SSP Services LLC

We have always been interested in multi-venue and multi-micro destination conferences/events. We commend the stakeholders, orgranizers, CVB, suppliers and city for being bold enough to try it and also for seeing it through to the end. Shout out to the creator of this video Miguel Neves for a thoughtful and thought provoking analysis. A few ideas to consider for the future and possibly another way to think about multi-venue conferences and events: ➡️Is there an opportunity to tap into the energy of "arriving" to enhance the feeling of coming together? ➡️What if the micro events happened first then the main session? ➡️Why wait until Day 2/Night 2 for the big celebration, if any? Why not celebrate on Day 1 and during the daytime which opens the opportunity to focus on rest, recovery, wellness and sleep? ➡️Is it possible for the transfers to play a role in the destination immersion by leaning into storytelling or a virtual DJ streaming from the Main session? It's important to note that the above won't work for all events but if circumstances allow and the situation at hand presents the opportunity - this concept certainly has something different and new to offer!

🚷Even if you try to negotiate after the fact, you've already lost some of your leverage. It 's like trying to haggle over the price after you've already agreed to buy the car - not impossible, but definitely an uphill battle. It's costing you un-necessary spend on your event's Venue budget. Make this adjustment and win at contracting events: ➡️Strategic templated asks reduce the likelihood of missed concessions, unnecessary liability, and overall time spent on negotiating. As you can imagine, all of this will directly impact the event’s budget. This consistency is also particularly important when managing multiple conferences and events and/or working with many venues/hotels Are you leaving wins on the table during Hotel & Venue negotiations? Find out now. https://lnkd.in/eBH7vt7v

🗣👥️ At your the next event, welcome reception, or networker - challenge your attendees to avoid saying "what do you do?". And if a "what do you do?" does slip out. Challenge them to respond and redirect to any of these 5 openers courtesy of Max Kesten, M.S. Check them out below:

How to 10x your efficiency during the contract negotiations phase! No-one will tell you this, but it's costing you un-necessary spend on your event's venue budget. Make this adjustment to overcome it. 👉Templated asks reduce the likelihood of missed concessions, unnecessary liability, and overall time spent on negotiating: As you can imagine, all of this will directly impact the event’s budget. This consistency is also particularly important when managing multiple conferences and events and/or working with many venues/hotels👈 Are you leaving wins on the table during Hotel & Venue negotiations? Find out now.

How to defeat your list of projects while staying clear of a reactive routine. The strategy here is to always focus on the big rocks which will move the needle furthest in terms of productivity while leaving some room for urgent matters that require immediate attention versus the opposite. Shout out to Suzy A. Barros (Batista) for sharing these invaluable insights. How do you stay on track with your most important projects? 👩💻 👨💻

Inter Miami's new Freedom Park Stadium is moving fast, and we mean really fast. Could World Cup 2026 be the motivation behind the projects accelerated development? ⚽️ In addition to Copa Mundial 2026 and future Major League Soccer games, Freedom Park Stadium could be a Venue for concerts, offsite activations, and other future sporting events. This will certainly add a new dynamic to Miami's hosting capabilities and open doors to new opportunties for the city. With Miami International Airport basically in walking distance, how do you foresee this new venue impacting the Events, Hospitality, and Travel industries? P.S. the project's estimated completion is 2026.

🔊 Remixing this one for the Virtual Assistants who are also Executive Assistants and vice versa, the ones who are 1099 fulltime and/or partime and who fractionally keeping businesses running with contract(s) work. Thank you for all you do! 🫡

POV - “Commissions will increase my room block rate so I have always gone without an agent or broker.” The truth is, within the events and hospitality industry, hotel room block commissions are considered a fundamental cost of doing business from the supplier’s perspective. When a Hotel Sales Manager books a room block, they internally receive credit for the gross contracted rate, regardless of whether an event broker is involved or not. Therefore, there is no incentive to inflate the room block rates to account for commissions. 💰 This fact is rarely discussed openly; it’s a sort of industry secret. Imagine if every Head of Events, Meeting Planner, or Executive Assistant realized this; They would be far more empowered to seek representation from brokers, changing the dynamics of negotiation and shifting leverage in favor of the buyer. Full article available. See image for access. 🔓🔑

Restaurant are Venues too and many of them are located in Hotels. They operate on thin profit margins and are barely scraping by. Restaurants are employers too, they have employees with static wages that can't keep up with inflation and cost of living. The combination of inflation and static wages are forcing cut backs on everything due to persistent cost of living increases. People are using buy now pay later(BNPL) loans to purchase their groceries. Restaurants are businesses too, they have suppliers that are navigating tariffs on their imports which increases cost of ingredients. Also, the volume of patrons needed to sustain the business cannot be supported in today's economy; To stay open, they will have to raise prices AND cut labor/labor wages. The latter meaning they will not be able to afford a seasoned chef, professional servers, proffessional hostesses, food runners, etc. This has a direct impact on service levels and the overall experience. The challenge will only compound from here as policy on low cost labor tightens. Restaurants are Venues too and many of them are closing! https://lnkd.in/eAypM_kb

🗣 Send your list of asks before asking for the contract! If you dont, Hotel & Venue Sales managers are taught to see this as a green light to hold firm on their original pricing and terms. Heads of Events, Planners, & EAs - are you leaving wins on the table? Find out now. 🤫