Anyone who has ever planned a “getaway” for family, friends, or colleagues, knows it is not easy.  Not only are you in charge of location, but guest list, entertainment, food and beverage, and of course the overarching theme of “memorable moments”.  A memorable moment is simple, a moment in which an individual will never forget, or better said, one that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

No one plans a memorable moment, they just sort of happen; however, Memorable Moments are a lot like luck – it happens when preparation meets opportunity.  The following five pieces of advice will help you “prepare” to create an ambiance that will create an opportunity for your guests to have a memorable moment.

TIPS for Memorable Moments

1. Guest List – this is number one for a reason.  You can have a wonderful spread and ice cold beverages, but if no one comes, it will be a moment you rather forget than remember.  Life is better when it is being shared with those that you love and cherish.  Thus, take a second, think about who you want to invite, there individual personalities, how they will everyone “fit” together, what are you trying to accomplish, etc.?  E.G. If I want to have a beer blast, stay up later playing poker, and fish off my hangover the next day… well, I would invite my Fraternity Brothers AND definitely leave my Mother off of the invitation.  However, if I wanted to play with my nieces and nephews, take memorable photographs, talk about politics and life philosophy, I would invite my family AND EMPHATICALLY leave my Fraternity Brothers off the list.
2. Location – With the right people, you can have fun anywhere, even a funeral house or waiting in an airport lounge, nevertheless, you can have more fun if the location is inviting and fits the guest list.  E.G. A lake house with little to no access to the outside world might be perfect for the fam; but not so much for the fraternity brothers’ while a lake house with access to outside entertainment, bars, pools halls, clubs, ladies, golf courses, etc are perfect for the Fraternity Brothers, but the noise and distraction would bother the fam.
3. Loose Schedule – No one likes to be told what to do all the time, especially when they are vacation – but at the same time, no schedule might lead to boredom and boredom does not equal memorable moment.  Before heading to the getaway spot, I would look into what are some diversion options.  Googling around and asking people that have been there before are great places to start.  Once you have some ideas of what options there are, you might want to send a group email to all involved and say “tentatively, these are some things we might want to do when we are there”.
4. Start an email chain of all those involved – I know this sounds stupid, but if you are planning a getaway with family or friends that don’t see each other on a regular basis, this will get everyone quickly reintroduced and start to create anticipation.  Thus the memory starts to form before the event even happens!!! Trust me, try it, send an email to all involved, make a joke and watch how the chain grows.
5. Create a Souvenir.  I personally like photographs and Koozies.  Photographs are sent electronically these days or uploaded to a social networking sight, thus they are not tangible.  However, if you create a cheap take home item that will not be thrown out, like a personalized koozie, can holder, huggie, can cooler etc.  Then people will not only have something that they take home, they will have souvenir that can be used again.  It not only will be used repeatedly, it will most likely be used again the next time they are sharing stories, e.g. an ice cold beer at a summer picnic – and guess what they will be talking about, the memorable moment you created and reminded them about with their personalized koozie.

Creating Memorable moments is easier said than done – but the first step is the hardest step, that is say to empower yourself to create the memorable moment.  No stop reading, go out there and practice these 5 simple steps and CREATE YOUR OWN MEMORABLE MOMENT!!!