We seem to be having our fair share of heat waves already this summer. And, of course, for those event planners out there there is always a worry when we get extreme weather during an event. The number one rule of thumb is not to ignore the extreme heat that many parts of the East are currently enduring. With a little bit of planning there’s no reason why your group can’t still proceed with all of the activities that you have planned.
A Few Items to Add to Your Event Planning Checklist to Keep Your Guest Cool
Here are a few tips to help keep you and your delicate cool during the hot weather:
Hydration. First and foremost always keep hydrated. So make sure you add plenty of water to your checklist. Here’s a little tip that I implemented for group that we were operating during a heat wave. The delegates needed to walk from their hotel to an auditorium for an evening function. The auditorium was close enough to the hotel that buses were not necessary to move the group (or at least that was the thinking when we planned the group before the heat wave struck). So we stationed staff on every major street corner (it was about a three block walk) with plenty of bottled water. As the delegates were being escorted, our staff was offering bottles of water along the route.
Sunscreen. You will be amazed at how many people do not bring sunscreen during summer meetings. So why not pitch the idea to your client to, perhaps, provide sunscreen as part of the welcome gift. You can even do a little corporate branding by asking one of your suppliers if they can put a logo on the product.
Location of Events. Sometimes you may need to have a meeting with your client to evaluate certain parts of your program. We were doing a scavenger hunt one year during hot weather. We did approach our client as we were concerned with the amount of time that the delegates would be required to be active outdoors. What we came up with was that we were able to still have the scavenger hunt proceed. We just moved the bulk of the activities to indoor locations. Talk to your hotel, DMC (Destination Management Companies) and CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau ) contacts. They are the local experts and will be able to assist you should you need to move your event to a more desirable location given the heat.
With a little extra planning, along with being on top of the weather forecast, group functions should still be able to proceed normally. Add a few key hot weather items to your event planning checklist to make sure that you have all of the bases covered. Your client will be happy and so will the delegates.