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Tips & Trends

Meeting planners are no strangers to specialty menus and dietary requests. Whether it’s medical concerns such as allergies and celiac disease, religious restrictions such as halal and kosher diets, or just personal preference, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.statista.com/chart/24791/share-of-americans-who-who-follow-nutritional-rules/">a significant portion of people follow a restricted diet of some sort</a>.
While it might not be possible to cater to every food restriction, a mindset shift might help you see menu planning in a different light: Think of menus not in terms of restriction, but in terms of inclusivity.
Whether someone’s dietary restriction is medical, cultural, or personal in nature, your job as a meeting planner is to deliver an event your attendees will remember—something that’s impossible if they’re not properly nourished. Read on to learn the basics of creating a menu that will make all your attendees feel included.

<h3>Talk It Out: Pre-Event Communication</h3>
<ul>
 <li>Ask your attendees what they need. If you’re not already asking attendees about dietary restrictions during registration, start now. It may be tempting to use an open text box to solicit preferences, but doing so can lead to misinterpretation. Instead, use a broad swath of opt-in fields (shellfish allergy, vegan, etc.) for attendees to clearly identify needs and use the text box to capture outliers.</li>
 <li>Give your hotel partner and catering team a heads-up. The more notice you can give them, the better, but codifying lead time into your contract can help avoid confusion down the line.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Get Thoughtful: Menu Planning</h3>
<ul>
 <li>Make inclusive foods the base. No one dish addresses all dietary needs and preferences, but beginning with an inclusivity mindset will lead you to meals that require fewer workarounds to satisfy the most people. For example, making all entrees plant-based—with an option for meat-focused add-ons—flips the traditional script of beginning with meat and putting vegetarians into the “other” category.</li>
 <li>Evaluate the most common allergens. While it doesn’t matter why your attendees can’t eat a certain food, allergies can be deadly. There may not be a need to eliminate the most common food allergies—peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, eggs, milk, sesame, soybeans, and wheat—from your menu, but making them add-ons instead of the base of what you have available is considered inclusive.</li>
 <li>Look for crossover opportunities. Low-carb and gluten-free diets have a natural overlap, as do vegetarian and kosher menus (with a little planning). You don’t have to have a separate menu for every type of diet out there, just options suitable for all.</li>
 <li>Let delegates DIY. Buffets and semi-buffets allow guests to assemble particularly tricky elements of a meal. For example, a sandwich bar with different types of bread (including gluten-free) and fillings (with ample vegetarian and kosher options) or the classic salad bar.</li>
</ul>

<h3>The Big Day: On-Site Considerations</h3>
<ul>
 <li>Label everything. Empowering attendees to select the foods that are right for them removes a bit of the burden from you and grants them full transparency. Labels should include all ingredients, including the type of oil used in frying and sautéeing. Avoid making exaggerated claims, particularly around allergies and medically related claims. For example, don’t label a dish “gluten-free”—even if the dish doesn’t have any gluten-containing products—unless the kitchen that prepared it is versed in cross-contamination.</li>
 <li>Group sensitive foods together. At a salad bar, this might mean grouping nuts, seeds, and croutons at the end of the line, with plain vegetables up front. This also lessens the chance that people will use inappropriate utensils to transfer food to their serving plates.</li>
</ul>

Global

How to Give Delegates a Taste of Belonging, No Matter Their Dietary Needs.

Make Your Menu More Inclusive

Educate

When meeting planners think about accessibility, their minds might reach for visible cues of venue accessibility: elevators, accessible bathrooms, Braille signage.
You’re right to invest time in researching your venue’s accessibility—but the fact is, venues have their own experts who are in charge of making sure they’re addressing people’s needs. But unless you make your meeting’s programming accessible, some of your attendees might be left out.
Here’s a starter guide on how to incorporate accessibility planning into your programming before, during, and after your event.

<h3>What to Consider Before the Event</h3>
<ul>
 <li>Review all materials for plain language. Clear, concise language helps everyone, not just attendees with language processing difficulties. Icons, illustrations, and simple language will help you distill your messaging and give attendees what they need without confusion. (You can <a target="_blank" href="https://www.plainlanguage.gov/guidelines/">start here with the U.S. government’s guidelines on plain language communication</a>.)</li>
 <li>Determine what your attendees and presenters need. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.respectability.org/inclusive-philanthropy/executive-summary/">Only 30% of nonprofit executives say that their event registration forms ask about accessibility and accommodation needs.</a> You can help up that percentage with pre-event surveys on event registration forms. Offering specific options can help signal that your organization is investing in accessibility, but if you don’t yet have a starting point, try issuing a blanket accommodations statement in your pre-event materials asking people to notify you about alternative formats, interpreters, and other reasonable accommodations by a certain date. Make sure to give a specific way to make those requests (e.g., email address or phone number).</li>
 <li>Figure out what equipment you’ll need. Your audiovisual and tech teams can help advise you on the types of equipment you will need to accommodate your attendees. For event-specific technology such as floor plans and networking tools, evaluate potential vendors with accessibility in mind.</li>
 <li>Use your hybrid tools for in-person meetings. Hybrid and remote meetings gave planners a wealth of tools that can come to life as accessibility helpers. One example: live captioning, now easily available with automated tools. A simple A/V setup can enable live captioning to help people who are hard of hearing follow the day’s events.</li>
 <li>Establish your personnel needs. Are you hiring sign language interpreters? Give them access to relevant programming materials beforehand, particularly if the material is technical. Is there a sensory room or another space dedicated to making meetings accessible to all? You’ll need someone to make sure the space is maintained. Consider designating one staff member as the accessibility chief who can manage and direct accommodations.</li>
 <li>Include your presenters. This means two things: Consider your speakers’ accommodation needs, and make sure they are aware of any accommodations you’re expecting them to make in their presentations.</li>
</ul>

<h3>What to Consider During the Event</h3>
<ul>
 <li>Account for real-time feedback. You can’t please everyone, and sometimes when attendees’ needs conflict, you might not even be able to fully accommodate everyone. But you can listen to everyone, keeping in mind that they are the experts on their own experience.</li>
 <li>Continue your plain language quest. Signage and materials should be easily accessible to all attendees. That goes for “live” communication, too: Make sure there’s a “translator” in sessions who can repeat and synthesize audience questions in Q&amp;A formats in a way that all attendees can easily understand.</li>
 <li>Gather your supplies. Tech and signage are already a part of your setup, but consider adding an “accommodations” section to your checklist. For example, having noise-canceling headphones available for attendees to borrow can help prevent sensory overload, as can having rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs to help guests remove perfume they may not have recognized is overpowering for some.</li>
</ul>

<h3>What to Consider After the Event</h3>
<ul>
 <li>Make all materials available. It’s easier than ever to make recordings and digital materials available after the fact. And just as with most forms of accommodation, making these materials available helps everyone. If an attendee needs to listen to a session again, it doesn’t matter whether it’s because she’s hard of hearing or conducting research.</li>
 <li>Ask what you can do better. Include questions about accessibility in your post-event surveys. Remember that ease of comprehension can be even more important in surveys; the easier you make it for attendees to fill out the survey, the more likely you are to get the information you need.</li>
</ul>

Accessibility Doesn’t Stop at the Front Door. Here’s How to Make Meeting Content Accessible.

Is Your Programming as Accessible as Your Venue?

Network

“You’ve been working with the same people for 15 years, so that might be all you know, but don’t be scared to take that leap.”

