Summer Catchup!

The good news is we are really busy at Meeting Consultants!

Through the late Winter and the Spring months we concentrated on getting our new Event Registration Master product launched. It’s exciting to have the registration product out in the market place and we are very pleased to be working with some wonderful clients who are using the product.

We are also happy to welcome a new sales rep to the company, Randy Woodard. Randy brings great contacts along with his years of high-level, revenue producing experience.

I jumped right into the SMMP certification classes offered through NBTA. The first elective session, held at the Emory Conference Center, was intense. Lot’s of valuable information available in two half day sessions. In hindsite I do think I would have absorbed more if I had been through Core Week 1 before starting the electives. The next core Week 1 is in October…bad timing for me as we are triple booked. All goodness!

Soon we will be launching our newest product, Event Portfolio Master (EPM). EPM will enable you to track and manage multiple events with one tool, do reporting, audience generation and integrate with your CRM as well as our Event Registration Master.

Just to round out the activities and bring all our work to fruititon, we’ve been out and about with the AAHOA conference in Chicago and IBM events in NY. Part of our team is in Vegas doing a site visit for an IBM event in October. We will also be in Austin and Florida in October. Looks like 4th quarter is going to be a busy one this year.

At the end of this month we will be at WEC in Vancouver – exhibiting and speaking. We would love to meet anyone who can make it by our booth or who just sees us in the hallway and wants to chat.

How is your year shaping up? Are you seeing an increase in activities? Are you attending and/or exhibiting at WEC? Let us hear from you!

Strategic Meetings Management Program

Sometimes I find it hard to believe I’ve been in the industry long enough to remember the days before capturing ROI on meetings and events was important not to mention before SOX was even a twinkle in the eyes of Sarbanes and Oxley.

Today we recognize that meetings and events are important touches in our sales cycle. According to Oxford Economics USA, The Return on Investment of U.S. Business Travel, research report for the United States Travel Association, September 2009, executives identified the average return on conference and trade show participation to be in the range of $4.00 – $5.99 per dollar invested. Further, both executives and business travelers estimate that roughly 40% of their prospective customers are converted to new customers with an in-person meeting compared to 16% without such a meeting.

With those figures to back up the continued need for business meetings, conferences and trade shows it is more important than ever to have the tools and technology to assist you in tracking your meetings, total spend and reporting your ROI.

Don’t let the Strategtic Meetings Management Program (SMMP) name scare you off.

SMMP is the next generation of meeting consolidation which started with the travel industry back in the 1970s and 80s. In the early 1990s the consolidation or centralization that had started in the travel industry migrated to the meetings and events industry. Large companies, with the objective of cost savings, were the first to try the strategy of centalizing meetings. By creating one large meetings department they did recognize savings through the: buying power of consistently booking hotel rooms with one brand; reducing the number of suppliers; and, recognizing there was overlap in their meeting schedules both with messaging and the audience and could thus reduce the number of meetings held.

Now, about twenty years later, we have the Strategic Meetings Management Program. The National Business Travel Association has a white paper on the topic. Originally published in 2004, they updated the paper in 2008, which is available on their website under the Resource Library tab, http://www2.nbta.org. One of the most important lessons learned is that SMMP is dynamic. You do not implement the progam and never make any changes. SMMP changes as your program matures and you understand what is important to make your program fit your needs.

SMMP is not only for large companies with a complex meetings and events schedule. Almost all companies are able to benefit from adopting the basic principles of the program. I’ve worked with international companies holding thousands of meetings a year and smaller , domestic companies who participate in 15 to 20 conferences and tradeshows in a year. The common thread is developing a strategic way of handling their meetings and event programs.

In addition to the NBTA white paper you might also check out the white paper written by Corbin Ball, Strategic Meetings Management Program Implementation and Idea Guide available on his website, http://www.corbinball.com, under the Articles tab.

The authorities agree the components of a Best in Class Strategic Meetings Management Program are:
–

Registration of Meeting/Event
Approval
Sourcing/Procurement
Planning/Execution
Payment/Expense Reconciliation
Data Analysis/Reporting
all revolving around a technology tool

Have you implemented an SMMP in your company and would you share some of your best practices? Are you interested in discussing how to implement SMMP in your business? Please add comments and discussions.

What Does Social Responsibility Mean to You?

According to Wikipedia, Social Responsibility is an ethical or ideological theory that an entity, whether it is a government, corporation, organization or individual, has a responsibility to society at large.

Now this is not a new concept. Many corporations call it being a Corporate Citizen; or, more pointedly, they aim to be ‘good’ Corporate Citizens.

