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 asked the usual questions about allergies, special needs, etc.
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
MeCo Musings
Yvonne DeBellotte asked:
I need a couple of creative ideas for a small luncheon where the menu is fruit and yogurt.
I could create this myself and make it stylish, but I am looking for other ideas.
Yvonne DeBellotte
Meeting Planner
Atlanta
Candace Mingo responded:
For a luncheon, how about individual sundae dishes at each place setting for the yogurt, perhaps using a creative charger plate, and the entire center of the table is filled with containers, similar to those used in a candy store, filled with different kinds of fruits? You can add small containers of nuts or dried fruits as well, and any other condiments that would be appropriate and fun. If you feel a centerpiece is necessary, a whole fruit montage would be great—with bright, fruit-colored linens!
Candace Mingo
Exclamation Points!
When is a hotel contract binding?
Maureen Beck asked:
I have a client who recently faxed back a signed contract to a hotel. The hotel and I had negotiated the contract back and forth and the hotel had issued a revised, final contract. A few days after my client had returned the contract, the sales manager phoned to inform me that she had double-booked. She has a group that returns every year and she had not yet put the recurring meeting into her system. The sales manager stated that the contract was not binding as she had not sent back a countersigned copy to my client. She requested that my group move their dates. My client was furious and he and others in the industry maintain that the contract is indeed binding. Is it?
Responses included:
I just attended a fabulous session on contracts for independent planners conducted by Tyra Hilliard. One of the many fabulous points that she made was that a contract is not valid until both parties sign, and it is always best to be the last signature on the contract. I don’t think your client has a legal contract with the hotel. Ethically, I think that the sales manager acted in bad faith.
Bonnie Wallsh, CMP, CMM
