Confessions of an Event Planner: Case Studies From the Real World of Events--How to Handle the Unexpected and How to Be a Master of Discretion

by Judy Allen

  What goes on in the room should not be discussed outside of the room with regard to company figures and information, and supplier staff may be required to sign confidentiality agreements. Companies have read in the newspapers, for example, how catering or other event-related staff or entertainment members have taken pictures or videos of what has taken place privately in a room at celebrity and other high-profile, exclusive events and posted them on the Web or sold them to newspapers and magazines, and are, consequently, protecting themselves.

  Assignment

  Discuss proper protocol, procedures, confidentiality issues and codes of conduct for event planning staff and various staff assigned to be in the room while an event is underway.

  Day and Dinner Cruises

  Q: Are there any special amenities to look for when choosing a boat for a day or dinner cruise that will make one boat a better fit than another?

  A: Just like a room or venue, boats come with room capacities and room or venue “energy,” and different layouts work better than others, depending on what your event inclusions will be. It is important to know what will be included and how your event will unfold before you submit your request for a quote or do a site inspection. Areas of consideration include

  • Maximum capacity

  • Handicap access

  • Valid permits and safety inspection reports

  • Indoor seating capacity in case of inclement weather or guests in need of shade

  • Outdoor seating capacity

  • Bathroom facilities, including easy access, cleanliness, etc.

  • Cooking area (check to see cleanliness here as well)

  • Bar areas (check to see cleanliness here as well)

  • Dancing area (if applicable)

  • Stage or designated area for entertainment (protection for electrical equipment and band members in case of a storm, etc.)

  • Sound system

  • Available power

  • Power outlet locations

  • Air conditioning (see if extra charges will apply)

  • Areas of congestion that will cause lineups, etc. (to bathroom, to food, to bar, etc.)

  • Condition of table linens, dishware, glasses, cutlery, tables, chairs, etc. (rentals may be required)

  • Suggested menus

  • Clean dock area with easy access to the boat for embarkation and disembarkation, parking for transportation (if required) or ability to pick up and drop off guests at hotel dock if applicable

  • Safety record

  • Insurance

  • Liquor license

  • Required permits or other paperwork

  • Guest safety and security provisions (such as the required number of life jackets)

  • Emergency backup plans in case the boat is unable to continue its journey because of mechanical problems

  Assignment

  Design a theme cruise reception and dinner and beverage menu to fit this chapter’s event and location, and map out on a grid or critical path the event flow timing and logistics. (Special note: Grids and critical paths are covered in depth in Event Planning: The Ultimate Guide, The Business of Event Planning and Time Management for Event Planners.)

  Shipping Meeting Goods In and Out of Country

  Q: What needs to be done to properly bring meeting materials and goods in and out of a country?

  A: Each country has different rules and regulations. Both the hotel that is hosting the event and your local destination management companies can advise you what is required from a legal perspective for temporary importation of conference materials (not including consumables) and consumables (goods that will be used in the country and not coming back out, e.g., custom suntan lotion bottles brought in as part of a room gift delivery), if duties and excise taxes apply, and proper procedures to follow to make sure that everything clears customs in time for your event to start. Your local DMC will help you to facilitate this process. Temporary importation of program materials will require a letter done on company letterhead be sent to your local DMC or broker that contains some of the following information:

  • Quantity of each item being shipped

  • Description of each item

  • Value of each item (not less than the insured value of the item)

  • Total value of items

  • Total value of shipment

  Assignment

  Using the watches as an example of temporary importation goods that were coming in and out of a country and tied to the meeting, find out what would have been required to bring these items in and out of Jamaica (or another country of your choice) and back into the United States. Think of alternative ideas that may have been equally as effective as presenting the actual watch to the recipient at the event but would have avoided bringing the watches and creating problems at customs entering the country, exiting the country and clearing customs when returning home. For example, could beautifully designed vouchers showcasing the watch been presented at the event, with winning participants being told that at that very moment their watches were being personally engraved and would be waiting for them back in the office?

  Surprises

  Q: What is the best method to deal with surprises when an event is taking place?

  A: It’s very important that participants never be privy to important conversations. On the surface all must appear smooth, with any of the behind-the-scenes actions taking place quietly and quickly without arousing attention or alarm. It is important to have such discussions—and any discussions about the group or the event—out of hearing range, and that includes during staff meetings held over lunch in a hotel restaurant, as you never know who is listening in to your conversations. For example, one airline representative who had taken members of an event planning company out for coffee was discussing how they could achieve override commissions. The general manager for the mall happened to be sitting within listening distance and her ears perked up at the mention of override commissions. The mall was paid a percentage of rent based on the travel agency’s sales, but she had never known about override commissions, so they had never been a part of the rent equation. Because of that overheard conversation, override commissions were included from that day on and not only at that mall but at all the malls the general manager’s mall was affiliated with that had travel agency rental tenants.

