How to Plan a Meeting

Meeting Planning Guide

Written by: Ang’elle A. Ancar, CMP

When planning a meeting, there are numerous tasks to remember, a plethora of details to consider and of course a team to manage. If you are new to planning meetings or just need a refresher, this meeting Planning Guide is for you. The purpose of this guide is to assist you with meeting and exceeding your Stakeholder’s expectations as well as assist with the overall success of your meeting.

DISCLAIMER: This Meeting Planning Guide does not cover or claim to cover all aspects of meeting planning, legal or otherwise. The document provides an overview and highlights from the Author’s point of view, to be used only as a guide.

Consultation:

Schedule a meeting with the Stakeholders to discuss their expectations. Having a clear understanding of what you are being tasked with is the first step to understanding if the job is in your wheelhouse and if you are a good fit.

Understand the Goals & Vision:

Your Stakeholders should articulate what they would like to accomplish, in terms of Key Performance Indicators (KPI), attendance, look and feel of the meeting, financial targets, etc., all of which will help to guide your planning process.

Know the Budget:

At this stage, you know your Stakeholder’s vision and expectations. Therefore, a clear understanding of the budget is paramount as it creates the framework for the caliber of event you are able to plan.

• Based on your client’s budget, set realistic expectations as it relates to what you can accomplish, as you don’t want to over promise and under deliver.
• This may also be a great time to educate your Stakeholders on the cost of similar events that you’ve researched or planned, as they may not be aware. Based on your information, they may be inclined to increase the budget. If there is no flexibility in their budget, alternate options should be offered within their price-point.
• Before proceeding with any additional pre-planning steps, create a budget that reflects all potential event costs to understand how much is allocated to each aspect of the meeting. Make sure to update and review the budget daily to ensure you are in tune with the numbers and all expenses are accounted for. Also, forward and review the budget with the client weekly or as often as you deem necessary, as they need to understand where they stand with expenses. Tip: when creating the budget, if possible, add a buffer to cover any overages.

Sourcing/Vetting Venues:

Having the major components solidified – goals, vision, expectations and budget, you can now start to source and vet venues.

• When looking for a venue, ensure that the space aligns with the client’s vision, can accommodate the number of people expected with some room for growth and falls within or preferably under the budget allocated.
• If possible, the venue should offer packages that include staff and minimal or no rental charges, have freight elevators and flexible timing options.
• Tip: A great way to reduce décor expenses is to find a venue that has existing décor that can be used to enhance your meeting.

Contracting Venues:

When contracting any service, the goal is to mitigate or alleviate the company’s financial liability. There are several key contractual clauses to note and must be reviewed and negotiated to accomplish this. Review the steps and clauses below to give you an idea of what to reference or add to the contract.

Sleeping rooms:

• If there are any sleeping rooms associated, contract the absolute minimum number of rooms required. Make sure you are aware of the occupancy over your dates in the event you require additional rooms.
• Rooms should be contracted on a cumulative basis, not a per night basis. By contracting on a cumulative basis, you are not required to pick up a certain number of rooms each night, instead the hotel will count every night of your pick-up toward meeting your contractual room obligation. Often times, you may have some room nights that have stronger pick-up than others, if that is the case you will not be penalized for it unless you fall below the minimum number of nights you need to fulfill.
• Review the rooming list daily to ensure all rooms are accounted for and all revisions have been made.

Value-Added Concessions:

• Staff Rooms – some of your sleeping rooms can be negotiated to a discounted staff rate. That rate will typically be determined by the full cost of the same room type in your sleeping room block, as well as the number of rooms you have contracted collectively.
• Food and Beverage Discount – a reduction that is made on your F&B spend before tax and gratuity. The discount is typically 10%.
• Audio Visual Discount – a reduction that is made on your AV spend before tax and service charge. The discount is typically 20%.

Food and Beverage:

• The food and beverage minimum should be negotiated to a number that you can comfortably meet. Request menus to familiarize yourself with the venue’s pricing and to get an idea of how much you will need to budget and spend to adequately feed your attendees.

Resale Clause:

• In the event you do not pick-up all of your contracted room block, the hotel will attempt to resell the rooms after their original inventory has been sold.

