Do you put together meetings for your club, company, association or other group? Do you like to create events, retreats, annual meetings, top salesperson travel awards, or your friend’s wedding cruise? Then you might be interested in being a part or full time Independent Meeting and Event Planner.
Meeting and event planners organize meeting and events for companies and private individuals who do not have the time, expertise or do not want to go to the labor of doing it all themselves. IMEPs search for prospective meeting sites, primarily hotels, resorts, cruise lines and convention or conference centers.
When choosing a site, IMEPS consider who the prospective attendees are and how they will get to the meeting. Being close to a major airport is important for organizations that have attendees traveling long distances who are pressed for time.
The planner may also select a site based on its attractiveness to increase the number of attendees. The meeting could be a corporate meeting, such as a board of directors, a retreat. Or it may be an event, such as a wedding cruise with all the guests on board, a family reunion or a club or association annual gathering.
Some meetings/events can be small, with just a small meeting room and six or seven rooms booked for several nights. Then the planner receives a commission on the rooms booked. Some meetings and events could have hundreds of rooms needed and then a NET (cost) contract is negotiated and the planner marks up the rooms.
Once IMEPs have narrowed down possible locations for the meeting, they issue requests
for proposals, if the meeting is large enough, to all possible meeting sites in which
they are interested. These requests state the meeting dates and outline the planner’s
needs for the meeting or convention, including meeting and exhibit space, lodging,
food and beverages, telecommunications, audio-
| Promotional Product Dealer |
| Vacation and Cruise Consultant |
| Professional Travel Agent |
| Event & Meeting Planning |
| Fundraising |
| Cruise Lines |
| Resorts and Hotels |
| Tour Suppliers |
| Promotional Products |