ABOUT MMI

SALES

The goal of our sales people are to discover new clients and sell our existing clients new and exciting destinations. The sales person will remain involved with the program after it is contracted, though in limited capacity.

OPERATIONS

As the event approaches, an Event Coordinator will be assigned to manage the day-to-day operations of the event. Working closely with the Sales Manager, they provide personal attention to every event detail. The Event Support Team will promptly address participant questions and concerns as they arise. A Flight Coordinator will be assigned to book the airfare for all of your attendees and will help to make air travel run as smoothly as possible. They will provide arrival and departure manifests with detailed notes on travel details, help the Event Coordinator in the program financial reconciliation, and provide extra customer service hours when the group travels. 

EVENT TECHNOLOGY

The primary responsibility of the Event Technology department is the assembly and management of websites used to market the program and register attendees. They also create a mobile app that is used by attendees while they are traveling. Both the website and app are created through Aventri.

The Life Cycle of a Program at Morris Meetings & Incentives

The Proposal Phase
Our sales executives work with prospective clients to determine what type of program they are looking for, what their budget is, locations they might prefer and the time of the year they would like to travel. 

Once they have an idea of what their client might like, they gather information on destinations and our preferred vendors.

They then start to create proposals. Sales will also work with the flight department to determine a good estimate for the cost of flights at the time of the bid.  

Sales may also take the client on a site inspection to determine if the proposed hotel or ship is what they are looking for. This may happen before or after the client has signed the contract.

Contracting Phase
Once a proposal is accepted, our sales executives work with our legal and accounting department to formalize a client agreement. 

Accounting creates an accounting financial statement that operations will use as a basis for a planning financial statement. Accounting also assigns an account code that must be referenced whenever requesting any payments or invoices for the program.  

Fun fact: Part of this QuickBooks Accounting code usually references the year of the event as well as the name of the company.  For instance, 2265YES shows that the event will be in 2022, it is the 65th program sold, and the company name is YESCO.

The “Kick-Off”
Meeting guide document on Mdrive / Data / Forms and Templates / Meeting Guides...
Once a contract is signed, the project is passed along to Event Technology to start working on the trip website. The “Kick-Off” is typically scheduled one month prior to the contracted website launch date, if not sooner. 

In the kick-off meeting, the assigned Sales Executive, Event Tech, Event Coordinator, Flight Coordinator, and various members of management will review the details of the program and cover any questions or concerns that are brought up. The agenda for a kick-off is as follows:

1. The sales manager gives some background on the client, mentions who the client planner and VIP’s are, and points out any important points we should be aware of
2. We review the client agreement and outline what has been sold to the client
3. The flight coordinator assigned to the project will ask any questions that pertain to the air budget or flight arrangements
4. The event technology lead goes over the website and asks any questions they might have regarding wrapping up the website/registration build process

First steps after the Kick-Off

1. The sales executive emails the client and introduces the team
2. The sales executive provides the event coordinator with all of the contact information for the various vendors for the program
3. The event coordinator will introduce themselves to the vendors and ask any pertinent questions that came up from the kick off meeting
4. The sales excecutive and the event coordinator will review the trip website/registraiton and give feedback to the event technology lead
5. The event coordinator will forward the website/registration to the client to review and make any edits
6. The event coordinator will create the following documents within 30 days of the kick-off:

• The Financial Statement 
• The Event Support Reference Document
• The Working Document (detailed folio / day by day planning document)

Prior to launching the event website
Be sure to conduct a pre-launch meeting with the complete team prior to launching the website to be sure everyone is on the same page about website logistics. This is an important step to ensure you're collecting all necessary data and that each team member knows what they are responsible for. 

The event coordinator schedules this meeting and includes the following necessary invitees: Lead sales executive, event coordinator, flight coordinator, event technology, and the entire event support team. If you are unsure who is assigned to the project, be sure to reference the web-hosted Master List document. 

Meeting guide document on Mdrive / Data / Forms and Templates / Meeting Guides...

Planning the Program
The event coordinator is responsible for the execution of the program, including, but not limited to, all of the following duties:

• Updating and reconciling the Financial Statement on a regular basis
• Facilitating all client invoices and vendor payments
• Providing an accurate rooming list or berthing list to the hotel or cruise ship
• Providing and maintaining accurate up-to-date arrival and departure manifests 
• Providing vendors with the medical and dietary needs of all guests
• Working with vendors to come up with Emergency Protocol if something should happen during the program
• Coordinating food, beverage, décor and entertainment for any events that are contracted during the program, and ensuring BEO’s are created, accurate, and signed
• Fostering a good working relationship with the client and vendors through frequent, friendly and thorough communication, both written and verbal
• Being the primary point of contact between the client and the MMI internal team assigned to the project

The Internal Pre-Con
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To ensure all critical details have been discussed and finalized, MMI hosts an internal pre-con to review the status of the program and ensure everything is covered. This meeting is IN ADDITION to a client pre-con, which should be scheduled soon after the internal pre-con.

The Client Pre-Con
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Clients may or may not want to schedule a pre-con, but we want to highly encourage it. This is our last opportunity to review the program in detail and ensure that we and our client are on the same page prior to departing. 

The Program “Travels”
The sales executive and event coordinator may be asked to escort the group and act as trip directors/escorts, ensuring that everything that has been planned and promised is professionally delivered. They are also responsible for troubleshooting any issues that may arise throughout the duration of the program. 

Post-Program
The program’s final billing is collected from all vendors and reconciled. A post-con is held to review the program and discuss how to improve things for next time. 

The Internal Post-Con
Meeting guide document on Mdrive / Data / Forms and Templates / Meeting Guides...
MMI hosts an internal post-con to review how everything went. This meeting is IN ADDITION to a client post-con.

Closing
Once all final billing has been reconciled the event coordinator, flight coordinator, sales executive, and necessary managment members sign the closing tab of the Financial Statement indicating that no further transactions are expected and the program can be officially closed.