If you are a self-employed meeting planner, you already know that quite a bit of planning is required before you can even begin to meet with clients and provide services. Decisions must be made about which niche should be your main focus, which marketing methods will be most effective, how to build successful relationships with venues and vendors, and how you will manage your client contacts. If you work from a home office, there are also the issues of setting up a home office that is quiet and conducive to productivity, establishing a professional feel for your business that does not give away that you run it out of your home, and determining how and where you will meet with clients.

The issue of where to meet with clients is a simple one when working with larger companies that have offices or storefronts. In this case, you can simply go to them and meet with them on their premises. However, when you are working with smaller companies or are meeting with potential clients that are located elsewhere and visiting your city, meeting on their turf may not be an option.

If the client company is also conducted from a home office, then it is appropriate for you to meet in either your home or theirs, as long as you feel comfortable having clients in your home and you have a professional environment in which to conduct meetings. Options for meeting clients outside of your home include meeting at a local coffee shop or looking into office sharing programs that offer meeting space for reasonable rates.

Event planners who work with inventive groups are faced nowadays with clients who just don’t have the money to spend. Smaller business are trying to cut out luxuries with the hope that no one will say anything, and larger companies–especially the ones with bailout money–are trying to regain an image of competence and frugality. Incentive travel is a scary proposition for them both.

Enter the cruise. These are often much more affordable choices for people who love to travel in general, and could be your answer to the problem of affordable incentive travel. Why? Because cruises are relaxing, cruise lines have expanded their ports of call, and many of them offer sightseeing excursions in the cruise package.

Another cost-cutting advantage of the cruise is the other inclusions. If you book a pyramid tour in Egypt, for instance, you also have to plan for accommodations, meals, other activities, etc. All of this is included in the cruise. Cruises offer enormous and variable meals spreads, and there is something for everyone there. Read the rest of this entry »