Meeting Planner Careers

As a meeting planner, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the details and forget the most important one of all: the attendees. Being herded from one session to another, with minimal breaks in between to barely answer voicemails and emails, it’s no wonder why attendees often feel like just another number. Part of the purpose of gathering employees at conferences and meetings is to have them interact, share ideas and build stronger bonds. Unfortunately, that seldom seems to happen and part of the fault may lie in the actual organization of the event.

As Jeff Hurt writes in Do You See Your Conference Attendees?,  “You need to schedule time in each education session where participants can talk with each other about the content. Where they can share their experiences. Their success and their failures.” 

One powerful way to impact how your attendees interact with each other is the location and atmosphere of the event. A cold, sterile ballroom or conference room does little to inspire interaction and camaraderie. Team building activities in such environments are also limited, confined and largely overdone.

Instead, how about having participants bond over an exciting Zip-line ride or a rock climbing adventure aboard an innovative cruise ship? Many unique team building experiences can be found on a cruise ship that simply can be duplicated in a conference room. It’s a proven fact that when attendees are interactive, they become much more receptive to the message you are trying to convey. 

From a meeting planner’s perspective, cruise ships offer the best of all worlds under one roof. Dedicated conference rooms with state-of-the-art A/V equipment are available for meeting/educational sessions. Themed lounges and meeting venues can be reserved for private receptions. A variety of dining options on cruise ships rival the best of city eateries. While Las Vegas and Broadway caliber entertainment options are bound to leave your attendees enthralled and amazed. The best part of it all?   All these amenities are part of the standard fare. 

Your attendees want to know that you took effort in planning an unforgettable event. They need to know that it isn’t about cramming them into a room just to bombard them with information then send them on their way. At the end of the day, every conference attendee wants to feel like they’re special for being a part of the experience. They need to feel you valued their time as much as they do. So with that in mind, think outside the box. Plan something unique and make their experience a reflection of your creativity.

If you are considering a career in meeting and event planning, you will need to understand how the profession is divided up. This means your market segment, or broad-spectrum specialty. For instance, if you want to plan events for businesses and other organizations, then your market segment will be corporate.

Why should you be concerned with this? Because it will determine how you market yourself, how you market your company if you go it alone, and how you network. This means that if you work solely for non-profits your networking sphere will likely encompass a good deal of the political world, grant writers, public relations personnel, event facilities, caterers, and hotels and motels. If you go for-profit, your sphere needs to include the properties and caterers, but you may have less interaction with politics and grants.

Make sure when you choose your event planning specialty that you understand the market segment it falls into. Talk to your business professors to see how they can help, and join a professional organization as well. Ask a lot of questions; people who are truly inclined to teach and to help others will be patient with your answers, but also make sure you do a good amount of your own research.

The end result will be a better understanding of your job and target areas. This could translate into a more secure position at a company or a more stable customer base, and less time spent creating it.