KTSAF Winter Meeting Hosting Guide
*This is meant to serve as a general guide for chapters hosting a winter meeting for the Kentucky-Tennessee Society of American Foresters. It does not cover everything and everything detailed is not set in stone. You can make changes to make your event unique. The descriptions are those of the author who has served as Meeting Chair for two KTSAF winter meetings and attended dozens. Suggestions for updates and changes from others are welcomed and encouraged*
Timeframe
The bylaws state that the meeting is to be held the last Thursday and Friday in January. The basic structure is for the Executive Committee business meeting to take place on Wednesday night from 6pm – 8pm. Sometimes the meeting runs long but with a set agenda and strong leadership you can stay on time and avoid it taking 3 to 4 hours.
Thursday is the bulk of activities with presentations traditionally from 8:30 am to 5 pm with two breaks and lunch spaced throughout. A couple hours break then occurs with the quiz bowl starting at 6 and finishing at 7 pm when the banquet starts. Food starts being served at 7 pm. If a speaker is presenting that speaker should start about 7:30 or 7:45 while attendees are finishing eating. KTSAF leadership should immediately follow to present KTSAF awards.
A general agenda is at the end of this guide.
Location
An all-in-one hotel with suitable meeting and presentation space is required. The site should have a small board room (15 people) for the Executive Committee meeting room and to serve as a storage room for materials (extra screens, projectors, documents, etc.) throughout the entire meeting. For Thursday, a room that can hold at least 125 people with the chairs arranged theater (no tables) or classroom (tables) style for presentations and lunch from 8 am to around 5 pm is a must. A banquet dinner for the same 125 people at table rounds must be available. In most instances the banquet dinner is held in the same room as the presentations with hotel staff changing the room set up from 5 pm to 7 pm.
A separate room should be available all day Thursday for the silent auction and quiz bowl. The room should be lined along the edge with tables for silent auction items. Most of the center of the room should be empty for attendees to mingle during breaks, the silent auction, and the quiz bowl. Upfront should be a space for the quiz bowl that includes four tables (three for the schools, one for the computer and projector). Around twenty chairs are needed for the teams to sit around the tables. The group that puts on the quiz bowl usually brings their own screen, projector, and computer. They just need a location with the tables and chairs already set up.
Friday morning is a half day of presentations back in the main room that starts around 8:30 am. The main room should be set up back in the theater or classroom style for 125 people. The business meeting used to take place at the very end of the meeting but has been working its way into Thursday on occasion. The business meeting needs at least an hour whenever it is held. Not everyone attends but those that do want their voices heard and should not be rushed.
You should reserve a block of rooms with a minimum buy around 30. These are sometimes sold as room nights. For a traditional two night stay, 30 rooms would be 60 room nights. The host will also be responsible for paying the difference if there’s less than minimum number of rooms booked from attendees. Usually hotels will provide the banquet and board rooms free when the minimum number is met. There’s then usually bonuses (free hotel rooms) that occur with higher number of hotels booked.
Food
Lunch, light breaks, and dinner are expected to be provided with registration fee. Sometimes breakfast is provided but can be expensive and cost prohibitive. The best solution is to have a hotel that already provides a light continental breakfast. Having no breakfast is acceptable but must be expressed to everyone in the meeting announcement and agenda.
Food from hotels is expensive. Paying $25 to $35 per person for lunch or dinner is ‘reasonable’ for hotels. Most hotels offer all day break packages that will provide juice and coffee in the morning and snacks in the afternoon. Specific food menus and selections are up to the organizing committee. Usually different is good. There’s always beef and chicken. Mix it up if you want to or can.
Buffets are more expensive than plated meals but usually are enjoyed more. Hosts can decide which they prefer based upon the cost.
A cash bar is expected to open with the quiz bowl begins until a good portion of the banquet is over usually from 6 pm to 9 pm. You will have to pay a bartender per hour fee but not for people’s drinks.
AV Equipment
Projectors, screens, extension cords, microphones, and sound systems are convenient but expensive to rent from hotels. All day screen rentals can cost $75. It’s up to the organizing group to determine if they want to rent equipment but it must be reflected in the registration fee to cover costs. For presentations in the main room a podium with attached mic and sound system is required. A projector and screen must also be present. This same set up is generally used for the banquet dinner. Usually someone can find a computer so rental from the hotel isn’t necessary. Projectors and screens are easier to get than sound systems. Renting sound systems from hotels also comes with technical support if there are issues. Sometimes the hotels even charge for an ‘AV cart’ that may or may not be necessary.
