Meeting Planner Careers

Meeting planning for businesses and corporations includes more than simply purchasing airline tickets, ensuring accommodations are booked, and securing a meeting venue with all necessary equipment. If this were the case, businesses would really have no need for the services of a meeting planner.

To plan successful meetings and events, meeting planners have to tap into their creative abilities. They have to make each event meaningful and unique with their own special style of creativity. By doing so, they can make meetings and events unforgettable. However, when corporations are facing budget cuts, meeting planners may feel pressured to cut creative elements from their planning. One way that meeting planners can guarantee that creativity is not sacrificed for economy is by booking an incentive cruise for their client.

Cruise ships are well-known for their creative elements. From ice sculptures that grace dining tables to first-class entertainment in well-appointed theaters, cruise ships are bursting with amusing, unforgettable moments. By booking a ship charter, a meeting planner can ensure that incentive travel participants will be properly rewarded for their hard work. Furthermore, the corporation can save money by agreeing to an all inclusive cruise. A ship charter is truly a win-win situation for everyone, and creativity does not have to be sacrificed.

What do you do when a client requests you to plan a small meeting?  Most convention centers are simply too large for small meetings and events, and the client doesn’t need all the high-tech bells and whistles.  All she needs is a white board, an overhead projector, or a way to project from a PC. So, where do you turn?

Small Event Centers

Almost every town has a small event center that is available for smaller groups such as yours. They are often used for small weddings where the couple would like to have the reception in the same place. This would service your client well–you could hold your meeting in one room, and serve a nice reception or dinner in another, very much like a wedding.

Tea Rooms

Some of these rooms are much more than rooms–these facilities often consist of more than one, where you could hold a meeting and enjoy a tea ceremony. While some may not have the technological facility you may need, many offer WiFi and small meeting rooms.

Historical Homes

Far from being delicate and fragile, these homes are often used for classes and small get-togethers. They are comfortable and cozy, and offer a great setting for educational meetings. If you need several smaller rooms operating at one time, this is often a stellar choice.

Of course there are other ways to approach the small meeting facility, such as local schools that are out for summer, a nearby YMCA, etc. It all depends on the flavor of the meeting and the client’s preference.

Businesses that are successful almost always find themselves at a point where they need to start organizing events. These events could be company gatherings, sales promotions, seminars to inform certain members of the press and/or industry-insiders about new products/services, or something else entirely. It does not necessarily matter why a company eventually needs to have meeting/events planners, but it is almost a certainty that such a position will need to be filled at some point in time. Here is how to hire a meeting planner:

Meeting planners should be outgoing, honest, and self-motivated – After all, the business needs to get on with whatever it is doing and be able to trust that meetings and events are being scheduled.

A meeting planner will need tools – A meeting planner will need access to a phone (preferably a cellular/mobile smartphone), a computer with access to the Internet. A desk to work from is also helpful, and a laptop or netbook should also be considered.

A budget – Meeting planners need realistic budgets to work with.  While a good meeting or event planner can usually pay for herself, you need to have funds available for those events.  Be sure to track your ROI on meetings and events to justify the plan, but do not hire a meeting planner without the ability to give them a budget.

Trial basis – It might be a good idea to start a meeting planner on a temporary or part-time basis just to see how things work out.

MIAMI–(EON: Enhanced Online News)–Cruise event specialists Landry & Kling Inc. have announced a strategic partnership between their company Seasite.com, the first cruise portal for meetings and events, and i-Meet.com, the professional and social network for meeting and event planners and suppliers.

“Facebook and Twitter are important to our overall social media strategy, but with our new Seasite online community, we’re giving our customers and users an expanded experience in i-Meet’s global community”

The partnership introduces a unique, online community on i-Meet.com for Seasite.com users and prospects worldwide. Leveraging i-Meet’s fast-growing network and social media platform, Seasite’s online community will feature industry leading technology, group special interest “hot spots”, and provide a way for people to connect and interact with over 20,000 industry professionals around the world.

