Your attendees deserve a stress-free travel

Do you remember Tom Hanks in the film The Terminal, in an Kafka-style airport environment of which he can not escape? With today’s common delays caused by air transport, your guests can end up with the same feeling. The organiser has to ensure the well-being of his attendees during the trip, not only when they arrive. The journey is the first contact with your event, the first experience(and therefore the most important one).

Here are a few tips to avoid your guests arriving exhausted with the impression of having been in a bizarre sort of airport gymkhana. Solutions?

Inform them about the airport services
Where is nearest Wi-Fi access point? Sushi restaurant? Armchairs to relax in? Duty free shops? Pharmacy? Prayer room? Airports are real worlds, and you can help travellers to know what they can find and where.

Take care of them during transit
Airports offers passenger care services. For instance, in Singapore travellers can have a foot massage, a very enjoyable experience (we tried it…) after 12 hours of flight.

Don’t forget workaholics
"I could have written 10 mails during this wait," thinks the work obsessive in the waiting room of the airport. If there is a delay, find a Wi-Fi solution or give them the location of the Internet cafe. The BlackBerry does not replace the good old traditional keyboard.

Everything is OK
One of the frequent problems in delays is uncertainty about what the guest will find upon arrival: more queue at the hotel reception? Transfer just gone away, or having to wait for another flight for a long time? Inform them that everything is under control: the check-in ready with a nice room, a transfer that will take them immediately to the hotel, are details that will keep them zen. And if you want to really pamper them, a massage upon arrival or a swim in the pool will be a tempting prospect.

For the unlucky delayed travellers, try to change the plans of the meeting so they do not miss anything: start later, have someone wait at the entrance and take them to a reserved seat, or prepare a summary of the first session. If a few people are late, you can offer a mini meeting with the speaker of the meeting they missed.

Help them to be ready for the meeting
Before the flight, you can send them the presentation of the main speaker, a book of his or even a podcast of the speaker to create expectation, know the main messages, or simply make them think.

Make them feel they are in good company
It’s a bit of work, but you can follow the flight schedules of all your guests and if there are delays, inform the "victims" that other attendees are in the airport and set-up a meeting point. Make sure you get all mobile numbers in the registration process.

Make the waiting fun
As Disney sends Goofy to distract the queues in its parks, you can make the wait shorter if people are having fun. If you travel with your guests, bringing them to the bar is a basic example (but it always worksÂ…). For something more participative, why not organize a contest of airport stories (delays, security problems, etc…,3), and offer a drink for the winner?

In conclusion, we will share a totally authentic story which we experienced personnally, in which passengers of a delayed flight in Barajas were left without explanation, without anyone from the company nor the airport from 11 p.m. to 1 am in a completely empty terminal. Some smart passengers, without forgetting “their party spirit”, discovered that the microphones were working at the counters. They started talking on the microphone from one side to another terminal, before throwing a true party by placing their iPod’s in front of the microphones, at full blast. Another story, anyone?