Take a minute and think about the worst meeting you ever had to sit through. Chances are, it was a combination of a stuffy room, faulty AC, one person droning away while others struggled to stay awake and some terrible coffee.
Now take a minute and imagine what your ideal meeting would look like. Would you do away with uncomfortable chairs and instead include a circular amphitheater-like atmosphere? Maybe have separate ‘thinking pods’ to recharge your grey cells? Would the food be interactive with make-your-own dishes allowing you to be a creative masterchef?
If you think I’m just making this up, well think again. After all, it is 2015 and honestly the only thing that surprises me is how no one thought of this before! Well the people at Marriott International were clearly thinking along the same lines and voila – welcome to their latest innovation, Meetings Imagined!
Officially launched in April 2015 in 13 properties across India, the website MeetingsImagined.com and its sister offering the Meeting Services App are intended to assist the planner, from inspiration to execution.
“Marriott International has been studying the way planners interface with hotels when they organize events. We have mapped out the planners’ journey, from the moment they have a need for a meeting, all the way through to how they search, book, plan and design the meeting. We aspire to provide something different to address the milestones – and pain points – in the planners’ journey.” said Ms. Peggy Fang Roe, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Asia Pacific at Marriott International.
What does this mean for you? Say you’re planning an event – an engagement party perhaps. Using the website, you can identify the purpose of the meeting – in this case, celebrate (the app provides 7 different options). Next, check out the inspiration gallery and create a mood board of pictures detailing the setup, food & drinks and even the lights you prefer so your planner knows exactly what you have in mind. At the launch party, for example, the planners had arranged for edible floral arrangements!
The app lets you take this one step further by providing real-time connectivity with the planners so you can chat directly with them throughout the process and resolve any issues. You can even give instructions to the staff during the event to control the AC temperature or order your favorite coffee. So #geekchic!
For more details, check out meetingsimagined.com or follow them on Facebook & Twitter for inspiration. As for me? Well I’m planning my next birthday party with Ryan Gosling bearing the cake. Hopefully, Meetings Imagined will be able to arrange that! 😉