  Assignment

  Discuss various ways staff could have handled the three major surprises that took place in this chapter (TheMistress showing up at the airport with a ticket, the meat catching fire, and the watches showing up at the final awards night) right when the surprises occurred. Also, the next courses of required action and what the event planner needs to address back in the event planning office and post event recap with the client.

  CHAPTER 3

  YOU WANT ME TO TRY ALLIGATOR, RATTLESNAKE AND WHAT???

  Em experiences the difficulties of managing a client’s demanding wants and whims during a site inspection and finds herself in a sticky situation.

  DECEMBER 24

  When I travel for business and pleasure, I’m lucky enough to be totally spoiled. I am first to admit that I love it and that I get to call it work. I love arriving at my destination, disembarking and knowing—no matter if the plane is late or early—that I’ll have someone standing at the baggage claim area holding up a sign with my name on it, ready to deal with my luggage and get me settled into their waiting limousine. And it truly is work. It is often the first “test,” if you will, of the local ground operator and the level of service they will be providing to your clients and their guests when the program runs. If they are not standing there showing they have been carefully monitoring my flight arrival, impeccably dressed, carrying a professional-looking sign, being attentive to my needs and treating me with proper correctness, warning bells start to go off in my head. What could go wrong when the group is actually traveling?

  This time I was warmly greeted by Wills’s familiar smiling face. I specifically had requ
ested Wills for my pre-boarding stay in Miami with my client as he’d impressed me when we’d worked together in Key West a few months ago. I’ll be dealing with a first-time client and I want to have someone by my side that I know to be good at making things happen.

  After welcome hugs and air kisses were exchanged, my luggage handed over to the limousine driver to deal with, and a moment taken to freshen up, Wills and I were ready to go meet my client and his wife, whom I had never met before but who was to be my traveling companion for the next week. My client, a very quiet and laid-back man in his 60s from the deep south who had just hit it rich, was flying in with his company executives to do business in Palm Beach and would be leaving his wife in our hands at the airport. He jokingly had told me when we last spoke that his missus was a handful and said to make sure that I packed my running shoes. When I queried him as to why, he just chuckled and remarked that I would soon find out.

  And that we did. Upon entering the chosen bar for our “official” wife handover, I quickly spotted my client and Wills and I made our way to him and his fellow executives and made the introduction rounds of everyone gathered there except the missus. “Ah, here comes the little woman,” exclaimed my client, and Wills and I turned to see the crowds parting to reveal—blink blink—a woman who rivaled Dolly Parton in . . . ahem, how to word this nicely . . . stature, style of dress, and long, blonde hair at its most bouffant. Absolutely teetering towards us on heels that were threatening to be her undoing, the missus was just a tiny bit tipsy and literally dripping in diamonds. Whoever said you can’t have enough of a good thing had never met the missus. Only thing missing was a tiara, and I’m willing to wager that the missus has one of those—if not several—stashed away somewhere.

  Seeing the missus and seeing diamonds, not dainty, demure diamonds but many, many carat rivers of diamonds reflecting their brilliance everywhere, made me think of Daniela, our office manager. A hard-core fashionista ex European haute couture model from Italy, Daniela happily spends all of her off time on international programs shopping and lovingly bossing and mothering us while working. All of us in the office have at one time or another been subjected to our own personal fashion dos and don’ts, delivered in a not-so-discreet shocked tone both on-site and back at the office. Forget to put your lipstick on and dare to wander into Daniela’s line of vision and you were apt to hear, “For goodness sake, woman, put some lipstick on!” When one new employee ventured to ask Daniela if the diamond earrings she was wearing were real, those who knew Daniela best knew exactly what her response would be. Drawing herself up to her full height, which was well over six feet, she haughtily asked the newcomer, “Do I look like someone who would wear fake jewelry?” Then she softened her delivery with a wink.

  Taking in the walking vision before me of every fashion don’t imaginable, I could just imagine Daniela’s reaction when the missus first comes to visit our office or they meet on-site. But on the plus side, Daniela would finally have someone she could talk designers with, as the missus was a walking billboard. And there was no question that those diamonds were real. The missus had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gems stuffed casually in her handbag. Note to self: May need to add in bodyguards when traveling with the missus if this is any indication of what is to come and this is what she deems to be appropriate flight—albeit first class—dress.

  “Boys, did you miss me?” the missus asked upon her return, settling into their midst like a queen bee happily surrounded by a bevy of attractive men, attentive as any good senior executive would be to the boss’s wife. Her voice surprised me, as it was husky and raw and sounded like too much whiskey and cigarettes. Very unexpectedly, her laugh came from deep inside and was more of a hearty burble. “Nouvelle riche” would have been Daniela’s summation of the missus.

