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

  LONG COMMUTE TO WORK: Q&A

  Site Inspections

  Q: Who should go on site inspections?

  A: It can vary from site inspection to site inspection. A sales rep may go with the event designer, event operations staff, a senior member of executive staff, a trusted freelance event/trip director with the client or client’s representatives or, as in this example, on their own. Whether you’re traveling on your own or with your client, personal safety is always a factor. Site inspections are arranged through the hotel you are considering contracting and with the DMC as well. The hotel will be responsible for making sure that you (and your clients) experience all the resort facilities, from their spa to their top dining rooms. They will take you on a tour of the property and show you the various room types and a selection of suites. You’ll be able to see your function space during the day and by night.

  The DMC, and sometimes the tourist board, will handle the rest of your stay. At times they will accompany you, and at others they will send you out with a personal driver who will be following the detailed itinerary you have worked out with your DMC. Your local tourist board can advise you on the areas to see and which to avoid. Having a personal driver assigned to you is recommended always. That way you are not driving on unfamiliar roads and spending energy and time looking for parking spaces, you can leave things in the car and have greater personal safety, etc.

  If the client has opted to have the event planning staff conduct the site inspection on their own, on their behalf, it is advisable to send out senior company representatives that are experienced in knowing what will or will not meet both your company standards and the client’s event criteria. They will be signing off, accepting your recommended selections, through contracts, which may need to be amended post site inspection visit. If the client chooses not to go or send a company representation, it will be important to provide a full report—with pictures, etc.—to the client upon your return.

  Assignment

  Discuss the reasons it would be beneficial to have the event designer or event operations staff accompany the sales representatives on their site inspection, the value it could bring to successfully executing the event and other pluses.

  Site Inspection vs. Fam Trip

  Q: What is the difference between a site inspection and a familiarization trip?

  A: A site inspection is a trip that is tied to a specific event program, taken to review the event inclusions and venues and to move the program to contract. The cost for the site inspection is included in the event cost for “x” number of event planning representatives and “x” number of client representatives. A familiarization trip is a hosted trip put on by a tourist board and/ or a combination of airlines, hotels, ground operators, cruise ships, venues, event industry services, etc. It is designed to showcase the caliber of service, etc. that would be provided, a destination, or a resort to build working relationships and result in new business. Sometimes there is a minimum fee charged to take part in a familiarization trip and other times there is no fee attached. Sometimes a familiarization trip can be arranged for an individual.

  Assignment

  Discuss the value of familiarization trips to event planners, event planning companies, their clients and to the suppliers.

  Site Inspection and Fam Trip Protocol

  Q: Do site inspections and familiarization trips get abused?

  A: There is abuse of the system. Sometimes clients are given, as a booking perk, site inspections in destinations that have personal interest but to which they have no intention of ever booking a group or event. The same happens with regard to familiarization trips when they are used as a personal vacation or even given to—in the case of one event planning company—an owner’s parents who were not working for the event planning company but had a desire to travel to a specific location and extend their trip there for their personal vacation, saving the cost of airfare, and requesting special rates at the hotel for their post familiarization stay. Event planning companies are not always aware that their employees have approached or accepted familiarization trips to be used as a personal perk and a cheap vacation until they hear about it later from the supplier looking for business from the company in return.

  Assignment

  Discuss policies that event planning companies could put into place to stop site inspection and familiarization trip abuse, and the reasons why it is important not to accept them unless it is truly a destination, resort, etc. that the company intends to use.

  Checking Out the Competition

  Q: When you are on a site inspection or familiarization trip, is it okay to look at other hotel properties, set up meetings with other suppliers and see different venues?

  A: Each familiarization trip is set up differently. Some familiarization trips do not leave you a minute to breathe, as they have been set up such that there will be no free time to explore other options—but event planners have been known to visit other properties in the wee hours of the morning if they have no time during the day and they are equally determined to see them. Other familiarization trips build in free time to allow planners to do so, knowing they will visit them anyhow; they are confident enough in what they are offering that they are unconcerned. They believe that event planners seeing the competition will actually work in their favor. And they also want event planners to have time to investigate options that may be right for their clients but not necessarily the entire group. For example, taking advantage of the opportunity to try hot air ballooning to learn the event logistics firsthand in a destination that offers that, if it is something that no one in the office has previous experience with and you do have the clients with the budgets to be able to afford that type of activity on a program. One event planner discovered a white chocolate fountain made from a glass slipper and party favors—a cookie shaped into a star on a “magic wand”—that sparked a Cinderella theme event that was perfect for their client traveling to the destination and something they could use elsewhere, shipping them in, for another future event where a star cookie on a stick would be a fitting centerpiece addition.