With 87% of meeting planners saying that their organization actively strives to make their events more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, planners need all hands on deck. That includes vendors and suppliers, who can bring diverse perspectives and offerings to your events.
But simply curating a list of vendors who fit a universal definition of “diverse” won’t accomplish your DEI goals. You need to find representative vendors, nurture relationships with them, and find ways to partner with them. In doing so, you’ll elevate the community, your events, and your operations.
“It’s important for agencies to understand that bias really does hurt their bottom line,” says Chivonne Hyppolite, founder and CEO of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.abstractelementsevents.com/">Abstract Elements</a>, an Atlanta-based event planning and production agency. Plus, at a time when a tight events market is leading to a shortage of meeting vendors, it’s the perfect time to expand your roster in general—and a cue to do so with an eye toward DEI. Here are nine ways you can develop stronger partnerships with diverse vendors, expanding possibilities for everyone.

<h3>1) Turn to the experts.</h3>
You can’t build relationships with vendors you don’t know exist. To find diverse vendors and suppliers, you can turn to the resources you already know, but with an eye toward diversity.
Meeting Professionals International, local chambers of commerce, state supplier diversity programs, local opportunity programs: There’s no shortage of outlets with the information you’re looking for. In addition to the local chamber of commerce, many regions have culturally specific commerce councils, such as state-affiliated Hispanic chambers of commerce and American Indian chambers of commerce.
“There’s always a woman-owned business,” Hyppolite says. “There’s always a business owned by a person of color or a veteran. There’s always a business that has people who look like me. Being purposeful in seeking them out is key.”
For a purpose-built resource hub, turn to <a target="_blank" href="https://ourbloc.com/">OurBLOC</a>, a platform by and for Black and minority-owned event vendors.
<h3>2) Ask the right questions.</h3>
As with any vendor, when you’re seeking out diverse vendors, you want to ask about their skills, strengths, and operations. But finding diverse vendors brings another set of questions.
Hyppolite suggests getting specific. Asking about how many women or people of color are on staff is a place to start—but not an end point. “How many women do you actually see on-site?” she recommends asking. “How many people of color do you have, and not just in your warehouse? How many of them are actually boots on the ground, producing and executing?”
Having a diverse team matters. Values do too. Hyppolite asks potential suppliers about their mission statement and values before committing. “Integrity is big for me,” she says. “And I really want to work with people who stand for integrity too.”
<h3>3) Show up for your vendors.</h3>
Building a diverse network of vendors isn’t just about hiring them. It’s about mutual service: discovering what they can do for your business, and what you can do for theirs.
“I will not do business with a firm whose work I have not seen,” Hyppolite says. “But to nourish those relationships, you’ve got to get to know them—their brand, their mission, their values, how they execute. You build those relationships by showing up for them. You do that by being present at their events. By being of service to them.”
Asking vendors whose work you don’t yet know what kind of events they’re best suited for can help you play matchmaker. “Don’t just send business their way,” Hyppolite advises. “Actually ask them what type of events they’re looking to do this year. Ask them how your services can be of value to their company.”
She cites an example of an audiovisual company she was excited to work with but hadn’t yet seen in action. She approached the company with a roster of events she was developing and told them, “I want to bring you in on the right project, and I want to use you on more than just a one-off basis. Are you willing?” From there, she and the company could figure out the right event to use as an initial partnership. The key was that she showed up for an emerging company by giving them options.
<h3>4) Shadow them before committing.</h3>
“I can’t think of any organization that wouldn’t be willing to allow somebody who’s interested in working with them to come and see how they do things on-site,” Hyppolite says. “You’re not their competitor; you’re their potential client.”
When you’re on-site with a potential vendor or supplier, observe how team members are communicating with one another and how they’re conducting client interactions. If you hire them, they’ll be reflecting your organization, so you’re looking for expertise and professionalism—while remembering that “professionalism” means different things to different stakeholders.
<h3>5) Have them shadow you.</h3>
If you haven’t had an opportunity to observe a team but are eager to try them out, see if you can bring in one team member as a part of your entourage for an upcoming event.
“People hire contractors all the time, and this is essentially that,” Hyppolite says. “It doesn’t have to be the whole team.” Even if a team member isn’t involved in strategy, bringing them in day-of allows you to see how that person is accustomed to communicating and responding to real-time situations.
It’s a lower-stakes trial that can help build mutual trust so that when it comes time for you to hire anew, you’ll have an idea of what you’re working with. “You’re not taking as much of a risk,” Hyppolite says.
<h3>6) Design a trial.</h3>
If you have an internal event or a smaller event on your docket, treat it as a trial opportunity for a new vendor. “You can let them know, ‘Hey, we’re doing this specific event on a trial basis, but I can get you in as a verified vendor, and I’d love for you to handle this so we can see how we work together.’”
This also gives them the opportunity to see how your team executes events, and to determine whether they’re comfortable with your working style.
<h3>7) Follow up.</h3>
Involving vendors in your own event postmortems benefits both of you. If the event was a raging success, celebrate together to build community and shine a light on team members who went above and beyond. And if, as with most events, there was also room for improvement? Sharing feedback helps vendors see where they can grow.
<h3>8) Pay your vendors fairly.</h3>
“Do not lowball them,” Hyppolite says. Especially when working with emerging vendors, you might be tempted to use it as an opportunity to get talent for a below-market price. Avoid that temptation. “Don’t try to squeeze them for every nickel and dime. They’re trying to make it as well.”
Pay transparency can go a long way toward ensuring equity. Review your past contracts to make sure you’re entering into your contract fairly, and be clear with vendors upfront about what you can pay.
<h3>9) Let them wow you.</h3>
It’s standard to ask for references, but you can go a step beyond. “It’s not just, ‘Oh, here’s a person I worked with,’” Hyppolite says. “Have them show you what they’ve done before. A lot of agencies will see that as an opportunity to show you what they’ve done before and what they’re capable of.”
Building a diverse vendor network may mean stepping out of the formula you’ve gotten used to—and that’s part of the joy of bringing diversity goals to life.
“There’s magic in collaboration,” Hyppolite says. “You’ve been working with the same people for 15 years, so that might be all you know, but don’t be scared to take that leap.”

Find Magic in Collaboration—Outside of Your Roster.

Nine Ways to Build Partnerships With Diverse Vendors

If you’re like <a target="_blank" href="https://globaldmcpartners.com/sites/default/files/media/files/GDPPulseSurvey2022Q4/2022_GDP%20Q4%20Pulse%20Survey%20Summary%20Report.pdf">45% of meeting planners</a>, you’re working with a flat budget from last year—or a smaller one—but are being asked to produce the same quality of event. One area you might be loath to touch is your audiovisual budget. With good reason: Poor sound or visual quality can make even the most brilliant programming feel dull.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t dig deep to find savings. Read on for three ways to make the most of your A/V budget.

<h3>Plan ahead.</h3>
Starting early is hardly a groundbreaking tip for professional meeting planners. But particularly for tech-shy meeting planners, it’s easy to keep your A/V needs vague until the last minute or to trust that if there’s sound and screens, it’s all good.
That leaves money on the table. When you account for your needs well in advance, you’re better able to <a target="_blank" href="https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/news-and-highlights/article/481/five-tips-for-better-communication-with-your-tech-team">communicate with your tech team</a>, which can then rightsize your equipment and staffing needs. Start by knowing your priorities so you’ll understand when you truly need top-of-the-line equipment and when any old speaker will do, helping you avoid the trap of panicking and splurging on high-end equipment where it’s not necessary. Plus, you’ll avoid stressing out your tech team with last-minute requests, which may make them more willing to work with you on figuring out how to get the best value for your budget.
<h3>Schedule your sessions wisely.</h3>
Beginning and ending the day with a plenary session makes a certain sort of sense—get attendees jazzed up for the day’s events, then bring them together to seal in all they’ve absorbed. Trouble is, that can be pricey.
“One of the biggest money-wasters is the general session sandwich,” says <a target="_blank" href="https://www.brandtkrueger.com/">Brandt Krueger</a>, a veteran production manager in the meetings and events industry. “You know, you get the 12 people for the crew to come in and do the general session first thing in the morning, and then they sit around all day because you’re doing breakouts, and then they have to come back at four o’clock for a one-hour closing general session. So now you’ve got a full 12-person crew on all day.”
Opening up the day’s end for other types of events not only releases your A/V crew early, it can also provide more breathing room for attendees. Small-group networking, off-sites, or even an early release can be a budget-saving, attendee-friendly option.
<h3>Know exactly what you’re getting.</h3>
The price tag is one thing; the value you’re getting is another. If you’re working with an independent A/V provider, they may offer services that you might be searching for elsewhere—or already paying your venue for—such as stage management and visual design. If you’re working with your venue’s A/V team, your payment may include things like Wi-Fi. But without examining your contract and asking questions, you could wind up double-paying or missing an opportunity to bundle services.

