Your Indispensable Meeting Planning Checklist

If the motto for real estate is location, location, location, we would say it’s preparation, preparation, preparation for meeting and conference planning. To help you organize a highly efficient and effective gathering, we’re providing an overview of all of the details involved and sharing a downloadable step-by-step meeting planning checklist template so you can seamlessly pull them together, again and again.

Define Your Intention

By writing out, in detail, the purpose of your meeting – including the goals you want to achieve, you create an unshakable justification for gathering your team in the “this meeting could have been an email” era as well as providing clear direction for all the planning decisions moving forward.

Determine the Format

Once you detail the intention behind your meeting, you’ll be able to determine which team members to tap for participation. Depending on their locations, you can plan for a fully in-person or hybrid gathering.

Create a Budget

Once you nail down the number of required attendees and meeting format – you have the key pieces of information to create a preliminary budget.

Select a Venue

With the preliminary budget in hand, you can begin researching event locations. We recommend sending an RFP to venues that can accommodate the size and scope of your gathering – including capacities for meeting spaces and overnight accommodations. Once you have narrowed this list of contenders, follow that up with on-site tours of your top picks.

Secure Your Dates

Once you’ve selected a venue, you can secure the available dates that work for your team and budget. Ensure that you’re allocating adequate time to achieve the goals you set out when you defined the intention of your meeting.

Rally Your Team

The earlier you can alert your team to the dates and location of your meeting, the better your chance to attain full attendance. At this point, you will also want to arrange for their transportation and accommodations as well as assign any presenter responsibilities or preliminary tasks so you can hit the ground running on day one of your meeting.

Set the Agenda

Going back to your meeting intention, every agenda item should move your team toward the achievement of your goals. We’ve found that team building experiences are an engaging and entertaining way to accomplish this.

Reserve the Essentials

From food and beverage to A/V equipment and everything in between, you need to reserve the conference services and amenities needed for your gathering. Your event venue should be able to provide these requirements either directly or through a trusted partner. At Lansdowne Resort, we offer inclusive meeting packages that bundle these necessities with additional perks and experiences.

Reconfirm All Details

Ensure that all attendees have their travel and accommodations confirmations, everyone knows their participatory roles in the gathering and that all venues and vendors are prepared to fulfill their commitments, on-budget and on-schedule.

Win The Day

As a savvy planner, you have had your finger on the pulse of this gathering for quite a while now. Still, meeting days can become hectic with a million little details to be hammered out seemingly all at once. That’s why we provide our groups with an on-site Conference Planning Manager as well as a dedicated conference concierge desk to assist with the administrative tasks that make the difference between stumbling and sprinting over the finish line.

So let’s get going! You can download our 10-Step Indispensable Meeting Planning Checklist here. When you hit number four, be sure to submit your RFP to Lansdowne Resort – our meeting specialists are ready to collaborate with you to pull off a seamless and successful event.