  A site inspection is different, especially if you are traveling with a client. The intent of a site inspection is to finalize the event program and let the client experience the destination, the resort and the actual program. Many clients prefer a relaxed pace—making the site inspection into a mini-vacation—especially if they have brought their spouse along, which frequently happens. They are not looking to be dragged around looking at other hotels unless they are still deciding between two presented. If the event planner needs to check out other options for other companies for the future or look at new venues, etc., they can either schedule free time for the client to relax and enjoy the resort or fly in earlier or stay on longer than the client. In the case of the event planner arriving earlier or staying later, many times the sales rep will be the one flying with the client to make sure that their trip to and from the destination is stress free. It is generally a good idea to cost in two event planning representatives to go on a site inspection, with one person advancing—as would happen on the client’s program—and the sales rep staying with the client.

  Assignment

  Discuss what would be important to see and do on a familiarization trip.

  Expected Codes of Conduct on Fam Trips and Site Inspections

  Q: How is expected behavior on a familiarization trip different than expected behavior on a site inspection?

  A: In both cases, it should never be forgotten that you are there as a professional and as a representative of your company. Showing up dressed inappropriately, drinking, not being on time, etc. is not acceptable behavior on either a familiarization trip or site inspection. It is important to remember that while the setting may be more relaxed being at a resort than in a boardroom, business is still being conducted.

  Assignment

  Name five company codes of conduct that you feel would be important to adhere to on a familiarization trip and/or site i
nspection.

  Supplier Expectations

  Q: Other than return business, is there anything else that suppliers will be looking for from event planning companies and their staff who have taken part in a familiarization trip and/or site inspection?

  A: Familiarization trip and site inspection hosts will be looking for access to you and company employees when they are calling to set up sales calls. Bring around the other hotel or suppliers they represent, see support by full office attendance at their supplier events and presentations, etc. Some suppliers say they feel used and abused when they receive not as much as a thank-you note and are turned down repeatedly—if their call or e-mail is even returned—when they try to set up a sales meeting.

  Assignment

  Discuss what company qualifications would be important to be met in order for a company employee to accept an invitation for a familiarization trip or ask for special personal vacation concessions from suppliers.

  Maximizing the Value of Fam Trips and Site Inspections

  Q: Beyond a thank-you note, is there anything else that should be done post familiarization trip and/or site inspection?

  A: In furthering the educational value of familiarization trips and site inspections, successful event planning companies use them as a means of in-house training, hold post travel meetings to review the findings, and require a full written report to be made for their company resource and reference files.

  Assignment

  Design a sample familiarization trip/site inspection questionnaire that would provide great feedback as a training tool for others in the office.

  Expense Reports

  Q: What is an expense report?

  A: An expense report captures all charges that take place during a familiarization trip and/or site inspection. If it’s for a site inspection, some expenses may be charged back to the file and others may be deemed an office expense. Backup is usually required. Expense reports are also used on-site when the event is running, as well. Some companies, instead of having staff report meals on their expense reports, simply give a meal allowance, appropriate for the resort that the staff is staying at, to cover three meals a day, taxes, tipping, etc. Should the staff member exceed the amount, they are responsible for the difference. If they prefer to eat light, the additional funds are theirs to keep. Each event planning company has different policies and procedures in place. Some companies have staff sign all meals to the master account but do put guidelines in place regarding dollar amount, what type of drinks will be covered, etc.

  Assignment

  Discuss the merits of different ways of handling expenses relating to meals and what should and should not be a covered expense on site inspections, familiarization trips and the program.

  Drawing the Line on Event “Surprises”

  Q: When designing an event with unexpected twists and turns, how far is too far to go?

  A: You need to keep the audience in mind and how what you are proposing is being presented. A mock motor coach “holdup,” for example, created real alarm for guests en route to an evening function, as they did not know it was a planned event. The idea was to capture top salespeople and then do a sales shootout. That event element backfired. One event planning company had their motor coach stop to pick up a scary looking hitchhiker by the road, who happened to be a surprise entertainment feature to make the long trip more fun. As he immediately began to play and entertain the guests, they immediately knew that he was a planned part of their entertainment. The event planners’ calm response to the hitchhiker boarding was a tip-off that this was scheduled. You need to look carefully at how, when, what and where to throw in anything that could cause guest anxiety instead of anticipation, and always do so with full client sign-off and approval.

