Setting the Stage
If you went to a performance of “Fiddler on the Roof” and the stage was set with tall buildings and the people were dressed in jeans and t-shirts, you might wonder if you had the right theater. It would be difficult to concentrate on the play and what happens in it because you would be so concerned about the screaming incongruities.
Well, so it is with meetings. Although it’s possible to hold a meeting of farmers or ranchers in a place like Las Vegas, you would not want to send a government meeting there, especially the IRS. This indicates how important your setting is when choosing a meeting place.
Sending doctors to an educational meeting can happen in many different places. However, you would not really want to send them to a place like Toledo, Ohio unless it concerned that city directly. It’s just not that intellectually stimulating, all due respect to Toledo. Foreign countries, even our border neighbors, are fine options, as are larger cities that have more energy.
But what about that educational conference for robotics manufacturers? An industrial Midwest town is exactly what the doctor ordered here, especially if you can find a company to tour that uses robotics. So call on Toledo to make up for sending the Doctors to Canada.
All you have to do to decide what might not work is picture someone in that field working in the setting. A floral designer in the heart of the desert? Difficult unless it’s a big city or Vegas. Agricultural workers in New York City? Uncomfortable. A construction workers’ conference in a depressed, shrinking town? Yuk–try a boom town instead.
No matter who your client is, there is a place for them that is affordable and appropriate, and they will appreciate you finding it for them.
