Many of us combine work with our travel habits, making our suitcase our workplace and constantly looking for WiFi to continue getting the job done. Often, this can leave you in a bit of an awkward position when you need to organise a business meeting. Part of the thrill of travel is visiting places you’ve never seen before, but that also leaves you a little lost when it comes to finding a good place for a formal meeting.
In this short guide, we’re going to cover a few key tips that will allow you to transform meeting culture whilst travelling. Using these tips, you should be able to strike that perfect balance between affordability and effectiveness, helping you stay professional without ruining your budget.
Focus on the Facilities You Absolutely Need
One of the biggest mistakes you can make from a budgeting perspective is to pay for something that you simply don’t need. When you’re looking to organise a meeting, make sure that you are finding a venue or location that suits your personal requirements and nothing more; that way you can keep costs low.
For effective online or virtual meetings, what you really need is a quiet, private, well-lit locations where you can speak freely. A private room would be enough alongside obvious necessities like WiFi connection, a computer (if you don’t have one of your own) and a webcam. Aside from this, you might want to consider screen–sharing facilities, headphones or a quality microphone as the next immediate considerations if you can’t cover them on your own.
Alternatively, for a physical meeting, your needs become much greater. Will you need to present something? In which case, a projector will also be a big help, as well as ensuring that you have enough space for all of the attendees. Consider all of this when searching for your meeting room or location.
Save Money by Asking Your Hotel or Accommodation
One of the biggest tips when travelling, regardless of whether you are organising a meeting or not, is to get comfortable asking the locals for advice. Often, the local populace will have a much better idea of where you can find what you need, particularly if you have already built a rapport with them.
Hotel and accommodation staff are the best example of this. You should always treat hotel staff with respect, especially for moments when you need their help with finding what you need. Hospitality workers tend to know a lot about the local area and can direct you to a location that suits your meeting needs or alternatively, offer their own private rooms to help you out. If you have been staying there for a while, you may even get a discount too – perfect for a budget meeting that maintains professionalism.
Only Invite the People You Need
Often, it’s easy to get so caught up in trying to organise the meeting that the finer details can be neglected. There are a host of different steps to getting the most out of your meeting, but one of the most important is to ensure that only the people who need to be there are invited. There is nothing worse than a stagnant meeting that never ends, and these are significantly more likely to happen when you have dozens of people attending who don’t even need to be there.
This advice applies to both virtual and physical meetings. Too many attendees in a virtual meeting can lead to communication issues over the internet – particularly if you have a poor connection – whilst if you invite too many people physically, you’ll have to pay more for a larger meeting room or location. Whatever you do, plan it first and think about exactly who needs to be there to answer questions on your agenda.
Keep these three tips in mind and you’re sure to organise a meeting that suits or needs and doesn’t break the bank. Just remember to do the appropriate planning and you can’t go wrong.
