20 ways in which we have recently saved our clients money - share yours on this discussion forum and ‘Keep America Meeting’.

Use online invitations/registrations, this also eliminates tracking manual emails
2. Use social media, networking sites to invite attendees
3. Host meetings/conferences in less expensive cities with alternative airports to fly into
4. Shuttle attendees or share a ride and/or offer limited hours instead of as and when guests arrive
5. Select less expensive venues: Art Gallery over museum or University auditorium over well known event facility
6. Look for a member of a Private club in your organization. Members have great incentives to spend in house with group events. Clubs often have multiple locations and are willing to offer a discount for hosting a series of meetings
7. A restaurant buyout can be cheaper than renting an event venue
8. Piggy back with shouldering groups by sharing speakers, entertainment, audio visual and decor
9. Use outside audio visual instead of in-house
10. Use local entertainment such as music schools, church groups, music clubs, and multi-cultural groups saving on travel expenses.
11. Use in house or produce reusable signage
12. Instead of room drops have a manned registration desk to give out materials, gifts etc
13. Base F&B on consumption instead of pp cost and offer wine and beer only, with maybe one specialty drink instead of an open bar
14. Order less expensive wines by comparing wine lists with online wine rating websites
15. Use water pitchers with glassware instead of bottled water
16. Use a semi private room which won’t have an F&B min and room rental
17. Select non-floral centerpieces or reuse floral over multiple days
18. Look at shipping linens to more expensive cities
19. Have a wireless cyber lounge: a designated "break out room", negotiate it for free with the hotel. Place signage ‘with compliments’ with the hotel as sponsor
20. Meeting planners usually can obtain further discounts on meetings rooms and ask them to deduct their sleeping room commission from their management fee

ADH Events is now a diversity supplier

ADH Events became certified by the NGLCC, which allows us to register as a diversity supplier with many organizations, including Fortune 500 companies.

For those of you who don't know who ADH Events is, we're a Chicago based meeting and event planning firm, producing board and sales meetings, investigator meetings, training seminars, diversity retreats, incentive trips, team building events, client dinners, political events and fundraisers, just to name a few.

In addition, we speak a multitude of languages, among them all the European languages, allowing us to assist our clients with the planning of their programs anywhere in the world.

Check us out on the web, call us or send us an email.

Talk to you soon.

Alexander

Venues and Audio Visual - In House or outside Source?

Did you know that most venues allow you to bring in an outside source for all of your audio visual needs? Did you know that virtually all in-house audio visual companies have to pay a fee to the hotels, which of course is being tacked onto your bill.

In most cases, bringing in an outside audio visual company, even with sometimes the penalties that need to be paid to the hotel (up to 20%), and inclusive of our management fee, the outside audio visual company is the less expensive way to go.

Meetings and Events in a down economy

This is the best time to plan a meeting or an event. Everyone is interested in negotiating the best deal, whether it is a hotel, the caterer, transportation or the audio visual company.

Did you know that most hotels, when booking sleeping rooms, they pay 3rd party planners like us, a commission. In addition most planners charge a management fee. We actually deduct the commission from our fee, which will give you either more money to spend on other items or will save your overall budget.