Episode 15: How to Succeed as a Corporate Events Planner

Kelsey from Lynn David Events joins us to talk about her experience in corporate events. She shares her story getting her to the point of starting her own corporate event company.



Tell us about you.


I have been a corporate event planner for 13 years. I absolutely love it. I love partnering with organizations to bring their dream to reality.  I spent the last 8 years working for an amazing company, John Wiley and Sons publishing company. Its 215 years old. Thomas Jefferson was president when they opened their doors. I was able to manage 150 events a year, just me with them. I got a really well rounded education and experience. Everything from a 700 person conference all the way down to an 8 person board meeting. Runs the gamut of everything. I’ve taken what I learned from them and struck out on my own this year, and started my own event planning company (Lynn David Events). I named it after my children, Neva Lynn and Brooks David, my 3rd baby.


How do you become successful in corporate meetings?


I think what separates a novice event planner to one that will go the distance and succeed is understanding that as an event planner you have a responsibility to understand the corporate goals and objectives and how the events support those goals. Ways that you need to do that is really be apart of the leadership discussions don’t be shy to ask to sit in on meetings, the non confidential ones of course, ask questions. So many corporations hold the same conference every year or convention just because that’s what we do, that’s how we do it. But why? What are you trying to achieve? What is the overall corporate goal or objective that this one event is trying to satisfy? How can you change this event to make it better and better? What are you trying to get the attendees to walk away with?


How do you set yourself apart and how do you add value?


Once you can understand what the goals are and why you are holding these events, the executives will look at you in a different light. You’re not just executing on this event every year, you’re playing into their goals and objectives and they’ll see you as more of a team player for the company. Then you are able to have those strategic conversations and look as more of a strategist in the company. What’s the goal of the event and you can better allocate your budget to achieve that goal instead of googling it and saying “30% of your budget should be spent on food and beverage”. What’s the goal? Are you trying to elevate the event to be looked at as educational experience, playing in that realm, then you will want to spend more money on a quality keynote speaker that people will recognize. What if you are trying to launch a new product or elevate a new brand? Then you will want to spend more money on A/V and production to really make that that product or that brand come to life, really play up the colors of this brand. But you also need to know your audience right? So if your audience is a bunch of foodies you’re going to want to still maintain a very healthy budget for the food and beverage while you’re trying to elevate your brand. Or take brand elements and put it into the food and beverage, like putting the new logo kind of showcased on top of the cheesecake would be adorable like ways to achieve your objectives but also strategically spend money to do so.


I feel like I almost can remember, to like the day, the turning point in my career when I was stopped being looked at like a party planner “oh she’s an event manager, she’s strategic”.


How do you sell a keynote to your organization?


Bring it back to the overall goals and objectives. You gotta think the executives your leadership team they’re getting pressure from higher ups from the CEO from maybe a board to achieve these goals and objectives and if one of them is to really become a player in education space or to build attendance and the attendees really value content and education it is a drop in the bucket $100,000 for a keynote speaker that’s going to maximize attendance and really put yourself, the company,and the event as a major player in education or content that’s a drop in the bucket.


What else do you have?


I think one of the biggest tips I can give anybody starting off in the corporate event space is you really need to create mutually beneficial partnerships with suppliers and vendors, and I want to repeat mutually beneficial.  Because I feel like early on in your event planning career, you think the way you succeed is you negotiate the cost down as far as possible right? And you need to understand you want your partners to make money you want them to look at you like a partnership where they are really caring about the project and also making a profit on it so they’ll  want to work with you again. Having a partner is a one off you’re creating that long term relationship that this is what you do. You should interview suppliers whether A/V or production or what have you, that share the values that your organization does and somebody you want to be in the trenches with. Tell me one event planner that has been at it, at an event that didn’t have something go wrong, and the reason why they’re always  fine in the end, it’s because of your partnership. We’re in this together and we are succeeding together. You want to have someone you click with that’s going to also look at you like “I’m your partner and I’m excited about this event excited about the next hundred events we partner on”.


