What is a Destination Management Company and why should you pick one?
A destination management company is one that can organise all of your travel plans from flights to hotels and entertainment to experiences. When organising a trip abroad it is essential to find a destination Management company with experience. They will have the knowledge of the host country, venues and some pitfalls you might not be aware of. They will know all the best vendors and if if they understand your vision they will know the best way to deliver it. In the end they will save you time and money.
Case Study International Corporate Football Tournament.
The best way to understand what destination management companies do is to look at a Case Study. Organising an international Event can be very tricky considering how many moving parts there are. Once you open an event to different countries, then different time zones, calendars and holidays are just a few of the complications you must overcome to have a successful event. In this case study we look at an event we organised where we brought teams from 14 different countries to Ireland for a Company football tournament.
Before even beginning to organise an event like this it is essential to establish the goal. Why are we even doing this event in the first place. Unless you start with a clearly definable goal then your event will be disconnected and lacking direction. Once we have that goal we need to communicate it to the organisation at large so everyone no matter where they are understand what we are trying to achieve. In this case the goal was as follows.
The Goal
Goal: To bring together offices from all over world to get to know each other better and foster an environment of healthy competition and togetherness.
Communicating the Goal
Once we had our goal our next step was to communicate this and the dates to the 14 offices around the world. Allowing plenty of time for offices to make the necessary arrangements is essential. This will vary depending on the company but 3 months should be an absolute minimum. If you leave too little time then booking venues, flights and hotels can become problematic. However if you leave too much time a lot can change within a company so we have found between 6 to 9 months the perfect time.
Challenges
The challenges to an event like this are many:
Schedules need to be coordinated,
Multiple venues sourced and booked,
Flights booked,
Visa Problems identified and solved,
Airport Transfers,
Multiple venues sourced and booked,
Sporting Event organised,
Health and Safety catered for,
Breakfasts, Lunches and dinners organised,
Participants moved around multiple venues,
Night time entertainment,
Award ceremony organised,
Multiple Languages,
Get people home safely and on time.
Execution
Most of the work in delivering an event like this is done before everyone gets on their planes. Our team were designated 4 countries each and they acted as a point of contact for any issues that arose. Once we had feel on the ground in Ireland everyone had a point of contact and at no point were people left wondering what to do. As people arrived they were give a schedule of events so from the start they knew where to go and when to go there. From there is was a matter of trusting the organisation done over the previous months. Hotels, venues, buses, referees and staff all trusted with their part.
Conclusions
We ran a very successful tournament with the clients remarking that it was the best organised tournament and host country that they had had. Having the right team to put this all together and having an always available point of contact makes it all the easier. There are a lot of things to organise but having the right company with experience in putting together events like this is a great start. A destination Management Company will end up saving you time and money and deliver a better event that you could on your own.
If you would like to arrange a consultation for your event we are always available at [email protected]
https://www.junction.ie/event-services/event-planning/
