Meeting planners must keep pace with a rapidly changing world
by Tyler Davidson
Needless to say, the rate of change both in the meetings industry and society as a whole is growing exponentially. Can you imagine, say, five years ago digging in your heels to haggle over Internet bandwidth charges? Or having to be really, really up to speed on the inner workings of hotel revenue management and profit centers?
The ante has been upped, so meeting planners need to up their game to meet the challenge.
“The biggest thing for planners is scrutiny over meetings, over the value and accountability, by senior management,” says Tim Brown, CEO of Meeting Sites Resource, a global strategic meeting management solutions organization. “Strategic Meetings Management [SMM] was launched in 2004 but really didn’t get traction until the recession. Now it’s here to stay. So how do planners get their arms around this, because it’s very meaningful, and their jobs are at stake.”
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Upcoming Webinar
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Free On-Demand Webinar
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Negotiating: Advanced
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
1:00 PM EST, 12:00 PM CST,
11:00 AM MST, 10:00 AM PST
One of the cornerstones of the Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) initiative is transparent metrics to define, measure and report success. One of the most important SMM components is hotel contract negotiations and validating cost savings, risk reduction and cost containment.
Join Meetings Focus and Robyn Mietkiewicz, CMP, CMM, director of Accounts & Global Meeting Management Services at Meeting Sites Resource, for this high-impact, which will address the industry issues and trends that impact planner/hotelier negotiations, how hotels manage for profitability, methods to assess and use your leverage for maximum negotiation results, and contract clauses that add meeting value and reduce risk.
Participants will learn the following:
- How to understand industry issues and trends that impact hotel and contract negotiations
- Utilize review methods to asses and use your leverage based on hotel revenue management criteria
- Tips on how to examine key hotel contract performance clauses and specific methods to assure risk reduction/cost containment
- Specific metrics to define, measure and report success
- Identify the essential components of a cost savings, risk reduction and cost containment report (by meeting)
Additionally, optional SMM and ROI tools and resources will be available to attendees.
Earn CEUs: This webinar is worth 1 clock hour of continuing education toward the initial CMP application and recertification through the Convention Industry Council.
Register today! |
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Negotiating: The Basics
Original air date: March 13, 2013
Post-recession, clearly there are increased expectations by senior management for improved planner productivity, cost savings and ROI. Add to the equation the introduction of Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) and the shift to a red-hot seller’s market, and corporate and association planning teams now need a strategic plan for success.
Join Meetings Focus and Robyn Mietkiewicz, CMP, CMM, director of Accounts & Global Meeting Management Services at Meeting Sites Resource, for this high-impact webinar in which attendees will learn how to assess their leverage based on hotel revenue management criteria and creating a strategic negotiations action plan that will add value to their meeting and bottom line.
Participants will learn the following:
- How to understand industry issues and trends that impact negotiations
- Pinpoint the variables that influence hotel availability and pricing
- How to review how hotels value your meeting/key hotel revenue management components
- How to examine methods to assess your leverage using a strategic RFP process
- How to implement five steps to value-based negotiations
Earn CEUs: This webinar is worth 1 clock hour of continuing education toward the initial CMP application and recertification through the Convention Industry Council.
Watch today!
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| HSMAI’S 2013 MEET Event Series Launches in Chicago
The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) will present the first show of HSMAI’s MEET series for 2013, April 23-24 at Chicago’s Navy Pier. Keynote speaker Jim Davidson will deliver remarks on the power of partnership and will share lessons learned throughout three decades of high-altitude climbs and corporate management experience, among many other ventures.
HSMAI’s MEET Mid-America continues to enhance the highly successful format, which debuted at the 2011 National event in Washington, D.C. HSMAI’s MEET, which stands for Meetings, Events, Education and Technology, has numerous benefits for attending exhibitors and event planning professionals, such as:
- HSMAI’s TEEM Up: A role reversal expo of exhibitors and planners where they can maximize their time for up to 10 one-on-one appointments requested by the pre-qualified and hosted meeting professionals
- HSMAI’s Attendee Concierge: HSMAI’s MEET Attendee Concierge is a convenient service helping attendees pre-schedule one-on-one appointments during regular tradeshow hours
- HSMAI’s Exhibitor Concierge: An HSMAI staff sales professional solely devoted to aiding suppliers in making advantageous business connections and maximizing their return on participation
- HSMAI’s MEET University: Industry specialists’ insights geared toward planners and exhibitors through an interactive, hands-on educational platform with sessions.
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