9 Negotiating tips to save money – planning a conference or event in Ireland

Conference and banquet Charleville Cork

Negotiate your way to a great conference venue or meeting place…..

Alternative meeting space Carrick Cineplex

There are great deals to be found in Event Venues in Ireland right now, so it is the perfect time to book a conference meeting or event .   There is great value for money to be got  in arranging conferences, meetings or events, hotels and venues are willing to negotiate their rates, however, do remember that it needs to work for both sides, if you negotiate too much and leave tight margins for the hotel, servicing of your event may suffer.

Finding the right venue is time consuming, so if you are time short – you can outsource it to a venue finder for free…. and/or follow this advice which has been gained after many years of working in the industry.

Conference Venue options Cork

• Don’t accept the first rate quoted, ask is that the “rack rate” or your best rate and see what is on offer.
• Weekend conferences tend to be better value if you are booking a business hotel.  Otherwise you will run into the problem of not being able to book a Friday or Saturday because of wedding bookings.
• Generally book off peak – January and February, March if booking in a tourist area, on a Monday at any venue or during the summer for business hotels.
• You will have most negotiating power on the meeting room rental if there are sufficient tea/coffee breaks, meals and such other revenue generating opportunities for the venue.

Try meeting in a cinema!

• Be clear from the beginning as to what you require, give as much detail as possible so that you can get an accurate quote, there is nothing worse than getting a surprise add on to the bill because every detail was not communicated – for example is the screen and projector included??
• If you book a number of events throughout  the year, let the venue know, if you consolidate your conference or event bookings with the one venue you will have more negotiating power.
• If you have accommodation needs, even less than 10 rooms, be sure to communicate that.  Hotels have larger profit margins on selling their guestrooms over food margins. 
• Drink is the next best profit margin for a hotel, so if your crowd will enjoy a few drinks in the hotel, make sure to let them know!
• A great way to encourage more networking at an event is to arrange a drinks reception the night before or after the event, perhaps get it sponsored.  Venues will look favourably on this as it is a great revenue generator for them.

 

Finding the right venue is paramount to any event, even though you may be planning a conference or event on a budget, if you get the venue wrong, the event will not be as effective, will not lead to the desired result and so be a waste of  the valuable event budget. 

There will be more tips next post!

If  found this article of interest, you should check out the following articles –

How to arrange a conference on a shoe string budget!

Team building event ideas

How to decide on the best set up style for your conference
For tips and advice on venues in Ireland, feel free to contact me -

Ciara Feely
Venue Finder
www.FindaConferenceVenue.com
Ciara  <at> Find a conference venue <dot> com.
353 (0) 26 21015  (Ireland)

Resolution for the new year… Attending Conferences to beat the recession!

Thriving not just surving during the recession.

This year I have decided that my new year’s resolution will be to not do something rather than do something which is to not “participate in a recession”.    I have adopted a saying from Dr. Ivan Misner (Founder of Business Network International) as my new motto   “I refuse to participate in a recession”…

In late November I attended an International tradeshow in Barcelona – EIBTM.  I had 1000 badges printed up with this motto and I hired students to wear T shirts with the same.  I have to say I was delighted with the reaction.  I had people running down the tradeshow aisle after me asking me where did I get the T shirt from… in the bathrooms I had ladies ask me if I was the person giving out those great badges — they wanted to fly the flag for me and wear one.  Yeah, it was working.  So my point is that we are ready to be positive about all of this.

Overall the tradeshow was a fantastic experience for me.  I received excellent leads and met people whom I would never have met by staying at home.  There was serious business being done there and a real thirst for companies to discover countries they had not brought conference, meetings or incentive clients to before.   Ireland does not have the reputation abroad yet for having fantastic conference and incentive facilities and it is a constant battle to educate international delegates on the state of the art facilities Irish venues now have to offer.    And believe it or not, the first thing you have to educate most people on is why come to Ireland in the first place for a conference, meeting or event…. uniqueness of our culture, landscape and people, friendly welcome and as a very safe destination.

I took a wander around to compare how other countries were selling their country as a destination and there are some amusing photos to share –

Hungry –

Come to Hungry

 

 

 

 

 

 

Norway -  love this one..

Norway - attractive incentive

Berlin -

Now that's a dress!

Ireland -

Ireland - Kenmare Park Hotel Samas Destination Spa

 Guatamela -

The Quetzal - national bird of Guatemala

Overall it was an excellent tradeshow, with plenty of entertainment and eye candy to keep you amuzed such as this shirmp and lobster that wandered freely throughout the exhibition.

Anyone for Shrimp and Lobster?

 

Ciara and the Queen of Nuremburg

 

Ciara and the recently discovered Dinosour remains in Portugal

I am happy to share my advice and expertise on venues in Ireland.  My service saves hours of time in researching a venue.  Contact Ciara at ciara@findaConferenceVenue.com.   353 (0) 26 21015.