4 reasons you should NOT outsource your event to your office manager

Do you think outsourcing your event and meeting planning to your office manger, virtual assistant, or executive assistant will save you a whole lot of time and hassle? Think again.  Likely your office manager will likely be “winging it.” She doesn’t know the ins and outs of the meeting planning world. You will end up spending more time, paying more money, and be more involved than you really ever cared to be. 

Sadly, in many small and medium businesses the task of planning the company retreat or board meeting or conference is often assigned to office managers, receptionists, VAs and even sales professionals. This is a huge mistake as you are pulling their time, concentration and energy away from performing their own set of important tasks. Plus, you are creating a level of expectation and responsibility that, in all fairness, does not live under the scope of their job description. Contrary to popular belief, everyone is not a meeting professional.

A meeting professional knows what to do and what not to do and is 100% focused on your meeting or event. Professional meeting planners are masters of juggling details, people and priorities. They don’t get frazzled. They just go on with the show!

Still not convinced?  Here are four reasons to hire a professional:

1.    Office managers do not have supplier relationships.
Professional meeting planners have built deep relationships with suppliers. Once you tell your planner the basic essentials like goals, date, budget, number of people, she can get to work straight away for you. And I really do mean straight away. With just the minimum parameters, she’ll be able to rattle off at least a half dozens perfect hidden gems that she will send RFPs. She’ll spend minimal time researching because she knows the properties. And, did you know that most site selection services are complimentary. So you won’t be paying a dime to hire a professional planner to source and negotiate the perfect venue, for a great rate.

2.    Office managers do not know the intricacies of destinations.
Professional meeting planners know that if you want to your event in Napa, for example, you best stay away from the month of October. All suppliers have windows they need to fill, and a professional planner will find those windows and negotiate the best rates, concessions, and deliver you a cost savings report. (all complimentary, btw) A professional planner also likely has relationships with third-party vendors in most major cities, and can leverage those relationships to get you the best bang for your buck. The work closely with CVBs to review the calendar so to avoid such conflicts as city-wides.

3.    Office managers do not know the questions to ask.
You don’t know what you don’t know. Negotiating contracts is a very important part of meeting planning. Your office manager probably doesn’t know what attrition is or to ask for more than 10%. Professional meeting planners know all the questions to ask and to be sure certain clauses are included in the contract. These clauses are things as a CEO you aren’t even aware of or thinking about.

4.    Office managers are not meeting planners.
Did you know that the position of meeting planner made the Forbes list for the top 5 most stressful jobs in 2017? Meeting planning requires expertise in communications, preparation, management, logistics, marketing and crisis management too. Because, with events, last-minute problems and emergencies happen — all the time. A professional meeting planner does more than plan your event or meeting—she focuses on the branding, marketing, reputation and future success of your business.

Meeting planning is one of the most stressful jobs around, however, professional meeting planners know how to handle the stress — and deliver memorable experiences. Dumping that degree of stress onto an individual not equipped to handle it with grace under fire is simply bad for your event or meeting — and quite frankly, bad for your business.

    

My Top 5 Meeting Planning Tips

1.     Customize the way you communicate with each specific client.
Some of my clients love email, others prefer I pick up the phone.  Several prefer to communicate via Slack or other tech platforms. Knowing the preferred method of communication is key and helps alleviate stress on both sides.

2.     Have a detailed agenda.

With that being said, any planner will tell you that something will always go wrong. So while you should have a detailed run of show in place (and a backup plan), it’s equally important to think on your feet and continuously assess and adjust as needed.

3.     Site inspection. Site inspection.

It’s imperative that you conduct a site inspection to not only see the venue, but to walk through the agenda of your event.  It’s key to be able to see how far, for example, the sleeping rooms are from the breakfast, and how many minutes will it take to walk from the general session to the breakouts. Becoming intimately familiar with the property and building a rapport with staff before everyone arrives will make for a smoother event.

4.     Leverage ideas from other events.

I was staying at a hotel a few weeks ago and decided to meander through the meeting space (It’s what planners do when they are on holiday...we can’t help ourselves.) I saw the coolest snack break: a donut wall. I knew immediately I had to replicate this for one of my events. I mean, who doesn’t love donuts?! And a wall of donuts is totally Instagram-able.

5.    Be VERY specific when communicating the details of the event.

Everyone may understand that the event starts at 5pm, but do they understand that they need to book a flight that arrives no later than 3pm in order to make it to the event by 5pm?  Most attendees do not take into consideration the tiny details like ground transfers, and distance of venue from airport. It’s your job as the planner to communicate those nitty gtritty details.

My Marketing Arsenal: The Personality Profile

Using a DISC Personality Profile for marketing is one of the strongest tools in my arsenal. Knowing my personality type and that of my clients and colleagues helps me work more effectively. So much so, that I often recommend that clients implement the simple test as part of their team building.

Have you ever noticed that your thinking style, interests, and behavorial traits are different from your friends and colleagues? You may subconsciously interact differently with people based on their personality. You often, without thinking about it, customize your communications with people depending on how you know they process or work.

Everyone is different. As Mister Roger says, “You are special. There is no one else like you in the whole world.” Understanding your own thinking style as well as your colleagues is powerful –it will increase work productivity, teamwork, and communication. It can also help you to recognize and express gratitude.

A great venue to discover thinking styles is a company retreat.  Company retreats are often organized to help team members bond in a more relaxed, casual, non-work atmosphere. There are many do-it-yourself training and developmental tools on the market that you can simply implement into your retreat agenda. Or, you can go as far as hiring a professional facilitator to administer the tool, and provide deeper color around the results.

So what are the four personality types?
Dominance, Inducement, Submission, and Compliance.

I’m a “D” and the adjectives used to describe a “D” are pretty spot on for me.

D=challenge, winning, control, dominance, bottom line

I=Approval, popularity, excitement, enthusiasm, breaking new ground

S-Stability, traditions, acceptance, support, encouragement, collaboration

C=Precision, order, logic high standards, clear expectations, independence

At a recent clients’ company retreat I was able to see first hand the true power and insight that a tool like this provides.  After the event, I spoke with a few of the attendees to learn how they immediately improved interpersonal communications, connected more effectively with co-workers, and understood what they needed to be most effective.  The feedback speaks for itself:

Darnell: “I am a C. It was nice to know to why I was clashing with certain people. Some D's tend to rub me the wrong way and I feel like I left the retreat with a better understanding of why and adding a little more grace to those people who aren't even aware of how they come across to different personalities. For example: If Pam's words and actions feel a little pushy and overbearing., I can step back instead of immediately being defensive or taking it personally. I can remember that Pam is a D and accept that she more than likely means no ill will, it’s just her take charge type of personality.”

Kristel: “I'm a D.  It helps sometimes to understand why some people think and approach situations completely differently from how you approach things.  I think it just helps explain some reactions to situations. Andrew and I are both Ds and so we will "challenge" each other often on things and he is very pushy about it.  That is his "D" personality coming out.  I'm sure he would say the same about me.  Knowing he is that way, helps to put it all in perspective (I can think of since I"m a "D" too, how would I react to that situation/question).  On the flip side, James is an "I", so he is not pushy but he is much more effective in sales type situations.  I try to pay attention when he talks about how he presents things because I think the "I" side of him can present that type of information much more effectively than I can and since I have to try and sell also, I try to learn as much from him as I can.”

This client continues to reflect back on this exercise, and takes into consideration the four personality types when making large company-wise decisions. I often hear the disclaimer, “Well, how are the Cs going to react to this? What will the Ds have to say about that?” It’s great that they continue to keep the different behavioral traits in mind when making company decisions.

What’s your personality type?