Meeting Planning is a Top 50 Career!

Meeting planners rejoice! Your career rocks and has made it into the top 50 careers of 2011. This is according to a report by US News and World Report. The US News shares the following positive outlook:

“Employment of meeting and convention planners, who hold 56,600 jobs nationwide in 2008, is expected to grow faster than the average for all professions over the next decade or so. The Labor Department projects that the number of meeting planner jobs will jump 16 percent, thanks to the growing importance of meetings to increasingly global companies.”

As we are all aware, during times of abundance meeting planners are busy planning and planning. It is also during these times that companies allow for a bit more extravagance and may even wish to show off their impressive bottom lines. But the recession has created a different sort of busy; namely guerilla dollar watching.

Although budgets are always a factor, in times of recession budgets take center stage. Meeting planners need to be especially “up” on where dollars are being spent; they must be ready to speak to and account for each and every dollar. Those for whom they are planning the meeting are going to need to feel as if they too are aware of how meeting money is being spent; and they will definitely shy away from showing off as it is simply in bad taste, especially if they have been forced to lay people off and/or pay raises are nowhere to be seen. Return On Investment is right up there on stage as well; how those dollars prove their worth in the end becomes an even higher priority.

Sometimes it feels like a meeting planner is only as good as their last meeting, As a result, meeting planners need to be especially skilled in negotiations in order to obtain the absolute best bang for the company’s buck. And this is where I can help you out. As a value add partner, my services create no extra cost to you, the client. The advantages do not stop there as the negotiating power of HelmsBriscoe is amazing! We booked more than $675 million in room nights last year alone, with that sort of buying power there is a much greater opportunity for truly capturing the best prices for your meeting. Contact me, I will make that negotiating power work for you. Email me at jstone@helmsbriscoe.com or 636-797-3405.