When you are setting up your registration form, ensure you think of all potential demands so you can plan for them ahead of time. To do this, you need to understand who your potential attendees are. Are they coming from other countries? Are they going to be from mixed cultures? Will they have special needs? How about allergies? And always ask for an emergency contact and their phone number. (Being sure to tell them that the personal information will be kept in confidence and only used as necessary.)
The mixed cultures one really got me about a year ago. I was doing a conference on Discrimination in the Legal System in Canada. Lawyers and judges were our main attendees. We did the usual allergies, special needs.
At the conference, a young Muslim woman approached me and asked where she could do her lunch-time prayers. Oops—I hadn’t thought of this, though I knew several Muslims would be present at the conference.
Fortunately for me, my catering manager was a Muslim and set me up with a prayer room within five minutes.
Sandy Biback, CMP, CMM
Imagination+ Meeting Planners Inc.
Toronto, ON
Lunch is served
We give our meeting participants a hot buffet lunch. Rather than serve the dessert with the lunches, I have the hotel serve dessert at the afternoon break.
Linda Testa
Course Coordinator
AO North America
Paoli, PA
A few tips
Cut F&B costs: Try the best you can to pay by the piece, not by the person. People eat a lot less these days; unfortunately, most properties only do food per person, not by the piece. If you can do it by the piece, cheapen the plate a bit without them knowing. Using breakfast food as an example, cut the muffins in half, as people only usually nibble on a piece of a muffin.
Attendance boosting: Hit all your markets, but in different ways depending on whom you are marketing to. For example, if you are using testimonial quotes from attendees, make sure they reflect the audience you are trying to market to.
Gratuities: Not really a tip, just a suggestion. When tipping, make sure you tip the housemen—the guys that set up the chairs. They are the hardest working guys on-property and never get the credit they deserve—you try moving 500 chairs theater style!
Scott Rothschild
Director, Professional Development
American Camp Association, NY
New York, NYM
F&B strategy
I cut F&B costs by doing an all-day meeting package that includes breakfast, an a.m. break, a buffet lunch, and a p.m. break for $30-$35 or $35-$38, depending on the type of breakfast included in the package. This includes coffee and tea all day at no extra cost, along with sodas in the afternoon. All my meals include the basics only—no frills, and sometimes a lighter dessert of pudding instead of heavy cakes and other sweets.
For a continental breakfast, I do not include yogurt or bagels. Instead I do breakfast breads and Danish pastries. Since we have doctors attending our meetings, protein is important to them to go with their caffeine, so I always have a small domestic cheese tray included as part of the continental breakfast—all within my budgeted amount. I always have the chef use fruit that is in season for the fruit tray. When it comes to negotiating for F&B, I indicate the amount of money that we have to spend for the all-day meeting package and then let the catering manager and chef tell me what they can provide within that budget.
Kay Bothwell, CMP
Department of Labor and Employment/Division of Workers’
Compensation/Physicians Accreditation
Denver
It’s who you know
Relationships, relationships, relationships. It all boils down to that. Be ethical, treat your suppliers the way you want your clients to treat you, and be fair all-around, all the time. That’s the real key to success in this business.
Brigitte Mondor, CMP
Senior Event Manager
EvenImage
Montreal, Quebec