For new planners in the corporate realm, it’s a very  controversial topic among event planners but I believe you should be transparent about your budget to your partners. So many people think “but that’s my power. How can I negotiate, how can I get the price down, how can I get more for less?” You can’t have a good partnership unless you’re transparent, open, and honest about the budget and  the scope of the event. If you do that right away you’re already going to be in a better spot when the event actually happens because you’re going to get the quality you’re going to get the equipment that you need and you’re going to be within budget because the partner that you decided to work with at the beginning they signed up to be that budget.


What else do you have?


What I didn’t understand early on in my career which I would love just to make sure that all your listeners do, is not every corporate event  planner has a very clear career path outline for them by their organization. I mean maybe you’re blessed to be working in an advanced division for a company where there’s  40 other event planners and maybe it’s a little bit more clear where you can go in the next 5-10 years, but I didn’t have that. I was really the only one corporate event planner. My advice is you need to know that you can look outside the organization for professional development, opportunities, education for networking and you’re not on an island.  You’re able to turn to organizations like MPI or ILEA or what have you, to seek out professional development to network with your peers. It’s an incredibly giving industry like you’re saying with you know somebody that might be a competitor as an independent planner I have been amazed by how all the other independent planners in the Twin Cities are so willing to help.


I think breaking out of the walls of your office exposes you to so many things in the industry because you know if you’re doing the same 5-10 events every year and you really are kind of craving new ideas, you’re craving like new technology going to industry events going to these annual association meetings and talking to other planners about what they’re doing, it sparks so many great ideas and not only introduces you to new people like new suppliers it can maybe bring in technology for you. You can also talk to people openly. I encourage people to not get stuck in the walls of their cubicle. The industry is very giving and you can seek elsewhere for networking and education.


What else have you got?


Also breaking away from your office, getting out of your typical 9-to-5. What’s incredibly important and if you’re a planner you understand that there’s events always held by different venues our national sales manager, Hilton, Loews, Omni, Independence they all hold events and invite planners to them over the course of the year and I encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities because the whether again you’re you are in a division of 40 event planners, or you are a team of one what’s incredibly important is to stay up to speed on the other different venue options out there and hotels are changing every day.  They’re changing flags, they’re renovating, there’s new hotel popping up, there’s new venue a special event spaces in every market. So many times I’ve had someone from the corporate leadership team come to me and is like “we wanna hold an event in three months, we wanna wanna have it in Nashville”. You don’t always have time to hop on a plane is scheduled to be great no I got a handful of properties that I have on the phone with them.


Large corporations often have event teams and planners inside, how often are those people also contracting external planners to plan things?


It’s actually becoming more and more common.  So as you know event plans for a year or budgets they ebb and flow from year to year based on the plans and those goals and objectives for the corporate organization so you don’t always want to hire another head to be a full-time employee.  We don’t know if we’re going to need that additional person the next year, so a lot of times they’ll save one or two head counts on their team to contract out other planners like myself and other amazing ones in the Twin Cities. But what’s great, is good quality independent planners, can be an extension of your team in any capacity if you need that ,if you need them to understand the product the clients the attendees whatever so they can actually interact with your guest they can do that, if you need them just behind the scenes doing the grunt-work that frees up others on the team they can do that, there are resources out there.


How do you choose the right independant planner?


I think really going out and being a part of these associations and networking like we  discussed before. I think that’s incredibly important because you get to know who is in your industry and as we were talking about everyone has their niche, right, like what they’re really good at, what they focus on, what they really excel at, what they bring to the table. You can get to know someone and see if you have a need and you have someone as a resource who would fit what you’re looking for.  


As you gain experience in this industry, you can’t do it all, and you don’t want to do it all. As you get more experience you become more self aware and figure out what your passion is and what drives you, you’re able to focus on that one area that you can bring purpose to.


What other tips do you have for being great and succeeding as a corporate events planner.


