Day 3 of a meeting at Sea
Today was a day at sea and the third day of our cruise and it was filled with a series of roundtables with various vendors and our headquarters team. (Think speed dating as we sat at a table and the vendors would come to us and talk about their products and take questions for 15 minutes.) After for of these sessions, we went to a trade show featuring the vendors at the roundtables plus a variety of other vendors.
Tonight was a special dinner in one of the specialty restaurants. Royal Caribbean, one of our Diamond sponsors had reserved both specialty dining venues on the ship and we came at assigned dining times. Quite the treat and yet another possibility when you decide to host your first or next meeting at sea.
The common thread among the owners has been that this itinerary with the two days at sea has been perfect for hosting a meeting at sea. Having spent a week on Celebrity Century on a very port intensive cruise, I would have to agree. You have more time to hold general sessions and individual meetings with fellow owners, employees and suppliers. Of course, because of the nature of the meetings, this also means we will be in our general session for a majority of time we are anchored outside of Cabo San Lucas.
On another note, there are 2,098 guests on board including my fellow franchise owners. My sales coach who is onboard (one of the reasons for me deciding to come on this at the last minute) pointed out that this represents a perfect market research opportunity. For my industry, this is a perfect opportunity to conduct mini focus groups. I can ask who they used to book their cruise, was it online, a travel agent, or direct through the cruise line.
As we are now pulling into Cabo San Lucas, it is time to head to breakfast. I hope to be able to get off the ship and enjoy the few short hours we will have after the conclusion of our meeting. We did pass Lands’ End beach on our way in. As the ship’s internet is even slower than it was in the Mediterranean, look for photos to be posted later.
Thank you again for cruising along with me during my meeting at sea. I’ll have one or two more reports before week’s end. By the way for those of you know of my passion for Blackjack, I am up $150 for the week.
Chuck and Laura Flagg own The Flagg Agency in Canton, GA.
Visit www.theflaggagency.com when you are ready to hold your very own meeting at sea.
