The Southeast Chapter of FICP met March 2 to 3, 2006 at the Four Seasons Hotel, Atlanta, Ga. The convivial group of 40 exchanged war stories, ideas, and best practices experienced over the last 12 months.

As is often the case when planners and suppliers are in a room together and left pretty much to their own devices, conversation drifted to contract language. We also talked about working with procurement, lead times in getting signed contracts back to hotels, food and fitness trends, disaster preparedness, and disaster recovery.

While working with procurement seems to be on the increase, we all agreed that the common denominator to make it less cumbersome is education. It's obvious, at least to planners, that what they are buying isn't paper clips. The challenge from an educational standpoint is to help purchasing agents understand the whole enchilada — what is it exactly that planners are buying? This is a new commodity to most procurement people, and the common business practices in event management may be new to them.

We also had a great interactive session with a certified nutritionist and a certified personal trainer. While no one really wants to give up that chocolate lava cake, or the lobster Newburg, these two experts offered proven ways that you can actually have your cake and eat it, too.

Finally, we had a great discussion on disaster preparedness and disaster recovery. Several of the planners and one supplier in particular had an opportunity to put their disaster preparedness to the test. The phrase repeated over and over again was, “Make a plan.” Bonnie Boyd, CMP, from BBC: Bonnie Boyd & Company of New Orleans, shared her recovery story. Business is coming back, she says, but she also has developed a network of other DMC offices on which she can rely if her operation closes because of an emergency, so that she would still be communicating regularly with her clients.

Based on consensus from the group, the next Southeast Chapter meeting is tentatively scheduled for March 2007, also in Atlanta. Many thanks to Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts' June Locke, senior manager insurance market worldwide sales, and the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta staff for hosting a great meeting.