As corporate you have to think every company has a brand identity and that needs to be brought to life and consistent through the events. If you went to a target event and it didn’t have red you’d be like who is this?  Everyone has a brand a core identity, brand personality, but also quality and consistency needs to be in events.



You can contact Kelsey at kelsey@lynndavidevents.com


Meeting Minds by EideCom

Episode 3: Mistakes In The Events Business

Whether you have an internal events team or not, hiring a dedicated event professional to help with logistics and day-of is a must! On this episode, we chat with Kalsey Beach & Hannah Hegman of Do Good Events, an event and staff planning company that specializes in corporate, non-profit, and social events. Kelsey is the President of Do Good Events and Hannah is their Senior Events Manager. They fill us in on common mistakes, and give us tips on how to ensure your day-of is a huge success (and a weight off your shoulders!).

Contact: Kalsey@dogoodevents.com, Hannah@dogoodevents.com, or check them out at http://www.dogoodevents.com



Like most event planners, it runs in my blood and honestly gets my adrenaline going. The name “Do Good” really speaks to what we want to bring to the event world, the community, etc. We want to bring people together, cultivating community, building awareness, and creating memories.



  1. Lacking a Leader. When there is no official leader on site to make sure the event is set up for success the host can no longer be the host and enjoy their party. This often happens when people aren’t doing enough planning/pre-production. We often see this with our clients who are planning their first event or gala and they don’t realize all the little details that need to be planned, like who is picking up the silent auction items. This is where we step in and guide them with a checklist with everything that has to get done.
  2. The Post-Event Marketing. Planning goes much beyond the event! You need to thank your sponsors and vendors, get your traction on social media – do recaps, post photos, and figure out tear down plans, etc.
  3. The Pre-Event Marketing. Social media is a huge place for that. Use Influencers! *More below* Having a silent auction? Put it online and start the bidding a week ahead of time! That expands your opportunity to fundraise and reach the people that cannot be there. Also, it prepares people to spend money at the event.
  4. Event Theme/Brand. We’ve seen people not do it all or be really inconsistent with it. It creates recognition for your guests, so it should be clear from the moment they receive a save the sate to the post-event things.
  5. Hurdles. If you want the most people to show up, you need to remove all the hurdles. So you need to start planning early enough. If you wait too long, people will already have an event on the calendar. Think of who you are going to invite and make sure the date works for them. If it’s teachers & students, the first week in June probably isn’t a good time because they are wrapping up the school year. Think of their location. Where are the people you are inviting located? Will they be hitting rush hour? Once they get there, is it easy? Is their parking or valet? Valet is a great sponsorship opportunity! You could give them a short little script like, “Tonight’s valet is sponsored by…” Think of all the different hurdles there could be and remove them.
  6. Ambassadors. Have people that are your sales folks and encouraging others to go to the event. Don’t just send an email and open registration. You need to make those personal requests and say, “I want you there and I want you to bring three guests.” That is how you expand your audience. Also, UTILIZE SOCIAL MEDIA. *see trends below*
  7. Starting Too Late. You can always make something happen, but the quality of your event and the control you have over your event increases with the more lead time you have. AT LEAST put a date and venue on hold and then figure out the details. Also, add times for buffers between deadlines when planning and recognize what season of events you are in. If you are planning a gala in the middle of your region’s gala season, then you are competing for everything. This impacts what vendors and sponsors you can have, and your audience! Some people are attending galas or 5ks weekly! So what is going to make yours stand out?
  8. Ask big. Don’t be afraid to ask others to give big or sponsor big. Know the worth of the exposure your sponsors are going to receive from your event. Plus, it is an honor for them to be asked and be seen as someone that could give that much.


As far out as possible is ideal! We get calls at all different points of the process, typically when our clients have hit a pain point. Like, when they don’t know where to start or they are halfway through planning and it has become too overwhelming or they aren’t gaining enough traction.


Events in general have become so trendy. There are 1.8 million events in the United States every year and the economic impact is huge!