Rule #1 Goes Beyond A/V, Too.

Three Ways to Rescue Your A/V Budget

Maybe you determined your sustainability goals on your own. Maybe you collaborated on them. Maybe they were handed down to you, and you’re just making the most of them.
But however your sustainability goals came to you, achieving them isn’t a one-person job.

“The reality is that no one can achieve sustainability goals independently. It requires a really deep level of collaboration between event organizers and event suppliers—and I would add in their event participants as well. All of those need to be working together to achieve sustainability goals.”

Here’s how planners can better work with vendors and suppliers so that everyone comes out ahead, Mother Earth included.
<h3>Know what to expect from vendors at various stages.</h3>
A vendor might be just as committed as you are to environmental goals, but their commitment might show up differently than you would expect. “There’s a disconnect between planner and supplier expectations,” says Mariela McIlwraith, president of Meeting Change, a meetings and events consultancy focusing on the strategy of social and environmental sustainability. Buyers often expect to see sustainability information without having to ask for it, but vendors don’t necessarily volunteer that information.
Planners can help close the communication gap by asking for sustainability information instead of assuming that it doesn’t exist unless it’s proactively presented. Suppliers should be able to answer basic questions about energy use, water use, and waste, even if they don’t yet have full-blown reports showcasing that data.
At the same time, meeting planners should also recognize that RFPs can be time-consuming for vendors, and that expecting all sustainability data at once may not be realistic. “You might find that it’s challenging to get the response rates that you want,” McIlwraith says. Consider a two-step process instead. The first step is aimed at eliminating vendors that don't fit general sustainabilty needs. In round two, you can dive into more detail around sustainability goals.
Once you’re past the RFP stage, make sure that the sustainability conversations you’ve had with various players are aligned and reflected in the contract. “Sometimes you’ll go from a conversation with the sales department to the service department, and you want to make sure you’ve created a way for expectations to be communicated all the way through,” McIlwraith says. Embedding them into the contract can help keep sustainability top of mind for all players.
And remember that environmental goals don’t end with the event itself. “It’s really important that communication carries through all the different stages of the relationship with a partner,” McIlwraith says. Post-event data related to sustainability can help you and your vendors understand attendees’ needs as you plan for the next event. Reach out to vendors for any post-event data they may have collected, and share your own.
<h3>Be receptive.</h3>
If there were a singular way to achieve event sustainability, we’d all be doing it. But there isn’t—and that’s a benefit, not a drawback. Keeping your eyes on the goal can be more important than the nitty-gritty of how that goal is executed.
“I think it’s important to find that balance between being overly prescriptive and allowing a little creativity and a bit of latitude in how a goal is achieved,” McIlwraith says. Let’s say one of your goals is reducing food waste. You may believe that using compost bins is the answer, but a vendor might have other established procedures or options to consider like using modified menus or smaller plates. Allowing your partners to be as nimble and flexible as you are lets you learn from one another and find shared opportunities to achieve your mission—and, potentially, new ways to get there that each of you can bring to future partnerships.
<h3>Find the person with passion.</h3>
“One of the things I always look for is somebody within the organization who has a passion for sustainability,” McIlwraith says. “That energy can’t be replaced. Finding somebody who is super excited about this goes a long way toward ensuring that the priorities are being met.”
Everyone you come into contact with as a vendor has a responsibility to live up to their public sustainability claims. But when you’re trying to go deeper, attempting something new, or establishing new protocols, the additional spark brought by a change-maker’s passion can be the catalyst for true change. That person can be the internal driver, watchdog, leader, or liaison, depending on their role within the organization.
Having your eyes open for this type of person may be enough to spot the right candidate. But if no one is emerging, get creative. “I like to ask open-ended questions around sustainability,” McIlwraith says. “Like, ‘Tell us about a time when you engaged in sustainable practices in order to support a client’s event.’ Let them tell you an engaging story, and you can follow their cues from there.”

<h3>Be on greenwashing alert.</h3>
The phrase “We have environmentally friendly practices” sounds nice—but it doesn’t actually mean anything. When you see a vague claim that’s not backed by any sort of certification or third party, or that eschews specific goals in favor of ambiguous language, investigate. It could be that the vendor is not communicating its sustainability practices effectively, or it could mean that the vendor hasn’t yet made the kind of commitments you’re looking for in a partner.
Transparency is also part of the picture. In fact, depending on the goal, transparency may be more important than accomplishments. “I look for what they’re telling us isn’t quite 100% there yet,” McIlwraith says. “What are they working toward? That helps me build confidence in their sustainability practices, because everyone has something that they’re working toward.”
<h3>Remember that we’re all in this together.</h3>
Just like you, your vendors don’t have it all figured out—and that’s OK. It’s an opportunity to work together and problem-solve, which is part of the reward.
“We’re all figuring it out together,” McIlwraith says. “There is this monumental challenge ahead of us to address all aspects of sustainability, whether you’re talking environmental sustainability or social justice sustainability, and I don’t think anyone has all of the answers. So let’s all recognize that we’re on this journey together and share what we know. That’s how we improve.”
One way to do that? Have fun. “So much of what we do is challenging, but sustainability really can be fun,” McIlwraith says. “That ability to do something really fun and creative inspires me to do more. It’s almost like a renewable energy source in and of itself.”

Change-Makers Don’t Work Alone.

How to Talk With Vendors About Your Sustainability Goals

Maybe you have a full-fledged production team; maybe you’re just working with the general email address at an event management app (and little else). No matter the size and scope of your technology support, your event’s success will soar if you’re better able to communicate with the tech and production experts who help bring your event to life.
<a target="_blank" href="https://www.brandtkrueger.com/">Brandt Krueger</a>, a veteran production manager in the meetings and events industry—and a communication specialist in his own right, as tech correspondent for Smart Meetings and host of <a target="_blank" href="https://audio.eventtechpodcast.com/">Event Tech Podcast</a>—shares his top tips for planners who want to communicate more effectively with tech teams.

I always tell planners, ‘You can speak in your terms.'

1. Be Comfortable Asking Questions
Production teams don’t expect you to come in with their expert level of knowledge. But they do expect you to be able to communicate your needs, and asking questions is an integral part of that. It also helps ensure that you’re being understood correctly. Asking questions can help avoid misunderstandings down the road, and can help keep your budget on point too.
“If there’s a piece of gear on your bid and you don’t know what it is, you should absolutely ask about it,” Krueger says. “You can ask, ‘Is this something that we need?’” You don’t need to know every functionality of every piece of equipment on your production company’s bid. But you do need to know whether it’s necessary.
And if you’re getting resistance about your questions? “That’s a huge red flag to me,” Krueger says. “If they’re in any way cagey about it or come back at you with a bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo, they might be trying to take advantage of you or something along those lines. They should be able to explain every single piece of equipment and why you’re paying for it in a way that makes sense. Same with software. And if they can’t, maybe they’re not the right fit.”
2. Have Confidence in Your Core Skills
Remember one of the principal traits of successful meeting planners (that’s you): versatility. You’ve had to learn about catering, hospitality, programming, communications, executive priorities, and more. If you take a little time and learn the bare-bone basics of how your gear works, that will be enough to communicate with your tech teams.
Unsure about that? Look back at how your skills came into play in the biggest shakeup the meetings industry has ever seen. “Going into the pandemic, we had all these seasoned planners who were great at in-person events, and for some reason they thought their skill set didn’t apply to remote events,” Krueger says. “And it did apply. You have 20 years of evaluating vendors, you’ve got your own sniff tests, and you can apply all of those skills to when you’re choosing a virtual platform or an online vendor. It took some getting over that hump for planners to remember, ‘OK, I do have these skills.’” The same principle applies to event tech. You know more than you think you do.

