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eNewsletter - 3rd Quarter 2009

Planners and Suppliers Share a Piece of Their Mind
At June Roundtable Workshop

 
By Diana M. Brady, CMP
Manager, Events Marketing, CARTUS
Director of Programs, NYPCMA

NYPCMA turned the tables, allowing planners and suppliers to 'have their voices heard and to hear their colleagues,' at the chapter's June Roundtable Workshop.  This "sharing" of information is a valuable resource we don't often get to tap into with our busy schedules.  Networking sessions are great but most of the time we end up talking about our positions, who's who and what's new instead of picking each others brains for best practices, valuable learning experiences and tried and true techniques.  I had the wonderful opportunity of being the "fly-on-the-wall" for this fantastic session that was held June 9th at The New Yorker Hotel.  Our moderators and topics were as follows:
  1. Rallying The Troops - Kenneth Letavish, International Baccalaureate
  2. Top 10 Must Have Contract Addendums - Margaret Schwab, International Council of Shopping Centers
  3. Making The Most of Budgets - Elisabeth Maisonet, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts / Raffles Hotels & Resorts / Swiss�tel Hotels & Resorts
  4. Working With and Finding Value in CVB's - Dawn Rockas and Amber Levy,  San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau
  5. Supplier/Client Relationships - Diana Voto, Disney Destinations
  6. How To Increase Attendance - Anita O'Boyle, Institute for International Research
Some key take-aways from the June program are highlighted below, but what I thought was most poignant was that each and every table, regardless of the topic, had a common thread and that was: work together, partner, foster your relationships and the outcome will be a success.  Hopefully many of you have put some of these ideas to work already.  For those of you that were unable to make our June program, we hope these ideas will fit right in for you.
 
June Roundtable Program Take-aways:
  • Planners are and need to continue to work closely with their marketing teams.
  • The Planner's strength in negotiation is back!
  • Provide your attendees with early registration incentives/ booking packages (air/hotel/ground), din-around coupons or drink coupons for your host hotel bar; all of these or any of these will bring more bang for their buck.
  • Make Community service part of your event.
  • Use all the social networking tools - see which ones work and which ones don't.  Many of them are no-fee or minimal-fee based and they can provide valuable information regarding your audience/ habits/ patterns, etc.
  • Communicate, communicate and OVER-communicate with your partners and suppliers - always be professional but never let any information be assumed.
  • Right-size your meetings - think about your venue, your audience, your objectives - just because you like Vegas doesn't mean it will work for your group!
  • A well planned and executed contract (including addendums) represents a professional partnership.
  • Be upfront about your expectations and needs be it contract negotiating, marketing techniques, new suppliers and/or partners.
  • Document, Document, Document - keep that paper trail (or e-paper trail)!