It’s been a busy summer for Coterie Spark — our team is racking up the travel miles across North America for conference site visits. These trips are essential to producing a well-planned meeting or conference, which is why we often visit multiple times in advance of an event.
If you’re currently hunting for a venue for your next meeting or conference, here are some ways our team efficiently, productively, and comfortably helps our clients find their dream venue.
We build comprehensive Itineraries
We make sure we’re prepared by knowing the who, what, where, when, and how of our site visits. The Coterie Spark team can end up touring seven venues in a single day, which makes efficiency an absolute necessity. That’s why we keep flight info, contact details, addresses, hotel confirmations, and more in an easily accessible document.
We love hired drivers
A true gamechanger in our book. Not only can we bring more gear, snacks, and water, but we’re able to maximize productivity between venues. Our car becomes a mobile office, allowing us to review notes internally or with clients. We focus on the finer points of our mission, not traffic.
We even strategize our meals
We strategically build meals into our itinerary! We view these as great opportunities for face time with clients, vendors, or really anyone who can make our trip more successful. Sometimes, on very busy days, we schedule catering tastings as our breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
We dress comfortably and professionally
Location scouting requires lots of movement, we’re always on our feet! If this is a multi-day trip, we want to avoid an achy back as best we can. So, we carry easy-to-tote backpacks that allow us to transport essentials without straining. We also bring shoes that have already been broken in and are made for walking, and we never forget to pack a jacket or sweater! It might be hot as heck outside right now, but some venues are quite chilly inside.
We ask the important questions…over and over again
The more site visits we have in a day, the easier it gets to miss details — that is, unless we prepare questions that will help us hold each venue to the same exact standards. We always review our client’s budget thoroughly when coming up with these questions, which often touch on transportation, construction during the event, fees that aren’t in the quote, and which rentals are included. We also ask to inspect rentals to make sure they match their advertised quality.
We bring tools that keep us organized
Beyond a detailed itinerary, we’ve set ourselves up to conveniently save notes and photos in one central, digital location through Google Drive. Additionally, iPads and Apple Pencils have made notepads and binders obsolete. Just think about it, no more shuffling around papers!
We don’t wait to follow up
The Coterie Spark team sits down at the end of each day to come up with follow-up questions for venues, then we email our contacts right away. The very last thing we want to tell a client is “Sorry, we forgot to ask the venue that.” We slot plenty of “follow-up time” into your itinerary.
East Coast, West Coast, Canada, and more — there are so many cities and venues you can visit for your next meeting or conference, but little time to see them all. That is unless you have an experienced meeting and conference planning team on your side, who knows exactly what to ask. Reach out to us today so we can find the perfect space for your upcoming event.