.

There has been a move in the last several years to push laws through Congress that prevent airlines from forcing passengers to remain on the tarmac for more than 3 hours at a time. This allows time for ground crews gather and help passengers disembark into the airport when inevitable delays occur.

On August 7, ExpressJet forced passengers to remain onboard overnight. Instead of allowing passengers to debark and spend the night more comfortably in the Rochester, Minnesota airport, the company held the 47 passengers on board. Public outcry notwithstanding, ExpressJet and the DOT insist that their actions were appropriate and necessary.

Are government regulations the answer to the problem of tarmac delays? The airline industry protests that no other industry has been targeted in quite the same way for regulation. It is difficult to imagine any other industry treating their customers with quite the same amount of disregard and disdain.

International meeting planners are acutely aware that manners and business protocol can be quite different from one part of the world to another. Failure to understand international protocol leads to miscommunication, frustration, and loss of business opportunity.

The ISPEP or International Society of Protocol and Etiquette Professionals can help meeting planners increase their knowledge base in this area. Attending a training seminar is not enough to become certified by the ISPEP; applicants must pass rigorous examinations. Certification requires that credentials must be updated every three years.

Passing the exam to become a Certified Etiquette Professional (CEP) demonstrates that you have more knowledge of international protocol than others do in your field. The knowledge a passing grade represents is more important than adding another set of initials after your name. It helps a businessperson avoid embarrassing social and professional gaffes. Understanding other cultures and their social protocol affords them dignity.

The tradition of the Ugly American – ugliness in this context referring to behavior not beauty – is one that should be discarded. Good manners improve relationships with domestic and international clients and they make the workplace more pleasant. More than a social nicety, a sound knowledge of international business protocol is necessary skill for meeting planners.

Everyone has their own private pet peeves, including your clients. Have you ever stopped to think about how or if you are driving them ‘round the bend? Learning a lesson from a client’s frustration with other meeting planners can save you a great deal of headache and earn your company new loyalty points.

Communication is a key factor. Almost every conflict between a meeting planner and his client can be traced back to a failure to communicate. Imagine you are booking a keynote speaker and have asked her to hold a date open. She is excited at the prospect of working with you and complies. Your workload piles up and you forget to tell her your client decided to go with a different speaker. When you don’t send that email releasing the date, resentment and frustration are the natural consequences.

Do you tailor your email mailing list to include only those people who need to know? Sending reminders to people who have complied with all your requests can ruffle a few feathers. It makes them feel that you just aren’t paying attention when, in fact, you’ve just taken the easy way out. Keeping track of the small stuff may be tedious; however, success is often in the small details.

Winter weddings can be very elegant and otherworldly. They can even be cozy if you plan ahead and tailor the menu to reflect lower temperatures.

Church, social hall, by a fireplace in an inn – the location won’t matter as much to your guests as the room temperature. Big churches are beautiful but are sometimes a bit drafty. The bride can be attired a in white dress or seasonal red and green frock to suit her tastes. Gowns are winter fabulous and often sleeveless accessorized with elbow length gloves.

Tulips are in season and come in every color imaginable, making it easy to incorporate into the wedding theme. Holly berries set off red roses nicely and fit in well with a red and white theme.

Extend the motif into the reception hall and onto the guests’ plates. The wedding cake may be an elegant confection of silver and white, but warm your guests with mulled wine, spicy warm cider, or hot chocolate.

Even if your clients live in a warmer climate, the winter wonderland theme can work. Artificial snow is easily ordered delivered to your doorstep. It’s also biodegradable. Iced white mocha coffee drinks or eggnog can be served in place of hot drinks. No matter where your winter wedding unfolds, it’s easy to carry out a winter theme.

Careers are made or broken on the backs of return customers. The recession has some impact on just when clients return, but your skills as a meeting planner will determine if they remember you name as the economy returns to normal.

Building customer loyalty is tough. You can’t depend on charm and one good experience. The client needs to feel valued as an individual. It’s important to keep good records and create a client profile. Did you book a cruise for the client’s wedding anniversary? Keep that date in mind. If he booked a family vacation, make a note of his children’s names and ask about them when he calls the second time.

If something went awry with the business meeting, note that in the files. Jot down solutions that will prevent the problem in the future. Was the trip or conference a good experience for your client? Make notes during your follow up call. You are making a follow up call after the conference, aren’t you?

Responding to feedback and personalizing your services makes planning future event easier and lets your clients know that you appreciate their business. A difficult client will often respond positively when they know you doing your best on their behalf. Return customers are money in the bank.

Are you a good negotiator? Do you have the skills necessary to get what your client wants and what is in her best interests? Most people learn their negotiation skill from life experience rather than a class. Let’s face it; we’ve been negotiating in one way or another since we could talk. Every kid knows that curfew and allowances don’t change without some fancy footwork.

A good negotiator comes to the table prepared and with as much knowledge about the subject as she can gather. This is especially important when pounding out a contract regardless of how well heeled your client may be. Listen carefully to what the other party offers and take a breath or two before you respond. It never hurts to paraphrase the offer back to her before you agree. If you respond too quickly, you may wind up bidding against yourself. Get everything in writing.

Keep an open mind and be flexible. It would be great if things always went smoothly, but they won’t. Sometimes you have to give a little to get a lot in return. Be persuasive and know what you want and stick to your guns. No contract is worth losing your integrity. Above all, be patient and persevere. Stay detached and focused and keep things on a business not personal level.