Meet the conference services manager,
arguably the most critical point person at the hotel for any
meeting planner -- and quite possibly the least understood. To shed
light on the pivotal role CSMs play in balancing the client’s needs
with the hotel’s promises and abilities, M&C senior
editor Cheryl-Anne Sturken spent a Thursday in June on the run with
Patricia Sousa, 33, conference services manager for the 319-room
Omni Berkshire Place in New York City. Sousa, who holds a degree in
hotel management and tourism, has been with the hotel since
2003.
9:00 a.m.: A new
day’s details
From the moment she enters her small
cubicle tucked away on the hotel’s second floor, Sousa is in
constant motion. She switches on her computer, puts on her
telephone headset, turns on her handheld radio and begins to review
a printout of the in-house Daily Report, a constantly updated
online file that captures all event business taking place on-site
in the next 48 hours.
The report quickly absorbed, Sousa now
begins to flip through stacks of folders on her desk and click
through endless e-mails, even while talking into her headset and
relaying information to back-of-the-house departments. Meanwhile, a
steady stream of colleagues pops in to confirm details relating to
catering, banquets, rooms, the business center, A/V. Somehow, she
makes time for everyone.
It’s going to be a busy day, she warns,
stating what has become obvious. Two financial meetings are
in-house already, and there’s a pre-con with a pharmaceutical
client whose event kicks off this evening. Sousa must attend the
daily banquet-order meeting with the kitchen and catering
departments, and the weekly staff meeting during which the events
for the next two weeks will be reviewed. “You’re always in one of
three time zones -- present, past or future,” says Sousa.
“Sometimes, all three at once.”
10:00 a.m.: Reviewing and
revising
The client resume, an online data
dossier of an event’s every requirement, is Sousa’s bible. Resumes
are what make up the Daily Report. They also outline the
responsibilities of each of the hotel’s 15 departments. One missed
detail could torpedo weeks of planning. “The resume helps me
communicate what I need from everybody else,” says Sousa. “So the
main thing is to be really organized, so you can make sure all the
changes are made as fast as you get them.”
Apparently, a client resume is as solid
as liquid glass. In less than an hour, the requirements for this
evening’s incoming pharmaceutical event have changed at least a
dozen times, causing Sousa to update the resume repeatedly and call
each department to make sure they are aware of the revisions. There
are room changes, a last-minute reception for 10 people and special
A/V to be arranged. Not only is this a new client, the pre-con is
now less than two hours away. Sousa remains collected, her voice
soothing as she begins each call with a “Me again,” and ends with a
cheerful “Thank you.”
“There’s no point in getting upset or
frustrated,” she says. “I try to keep calm and find a way to make
things work. My job is to make the meeting planner look good and
the hotel look good. That’s why I’m here.”
11:00 a.m.: Face-time with the
chef
Sousa wants to talk personally to the chef, Robert Ryan, about
the added reception and decides to go down to the kitchen. She
calls and learns the kitchen is in overdrive getting luncheons
prepared for in-house events. She goes anyway. “This may be a small
event, only for 10 people, but anything to do with F&B is
extremely important, so I always like to make sure everything is
very clear.”
Sousa is soon back in her cubicle, the
pre-con looming. With 10 minutes to go, she calls each department
to remind them of the meeting. In the hallway, she encounters a
staffer from the hotel’s A/V department. “Are you heading to the
pre-con?” she asks. Surprised, he replies that he hadn’t planned on
attending. “I think you need to be there -- this client is bringing
in their own A/V,” she notes. He comes along.
12:00 p.m.: The pre-con
meeting
In the Gramercy Room, a small but
state-of-the-art meeting room on the second floor, the cast of
participants is complete: Sousa, the meeting planner and
representatives from the hotel’s various departments (reception,
accounting, banquets, A/V and guest services) sit around a long
oval table, each with a printout of the client resume in hand.
Sousa begins by introducing each member
of her team and then asks that the planner talk about the purpose
of her meeting. (Sousa explains later that she already had all this
information, but it helps to let the team put a voice to the
client.) Next, they methodically run through a laundry list of
details, from attendee arrival times to sleeping room upgrades and
meeting room setups. Sousa asks department representatives to
explain the tasks that pertain to each of them and how they are
prepared to handle their responsibilities. It’s a deliberate
strategy on her part.
