March 2005 Article                      

What All a DMC Can Do For You

Meeting planners often turn to a DMC for a single element, like transportation or a party venue, Jennifer Patino says. But DMCs have the resources and experience to help plan and carry out the total event. As Jennifer describes it, if a DMC handles everything within their field of expertise for you, it’s almost like having a clone.  And what meeting planner hasn’t wished for a clone now and then?

“Our charge is to act like an orchestra conductor and bring all the elements together to deliver something fabulous,” Jennifer explains. Share the total picture with your DMC and you’ll have a well-coordinated, efficient event that makes you look good.

When dealing with a DMC, here’s how you can hand off much of your time-consuming challenges.

Starting at the beginning. What is your overall theme?  A DMC can help brainstorm how that theme plays out, or if there is a better one.  Jennifer gives the example of a company that was introducing level 8 software and had thought of the 8-ball as the theme.  Together the client and the DMC evolved the theme into the sideways 8, standing for infinity and a much stronger umbrella for a new product. DMCs can help uncover ideas to tie it all together.

Identifying your goals. “Tell me about your marketing thrust, your challenges. Who will be coming to the meeting and why will they be there? What’s special about them?  What’s special about your organization? What are your expectations and goals?”  Jennifer lists some of the questions she asks (as would other quality DMCs) so that she can customize every element of an event to truly fit a client’s goals.  If improving teamwork is a goal, she continues, she’d suggest Cirque de Soleil as an appropriate entertainment.  If you have a large group of people to transport, yet you want them to feel really special, put them on a “Champagne shuttle.”  It may be just a motorcoach, but adding champagne adds sizzle, she says.

Booking venues and vendors.  Within each market, the local DMC has a level of expertise and a far greater negotiating potential than an out-of-town planner.  “We can get you a better bottom line,” Jennifer says. “I cultivate relations and book venues 52 weeks a year.”  Take advantage of it.

Using your “branch office.”  You have a question about the hotel you are going to use.  The local DMC can send someone off to visit it.  Or, they may be familiar enough with it to have the answer for you.  There’s a show in town or a really hot restaurant that you’d like to book.  The local DMC has the pull to get you in.  Sending staffers from your office to the event is beyond your budget.  Forget the cost, the DMC can provide you with operational staffing assistance. No lodging required.

Budget stretching. You have a certain budget for an offsite event. Share your budget with the DMC and let them figure out how to best spend it. They’ll get you the best value.

General Services of a DMC

• Production
• Event staffing
• Concierge
• Decor & Themes
• Venue procurement
• Entertainment
• Transportation
• Tours & Outings
• Team Building

Less expected DMC services

• Hotel arrangements
• Speakers
• Celebrity & Talent booking
• Advance invitations
• Internal event promotion
• Registration
• Website building

Baskow & Associates is unusual in that the company includes a major entertainment booking agency that DMCs around the country use to source celebrities for events outside of Las Vegas.  A DMC may not have all of the services listed above, but they have the connections to arrange them all and make them happen.

This is especially true within the GEP/Krisam family, Jennifer explains.  “We have a much shorter learning curve with new clients,” she continues.  “We can call a partner in the GEP network who knows the client and learn what worked for them.  We don’t need to start from scratch. The GEP network is phenomenal, “she says “providing all of us with more resources both in terms of DMC services and hotel selection.”

“I’ve been in this business for 25 years,” Jennifer says, “and it still gives me chills when it comes to making things happen. Something that you can’t experience anywhere else.”

One challenge Jennifer met that would give anyone chills: She arranged a three-course dinner complete with black tie, sushi and ice bar on the floor of… the Grand Canyon!  Guests were helicoptered in. 

Jennifer says she likes to under promise and over deliver. Delivering the Grand Canyon is quite an example of that philosophy.  Before joining Baskow & Associates, Jennifer served as director of special events and casino marketing for Caesars Lake Tahoe for nine years followed by another five years as hotel director of sales.

For more about Baskow & Associates, DMCs in general, or the DMC in a particular market, contact your GEP representative, or see the list of GEP DMCs.