As a company events coordinator, you may feel the need to prove you can plan and manage corporate events by yourself or with a small staff. How gratifying would it be to arrange a company conference in a beautiful and exotic location, then see everyone’s delighted smiles and hear them praise such a wonderfully planned trip? Not only would you be happy knowing they enjoyed their time, but you could feel secure knowing there will be demand for more of your event planning services in the future.
The most successful corporate events are not always the ones you’re able to plan and execute all alone. You may sometimes need a hand arranging an unforgettable company event. This ensures that every aspect of your trip goes smoothly, while you still get the credit.
Companies that offer incentive travel planning, such as Incentive Solutions in Atlanta, sometimes offer travel deals along with their event management services. Incentive Solutions’ travel team handles all the company’s jet-setting clients and are equipped to offer a full range of event planning services. When you use an event planning team like Incentive Solutions’, you can save time and money planning a truly memorable corporate event. With their years of experience and wide-reaching network of travel contacts, Incentive Solutions can help ease some of these group travel pain points:
1. How Much Will It Cost?
Usually, the first thing an event planner considers is budget.
- What is my budget?
- Is there something I’m not doing that could cut costs?
When you book and plan your event using Incentive Solutions’ incentive travel and event planning team, you receive the benefits of their wide vendor network. Because their vendors anticipate more travel business from Incentive Solutions in the future, they are willing to offer much better lodging deals. It’s much harder to negotiate such low prices yourself because your company typically won’t have the clout to offer resorts and hotels frequent repeat stays. Incentive Solutions is able to regularly offer travel deals because they are trusted, returning customers of their many hotel and cruise line associates.
2. Location?
Maybe half your event attendees are advocating a trip to the Caribbean, while a few others hate hot, tropical locale. Maybe you know you want to plan an event in Colorado, but you don’t know which hotel or lodge would be most suitable for your group. This common problem among event planners is the reason Incentive Solutions offers free site selection services. With years of experience planning events and incentive group travel, the Incentive Solutions travel department is able to pinpoint the perfect venue for your needs, saving you the pressure of choosing a destination that satisfies everyone. Because Incentive Solutions receives their payment in the form of commission from resorts, hotels, and cruise lines, they can offer site selection at no cost.
After the venue is determined, you’ll have to book everyone’s transportation tickets and accommodations. You’ll usually need to ask yourself questions like:
- Are there any group travel deals out there that could cut down costs?
- Does anyone in your group have special accessibility needs?
- Is there a block of rooms available so that everyone stays in the same vicinity?
You could spend hours solving these issues yourself, or let the Incentive Solutions event planning team handle all booking and logistics for you. They can streamline these conversations because they know which questions to ask, and they can anticipate your group’s needs based on their years of event planning experience.
3. Is Everyone Where They Need to Be?
Let’s say you know where you’re going and when. The next questions you’ll likely be asking are:
- If people are traveling for various states, what will you do if you run into delays like missed flights and late buses?
- Will people need transportation after they arrive?
- Will they need buses, cabs, or boats?
- Have all the attendees registered for each seminar or meeting during the trip?
- How can I make sure everyone stays on task?
You’ll need some method of keeping track of people to make sure everyone is following the itinerary and attending all important gatherings. Incentive Solutions uses online corporate registration and meeting technology powerful enough to track your entire event. Attendees can register for events, communicate with each other, check the room list or room block, process payments, and take post-event surveys using this technology. Event managers can also pull reports from this software at any time to see who interacts with its features and how.
4. Are We All Having a Good Time?
A corporate event or trip is a special privilege designed to treat and engage employees who deserve a bit of excitement. It’s important to keep everyone entertained and happy; why spend money on an outing, otherwise? Ask yourself how many things could affect attendees’ enjoyment of the experience:
- Are there people with particular dietary needs?
- Is the planned entertainment suitable for everyone?
- Does everyone feel they’ve had enough opportunity to enjoy their surroundings?
- Can everyone see and hear during conferences and meetings?
The best way to make sure event attendees get the most out of their excursion is to hire event staff. Event staff directs attendees, manage food and beverage, set up events, oversees audio/visual technology, and provide a general atmosphere of hospitality. Event attendees shouldn’t have to worry about these details since their goal is to learn, enjoy the company of those around them, and relax in a refreshing environment far from the office. Staffing is part of the event services Incentive Solutions can offer. The event planning staff is already connected to trustworthy caterers, technicians, and guides, sparing you the headache of tracking them all down and verifying their reliability.
Planning corporate trips and events can be a lot of fun. The best way to get the most out of the experience, however, is to allow travel experts to give you a hand. Seasoned teams like the Incentive Solutions travel department have been working with tourism establishments for years so that their clients can enjoy the benefits of their excellent reputation: group travel perks and helpful event management services.
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