Plan A Meeting or Special Event to be "Successful"

Anyone can plan a meeting or special event. Planning them to be successful is much harder and can be summed up in two words:

UNDER-promise - OVER-deliver!

It sounds so simple... and it is - - as long as you don't try to cut corners in the planning process.

So how do you make sure you don't promise more than you can deliver? Even better, how can you deliver more than you promised?Think of it as a R-A-C-E next time you plan a meeting or special event.

• Research…
• Act…
• Communicate…
• Evaluate...

Once you begin planning it is easy to imagine you are in a RACE to the end of your program:

1. Research diligently
2. Act decisively
3. Communicate constantly
4. Evaluate each step repeatedly for flaws or mistakes … which is actually a form of your research, and you’re back to “R” again.

STEP ONE: Research

How do you begin to plan a meeting or special event? More importantly how do you build success into your plan?

GET ORGANIZED:
Time ultimately determines the size and scale of anything you plan. You can plan a meeting chock full of goodies, but if there isn't time to organize and execute them they become a waste of time and resources!

Decide how much time you have to plan a meeting or special event before the doors open and attendees arrive. Get a calendar and enter approximate completion dates for critical elements of your meeting. Figure how long it will take to complete each task and count backwards from the completion dates to determine your start date.

NOTE: Effective marketing always takes twice as much time as you think!

This gives you a time line to plan a meeting or special event... now start your research.

Notice we said "Start your Research" Not.. "Start to Plan a Meeting"!

Before you can successfully plan a meeting or special event you must find out the core purpose it is being planned. There is one “Universal Truth” for meeting and event planning:

   No one ever plans anything just for the fun of it!

Do you think it is possible to plan a meeting or an event if you don't know/understand the core purpose for the occasion? If you miss this point... your meeting will never succeed!

1. Association annual education conference
2. Corporate sales meeting
3. Company employee picnic
4. Julie’s Wedding
5. Mike’s 40th Birthday Party

While the reason for the meeting or event may seem pretty obvious, the core purpose is often completely different.

For example, you are asked to plan the annual company sales meeting, but:

1. The company has been downsizing and needs to build morale and motivate the remaining sales force
2. The company VP of marketing is retiring and a new sales manager is going to do things differently... new sales policies and direction
3. The company is going international and they will be looking for a whole new kind of client

Until you and your stakeholders agree on the core purpose of the meeting, any planning efforts are a waste of time. In fact, making false starts will undermine relationships with your stakeholders and destroy vendor trusts. Both of which you must have to make your meeting successful. This is why you need lots of research before you start to plan a meeting or special event.

The best place to start researching is asking your various stakeholders what their expectations are.

Stakeholder Questions:

1. What does your client expect?
1. To get attendees motivated to donate? (How much?)
2. To attract new association members? (How many?)
3. To educate their members? (What are they teaching?)
2. What does your boss expect?
1. To build camaraderie (how will that be measured?)
2. To increase business sales? (How much?)
3. To find new customers? (How many and how are they identified?)
3. Who are the target attendees? (What do they expect?)
1. People who have never interacted with the organization before?
2. Association members? (Return “customers”)
3. Why are they attending?
1. Education? (What classes?)
2. Boss said so? (Why?)
3. New business products? (Which products?)
4. What would prevent them from attending?
1. Cost? (What is a good price?)
2. Date / Time? (What is a good time?)
3. Location?
4. What do your sponsors expect?
1. New franchises? (How many?)
2. Introduce a new product or service? (What is it?)
3. To build awareness (how will that be tracked?)
5. What do your exhibitors expect?
1. To increase phone inquiries? (How many?)
2. Web site hits? (How many?)
3. Find new clients? (How Many?) (What demographic?)
4. Sell product? (What products?)
6. If you ask vendors & entertainers for concessions or donations, they become stakeholders too. What do they expect in return?
1. Free Marketing? (Where & when)
2. Business referrals? (How are they contacted?)
3. Complimentary tradeshow booth? (How Big?)
4. Will they be a sponsor? (What Level?)

Now that you have good data. Organize these expectations and ask yourself:

1. How many expectations are shared in common?
2. What about unique expectations?
3. Who gains/loses?
4. Are they realistic within the context of you meeting?
5. Can they be modified to benefit more stakeholders?

One of the first things you notice is how many expectations conflict with each other.

• What the boss wants isn't what the sponsors are willing to pay for.
• The best vendors won't participate unless you increase the number of hours attendees are available and not in meetings…
• The dates your client/boss wants to have the conference overlap dates when attendees have conflicts/holidays.

Resolving a conflict is easy when you plan a meeting or special event on paper first. Resolving a conflict after contracts are signed can cost you thousands!

Before eliminating expectations that may seem unrealistic or just wishful thinking,look for ways to leverage the interests of one stakeholder in ways to fulfill the expectations of another. Finding these hidden “gems” is like winning the lotto.