Rebook Clause:

• If you need to cancel your meeting, the venue will typically allow you to reschedule your meeting within 12 months of the cancellation date.

Force Majeure:

• In the event that your meeting is canceled due to an act of God or any other specific situations negotiated, you will be protected from paying cancelation fees.
• Tip: If this meeting has been held previously at the same hotel, reviewing the previous year’s contract could be a great guide.

Contracting Vendors:

When contracting vendors for any aspect of your meeting, there is a certain protocol to follow. Please find helpful tips below.

• Before selecting a vendor, understand the service and scope of work you require. The vendor should be reputable, have a proven track-record and be a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in their field.
• A minimum of three quotes should be reviewed and compared to secure the best pricing. The quotes you choose to vet, should reflect the same items from each vendor to ensure a fair comparison.
• After vetting and selecting a vendor, request a contract. The contract should outline the scope of work, terms, pricing, timelines, etc., be executed by both parties and saved for your records.

Logistical Planning:

In order for the venue to execute your meeting successfully, you will provide your contact a detailed document called “Meeting Specifications,” which will provide full logistical details of every component of your meeting. Contingent upon the nature of your meeting, your Meeting Specs could include the following, but not limited to.

• Rooming List – Be aware of what your “Cut-Off Date” is. If you are submitting a rooming list, the list should be submitted by that date, otherwise the room block could be

released. The list should contain all pertinent information such as the guest first/last name, lodging dates, room type, billing information, special instructions and submitted to the venue in an organized spreadsheet to create a paper trail for your records.

• Meeting Room Sets – how each room will be set up (classroom, theater, U-shape, etc.) as well as set-up/refresh times.
• Food and Beverage Selections – what will be served at each meal period (breakfast, lunch, am break, etc.) as well as set-up/break-down times and any special instructions. Tip: to reduce F&B expenses, ask the Chef what he is serving to another group and duplicate that lunch, which will alleviate his product and ordering costs. You can then ask for a reduction in your per person lunch cost. Or, you can serve the dessert from your lunch at a PM break to avoid the additional cost of a snack.
• Audio Visual – all equipment that will be used during your meeting (screen, projectors, microphones, etc.) as well as set-up/break-down times. Tip: to reduce AV expenses, find out what the previous group’s AV set is and you may be able to use some of the equipment, which will reduce your set-up costs.

On-site Execution:

After all of the pre-planning has been done, it is now time to execute the meeting! Due to the various nature of every meeting, on-site experiences will vary. Below are some situations you may experience.

• Pre-Conference Meeting – the purpose of this meeting is to make introductions, state expectations and review all pertinent information to ensure everyone is aligned. The venue staff will typically consist of your main contact (pre-planning contact), Banquets (responsible for serving/handling food and beverage), Audio Visual (responsible for all AV requirements) and any other key staff deemed appropriate. You will also inspect the meeting space with your main contact to ensure all rooms have been set according to your Meeting Specifications. Please keep in mind that this is the time to make any revisions, as you want the rooms to be pre-set and ready for the next day.
• On the first day of the meeting, contingent upon what is left to complete, you could arrive 1.5 hours early to re-check the meeting space, prepare registration materials (if applicable), meet the AV staff to load presentations, set meeting material, etc. Each day thereafter, you decide what time you arrive for the day depending on what needs to be done.
• Throughout the day, you ensure that all meeting rooms are being refreshed during breaks, food and beverage is being set and refreshed in a timely manner, AV is set for the next session, answer attendee questions, etc.
• Post-Conference Meeting – after your meeting has concluded, it is important to discuss your

on-site experience and hotel performance with your contact. Make sure to highlight any successes, failures, improvements, etc. and request that all final billing and reports be forwarded to you.

Post Event Reporting :

At the conclusion your meeting, you should always forward your client all reports relevant to their meeting to use as a point of reference for future planning.

• Typically those reports consist of the sleeping room pick-up, banquet or dining checks, transportation bills, the final budget you created, etc. Any item that has a cost and was included in the final budget should be forwarded to the client.

Bonus Idea (by Jesse Dameron):

If you are grappling with how to make sure your meetings are not boring, consider the corporate entertainment in the video below. If you want to pursue the entertainment shown below, call 267-261-9930 for a free consultation or visit www.mentalistjesse.com.