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	Bring your Meetings to Life with Colored Lights
	Many companies see the value of investing in accent lighting that features company colors to help reinforce their brands at meetings and conferences, but they neglect to consider the value of using all kinds of colors to enhance every aspect of their event. Lighting is in an inexpensive solution that can give your meetings extra punch, help keep your attendees engaged and set the right mood for every aspect of your function. Programmable LED fixtures make changing area lighting even easier and less expense than before. Conference spaces that benefit from colored lights: · Pre-function space · Entrances and exits · General sessions · Break-out rooms · Meal rooms · Outdoor space · Exhibit floors and booths Examples of Lighting Objectives: · Create a soothing, inviting, environment to welcome guests · Energize attendees after breaks by changing the color of your general session · Keep participants engaged by changing stage lighting in between speaker transitions · Set the mood with ambient lighting at dinner, evening, and outdoor functions · Drive traffic at trade show booths The psychological impact of color is a very powerful tool. For example, red can help invigorate your participants and help them retain meeting content. Check out our color chart to learn more about which colors invoke what effects. The impact color lighting can have on your meeting is only limited by your imagination, which can be stimulated with green!

Incentive Travel: The Gateway to Increased Sales and Performance

According to the Incentive Research Foundation, incentive travel and experiences are desired more so than cash rewards - 86% to 14% respectively.

What is Incentive Travel?

The Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) defines incentive travel programs as “A motivational tool to enhance productivity or achieve business objectives in which participants earn a reward based on a specific level of achievement set forth by management. The program is designed to recognize earners for their achievements." Participants can be identified as customers, dealers, employees, distributors, vendors or any group in which you are looking to enhance behaviors.

What's the benefit?

The focus of incentive travel should be aligned with your business objectives, whether that’s gaining new customers, selling more of specific items or services, or bringing additional revenue from existing clients. A properly designed and executed incentive program will show a greater return on investment and identify a goal to work towards with friendly competition amongst participants.

One of the benefits of incentive travel is that it is customized to fit your company’s individual needs, and can evolve as goals progress. Depending on your objectives, there are several different routes to maximum ROI. The focus can be short term, long term, or both used concurrently. Short term incentives are ideal when you are looking to produce results today, while long term incentives invest in tomorrow.

Another aspect is the audience: the top 20%, middle 60% and bottom 20%. While the top 20% drive business, less than 30% of growth comes from this group as they are close to capacity. They are self-motivated, high achievers but need to be challenged and rewarded regularly. The middle 60% is mostly ignored in incentive programs, but movement from this group provides the biggest impact. A 5% increase in sales from the middle 60% yields 70% more return than a 5% increase in the top 20%. Lastly, the bottom 20% need more coaching and encouragement. They typically consist of those working their way up or working their way out. Achievable, milestone goals and recognition will help push these employees into the middle 60%.

The Participant's Desire For Experiences

According to NBCNews, "traveling is not only fun and exciting, there's ample research to suggest it's highly beneficial for your physical, mental and emotional health as well”

Travel and the desire for experience can positively impact a person for a lifetime. Some of the ways an incentive trip can benefit your employee or customers are:

1. Traveling can help create meaningful relationships with loved ones and colleagues.

2. Traveling helps a person learn and appreciate a world outside of their own by giving them new perspectives.

3. Traveling can help someone learn more about themselves by challenging what they thought they knew about themselves or the world.

4. Traveling can help develop new skills they didn't know they had by challenging them to get out of their comfort zone.

5. Traveling can help refocus and relieve stress.

Entering a New Era of Satisfaction

The Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE), found that almost 90% of respondents believe that “the power of incentive travel made them feel appreciated”

By offering incentive travel, you're not only establishing a positive relationship, but naturally increasing company loyalty.

Rewarding incentive travel can symbiotically benefit both parties by:

Will remember that YOU gave them a trip to "Destination X" for the rest of their lives
Your participants' happiness with their job can increase upon return leading to higher productivity and motivation to succeed
Creating buzz in your participants' conversations with friends & family as they're sure to credit your company with the opportunity
Increase competitive advantage over other brands

The Proven Return on Investment of Outsourcing a Corporate Meeting Planner

Click here to download our whitepaper:

In the beginning stages of delegating or being delegated the task to plan and execute a corporate meeting or event, often times the challenge to organize and operate a quality product for the attendees can become exponentially overwhelming.

We at Galactic Performance Solutions understand the hardships and assist in alleviating them. Below you can read about some of the proven ways a team of Certified Meeting Professionals can be well worth your return on investment with a higher standard in mind and years of proven results.

IMPROVING ON-SITE POTENTIAL

Tap into exclusive deals and relationships from a professional.

The saying "It's not what you know, but who you know" truly shines in the category of venue sourcing. The value of a long-term business relationship cannot be understated.

In an established partnership between client and location, there are many opportunities that an outsourced event planning team can provide including:

Exclusive Hotel and Venue Pricing with hundreds of global partners obtained from years of previously successful programs

Premium Audio/Video Support tailored exclusively to the needs of your meeting or event
On-Site Staffing which allows your staff to tend to their normal job duties

Hospitality Suites & Desks that will maximize attendee satisfaction while minimizing risk

INCREASING QUALITY CONTROL

The fine-tuned details are some of the most important assets to raising the standard for a great meeting or event.

