Meeting your needs; For a great company gathering, experts offer two words of advice: Plan ahead.

• Author: White, Mark
• Position: Focus - Meeting planning

Most Certified Meeting Planners say that establishing the meeting's purpose is essential for success. All too often, those charged with planning responsibilities approach their charter from a "logistics first" mindset. But it can be more effective to plan meetings with an "objective-measurement" approach.

Create A Visionary Plan

First ask, "What should the attendees know when they walk out the door?" and "What should they accomplish after the meeting?" Create a written statement that identifies the event's purpose. This will enable you to measure post-meeting goals. All aspects of today's business--including meetings-- should focus on return on investment.

In his more than 20 years of planning meetings, Tim Cox, catering director of the Marriott City Center Hotel in Salt Lake City, has seen his share of successful and not-so-successful functions. "Effective, detailed planning will result in effective, detailed meetings," he asserts. Mike Taylor, regional vice president of ConferenceDirect, a national meeting planning firm, agrees, and suggests writing down meeting requirements. "Include everything," he advises. "The amount of meeting space, general session space, seating arrangements, number of hotel rooms, suites, meals, receptions, coffee breaks and audio-visual needs." Laurie Trautner-Black of Conferon Inc an Arlington Virginia-based planning firm, takes this approach a step further, creating an exhaustive timeline to stay organized and on track.

Once you have a checklist and timeline, it will be possible to create a detailed and realistic budget. Consider every expense, including air and ground travel, accommodations, social activities, business sessions, speakers, audiovisual needs, meeting room rental, printing, signage, food & beverage, and mailing costs. Account for taxes and gratuities, then add a 10% "contingency" fee. Trautner-Black emphasizes the importance of knowing the "value" of your meeting: "If I can impress upon a hotelier that my meeting will create a specific revenue amount from food and beverage, gift shop purchases, A/V rental and long distance phone calls, I can more effectively negotiate a lower sleeping room rate and meeting space rental rate," she says. Trautner-Black also encourages those who are planning more than one meeting in the foreseeable future to request bulk discounts.

Many hotels offer standard meeting packages. Conference centers often sell "per-person" packages that include meeting space, A/V...