5 Must Have Tips for Managing Conference VIPs using Trello
Today’s Expectations of Executive and VIP Conference Management
From technology companies and pharmaceuticals to associations, law firms, and financial services, in-person conferences are back in full swing. 2022 has brought with it an influx of conferences due to companies postponing through 2021, wanting to catch the wave of the return, or returning to “regularly scheduled programming”.
What this means is that either hosting or attending, executives are traveling more than ever this year. I don’t care whether you work in the corner office, or the mailroom, anyone who is on the road multiple weeks in a row, with no break between travel, can be prone to running a bit “hotter” than normal.
For larger entities, there could be upwards to 20 C-suite and SVPs that fall into the bucket defined as “VIPs”, and typically for conferences of this scale, there is a small team of 2-3 people who are responsible for making the best conference experience possible for those executives.
Does that mean rolling out the red carpet? Not exactly, but for a typical C-level executive of a Fortune 100 company, you can expect that there is a level of service that has come to be expected. From the suite they are residing in, to the car that is picking them up at the airport, to the little niceties that make their guest room feel a bit more like home, you can imagine the list of details to make their experience a good one can be quite lengthy. Multiple that one list by 20, and the logistics and coordination can become overwhelming.
Using Trello to Support Your Conference’s Executive Management
A few years back, eGuide started to use Trello for all types of project management. From creating websites, deploying technology systems, and managing events, if there was more than one step, we created a home for the process in Trello.
It came as no surprise then, that when given the opportunity to utilize Trello to support onsite executive management, we jumped at the opportunity. Now a few years in, we have continued to refine our approach to seamlessly transfer information from arrival and departure manifests, and rooming reports into a user-friendly guide to managing VIPs.
We wanted to share with you the top five tricks and insights we’ve picked up on our way.
1. How to be in multiple places at once
One of the most difficult things for a VIP lead is to be in multiple places at one time. Especially when two executives are arriving at two different airports moments from each other, or staying at two different properties but arriving at the same time, there is no way that we know of as of yet to clone somebody to greet and manage both arrivals.
While Trello is not a scientific method for cloning, it does provide a central location to drop in any arrival notes, a photo of the executive, and easy to reference particularities that another teammate can seamlessly plug into so that they can pick up right where the lead left off.
By creating cards for each arrival and departure, a VIP team can operate on the same wavelength, and any changes made by anyone on the team will be uploaded in real-time on any Trello App or browser.
What is a Trello List?
Lists are where the organization starts to take shape. In traditional Kanban project management you are going to be using lists as “steps of the process”, but we are going to flip this on its head in just a second. For now, just know that lists are like categories for your cards. If a board was an airport, then lists would be the terminals.
2. A Checklist for Advancing Guest Suites
Let’s face it, there is a “right way” of ensuring that your executive’s suites are checked. Often time in the rush of the day its easy to overlook a running toilet, a broken TV remote, or glance over the fact that the thermostat is set to 65, but the room feels at least 82.
Creating a master checklist for advancing suites and encouraging team members to check off each item as they advance suites for arrival, ensures that no detail is overlooked, and also provides a paper trail of when those checks occurred.
For those who have experience managing executives, the last thing you want to receive is a call from a disgruntled executive assistant who just received an earful because the toilet overflowed as soon as they arrived to their room. This situation is made easily avoidable by creating a simple checklist item to have the team flush each toilet.
3. Easily Track Your Arrivals
Like we mentioned, arrivals (and departures) can often cascade, creating a perfect storm of cascading logistics. Now more than ever, with airlines returning to standard travel, it’s not uncommon for delays to occur.
By converting your travel manifest into arrival cards for each executive, you can have not only the flight number and scheduled arrival time at your fingertips, but you can also quickly label delays or updates, and drag and drop cards into chronological order for the day. Using the card functionality, teams can easily delegate who is responsible for checking the arrival by assigning members to cards.
If any issues are reported during the check-in process, a team member can leverage in-card communication to notify the appropriate team lead. All of this can occur from one mobile device or iPad.
4. A Single Source of Truth For Contact Information
Communication is the key to successful VIP management. That means ensuring that not only is communication clear with the executives and executive teams, but that hotel teams, in-room dining teams, and banquets team is being kept up to date as schedule change and evolve.
For some larger teams, the extended VIP management team can be upwards of 50+ people if you include property representatives and executive assistants. Ultimately, what that creates is an overwhelming amount of phone numbers and email addresses to keep up to date.
Creating a contact card within Trello can provide a living database of contacts that can grow as new people are introduced. The best part? Trello automatically recognizes phone numbers and emails and with a click of a button, you can make a call or start an email without having to copy and paste.
5. A Photo Finish You Can Share With Clients
From badges and special amenities to specific requests made by executive teams, managing what needs to be delivered to an executive suite can quickly turn into quite the laundry list of items.
Checking off a checklist item is a great cross-check for some items, but for others, a picture can say 1000 words. Need to ensure that there is a specific type of tea in a suite? How about a picture of the actual tea box sitting next to the beverage set up in the suite? Need to deliver 10 wristbands for the closing celebration of the executive to pass out? How about a picture of those wristbands on the front credenza as you enter the suite?
Using the Trello App on your phone, you can access your camera and upload images directly to Trello cards, easily time-stamping the cross-check, and allowing any other team member to share confirmation with the client team if needed.
Trello can be the Key to Success for Managing Executives at Your Next Conference
Let’s face it, as more Elon Musks and Jeff Bezos rise in the ever-evolving landscape of corporations, we are not going to see a decrease in requests to make the seemingly impossible happen at conferences. By leveraging a tool that keeps your team operating in harmony, you will spend less time playing the game of telephone, and allow for more time to procure three white doves to be released at dawn from the balcony of the presidential suite (a slight exaggeration, but crazier requests have been made).
If you want us to show you a quick tour of the tips above and share how you can power your next meeting with Trello feel free to click the button below and we’d be happy to chat.
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