Meeting Planner Careers

Have you ever thought about your company’s ethics? Every company should have a policy and procedure manual that provides the company with a moral compass.

What will you do if your next host city is in the middle of a drought? Will you bring the situation to the attention of the conference goers and ask them to abide by the city’s water restrictions or simply ignore the issue since your group will be in and out of the city in a matter of a few days?

The current economy is still tough and it’s more important than ever to negotiate the best vendor and hotel prices available. If a hotel refuses to give a lower rate for your group, will you threaten to pull out altogether as a bluff? Do you consider this an ethical problem or just a way of doing business? If the hotel calls your bluff and you relocate, you may well have to pay cancellation fees as well as bear the burden of a tarnished reputation.

A perennial ethical dilemma is the familiarization (FAM) trip. Would you accept an all expense paid trip to a location that you will never use? Would you use a FAM as a vacation with your spouse and children?

A well-defined company protocol helps meeting planners face ethical challenges and stay within the law as well as protect their reputation. It may not cover every situation, but it provides a framework for new ethical challenges.

If you are just starting your even planner career, you may not have been faced with having to change a supplier you have been doing business with for some time. While all of us like the simplicity of hiring the same person each time we need a certain job done, it doesn’t always work out for the best. Here is a case in point.

A large printing company in a major Midwest city had supplied all the printing for a small medical education event company. A few years ago the owner passed away and the company fell into the hands of the owner’s offspring. And fall it did, clear to the floor.

One day the planners called the printing company and ended its seven-year-long relationship. However, rather than get information about past jobs in writing from the company, the planners relied on their own files, which were minimal and contained no details. When they chose another print shop, it was like learning how to order printing all over again.

In addition, the planning agency almost ran into the same problem with the next printer they chose. The problems with the original printer were largely from disorganization, and this is a problem common to print shops. They had to shop for a well-established printer that had done large print runs as the mainstay of their business before they were satisfied. As a result, they were almost late with a print run for an important conference.

However, the planners did discuss the issues that separated them from their original printers and the new printer they ended up staying with understood that behavior would lose them the account as well. This proved to the planners that preparing to change suppliers before actually doing it goes a long way toward a smooth switch.