The Picard Grand Pavilion at Hershey Country Club, Hershey, PA
to supporting meeting planners through- out events. The IT capabilities of the facil- ity include an incredible amount of band- width available to accommodate technol- ogy-intensive events. Planners won’t have a worry, knowing the IT staff responds almost instantaneously to any needs.
“We’re very fortunate to have experts in the IT, audio-visual, destination manage- ment, drayage, decorating and catering areas - all based on site,” said Fink. “All of these service providers have more than five years of experience working with one another at Gaylord. They know each other well and what works best in our facility. That type of knowledge and experience is what creates success for meetings here. Everyone literally is on the same team with one common goal and objective.”
The staff asks the right questions during the planning phase of the meeting and goes to great lengths to truly understand the purpose and objective of an event. The team isn’t just “order takers.” They research historical information about a client’s past events to know and under- stand the correct types of questions to ask, making their future events at Gaylord even more successful.
“In my years of experience, one item always stands out as the most important thing that planners can do to ensure a top-notch meeting, and that is to know their attendees,” said Fink. “I can’t stress that enough. Know your attendees’ prefer- ences and needs, whether it’s what kind of food they like,
how they’ll absorb the
presentation content, or how often they’ll need to take a break to check email. You must have this insight and know it really well to orchestrate a successful meeting.”
A recent challenge for the Gaylord staff was the task of hosting 8,000 sorority sis- ters who were touring the Washington, DC area and who could only stay at the facil- ity for less than 90 minutes. They attended a plated luncheon in the ballroom, so the challenges were logistically off-loading more than 150 motor coaches full of guests, directing them to the correct tables in the ballroom, serving the seated and plated luncheon, and successfully usher- ing them back into the motorcoaches in time for their scheduled departure.
The team invested a lot of planning to orchestrate and manage the event, and it was an “all hands on deck” effort by hun- dreds of the resort’s staffers. As a result of
their seamless and collective efforts, the luncheon went off without a hitch and the event planner was thrilled.
The ability to provide such teamwork and planning support goes a long way
toward making these con- ference venues and their services tremendous resources for meetings.
Planners will find that these and other dedicated confer- ence facilities throughout the region are at the ready when it comes to providing outstanding environments for top-notch events and group functions.
Lenora Kruk-Mullanaphy has extensive public rela- tions experience in the hospitality industry, having
worked for the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority and with Morton's The Steakhouse.
lmullanaphy@gmail.com
Mid-Atlantic EVENTS Magazine 45
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100