Successful Scouting
July/August 2009
The Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee puts a lot of work into planning their events. They begin a year in advance. The example I read about was Rockwell's Automation Convention. It was hosted the year prior in Chicago, and the catering manager at Gaylord, Diane Skrabec, traveled there to observe and record notes on things she noticed that went wrong and went right in hopes of it making their event the next year even better. Some details she noticed were an average wait time of 10 to 12 minutes for the buffet and a bottleneck formation around the dessert buffet. She flew back to Nashville and shared her notes with her entire staff, who in turn began planning and purchasing as well as forming budgets for the event. They added more dessert stations and developed plans to more efficiently transport food from different kitchens at the resort. They finalized plans and ordered the food, over 1100 pounds of green beans, 9000 pounds of chicken breast and 2075 potatoes, to name a few. The event was a success and they got the wait time down to 6 minutes at the buffet and received the highest feedback scores possible.
I work as a bus girl and event server at a restaurant in Wilmington, Delaware. I have seen the behind the scenes action that goes into planning an event through following the events coordinators. The restaurant I work at is a much smaller venue than the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, but I thought it was interesting to see how they go about planning an event. At the ballroom and restaurant I work at, they just ask the hosts what they want, while Gaylord observed and did what they wanted without even asking. They just saw what went wrong at other events and improved on them to make theirs even better. It was such a successful approach. So much goes into planning an event and for them to spend an entire year working on it is a huge commitment and very impressive.
http://www.hotelfandb.com/biol/july-aug2009-gaylord-mega-event-planning.asp
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Nashville, Tennessee is home to many great things, including the country music hall of fame and countless BBQ joints. The resort my fellow student Fran wrote about is definitely one of the leading resorts in the area. The emphasis on event planning at this resort is tremendous.The specific numbers that Fran mentioned for the materials needed for the featured event is baffling. Resorts on this scale require much expertise and leadership to pull off such large events. I think that companies who host events should aim to be like the Gaylord Opryland Resort. Perhaps this could elp them to generate more profit.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting reading about Gaylord Opryland's techniques for planning events. I also work as a banquet server at home and know have been on the inside. The restaurant I work for is very disorganized however and is missing supplies and has bad communication and feelings between the restaurant staff and the banquet staff, as well as with the dishwashers. They are short on supplies as well which is very frustrating as we try to set up a special event. So as a frustrated server I appreciate the efforts that Gaylord Opryland goes through to make things run smoothly. If the guests are happy it helps keep the staff happy and if the staff is happy it helps keep the guests happy, its a cycle. Despite my frustration at work sometimes, I want to get involved in special events as a career after graduation. I feel I can learn a lot form Gaylord Opryland's efforts and by following the same footsteps it will help me to run a successful business
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