By Wichita Villacres
The challenge with event planning today is to provide your company or client with successful events that result in a return on your investment. Shrinking budgets and short planning windows are just some of the issues event planners must deal with. Locally based destination management companies (DMC) can be valuable partners when it comes time to select the right venue and the best local resources and suppliers, assisting the planner in stretching the dollars in his or her budget.
Working with a DMC allows you to take advantage of its knowledge of the destination. It can help you avoid last-minute pitfalls by communicating updates and changes at the location that may affect an event. You'll spend less time calling various suppliers and trying to understand each company, mind-set, and methods of payment. A good DMC already has a proven list of suppliers with insurance, cancellation and payment policies, and a proven track record.
A DMC is able to work with various local suppliers for centerpieces, props, lighting, and staffing, providing one-stop shopping. By establishing solid, long-term relationships with any event specialist, your goals and objectives are more likely to be correctly communicated to the many local players needed to insure a successful event. DMCs can provide you with the best, easiest, and most cost-effective ideas.
When it comes to event logistics, the DMC has access to room diagrams, menus, linens, and the particulars in working with local venues and hotels. It may have locations that are well-kept secrets—those unique, one-of-a-kind places that only an insider can help you tap into.
Entertainment is a similar scene. Local DMCs keep track of cultural interests, destination-specific entertainers, local musicians, actors, and bands that may help stretch your budget. In the case of famous or name-brand entertainment, DMCs can find better deals for coordinating rider requirements and assistance with V.I.P. transportation.
Clients who contact a DMC with their event specifications can utilize the DMC to brainstorm ideas, concepts, and customize events to deliver a message unique to their company. DMCs offer a proposal with itemized pricing for components. It can also extend the management of the event by supporting your program with local staff, thereby saving travel costs for hotel and airfare.
When a planner arrives in a city to conduct site inspections, he or she has a limited time frame during which a lot must be accomplished. DMCs help navigate and organize through the destination, showing the venues and components that will work for the group's needs. By gathering the client's specific objectives and goals for the event, including demographics, budget, and company culture, a DMC is able to pair that profile with the opportunities available in the destination. Saving the client time and dollars is the main goal.
Whether it's an incentive program that aims to mix business with pleasure, a sales conference, or an executive retreat, recommendations are based on well-informed market insights that match a client's customized needs.
A DMC is like a movie director, managing the crew members, props, script, timing, staging, special effects, and lighting so that your participants experience the magic of the event without witnessing the behind-the-scenes organization that brings it all together. The DMC puts the planner in control of how that message is delivered.
Wichita Villacres is the owner and president of PRA Destination Management Miami.
The challenge with event planning today is to provide your company or client with successful events that result in a return on your investment. Shrinking budgets and short planning windows are just some of the issues event planners must deal with. Locally based destination management companies (DMC) can be valuable partners when it comes time to select the right venue and the best local resources and suppliers, assisting the planner in stretching the dollars in his or her budget.
Working with a DMC allows you to take advantage of its knowledge of the destination. It can help you avoid last-minute pitfalls by communicating updates and changes at the location that may affect an event. You'll spend less time calling various suppliers and trying to understand each company, mind-set, and methods of payment. A good DMC already has a proven list of suppliers with insurance, cancellation and payment policies, and a proven track record.
A DMC is able to work with various local suppliers for centerpieces, props, lighting, and staffing, providing one-stop shopping. By establishing solid, long-term relationships with any event specialist, your goals and objectives are more likely to be correctly communicated to the many local players needed to insure a successful event. DMCs can provide you with the best, easiest, and most cost-effective ideas.
When it comes to event logistics, the DMC has access to room diagrams, menus, linens, and the particulars in working with local venues and hotels. It may have locations that are well-kept secrets—those unique, one-of-a-kind places that only an insider can help you tap into.
Entertainment is a similar scene. Local DMCs keep track of cultural interests, destination-specific entertainers, local musicians, actors, and bands that may help stretch your budget. In the case of famous or name-brand entertainment, DMCs can find better deals for coordinating rider requirements and assistance with V.I.P. transportation.
Clients who contact a DMC with their event specifications can utilize the DMC to brainstorm ideas, concepts, and customize events to deliver a message unique to their company. DMCs offer a proposal with itemized pricing for components. It can also extend the management of the event by supporting your program with local staff, thereby saving travel costs for hotel and airfare.
When a planner arrives in a city to conduct site inspections, he or she has a limited time frame during which a lot must be accomplished. DMCs help navigate and organize through the destination, showing the venues and components that will work for the group's needs. By gathering the client's specific objectives and goals for the event, including demographics, budget, and company culture, a DMC is able to pair that profile with the opportunities available in the destination. Saving the client time and dollars is the main goal.
Whether it's an incentive program that aims to mix business with pleasure, a sales conference, or an executive retreat, recommendations are based on well-informed market insights that match a client's customized needs.
A DMC is like a movie director, managing the crew members, props, script, timing, staging, special effects, and lighting so that your participants experience the magic of the event without witnessing the behind-the-scenes organization that brings it all together. The DMC puts the planner in control of how that message is delivered.
Wichita Villacres is the owner and president of PRA Destination Management Miami.