“Our customers have expressed an interest in a community-based social platform to complement Seasite’s cruise sourcing and planning tools,” said Jo Kling, CEO of Seasite.com. “We are excited to be partnering with i-Meet and its meetings industry-specific social network approach; we can now deliver a unique experience to our customers that’s in line with the way people do business today.”

“It’s really a very natural progression to introduce social networking to cruise meetings customers,” said John Pino, i-Meet’s Founder and CEO, “and marrying Seasite’s cruise sourcing technology with an online communications and collaboration channel enabled through i-Meet’s global community of planners, buyers and suppliers will create advantages for everyone.”

“Facebook and Twitter are important to our overall social media strategy, but with our new Seasite online community, we’re giving our customers and users an expanded experience in i-Meet’s global community,” said Jo Kling “This is an industry first that will allow our users to network with other professionals and communicate what’s on their minds.”

The partnership will allow the growth of active mini-communities for i-Meet and Seasite.com members based on their areas of interest. The groups will be hosted and administered by Seasite’s expert cruise industry professionals. “Friend-ing” others, “following” suppliers, and subscribing to and publishing blogs will round out the experience.

About Landry & Kling and Seasite.com

Landry & Kling Inc., cruise event specialists since 1982, recently introduced Seasite.com, the first online cruise platform for meeting professionals. Seasite is an industry sourcing tool to search, select and plan group cruises, with access to 35 cruise lines in one site, meeting-friendly search criteria, e-RFP’s, meeting/function room capacities, dining details and other unique tools available nowhere else. Visit www.seasite.com or www.landrykling.com.

About i-Meet

Created by the Founder of StarCite, www.i-Meet.com is focused on building the industry’s most relevant worldwide online community for the meeting and event industry. With 20,000 members from 130 countries around the world to date, i-Meet brings social networking, web 2.0 tools, work flow and relationship opportunities, and industry intelligence to its members and suppliers. Visit i-meet.com.

Food and beverage trends pertaining to meetings and events are constantly changing, with some tried and true standbys staying in the mix, as well as many new ideas coming into play. Some changes in F&B trends are influenced by the economy and the increasing need to lower costs and find innovative ways to accommodate shrinking budgets, some are influenced by the growing green movement, and some have resulted from an increasingly health-conscious audience that demands healthier fare. Staying up with meeting and event planning trends is important to your success as a planner and to ensuring that your attendees enjoy your events.

To assist you in keeping up with the current trends in F&B, here is a quick rundown of four of the most prominent trends taking hold:

1. Smaller portion sizes and lighter food options – Smaller portions and lighter foods are becoming popular in response to both shrinking budgets and attendees that prefer healthy eating.
2. Green, organic, seasonal, local foods – This trend comes from the expanding green movement and is taking the meeting planning world by storm.
3. Food doubling as decoration – Using colorful food trays as centerpieces is a great cost-saving option that allows you to forgo expensive centerpieces and table decorations.
4. Comfort foods – This is one of those tried and true options that will always serve you well. It is hard to go wrong when serving comfort foods, particularly if you remember to include one or two options that are healthier or suitable for vegetarians or vegans.

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.

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

Newly launched Seasite.com provides 24/7 access to all cruise brands, and the most content-rich and searchable database for the cruise industry.

Miami, FL (Vocus/PRWEB ) January 21, 2010 — Planning a group cruise requires searching for detailed ship information and not always finding what you need – even on the cruise lines’ own web sites. Now, with Seasite.com, the first cruise portal for meetings and events, group organizers can find all the ship data they need in one place – at no cost.

I’ve bookmarked Seasite.com – it’s invaluable in selecting the right ship for a group and to verify it’s a good fit before I present it to my client. And for operational planning, it has all the info I need – which isn’t on cruise line web sites.

