Meeting production is best understood chronologically, even though the work of production may progress on many levels at once.

Transportation to Event: This may include limousineservice from the guests' homes, printed materials and gifts on the way to the airport, airport hospitality while waiting for departure, and - if there are a significant amount of guests aboard the plane - group activities, such as a bingo game or comical video presentation.

Arrival Issues: Arrival services for guests at the location may replicate the considerations.

noted above plus other thoughtful delights, such as an arrival souvenir, beverage or band.

Hotel registration is always a sore spot with meeting attendees and the thoughtful Producer will work hard in advance to get each guest settled within minutes of arrival.

Hospitality: During the guest's time at the meeting, every minute should be accountable. Even "free time" must be accounted for and contingencies planned. A classic situation is a guest who planned to do nothing until her friend told her about the trip to ABC Falls and now she wants to squeeze onto the bus. Are we prepared for the "free time" contingency?

Show Opening and Closing: Usually taking place on the first and last nights of a multi-day meeting or after cocktails and after all speakers have presented in a one-day event, the Show Opening and Closing are intended as the "fancy wrapping" in which your content is presented. The purpose of the Opening is to set the theme and premise of the meeting and to motivate the participants to put their best efforts into making the meeting a success. The purpose of the Closing is to thank the participants for the efforts and to inculcate the lessons of the meeting into a memorable whole that will motivate change. No one spends money on a meeting with the expectation that everyone will continue to act exactly as before. Meetings are made to change people - even if just a little - even if for just a little time.

Often, too much attention is spent on the style of the Opening and Closing with little or no concern to the content. Your meeting has a purpose. State that purpose and establish a theme. Set that theme at the opening. If, for instance, the theme is "The Comeback" the opening can establish the "Before" of the story - a famous sports team that fell into a slump, or a trio of astronauts that have lost power between the earth and the moon. After all the breakout sessions and activities, send your guests home with the theme in mind by closing the concept. If there's a "Before" premise in the opening, show the "After." If your corporate heroes brought the "astronauts" home, bring them on stage to meet the real astronauts.

Open with a promise, close with a fulfillment.

Breakout Sessions and Activities: Between the Opening and the Close are Breakout Sessions and Activities. Breakout Sessions divide the audience into smaller, teachable groups who are scheduled through a schedule of one or more sessions to address specific issues of importance to management. A large sales meeting, for example, might have breakout sessions for instruction on the new product line, a sales techniques role playing session, a customer service clinic, etc.

The Breakout Sessions are where the real work of a meeting takes place, and where the real value of the event is realized. Vendor services for Breakouts include audiovisual equipment and operation, PowerPoint and other forms of speaker support that can be updated quickly, print support, professional instructors and social chairpeople, and photographers and videographers to record the activities and role playing workshops.

Interspersed with the Breakout Sessions, a meeting will have social and recreational Activities, some of which serve the dual purpose of entertaining guests while creating networking synergies among employees who rarely have the opportunity to meet. Such activities may include a golf or tennis tournament, a visit to a tourist attraction, cocktail parties, dances (if spouses are present), and dining occasions, often with a theme that supports the meeting's theme.

If spouses are part of the meeting, a delicate balance must be maintained between the "work" elements of the employees and the "recreational" elements implied by the presence of the spouse. No worse result of a meeting can occur than spouses who return home to complain that they did not have a good time or that they saw too little of their partners.

Activities can be supported by the meeting vendor with such services as entertainment, sports event organization, tour leaders, transportation captains, and food and beverage providers.

Traditionally, the conclusion of the production of a meeting or event ends when the guests have happily departed. Some vendors, however, consider the client's bottom line and offer "post production" assistance in the form of bottom line accounting. Click here to examine the concept of Meeting and Event Post Production.