When it comes to big events, everyone has a role

Jeff Peller, general manager for the Coralville Marriott, said his venue hosts more than 600 functions a year.

Each one of those events involves 100-plus people. Some, such as the Iowa City Area Annual Chamber of Commerce banquet this past February, can serve almost 700 attendees.

In 2011, the hotel also hosted 41 weddings in 2011 in its 60,000 square feet of event space.

“The remaining amount was split up between corporate events, association events, and fundraisers,” Peller noted.

With one of the largest square-footage venues in the Corridor, Coralville Marriott counts on larger associations and corporate groups to fill space with annual events and conferences.

“If we have open space, then we fill that in with a wedding or another social event,” Peller said. “If we don't have a group come in, then we at least want to fill up our ballroom space.”

Because of the hotel's 30,000-square-foot exhibit hall, the hotel also sees several trade shows come through each year.

Standard operating procedure for most hotels is to break up sales and service roles.

Up until a contract is signed, a sales manager works with prospective clients. This person's job is to learn about the nature of the event, uncover the meeting planner's vision, go through the client's budget and pose potential options, among other chores.

After a signed contract, the customer is transitioned to an events team that works on details - menus, room setup, centerpieces, guest rooms, and the like. On the day of the event, the account is moved to the banquet department, which provides on-site service and carries out the pre-established event details.

Planning for large group functions needs to start far in advance.

“For groups, corporate and associations, it's up to two years for us,” Peller said. “Associations typically book longer out - corporate books shorter out.

“Weddings book about 18 months in advance.”

No matter what the role a staff member plays at a venue, training occurs at all levels.

For banquet staff - those responsible for carrying out event details - training is provided on-site as part of an onboarding/orientation process. Training covers skills such as learning how to carry trays to dealing with customer complaints.

CMP (certified meeting planner) and CWP (certified wedding planner) credentials are also a form of training that many event managers bring to the table to help customers make decisions, anticipate setup or event-flow challenges, and brainstorm possible solutions.

Pulling together a large event requires precise coordination in the kitchen and front of the house.

Brand standards determine how many people should be on-site at any given event for the Coralville Marriott.

“If we have 10 rounds of 10 people, we know by our brand standards that we need between 5 and 8 servers on the floor, plus supervisors and a manager,” Peller explained.

“Everyone has a specific role,” said Jennifer Zahradnik, catering sales manager at the Hotel at Kirkwood in Cedar Rapids. “These roles are established by the banquet chef in the kitchen, and by the banquet captain in the front of the house.

“All team members take direction from these leadership roles, yet each team member must also remain flexible. If the plan needs to adjust mid-event, everyone needs to adapt and respond.”

When their staff is asked to do something almost seemingly impossible - such as transforming a room in less than 30 minutes - Zahradnik said it's all hands on deck. The sales team, front desk employees and executives will take direction from the banquet chef and banquet captain in those cases.

Zahradnik said her venue's social business - weddings and holiday parties - consumes nearly every weekend.

“We host weddings every Saturday beginning in April through the middle of November. Our corporate holiday party season begins in November and lasts into February,” she said.

The biggest issue venues face? Events getting off-schedule.

During the event planning process, mealtimes are established. The kitchen preps and cooks then plan accordingly.

But a long-winded keynote, a groomsman who finishes his speech early or a late start to the event can all affect mealtimes.

And then there's the food.

“All of our cooks are professionally trained and must pass an extensive training checklist before preparing any food for our customers,” said Matt Traetow, director of marketing and sales for the Sheraton Iowa City/hotelVetro.

The hotel sees between 55 and 60 weddings a year. Another 150 events are split between corporate and University of Iowa functions.

“Our motto is, ‘Serve hot food hot, and serve cold food cold,'” the Marriott's Peller added. “It's the floor's job to come to the kitchen back and say, “We're going to be delayed. Hold off on plating for 15 minutes.'”

Chefs also try to anticipate dropped trays by having some extra plates on hand.

“If a server that drops a tray, that's 10 new entrees that need to be made immediately,” Peller said.