Meeting Planner Tips to a Successful Meeting

Written by Lori Keene of The Millennium Centre in Johnson City, TN; Lori is a member of IACC's Emerging Trends Committee for young industry professionals under the age of 30. Enjoy these cool conference center tips from Lori!

Attendees see the dreaded invitation to the all day meeting.  Schedules are busy and the meetings are boring. What is most important when holding a meeting? IT MUST BE EXCITING!!!

1. Tip #1 Theme your events – make the event exciting for your attendees.  If you have a group of engineers have someone dress up as Albert Einstein to greet the guest as they enter the meeting.  Develop a specialty drink in this case a Martini and give it a name to coincide with the event – The Einstein’ini!
   
2. Tip #2 Give attendees a memento – take pictures throughout the day and during the meeting.  Have pictures on a screen at dinner (people like to see themselves).  If they have offsite recreational activities provide them with a CD of the activity.  Use pictures and CD’s and post to all of your social media sites.
3. Tip #3 Go directly to the source – find out what attendees want as well as what they need.  Ask your attendees what they want to take away from the meeting.  What they feel is most important- what you may feel is important may be the furthest thing from what is most important to your attendee.
4. Tip #4 Choose carefully how you set the room – if you need attendees to be interactive…set pods.  If no interaction is needed you can feel okay with theater style seating.
5. Tip #5 DO NOT OVER CARB – for an all day meeting you need to keep people energized!
6. Tip #6 Give plenty of breaks – it keeps attendees caffeinated and interactive!  Breaks should be given at least every 2 hours.
7. Tip #7 Who’s your speaker? – Last, but most important, know who your speaker is!  This is the meat of your meeting!  Your speaker must be able to entertain, motivate and captivate as well as achieve your meeting goals!
   
   
   
   What tips do you practice to guarantee that your attendees are excited about the meeting and the content?