Take The Gap for instance, they now have a Social Responsibility website, http://www.gapinc.com/socialresponsibility/, and state, “it means everything from ensuring that workers are treated fairly to addressing our environmental impact”.

I like it. I like that MeetGreen, http://www.meetgreen.org, completed a study on Social Responsibility in partnership with Vancouver Island University and meeting professionals.

Meeting professionals have long subscribed to ethical standards and, in fact, the Certified Meeting Professionals (CMP) designation requires it’s members to uphold the highest levels of ethical standards or risk loosing the designation.

In the MeetGreen study the group discussed topics such as “The Law” which encompassed paying a minimum wage, operating a safe work environment, providing insurance and abiding by fire codes.  Also “Ethics” which we also refer to as moral values.  In some locations the laws do not exist to ensure fair wages and safe working environments.  The group determined meeting planners have an opportunity to help and improve conditions for our fellow human beings through meetings by volunteering, donating, involving students and providing education.  The third topic was “Stakeholders” which we often call those individuals who have a financial investment in the event.  The MeetGreen group suggests that social responsibility extends beyond those people to include the people in the cities where the meeting is held.  It is the responsibility of meeting planners to understand how the meeting can have a positive impact on the quality of life for those people.

Take 5 minutes to read the article, http://www.meetgreen.com/files/articles/SR_Issues_Brief_032010.pdf, and determine in which category your company falls:  First Degree, Feel Good Look Good; Second Degree, Responsible Action in Planning; or, Third Degree, Advocacy for Social Responsibility.

As meeting professionals we have the opportunity to influence and make a difference when it comes to holding social responsible meetings.

Social Meida

I admit to being a ‘wanna-be early participant’ on the networking sites.

In the early days of Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn, I jumped right on to see what all the hype was about. As the months went by I dropped off of MySpace altogether except to look for the answer to the Weekly Team Trivia question. Now that my local bar has not only stopped holding Team Trivia night but closed, I don’t visit MySpace at all.

Twitter was the same way. I stopped Tweeting because the folks I was following, friends and co-workers, I could talk to on IM or F-2-F. Not that my friends and co-workers don’t have anything to share, bless their hearts!, just that we were not sharing any knowledge.

I do love Facebook cause I can keep up with my friends around the world, become fans of my favorite places and broadcast my support of causes that are worthwhile to me.

Same with LinkedIn. I enjoy being connected to people with whom I’ve done business in the past and finding new connections with people I might be able to do business and/or share information with in the future.

That’s a whole lot of babble which may, or may not, describe your experience with the networking or social media sites.

The difference for me now is that in the past 6 weeks I’ve been exposed to social media, in a more tangible way, as a marketing tool.

Sometimes I really feel it is providence the way things happen. First, my company, Meeting Consultants, Inc, (www.meetingconsultants.com) launched a new product so I was seeking ways to promote this technology tool. Having come from a corporate marketing background my first inclination was to do traditional advertizing with print and digital magazine ads.

Then, about two weeks ago, I received an invitation to attend a webinar on Social Media from Social Media Magic, http://www.socialmediamagic.com. I knew the top Social Media sites were Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook; what I didn’t know about were the dominant and emerging Social Media sites for businesses such as MerchantCircle. If you have any interest in expanding your Social Media knowledge go check out the website and attend the webinar.

Then, yesterday, I had a web site evaluation call with Rebekah from Bella Web Design. I’ve mentioned Bella Web previously because I think Desiree Scales and her team are creating great web sites and sharing their knowledge. After we discussed the Meeting Consultants web site, and Rebekah gave me some suggestions for improvement, I was talking about our recent product launch and my concern with not receiving as much traffic from the ads to the web site as I had hoped. That’s when we got into the free versus paid advertizing which got me to thinking more about how to promote the company and the products through Social Media sites. And, to take advantage of that inbound traffic by ensuring we are doing our search engine optimization (SEO).

To top it all off, this morning, I received my daily email from Biznik and there is a great article written by Christine Ely, the WordPress developer, http://biznik.com/articles/. The entire article is very good; this piece in particular spoke to me, “Marketing has shifted focus considerably over the past few years. There are plenty of business people who were marketing their services effectively but are now finding the effectiveness of that marketing has diminished due to the nature of the researching and buying habits of modern customers. Those business people who ignore (or are unaware of) promoting their services through interactive online communities will find what they knew about marketing has lost a large degree of relevance.”

As I commented to Christine, I felt like she wrote this article just for me.

There are lots of opportunites to expand your knowledge of Social Media through free and fee based webinars and classes.  

I’ve always believed knowledge is power only if it is shared and that there is indeed something new to learn everyday!

