A new cloud-based technology solution has launched to make it easier for meeting professionals to find, book, and pay travel directors—their always-crucial temporary on-site event staff. The new tool, Cadre, offers an entirely online process for connecting travel directors with planners.
Planners use the Cadre site, www.hirecadre.com, to create a profile of their needs for an event, including the number of staff required, daily rate, per diem, and any special skills they’re looking for, such as a foreign language proficiency. They post their event and wait for travel directors to bid. Planners either post a meeting to all travel directors on the system—500+ as of late March, according to Principal Todd Taranto—or they can post it privately and only invite specific travel directors to bid.
For their part, travel directors create profiles that list their skills and location, and include a photo and/or video. To be in the system, they have to have proof of insurance and pass a background check.
Once travel directors bid on a meeting, the planner reviews the profiles, makes selections, and contracts through the system. Payments are also handled through the interface, and Cadre takes care of issuing tax forms annually. Planners have the option to rate individual travel directors after an event.
Cadre is free for travel directors to create profiles and bid on work; planners pay 20 percent to 22 percent of the contracted daily rate as a service fee.
