Strategic Meeting Management Presentation 2009

Strategic Meeting Management

Programs

Meeting Planning

Made Simple

Today’s Agenda

• What is Strategic Meetings Management Programs?

• Why Should Organizations be Interested? What are the benefits?

• Implementation of a Strategic Meeting Management Program

Knock, Knock

• The travel department

• The procurement department

• Your CFO• More accountability• Sarbanes-Oxley

Who’s there?

The Problem

• No monitoring or visibility into meeting spend (unless there is a problem!)

• Decentralized meetings management process

• Data is held in inefficient, separate silos

• Greater expectations• Time-consuming process

Strategic Meetings Management: Definitions

Strategic Meetings Management programs bring accountability, consolidation, centralization and cost-consciousness to the meetings management process.

“SMM concentrates on meeting and event-related processes, spend, volumes, standards and suppliers to achieve quantitative cost-savings, superior service and effective risk mitigation.”

“SMM concentrates on meeting and event-related processes, spend, volumes, standards and suppliers to achieve quantitative cost-savings, superior service and effective risk mitigation.”

NBTA Groups and Meetings Committee

AKA: “Meeting Consolidation”

The consolidation of meeting and/or event planning into a centralized, organization-wide, process.

The Objectives of SMM

• Gain visibility into the meetings process and spend

• Manage meeting costs• Consolidate purchases

for meeting suppliers• Streamline the

meetings process• Reduce number of

meetings, suppliers, etc.

• Risk Mitigation

Where did SMM Start? In Travel

Travel Department

THEN NOW

Meeting Planning Department

Where did SMM Start? In 3 Industries

Pharmaceutical

Financial

Technology

THEN NOW

Companies of all kinds

Sharing Some Numbers – Making the Case

The missing pieces of a larger puzzle

80% of meetings are usually not

tracked and managed

The Hidden Spend

60% of annual air volume

or

0.5 % – 1% of annual sales

volume

Average Company Meeting Spend

Estimated

Organizations can save up to 20% (estimated) of meeting related direct cost

Meetings Management: Savings Analysis

Aberdeen Group, 2008

Key Reasons to Implement a Strategic Meetings Management Program

• Greater Visibility in Meetings• View all meeting and event activities, types and purposes,

expenditures and suppliers

• View Spend by vendor, meeting, department, etc.

• Measure savings and ROI against established targets

• Minimize Risk Exposure• Establishing policies and monitoring compliance to reduce legal,

regulatory, financial and operational risks

• Branding guidelines consistently applied

• Better emergency preparedness – knowing where and when meetings are occurring and tracking attendee welfare and safety. Preparation for crisis management situations.

Reasons Continued…

• Improved Efficiency and Quality– Optimize use of professional planners to ensure quality among all

meetings and events– Use automation to streamline processes, enhance efficiency and

maximize productivity.– Consistency in organization brand and service to attendees

• Increased Savings– Consolidate meetings/group business to leverage and build preferred

supplier networks– Effective supplier negotiations, using standard contracting practices

and cancellation/attrition provisions.– Reduce time spent on meeting planning and site creation

SMMP Foundation

There’s not just one way…does not have to be all or nothing strategy: Small businesses can adopt

SMMP piecemeal

There’s not just one way…does not have to be all or nothing strategy: Small businesses can adopt

SMMP piecemeal

Implementation of a Strategic Meeting Management Program

Key Components

ApprovalPrimary purpose is to look at each opportunity,

impact on costs and other issues on organization before commitments made and contracts signed. Minimize/eliminate rogue events booked on behalf of company

RegistrationGain knowledge of event in advance to measure

support of company / department objectives. Require approval and registration in advance of the start of logistical planning. Acquire tracking number so all through process knows approval has been made.

Components continued…

Sourcing/ProcurementHotel/Destination selection, negotiation and contracting processrisk management

Acquisition / Purchasing

Limit the methods for meeting related expenses

Increase the organizations ability to scrutinize expenditures associated with meetings.

Planning / ExecutionImplement technologies to streamline planning and execution

Data Analysis / ReportingCollection of meeting datato compare with planned outcome performance. Formulate possible performance metrics to compare against in future such as F&B budget, cost per attendee, etc.

Technology!

Bringing it all together

Getting Started

• Define– What is the opportunity to the organization– Develop stake holder list/who would be impacted– Find Executive Sponsor

• Measure– Gain knowledge into current state of meeting spend through review of invoices, credit card

data and other financial information in purchasing/finance departments– Survey meeting planners and other stakeholders to learn their present processes / current

status.• Analyze

– Determine cost of implementing SMMP versus benefits/opportunity• Build

– Engage stakeholders (purchasing, procurement, travel, etc)– Prepare business case/road map to be followed– Write policy / program

• Implement– Educate and train – Support – Monitor and maintain

Additional Thoughts

• Decision process to implement typically takes 12-18 months

• Complete adoption within an organization may take 3- 5 years (change does not come easy!)

• SMMP is not a “one size fits all” program…every organization has different needs and may need certain components more so than others

• For immediate savings – start with centralizing sourcing

• SMMP certification coming soon.• NBTA is excellent source for information

Ron Puglisi

Vice President of Global Accounts

ConferenceDirect

512-965-4160

ron.puglisi@conferencedirect.com