3. Know What Needs to Happen—and Let Your Team Get You There
You’re the expert in what needs to happen for your event to be a success. Your production team members are the experts in actually making it happen. Starting from your mutual points of expertise can lead to stronger collaboration and less confusion.
Krueger has seen planners cut-and-paste equipment lists from other shows and hand them over to their team, thinking that they’re supplying useful information. “I would rather have a planner approach any event technology company with what they’re trying to do than with a cut-and-paste gear list that might not be what they actually need,” he says. “Most A/V people would rather know more about the show and then figure out how to make it happen.”
For example, if you’re discussing audio needs for a panel event, your production team needs to hear from you how many people will be sharing the stage, not your stab-in-the-dark guess at how the stage needs to be wired.
Take the time to walk your production through the entire course of the event and consider your needs at each point to avoid last-minute realizations that create A/V or tech emergencies. “Are we going to have music? That’s one audio output,” Krueger says. “Are we going to have video playback? That’s another. The technical terms would be stepping through your inputs and outputs. But for the layperson, you’re stepping through the things that need to go onscreen and the things that need to make noise.” Defining these beforehand instead of realizing 10 minutes before the event starts that you’ll need entry music will help you create the ambiance you’re after.
 
4. Use Your Own Words
One specific callout of letting your tech team be the tech experts: If you don’t speak their language, don’t try to fake it.
“I always tell planners, ‘You can speak in your terms,’” Krueger says. You might think you’re being helpful by using the language of the person you’re talking with. But unless you can say with confidence what the term you’re using actually means, you might wind up causing more confusion than communication.
And as the adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. If you’re communicating with a production team member remotely, take pictures or screenshots of what you’re looking at.
 
5. Share What You Know, When You Know It
Meeting planners are known for trying to make things as easy as possible on everyone else. Take care not to let that translate to holding back information that could help your production team better collaborate with you.
“Sometimes planners hold information too close to the vest—they’re like, ‘Well, it’s not set in stone, so I don’t want to give wrong information,’” Krueger says. “But we all know that things change between the RFP and the day of production. Don’t be afraid to give us what little information you have as early as possible, even if it’s possible that it’ll change.”
In fact, inviting your production team into your venue visits, or even the venue negotiation process, can help you anticipate your needs in areas that don’t appear to be technical at first. “Let us help you,” Krueger says. “Meeting planners are looking at the beautiful resort and the food and spas and amenities, so let us look at the power setup and the freight elevator. If you’ve got the most beautiful resort in the world but it takes you an hour to push from the loading dock to the ballroom, that’s something you’re going to need to know.”

You Don’t Need to Talk Tech to Talk With Tech Experts.

Five Tips for Better Communication With Your Tech Team

Promote

Flagship events—annual meetings, biannual expos, major conferences—have their place. But a new trend is emerging that amplifies the power of host organizations, and the power of community.
Meet “everyday events”: smaller, more frequent touchpoint meetings. These everyday events—which can be as short as a half-day in duration—are on a smaller scale than what many planners might be used to, and not just in attendance. They have smaller budgets, more focused goals, and more limited time for promotion. But just because they’re smaller doesn’t mean they carry less weight.

<h2>It’s Time for “Everyday Events” to Shine</h2>
Research from the sales event platform Splash shows that people need to interact with a brand nearly 30 times before actually making a purchase—a number that’s increased more than 60% in just two years.
Regardless of whether your event is sales-focused, this emerging phenomenon has a place in your meeting strategy. There’s more information available than ever before, so to drive loyalty—whether in sales, membership, or attention—purpose-driven frequency is key.
Touchpoint events also have the potential to address one of meeting planners’ 2023 pain points: availability. Finding availability for events was planners’ No. 2 challenge in <a target="_blank" href="https://globaldmcpartners.com/sites/default/files/media/files/GDPPulseSurvey2022Q4/2022_GDP%20Q4%20Pulse%20Survey%20Summary%20Report.pdf">a recent survey</a> by Global DMC Partners. It might seem counterintuitive that more events can help relieve this pressure, but because everyday events are shorter in duration, planners can take advantage of one-day slots at venues and in supplier schedules, which are easier to come by.
Finally, there’s the human factor. The tumult of the past few years has attendees reevaluating the big picture—and yearning for connection. Hosting smaller, more frequent events allows people to nurture that instinct. And if that instinct turns into a loyal attendee for flagship events? All the better.

<h2>Four Principles for Creating Successful Touchpoint Events</h2>
1. Lean into what makes an everyday event special. If you approach a touchpoint meeting as a miniature version of an annual conference, you’ll be overwhelmed and attendees won’t get what they need. Instead, remember your mission for these events.
Intimacy-building. Creating a pipeline of communication. Fostering connections that go beyond networking and into collaboration. Large meetings can achieve these goals, but everyday events are crafted specifically for them. Let that guide your attention and your resources.
2. Frequent meetings require frequent communication. Potential delegates can easily be overwhelmed with emails and text blasts about events, and overdoing it risks drowning out communications about larger, revenue-building events. That said, the nature of everyday events means that attendees who might be interested but can’t make the first few iterations might be able to attend later ones.
Social media can hit the right tone and frequency about touchpoint events without overwhelming attendees. <a target="_blank" href="https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/news-and-highlights/article/422/perfect-the-art-of-the-hashtag">Strategic hashtags</a> can help you subtly avoid confusion among followers about the difference between flagship events and these smaller ones. Also consider a unique branding for these events—an “unplugged” version (softer colors, less flashy typefaces) of your larger event communications can help get the point across.
3. Get experimental. Everyday events aren’t incubators for larger events. That said, their smaller scale allows you to try out new formats and new suppliers with less risk. You can even use everyday events as a pressure test for themes and topics for upcoming conferences and panels, inviting attendees at the smaller events to share their experiences with the “trial-size” version on your social channels to generate excitement for larger meetings. (Who doesn’t love feeling like an insider?)
The smaller format also lets you better connect with attendees to hear their feedback. Post-event surveys are always useful, but these smaller events are also a space for casual feedback, because you’ll have less going on during the event itself. Let attendees tell you what they want to see, what worked, and what didn’t—not just for potential use in upcoming larger events, but to inform your strategy for your next intimate gathering.
4. Choose your team wisely. Touchpoint events are a lighter lift for you and your team, but they still require a good deal of communication. This shows in what marketers report as the No. 1 problem with repeatable events, <a target="_blank" href="https://go.splashthat.com/rs/985-MUN-268/images/2023-events-outlook.pdf">according to Splash</a>: coordinating across departments.
Think of your team as a task force, with each member selected for a specialized skill. When assembling your task force, look for people who are adept at creating systems that can pseudo-automate the logistical planning that goes into these events, people who don’t need a lot of hand-holding, and people who might thrive on having a pet project. Everyday events are an opportunity for early-to-mid-career meeting planners who have enough experience to know what success looks like and how to get there, so keep an eye out for eager employees who are at that point in their careers.