Happy Networking and Marketing

Wednesday, 24 February

Let’s talk about Green Initiatives today.  Being ‘green’ is the in thing these days so Kermit must be really happy.  Seriously, I think we all now know the mantra recycle, reuse, repurpose…how many of us are participating and how much do you know about green initiatives? 

There was an interesting article in Travel Weekly regarding a survey of travelers, “all of whom were self-styled eco-conscious travelers” per the author, Bill Poling.  The maybe not so surprising results were that most of these eco-conscious travelers found very few good words to say about the travel industry being green.

According to the article less than 40% could name a single hotel brand that is eco-friendly.  Sounds like a lot of hotels need some media coverage on their achievements.  I did a quick search for Atlanta.  I knew the Crowne Plaza Ravinia and the Emory Conference Center were green.  I learned that the Intercontinental Buckhead and the Westing Buckhead are also green…kudos to them.  Also, all the Sandas & Beaches Resorts are green.  Too bad that hasn’t garnered more buzz.

The airlines, car rental companies and cruise lines were hit hardest by these eco-conscious travelers who gave, “the lowest grade, Terrible” to these segments.  Check out the article at http://www.travelweekly.com.

While you are out there surfing check out the Green Globe Certification, www.greenglobecertification.com, which was mentioned by several people who posted comments on the green travel ratings.  Most travelers recognize the Green Globe and have probably gotten so used to seeing it that it is no longer recognized and acknowledged as being part of the green initiatives.

As Bill says in his article, it’s a big challenge to get the word out on certifications.  I’ll also add it’s still a challenge to get companies to participate in green initiatives.  In the event world there is a lot of talk about going green and doing things green.   I have seen a turn around in the past year with more companies at least attempting to not provide printed materials by giving attendees the option to download to their PDAs or laptops, using recyclable materials for their breaks and receptions and  trying to locally source food.  At the very least they are working with local shelters to recyle conference bags and giveaways.  It’s all the baby steps that add up to big advancements.

Take that first step.  It could be something as simple as putting a up sign that says “think before you print”.  Next thing you know you’ll be walking to the Starbucks with your own mug to get a refill!

Monday, 22 February

Ok, if you’ve been thinking about doing something to get on the bandwagon of supporting meetings but still haven’t figured out what to do go to this website and sign the petition…..http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/122141821; it’s easy, painless and will help reach the goal of 100K signatures.  You can check out what other people have written and get ideas on how to support the effort.

Face Time Matters at www.facetimematters.org/ is another great website if you need talking points on why to hold, or attend!, an event.  Such as: F-2-F meetings build trust and relationships; education and training are more effective in a live setting and live meetings result in a more effective exchange of ideas.

Wednesday, 17 February

Time flies when you’re busy and my good intentions of blogging every work day have already gone by unrealized.  So, turn a new page and keep going… isn’t travel ‘interesting’ these days?

Yesterday I went to DC for a meeting with a new client.  Just for the record it was warmer in DC than in Atlanta.  The snow on the ground did not seem to be stopping any activities.  People in general seemed a bit ‘icey’ .  I was traveling with a colleague who said maybe it’s because they are all bundled up and physically cold which prompted to ask what was the excuses for the flight attendants?  When did being polite become obsolete?  Even after 9-11 when there was a real concern about another attack on an airline people were polite to each other.

I’m not sure how you were raised but my Mother would have never accepted the surly attitude from me that I experienced yesterday.  There is still a lot of truth in the old saying, ‘you get a lot more from honey than from vinegar’.

Friday

I’m new to blogging and probably would not have started a blog until I attended a session on Social Media by Desiree Scales the CEO of Bella Web Design, Inc.  So, shout out to Desiree and a thank you for the push I needed.  Desiree’s session was one of over 20 offered during the GaMPI annual Meetings Exploration Conference (MEC) at the Georgia World Conference Center.

Of particular interest to me as a meeting planner was the panel discussion during the opening general session of MEC.  As everyone in the travel industry is aware our industry is under much scrutiny and pressure which is having an adverse affect on all of us.  During the discussion it became obvious that unless those of us who are in the industry start to speak out we will continue to struggle through hard times.  Geoffrey Freeman, SVP with the US Travel Association urged everyone to go the their website, ustravel.org, and to the meetingsmeanbusiness.com website, for information on the benefits of business travel along with the latest news and research data including talking points to help spread the word about the good things the travel industry brings to the business environment.

Yes!  I’m passionate about this cause.  Having been in the industry for almost 20 years it is distressing to see friends and colleagues be laid off from their jobs when travel and face-to-face meetings are so important to the world economy.

I urge you to visit the websites and take action.  It’s one phone call to your local representative or to a radio station that makes a negative comment or an email to the newspaper….will you be part of the positive buzz?