As of late, corporate meetings are staying closer to home to save money while also mitigating the risk of travel. In a perfect world, many companies would opt for keeping their meetings in house, but what happens when the boardroom is already booked? There are many options for you to take your meeting offsite while staying local. Consider the following TEN reasons to “MEET LOCAL”.
Risk Management
Keep your people close to home, safe from contamination, and most of all, don’t expose them to environments that could put them in jeopardy. A local Conshohocken -based venue is proactive by having deployed their own proprietary VirusSafe Pro software to implement timely enhanced cleaning protocols.
Bring your “National, Local”
Instead of 1000 people converging in one city, break off in to ten smaller groups in individual cities and conference in by webinar. This may be above your pay grade to implement but it is certainly up to you to be “vocal” about staying “local”.
Refrain from the Plane
If you don’t have to fly to get to your meeting, please don’t. Instead, rally your local team either at your office or at a conference center that offers high tech communication solutions that can bring your team together without the hassle of flying.
Park your car (and your butt) –
Save time and money with a short commute. Many suburban meeting and event spaces have complimentary parking, which is quite a cost savings. Within minutes you go from your car seat to putting your “seat” in your ergonomic conference chair.
It’s a breath of fresh air
Smaller, local conference centers are more agile than larger chains and can offer services that appeal to all of your senses. In addition to providing farm to table cuisine, natural lighting, and soft music, WorkMerk in Conshohocken recently added natural essential oils that are diffused throughout the entire facility.
Buy in Bulk
Sam’s Club, Costco, and BJ’s have certainly changed the landscape of how we buy in bulk and many local event spaces have adopted the same model. Stay local and save money by “buying” your meetings “in bulk”. Contract your monthly meetings at one time and negotiate deep discounts by booking 12 meetings at one time.
Daily Meeting Packages or DMP
Tired of getting nickel and dimed to death by venues that charge you extra for every little thing?
Daily Meeting Packages have become the most effective way to bundle all of your daily meeting expenses in to one manageable price per person. Local independent venues often have the flexibility to negotiate pricing for DMP’s which can make off site meetings more affordable while making your job a lot easier.
Sense of Belonging
Remember the sitcom “Cheers”…. Where everybody knows your name?” Local meeting venues are champs at making you feel like their space is your home away from home. Meeting planners truly appreciate one point of contact that understands their needs and can respond within hours of a meeting request.
Work/Life Balance
For those of us that try to balance work and family, our most precious commodity is TIME. At the end of a long day of meetings, the last thing you want to do is sit in bumper to bumper
traffic. By keeping your meetings “local” you are showing your team that you are respectful to them for their precious time outside of the 9:00 – 5:00 grind.
MEET Local
When you patronize an independent, locally owned business rather than a national chain, a greater portion of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, food suppliers, etc. This further strengthens the economy base of our whole community in Montgomery County, PA.
In summary, when it comes to collaboration, we will always need the human connection however the way we connect is rapidly changing for the better. “MEET LOCAL” is just one example of how you can save money, support your local economy, and protect the well being of your employees by eliminating unnecessary long distance travel. We invite you to join the “MEET LOCAL” bandwagon!
Contact info@workmerk.com to learn more.