Take the Guess Work out of Meeting Planning!

What is the most important factor to consider when looking for a venue for your meetings? Is it:

·       Room rate and/or overall cost?

·       Number and type of guest rooms?

·       Destination?

·       Safety and security?

·       Type of venue (city, suburban, airport, resort, other)?

·       Your audience and their expectations?

·       Or something else? 

To take the guess work out of meeting planning at this stage, we need to go back to the basics. 

While all these factors are important and must be given due consideration, the most important factor to consider believe it or not is the meeting space.  

That's right -- meeting space for your meeting to be successful first and foremost has to fit the needs of the group and your specific meeting specs.

For instance, if you know you’re expecting 150 people and the program calls for general session space set classroom style set two people per six-foot tables, six breakouts of 25 each set in pod style, office space to accommodate 6-8, storage space for room gift assembly and delivery prep, registration space – all set to your specifications -- and separate function space for daily meal function and you want/need the meeting space, office and storage space available on a 24-hour hold – this is what the venues you are looking at must have for starters.

If you do not have your space requirements properly outlined at the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage, and then go to contract with anything less than and later find you need more or different space, you may be out of luck and unable to produce the desired outcomes. Worse, you may be at a loss financially if the venue no longer fits your needs and you are contractually obligated.  

TIP!  There’s a Request for Proposal (RFP) template in my book, The Meeting Planning Process:  A Guide to Planning Successful Meetings if you don’t already have one in your meeting planning toolbox.  The template can be modified as needed to fit your specific meeting needs.          

Defining your goals, objectives and key messages, identifying your intended audience, and having a clear understanding of the meeting and function space required from the get-go is essential to bringing forth a successful meeting.  This can be accomplished easier and more efficiently with the use of the Overall Meeting Action Plan template you’ll also find in my book, The Meeting Planning Process:  A Guide to Planning Successful Meetings.  Like the RFP template, the Overall Meeting Action Plan template can also be modified to fit the needs of your specific program requirements and will be an effective asset to you and your team as you flush out your essential needs. 

There’s much to learn about the Meeting Planning Process and believe me when I say, the learning does not come overnight.

After a successful career as a full-time professional meeting planner, I wrote my Guide based on my successes and failures to share with others what I’d learned so they could avoid some of the all-too-common pitfalls.

Our successes I would conclude come from learning and doing.  Growth comes from facing challenges head on and accepting change.  Such has been the case even with writing and publishing my Guide.  Since first launch in October 2016, updates and revisions were made in November 2021 and then again in March of 2026.  While the content from the start continued to be relevant, I felt updates and tweaks were needed to keep current with our ever-changing industry. 

If you have questions for me or just want to chat, please do not hesitate to reach out to me either via the Contact form on the website (https://www.maryjowiseman.net), email (mwiseman4446@gmail.com) or phone (651.756.8106).  I would honestly be more than happy to email you complimentary copies of either of the two templates highlighted above just for reaching out to me. 

Thanks, and take care. 

Be well.  Plan well.  Never stop learning. 

Mary Jo Wiseman, CMP | Author, The Meeting Planning Process: A Guide to Planning Successful Meetings.