For much of the time employees are in meetings, meeting participants are simply a captive audience. In cases such as these, participants are very likely to “tune out” and miss important information that is being disseminated. This is where the meeting planner can step in and be of invaluable assistance. To avoid situations in which meeting participants “zone out” and either daydream or doodle, meeting planners can make meeting preparation assignments. While this may sound like a meeting planner doling out homework, it actually helps meeting participants take a more significant role in the incentive meeting.

There are several types of meetings that can be held, and these include: problem-solving meetings, sales meetings, brainstorming session, and other types of less formal meetings. With problem-solving meetings, the participants may be made aware of the problem to be discussed ahead of time. They can then be asked to think of a possible solution and potentially share this solution with the group. For sales meetings, participants could be asked to discuss successful strategies they have learned. In a brainstorming session, participants can be asked questions related to the topic of discussion and provide potential solutions are answers. There are many ways in which incentive meetings can be tailored to encourage meaningful employee participation.

When planning corporate meetings and conventions, reserving shuttles to carry your participants from their hotels to the event location, from the event location to planned excursions or between multiple venues is generally taken for granted as part of the meeting planning process. Meeting and event planners automatically add a line for shuttle expenses to the event budget and usually assume this service is a must, even if the hotel is barely two blocks from the convention center. It would appear that having a shuttle has worked its way onto the essentials list, right along with tables, chairs and lighting.

While there be some circumstances where shuttles truly are a must, this additional expense is often unnecessary. Most cities with meeting and conference venues have plenty of hotels located within walking distance of event locations, as well as well-established public transportation systems that can easily and economically carry event participants to different venues or excursions. Most event venues also have dining options in close proximity.

Considering that most companies are still looking for ways to cut event expenses and many are on the lookout for easy ways to go green, cutting shuttle service out of your list of musts is an easy way to accomplish both goals. Before reserving shuttles for your next corporate event, take a moment to determine whether or not they are truly necessary. If most venues are in close proximity to one another and hotels are just down the street, shuttles may just be an extra expense that you can easily avoid without participant complaints.

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.

You thought it was a successful meeting.  Everything came off as planned, and your client was happy.  Then, a week later your client calls you in a panic–that successful meeting did not have a closed caption screen or sign language translator and her company is being sued.

As a meeting planner,  you need to be prepared and familiar with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

There are many types of disabilities, and the ADA has two disability lists: one is the conspicuous impairment and the other is non-visible.

While some disabilities are very clear visually, you may have a participant with dietary restrictions. He may end up not being able to eat anything at a lavish meal simply because you didn’t ask the right questions. Or worse, he could be harmed because he ate anyway without knowing some of the invisible ingredients.

As with anything else in your career, education is key. While the disabled or impaired make up a small percentage of your participants, you will be remembered favorably for having been thorough enough to include a request for detailed information from that minority of attendees. You will also help keep your clients from getting sued. “Who knew” is no longer an excuse.

While we usually think of incentive programs benefiting the top producers–and the incentive itself does–the real effect is on the average employee, according to Fay Beauchine. In May 2009’s Incentive Magazine, she made the point in Incentive House Roundtable that it’s the middle producers who move up.

“We all know top performers are usually top performers,” she said to interviewer Leo Jakobson. She claimed that it’s the middle that improve by trying to hit the target. Even though they will miss it, they will still improve, even if only a few percent, and that will increase the total sales by “huge numbers in some cases.”

This underscores the importance of the incentive travel programs currently in place in corporations today. You as the meeting planner need to understand that you are a key player in your client’s bottom line, and you have to produce sales in an indirect way. This can be more difficult than the motivation speaker who simply gives them all a good talking to.

Remember that when you plan incentive travel, you need to plan with the person in mind. Tailor it to fit a participant’s ideal needs and wants and she will talk about it for a long time–and she will say it to some of the middle producers in the company.