  Assignment

  Give some examples of event planning “surprises” that could initially raise guest alarm.

  CHAPTER 9

  GUESTS GONE WILD

  Em and her team have to deal with an abusive guest who goes out of control, is fired on the spot and is sent back home but not before causing more havoc and added drama. The order of the day was to juggle dealing with the guest’s removal and operating the program so that the rest of the guests were not privy to what was taking place behind the scenes. It was up to Em and her staff to pull this off, restore order, instill a feeling of calm and bring their event back on track in order to achieve the desired event results.

  OCTOBER 16

  I will never forget the sound of his voice. “If I can’t speak to her I am going to kill myself,” said the voice on the phone. He still sounded high on something that wasn’t the Mexican beer and margaritas we’d served at the final check-in point for today’s team-building challenge that had them ending up at the beach for a private party. Would this day or week ever come to an end???

  The morning had started out peacefully enough. Beautiful blue skies, balmy sunny weather, guests in high spirits setting out with their experienced—in the goings-on of corporate antics—Mexican drivers for a day of corporate play where the goal was to produce one-minute company commercials for a new product that was about to be launched.

  Having learned our lesson with the laundromat escapades from the earlier program involving a sales force with an equally competitive nature, PG was the rating given for these company productions. We wanted to make sure that none of the acts caught on film today were suggestive or crossed the line and ventured into “sex tapes” territory. Given the nature of some of the goods their company manufactured, it was a distinct possibility that I would not put past some of their winners.

  Couples were divided into teams and got to choose the role they wanted to take on. Outgoing or shy, there was something for everyone and they could take on dual roles as well. Each team selected someone to be the director, scriptwriter, camera operator, actor, grip, stylist and makeup artist. Armed with a video camera, recording tape and batteries, each team set out with their driver to film their masterpiece. Their drivers were at their disposal to help them scout suitable locations for filming, be on hand to offer whatever assistance they required and bring them to the check-in beach party for an afternoon of relaxation and sharing the experiences of the day—without giving too much away—over a drink or two before returning to the resort. The plan for tomorrow was for them to continue the process of bonding as a team and work closely with a professional video editing team to add the finishing touches to their film production, adding background music, text and special effects.

  Today was about coming together as a team creatively, and tomorrow will be about team collaboration. The other team-building challenges we had considered were building a boat and having a float-your-boat race, and a version of corporate geocaching using a handheld GPS system to find hidden clues that would tie into the new product, but the corporate execs loved the idea of seeing what their top sales team collectively could come up with to help sell their product. At their farewell theme dinner a giant screen will be set up for all to view their finished productions and awards will be handed out.

  The party was ready to begin when they arrived. Great food. Great music. Great setting. One by one the “studio” cars rolled in, all except one. And not surprising it was driving the same disruptive couple that went missing early this week: MrArrogance, a self-proclaimed industry sales leader who was more feared for his explosive temper when crossed than followed by others aspiring to be him or please him at work, and his fiancée. From what we could see from the fiancée’s behavior, and the troubling, dark bruises that she attributed to her being klutzy, MrArrogance had an explosive temper at home as well. MrArrogance had already turned a morning deep sea fishing excursion into a late night return. Our local DMCs were frantically trying to locate their missing boat and couldn’t imagine that the boat’s captain would have allowed anyone to steer him off course and not return the group at the appointed time. A search party was sent out, as contact could not be raised over their radio and it was well after dark when the lost
were found. They had bribed the captain to take them to a fishing area that MrArrogance thought was better and had separated from the rest of the deep sea fishing fleet we had hired for the day. MrArrogance returned boasting about his near record-breaking catch that he was having stuffed, mounted and sent back home while his fiancée apologized profusely to his employers and fellow colleagues for the worry and concern that his actions had caused, and for having the captain head out with just the two of them aboard when MrArrogance got tired of waiting to see if the others who had signed up were still planning on coming. J.T. had just turned his back for a minute while using the telephone at the resort’s beachside restaurant to check on the status of those who had not yet arrived when MrArrogance saw his chance and had the captain set off before J.T. caught sight of what he was up to. Yul and Marco had been so busy checking in and settling their own assigned teams, making sure that safety procedures were being followed and life jackets worn, that they had not noticed what was taking place until it was too late. Everyone thought they were just getting a jump start on securing a good spot at the chosen fishing location and not bent on losing everyone as fast as they could so that they could head off in another direction.