Sometimes with a little creativity and good negotiations you can plan a meeting to include a feature special event that costs you nothing!

Research complete, you will have a long list of stakeholder expectations. These expectations now become your list of potential goals.

Step Two: Act

Now it is time to Act.

You probably have a good idea where/when your meeting will occur.

Start trimming your list of "potential goals": Eliminate all that:

1. Are way out of step with the rest
2. Won’t work at your meeting location
3. Are too expensive or unrealistic
4. Can't be done within your time line

Everything left becomes your "Meeting Goals". Don't worry if you aren't sure, you can always add something back if you need it later. Unless you negotiate with hotels almost daily,

   Even the best meeting plans are a work in progress.

Communicate with your stakeholders: Review your "Meeting Goals" with your stakeholders. Explain why some things were eliminated. Some people may be upset, but if your decisions are based on intelligent research it will be hard for them to argue -- especially when you roll out your “hidden gems.” These usually give stakeholders way more than they ever expected.

NOTE: You will never please everyone, however... no one will meet their expectations if your meeting or event fails… they will work with you to succeed.

Now that you have general support of your stakeholders and know your meeting goals, it is time to plan a meeting or special event.

Reverse engineer: With goals in mind, prepare a Master List of any resources necessary to insure your meeting will meet your goals. This is a general category list of everything you have "in house" or will need to outsource:

1. Meeting rooms
2. Event Locations
3. Bus Transportation
4. Labor/Volunteers
5. Catering
6. Spouse Tours
7. Decor
8. Entertainment
9. A/V Services

Now, make a Sub-List for every item on your Master List. Basically you are itemizing what and how much of everything you might use:

1. Meeting rooms
1. Opening General session – Date/ Time/ Attendance
2. Breakout session 1 – Date/ Time/ Attendance
3. Lunch - Date/ Time/ Attendance

And finally create a detailed check list for every meeting session, special event or activity on your Sub-list.

1. Opening General Session - Date/ Time/ Attendance
1. Set room for 1000 Theater style
2. Stage size 16’ x 32’ centered on long wall opposite entrance
1. Pipe & drape (black velor) behind stage w/runoff 10’ either side
2. Skirt stage & place steps stage right
3. Head table for 6 on stage
3. House sound system

A lot of lists and tons of detail, but check lists are your salvation. When you build your meeting on paper first you will:

1. Eliminate problems and conflicts before they happen
2. Consolidate resources and services you need for RFPs
3. Organize your staff/volunteers because they know exactly what you want done
4. Remind yourself of details, time lines and contractual commitments
5. Maintain control. Isn’t it easier to give a volunteer a detailed check list than to try and explain what they should do to get a breakout room ready?

PREPARE YOUR BUDGET: Use your check lists to help intelligently distribute your money… don’t guess. If you don't know, find out what the products and services you need should approximately cost.

Include a line item for paid professional staff… volunteers are cheap and well-intentioned, but they are often unreliable and lack experience.

Their mistakes and omissions usually cost far more than hiring professional services. Professionals take way less time too… important if you are paying for meeting/event space by the hour.

PREPARE YOUR RFPs: Consolidate the resources you need from your detailed check lists to the categories on your Master List and prepare RFPs for each category .

Be professional and include what you have budgeted for everything in each RFP. If you have done your homework your budget number should be about what the products/services should cost anyway.

You want to plan a meeting or event for success. The object here isn’t to save money. You want each responding company to give you the absolute best/most you can get for what you have to spend.

PHONE CALLS: Although we live in a high-tech world, working by phone is quicker and insures you are communicating with the right person. Time is something you cannot replace. Don't waste hours/days even weeks to find out your RFP was sent to the wrong person. Use E-mail and other electronic methods for follow-up and documenting details after you have established personal communication with the right person.

CONTRACTING: Get contracts for everything … do it soon and negotiate them well. seriously consider outsourcing your hotel contract negotiations... a professional negotiator will save you time and often save you thousands.

Step Three: Communicate

As a planner you can do everything right:

1. Have a clearly defined set of goals
2. The goals can embrace the expectations of the stakeholders
3. Have great contracts in place

But if you do not communicate regularly with staff and stakeholders your meeting will fail.

Do not hide behind voice mail or e-mail. Never call people back “at your convenience.” Make yourself available whenever people need you. Every meeting is unique and everyone depends on the planner for answers. Once you plan a meeting, it takes on a life of its own. Every time a problem needs to be solved, or a vendor needs your advice, if you aren’t available -- important decisions will simply be made without your input.

When the planner does not stay actively engaged they lose control and things don't run well! How many meetings and events have you attended that you could tell the planner was in total control? Those are the planners everyone wants to hire.

Communicate often… be available to everyone whenever they need to talk to you.Communicate well… ask lots of questions and listen to what people have to say. Communicate or die… evaluate information and act promptly to make changes as necessary.