The following are key roles that an independent 3rd party contractor can bring to the table during the meeting planning process, as excerpted from the “Meeting Planners Playbook.” For more tips like these, visit www.meetingplannerplaybook.com
Consultant/Trusted Advisor-
1. Experience and Relationships- putting their years of industry experience and contacts to work for their clients.
2. Fresh Ideas- from the experiences they have and the work they are doing with other organizations, they offer new ideas on how to potentially improve the organization.
3. Educational Content- sharing the knowledge and experience to help plan the educational content and adult learning techniques that are critical to the learning process.
4. Save the Organization Time and Money- a good independent planner can save an organization significant time and money.
Industry Expert- they take the time to stay up-to-date on the latest industry trends:
1. Face-to-Face Meetings
2. Virtual Meetings
3. Hybrid Meetings
4. New Technology (e.g. Mobile Applications)
5. Green Meetings
6. Strategic Meeting Management
7. Social Networking
8. Exhibits/Tradeshows
9. Growing Membership
10. Growing Attendance
Manager of Logistics- assistance with managing the many details through the entire process from inception to reality:
1. Writing and administering the technical RFP Process
2. Establishing and managing the meeting’s technical budget
3. Site Inspection/Technical Evaluation
4. Contract Negotiation
5. Pre-conference Planning
6. Set Up and Tear Down
Extra Staff (without adding overhead expenses) – This role can provide, on a project basis, the extra hands the organization needs to achieve their priorities.
Finally, meeting planners have historically juggled multiple industry contacts; hotel brand national sales offices, various destination convention bureaus, and preferred vendors (AV, Decorators, etc.). One-stop shopping by outsourcing a major section of tasks streamlines the process.