Event PlanningTeri Ditsch

Marketing DirectorBLUE HAWK Cooperative

Overview

Pre-planning

Sourcing

Site Visits

Negotiating

Contracting

Pre-planning after Venue Selection

Registration

Event Draws Near

Staffing

Tips from Fellow Electric Co-ops

Post Meeting Follow-up

Pre-planning Set your objectives

What is the purpose of the meeting? Who are your attendees? Where are they coming from? What is your room rate threshold?

Determine city/cities you want to source Region determined by objectives Attendees Driving or Flying? 1st Tier vs. 2nd Tier Cities

Dates Dates firm? Alternate dates a possibility?

Pre-planning ContinuedEstablish Planning and Promotional Action Plan

Create a master checklist. Determine who needs to be involved at what point in

the planning process. Assign follow-up items to specific members of the

team. Prepare calendar of staff planning meetings,

conference calls, deadlines,

Review History Should include, room pick-up, any rooms booked

outside your block, total F&B, other hotel revenue (A/V, guest dining, equipment rental, etc.)

Your best negotiating tool is a strong meeting history Educated Guess Attrition and room block

Pre-planning Continued

Agenda (basic but detailed enough for sourcing) Space requirements General sessions, break-out, food functions, etc.

Determine Number of Attendees How many locals are there? This is important for

understanding parking needs.

Pre-planning Continued Budget

Budget basics Don’t forget to add the “++” into your calculations. Always pay attention to below minimum fees. Cities – 1st tier vs. 2nd tier. Peak season vs. shoulder/off season. Are you paying all sleeping rooms or are your

attendees paying on their own? Giveaway items. Food and Beverage

You can ask the hotel/caterer to come up meal choices to fit your budget.

Select break items that you can order consumption instead of having to order a set amount.

Budget Spreadsheet

Sourcing Hotels and Event Venues

Request for Proposal (RFP) Always include

historical rates and F&B spend approximate decision date square footage required for each meeting alternate dates/patterns date you need responses by concession wish list

Be honest about your space requirements and potential room block

Be thorough as possible

Site VisitDetermine which hotels/event venues you want

to visit Create a comparison spreadsheet with the

information from your proposals to figure out your top hotels or venues.

Make sure the hotels you are siting have your space on 1st option hold (but don’t have them continue to hold unless you are seriously considering them for contract)

Schedule VisitFor hotels, a one night comped stay for Site Visit

and transfer from the airport is standard.

Site VisitKnow your goals

Different goals/objectives require different locations.

Be an attendee Walk around without a sales person. You’ll see

things differently because they won’t be directing your attention.

If a venue where most people will be driving, pay attention to parking areas, distance from venue, max capacity, etc.

NegotiatingSet goals going in – what’s really important to

you and your group? (budget, flexibility, etc.)

Be realistic & only negotiate with hotels/venues where you are already close to your goals (i.e. – most hotels leave some negotiating room, but a $225 rate isn’t going to go down to $175). Otherwise, you’re both just spinning your wheels.

Negotiating Continued

Concessions for hotels – standard requests are 1 complimentary room per 50 occupied rooms, a few upgrades to suites *, a few complimentary amenities *, complimentary meeting space with a reasonable amount of F&B.

* these concessions are relative to group size. A small group (25 people) may only get 1 upgrade & amenity, where a larger group (500 people), may get 20.

Negotiating ContinuedOther areas you can negotiate

Staff rooms – 50% discount Complimentary internet access in meeting office or

registration Menu pricing (10-15% discount, or current menu

pricing for future dates) A/V (10-15% discount, or free items, etc.) Resort fees Wifi in sleeping room (sometimes included in resort

fee) Fitness center (sometimes included in resort fee)

Don’t forget, it is about “Relationships”. You are trying to make it a win-win for both your organization and the hotel/venue.

Contracting Check to make sure everything is correct

Make sure the contract is in your company’s name not yours

Function Space – it is what you discussed? Is it enough?

Concessions – Make sure they are in the contract, not just verbal

Hotel - Room block – are the numbers correct? is the rate correct?

Hotel - Room types – if you need a certain percentage of doubles for example it must be in the contract.

Hotel - Does the contract include pre/post dates for room block

Hotel - Method of reservation – rooming list vs. attendee call-in

Hotel - Reservation cut-off date

Additional charges

Pre-planning After Venue Selection

Review master checklist.

Develop theme, logo, graphics. Prepare a promotional strategy. Make sure that

all correspondence regarding the event follows the look dictated by the theme.

Reevaluate your budget.