Are More Frequent Meetings the Answer to Planners’ 2023 Woes? Surprisingly, Yes.

Small Meetings, Big Impact: The Power of “Everyday Events”

Any savvy shopper knows that there’s a difference between price and value. There are ways for meeting planners to negotiate the best price on a venue, but it’s equally important to know how to determine the true value of a venue during the discovery phase. When speaking with potential venues for your next event, it helps to be armed with questions that allow you to dig deeper.
“It’s really important to ask a few things in the sourcing time period,” says Kara Dao, COO at <a target="_blank" href="https://jdc-events.com/">JDC Events</a>. “Properties want to disclose as much as possible to a planner, so ask it all directly.”
There are questions that give you the core parameters of a venue (cost, capacity, facilities, etc.), but the goal of the preliminary questions below is to uncover what might not be shared up-front. This doesn’t mean trying to extract inappropriate value from venues or to drive down the price of their services. Instead, it’s about asking the questions that will give you the full picture so you know everything that the venue has to offer.
Consider these five questions to get more value from venues.
<h3>Value-Driving Question #1: “Can You Explain the Specifics of Your Accessibility Efforts?”</h3>
You want your event to be enjoyable and available to all who attend. To that end, ask the venue how it accommodates people with physical limitations. Expect to get information on features such as ramps, elevators, automatic doors, wheelchair entrances, ADA-compliant restrooms, handicap parking, and on-hand staff to help attendees. Then, you can share this information with attendees before the event so that they’re prepared.
Another question to ask in terms of accessibility: “Are there any renovations happening currently?” You could find that certain accommodations are temporarily unavailable or that accessible entrances are affected.
<h3>Value-Driving Question #2: “How Many Other Groups Are You Hosting at the Same Time as My Group?”</h3>
Dao points out the importance of knowing what level of support you’ll be getting from the venue’s staff and how that might impact your event. That way, you’ll know that on-site staff will be there to help manage registrations, monitor service quality, assist if any problems arise, and support breakout sessions or other activities.
“What you really want to know is, ‘Who else am I competing with for those individuals’ attention? And what’s the impact of that?’” Dao says.
<h3>Value-Driving Question #3: “What Additional Fees Will I Be Charged?”</h3>
In some cases, Dao says, add-on fees have increased since the pandemic due to additional costs of keeping venues safe, and meeting planners need to be aware of them. Dao recommends being direct when asking this question, assuring venues that they won’t be eliminated as a choice out of hand because of add-on fees, but making it clear that you need to know so you can plan your budget accordingly.
<h3>Value-Driving Question #4: “What Can This Venue Offer That Nobody Else in Your Area Can?”</h3>
Of course you want your event to be special, so ask venues what makes them special. Venues will be eager to talk about their unique services that make them stand out above the rest.
<h3>Value-Driving Question #5: “What’s the Realistic Comfortable Capacity in Your Meeting Spaces?”</h3>
There’ll be a maximum capacity listed, but getting clarification on what the venue recommends could help you make attendees comfortable.
“Venues often want to present a large number but are not compensating for things such as a large space for AV to set up or an expanded stage or social distancing,” Dao says. “Diving into what those numbers actually look like in implementation is important.”

Getting the Full Picture of a Venue Is the Key to Picking One That’s Right for Your Event.

Five Questions That Will Give You More Value From Your Venue

What’s better than one stellar meeting? Two stellar meetings, combined. Specifically, two or more organizations combining meetings to share resources. Called colocating, this practice helps maximize budget and can lead to intriguing collaborations.
Take it from your peer-experts. Business Events Industry Week 2024 is a colocated event that’s powered by PCMA and Destinations International, in partnership with Destination DC, Events DC, IAEE, ICCA, and the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals, and destination organizations. The 2023 event, which took place at Gaylord National Resort &amp; Convention Center in Maryland, saw nearly 2,000 participants gather—a number made achievable by joining forces.
“Based on what participants for Business Events Industry Week were looking for, based on who our target audience is, it’s a great example of how colocated events can become very, very successful,” says Junior Tauvaa, chief business officer at PCMA. Read on to learn more about how colocation can further your goals—and how to do it right.

<h2>What Are the Benefits of Colocation?</h2>
The number one consideration for your events—the attendee—comes out ahead with colocation. Participants can register for an event through one organization but have access to programming and networking opportunities from groups that are separate from but complementary to their “home” organization. This grants them the benefits of attending multiple events, but in an efficient, realistic manner.
“We’re time-deficient as a society,” Tauvaa says. “Attendees vote with their time. Having these colocated events makes sense for everyone. There’s only so much time you can take out of the office, so it’s a big, big plus for our community to offer this to attendees from a time perspective.”
It’s also a plus for you, your organization, and any exhibitors you have. By expanding your event to include partnerships with other groups, organizations can save on spend while maximizing resources—critical in an era when events divisions at large organizations are still regrouping after the tumult of the pandemic and may be short on personnel.
“For most event organizers, their biggest challenges are lack of budget and lack of time, and most planners are handling multiple events,” Tauvaa says. “Having these events be colocated together takes into account these challenges and makes it easier for organizers.”
Exhibitors may also appreciate the chance to be in front of a fresh audience. As for host organizations’ business development departments, they can use a colocated event as an opportunity to test the waters for future joint ventures.

“Look at the experience you’re trying to create, and make it easy for everyone to see how they can meet their objectives at the event. You can capitalize on the energy of each other.”

<h2>Three Tips for Success in Colocating an Event</h2>
“There’s always an opportunity for organizations to colocate if there’s a similar value proposition,” Tauvaa says. “The challenging part is for these organizations to come together and identify gaps without stepping on each other’s toes.” Here are some principles to help you do exactly that:
● Know what you want to accomplish. What are your educational goals? What are your networking goals? Revenue goals? What sort of business connections do you hope to make? Going into discussions with your potential cohosts with an idea of what you want to accomplish will help ensure that your goals will be met while identifying synergies that work for all host organizations. It will also help you make sure that you’re able to build the best case for bringing in the vendors and sponsors who underwrite the event.
● Let the attendee guide everything you do. “Every organization that’s participating will concentrate on what they want to accomplish,” Tauvaa says. “The key is to understand what the participant experience will be.” For example, as you begin to assemble programming, identify events that compete with one another for similar attendees and find ways for them to avoid missing out. Use participant-first logic at every stage of planning. Business Events Industry Week, for example, used a singular registration platform for its 2023 event. Easy for logistics, but difficult for handling responses. This year, organizers opted to have each participating organization handle its own registration—ultimately putting attendees’ needs first.
● Communicate, communicate, communicate. In theory, a colocated meeting saves all planners time and resources. But unless you’re diligent about regular communication, it’s easy for the opposite to happen—duplicated efforts, important items falling through the cracks. For Business Events Industry Week, all industry organizations met regularly to ensure everything was on track at all points on the journey, from concepting to programming to branding to registration. The size of the event meant that there was a planner dedicated to coordinating across all groups. That might not be necessary for your meeting, but designating a person to be the keeper of liaising may be helpful.
The first time you plan a colocated event, you might feel dizzy—meeting planners are used to shouldering a lot of work, and working with colleagues at different organizations can both ease and complicate the process. But by keeping your eyes on the attendee experience, you’re setting all host organizations up for success.
“Look at the experience you’re trying to create, and make it easy for everyone to see how they can meet their objectives at the event,” Tauvaa says. “You can capitalize on the energy of each other.”

Teaming Up With Other Organizations? Keep Participants’ Needs First in Mind.

