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Planning a meeting that works – for you and your company

When your boss asks you to take charge of an off-site business meeting, you are honored to be chosen. At the same time, you suspect there might be a lot more to the assignment than meets the eye. You’ll be in the spotlight, responsible for the millions of details such a project generates, and potentially the target of both kudos and complaints.

Your meeting may be small or large and have one of several purposes – producing a strategic plan for your department, recognizing the company’s top performers, or setting the scene for top management reports.

Site selection, negotiations and contract management: Questions to ask when selecting a hotel, resort or conference center:

• Does the place fit both your organization’s corporate culture and its travel policies?
• Will the recreational facilities at the location please your meeting participants?
• Have you toured the place in person and asked plenty of questions?
• Does your company already have an established relationship with the venue? Using the facilities could help fulfill the commitment if there is a contract based on a certain volume of business.

Transportation and event management: This part of the project involves so many details that it deserves the best computer support you can muster, as well as your most seasoned administrative talent. Key components are:

• Booking and managing airline and hotel reservations and ground transportation.
• A toll-free 24-hour emergency hotline prior to the meeting.
• Attendee registration at the meeting, with distribution of name tags and detailed schedules.
• Staging and technical support for presentations and entertainment.
• An on-site office with company staff members on duty to help participants and take messages.
• Tickets for, and transportation to, "extracurricular activities."

American Express’ consulting service can help you with these details.

Post-meeting follow up and accounting for expenditures: During the weeks after your meeting you will be busy tying up loose ends, writing your report and analyzing participants’ feedback forms. Finally, you must expedite payment of the bills from the meeting. Here are suggestions to ease that task:

• If you are processing multiple invoices through your company’s accounts payable department, ask suppliers to itemize all purchases.
• Large and mid-sized companies that are already customers of the American Express Corporate Card might want to look into the benefits of the recently introduced American Express Corporate Meeting Card.
• The Corporate Meeting Card channels all meeting-related bills through a special account, keeping them separate from other travel and entertainment expenses, and providing a complete record for accurate analysis. As a meeting planner, you’re relieved of a cumbersome administrative task. And your suppliers appreciate that they receive remittances in a timely manner.

February 8, 2001

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