Meeting Planner Careers

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.

According to a US News & World Report on December 28, 2009:
“A Meeting Planner is one of the 50 best careers of 2010, and should have a strong growth over the next decade.”

According to the weekly news magazine's report, the employment of meeting and convention planners "is expected to grow faster than the average for all professions over the next decade or so" thanks to the "growing importance of meetings to increasingly global companies."

Because the recession caused a contraction of the meetings industry in 2009, U.S. News said today's meeting planners have to be "tougher," "willing to negotiate for lower costs and better perks," and "willing to face tough questions on budgets and return on investment."

Despite companies' reduced meeting budgets, however — and in spite of the AIG effect, which caused an unfortunate association of off-site meetings with corporate excess in 2009 — U.S. News concluded that "most organizations recognize the value of the face-to-face meeting — as not just a perk but an imperative for companies that have greater global reaches."

Anticipate this future need for meeting planners and establish yourself by enrolling in a Meeting and Event Planning Certificate Program. This type of certificate program will give you the knowledge to position yourself for the future with a new career or enhance your current job or validate skills you are already using in your personal or professional life.

An elevator speech, also called an elevator pitch, is a short introduction that succinctly delivers your most important points in 30 seconds or less. About 30 seconds is the time you would have during an elevator ride to deliver your introduction to a captive audience, which in your case would be a potential client.

Elevator speeches are perfect for quick introductions when you meet a potential client by chance at an event, or when you are making your rounds at a networking function. The idea is that you create and memorize your elevator speech so that you will be prepared and come across as professional and well spoken in the short time you have to make a first impression. While elevator speeches do not always have to be as short as 30 seconds, you should definitely keep it to a minimum and avoid going over two minutes before allowing your new acquaintance to speak. Remember, you want to sound professional and articulate – not boring or self-important.

When crafting your elevator speech, make sure you answer these four questions:

1. What services do you provide?
2. What is your niche or specialization?
3. How are you different than others performing the same services?
4. How do your services make your potential client’s life or job easier?

The Beau Rivage is the MGM Mirage’s answer to where to host meetings on the Gulf Coast. Located in Biloxi, Mississippi and overlooking sandy beaches and the Gulf Coast waters, the Beau Rivage is a newly-renovated, luxurious resort and casino that boasts 1,740 guest rooms, a 50,000 square foot meeting facility, three ballrooms and a variety of meeting spaces to accommodate your event needs.

Boutique shopping, a luxury spa with 21 treatment rooms, eleven on-site cafés and restaurants, headline entertainment and a world-class golf course are just some of the attractions that are sure to delight attendees and ensure great meeting attendance. The Beau Rivage also offers a vibrant nightlife and an 85,000 square foot casino that is decorated with a Mediterranean theme.

The Beau Rivage is located just 20 minutes from the Gulfport/Biloxi International Airport, making transportation a breeze, and is just one hour away from New Orleans, which is an ideal destination for a day excursion. In the resort there is a fully-equipped business center, a well-equipped catering kitchen to meet your event needs, 24-hour room service, concierge services, 24-hour complementary valet parking, same-day dry cleaning and laundry services, 24-hour bell service and an on-site florist. To learn more about hosting your next event at the Beau Rivage, visit their website at www.beaurivage.com.

Just a short drive north of Seattle, the Tulalip Resort and Casino stands proudly just off the freeway in a small commercial area largely surrounded by open land. With the quaint town of Marysville just across the freeway, the Seattle Premium Outlets right next door and all of the attractions and offerings of the city of Seattle around 30 minutes away, Tulalip is an excellent place to stay and play in luxury.

There is over 30,000 square feet of meeting and event space that can be customized to suit your needs, as well as 370 well-appointed guest rooms to house your attendees. The resort is home to five restaurants offering a distinctive variety of cuisines, a coffee bar, a nightclub and a cabaret offering nightly entertainment, as well as a spa offering high-end, luxury spa treatments and a relaxing gallery lounge with Tulalip Tribal art pieces.

When not attending scheduled events, dining in the elegant Tulalip Bay restaurant, filling up on a lunch buffet or finding exceptional deals at the Seattle Premium Outlets, meeting attendees can play golf at one of two nearby courses, hit the slopes at the Stevens Pass Ski Area or try their luck in the casino, where they will find slots and table games. To find out more about the Tulalip Resort and Casino, visit their website at www.tulalipresort.com.