The Ultimate Collaboration: Colocate Your Next Meeting

Audience participation is one of the most tech-forward meeting developments today, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.iacconline.org/iacc-meeting-room-of-the-future">research from IACC</a>. In-session polling offers a particular benefit to presenters and planners: By giving attendees a real-time, active presence in programming, in-session polling can drive engagement and focus.
But there’s a difference between throwing a single question on the screen as a gimmick and truly leveraging the possibilities of live polling technology. Here are three tips for deploying polls in sessions, for you to use directly or to pass on to presenters.

<h2>Power Poll Tactic #1: Choose Your Own Adventure</h2>
Let the poll dictate the direction of a session by allowing attendees to choose at the start what they’d like to learn about. Give two options—or more if presenters are OK with it—and kick it off with the question to the audience.
This requires presenters or panelists to be on board with the plan, but the possibilities for an energetic, spontaneous session may be worth it to the right team. Written agendas should communicate the “choose your own adventure” aspect to attendees, which both builds anticipation for the structure of the session and sets expectations that attendees should be prepared to go with the flow.
This style of engagement works particularly well with panelists who are dynamic and have presented together before, or who otherwise have a strong rapport.

<h2>Power Poll Tactic #2: Repeat Yourself</h2>
Most sessions are meant to change or open attendees’ perspectives in some way, whether that’s through education, persuasion, or promotion. You can get real-time insight into a session’s effectiveness by posing the same question at the beginning and end of a session to gauge whether attendees have changed their mind in any way.
Launch a session by asking a question that’s central to the presentation’s message. Aim for a question that’s slightly provocative to generate intrigue, or simply ask a matter-of-fact question that leans into the possibility of someone changing their mind in-session, such as, “Do you believe that [topic] has the potential to significantly better our industry?”
Yes/no or multiple-choice questions can have a dramatic payoff, but they run the risk of indicating that the presenter has failed to change anyone’s perspective. Depending on the session, eliciting open-ended responses such as “What word comes to your mind when you think about [topic]?” can be effective. Some polling tools have word cloud generators built in; using these to do a before-and-after word cloud can show how an audience has evolved during the session.

Power Poll Tactic #3: Play With Contrast
Solemn topics may call for solemn poll questions to avoid seeming flippant. But a gently amusing question can also serve as an icebreaker—not to get attendees to mingle with each other, but to get attendees to engage more deeply with a topic. In fact, it can help the audience weather any stresses that might arise as a result of a sensitive topic: A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8012602/">2021 study</a> showed that humor lessened levels of the stress hormone cortisol when study participants were faced with a stressful task.
Ideally, a humorous poll question adds both levity and meaning. But if that bar is too high, a playful question with only tangential relevance to the session can still relax attendees. A session on developments for auto safety might, for example, begin by asking a trivia question about a well-known road-trip movie; a presentation about cybersecurity might begin by asking people to vote on what they think is the most commonly used password (<a target="_blank" href="https://nordpass.com/most-common-passwords-list/">it’s 123456</a>, for the record).
Asking questions during a session is more than an engagement gimmick. It can give presenters valuable information that they’ll carry into their future research, help anchor the session, and create a unified experience. And if your presenters are still having trouble getting on board, remind them that <a target="_blank" href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-18566-001">asking questions makes people appear more likable</a>. Who doesn’t want that?&nbsp;

Level Up Your In-Session Polls, Level Up Your Session.

Survey Says! Three Ways to Add Polling to the Program

Twenty-five years ago, Matthew Shepard lost his life. The violent hate crime against the 21-year-old gay college student was a watershed moment for the next wave of LGBTQ+ activism—and the roots of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, an outreach organization founded by Matthew’s parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, to create change and combat hate in communities and individuals.
On October 14, 2023, the Foundation commemorated the 25th anniversary of Matthew’s death, while celebrating individuals who embody that spirit of change. The gala’s home: the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. The gala’s mission: to commemorate Matthew while raising funds to continue the Foundation’s good works. And one of the Foundation’s key philanthropic partners: Marriott International.
“Marriott has maintained loyal and loving ties to the Matthew Shepard Foundation for several years,” says Cherilyn Williams, VP, Purpose Driven Marketing at Marriott International. Judy and Dennis are frequent special guests at Marriott events, commemorations, and Pride gatherings, and the Foundation is aligned with Marriott’s commitment to LGBTQ+ equality.
“We want to highlight philanthropic partnerships like those with Marriott who have consistently gone beyond simply having our backs financially, but who have supported our brand values, actually being there to support our programmatic efforts—not just writing a check,” says Dana Juniel, EVP, strategy and communication at the Matthew Shepard Foundation.
As planners continue to find ways to deepen their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, consider finding philanthropic partners, including suppliers and vendors, who can help bring your vision to life. With the right DEI-forward philanthropic partnership, your organization’s mission can find its footing—as can the communities you’re supporting. Read on to discover how Marriott and the Matthew Shepard Foundation cultivated a true philanthropic partnership, and how you can borrow from their path.

<h2>The First Step to a Successful Philanthropic Partnership</h2>
Before you can assess potential partners, you need to set them—and yourself—up for success. That means doing what you already do: “Understand your audience,” Juniel says. Tap the skills you’ve cultivated in knowing your attendees, and communicate that clearly to potential partners.
In Juniel’s case, that meant understanding the difference between a Denver crowd and other crowds around the country—the timing of ticket sales, the dress code, the expected opening bids on paddle auctions. The more partners know about your attendees, the more they’ll be able to bring to the table.
But before you even talk with partners, you can help your event stay true to your equity principles by intentionally soliciting the work of diverse suppliers and vendors. “There’s always a business owned by a person of color or a veteran,” Chivonne Hyppolite, founder and CEO of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.abstractelementsevents.com/">Abstract Elements</a> in Atlanta, <a target="_blank" href="https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/news-and-highlights/article/515/nine-ways-to-build-partnerships-with-diverse-vendors">told Marriott Bonvoy Events</a> in 2023 when discussing how to build partnerships with diverse vendors. “There’s always a business that has people who look like me. Being purposeful in seeking them out is key.”

<h2>Authenticity and Kindness Rule the Room</h2>
Juniel and Williams agree on the No. 1 quality needed for a philanthropic partnership to take flight: authenticity.
“The philanthropic partnership came from having an authentic relationship,” Juniel says. Williams echoes the sentiment: “When we lead with our long-standing values and express our support year after year, the bonds of trust and friendship blossom.”
Juniel also recommends looking for philanthropic partners who can express in their own words what’s important about an event. This can demonstrate that they are already ideologically aligned with your goals.
“We cherish these partnerships and often dedicate them to marginalized causes and ones that are most likely to benefit from our dedicated support. These are causes that also reflect the long-held values of our company,” Williams says. When evaluating potential partners, ask about their existing contributions and commitments to causes in sync with yours.
Ideal partners will come in with their own ideas of how to make the event live up to the values it espouses, along with compatible values. For example, if you’re talking with event designers you’re looking to partner with on an event focused on childhood education, you might be intrigued by a designer who comes in with interactive ideas, demonstrating that they understand the subject matter. And if that designer presents their own concepts of <a target="_blank" href="https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/news-and-highlights/article/518/the-form-of-inclusion-your-events-might-be-missing">neuroinclusive design</a>, a hot topic in childhood education circles? All the better.
Also, look for kindness. “I don’t think we give enough credit to people, particularly in corporate America, who are kind,” Juniel says. When there’s kindness and authenticity, the rest falls into place. “I know that I’m going to be met with a friendly, patient, understanding willingness to partner—they want our event and our organization to be successful,” she says of Marriott.

