Successful Meetings - May 2008 - (Page 33)

Planner’s Workshop > Pre-Event Resolving the Risk Management Problem By Jennifer Patino PART 2 OF 2 In Part One of this article, Chris White founder, chairman, and CEO of the Washington DC-headquartered Global Event Partners detailed the company’s new risk management standards and explored why they are important to meeting planners. Now, in Part Two, we’ll go inside the process and see how working with DMCs that have such a policy will impact their planning. Anyone who has been involved in planning a meeting can envision a “nightmare scenario” in which a terrible accident occurs: You hire a bus to transport event attendees from one function to another; a snowstorm creates havoc on the roadways and the bus spins out of control. Whose job is it to handle the fallout? Unfortunately, such incidents do happen from time to time, and the critical question is always the same: Where is the liability? At the most fundamental level, settling the question of liability in advance under our new standards amounts to alleviating stress in SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS MAY 2008 In March, a tornado spoiled the fun at the Atlanta Motor Speedway one area of the meeting planner’s job— everyone now knows the “rules of engagement” up front, including who is liable for what and up to what limit, should an accident occur and liability accrue. In settling the question of potential liability in advance, the planner also saves time and money in planning every meeting. The reasons are simple. The search for suppliers is streamlined. If you have ever spent time searching the Internet to pre-qualify a vendor, you can say with some confidence that a transportation company that is willing to provide full and transparent insurance informa- Inside Inside > ON SITE How to come up with a great event theme every time PAGE 34 > TOOLS OF THE TRADE Broadcast your trade show over the Internet; measure your event’s carbon footprint PAGE 36 > PRE-EVENT 10 steps to planning a great banquet menu PAGE 38 1 tion and accept reasonable risk, is likely to be a vendor worth doing business with. The standard is, in effect, a “pre-qualifier” for suppliers—a reasonable indication that this vendor is reputable and high quality in many aspects of its delivery. That’s not to say that risk management PHOTO: A.P. WIDEWORLD mimegasite.com 33 http://mimegasite.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - May 2008

Successful Meetings - May 2008
Contents
Editor's Note
Industry Trends
Destination News
Destination News
Suppliers
Destination News
Calendar
On the Record
Websites of the Month
Management Matters
Mouth for Sale
Meetings Law
Planner's Spotlight
Pre-Event
On Site
Tools of the Trade
Pre-Event
Counting Change
Giving Them the Business
The Magnificent Seven
All-American Gift Guide
Green Lights
Places & Spaces
Anaheim & Orange County
Upstate New York
Cincinnati
Detroit
San Diego
Phoenix
Gurus

Successful Meetings - May 2008