  Introductions were made, the missus handover was officially done and Wills and I were positive that we both heard a sigh of relief from the execs and her husband as the missus said her good-byes with great fanfare and a flurry of hugs and kisses and received good luck wishes in return (for us, we were convinced). Wills and I, one of us on each side steadying the missus from a high heel teeter-totter disaster, were doing our best to persuade her to leave behind the “one more glass of champagne for the road” that was being tightly held in her hand. I couldn’t help but notice that the hand was adorned with diamonds and long, garish, hot pink nails—so long that I wondered how she managed to get through the day without causing injury to herself and others. Wills’s charm worked, as did a promise of more champagne waiting in the limousine, but much to our chagrin her solution to not taking it with us was to drain her glass without taking a pause, sweetly hand Wills her champagne flute to dispose of and then link arms with both of us. I cued the music to The Wizard of Oz inside my mind as we made our way out of the airport to our waiting transportation.

  I already knew my client was right: a handful the missus would surely prove to be. I was glad that we had decided to spend a night in Miami before setting sail and was longing for a quiet night with each of us in our luxury hotel suites enjoying room service, but I knew that was probably just wishful thinking.

  Part of the job on site inspections is to keep your client happy. And keeping the missus happy apparently entailed dining out and being whisked around by limousine to Miami’s hottest clubs to go drinking and dancing. I am positive both Wills and I blanched at the thought. It was already quite clear that the missus liked her champagne and was never prepared to let good champagne go to waste. The missus insisted that the leftover champagne from the limousine ride be delivered to her guestroom along with her luggage and wanted to make sure that the limo would be stocked when we headed out that evening to play, which Wills assured her it would be.

  Dinner tonight was at one of the hotel’s finest gourmet dining rooms and I asked Wills to join us (me) for moral support and to give the missus the male attention that she was actively seeking. Champagne makes the missus feel flirty, she informed us. I knew with Wills I had no worries (I’d met his boyfriend on the Key West trip). The missus seemed to enjoy his fussing over her and it turned out that they were both champagne connoisseurs, which gave them something in common to talk about and bond with over dinner.

  The missus opened the menu and let out a squeal, which raised the eyebrows of nearby diners—couples enjoying a romantic evening out—and staff alike for a second time. The first was when the missus made her grand entrance, and if this afternoon’s dress was casual, tonight’s was over the top. The dress the missus was wearing dipped dangerously low. Thankfully, the diamonds she was wearing—a new, dazzling display—would distract anyone should anything pop out that wasn’t supposed to.

  While I was quietly pondering where the day diamonds had been stashed, I was alarmed to hear “Alligator, rattlesnake, wild boar, ostrich. . . .” The missus had started excitedly reading aloud from the menu, noting that the exotic specialties the restaurant was featuring this month were ending tonight and weren’t we lucky to be here in time to try them. Yup, lucky us. Before Wills and I had time to react, the missus summoned the waiter over and ordered the exotic special for all three of us, with caviar and champagne to start.

  In this business you have to be game to try most anything event planning life or your clients throw at you, but to date being game and eating game or other exotic fare not of my choosing has not been required of me, nor Wills apparently from the look on his face, as visions of dining on the succulent lobster or the delectable beef the restaurant was known for were replaced by this new reality. Wills struggled to put on his “game face” (ha-ha) in the name of customer service and closed his menu with a tiny sigh before giving a smile of anticipation and reaching for his glass of excellent champagne. We could already tell it was going to be a long night.

  Happily munching juicy turkey burgers and salad from room service later in my room, Wills and I kicked back and planned the next day. The missus was now officially dubbed “DiamondDiva” after finding out in t
he back seat of the limo that the missus changed her diamonds to suit her whims and that her well-stuffed purse was where she kept some of her diamond stash. This fact caused great anxiety for Wills and me at the clubs as we discovered that DiamondDiva was prone to dropping her purse anywhere when a song came on that she was determined to dance to.

  Wills did a great job tonight, both in stepping into and stepping up to the role of dancing partner and getting DiamondDiva in all her glittering glory whisked into the hottest clubs’ VIP sections with no waiting—that’s the benefit of aligning yourself with the best in the business and working with well-connected DMCs. The very least I could do was feed him before he left. We were both starving from not eating much at dinner. DiamondDiva had finished off with relish what we hadn’t touched. That woman either has a cast-iron stomach or maybe the amount of champagne she consumed made the exotic fare more palatable, but Wills and I just were not up to it and merely moved our food around making it look as though we had taken a few bites. I was certain Wills, as discreet as he was, used his napkin more than once as means of disposal. I made sure to leave the waiter a healthy tip because we would be coming back to this hotel again and I didn’t blame him for my night.