CONSUMER IMPATIENCE. We make sure that at all of our events our check in and check out time is fast. So from a pre-planning side, we make sure we will have enough systems, tools, and hands on deck that at check in/out no one is waiting.


  1. Have enough staff or volunteers. There should be 1 person for every 50 guests.
  2. Give enough time to train your staff and volunteers. Let them know whats expected from them.
  3. If you have a packet or hand outs for each guest, move that to a different spot! For example, at a 5k, do check in at one spot with the t shirt pick up at another. This keeps people moving.
  4. Know who will be attending! If you have to make name tags at check in or assign bidding numbers in the moment, that is going to really slow down the check in process. When you put forth the pre-planning hours to know who is coming, what meal they want, etc, it expedites the process and creates a better experience for the guests.
  5. When applicable, create an incentive for early arrivals. Like, the first 50 people get a special swag item or if it’s a VIP ticket, which might be more expensive, but they receive an hour of an open bar. Therefor, you are getting more of your guests in the door. Strategies like that really help.
  6. Have clear signage! Registration or check in tables should be clearly marked, not just at the table, but where the line starts, especially if each table is designated for a specific ticket type. For example, VIP Check In or Late Registration.

If you know lines will form at your event, then make sure your line is part of your consumer experience! We love to have champagne passed through the lines, or a roaming entertainer, like a magician! Also, have your staff trained to be “way finders” to make sure people are in the right line or leading them to a shorter line. Often, we will send staff into the line to do mobile registration. No matter what you need to have a contingency plan, something to fall back on if your lines start to get longer than predicted. It is important to take a pulse of your line, so pick a person and time how long did it take them to get to the front of the line.

PERSONALIZATION. We will often ask the question, “How is this event going to be personal? What can we do?” In the past we have done polls to gage interest in sessions, in the menu, or to find out what that persons favorite candy is to surprise them with a welcome gift that is specific to them. Anything you can do to make it more memorable for each person attending. Think back to childhood, when you left a birthday party you always judged the treat bag! You either loved it or hated it and it is the ending of the party, but the first thing you think back to.

SUSTAINABILITY. Like in digital swag bags, which essentially include all the paper coupons and info you would normally get, but in a .pdf or on a website. This saves time during check in or check out, saves your sponsors money on printing costs, and obviously saves trees. Plus, we are all already on our phones so it is convenient and with it being such a new concept people are more intrigued to find out what’s in it. Besides that, we’ve seen events or galas with recycling or compost on site. Energy sufficiencies in general are really huge right now. We are working with more venues that are LEED certified, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Another increasingly popular piece to have is an LED wall. Instead of printing a banner or many banners, you can have an LED wall with rotating images. We like to incorporate these new and exciting elements into events to elevate the guests experience.

LOCAL ELEMENTS. Like in the components of your swag bag or what you are giving away as prizes. Being mindful of your swag bag pieces are very important. For example, if you have a lot of attendees that have traveled to be there having big water bottles or cups might not even make it home with them. Think through who will be using it and how. Also, with your food and beverage. Vegan, vegetarian, and the desire for local produce (CSA, which stands for Community-supported agriculture, is a system that connects the producer and consumers within the food system) has become a huge trend in our culture. People now want to know where there food is coming from. Ideally, we would like to know who is vegan or vegetarian before the event so we can plan for that. But we wouldn’t recommend doing an only vegan or vegetarian menu, unless it aligns with the mission and that is communicated appropriately prior to the event. You need to know your audience. Plus, nowadays there are so many extreme diets and restrictions, like Paleo or Keto, and people are expecting these events to adhere to their diets. So communicate to your audience what you will or will not accommodate to.

ENGAGING THE SENSES. We typically check off the boxes of making sure everyone can hear the event, see it, and they will taste good food. But what about smell? How do you make it smell good in the rooms? What about touch? What tablecloths are you using, linens or ones with texture? You want to think through all the little pieces that will engage your attendees senses; see, hear, taste, smell, and touch. Have a mixologist, a person who is skilled at mixing cocktails and other drinks, at your event is great. There is something about seeing the drink made, taking a sip where you smell the cinnamon stick or the orange peel or they add a little smoke on the top. So keep in mind the pairing of foods. Brews & burgers, bubbly & breakfast. These little pairings really stimulate taste and touch. There are several small ways to engage the senses without using a scent machine if that is not applicable for your event.

INFLUENCERS AND SOCIAL MEDIA. These social media influencers at your events can be just as impactful as a celebrity. So whether that is having them share a session at your event or posting about your event on line, the impact is huge. You can also start your auctions online now! *Check out mistake #3 above to see how impactful social media is.*

NONTRADITIONAL EVENTS: People are moving away from the traditional galas. There is a need in the market for a more approachable price point. Fund-raisers vs Friend-raisers. Sometimes you need to get that younger professional into the room, which raises a little less money, but the goal is to move them up the donor-pipeline later. Or do a two part event, a conference then a social hour after. You can come (or buy a ticket) to one or the other or both! Think out of the box about what an event is supposed to look like.


Since we have most of our events here in Minnesota, we like to have a Plan A, B, and C. Indoors or outdoors, it is something to think about. That level of communication is so important and where the pre-planning comes. Do you have contact information for your guests? Do you have a Facebook event page already made or website? That is the most important thing, letting your guests know the plans as you know them. Your guests want to plan.

Snow can be hard to work with, but for your events in the Spring or Summer with rain, you can use those as opportunities! If it is raining send out volunteers with umbrellas to escort your guests! This could elevate your guests experience. But again it goes back to your pre-planning. Do you have 25 umbrellas around? Did you think about that? What about golf tournaments? Do you have sunscreen and bug spray available? Think of the elements not as challenges, but as opportunities to surprise and delight! Plus, these little luxuries can be sponsorship opportunities, like putting their logo on the umbrella.

When you are doing your walk throughs, be mindful about how the place will feel if it is really cold out or hot, snowing or raining. Especially since most of the time you are doing walk throughs months before the event when it’s a different season. Things to think about that you might not at the time: coat racks, slippery spots in the doorway, extra tents outside for shade.


Take a moment at the back of the room to take in your event! All the planning has culminated into this moment. Also, take notes at other people’s events! What are their surprise and delight moments? What did you like and didn’t like? Be a constant learner, celebrate the victories throughout the process, and don’t get comfortable! It is always good to push for more.


Meeting Minds by EideCom

Episode 2: Hotel/Venue Traps to Avoid

Have you ever considered taking your event out-of-state? Do you already travel around the country for your events? Today’s episode is all about making your out-of-state event a success! Charles & Lisa talk to Gina & Anna of Nexstar Network, a member-owned organization that helps educate, coach, and train business owners in the trades. Their events move to new locations each year, so they give us tips on picking locations, how to maximize your dollars with the venue, and which partners should travel with you. Contact: Ginab@nexstarnetwork.com, Annar@nexstarnetwork.com, or check them out at http://www.nexstarnetwork.com



We look at the downtown area. Our CEO, Jack Tester, loves a vibrant downtown. We want places for our guests to be able to walk to, fun activities for them to do, and great places to eat and see. If not, we want a shuttle near by or other transportation. We look at the quality and service of a hotel. We are not loyal to a brand, but lately we’ve been liking J.W. Marriott & the Hyatt for our larger events. We also check the distance from the hotel to the airport. We do not want our guests to land and then have to drive two hours to get to us. Also, meeting space. We need so much space. We’ve put together a calculation a few years back. It is 34 square feet per person, which is a lot, but we don’t want to feel uncomfortable. Then, we have a list of things we’ve used in the past that we will need, like a meal space, break out spaces for each department, etc. and we reference that for every event we do.



We have hotel reps, which are like Account Executives for each hotel brand, that we use. We put together an RFP, Request For Proposal, with all of our needs (room nights, meeting spaces, etc) and we send that to the hotel reps and from there they will recommend a hotel and send us availability. We do not like using third parties, because we really like having those personal relationships with the hotels reps. Also, the third-party gets commission, which causes the hotel to see our business as not so lucrative for them. Plus, the loyalty that develops when you are working with the same person year after year creates a great working relationship.



The hotel reps are amazing! It is working with the actual hotel that can be hard. Like some hotels we can’t get into, because we don’t have enough room nights, so they won’t even look into our proposal. Like Austin, TX, we really want to get into there, but you need a minimum of 1,000 room nights to get in there and we are at about 7-800. Nashville and Austin are really hard to get into.



That is more like a DMC, Destination Management Company, which we could go to, but I don’t think they have as much pull as the hotels. Sometimes, the hotels will actually use them to try to win our business. One time, we went to meet with the hotel and they had a rep from their local city bureau ready to share with us why they think their area would be a great fit for our event. So they work more with the hotel to get us than with us to get the hotel.



We work with a national rep. When we’ve narrowed down on a few hotels, our rep will put us in contact with the right person at the hotel.



Before we send those out, we’ve met with our national hotel reps several times. So they know our business and what we are looking for. Then, the RFPs go into further detail about what we need for that specific event. Like, the space outlined, what class are taking places, how big those classes are, any breakouts needed, hours of the class time, any concessions that we are really hard on, and room block details. Like how many king or queen rooms we need. We are very specific about that. If it is a management level event or a technician level event we need different styles of rooms for our guests. We get a lot of questions back from the hotels about that, but it helps us to weed out what hotels are going to work for us and which won’t.



We have a really good formula built up. We look at how many people are budgeted for each class and then we take 30% off the top. We’ve noticed that about 30% of people either don’t come, already live in the area, or they share a room. A lot of our technicians will want to share rooms to save on costs. We have not gotten into any attrition, that’s the thing we don’t want to get into, because we contract so many events across the country that we want to be good stewards of our members money.



They pay the hotel. We orchestrate everything and do the negotiating. Two new things that we are doing in our RFPs this year is that we are asking for a 2% rebate to our members’ master account, because a lot of hotels want to show on paper that there room rates are a little higher, which is okay, and if we don’t have any wiggle room for the room rates we can at least get a credit to our members at the end of it. Also, we are going to give preference to the hotels that give us 75% attrition vs 80% or 90%. The other thing I wanted to throw in is AV. We do lay those details out in the RFPs. For our smaller events, we will use the local AV company, but for our larger events we are happy to say that we use EideCom!



I see it as a challenge. When we start the proposal process with the hotels you begin a relationship with them. I know that we are a great piece of business and our members are a fun group of people. Hotels love us on site. Our guys are great and we are going to bring them a nice piece of business so we are asking for some back. It helps that our hotel reps know us. We don’t cancel, we fill our blocks, we spend way more money on food and beverage, we overflow our blocks, our members like to go out, drink, and spend money. We ask for a lot of concessions. Like, F&B, food and beverage, which we usually ask for 20% off the top. We might not always get it, but something is better than nothing! We can’t negotiate plus plus (the tax that hotels charge). We have a list of about 25 concessions that we always ask for. Like, a two-way cut off for our hotel block, which gives you two weeks prior to the start of the event to book your room at the negotiated rate. But, if the block fills, the hotel can do whatever they want. For the most part, they will honor the negotiated rate if it is in the two-week mark. So we try to negotiate two weeks prior. We do 10% off AV. We do 80% attrition and this year we are giving priority to the 75% attrition. We do discounted staff room rates, meeting planner points, welcome amenities, suite upgrades, and more. We also have a lot of contractual addendum’s. Like, a mutual cancellation policy. So if I cancel on the hotel, the amount is the same as if the hotel cancels on me. We’ve never had to cancel an event, but if we were to, we want to be protected. Or if the hotel decides to cancel on us, we are in a really bad situation. We also do a meeting space clause, which means the hotel cannot move us without our written permission. We also do a no walk clause. Some hotels, if they over book they will bump you, so this clause states that if they over book they have to bump other people and not our members. We also do not pay for meeting space. We work it into our food and beverage minimum. Another tip to save money: negotiate that all your packages will be delivered for free! Hotels will charge you hundreds of dollars if you get something delivered there.



Oh yes. We’ve had a lot of issues with unions, so that is something we look at upfront when we are selecting hotels and venues. If they are union, we do a lot of research and look at their history, because we have been burned, where the management staff is amazing, but the banquet staff (the staff that is union) that has to execute the work won’t follow through, so we end up being on site labor. Plus, the prices you pay at a union hotel are crazy! We try to avoid unions. We do not want to pay the extra fees. The plus plus is enough. As a rule of thumb, we estimate plus plus to be a minimum of 32%.



Food and beverage and AV for sure. Especially, if you have history with the hotel and can prove your F&B budget and room block, they can work with your budget.



When you start negotiating, always look into your rigging costs. Any type of license or permits that’s needed from the hotel side, like if you need a security guard or someone overseeing stuff, that can be upwards of $5,000, so I ask for the production guidelines from the hotel before a site visit and send that to EideCom, or the production team, and they let me know what the event will actually cost. That way you are not getting a surprise bill later on.



I ask the hotel right away what that will cost. For internet, we do not provide wi-fi for all of our members, because it is crazy expensive, like $50,000. We do provide it for the production team and we put it out at the registration desk and then we negotiate wi-fi in members room. So they do have free wi-fi while they are there. We don’t want them on their phone all day anyways, but we do have a lot of members ask about it.

Another thing to check when you are negotiating is construction. It is always good to know if there is any planned construction and what they can do to work around that for our guests. It is also important to know who else is going to be at the hotel. We don’t run into this problem very often, but with our smaller events when we aren’t taking up the majority of the hotel or meeting spaces, you do not want to be in a room next to people having a party when you are trying to have a focused, thinking time with your group, which has happened to us. We ended up having to move rooms overnight.

Another thing to think about, we like to contract out a year and a half to two years for our really big meetings.



Las Vegas and New Orleans, because there are so many distractions. We still go to New Orleans but we are more thoughtful about where we go and what our itinerary is. Also, Canada is hard, because now you need a passport. But once we get there, everything is so much cheaper.

Another thing we think about is the weather. Like, don’t book an event in Florida during hurricane season. We’ve thought about having an event here in Minnesota, but there is no hotel that is big enough for our Super Meeting. We would have to book two hotels, one for overflow, and we don’t want to do that.



  1. You have to do a site visit for a large meeting. See how people treat you, how the food is, what does the meeting space look like?
  2. Check the cost of flights! If it is hard place to get to, like there isn’t an international airport nearby and flights alone are $1,000, people probably won’t want to pay that, plus a hotel and more.
  3. Location. You don’t want to be in a weird or unsafe area that makes your guests uncomfortable
  4. Put together a check list that is full of things that are important to you and your business and make sure everything checks off while you are there! It’s a process to put together a good contract, but when you give it the time you need the outcome will be so much better. Have a very detailed person and even a lawyer look over it.



For the most part, the hotels want your business, so they won’t try to pull a fast one on you. I would just be sure to look at the cancellation policy.

It is key to build trust between you and the hotel reps and staff!



We want a team that knows our content, our people, the way we think, our membership, so that we can work easier together and the level and quality of equipment that a production company, like EideCom, owns is so great. On top of that, there is a level of trust that builds. We trust you guys to take care of us and our members. And honestly, it is not that much more expensive, if any at all!

All of our vendors leading up to a big event, we are very loyal to them and they are very loyal to us. Events are all about the little details, so for us, we have so many things going on, it is such a load off of us to work with people who know all the little details!





Meeting Minds by EideCom