Delivering Exceptional Customer Service at Meetings and Events: Wow Your Guests

When planning a corporate meeting or event, you are also an important ambassador for your organization. The service characteristics you exhibit will influence how guests and other people involved in planning and implementing your meeting feel about the event. In fact, your customer service attitude can have a significant impact on the success or failure of the event as measured by participant feedback and engagement, or by how well other staff members carry out their responsibilities.

I recently had two contrasting experiences that dramatically proved this point:

I was the guest speaker at a series of meetings, two of which occurred on consecutive days in different cities. On the first day I walked in and the meeting planner greeted me with a confident air and a pleasant demeanor. She had apparently arrived early and had everything under control before I stepped foot in the room. The tables were set up; the audio-visual equipment I had requested was in place, turned on, and tested; there was a technician standing by to teach me how to use the equipment; catering was set to go; and the greeters were in place next to a table with nametags artistically displayed. This meeting planner anticipated my every need - for example, she had a chilled bottle of water waiting for me on the podium and had distributed my handouts.

The next day was a tale of a different meeting. This meeting planner was frazzled and so focused on the catering that I was barely greeted when I walked in and I had to fend for myself when it came to the audio-visual equipment. Guess which presentation went better and which meeting I felt good about?

How to Wow 'Em

It is relatively easy to deliver exceptional client service at your meeting or event. The simplest rule of thumb is to "own" problems until they are resolved. Organizations that are known as customer service leaders (think Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons or Apple Computers) have a common trait. In these companies ALL employees are empowered to "own" a customer's problem until it is resolved, no matter how large or small the problem. For instance, if you ask an employee in a Ritz Carlton for directions to a location in the hotel, they will stop what they are doing and escort you rather than simply point in a vague direction. Let your staff know that they are empowered (and required) to assist each guest - participants and speakers - until their issue is fully and satisfactorily resolved. Do not penalize people for the actions they take in pursuit of "owning" problems. Instead, applaud their initiative.

Here are other basic principles and philosophies that can turn your meeting or event into a world-class service experience:

• Maintain a "can do" attitude at all times. Exhibit an air of confidence and determine that you will, one way or another, resolve every issue as it arises. Find a way to honor requests or offer acceptable alternatives.
• Care about people and work well with people. Exhibit collaboration and empathy.
• Demonstrate consistency in your service delivery style. Especially by being consistently courteous.
• Delegate well and share responsibility. Do not try to do everything yourself or spread yourself too thin.
• Communicate effectively. This means clearly and calmly. Check that people with whom you are communicating understand and agree with what you are saying.
• Remain organized and efficient. Chaos breeds customer service dissatisfaction and raises everyone's stress level.
• Do things on time and as promised. You have established expectations with your meeting plan and schedule, and now you need to meet those expectations for people to feel satisfied.
• Remain calm even during difficult times. Remember, at all times you are setting the tone and an example for everyone (guests, staff, company leadership) to follow.

Exceptional customer service is perhaps one of the most important ingredients to successful meetings and events. It is actually easy to deliver exceptional service, which makes it all the more surprising at how often it is lacking!