Agenda
Day 1: Wednesday November 4, 2015: Arrival Day
- 6:00 - 8pm: Arrival Reception and Dinner: Welcome to the Meeting Planner Training Camp! Meet the General Manager, Director of Sales and Key Staffers for a relaxing get-acquainted evening -- dress is business casual.
Day 2: Thursday, November 5, 2015: Hotel Operations, Finances and Advanced Negotiations
- 8:00 am: Continental Breakfast:
- 8:30 - 5:00 pm: Meeting Planner Training Camp: Hotels Operations, “From the Hotel Side:” The key to great event planning is knowing how a hotel operates. From operations, to staffing and the P&L, every part of a hotel is examined in terms of its effect on your negotiations. If you know how a hotel operates, you'll learn inside techniques on group negotiations.
- Hotel Essentials: Learn key profit centers for a hotel, organizational chart
- Hotel Accounting: Hotels "Live and Die" by the Annual Budget -- learn how your business impacts the hotel budget and you increase your leverage in any negotiation.
- Negotiating from the Hotel Side: Once you know how a hotel operates and how a P&L dictates its success, here are 5 immediate areas you can negotiate to reduce costs and increase the value of your meeting.
- 10:30am: Morning Break, followed by an Introduction from the sponsors of the Meeting Planner Training Camp.
- 12:00 - 1:00 pm: Lunch: Behind the Scenes with the Culinary Department: Special Lunch with the Executive Chef – work with the culinary team to design and deliver a lunch for your team.
- 1:00 - 3:00 pm: Hotel tour, including the Front and Back of the House: A group booking starts in Sales, but travels throughout the hotel, from Reservations, Front Desk, Housekeeping, Banquets and Catering. See how a group booking affects every department of a hotel.
- 3:00 - 5:00 pm: Using all your Negotiating Tools: Hotel Contracting: Once a booking is negotiated, the contracting phase begins. Learn the best contracting tips to make every meeting a success, reduce contract risks and minimize costs.
- 5:45pm: Reception and dinner at an offsite venue – learn transfer coordination tips for hosting offsite events.
- 8:00pm Return to hotel.
Day 3: Friday, November 6, 2015: Professional Contracting Techniques and Catering
- 8:00 am: Continental Breakfast with Guest Speaker
- 8:30am - 12 noon: Meeting Planner Training Camp:
- Advanced Contracting: Essentials in final contract negotiations, including Catering, Audio-visual, Penalties and Performance Clauses. It’s an extremely popular portion of the Training Camp, when planners examine actual contracts, receive sample clauses and contracting techniques that will make them immediately more effective.
- 10:30am: Morning Break
- 12:00 pm: Lunch – Lunch and Best Practices with the Catering Director
- 1:00 – 3:00 pm: Catering, “From the Hotel Side:” So much time is spent on negotiations and contracts and not nearly enough on Catering, the one area that can make up more than half of your Master Account! Catering essentials will be examined, from buffet service, staffing levels, banquet tastings and how hotel culinary teams work. Planners will receive in-depth information on ordering Food and Beverage, Wine ordering, alcohol management, Menu Matching, BEO's, Meal Guarantees, monitoring consumption and assuring accuracy.
- 3:00-4:00 pm: Wrap up and Adjourn: Review of key areas of the Meeting Planner Training Camp and compiling an action plan to implement on your return.