"I’ve bookmarked Seasite.com – it’s invaluable in selecting the right ship for a group and to verify it’s a good fit before I present it to my client,” said Millie Evans, President/CEO Alliance Incentives and Meetings. "And for operational planning, it has all the info I need – which isn’t on cruise line web sites.”

Seasite.com provides 24/7 access to all cruise brands, and the most content-rich and searchable database for the cruise industry, so that planners can:

1.   Find ship data never before offered online or in print, such as:
   - Meeting/function room capacities
   - Dining room seating, and details for private group dining
   - Outdoor group function areas
   - A/V equipment lists
   
2-   Search, compare, and save favorite cruises; then create one RFP and submit it to multiple cruise lines. (Group pricing is the same as booking direct.)

3-   See 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 by ship name for a chronological list of future Itineraries and Basic Ship Information, and find it faster than a brochure.

5-   Search for a cruise anywhere in the world by any date range (as short as several days or as long as several months). Sort your results by meetings-specific criteria.

6-   Refer to the Knowledge Center to answer all your questions, including these:

7-   Discover a list of "Cruise Gems” – those rare, hard to find, short cruises.

"Everyone who plans group travel should take a good look, and bookmark Seasite.com if they want to simplify cruise sourcing and planning” said Jo Kling, CEO Seasite.com.

For more information on Seasite.com, A Landry & Kling Company, visit www.seasite.com or call 888-713-1371.

About Seasite.com/Landry & Kling
Seasite.com is designed for meeting and event planners who want more control in the cruise sourcing and planning process. It’s the fastest and easiest way for group organizers to master the world of cruising, building on all that’s been learned by Landry & Kling, who are credited with being the first distribution channel between the cruise industry and corporate America. Now, 28 years since their startup, they have responded to changing times by creating Seasite.com, with innovative cruise sourcing tools that enable meeting planners and other travel intermediaries to be more pro-active and confident in booking cruises. Seasite group pricing is the same as booking direct, with the advantage of impartial Cruise Advisors to assist as needed.

Three common mistakes made by beginner meeting planners:

• Not ordering enough food or beverages – people get very distracted and upset if there is not enough food or drinks to go around.   Typically, the venue staff can advise you regarding the amount of food and beverages needed for any size group. Don't scrimp.
• Not asking sufficiently detailed questions of site personnel and vendors.  Know what you are getting into when it comes to the venue.  Make sure that you do a site walk through several weeks before and then a few days before your meeting to make sure that the facilities will meet the needs of your group.  Be meticulous.  Check every detail.
• Waiting until the last minute to pull everything together.  Don't procrastinate!  Make lists and plan ahead for successful meetings and events.

If problems do occur, act proactively and creatively.  It seems as if nothing ever goes according to plan.  Just stay calm and work through each problem with your staff and the venue staff.  

At the recent 2009 Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Southeast Educational Conference at the Edon Roc in Miami Beach we had the opportunity to hear Brad Nickel, VP of Marketing for Landry & Kling, speak. He gave a presentation called “Find Yourself Online”  and agreed to let us publish that presentation here, for those meeting professionals who were unable to attend.

Here is the presentation – let us know if you have questions!

Brad was also excited to tell us a little about the upcoming launch of a new resource for meeting and incentive professionals: Seasite.com.

Seasite.com, a new Landry & Kling company, will be the industry’s first online cruise marketplace for global meetings and events. Mr. Nickel, explained, “Seasite.com puts cruise sourcing on par with hotel site selection along with easy RFP generation for multiple brands and ships.”

The site will be launching in late September but in the meantime they are running a contest to win an inaugural cruise aboard the new Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas, billed as the worlds largest and most innovative cruise ship. To enter simply go to their web site, Seasite.com, and sign up to recieve their newsletter and be notified of the official Seasite.com launch. The contest winner will be selected at random on Sept. 10, 2009.

2009 MPI Southeast Educational Conference was held at the Edon Roc Hotel, Miami Beach, August 13th-15th. For more information visit http://mpisec.org/

Our thanks again to Brad – and here’s his bio: