Spanning the Globe with International Meetings

Even when in a foreign tongue, communication is key to avoiding mishaps or misunderstandings

By Tyler Davidson

With the unstoppable force of globalization, chances are good that the meeting planner of the future will need to plan meetings in international destinations, as well as hold domestic-destination meetings that draw a large contingent of foreign delegates.

“The first thing is, you ain’t in Kansas anymore,” says Charles Chan Massey, founder and CEO of West Hollywood, Calif.-based SYNAXIX Meetings & Events, and a leading planner of international meetings. “English is not the first, second or often third language, so understand that’s just the way it is. “You’ll be communicating with someone that doesn’t speak your native language, so plan accordingly.”

Massey, who will deliver Meetings Focus’ free “International Meetings: Tackling the Unfamiliar” webinar Aug. 29, says this unfamiliarity can also affect the negotiation process, as do different cultural norms.

“They may say ‘no’ but they mean ‘yes,’ or ‘no’ may mean the short version of ‘we don’t normally do it, let me check on that,’ but to you it means no,” Massey says. “Or they’ll say ‘yes’ and they can’t do it, and they’re afraid to tell you.”

When it comes to contracts, Massey stresses the need, even with major chains, to have a national sales person in the loop, or someone on the ground in the country where the meeting is going to be held to be an advocate.

Massey says that mealtime, in particular, can present challenges.

“When you’re choosing your menus there are certain ways meals and meal functions are done outside of the U.S., where the goal is to get attendees in and out fast,” he says. “In the U.S., we do a town hall style—we preset the salad, we preset the dessert. In some places that’s just not how it’s done.”    Read more...

Upcoming Webinar

Following are responses to some of the outstanding questions from Meetings Focus’ last international webinar: International Meetings: Preparation Is Key. Thanks to webinar presenter Charles Massey for answering the following questions.

1. Are there any websites that have “quick hit” things to let people know about subjects such as currency, cultural considerations, etc., so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel?

For currency, I think the best is http://www.oanda.com. They update the exchange rates in real time and their conversion figures are generally relatively accurate. As for cultural considerations, here's the link to the Lewis Model (which I referenced in my slides). This link will also allow you (and your attendees) to sign up for a trial version of the Culture Active tool.

2. Can you please repeat your advice on credit card payment offshore?

Generally, credit payments are subject to a 3 percent service charge from your provider, and in many cases, even hotels will resist taking credit cards for the master account and rather require a wire transfer up front for full payment of the master account. Venues and other vendors are also resistant to accepting credit cards, and when they do they often also charge a service charge ranging from 3 percent to 5 percent.

Planning meetings outside of your home country can involve many logistical, cultural, linguistic and political “opportunities” that domestic meeting planners may be unfamiliar with.

As the global economy grows by leaps and bounds and the world becomes smaller, there’s no time like the present to prepare yourself. Even if you don’t currently plan international meetings, the day may come sooner than you think.

Join Meetings Focus and one of the industry’s top international meeting and event planners, Charles Chan Massey, CEO of SYNAXIS Meetings & Events, for this free one-hour educational webinar detailing what you need to know before you need to know it—which sometimes is too late!

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