Plan B: The Case of the Missing Badges

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For most planners, checking your meeting shipment on-site is like waiting for your luggage at the airport. You hold your breath, cross your fingers and desperately hope that your essential items have safely arrived at their destination.

My ability to handle a shipping crisis was put to the test in my second year of meeting planning. With conference number one under my belt, conference two was all about improving our processes. My goal was to streamline operations, and one strategy was to assemble all our materials in advance at the office and ship them, rather than assemble them on-site at the hotel.

I ordered several badge cases, and our office assistant painstakingly packed all of the badges in alphabetical order in these beautiful, brand-new cases. All we would have to do on-site is unpack the cases, open them up and voila! Our registration desk would be open for business. It was the perfect plan.

We arrived at the conference venue late in the afternoon on a Saturday and went out to a staff dinner that evening. Relaxed and confident, I fell asleep that night knowing that every box on my checklist had a neat little check next to it. Registration was scheduled to open the next day at 3 p.m.

Sunday morning, my staff and I unpacked the shipment, which consisted of many boxes. Of course, I had my shipping checklist in hand and every box I shipped had a neat little checkmark next to it.

With one exception — the box with the badges!

My mild concern quickly escalated to complete panic when I went down to the shipping room with my convention services manager (CSM) and went through every box in the room — to no avail.

Even worse, at the time (1998), online tracking was not widely available. Our procedure in those days was to call our mailroom, and the mailroom supervisor would call the shipper to track the package. Of course, on a Sunday, our mailroom was closed, and most likely there wasn’t anybody at the shipping company to answer the phone either.

My mind was racing. I asked my CSM where the nearest office supply store was and she offered to drive me. In the car, I started to have horrible visions of hand-writing every attendee’s name on an index card in magic marker and then pinning it on their jacket. I was convinced that my budding career as a meeting planner was about to come to a screeching halt. When we arrived at the store, we wasted no time, racing up and down the aisles. I was a meeting planner on a mission!

In no time, I came upon the holy grail of my quest: badge stock and badge holders!

We returned to the hotel, and our staff sprang into action. Our admin whipped out the attendee list on a floppy disk (yes, floppy disk…remember, it was 1998) and started typing away. We formed an assembly line, tearing badges, putting them in holders and laying them in alphabetical order on the countertops. With about 10 minutes to spare before the registration desk opened, we finished the job.

I breathed a sigh of relief. My future as a meeting planner was feeling much more secure now.

There’s no such thing as a foolproof plan — but these tips can help you prepare for the dreaded “lost box” scenario:

• Maintain a master list of all boxes shipped and their contents.

• Include a sheet in each box listing your return shipping address, the destination address and the box’s contents.

• Wrap brightly colored tape around your box so it will be easy to spot if necessary.

• Keep original copies of all handouts in your meeting specifications guide book so they can quickly and easily be reproduced if lost.

• If an item is crucial to your event and difficult to reproduce, hand carry it on the plane.

• If material is indeed missing, stay calm and maintain your sense of humor!

As for me, I still hold my breath and cross my fingers as I go through each of my conference shipments. The big difference is that now, I have peace of mind knowing that my attendee badges have reached their destination and are tucked safely away in my carry-on bag.

About the author: Karen Close

Guest columnist Karen Close is senior events manager with BNP Media/Packaging Strategies in West Chester, Penn. Contact: kwclose@verizon.net