UNIT 2

1. Make a presentation in Russian on the specific features of the work of meeting and event planners. Make use of the text “Meeting and Event Planners”.

Meeting & Event Planners

What do they do? Meeting planners organize conventions, trade shows, reunions, galas, and other kinds of functions. Specializations : Type of events they put on, or the type of client they serve. Preferred education : Bachelor’s degree. Certification & licensing : Certification available. Getting ahead : Meeting planners advance & earn more by working on more complex & prestigious events. Skills & knowledge : Networking, negotiating, competitiveness, attention to detail, working independently, multi-tasking, crisis management. Where they work : Corporations, associations, hotel, destination management companies. Job outlook : Good overall but very sensitive to the health of the economy.

WHAT DO THEY DO?

It's time again for Star Trek fans to meet. Or the Neurophysicists of America. Or the American Heart Association. Or Acme Pharmaceutical corporation.

When it's time for thousands of people to meet in one place, it's the meeting planner who leaps into action to make sure things go smoothly and efficiently.

Meeting planners run the meetings of America's associations and corporations. They handle everything from small luncheons of a few hundred people to week-long conventions of more than 10,000. They may arrange motivational meetings for sales workers, academic conferences for scientists, or trade shows for major manufacturers.

Putting these events together is a more than eight-hour-a-day job that involves handling hundreds of details. Meeting planners book transportation, research and reserve facilities, round up speakers, and attend meetings themselves to handle the crises that almost always arise.

Meeting planners are rarely tied to a desk. They do some work in their offices, but they also travel a great deal. They visit clients and suppliers to negotiate contracts and investigate facilities. They stay in the hotels their clients book and attend functions to make sure all is going well. They need to be comfortable in all sorts of situations, from executive offices to hotel kitchens.

How they spend their time:

Consulting with clients and negotiating agreements with them

Researching and negotiating with subcontractors and suppliers of goods and services

Planning travel, accommodation, food and all the other services needed for meetings

Attending functions and ensuring that all goes well.

SPECIALIZATION

All meeting planners need a wide range of skills applicable to many kinds of events. However, both planners and the firms they work for tend to specialize in the kind of work they do.

Meeting planners may specialize in the type of service they offer. Corporate event consultants advise clients about program content, locations, and subcontractors. Destination management companies serve sponsors of the event once they have chosen a particular town or city. They help clients chose among different hotels or convention facilities, plan transportation, and select entertainers of other services they need.

Meeting planners can also specialize in the type of meeting they put on: family reunions, trade shows and exhibitions, incentive travel events, corporate events, special events and galas, conventions and conferences, or training sessions.

Some planners specialize in just one piece of the meeting puzzle, like accommodations management, registration, event promotion, on-site management, or program content development.

Some planners specialize in particular types of clients, like professional associations, manufacturing industry, or local governments.

EDUCATION, CERTIFICATION, & LICENSING

Meeting planners usually need a bachelor's degree. Many have a major in marketing, business, hotel administration, or a related subject, but this is not the only way to enter the field. A number of people become meeting planners because of the experience they acquire in other jobs. Academics who serve on their professional association’s meeting planning boards, corporate trainers who have long involvement with setting up training sessions, or caterers who routinely serve corporate functions can all move into this profession, bringing with them their specialized knowledge and education along with their planning experience.

Only a few colleges and universities offer specialist degrees in convention and meeting planning, usually in their hotel schools. However, the number of hotel schools offering this concentration will probably increase in order to catch up with the recent growth in meeting and convention work.

Most meeting planners do not have or need advanced degrees. However those who manage large planning or destination management companies and those involved with major convention and trade show business may benefit from an MBA or a master’s degree in hospitality management, particularly where this provides additional legal and negotiating skills.

GETTING AHEAD

Meeting planners advance in several ways. Some advance while staying within the field. They begin with basic task, like photocopying, printing up name tags, and identifying and solving problems at small meetings. Once they have learned the basics, they begin to take responsibility for particular aspects of planning a meeting and gradually go on to more complex jobs. For example, by becoming more skilled at negotiating with service-providers like hotels and caterers, they save money for their employers. In return, they earn larger bonuses and can demand higher salaries. Skilled negotiators can also win larger commissions from the suppliers with whom they do business.

Other meeting planners advance by moving into other jobs. After a period of success at planning meetings, they move into sales or management, both of which have the potential for high earnings.

Still other planners advance by moving from low-paying firms to higher-paying ones, and from less complex, lower-paying projects to more complex, high-paying ones--for example, moving from local government meetings to meetings attended by Fortune 500 CEOs, or from small state conventions to the Detroit Auto Show.

SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE

Networking

Selling, negotiating, and bargaining

Keeping up with products, trends, and clients' tastes

Competitiveness

Crisis management

Working well with clients

Attention to detail

Projecting an image of integrity, enthusiasm, and self-confidence

Multi-tasking

Organizing, directing, and coordinating large-scale activities

See a complete list of skills from the US Dept of Labor at O-Net

WHERE THEY WORK

Meeting planners work for many different kinds of employers. Corporate planners work for corporations, usually large ones, and are charged with planning corporate events. Trade and professional associations employ large numbers of planners to handle their annual meetings and other functions. Hotels and resorts employ planners to handle events booked there. These planners sometimes run events on their own and sometimes work with other planners employed by the clients who are booking the event. Finally, many planners work for independent meeting-planning firms or destination-management companies.

Regardless of who they work for, meeting planners never work in one place all the time. They visit clients, suppliers, and subcontractors, stay in hotels, and attend functions. They need to be comfortable working in a wide variety of surroundings and with a wide variety of people.

OUTLOOK

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that employment in Virginia will continue to grow at a faster than average rate through 2014. The demand for planners grew throughout the 1990s when the economy expanded and companies spent more and more on meetings. As the business world grows more and more international, meetings and conventions become even more important. And as technology increases the ability for people to meet through e-mail, teleconferencing, and the Web, it actually encourages more meetings, since people who would formerly never have interacted now have the possibility to collaborate.

Even so, planners are still likely to encounter some ups and downs. When the economy slows, meeting expenses are one of the first things to be cut. Then when the economy revives, businesses invest in meetings and conventions again. Many planners had a hard time after 9-11. Businesses cut travel and meetings, and a slow economy kept spending down. When the economy is doing well, however, there should be plenty of demand for people in this field. This is a job that's not going to go away, succumb to automation, or be sent off shore.

http://www.careerprospects.org/briefs/K-O/MeetingPlanners.shtml