Two industry associations—Meetings Professionals International and the Global Business Travel Association—are assisting meetings buyers with developing of best measurement practices through educational sessions, white papers and other initiatives.
MPI’s Value Project
It’s been about two years since MPI set out to learn what planners were doing to measure and collect data. Bill Voegeli, president of Association Insights and coordinator for MPI’s Business Value of Meetings project, says results were surprising.
“We learned that few companies were doing any measurement at all; only about one percent,” he says.“People told us that determining ROI is too complicated, with too many details and so on. So the industry is devoid of data.
“Now we’ve begun a second round,” Voegeli continues, “to learn what we need to do to get the industry to the next level. In a third phase, we intend to track how a meeting planner’s life changes when they decide to adopt business value measurements. We will evaluate things like changes in their ability to get budgets approved and just in doing their jobs.”
Five white papers are the first instruments in the project to help those who want to determine the business value of their events. Included in the documents is a discussion of the perception that measurement is too expensive—in terms of time and money—analysis and reporting. The papers are being supplemented by webinars, educational sessions, videos and tutorials.
Also, new education sessions on business value measurement will debut this July at MPI’s World Education Congress.
“MPI expects measurement to become mainstream in the industry,” Voegeli continues. “People haven’t forgotten how the A.I.G. effect caused the entire industry to suffer when there was nothing to show critics about meetings value. The initial reaction was one of damage control. Now, a more strategic approach has evolved; the industry is moving towards understanding and communicating what it is worth.”
Faillure to adopt this approach is akin to professional suicide, he adds.
“Unless your meetings and events are aligned with your priorities and strategies, your meetings will always be less successful than they could be,” says Voegeli. “If you don’t know where you want to go, then getting there is just pure luck.”
GBTA’s SMM Maturity Project
Joe Bates, research senior director for the Global Business Travel Association Foundation, says his group has been looking at value measurements surrounding travel management and meetings and events for several years.
GBTA spent about 18 months crafting its SMM (strategic meetings management) Maturity Index initiative to gather data from members about their practices. Results are compiled based on member surveys.
“We heard a lot of feedback from the industry that companies thought they were more mature in the process than they were,” he says.
“Our SMM Maturity Index measures where companies are in terms of best practices, from doing nothing to being at the top of the discipline. Those who complete the survey know where they are among six levels identified in the index,” Bates notes.
Almost all planners are trying to figure out how they can get stakeholder buy in for a comprehensive measurement approach, he says. The index shows them where they are in comparison to the industry.
“Measurement is better accepted now,” Bates continues. “Even before the recession began, buyers and planners were trying to justify what value they bring to their companies. With this index, we believe they can advance toward providing performance metrics that get stakeholder buy in.”
