A little history lesson

Unfortunately this has not been a good week for me. I have been sick as a dog the last 3 days and I ended up having to call in yesterday and today. I absolutely hate calling in sick because it puts a strain on my co-workers but I could barely get out of bed to make a sandwich. Since I have been sick I don't have much to write about in this weeks blog so I thought that I would share the long and little known history of the Wigwam Resort. Below is what is posted on Wigwamresort.com:

When Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company discovered that long-staple cotton extended the life of the tire, the company purchased 16,000 acres of Arizona land in 1916 to begin cultivating cotton. The Wigwam is one of the most lasting accomplishments of the early cotton ranch development. The first building on the site was established in 1918 by sales representatives supplying equipment to the ranchers, and was known as the "Organization House." Many of the guests staying on business suggested that it would be a great place to spend a winter vacation. Goodyear executives, who were occasionally accompanied by their families when visiting the farming operations, agreed, and on Thanksgiving Day in 1929 "The Wigwam" officially opened its doors as a guest ranch with enough rooms for 24 guests. A portion of the original structure remains as the cornerstone of The Wigwam's authenticity and southwestern charm.

Also, here are some pictures of what the resort looked like back then as well as current pictures. If you would like to see more old and new pictures, follow this link: http://wigwamresort.com/photo-video-tours.html

On my own!

Up to this point, anytime that I have been working as an Executive Meeting Specialist I have working along side an existing Executive Meeting Specialist. I am in this position twice a week. Well this week my manager trusted me to work the position all on my own! It was exciting and a little nerve wrecking at the same time. I know deep down that I can handle whatever the meeting planners or group contacts throw at me, but it's just about actually getting out there and doing it. It's like jumping out of a plane- I was sitting at the open door of the plane and I just needed someone to push me out.

My first time alone was Tuesday afternoon/night. It was actually very busy. There were 2 meetings going on during the afternoon and 4 receptions/dinners that night. What made it difficult was that one of the receptions/dinners took place at our Grill restaurant which is located on our golf course (approx. a 3 minute golf cart ride each way from the main lodge where everything else was taking place). Luckily all of the functions had varied start times. Basically, before an event begins I have to walk the space 15 minutes before the function start time and match the setup, food, etc. against the BEO (Banquet Event Order). Then if I can locate the group contact or meeting planner I am supposed to walk the space with them to make sure that everything is up to their expectations as well as introduce them to their Banquet Captain for the event. This is where it got tricky on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day I had met the group contact for the event that was taking place at the Grill. After his meeting finished I drove him up to the Grill to walk the space with him. He was pleased with the set up, however there was some confusion with the wine he had ordered. Apparently they only had three bottles left of that particular wine so our hotel's Conference Services Manager had changed the wine without informing the client or me! This just goes to show why communication is sooo important. If the client had known about this ahead of time it probably wouldn't have been a big deal. This turned out fine in the end but it took up an extra 15 minutes of my time that I didn't have.

So after I finished at the Grill I raced back to the main lodge to check on the next reception that was supposed to be starting in 7 minutes (so much for the standard 15 minutes!). Luckily when I arrived none of the attendees were there yet. I checked the food and there were two small things that were missing so I had it corrected. Unfortunately I hadn't met the group contacts for this event so I wasn't able to walk it with them. I waited for the contacts to show for another 10 minutes and they never did come.

Thankfully there were no other hiccups with any of the other events but I definitely had my hands full continuously checking on all 4 functions. At the end of the night I felt very confident in my ability to handle things on my own. It's a good thing too because next week I am on my own for an entire day!

Meetings, meetings, meetings

This week started off very slow but by the end of the week it was a whirlwind of activity! The first two days of my week were spent with the Executive Meeting Specialists. We only had 2 groups on property and they weren't very needy so there wasn't much to do. I'm glad we were slow, though, because I had the chance to ask a lot of questions about the job and attend some meetings that I have never been to. I learned a lot of technical knowledge such as what size tables and table clothes we carry, what a stantion is, and even how to fold tableclothes certain ways.

I was also able to attend a BEO meeting and a pre-event meeting. The BEO (Banquet Event Order) meeting was very boring. This meeting takes place every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Basically a supervisor from set-up, a chef, the banquets manager, the conference services manager, someone from A/V, and an executive meeting specialist get together and very quickly read over the BEO's for the current day and the following two days. As an executive meeting specialist you don't really participate, you just follow along and ask if you don't understand something. The point of this meeting is to communicate any changes to the BEO's that the client has requested (which there seem to be a lot of) and to make sure everyone is on the same page and knows what needs to be done. Even though it was boring I can see that it is absolutely necessary if you want things to go smoothly and not spend all day sending e-mails about the changes each group has made.

The next meeting that I got to attend was a pre-event meeting. We hold a pre-event for every large group that holds functions at our resort (unless they request not to have one). This meeting was very formal. A representative from every department must attend as well as a representative from the group (usually the meeting planner or group contact). Everyone introduces themselves to the client(s) and asks any questions that they have about the group's resume or preferences. The group representative(s) also introduce themselves and tell us what their expectations are for us as employees. This is definitely an important meeting because it lets both the employees and the group know what to expect.

Another week of learning

Well, another week is coming to an end. I can't believe this is the end of the third week of my internship! Time is flying by! This is probably because it has been incredibly busy at work.

This is the second week that I have been training with the current Executive Meeting Specialists (Jim and Mayra). I've been noticing the difference in the way the 2 current Executive Meeting Specialists do things. Jim is more social- he is constantly walking around and talking to the meeting planners and the attendees. He wants to make sure that everyone is happy and taken care of. But I sometimes think he makes the job more hectic than it needs to be because he is always trying to fix something, even when there is nothing that really needs to be done. He also hates to do the paperwork part of the job and it shows in his reports. Mayra, on the other hand, wants to make sure everyone is taken care of, but gives the meeting planners a little more space. She doesn't check with them as much and seems to have a lot of down time. She basically does what needs to get done and doesn't look for extra work to do but she does do an excellent job on the paperwork that is required. When I am left on my own (probably next week) I hope that I can incorporate a little of each of their styles.

This week I also learned a new computer system that the sales and catering managers use. It is called Delphi. It is an amazing system! They use it to keep track of all of the groups that we book as well as leads and potential groups. It is also used to send e-proposals and create contracts and BEO's, among other things. I can't imagine how long it would take to create some of these documents and how hard it would be to keep track of all the groups without this system.

Training this week was a little rough. We were very busy at the front desk so I had to be very flexible and jump in to help at the desk a few times. Almost every day the training times that we had scheduled had to be moved or postponed entirely. This is the hard thing about the front desk- you can never tell what time during the day will be busy and what time will be slow. But it's the nature of the beast.

On a personal note- I got engaged last weekend! I am super excited and now get to start planning our wedding :) We are also going to start looking for a house soon so I am going to be incredibly busy!