It seems as if all people are talking about is how slow the meetings industry is today. If that is still the case, then why are so many restaurants and venue's unwilling to make deals with organizations such as Meeting Professionals International (MPI) on hosting a luncheons or networking events, even for a minimal fee? If their business is going to sit empty, wouldn't they prefer to have people in there and at least get some revenue? Not to mention that they would be showcasing their business to an entire industry of people that could possibly bring clientele or at least recommend clientele to go there.
I for one would not send a client to a business or even recommend a business unless I have experienced it myself. It wouldn't be smart for a meeting planner to send a group somewhere if they didn't know what kind of experience their group would have. We wouldn't want unhappy clients as it would make us look bad. So it would be to the advantage of restaurants and venue's to host events so that meeting planners, such as myself, could experience their business.
It would be my hope that restaurants and venues would start seeing the positives in hosting events and keep in mind the following statement: You have to spend a little to make a little. Look at it as a form of investment and advertising. I personally would rather go experience the business than receive constant cold calls from venues begging me for business. Why not bring everyone over at the same time to experience your business! It save the business time and money (think about all the lunches and dinners you have potential planners over to experience your business) by having everyone together and you can sell your business to 80-100 people at one time rather than one or two here and there on the phone.
Here's to everyone working smarter in these tough times!
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