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To trim or not to trim? How to cut costs without sacrificing quality.

Article Excerpt
For the event on a shoestring budget, a crafty financial shortcut can be a planner's greatest friend. Like any friend, however, such tricks can turn on the planner, especially if abused.

"Don't get carried away with bean-counting," warns Suzette Eaddy, CMP, director of conferences for New York City-based National Minority Supplier Development Council Inc. If the meeting comes off like a budget affair, she says, and your attendees are unhappy and uncomfortable, a few saved dollars will provide little consolation.

Need to trim costs without sacrificing quality? M&C asked some sage planners for advice on where to cut and where to leave well enough alone.

Venue selection

Go off-site. "Too many times, a planner will keep as many functions as possible within the one hotel to keep travel expenses down," laments Richard Pollack, president of Dallas-based Rainbow Entertainment. "In the process, though, they can end up spending a lot more by not letting venues compete for their business." Look fur reasonably priced venues within walking distance.

Find a hot spot. Consider trendier lounges and bars that buzz with hip weekend crowds but stay fairly vacant throughout the week. "These places are typically itching for corporate business, or anything that will fill their bar stools on a Wednesday," says Michael Cerbelli, event producer for Englewood, N.J.-based Total Entertainment, "and they'll give you major breaks on the price."

Never skip the inspection. No matter what the cost of a preliminary checkup, booking a venue sight unseen is never worth the risk, says Primavera Salva, an independent planner in New York City. "A thorough site survey can reveal that you have to change the entire format of the event," Salva notes. "That's not something you want to discover the day of your meeting."

While it might be difficult to arrange for a...

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