National Speakers Association – Arizona

Meeting Planners

Essential information for planning corporate, industry, or association meetings and conferences

As the voice of the speaking profession in Arizona, our chapter of the National Speakers Association is an organization of professional speakers, trainers, facilitators and consultants. We have put together this short guide to be a resource for meeting professionals – our partners in success.

To establish and maintain public confidence in the professionalism, honesty, ability and integrity of the professional speaker is fundamental to the future success of the National Speakers Association, its members, and the profession of speaking.

To this end, members of the Association have adopted and, as a condition of membership, subscribe to this Code of Professional [...]

Hiring the right speaker or trainer for your company or association meeting is vital to its success. Bring in the person who does exactly what you’d hoped for – and more – and people will compliment you for months. Of course, if you don’t, you might never hear the end of it.

How can you better [...]

Initially, your budget serves as a guideline and may need revision as estimated costs become real.

Consider ALL factors, including:

Taxes Tips & gratuities Support materials Printing Postage Signs Name tags/badges Sleeping rooms Meeting room charges Food and beverage Audio/visual Labor Supplies Telephone [...]

Site selection is a crucial factor in the success of your meeting. Once you know your meeting objectives, budget, program and estimated attendance, you can begin to determine the space you need for your meeting:

Determine sleeping room needs Determine banquet facility needs Consult facilities guides, hotel sales centers or CVBs as resources to [...]

These are the key people when you hold your meeting at a hotel:

Sales Director/Manager — the person who “sells” the property to you as a meeting site – often your first contact at the hotel

Convention Service Professional — the manager or director responsible for ensuring that your meeting is properly serviced & your contact throughout [...]

Food and beverage functions can make a major contribution to the success of your meeting. Besides meals, food & beverage functions can include theme events, receptions and cocktail parties, and refreshment breaks.

Theme Parties

Menus with a special theme can be used for certain festive meals. A Mexican fiesta, a Hawaiian luau, an Italian feast – the [...]

Depending on the type of meeting, promoting it may be as simple as sending a letter of flyer to attendees to announce what will be covered at the next meeting. Other events – a three-day educational conference, for instance- that could require several direct mailings to attendees.

Include the registration form or card in the materials [...]

What to look for when selecting a meeting location

Theater-style seating with no audio-visuals requires a minimum of 7 square feet a person

Theater-style seating with audio-visuals requires a minimum of 10 square feet a person

Additional space will be required for multi-media presentations

In classroom seating with tables, consider the distance between tables. The more space used between [...]

Here’s a Meeting Timetable to give you maximum coverage for maximum results–

Timetables vary depending on the size of the group, season, and facility used. The timetable below gives you the maximum coverage for maximum results. (For small meetings, you may need only half the time shown.)

18-24 Months Ahead

Select dates Select a hotel or conference [...]