Cut to the local CVBs and DMOs who are available to assist event organizers in need of a helping hand in creating their ideal event. A few of these desti- nation champions elaborate on the services they can provide while assisting planners in putting on the perfect meeting or event.
Danielle Pinto,director,business develop- ment for the DMO Roberts Event Group, Inc., discusses the various services and extensive support they provide to local visitors to Philadelphia and the surround- ing area.
“We partner with our clients to plan and manage logistics for special events, con- ferences and meetings,public events and festivals,” says Pinto. “Our clients come to us for assistance with production, decor, entertainment, food and beverage, trans- portation, staffing, off site dining, tours, team building,destination management – there’s really no limit to the services we can provide. No matter what our clients ask for,we have the depth and breadth of resources that ensure we’ll be able to make it happen.”
Part of what makes Roberts Event Group such a great asset for meeting planners is their ability to be involved however much (or little) any client needs.
“We create, recommend, source and man- age meeting and event services for our clients,”says Pinto. “We can manage just a few aspects of a program,or we can man- age the entire program,depending on the client’s needs. The benefit ofworkingwith us on multiple aspects of a meeting or event is that the process is tremendously simplified for our clients.”
She continues,“For example, if there are changes to guest count or timeline lead-
36 January February 2014
ing up to an event, instead of having to call multiple vendors with updates, our clients make one phone call to us. There is less paperwork,and there are fewer pay- ments. From a risk management stand- point, too, clients know that vendors and venues have already been vetted.”
Pinto feels that one of their strengths at Roberts Events Group is being able to get a large job done quickly, as seen recently with some clients who have had last minute changes of plans. “Recently, we’ve had a few clients who unexpectedly required our assistance on a very short turnaround. These clients had been working with another company, and when that company was no longer able to work with them, the clients were left with many unresolved program elements. Some of these clients had only amatter of a week or two to get things figured out.”
“Because of our experience and our ven- dor relationships,we were able to pick up the pieces really quickly: negotiated spe- cial terms and reduced deposits with our vendors; and identified alternate solu- tions when the initial plans were no longer viable;” she adds. “With our man- agement assistance, what could have been a chaotic scramble for these plan- ners was actually a relatively smooth tran- sition.”
Pinto adds that Roberts Event Group truly acts as a “meeting and event concierge” for their clients.
We are their experts on hospitality indus- try trends, as well as the local area we serve. For a meeting planner who is not based in Philadelphia or a local market- ing professional who is not as well versed in event management,we’re their partner that fills in the potential gaps in their per- spective,” says Pinto.
“Our strength - and the greatest asset to our clients - is the depth and breadth of our experience. We’ve been in business for twenty years, and in that time we’ve garnered lasting industry relationships, cultivated a veritable anthology of ven- dors and services, resolved issues and learned from our mistakes. Our team comes from a wide variety of back- grounds: business, technical and creative, and represents multiple generations,” she continues.
“So we’re solid,yet agile,”notes Pinto. “We have roots and branches. That is invalu- able to a client planning a meeting or event. They need to have a certain level of security, but in this industry you can’t be too tethered to what’s tried and true. So, by partnering with a company like ours, they get structure, stability and creativity - all in one neat package.”
Allison Clare from Destination Philly A.C. also details the options available to plan- ners through her destination manage- ment organization. “As a full service desti- nation management company, we pro- vide services that include the production
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