Meetings That Measure Up

The profession of meeting planning has been forged through the fire of the Great Recession and government and corporate scandals over the past few years, requiring planners to be ever-vigilant in proving the worth of their programs to C-level members of the organizations they plan for.

No longer focused primarily on logistics—that old put-down of being mere “coffee cup counters” still stings—today’s meeting planner needs to speak the language of numbers and measurement to bean-counters and shareholders, and educator Peggy Hemphill is primed to take on the mission.

“Meetings create value for companies and must be aligned with the company's overall strategy and goals to have a positive impact on the bottom line,” says Peggy Hemphill, president of Your Corporate Source, a consulting firm that specializes in Strategic Meetings Management and meetings measurement. “Many stakeholders may not know what you do and why; you must be prepared to answer their questions with confidence."

In the end, meeting planners that master measurement inevitably gain the respect of the higher-ups in the organization.

"The ability for a meeting or event planner to demonstrate measurable value for their meetings will position them as a credible business resource and elevate their status in the eys of the stakeholders," Hemphill says. "They must work with the stakeholders to 'Define the Objectives' of the meeting to ensure the outcomes can be tracked through measureable metrics."PageBreak

According to Hemphill, the recession and the fallout from the notorious AIG scandal resulted in the bar being raised significantly for planners, who now must prove the value of their meetings via measurement techniques, and then be able to communicate that to those in the board room.

Key objectives include cost effectiveness and reduction, improved decision-making;,benchmarking and greater accountability.

Hemphill will be on hand at HSMAI’s MEET Mid-America, held in Chicago April 23-24, to present a how-to session hosted by MPI on justifying the expense of meetings, and how to communicate to stakeholders how the expenses align with meeting and organizational goals.

Learning outcomes of the session, titled “The Why and How of Event Measurement,” will include the following:

Understand how meetings create business value
Learn how to set meeting objectives that align with organizational strategy.
Identify and overcome barriers to implementing a business value of meetings program

More information about Hemphill's "The Why and How of Event Measurement can be found here.PageBreak

According to Hemphill, planners can adopt some very simple measurement tools before adopting the more-complicated details, including what she calls the A, B, C, D Method to define objectives and how planners should measure them:

AUDIENCE: Know your audience and understand their needs
BEHAVIOR: What do you want the Audience to do after the meeting? i.e. Buy a Product? Perform better at their jobs?
CONDITION: What condition under which the behavior will be performed? i.e. When they are back in the office? Next time they meet with a sales rep? When they take a survey or test?
DEGREE: The degree of achievement must be measurable, i.e. 80% of participants should pass a test on newly acquired knowledge

Hemphill’s website offers the following best practices for implementing a Strategic Meetings Management Program:

Policy & Governance	Common, standard definition of meetings Formal policy aligned with T&E policy Clear senior ownership of the policy Active communication of the policy Rules of enforcement and compliance tracking
Service Delivery Staffing	Single reporting structure for all internal and external planning resources Clear definition of roles and responsibilities Separation of roles by key competencies and professional expertise Recurrent internal and external training
Budgeting and Master Calendar for Scheduling	Separate line item with sub accounts to roll up annual budget for meetings and events Top down forecast of future year(s) meetings Requirement for all meetings to be registered Shared central calendar with privacy options Leverage sourcing and manage cancelled space for re-booking through central calendar
Supplier Selection & Negotiations	Consolidation of suppliers across all spend categories Preferred supplier list communicated and easily accessible Comprehensive centralized supplier database Aggregation with T&E volume for better price and added value negotiations Standard sourcing criteria and guidelines in collaboration with Procurement & Legal
Planning Process	Common standards and practices, supported by a robust technology platform Ongoing strategic planning with key leaders and meeting owners to optimize results Clear and executable objectives qualified at the initiation of each meeting request Auditable records for transparency and business continuity Comprehensive plan for Duty of Care
Attendee Management	Web based tool for registration Automated room block and inventory management Clear definition of attendee types and tiered levels of customer service with corresponding levels of support Real time data capabilities for distribution to suppliers Registration integrated with air supplier Utilization of single supplier for air bookings
Payment Processing	Centralized payment vehicle for all cost categories Capability to exclude attendee incidental expenses paid individually Payments directly to supplier for transparency, rather than through a 3rd party Online meeting expense reporting with pre-populated card data Integration of data with other financial systems
Reconciliation, Expense Allocation and Reporting	Enterprise wide meeting and event data, with integration capabilities for aggregation with T&E data Robust platform for comprehensive data management Meeting identifiers tied to all invoices Ownership of comprehensive data management and reporting by skilled financial analyst, rather than an added responsibility for meeting planners
Post Event Evaluation	Surveys or evaluation forms to attendees and meeting sponsors Alignment of objectives with evaluation results Two way review process with suppliers, based on Service Level Agreement Formal feedback and review with key stakeholders

About the author

Tyler Davidson has covered the travel trade for more than 30 years. In his current role with Meetings Today, Tyler leads the editorial team on its mission to provide the best meetings content in the industry.