If you plan meetings and events for the SMERF (social, military, educational, religious, fraternal) market, you may want to consider adding self-catering accommodation options to the lodgings available for your events. While this is clearly a non-issue if your meeting or event is taking place on a cruise ship or if you are hosting your event at a hotel and offering on-site lodgings, this can be a rather appealing option for other situations. For example, if you are planning a meeting to be held at a community hall or a conference at a convention center, you may want to consider adding self-catering options to the list of lodging possibilities for out-of-town attendees.

One of the main reasons for offering self-catering accommodations when working with the SMERF market is that this type of event participant is more likely to be traveling with their partner or family than other types of event attendees. Accommodations that have kitchen and laundry facilities can make the non-attending partner and other family members feel more at home and allows them to keep food and drinks readily available, rather than having to leave their lodgings every time they want a snack. This also allows your SMERF participants to enjoy the convenience and savings of dining in for some meals, if they prefer.

Seasite.com makes it easy for event planners to source and plan a cruise event. They provide search tools that help you identify the right ship, meeting space grids that show you how the ship fits your needs, and other great planning resources.

If you work as a meeting and event planner for a corporation, there are very likely hiring policies and procedures in place that make the process of hiring new staff members clear and simple; however, if you are a self-employed planner looking to expand your staff, it may feel like more of a challenge to determine how best to acquire new talent. Fortunately, there are always folks looking for work; therefore, the task is simply to find someone with the skills, experience and personality to be a good fit for you and your meeting or event planning business.

Starting with people you know is usually a good first step. This does not necessarily mean hiring friends or family members, as this is sometimes a good idea and sometimes not. But, it does mean that you should keep an eye out for potential candidates at networking socials and events you attend, as well as letting people you work with know that you are looking to hire.

A great place to start can be the folks that work as event staff, such as servers, bartenders, check-in staff or security guards. Some of these people may have taken these jobs as a way to get into the event planning field and begin to make connections, or to cover expenses while they complete their college degrees.