Page 8 - PowerPoint Presentation

Tags and Swipes, Contest 2018

Location, Location, Location!

As your Facilities Coordinator, it is my job to find spaces for Winter and Fall Regional Weekends,
and contest too. I have researched other possibilities for competition weekend and want you to know
that we have a perfect set up; therefore, there is no plan to change that right now, but we’ll see what
happens when the MGM Casino and Hotel opens later this year. We are contracted through 2020.
A few years ago I did a survey, and there was a large majority of our members who wanted to move
around to different locations for WR and FR. Since then I have made it my mission to “boldy go”
where, perhaps, the region has never gone before…or haven’t been in a long time!

In searching for venues, I have discovered that it is very easy to find a hotel, with enough meeting
space, that will work with us on the terms of the contract when I am booking for January. Our Fall
conference is entirely another story. New England in the fall is very expensive. I try to keep your
room rates low, especially since the rooms for competition weekend have gotten so high in recent
years. In the fall, the rates tend to start at $150 per night and go up from there. I sourced the Holiday
Inn in Portland Maine, and they wanted $250 per night!

Since hotels have plenty of business in September, they aren’t as willing to flex on the details. They
usually want to charge us for the meeting rooms (and we require a lot of space), and they want us to
buy a minimum amount of food. Some of you may remember that we used to go to the Radisson in
Nashua. I asked them to give me a proposal. They wanted a food and beverage minimum of
$12,000! I asked them to come down to $3,000, and they wouldn’t budge.

Why am I telling you all this? I want you to understand that if we end up going back to the same
place every fall, it’s because they want us there and have helped me keep our costs down. I will
continue to look for variety in locations, but I will not do it at your expense…since we would have to
pass on high prices to you! I also want you to feel free to give me ideas of places to go. Not just
towns, but actual venues. We require a ballroom that seats at least 400 people theater style, plus 8-10
breakout rooms. We will use 100 sleeping rooms per night, Friday and Saturday. Email me with
names and locations, and I will happily follow up.

In Harmony,

Patti Lavernoich
eplpfl@snet.net
Facilities Coordinator,
Education Resource Team

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North Atlantic Region 1 Sweet Adelines