Meeting Planner Careers

If you are outsourcing your group cruise planning, you will almost certainly be assigned a liaison that will handle your needs. This person is part coordinator, part salesperson, but all human being. That list bit is important, because it means that they can be influenced if you are interested. Influencing a group cruise planner could result in getting discounts, insider information, or exclusive access to areas that are difficult to secure without advanced notice.

How do you become friends with a group cruise planner? Well, the answer depends greatly on the situation, but anyone that handles group planning or manages the outsourcing should already have some decent ideas on how to build rapport with their contact. For those that are coming up a little short, here are some ideas:

Corporate gifts – If the corporation has a ton of spare coffee mugs or T-shirts, bring a few along on the first visit and insist that the person show up to one of your functions. Be willing to give them credit for all their help, and they will be certain to go the extra mile.

Give them a reputation – Sometimes giving people a reputation before building a working relationship is a great idea. For example, tell them that you are aware of the reputation their company has for making arrangements that are above and beyond the call of duty.

Talk to their manager – Take a few minutes to call back and talk to a supervisor, even if the initial conversation did not go as well as planned. Sometimes a reminder that job satisfaction is at stake creates a better environment in which rapport can be built.

Freelance meeting planners can make an incredible amount of money if they are self-motivated and have an ample amount of people skills. The problem is that many larger companies have meeting planners on staff, and thus one has to find a way to attract attention if they want to be a successful freelance meeting or event planner. Here are some tips on how to build up a reputations as a freelance meeting planner and perhaps generate business:

• Start by making contacts within the service industry, especially at hotels and other venues where people want to visit and/or hold their events or gatherings. These contacts can be useful when it comes to negotiating lower prices.
• Start a blog and try to guest post on other blogs as well. Some businesses might know that they need help, but do not know where to turn. Be there for them and they will come to you.
• Consider advertising, even in Craigslist or other online arenas that are cost effective. Newspapers might be worth advertising in as well, but print is certainly on its last leg.
• Be willing to knock on doors and network. This will mean having a business card ready, and spending money to attend conferences and meetings in order to network.
• Consider specializing in a certain type of meeting planning such as educational conferences or meetings-at-sea.  Developing a reputation as a niche expert.
• Remember that honesty and fair prices are important, especially at the beginning. Do not look to recoup all initial startup losses on the first few clients are nobody will recommend you.

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.

The life of a meeting planner is fast-paced and hectic, and there always seem to be a million things to order, reserve, follow up on, confirm or plan on a daily basis. With a full schedule and a mile-long to-do list, planners can easily find that their mind is constantly racing ahead to the next task – and the one after that – making it difficult to remain focused on the task at hand. When they are meeting with one client, they suddenly find themselves thinking about the caterer they need to call that afternoon or coming up with venue ideas for a coming event, while the client sitting in front of them is trying to explain the type of event they need them to plan.

While it can be difficult to train yourself to focus on the present, it is incredibly important that you do. When you allow your mind to wander while completing tasks, you can easily miss something or have to go back and double-check your list to make sure you did not forget something while your mind was wandering. At best, this wastes time. At worst, it results in missing things that will later cost you money or, possibly, your reputation. The same goes for client meetings: When you do not stay focused when meeting with a client, you are bound to miss important details, and the last thing you want to do is have to call your client to ask them about information they already gave you face-to-face.

To help you focus on the task at hand, keep a to-do list nearby where you can jot down a quick note or reminder. This will allow you to comfortably continue with your current task without worrying about remembering what you need to do next.

It’s a hard world out there right now for meeting planners. From government restrictions on meetings to a ruined economy, companies just are not planning what they used to. On top of that, many are no longer going to self-employed planners as contract help for their needs. So how will you survive in this jungle? Look to the properties.

Many of the hotels are using inside people to help companies plan their events. Why? Because companies are asking them to do it. Rather than pay a freelancer, they are asking the hotels for help with planning events, sometimes holding the entire shindig in one place.

Hotels, on the other hand, are having to dedicate an employee’s time to helping each client. Rather than dump the complexity of a conference in the hands of a desk clerk, they are looking to their own in-house planners to serve the clients. Read more…

You, as a meeting planner, are not a lone wolf, even if you own your own planning business. Whether you are aware of it or not, there are lots of people who work in the background to help make your work successful. If you are inclined to run your army of helpers efficiently and want them to want to work with you, you need to know who they are and how they help you.

Hotels

Of course you know that a good hotel can make or break your trip, but what about the people who work there? Perhaps there was a desk clerk who helped one of your travelers get late bags from the airport. What about the room service waiter who went the extra mile for your diabetic meeting participant? Make sure you recognize them with a small gift–money works very well–and the entire hotel will remember you. Read more…