|
Careers
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.
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.
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. |
