Whether you are organising a product launch, a meeting, a congress or an event, if you want to offer your guests or participants an unforgettable experience, ensuring smooth travel arrangements is an absolute must.
First and foremost, this obviously entails an enjoyable flight or train journey. But – if you really aspire to be a good host – there is more to it, because what happens once your guests have gotten off their plane or train? Leaving your guests or participants to their own devices to make their way to their final destination is always an option. But experience teaches us that a transfer waiting for them upon arrival creates that little extra something – something which tends to be tremendously appreciated.
On top of that, there is something in it for you as a meeting & event planner too! You get to know exactly if and how your guests arrive, plus you make sure their arrival happens in a relaxed and enjoyable way: you save your guests the hassle that comes with crammed trains and metros, or the stress that comes with waiting in long taxi lines.
Bottom line: the success of your event is highly dependent on the way in which transportation is designed and executed.
That is why, at Seauton, we always work together with an experienced transportation partner – in our case, Europe Shuttle. Because no matter how good your multitasking skills, it is physically impossible for any of us to be in 2 (let alone more!) places at once, making it equally impossible to communicate with a whole fleet of chauffeurs while an event is in full swing!
So here we came up with a range of Tips & Tricks to help you design and plan your event transportation; that way, at your next product launch, meeting, congress or event, your transportation can be like ours – smoother than smooth!
Before the event
- Choose an experienced transportation partner who is used to organising transportation for large events – preferably a supplier who can handle all the logistics, including designing shuttle routes, hiring staff, ensuring all vehicles have the appropriate permits, and so on.
- Build a good relationship with your transportation partner, and involve him in the event planning as early as possible. An expert transportation provider knows which venues have easy access and has a good knowledge of hotel locations, the local street grid and traffic patterns, so he can easily plan the best and most efficient routes.
- Pay attention to transport and accessibility during the site inspection of your location. Check the venue’s parking, the surrounding streets and other factors that might affect the drop-off and pickup of guests and participants during your event.
- Check which vehicles and how many of them you will need, as well as whether you need to make any adjustments to event logistics such as routes, drop-off locations or parking.
- Do a second “empty run” about 1 or 2 days before the actual event. Sometimes new factors might affect the original transportation arrangements, such as a change in the street-plan or a construction that might be going on in the area of the venue.
- Make sure to have a plan A, B and C. Identify all the bottlenecks and areas of concern, and make sure you have more than one alternative ready in case things don’t work out as initially planned.
During the event
Make sure to have an onsite coordinator who has a list of all attendees, the phone numbers of all the drivers and of your transportation partner’s HQ. That way, if a problem occurs, the coordinator can contact the transportation provider’s HQ to troubleshoot the issue (by, for example, sending out an additional vehicle), as well as inform you or one of your event planner colleagues about potential delays.
With thanks to our partner https://europeshuttle.com/.
