San Diego’s Best Places To Meet

    In these days when flexibility is emphasized, company employees may suddenly find themselves assuming the unfamiliar role of meeting and convention planner. This assignment may be their first experience in planning a meeting — an overwhelming task for many who don’t know where to turn for assistance and advice. Organizing an agenda, arranging accommodations for out-of-town delegates, coordinating special events, and setting up conference or exhibit space are just some of the countless tasks involved.
    Enter the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau (ConVis), a source of "one-stop shopping" for anyone planning a meeting or convention in San Diego. To qualify for complimentary assistance, the convening group must use a minimum of 10 guest rooms or more per night in a San Diego hotel.
    Barbi Hendrick, ConVis national sales manager, whose primary role is to assist local companies and individuals in planning San Diego meetings, says ConVis services can take the hassle out of the planning process.
    "All I need is a phone call, fax or e-mail with some basic information, and then I can start the site selection process with them," says Hendrick.
    She suggests planners do some preliminary research and be able to answer the following questions:

• How many people will attend the meeting, including local participants and those coming from out of town?
• How many rooms will the group need per night? Some delegates will come to town early and/or extend their stay. It is best to determine what the industry terms "peak room nights" — those nights when all delegates require overnight accommodations.
• What type of meeting space will be required? Do they need exhibit space for booths and displays? If they require meeting rooms for seminars, presentations, etc., how will these rooms be configured? Is a stage required? Will seating be round table or banquet style? Will the group need break-out rooms?
• Will the meeting require food and beverage services?
• What are the budget parameters?
• Does the meeting have a "history"? If the group has met in the past in San Diego or in another city, how many persons actually attended the conference, how many hotel rooms were used, what was the meeting itinerary?
• Finally, what is the overall purpose of the meeting? Who will be coming and why? Some groups look for a retreat-like setting; others need the proximity of a city with its varied amenities. The final hotel choice is tied into what type of meeting experience the group is seeking.

    Once she has this information, Hendrick works closely with the planner to check availability of hotels that best match the group's meeting requirements. She can help set up site inspections of the qualifying hotels, determine what meeting spaces work best, and basically "hold the planner's hand" through the entire process.
    As an added bonus, once the meeting is booked, ConVis will provide complimentary promotional materials — videos, slides, brochures, camera-ready art work and maps — to build attendance and enhance the conference.
    On-site registration, name badges, hotel room block registration and a variety of other services are available at cost through the ConVis convention services department.
    Hendrick also is an excellent source of information on alternative meeting sites throughout San Diego County. Meetings and special events can be held in unique venues such as local museums, theaters, art galleries, restaurants, universities, stadiums, recreational centers, racetracks, and on boats, at local visitor attractions and in several locations in Balboa Park, for example.
    ConVis publishes a comprehensive Meeting and Convention Planners Guide, an invaluable source of support services that may be required in the planning process. In addition to detailed information on the San Diego Convention Center, the San Diego Concourse and hotel accommodations with conference and meeting facilities, the guide lists services such as caterers, audio visual technicians, entertainers, exhibit designers and transportation companies.
    Finally, the ConVis Web site at www.sandiego.org can tell planners just about everything they need to know about local sites and services at the click of a mouse.
    Planners who will not be utilizing hotel room nights, for example, and who need simply to book meeting space in local hotels, may find the accommodations section of the Web site has the answer. A click on the "meeting space" box will bring up a menu of all local hotel properties which can accommodate meetings. Most of these hotels offer a link to their respective home pages, giving the planner even more detailed information about the amenities and meeting services available at that location.
    Support services can be accessed by clicking on the "Members" icon, where planners can find just about any service needed to orchestrate a successful meeting or convention.
    "We’re hoping that more and more people assigned the job of planning a meeting in town will think about calling ConVis to make their job easier," says Hendrick. "And by the way, we even assist with family reunions — as long as the room night minimum is met."

    Hendrick, an accredited certified meeting planner, can be reached electronically at barbi@sdcvb.org or directly by phone at (619) 557-2820 and by fax at (619) 231-9783.

    Joanne DiBona is the communications manager at the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau.