Invite and/or confirm speakers, including those from within your organization. Get AV needs for all speakers.

Pre-planning After Venue Selection

Indentify and evaluate needs for outside suppliers. A/V company Caterer Decorator Printer Transportation company

Tip from Jackson EMC – Use school buses to shuttle attendees from offsite parking lots. Cheaper than bus company and you’re also supporting the local school.

Entertainment Furniture rentals Photographers Security Temporary employees Translators

Pre-planning After Venue Selection

Licenses and Insurance Are you having liquor at your event? Do you

need a liquor license and/or licensed bartender? Does your company’s liability insurance cover

your event? Or do you need to get a special policy?

Design/Reevaluate space layouts and floor plans Determine flow of attendee traffic throughout the

entire event. Identify ADA needs and make necessary

arrangements.

RegistrationRegistration

The higher number of advance registrations you get, the more accurate your counts.

If your group tends to not register in advance try to give some kind of incentive for those who do .Extra ticket for a door prize.An additional giveaway that onsite registrants don’t

receive. Coupon for free item at local ice cream shop.Percentage off of their next bill.Advanced registration lines for quicker check-in.

Try to make it as easy as possible to pre-register.

Event Draws NearAbout a month to two months out reconfirm

with all outside vendors. Reconfirm again the week of the event. Confirm:

TimeLocationContact information for the people who will be

onsite and their supervisors if they will not be onsite.

Make sure they have contact information for you while onsite and not just your office information.

Reconfirm all speakers and their A/V needs Try to avoid all last minute changes if possible.

Event Draws NearGo through all possible problems and issues

that may arise so that you can try to head them off or be prepared if they happen. Weather back-up if event is outside. Power outages. Security needs. Technical problems

Make sure all event staff know their roles and the procedures for handling as many situations as possible. Create a reference binder or few so they can look

things up if you’re not available.

Event Draws NearThe larger your event the more time you’ll

need for set-up and pre-event run throughs.

RECONFIRM EVERYTHING, yes again…

Give final guarantees to caterer and anyone who needs them.

StaffingEvaluate your needs and make sure to staff

accordingly.

Try to minimize lines at check-in/registration. Make sure people are properly trained before your

start so they aren’t stumbling through as the line grows.

Automate as much as possible.

Make sure to have staff available to direct the crowd and answer questions. People hate having to chase someone down to get an

answer. In addition to staffing make sure signage is visible

and easy to understand.

StaffingMake sure your venue, your caterer or your

staff stays on top of the garbage and recycling. And make sure there is enough of both. Even if a outside company is in charge of waste,

have a staff person in charge of monitoring it. Nothing worse than overflowing garbage cans. They don’t necessarily have to be the person to empty it, but they can inform the person who is when needed.

Tips from Fellow Electric Co-ops

Use a local 4-H club to BBQ your meal. It becomes a large fundraiser for them and will probably save you money over using a caterer.

Have a kids carnival where kids can play while their parents enjoy the entertainment and business meeting.

Include: jump houses, giant inflatable slides, kiddie ferris wheel, clown stations making balloon animals, face painting, Little Tykes Village for kids 2 and under.

Have a Health Fair (vendors offer free and low-cost services to members.

Tips from Fellow Electric Co-ops

Customer Service Tent – partners include: Associated Credit Union EMC Security Your product and services

One EMC gives about 34 door prizesDraw throughout the night, not at the beginning so

attendees who are just there for the door prizes don’t leave early.

Items include flat sceen TV’s, entertainment systems, grills.

Have youth prizes that only the youngsters can win. Grand prize giveaway truck – retired fleet vehicle.

Tips from Fellow Electric Co-ops

Every member registered for the event gets a logo’d item such as an acrylic cutting board.

Attendees park at local school and county courthouse. Shuttled by school bus to the event.

Post Meeting Follow-up Bills

Thoroughly check all bills to make sure they are correct, bring up any discrepancies sooner rather than later.

Pay Promptly.

History Spreadsheet Enter F&B totals for each event. Enter room sizes used and comments on how it worked. If hotel is used - final pick-up, including those who booked outside your

block. Entertainment - did you get good feedback?

Survey Sometimes people won’t tell you in person if something was wrong or

could be improved, but they will anonymously on a survey

Post Meeting Staff Meeting Discuss what worked and what didn’t. Involve as many staff members as possible because everyone had a

different job and a different point of view.

QUESTIONS?

Teri DitschBLUE HAWK Cooperative

tditsch@bluehawkcoopertive.com480-499-4423