If you can afford it, rent everything. But at a minimum it is recommended you rent a podium and corded sound system because they are difficult to borrow for free and not many people are familiar with the sound system if there are issues.
Registration Fees
Registration fees hover around $100 to $125 for members and $55 to $75 for students. The profit from two member’s higher registration fee should at least cover the loss from one student’s discounted fee. If there’s any way you can take a credit card get it done. There may be a fee to take credit cards so make the credit card registration $5 higher. Government and some private organizations are more inclined to attend if you take credit cards and will pay extra for the convenience. It makes their paperwork so much easier and attendees do not have to wait to get reimbursed.
There is continual debate among the members as to whether meetings should strive to maximize profit or limit registration costs to members. The debate will continue but host chapters get none of the profits from the meetings. A past KTSAF motion requires all profits to be returned to KTSAF. In the event of a natural disaster (e.g. ice storm), KTSAF has reimbursed the host chapter for losses. Try to avoid losing money at a bare minimum.
SERVICE CHARGES
Almost every hotel charges a 20% to 25% service charge on everything. Food, drinks, bartenders, and av equipment will all have a service charge added on to them. For example, if a banquet dinner costs $35 and the hotel’s service charge is 22%, it actually costs $42.70 per person. You must take this into account when determining registration fees! The only thing that does not usually have this charge on is if the group pays for hotel rooms. But ask the hotel staff to list what will include this service charge. Hotels claim this is how the wait staff gets tipped.
Your contract will also stipulate a food and beverage buy minimum in order to give you the banquet rooms for free. This could be $5,000 or $10,000 or even $15,000. Do not take the first offer. Always try to negotiate this down. Use competitor offer’s to see if the hotel you want will match the other. The lowest food minimum was the deciding factor in almost all location decisions.
The food minimum usually does NOT include the service charge. Even though you will pay $42.70 per person, only $35 counts toward the minimum food buy. Drinks bought by the attendees at the cash bar do count. If less food is bought than the food minimum, the difference must be paid. Sometimes there’s even a service charge on that difference.
Odds and Ends
· When working with a potential hotel the average number of attendees is around 100.
· The host is expected to provide three hotel rooms for free for the scholarship winners from Tennessee, Sewanee, and Kentucky. Their faculty advisors can provide the names to give to the hotel for their check in. The students are expected to provide a credit card for any incidentals or damage.
· All award winners are provided free registration but not hotel rooms.
· The Bagenstoss winner is provided free registration and one nights lodging (usually the night of the banquet).
· Presenters are generally given free registration but sometimes they are not. Be up front with them so there isn’t any unexpected surprises. Most presenters don’t come for the whole meeting. Figure out which meals they will be staying for and cut back on numbers.
· Hosts are recommended to try to have sponsors for the meetings at various levels (meeting, break, lunch, etc.) starting around $100 or more. I have had no success in getting sponsors. David Mercker is more familiar with having a meeting with numerous sponsors. I’d talk to him if you want to pursue sponsors.
· Do not count on any walk up registrations in the numbers you give for food counts for breaks, lunch, and dinner. Give exactly the amount you have attending. The hotels will always go up but never down. Don’t waste money on people that may not show up. One meeting has zero walk up registrations and another had ten.
General Agenda
Wednesday – January ##th, 20##
6-8 pm Executive Committee Meeting (Boardroom)
6-8pm Registration Open
Thursday – January ##th, 20##
7-10am Registration
7am-9pm Staging Area and Preparation Area opens for speakers (Boardroom)
7-8am Breakfast (if provided)
8am Silent Auction Opens (Quiz Bowl/Silent Auction Room)
8:30-10am Session One (Main Room)
10-10:30 Break (Main Room)
10:30-12 Session Two (Main Room)
12-1pm Lunch (Main Big Room)
1-3pm Session Three (Main Room)
3-3:30pm Break (Main Room)
3:30-5pm Session Four (Main Big Room)
6-9pm Cash Bar Opens (Quiz Bowl/Silent Auction Room or right outside)
6-7pm Quiz Bowl (Quiz Bowl/Silent Auction Room)
7pm Silent Auction Closes (Quiz Bowl/Silent Auction Room)
7-9pm Banquet Dinner (Main Room)
· Entertainment Speaker (if required)
· KTSAF Awards Ceremony
Friday – January ##th, 20##
8-8:30am Breakfast (if provided)
8:30-10am Sessions Five (Main Room)
10-10:30am Break (Main Room)
10:30-11:30 Business Meeting (Main Room)
11:30 am Meeting Adjourns