Meeting Planning | PlannerWire

Calling an Audible Onsite – A Meeting Planning Tale

February 23, 2012 By Trish 1 Comment

This is a post by our regular contributor Trish Rafferty, CMP. Trish is the Senior Meeting Manager with Meetings in Medicine in NYC. Follow her on Twitter @theFunctionista.

Calling an Audible Onsite

Planning meetings is not about being the most popular person in the room; it’s about running the best meeting possible. This is the mantra I repeated to myself when I arrived at a restaurant three hours prior to a dinner program realizing I had to make significant changes in a short time to pull off a successful event.

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The Meetings Industry and Change

October 26, 2011 By Keith Johnston 8 Comments

One of the people that I admire most in the Meetings Industry is Mitchell Beer of The Conference Publishers. I think that you will not find a more well informed person on the planet when it comes to our industry, progressive thinking and moving us forward.

Mitchell has just published an article over at MeetingsNet with the title TED’s Monopoly on Cool, you should head over there and read it now….. (HINT). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: Meeting Planning

The Chicago Area Power Outage – What Meeting Planners Can Learn

June 23, 2011 By Keith Johnston Leave a Comment

OK – The power has now into its third day of being out, I just emptied the fridge and freezer and threw away a bunch of stuff and my mind started to wander because I try and apply meeting and event planning to everything I am doing… or because I may be just a little bit crazy. Verdict is still out on that one.

What I realized is that, as odd as it sounds, this situation actually does have something to do with meeting and event planning, especially when it comes to being prepared and having a contingency plan.

Shit happens, we all know that, it is how you deal with the crap when it hits the fan is how people will define you.

In my case, I knew that the storm was coming and I gathered everything I might need.

From flashlights to camp stove, I pulled it all together and had it readily accessible in case I might need it. You will notice that I said “in case”, I was doing all of this before a drop of rain ever fell….

Maybe that is the planner in me or maybe watching Jim Cantore on the weather channel tell me how bad it was going to be spurred me into action, who knows, all I know is that it was done and the camp stove is still coming in handy.

Although that is a lesson in itself, meeting and event planners can also learn a lesson from ComEd… our power company. It is a lesson in being unprepared.

ComEd is on the television and the news telling everyone how bad the storm was and how they are not at fault. The storm was bad, I cannot argue with them on that one, it was pretty scary. But, is it not their fault? I wonder about that. How were they prepared on the front end, what precautions have they been taking? The Midwest is a nasty place, we get bad weather.

Did they cut corners? Have they failed to update equipment that is sorely in need of replacement and did they fail to take the necessary precautions to prevent the outage in the first place? I would bet that the power lines are 30 years old and they are not up to the job like they used to be… again, that is just my guess.

They may have been ready. Maybe, maybe not.

The lesson is, be as prepared as you can be and then do your best, that is really all you can do….if you are unprepared, the situation is going to get out of control and you will be unable to manage it and then that is how they will define you. Instead of managing a crisis, the crisis is going to manage you. instead of attacking a problem, you will be forced to react to a problem.

Knowing you have crossed every T and dotted every I will give you the piece of mind to concentrate on the job at hand without having to wonder about what ifs.

Photo: Roadside Pictures

Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: contingency, Meeting Planning

Increase Audience and Exhibitor Interaction – Use Space Effectively

May 4, 2011 By Keith Johnston 4 Comments

I had a chance to poke my head into the 2011 CMS Expo Learning and Business Conference this morning at the Hotel Orrington in Evanston, IL north of Chicago.

It was cool to see the conference organizers using the space in unique and creative ways ensuring that the attendees would see the exhibitors and sponsors that are their bread and butter.

Typically, the sponsors and exhibitors would be given their own room, space or hall to share their wares, knowledge and expertise. While an effective use of space, many conference and meeting planners can tell you from experience that getting attendees into these spaces can be a bit of a hassle that usually takes bribes of food and booze.

At the CMS Expo, the organizers opted to place the exhibitors and sponsors in the hallway outside of the session rooms ensuring that the attendees would be forced to interact (or at least see) all of the conference supporters in their journeys to and from learning and education. Throw in a few breaks out in the hallway and BAM, you have increased interaction that sponsors and exhibitors will really appreciate and notice.

Here is a picture of what they were able to do with the space (note – the picture was taken on the last day while sessions were taking place so there is a reason that the crowd looks light, all of the sponsors that I spoke with thought that the event was an amazing success and would be happy to sign on again).

Using Space Effectively for your meeting or conference

CMS Expo 2011

Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: Conference Planning, Meeting Planning, Space

Plan Epic Events

April 8, 2011 By Keith Johnston 1 Comment

Are you planning a conference, a meeting or any type of event? If you are, make it Epic.

You don’t feel like making it Epic? Get the hell out of the business… Your bosses don’t want to make it Epic? Start looking for a new job. Do you sit on a conference committee for your industry association and they do not want anything Epic? Join a new Association because you are sitting with losers.

I actually mean this….. Attack any type of event like it will be the best freaking event ever, hands down…. People should be talking about it for weeks after it is over no matter what, regardless of budget.

How do make your event Epic?

Smile
Have awesome staff and motivated volunteers that are geared for attendee satisfaction
Put together excellent content that challenges your attendees
Don’t be afraid to try new things
Embrace the web, it is your friend
Choose a good venue and don’t settle because it “works”

That is really all you need on a basic level to plan the most ferocious event EVER.

You don’t need every bell and whistle to plan this amazing masterpiece; you need heart, soul, passion and a love of what you do, everything else will follow.

Now get to it, attendees are waiting.

Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: Conference Planning, Event Planning, Meeting Planning