Timewise Event Management’s managing partner Brent Taylor was bestowed with Canada's highest honour at the 2018 Annual Canadian Event Industry Awards hosted in Toronto on March 21, 2018. 

Budgets are getting tighter, but expectations are getting higher. How can you cope with the never-ending demands for better attendee experiences and engagement? How do you create that WOW factor—that memorable experience—guests will talk about for months after? Find inspiration in these tips to enhance your event on a budget.

As event professionals, we are all busy making our clients’ every wish come true and creating unforgettable experiences for our event attendees. As the New Year approaches it is a time for us to reflect on what we have achieved this past year.

We picked 5 things every planner must have to start their New Year right!

Do you have the most stressful job? Each of us is faced with perpetual challenges in our workplace that seem to be continually increasing and adding to our stress levels. With the current climate of economic uncertainties, increasing workloads and unrelenting demands, most of us will likely claim we have the most stressful job.

Meeting planners are hardworking, resilient and well-organized individuals who rely upon a variety of suppliers to deliver the meetings they manage. They face the stresses of orchestrating an endless array of tasks and suppliers into a seamlessly delivered meeting, conference or convention.

A growing frustration for meeting planners, when managing their conference budgets, are excessive or undisclosed fees imposed by providers of essential services. Conference facilities are such a provider. Many facilities impose fees in an effort to block outside suppliers from servicing conferences, in turn forcing the use of in-house suppliers.

Meeting planners have the complex task of managing conference budgets and the wide array of suppliers that come with it. We do our due diligence to ensure everyone gets their fair share while maintaining a positive bottom line. Unfortunately, some suppliers that are an essential service to hosting a conference, like conference facilities, are taking advantage of their position.