    Recently in Columbus, Ohio, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was blindsided in her special event by a tiny oppositionist group; in San Diego, Chuck Nichols planned one pre-Super Bowl event for 4,000, but 6,000 showed up.
    While Albright failed to anticipate the effects of a ferocious demonstration, and Nichols, president of the Super Bowl 98 Host Committee, threw a party where to many came, both planners left with the same hard lesson: what you don’t know you don’t know, can really hurt you.
    "Some really think event planning is an easy business," says Rob Hagey, whose Street Scene is among San Diego’s most complex events. "But it’s meticulous attention to the details — and trying to anticipate every eventuality — that make an event successful."
    Among those details, of course, is the stringent planning for the downside, the unexpected, the crises. Murphy's Law is always alive and well.

    Planning your event begins with the idea, and takes shape with the assignment of responsibilities and the organization of the process.
    Nichols, whose volunteers for the Super Bowl numbered well into the thousands, arranged his committees, and then provided intense support. "I think the hardest, but a crucial, part was setting up internal communication among all of us. Throughout, there was an incredible need to know. Our smooth coordination depended upon our being in sync with every facet of activity. In spite of our one over-attended party, the city concluded that our producers pulled off their events very well, indeed."
    At the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater, Marketing Director Patti Anderson, who handles the museum's special events and also has been key to the production of Horton Plaza events, the Hotel Del Coronado's Centennial and the initial years of Old Town's Cinco de Mayo, agrees. "Every person involved needs to understand the process, including how the event fits into the overall marketing plan," she says. "It’s never merely a social occasion."
    Next, evaluate the purpose, identify the audience and create the theme. Heidi Gantwerk, KNBC/39's community affairs director, urges, "make your concept memorable, unique. You want people to remember your event, and remember why you held it." When General Electric purchased the station, Gantwerk appropriately chose a visual theme of peacock feathers, light bulbs and flower topiaries for the celebration dinner centerpieces — and that set the design theme for every other element: invitations, programs, signage, etc.

Attention-getting issues to consider:

• A positive relationship must be obvious between the event and the sponsoring organization, and the audience/public has to catch on to that relationship. For instance, at a groundbreaking, one savings and loan buried $200 in coins and invited community children to dig for them on the event day;
• The news value wanted or needed (use its size, uniqueness, celebrity guests, etc.);
• A name that connects the event to the key organizations, i.e. The Union-Tribune Dr. Seuss Race for Literacy (beneficiary: San Diego Council on Literacy);
• Tie-ins that take advantage of common interests with other organizations. Midas Muffler once shared an anti-noise campaign with the Better Hearing Institute;
• A series of related events integrated into a single theme that multiply the effect. Nichols' crew was responsible for 40 sanctioned Super Bowl events;
• Decide who's in charge. The coordinator is key to establishing checklists and ensuring that all duties, timelines and schedules are met;
• Start early. Set the date, time, site, guest list or target market and features six to nine months ahead. Planning often can begin a year or more in advance. For annual events, says Hagey, it’s essential to immediately evaluate one to improve the next. Creating a "fresh" event year after year is its own challenge, Hagey says, as he plans this year’s Street Scene to incorporate "really big changes. More decor, more mini-festivals within the festival. We must always explore new ideas but weave in continuity, and keep what we know works well";
• Make a working plan. Organize committees or assignments which include: budget, site issues, publicity, sponsors, finances, hospitality, reservations, speakers and features. Develop checklists, which can never be too long;
• And set regular meetings. These can begin at one per month, and accelerate to one per week six weeks before the event. This is where you review, review and review. Assume nothing. Each committee should be accountable for progress and report any snags. This is an important venue for brainstorming crises, too, and each participant should be encouraged to use his or her imagination. A common pitfall, for instance, are presentation glitches. Walk-throughs, audio-visual testing (and testing again) and providing emcees with "fill in" scripting or emergency guests to anticipate late-arriving speakers (remember how long some of us waited for Bill Gates at the Microsoft Software Developers Conference?) are practical solutions to offset your worst nightmares.

    "Any successful event planner who walks in thinking it’s easy," says Hagey, "never walks out thinking that way."
And Patti Anderson sums it up with her first commandment for event planning: "There is no such thing as a small special event."

    Laura Walcher is principal public relations counsel to the marketing firm Matthews/Mark.