Organising a successful event
pharmafile | November 8, 2011 | Feature | Sales and Marketing |
Company conferences and events have come a long way since we used to be taken out for a short meeting and then three days of boozing: as was the old ‘company conference’.
Today delegates can look forward to inspirational speakers, exotic locations, unusual venues (such as castles, football stadiums etc.) and a wide range of team building and strategy activities that are a cross between ‘The Crystal Maze’ and ‘The Krypton Factor’.
Of course, this makes it all the harder for you the corporate event manager, you’ve had a superb event this year so how can you possibly top it next year and make it even better? That’s where your relationship with the hotel companies come in, they can really help make or break an event. Having a good relationship with your hotel contact is vital to build trust and a real strong understanding of each other’s business. Yes, you are the client and hold the budget, but you also need the hotel.
Building a strong working relationship with your hotel supplier will ensure a successful event, and understanding their business too (in terms of busy and quiet times) can save you money, also the hotel also wants to build a long-term working relationship with you in order to get repeat business so it really can be a win-win relationship.
Looking to organise an event over a weekend? Then you will get a much better rate from a city centre hotel than a country house-style hotel which is likely to fill every weekend. Likewise if you are organising a weekday event you will get a much better rate going to a country house-style property as they will (normally) have less demand mid week from Corporate clients, so you will be able negotiate on rate.
Also, time of year and day of the week affects the rates too – so having a good understanding and relationship with your hotel supplier and maybe being flexible on month, or even day of week can help – moving one day forward or back can often save thousands off a big event as it may slot nicely into the hotel’s conference diary, and they will be keen to move you into specific dates, so again, will offer an incentive in terms of rate or added value to get you to move a day forward or back.
Good sales people will also want to understand what you are trying to achieve at a particular event so they can help in terms of coming up with ideas/themes, and can help you in your quest of exceeding last year’s event.
Is your event about a) the sales team learning about a new product, (b) an incentive for them achieving sales, or (c) a team building event to bring them together?
All those events need different approaches and activities within the event, so working with your hotel contacts and having them advise on which of their hotels would best suit the particular thing you are trying to achieve, will again add to the success on your event.
Work with the hotels in terms of rates and a realistic budget – you don’t want to go away feeling you have paid too much for an event – equally the hotel doesn’t want to go away feeling it has been screwed down too far on rate, as that’s when things start to go wrong. Fewer staff to serve your event, cutting back on portions, charging you for AV equipment/Wi-Fi etc. to try and claw back some of the revenue you squeezed out of them. Sometimes the hotel won’t be able to reduce on rate, if this is the case, ask them if they can add value by upgrading coffee breaks, upgrading lunch or dinner menus, offering upgraded rooms, a welcome drinks reception on the first night, a free round of golf if they have a golf course?
All these things don’t cost the hotel hugely, but they have a high perceived value and a combination of reduced rate and added value can again leave both you and the hotel feeling they have had a good deal.
Today people’s expectations are much higher and we all attend more events, meetings and conferences than ever before, so have many more experiences to compare events, which, in a way, is a good thing as it keeps the hotel on its toes and makes everyone up their game in terms of creative ideas and exceptional delivery from the hotel. After all, we can send people to the moon, so delegates and organisers alike are looking for real creativity, new ideas, thinking ‘outside the box’ and you working with them to create truly great events for their organisations.
To sum up – work with the venue, expect high standards and accept nothing less – negotiate on rates and added value to ensure you both come away feeling you have had a good deal and a successful event.
By Michael Bell – Resort Director of Sales, DeVere Slaley Hall Hotel
For more information please visit: www.devere-hotels.co.uk/slaleyhall
