Meeting planning 101: tips from the pros on making your next one a success.

• Author: Blodgett, John
• Position: Small Business Advisor

IS IT THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN, time to gather the troops in conference for a look back and a gaze forward? Or is it time to reward employees after weeks of hard work on the picky (and pleased) Smith account? Planning a meeting, conference or other event is little different in process than planning a new product. It comes down to teamwork, communication and asking key questions in advance.

As a professional planner, Cynthia Mitchell, president of Salt Lake City-based Eventiv, Inc., has vested interest in serving clients. But do-it-yourself types might do well to heed her advice. "[To go it alone], you are trying to reinvent the wheel," she says. Most small businesses are already spread thin. The time it takes to put a meeting together and to pull it off, coupled with the cost of doing business at the same time, can easily offset or even surpass any savings that might appear at the surface. At the very least, Mitchell suggests an upfront consultation with a professional to weigh your options and ensure that you understand the ramifications of going it alone.

In Mitchell's experience, many who are new at helping to set up a meeting or conference for their company have no idea of the time and effort involved. "[Most] executives think that it is nothing to put an event or meeting together," she says. "They feel it takes a few phone calls and that's it." In fact, she recommends at least six to 12 months lead time for best results, though she acknowledges that in a pinch she can perform the impossible mission. "I've done events for 3,500 with two weeks notice," Mitchell explains. "But the issue is finding the venue and caterer in time."

Pauline Gunn, a meeting planner with Unishippers, Inc., agrees. "With conventions, the site selection process begins approximately a year in advance," she says. However, she notes, planning for "the unexpected, as-needed meetings can be as short as one or two weeks."

Mitchell warns not to shoot for the moon if you can't afford to reach it, but cost containment and outside-the-box creative planning need not be mutually exclusive. In these days of a down-turned economy, more and more bartering is happening between companies planning an event and those who are supplying it. Is your firm a web development agency? Offer consultation or coding to a restaurant in trade for the rental cost of meeting space. If your company's forte is printing and copying, offer to design and print a brochure for your preferred caterer...