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Communication—Now More Than Ever All of this feeds into what Evoniuk says should be the No. 1 area of focus for planners who are pursuing a meeting at a center that is still being built: communication. “It’s critical to have an open and transparent dialogue with the operations aspect of the facility, not just your salespeople,” she said. “Develop a relationship early enough in the process so that you have an open communication channel throughout the planning and construction phase.” For example, if you establish a robust dialogue early, it will


be easier to request timelines for different stages of construc- tion, or to collect a list of all the things you’re concerned about, and have those concerns addressed ahead of time. Last fall,


Philadelphia—where Evoniuk serves on theCVB’s customer advisory board—handled this in a proactive manner. “They sat down with all of us,” Evoniuk said, “and asked [regard- ing the Pennsylvania Convention Center], ‘What are the things that can sidetrack us? What should we be looking out for?’” Evoniuk said that the group of 15 meeting planners gath-


ered together there were able to run through a huge list of questions and issues to look out for, and the building was able to proactively address those things. She said: “That’s a great best practice for any planner.” One way that communication will be easier is if the new facility is a replacement for an existing center, rather than a continued on page 58


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