This article has been written for those of you who are planning, or getting ready to plan an offsite meeting or retreat. It doesn't matter if you are going to be the primary planner or if you are considering having a professional site selection company take the lead � this article is for you�
Picture this�
It's a typical Monday morning�you're swamped, it's 11:00am and you are just getting through the projects on your desk that didn't get finished from last week. It's almost time for lunch and you haven't even started today's list yet. And then your boss walks in�
1. He just told you that he wants to conduct an offsite meeting to talk about increasing sales for next year. He has great vision, but no concept of what planning this meeting takes.
2. He wants the meeting to be held next month over specific dates, needs a general conference meeting room, breakout meeting rooms, extra space for exhibit tables and a separate room in close proximity for dining and breaks.
3. There is a budget that doesn't seem nearly enough to cover lodging, let alone the entire program. You don't have a meeting site or lodging or menus yet, so how do you begin to know how to start budgeting?
4. All 200 global sales representatives are required to be present which means you need to plan their air transportation, airport shuttles, figure out lodging and who can room with whom, arrange special dietary menus, and respond to countless e-mail questions that will inevitably come your way.
5. The meeting needs to be at a unique and inspiring venue that is easily accessible to global flights, preferably not in a downtown location and hopefully somewhere that the participants have not been as a group so they will be excited when they arrive.
6. Team-building needs to be included in the agenda which means you either need to find a property that has their own team-building or recreation department that facilitates team-building, or you need to outsource this to a vendor (more research and work).
7. Recreation options also need to be easily accessible and affordable � the only thing you can think of is golf, but that is so traditional, and not everyone plays. If the properties you research don't have recreation on-site, that means more research and more work.
8. Although you are very detail-oriented and organized and are accustomed to working long hours, you can see that this task is too much for you to handle alone. You need help, but it's not in the budget to hire an assistant.
What if there was a company out there that could help you with the time-consuming, tedious task of finding just the right property that meets all your criteria and using them doesn't compromise or threaten your job? What if they work in tandem with you and it's a free service? You are no longer set up to fail � you are the hero�with their help, you have found just the right property, you have spent little or no time doing so, which means you have just saved the company time and money.
Finding just the right property for your off-site meeting is the most time-consuming task of the entire planning process:
* Placing numerous phone calls
* Repeating the same questions to each property you are contacting (are you even asking all the right questions?)
* Collecting proposals
* Evaluating all the proposals
* Making more phone calls because the proposals are unclear
* Making the right recommendation (and decision)
A skilled site selection company will work with you to determine your program's lodging, meetings, meals and recreation requirements. They will take that information and contact numerous properties on your behalf, analyze the information for you and give you recommendations. The site selection company does the leg work; the property knows you are the decision maker which keeps you in control.
The site selection company is compensated by a placement fee from the property that earns your business, so there is no cost to you for these services. The hotel's focus is getting your business � it is an industry-wide practice to pay a commission to site selection companies for helping them fill their rooms. Properties know they are competing for your business and provide the best rates without regard to any fees or commissions.
If you want help with event planning once you have contracted the property where your meeting will be held, ask your site selection company. Often times they will offer a full array of planning services including pre-event planning and on-site event management. These services can be provided in an hourly format: you only pay for the work that is needed, and you remain in control of your budget and the planning process.
Why should you have help with these services? Planning and overseeing a meeting requires valuable time and attention before the event takes place, as well as once you are at the meeting location. By hiring a meeting professional to plan and manage your meeting, you can confidently leave all the details to them, freeing up yourself and your staff to focus on growing your business, and knowing that the meeting will be handled in a professional and knowledgeable manner.
