Ten Tips for Planning a City-Wide Event by Crystal Morris

Planning any meeting can be a task in itself, but city-wide events take a little more planning and are best scheduled years in advance. The Columbia Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau considers a city-wide event to be those using 3 or more hotels and/or meeting facilities. Crystal Morris of the Columbia CVB shares the following ten tips to ensure that your city-wide event runs smoothly:

1. Be time-wise. Many cities, especially those smaller in size like Columbia, may fill up quickly since facilities and rooms are more limited than in first-tier destinations. Our CVB recommends beginning to plan your city-wide event 3-5 years in advance to ensure your pick of hotels and meeting facilities.

2. Make the CVB your first call. Many planners start calling around to individual hotels and facilities, only to find out that they will need to secure more than one venue, especially in second-tier or third-tier cities. Since the CVB works with city-wide events on a regular basis, your CVB sales manager will be able to provide you with creative options for your city-wide that a individual hotel or meeting facility cannot. Even if you think a city may be too small to accommodate your largest meeting, you may be surprised with the options a CVB can create for you with just a little time and attention to detail.

3. Have meeting history handy. Since citywide events require generous amounts of space, hotels and facilities will be more likely to provide you with the best possible rate if you can provide backup on your room block and pickup as well as your budget for meeting space and catering needs. If you do not have your meeting history available, be sure to let your CVB representative know which hotels and facilities you used during your most recent past event. We may be able to track down that information for you.

4. Communicate your needs. If you have special stipulations, such as an inability to pay for function space or the need for a hotel room rebate, be sure to tell your CVB representative up-front so that they can build your proposal around those important factors.

5. Think about transportation. Keep reading...