Expert Assistance is Key to Hosting a Successful Meeting

Expert Assistance is Key to Hosting a Successful Meeting



Meeting Planners Think Fast, Rise to the Challenge Of Last-Minute Events

BY ROB CAMERON

As San Diego commerce moves forward in the midst of America’s war on terrorism, local firms will adjust to the resulting uncertainty.






Uncertainty tends to cause last-minute decisions, which in turn necessitates last-minute meetings. Fortunately for local businesses, San Diego is home to many meeting facilities and meeting planners. Thus, local executives enjoy at least one business certainty , on a moment’s notice, they can hold productive meetings at state-of-the-art facilities that offer highly experienced, professionally certified meeting planners.






Local facilities range from the West Coast’s largest waterfront hotel to California’s largest state park, the Anza-Borrego Desert, home of Zorro Conference Center at La Casa del Zorro Desert Resort. With this variety of settings, San Diego “does meetings” like few other locations in the world. The result is that the San Diego County attracts meeting planners from around the world , and from around the corner.






San Diego is where the meeting pros meet. In just the past few years, San Diego has hosted the annual international meetings of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), the Insurance Conference Planners Association (ICPA), Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the International Association of Expo Managers (IAEM), and American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). San Diego has also hosted other prestigious groups, including the American Association of Medical Society Executives and the Republican National Convention.






While those international gatherings represented to San Diego billions of dollars in future meeting budgets and were attended by thousands, no matter the type or size, all meetings need essentially the same things, including those planned at the last minute by San Diego-based businesses.






Most meeting planning, particularly last minute planning, is done for groups of 100 people or less. Such planning is often delegated to staff without substantial meeting planning experience. Frequently, little advance planning time exists. That is where meeting planning expertise is of most benefit.






This expertise can be found by contacting meeting and convention hotels, destination-management companies and independent meeting planners. Most are experts in the logistics and design of such gatherings.






A meetings-oriented hotel should offer to the occasional meeting planner a basic step-by-step expert consultation at no charge. Subjects that should be addressed range from parking to presentations, and from sound systems to selecting a seating layout. (Should the meeting room be classroom or theater style?)






- But Where Are The Bathrooms?






A host of activities make up a successful meeting. Important items to pay attention to include shipping materials to the meeting site, directions and signs for attendees, a registration desk, seating charts, risers or full stage, sound and lights, audio visual, photocopiers, printers, note pads and pens for attendees, food and beverages (from full dinners to in-meeting-room coffee, water, fruit and snack breaks), delivery of faxes and messages to the meeting room , or an in-room fax available along with Internet connectivity, editorial relations, and security. Oh, and where are the bathrooms and can attendees check their email?






The details are in fact not endless, and for those planning a meeting of any size, but particularly for meetings with 10 to 100 attendees and without a budget for a professional meeting planner, San Diego’s proven meeting hotels are invaluable resources for quickly and efficiently establishing what needs to be done when and doing it, often for no charge beyond the meeting room rate and other required materials.






First-time planners will appreciate the hotel’s dedicated, specially trained team of professional meeting planners who will work closely with them to ensure that everything runs smoothly. An experienced, well-staffed hotel team can answer questions, solve problems and make sure your meeting is coming together as planned. Such a team handles last minute changes on a daily basis , and does so quickly.






More importantly, they can proactively make recommendations and offer guidance and expert advice to enhance a meeting’s productivity.






Meeting planning solutions to look for require a written meeting plan/proposal to be issued within 48 hours of an initial request by fax or mail. The proposal should include an advance viewing of the meeting room. Such a proposal should also include a scheduled conference between the hotel/facility staff and a representative of the group that will be meeting. This should be done at least 30 minutes prior to the meeting’s start time and at the actual space to be used so the room’s set-up can be reviewed, adjusted as needed and related details confirmed.






As the meeting moves along, meeting rooms need refreshing. Ask that rooms be refreshed during breaks and lunch to help give a meeting group a fresh perspective.






Likewise catering choices should be as easy to select as they are satisfying. Food and beverage options should be wide to meet any catering need , from breakfast, lunch and dinner to creative coffee breaks and cocktail and hors d’oeuvres receptions.






The kitchens of most large hotels are pleased to customize the most requested dishes from their substantial catering menus. This will allow for meeting the unique tastes brought together for a business meeting, including the more health-conscious attendees.






To be sure, San Diego-based businesses are moving forward in times requiring fast change, but the ability of San Diego’s meeting industry to quickly plan and stage a world- class business meeting remains a constant.






Cameron is director of sales and marketing for the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego.