A slight list to starboard

Yesterday I talked about projection, today we will talk about lists. Remember the theme? Listen to your vendors.

Who spends more time working with meeting planners than everyone else put together? Hotels! Would it therefore make sense that they would have excellent resources for planners? In fact, some of them do. Frankly, I was surprised more by the ones that don't than by the quality of those that do.

The resources are listed in the order I stumbled across them looking for something else. The order is not an indication of their quality or lack thereof, nor is it an endorsement of the facilities discussed.

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http://marriott.com/meeting/tools/default.mi has checklists and guidelines for meeting planners.

http://marriott.com/schedmtg/default.mi?WT_Ref=mi_left is the beginning of their site selection wizard.

http://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/meetings/plan/index.jsp has their version of the checklists and guidelines.

http://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/meetings/index.jsp;jsessionid=H54VQ1OA0RNNPTQSNWIVAFWOCJWYOUP4 is their portal to booking your event with them. They even have a link to a free email newsletter.

http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/index.jhtml;jsessionid=DXHRLLCHMFU5SCSGBIYM22QKIYFCXUUC gets you started with Hilton's site selection and booking system. One interesting feature of this site is that it provides a link to a floor plan development software package linked to the hotel floor plans.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/meetings/index.html is the gateway to the Starwood meeting reservation system.

http://www.benchmark-hospitality.com/Meetings/Room_Calculator.asp is from a company that I ran into at a recent trade show. On the right hand side of the page is a link to a wide variety of resources. As far as I am concerned, this feature is the most significant item on the page. The resources available by following the link are excellent.

http://www.corbinball.com/tipstools/index.cfm?fuseaction=cor_ArticleView&artID=370&sectionCode=tipstools No discussion of lists and resources for meeting planners is complete without pointing you to Corbin Ball's site. Corbin has been compiling this list "forever" or at least as long as I have known of him. The materials he presents are excellent.

http://www.avwtelav.com/Web_US/planning_tools/planning_tools.cfm

Last, but not least, as much as it pains me personally to say something nice about a competitor, AVW – Telav, the AV division of Freeman, does have some excellent tools for meeting planners to assist them with their jobs.

The lists are out there. Your vendors make them available for you to use because if you use them, you enhance their ability to make you and your delegates happy and successful. Listen to your vendors. Their success depends on your success.

Tomorrow we talk about audio.

Comments

[joy at spa packages]

It is a very nice blog.
Well-researched and fair, even to competitors.