Your company just called a business meeting and you have been designated to head the planning committee. How are you going to balance the attendee’s expectations of a gathering in Maui with the company’s cost directive putting the conference in Des Moines? Do you have to please one side and not please another and still keep your job?

The response to the above questions comes down to a pretty resounding ‘no.’ Of course, you don’t want to let down your company nor do you want to disappoint your fellow attendees. So how do you balance these two divergent groups when you are also looking at time constraints and limited connections with hotels and other potential venues for the meeting? Following are some tips to balance those champagne hopes on an iced tea budget!

Consider Getting a Third Party for your Hotel Site Selection

If you are faced with time constraints and limited resources, consider utilizing the services of a third party for the site selection process. Hotel site selection companies are a growing influence in the meeting arena. They have almost unlimited connections with the hotel industry and are usually able to negotiate a price that is well within your designated budget.

A third party site selection firm will take your interest to the marketplace – acting on your behalf and with your permission to have full control over the hotel site decision. They have an expertise that most group planning committees lack, no matter how long they have existed, and contacts within the industry to help them remain totally current on any new properties, trends, etc. in the hotel industry.

To the inexperienced planner, they offer an expertise that person doesn’t have; to the experienced organizer, they offer the time those people need to iron out the meeting details and co-ordinate off-site events for the attendees. These third party companies handle hotel site selection as their primary concern. With the large volume of hotel transactions and relationships they have within the hotel industry, they can most definitely negotiate affordable rates favorable to your company at no cost to you as they are compensated with a commission or placement fee from the selected hotel.

Consider a Cruise Conference

Cruise ships have been perceived as costly and less able to accommodate group or business meetings –this is definitely changing. Hosting a convention at sea nowadays offers value, flexibility and a wide variety of experience while on board – so when planning for your next group gathering, consider the value, manageability and diversity of benefits from holding your convention onboard. Consider the following beneficial features of a cruise ship location:

Impact – Certainly any planner would welcome as a meeting goal the ability to create a great impact on your attendees of this particular conference. What greater benefit of having your gathering on a sea trip is the experience that your attendees will share? The cruise program could be a trip of a lifetime that your attendees experience with varied itineraries and beautiful ports-of-call and scenery, as the ship’s itinerary itself offers a wide variety of options to your group for a memorable sailing experience.

Affordable – Actually, a cruise is no longer as expensive as one might perceive, especially if you have enough time to either get a good rate early or be able to take advantage of a last minute cancellation by another group. Expenses for the sponsoring business are much more controllable on a cruise and yet leave sufficient options available for attendees to book excursions at their own expense to broaden the sea trip experience. Amenities including meals and entertainment are all included in the price which is very appealing to both the sponsoring business and their planners.

Fosters Camaraderie – The attendees of a conference aboard a cruise ship cannot just get out from the venue at will, which allows the attendees to stay predominantly in one location and fosters a stronger sense of community within the group with overwhelmingly positive outcomes. The excursions off-ship can be encouraged and yet limited to non-meeting times.

All-in-all, although outside perceptions may be a bit negative of such an ‘expensive’ way of having a conference, the reality is that it is a pretty smart strategy to save money and yet create an impact on all attendees

Other Cost-Saving Options

At any planned meeting site, there are always other options that can effectively trim your expenditures to adhere to a frugal budget:

• Control transportation costs by providing planned transportation to events and eliminate expense report ‘padding’ of that area.

• When planning your gathering site, be sure to have all meeting space located at the guestroom hotel, if possible, and have it also include any needed audio-visual aids so there is no added cost to rent such items.

• Plan meals as group meals so that meal expenses can be controlled and not something to be included as an additional cost on expense reports.

There are indeed measures that can be considered and taken to increase the benefits of your meager conference budget when planning your next meeting. Hopefully, the above tips will make your next assembly one to remember and not because of excessive costs. May your iced-tea-budget meeting soar to champagne heights!