<h2>Look for a Willingness to Go Beyond Financial Contributions</h2>
Philanthropy can look like a big—and much-needed—novelty check. But a philanthropic partnership is more than that.
“We want our partners to represent the same values and philosophies that we do as an organization,” Juniel says.
On Marriott’s end, the philanthropic partnership matches its own values, aligning with <a target="_blank" href="https://serve360.marriott.com/sustainable-goals/">its Serve 360 ethos</a>: “to do good in every direction.” In action, that means that partners should bring their full capabilities to the table, combining their passion for action with their skill and expertise.
For the MSF gala, that meant an immediate understanding of the needs of the community and implementing them in the event space. Gender-neutral bathrooms for an LGBTQ+ event was a no-brainer, but other elements designed for this event required more foresight.
That said, Marriott followed a basic rule: “Ask good questions with care and sensitivity,” Williams says. “When asking good questions, care and sensitivity are always welcome.” Finding small ways to make guests feel welcome, then communicating those ideas to you, demonstrates good-faith partnership.

<h2>A True Partner Is Proactive</h2>
Another sign that MSF had found a reliable partner in Marriott: Communication was never a one-way street.
“We’re not always reaching out to them,” Juniel says of MSF’s relationship with Marriott. “Very often, they’re reaching out to us with proposals for things they want to do.” That’s how <a target="_blank" href="https://www.marriottloveletters.com/">Marriott Love Letters</a>, which encouraged patrons to send positive messages to LGBTQ+ youth through its online portal, came to be in 2022. For every message sent, Marriott International made a donation to The Matthew Shepard Foundation and PFLAG National.
That offering came about because Marriott wasn’t waiting to be told how to be a good partner; they did the work. “It’s that February call, during our slow season, where they’re just checking in and not making a direct ask, but instead just connecting with the people who are the decision-makers,” Juniel says. “They get a better understanding and a stronger relationship with the organization.”
Connection. Authenticity. Proactivity. It’s the essence of any kind of partnership. And for your philanthropic partnership to take root, they’re seeds worth sowing.

Learn From the Collaboration Between the Matthew Shepard Foundation and Marriott International. 

How to Choose the Right Philanthropic Partners

When Hillary Clinton told a group of 4,200 meeting professionals that “You make thousands of decisions every day,” she was being conservative. In fact, we make around <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pbsnc.org/blogs/science/how-many-decisions-do-we-make-in-one-day/">35,000 decisions a day</a>, according to some estimates.
But Clinton’s point, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.meetingsnet.com/meeting-planning-toolbox/hillary-clinton-s-decision-making-lessons-meeting-planners">shared at PCMA’s Convening Leaders conference in January</a>, goes deeper than the number of decisions planners make. “You need your energy to be high when making the conscious decisions,” she told attendees. “You have to know yourself.”
The cost of not knowing one’s own capacity for decisions takes a toll: It can lead you to procrastinate decision-making, to reach for the first solution that comes to mind instead of the best solution, or to stay suspended in analysis paralysis, poring over the same information ad nauseam without arriving at a choice.
But <a target="_blank" href="https://www.atlassian.com/blog/productivity/decision-fatigue">decision fatigue</a>—becoming drained in the face of constant choice—can be managed. And for planners, whose decisions affect every aspect of an event, that’s the only way to proceed. Read on for six ways to manage decision fatigue.

<h3>Decision Fatigue-Buster #1: Identify Peak Performance Times</h3>
As Clinton pointed out, you need all your faculties when making the most important decisions. Strategically schedule decision-making sessions—particularly those involving other people’s opinions, which are more cognitively demanding—for a time of day when you’re most alert. Night owls have an added consideration here: Even if you’re most awake later in the day, you may find that your capacity for making decisions is depleted earlier than your energy reserves. Consider trying to schedule meetings involving big decisions for as early in the day as you comfortably can.

<h3>Decision Fatigue-Buster #2: Eliminate Decisions</h3>
You’ve probably heard about people developing a “work uniform” of similar or identical clothes that work well together without requiring much thought—resulting in one less decision to be made each day. Extend that principle to select parts of your work life. That might mean minimizing the number of personal decisions you have to make (such as having the same lunch every day), and it might also mean developing a streamlined list of suppliers so you can devote, say, your big-ticket RFP energy to where it will make the most impact.

<h3>Decision Fatigue-Buster #3: Develop Standardized Evaluation Frameworks</h3>
The outcome of decisions may be unique, but developing a standardized approach to making those decisions is useful. You’re probably already considering similar factors when reviewing your options—budget, past experience, attendee feedback, diversity and inclusion, etc. Codifying these by developing a rubric where each option is evaluated and weighted according to the same criteria can help you take some hemming and hawing out of the equation. These can be particularly effective when collaborating on a decision, thanks to the quantitative factor that makes decisions more objective.

<h3>Decision Fatigue-Buster #4: Prioritize</h3>
Not all decisions need the same level of analysis. Allocate more time and resources to the decisions that are most important, and limit the time you spend on choices whose outcomes have lower stakes. When time is limited, circle back to rule #1 and aim to make critical decisions earlier in the day, before your cognitive overwhelm kicks in.

<h3>Decision Fatigue-Buster #5: Take Breaks</h3>
You already know the role of rest in <a target="_blank" href="https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/news-and-highlights/article/430/tired-of-the-same-old-self-care-tips-read-this">self-care</a>. Taking a break helps you make better decisions too. In <a target="_blank" href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-15022-005">a 2019 study of 150 nurses</a> working for a health care helpline, researchers found that the further nurses got from their last break, the more likely they were to make a conservative decision, such as deferring a caller to another practitioner. In fact, proximity to a break was more predictive than overall workload of a person’s likelihood of making an inefficient decision. The takeaway? When you’re faced with making a lot of small decisions, give yourself short, frequent breaks to clear your mind.

<h3>Decision Fatigue-Buster #6: Talk With Other Stakeholders (and Delegate When Appropriate)</h3>
Consider this tip advanced fatigue-busting. The more people you involve in a decision, the more factors you have to consider, ultimately complicating a decision. But as Clinton pointed out about high-stakes decisions like those she faced as United States secretary of state, big decisions require coming together to arrive at the best solution. She stressed the importance of patience even in the face of exhaustion, and pointed out that asking for more information can help inform all parties. And sometimes, depending on the stakeholders involved, you may find that one person is best-equipped to make a decision—and if that’s the case, delegating that choice may be the right path.
If all else fails? Research shows that the coin toss method can help, though not in the way you might think. A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022103118303950">2019 study</a> showed that people who used a coin toss to make a decision helped them stick to their preliminary choice. Treating the flip of a coin as an aid to making a decision, not as a final verdict, can help you streamline extraneous information and get to the root of what you value in your choices.

Making Decisions Is Your Job. Here’s How to Get Better at It.

6 Ways to Overcome Your Decision Fatigue

“Nothing about us without us” has long been a rallying cry for the disability rights movement. But while meeting planners do their best to follow accessibility guidelines and <a target="_blank" href="https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/news-and-highlights/article/514/is-your-programming-as-accessible-as-your-venue">create accessible programming</a>, they might not be following that tenet.
Including people with a range of abilities in the planning process helps ensure that the event goes beyond checking boxes about wheelchair accessibility. The broader the scope of voices involved, the more an event can be truly welcoming.
Below are some steps toward deepening your relationship with the disability community. But take note: Your newly found partners in accessibility aren’t doing the work for you. It’s still up to planners to know and address the principal concerns of the community, understand venue and programming guidelines, and uncover ways to make events more inclusive.

<h3>Find the Right Voices to Invite In</h3>
Start by asking within your organization or your client contacts. Is there someone in your organization who has an existing relationship with a local activist community? Who has brought up concerns about accessibility within the organization before?
You can also turn to the experts. The ADA National Network has <a target="_blank" href="https://adata.org/find-your-region">regional ADA centers</a> that provide local assistance, as well as a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.adainfo.org/hospitality/">hospitality portal</a> with a handful of resources, including an accessible meetings guide.
The convention and visitors bureau or destination marketing organization of your host destination may also be able to point you in the right direction. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.visittampabay.com/accessible-travel/">Visit Tampa Bay</a>, for example, works with disability influencers to inform its own policies around accessibility and authentically promote the Tampa Bay area as an accessible destination.