It's no small task to put on a great meeting or event, especially for a small team of people who have many more responsibilities in their normal job duties. By splitting the time of in-house employees, the final product may not be what you hoped for when they aren't investing all of their effort towards the event.

By not hiring an outside meeting planner, you may be missing out on high-quality features including, but not limited to:

Custom Meeting Website Services to keep your company and the attendees mutually up to date on the meeting or event details

Proprietary Online Registration which will track RSVPs and allow you save money by not overestimating on your budget

Data Tracking & Consultation that will increase ROI year-over-year by giving you real information to allow continual improvement

Automated Confirmations and Reminders to keep the meeting running smoothly and everyone informed in a seamless, modern way

ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS

Understanding what works best for successfully achieving your meeting goals comes with expert experience.

With years of experience working with clients who seek unique, specific goals, Galactic can help you drive success with our deep knowledge of best practices tailored to maximize your ROI.

The options are endless for making your meeting a unique experience that creatively helps you see a return on investment. Some of those are listed here:

Dynamic Individual Agendas tailored to meet the needs of your distinct expectations

Marketing & Communication Strategies that will add value to your company image and promotional goals

Certified Meeting Planners trained to give you their entire time, effort and knowledge to achieve your goals

Click here to see how Galactic can increase your ROI with meetings and events.

Why You Should Hire A Corporate Meeting Planner

Click here to download our whitepaper:

Save Time

Save more of one of the most vital resources in business: TIME

Learning a new skill or process can be difficult and will require a timely learning curve. The advantages of tasking professional meeting planners will save you countless hours to allow you to continue the operations of your regularly scheduled duties.

Some of the ways you will save time by hiring a corporate meeting planner are:

· Learning curve of the planning process is gone

· Vast array of proven suppliers

· Prior knowledge of destination and experiences

· Peace of mind in knowing your meeting is being taken care of

Save Money

The ROI of hiring a meeting planner cannot be understated

Rather than hiring a single individual, or even offering the project to a current employee, you're potentially losing thousands of dollars and degrading the quality of work by not investing in an entire team who will have the knowledge, resources and time to make your meeting a top priority while leveraging your total spending.

Some of the ways a meeting planner can help you save money include:

· Purchasing power of venues and suppliers

· Pre-negotiated contracts with hotels

· Knowledge of the historical fluctuation of the destination exchange rate

· Full team working on your customized plan

Gain Access

Time into, and benefit from, exclusive expertise and established partnerships

Your meeting is important, but you might be overwhelmed with how many moving parts are involved with the execution of it. Professional meeting planners have years of experience working with companies who are just as dedicated to providing an excellent experience to your audience as we are.

By gaining access to a corporate meeting planner, you will see benefits including:

· A vast array of proven suppliers

· Can provide end-to-end execution or just fill in the gaps

· Reduced risk with expert risk management skills

· Full-service teams with creativity and customization at your fingertips

Click here to see how Galactic can increase your ROI with meetings and events.

Top Incentive Destinations for 2019: Africa

Heading into the New Year, Galactic is highlighting some of our top picks for 2019 incentive program destinations! Over the course of December, every Monday we are highlighting a new and unique journey. Be sure to check back right here every Monday this month!

Unique Incentive Destinations: Africa

Overview

If you're looking for your next incentive program destination but aren't quite sure where to go yet, consider a trip to Africa. A vast and highly diverse continent full of fascinating cultures, dramatic scenery and extraordinary animals, Africa offers some of the most amazing travel experiences in the world. Once you take a closer look you’ll begin to realize why we have it on our top incentive destinations of 2019.

While an African Safari is one of the most iconic and first things you’ll think about when considering a trip to the second largest continent on Earth, Africa boasts some of the most breathtaking beach paradises you’ll ever find.

Accessibility

Traveling to Africa is scarce, but can be efficient with proper planning (call us!) According to Nomadic Matt, there are numerous transportation companies dedicated to helping tourist see as much of Africa as possible. Whether you want to travel by bus for general travel or experience a slower-paced journey by safari, there is a way to get around.

Why Choose Africa as an Incentive Program Destination?

There are few places on Earth that carry the motivational power to reward people better than Africa. Being transported to a place unlike anywhere else can instill a sense of escape and relaxation for those who seek it. Taking in the wild can boost morale for all in and out of the office. A trip to Africa will not only be fun, but it’ll be one of the best trips in a person’s lifetime instilling happiness for years and years.

5 Fun Facts about Africa

The oldest human remains ever discovered were found in Ethiopia, which is approximately 200,000-year-old
Africa has the world’s longest river, the Nile (4,132 miles). The Nile runs through 11 countries in Africa
While people keep expecting to see tigers in Africa, there aren’t any! Wild tigers are found in Asia, and not in Africa
There are more people speaking French in Africa than in France
South Africa is home to the highest commercial bungee jump in the world, called Bloukrans Bridge Bungee (216 meters)

We hope you are able to explore this amazing island with us and have it play a vital part in your business’ performance solutions!