Rising costs are in the forecast for events and meetings, but you can baby your budget with simple strategies. Our colleagues at MeetingsNet offer 15 painless practices:
Everyone’s in the same doing-more-with-less situation and eager for new ideas to stretch the budget. At the Financial and Insurance Conference Professionals Annual Conference in Orlando this week, a packed educational session provided attendees a chance to share their cost-saving strategies. Here are 15 of our favorites:
1. Talk to the hotel chef about designing a menu that avoids the most common allergens and takes the food preferences of your group into consideration. If your banquet menu has no gluten, nuts, eggs, milk, and shellfish, for example, you’ll save money over having to plan for a variety of different meals to meet attendees' needs. Times have changed: Most people won’t complain about a vegetarian lunch.
2. Follow the TED Talks. Fascinating speakers from all walks of life take to the TED stage, most of whom aren’t on the traditional speakers’ circuit and very well might be less expensive than a professional speaker or celebrity.
3. Don’t serve a plated dessert. Many people won’t eat it anyway …. MeetingsNet