<h3>Cultivate Your Relationships</h3>
You’re a master networker, so you’re probably already intuitively applying those skills to these new connections—reaching out for regular check-ins, taking time to note their achievements in professional settings, and so on. But this isn’t just about maintaining contact; it’s about making sure that you’ve developed enough trust that your partners will be able to help you think differently. When <a target="_blank" href="https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/news-and-highlights/article/410/is-inclusion-part-of-your-organizing-principle">inclusion is part of your organizing principles</a>, your events can’t help but be more inclusive and accessible.
Also, think about how you can compensate your partners for their time and expertise. They’re not doing you a favor; they’re leveraging their personal experience to make your events better for everyone. For ongoing relationships, a stipend may be appropriate. Some partners may benefit from free access to your organization’s programming and events as a form of payment. Whatever you do, compensating them for their time in a meaningful way is another way of demonstrating your commitment to inclusivity.

<h3>Implement Their Findings</h3>
This doesn’t mean responding in a knee-jerk fashion and then scrambling to, say, find a sign language interpreter at the last minute. It’s more about listening to all your partners and collaborating to find ways to make sure their findings see the light of day in a thoughtful manner.
As an example, when <a target="_blank" href="https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/news-and-highlights/article/555/marriott-international-becomes-first-hospitality-company-to-introduce-neuroinclusive-practices-at-its-largest-customer-events">Marriott International worked with The Neu Project</a>, an initiative geared toward inclusive events that welcome neurodiverse attendees, it led to ongoing, sustainable practices that changed how Marriott-hosted events operate. Live captioning is now available at any Marriott-hosted customer event of 250 people or more, for example; it’s not an afterthought.
Regardless of how you work with your inclusivity partners, remember that this is only part of the work. Following accessibility guidelines is the bare minimum. Being proactive about anticipating and accommodating needs—discovered through working with your partners, asking attendees and clients directly, and your own ongoing research—will help ensure that people with a range of abilities will get all they can from your events.

It’s Time to Go Deeper With Your Commitment to Inclusivity.

Is Your Meeting Truly Accessible? Ask the Experts.

According to <a target="_blank" href="https://ovationdmc.com/__trashed/">research from Ovation Global DMC</a>, chances are you haven’t jumped into artificial intelligence headfirst—yet. Curious about AI’s potential for creating better events, meeting planners are taking tentative steps into AI: 21% say they’ve tried a few tools, and 36% say they’re considering doing so.
Planners report that a lack of understanding and fear of losing the human touch are stopping them from embracing AI. But the heart of the meetings and hospitality industry is built upon that human touch, indicating that AI’s place will be to supplement, not replace, human talent.
“We are in the hospitality industry,” Anthony Capuano, president and CEO of Marriott International, said in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yxC8GVTMR4">an interview with CNBC-TV18</a>. “Of course technology will continue to drive efficiency in the operation of our hotels, but my hope and my expectation is that what technology will also do is create capacity for our associates so that they have more capacity to really engage in a personal way with our guests.”
For proof, look at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pcma.org/humans-versus-ai-event-challenge/">a recent AI-versus-human competition</a>, which showed that human meeting planners retain a strong edge against the machine. As event-specific AI platforms such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sparkit.ai/">Spark</a> continue to make headway in the industry, human event planners may find that AI cooperation, not competition, will give the best results.
To start bolstering your #teamhuman capabilities with AI, here are three simple ways to deploy this technology.

<h3>Before the Meeting: Marketing</h3>
Creating personas for attendees can drive registrations. It can also be difficult to get it right: Your own preconceived notions about the attendee group may steer you toward or away from certain personas, and even the most savvy marketer might struggle with nailing the right voice to speak to each type of attendee.
When Margaret Launzel-Pennes was developing personas for an event, she used job descriptions as inputs for ChatGPT, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.meetingsnet.com/event-tech-virtual-meetings/ai-power-user-case-study-marketing">she told MeetingsNet</a>. From there, the tool came up with four personas that Launzel-Pennes used to create appropriate marketing content through email and social campaigns—again, with the help of ChatGPT. She then worked with an AI video creation platform to make videos that highlighted aspects of the event that would speak to each persona.
Using AI to augment your approach to understanding your attendees can save you labor. PCMA’s Event Leadership Institute offers <a target="_blank" href="https://eventleadershipinstitute.com/course/social-listening-ai-deep-personalization/">a course on using AI to go further with social listening</a>, for example—something you’re probably already doing, but that takes considerable time to do as thoroughly as AI can do in a snap.

<h3>During the Meeting: Live Summarization</h3>
You may already be familiar with live captioning and auto-transcription, which aren’t yet as accurate as human transcription services but are useful for instant transcription. Live summarization takes it a step further on the intelligence front by using what has been transcribed to craft a meeting narrative, much as a professional note-taker would.
Providing delegates with summarizations for all sessions can help them catch up on content they had to miss in order to attend higher-priority sessions. It can also give them a preview of what to expect before they decide to devote time to watching a recording of the full session, if you’ve made one available.
You can benefit too: If you host summarizations on the event website, you can track which summarizations are most frequently visited. This can give you insight into future planning, illuminating which sessions were popular after the fact versus which sessions were most highly attended in person. (If that sounds daunting, remember that you can lean on ChatGPT to help you out here.)

<h3>After the Meeting: Data Analytics</h3>
Data can reveal undercurrents of your event that aren’t visible just by looking at attendance numbers. But sorting through that data can be time-consuming—except for the robots.
That’s what Heather Munnell found when she shared Excel files and event-app data with ChatGPT. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.meetingsnet.com/event-tech-virtual-meetings/ai-power-user-case-study-data-analysis">According to MeetingsNet</a>, the platform helped her spot unexpected trends, such as a high number of people in sales positions attending technology sessions.
Once AI has helped you see things about your event data that you hadn’t seen before, you can further refine participant personas for your next event and shape your agenda accordingly to avoid competing sessions.

<h3>Proceed With Zest—and Vigilance</h3>
The more you experiment with AI, the more you’ll come to realize its promise. But in doing so, take care to avoid two common pitfalls:
● Use smart inputs. You might have heard the saying “garbage in, garbage out.” Generative AI isn’t actually intelligent—it draws from a vast repository of information, but it needs concise yet thorough direction in order to be helpful. If your initial prompt doesn’t give you what you need, continue to refine your inputs. Spending time on developing the right prompts will still save you time in the long run.
● Always verify. AI can’t distinguish between what’s true and untrue. And in generating output, it might even make up facts or words. Remember that AI is a starting point, not the endpoint. Your events probably aren’t technically subject to President Biden’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/10/30/fact-sheet-president-biden-issues-executive-order-on-safe-secure-and-trustworthy-artificial-intelligence/?utm_campaign=NewsWatch%20Today&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsmi=280528244&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz--535sFzrTslxTozeK689hXb04Sk1uaIC_uBnGpB-p3OO7qDqF66-YmuvQJQCsGQCD2sqGQJ5mfV6in2fnLDVO_-QzEkiw3ujVSXNspWPXv5mE5c8g&amp;utm_content=280528097&amp;utm_source=hs_email">executive order on ethical AI</a>, but it’s a useful standard-bearer to guide your events.
If you’re interested in learning more as you start experimenting, check out the Event Leadership Institute’s <a target="_blank" href="https://eventleadershipinstitute.com/course/webinar-dissecting-the-chat-gpt-generative-ai-disruption-use-cases-concerns-threats-opportunities-for-event-profs-recorded-june-2-2023/">webinar on AI in the events industry</a>. Spoiler alert: It’s led by humans.

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