And the challenges continue...

So last month, I blogged about an industry newsletter on PlannerWire that featured stories of event planners facing those inevitable challenges when planning their events. You can check the blog posting out here. However, just in case those stories weren't enough, they added more...and I am still shaking my head in amazement at what we do. You can click here to check them out...enjoy.

Location will always be everything....

Recently attended an industry conference comprised primarily of women. What I found interesting was the overall location -- not necessarily the city, but the section of the city. Now, I do realize that for large group meetings, there needs to be a contract signed years in advance to secure the meeting location. For this group, it might only have been three or so years, but still in advance. As I was walking the streets with another attendee, we started to look around and on every corner, there was a panhandler requesting that we help him, and all sorts of signs advertising "Girls" or "Massages" in those bright lights that you usually see in sections known as the "Red Light District." But wait...we then noticed that we were indeed there! We were just hopeful that no one would mistake us for potential 'talent' in those businesses.

But what was interesting is that it was a women's conference, placed in not the best area. Many of the women were traveling alone, and to constantly hear police sirens and see police presence in and around the hotel was not the type of comfort that was desired in the 'big city.' Location is indeed everything for attendees who are traveling great distances, and oftentimes alone. Not sure of the overall reasoning behind the chosen location, but there's always hope for next year.

Car 54 where are you?!

I recently returned from an industry association's annual conference and faced all sorts of interesting happenings. The one standing out in my mind was the transportation piece. I arrived on a Sunday and registration did not open until Monday. However, I was in the host hotel and never did see any signage, people or anything that could tell me how to get to the convention center to register.

I figured since I was early, that the signage just wasn't up yet. It certainly would be placed on Monday, right? Wrong! Day 2 - still no information about how to get to the convention center. And there was really no staff around either to direct guests. All that was needed was a simple sign on an easel with a schedule -- and the location of where to get the bus.

I finally happened to run into an organization representative who informed me of the location/times. But as long as I was in the hotel for nearly a week, no signage ever emerged. Very strange and such a simple task.