“I like to have each department speak,
because it shows the client they know exactly what they need to
do,” says Sousa. “This way they don’t think I’m the only one who
can help them. They need to know that once they are in-house, they
can go to anyone on the team.”
Even so, at the close of the meeting,
Sousa hands the planner her business card. On the back she has
written her personal cell phone number. “You may call me at any
time, for anything,” she says with a reassuring smile.
1:00 p.m.: Always one step ahead
There is no downtime, not even during
lunch, which today, for the sake of her M&C guest,
consists of a quick salad in the hotel restaurant. (Normally, Sousa
eats in her cubicle.) Suddenly, the lobby fire alarm sounds off, an
apparent system error. Sousa drops her fork and runs to the meeting
rooms to be sure her in-house groups have been notified that there
is no danger and they don’t need to evacuate. “They become like my
children when they are here,” she says with a breathless laugh upon
returning to the restaurant.
Soon at her desk again, she pulls out a
big blue binder and spends some time preparing for the weekly staff
meeting by combing through updates of a dozen client resumes, one
for each of the groups filing into the Omni Berkshire over the next
two weeks. No two are alike: There are day meetings, three-day
events and multiple weddings. There are first-time clients and
repeat groups whose meeting preferences are committed to
memory.
“Once a piece of business is handed
over to me by sales,” she says, “it’s my responsibility to manage
the details, based on the contract, right up until the account is
balanced.” She goes back to studying the resumes, answering e-mail
and talking into her headset.
3:00 p.m.: Talking about
food
The banquet-order meeting consists of
Sousa; Diane Baraneck, director of catering; George Rabbat, a
manager in training who helps oversee food and beverage; and chef
Jacob Mual, who reminds everyone it is his last day -- he’s moving
to the Omni in Dallas.
First, a moment for congratulations.
One of the financial meetings held earlier in the day went way
overtime, and Baraneck reports that the banquet staff set a new
record in flipping the meeting room in 17 minutes to make way for a
plated lunch (the client planner was very impressed). Then it’s
down to business. Sousa wants to know what the chef has created for
the last-minute reception and reminds the group there has been a
room change request for the event and the bar needs to be set up in
the foyer.
With everyone in agreement on the
F&B requirements for the night and the next day, she hurries
back to her cubicle to prepare for the weekly staff meeting. With
10 minutes to go, she once again is updating her resumes
feverishly.
4:00 p.m.: Meeting with the
staff
This gathering seems a bit more formal,
thanks to the parliamentary style of Barry Mann, the hotel’s
director of operations, who is in charge of the agenda. After
calling the meeting to order, he updates the group on the hotel’s
monthly performance vs. budget projections, scheduled maintenance
projects, guest complaints and employee schedules. Then Sousa takes
the floor.
She passes around copies of client
resumes to all present, pointing out the peculiarities of each.
There’s the 76-room group whose planner asked for the use of all
nine hospitality suites. Accounting requests a new credit card
number from the planner; the one on file had expired. Then Sousa
brings up the 58-room group from China that speaks absolutely no
English. The staff brainstorms over who they can tap for language
assistance. Someone suggests hiring an interpreter for the group’s
stay. Another group, with several high-level VIPs, needs extra
electrical power in the meeting rooms. Can do.
5:15 p.m.: Winding
down
Patricia Sousa heads back to her
cubicle to wrap up some last-minute paperwork. She will remain at
her post through the 6 p.m. pharmaceutical dinner, just in case she
is needed for anything; she has not stepped outside the Omni
Berkshire all day. She expects to be home in her Manhattan
apartment, from where she will continue to check e-mail and monitor
events at the hotel, by 8:30 p.m. And come 9 a.m. tomorrow, she
will be back at her desk, Daily Report in hand, ready to do battle
with a new set of ever-changing details.
“This job is definitely not for
everyone,” says Sousa. “It’s hard, and it is very fast-paced. But I
really love what I do.”