IT USED TO BE ENOUGH for meetings, events and incentive trips to be fun. But both the economy and the job of an event planner have changed. You have to know about the industry your client is in, and other meetings that go on within the company, to be able to create experiences that will increase revenue or save the company money. Enter the idea of Strategic Meetings Management (SMM).
Here’s how it works, how to get training in it, and why it will be important to both the company’s and the event planner’s bottom line:
What is Strategic Meetings Management?
The simplest way to define SMM is as a system of planning meetings to fit the cost and business objectives of an individual company.
Without SMM, often one department within a company doesn’t have any knowledge of what the other departments are doing. This means facilities budgets can’t be negotiated based on the number of meetings and there isn’t a common goal of what should be accomplished in each meeting that might be built upon by a other departments. Often, software is used to coordinate the process.
What size companies are using SMM?
Companies that typically have $50 million-plus in revenue, says Joe Bates, vice president of research for the Global Business Travel Association. The reason it’s normally companies of this size? They have a number of different departments that are coordinating meetings with at least 10 to 15 people attending, he says. Fewer than 10 people isn’t considered a group meeting.
Who needs to be involved on the company side?
The single most important thing to successful SMM is executive-level buy in, says Bates. Someone on the executive level needs to be able to see what meetings are being held and where, as well as what the meetings are accomplishing in each department.
When one person oversees all the meetings, suppliers and venues can be negotiated with based on the total volume of business instead of just relying on one event, he says. However, individual managers can still plan their meetings. They just have to input it into communal software.
For instance, let’s say there are 10 training sessions going on at different locations, and the prices are all different. Both the meeting or event planner and the executive should look at why the prices are different.
Is it because one place is better and all the meetings should occur there?
Did that one meeting need a different amenity?
Was there a place where all or most of the meetings could be held in where the price could be negotiated?
Does the kind of meeting matter?
Yes. For instance, most training events do not need to be held in resorts, says Cynthia D’Aoust, chief operating officer for Meeting Professionals International. It’s more important how close together rooms are and how easy the meeting is to access from the office or from an airport, she says. Rewards travel is different, she notes.
What about incentive travel?
For years, couples trips were offered as an incentive for accomplishing a sales goal, says D’Aoust. Now, it’s more important to “create a unique, one-of-a-kind experience” based on input from attendees. For some, this may be a family trip to Disney World, she says. Since the goal of awarding past performance is to encourage future performance, she says to start looking at historical data of the top 10 to 20 percent of performers who have exceeded sales goals in the past, she adds. These are normally the ones who will likely continue to perform in the top 10 to 20 percent, she says.
Survey or conduct focus groups with high performing employees to discover what their ideal vacation would be. When offering choices, remember to stay within company budget parameters, D’Aoust says. For instance, companies may be able to stay in budget when sending the whole family on a trip if the trip is shorter, she says. Market the program throughout the year and let key employees know if they are close to meeting the goal that will earn the trip, she notes.
Conclusion
More businesses need SMM, and event planners need to know their jobs have changed. They have to understand how to treat the company they’re planning meetings for like it’s their own business. Learn the skills needed to compile data and help find or give input on software the company develops to track meetings success. You still need to plan great events, but they have to further the revenue goals of the company by motivating or training employees in the best, most costefficient ways possible.
Continuing Education
Strategic Meetings
Management is a complicated concept that requires continuing education. “[There’s a] need to enhance your professional resume,” D’Aoust says. “It’s vital to be up to date on technology and to take additional business courses.”
When it comes to SMM in particular, MPI offers a free online course for members that covers everything from efficiency to finding the right software. You can find the course at mpiweb.org/Portal/Research/SMM/SMMLibrary.
The Global Business Travelers Association also offers continuing education through the GBTA Academy: gbta.org/Education/Pages/Academy.aspx.
Remember to think about training in business operations for the specific industry you work with the most. For instance, you should learn about the health care industry if working with health care companies.
Reyna Gobel, M.B.A. and M.J., is a journalist, professional speaker and author of CliffsNotes Graduation Debt. Her advice can be found in her video course How to Repay Federal Student Loans and in her columns as a Forbes.com education contributor. Gobel writes nationally about meetings and events.
