« Address Social Responsibility Head-on: Panel | Main | Change from the Ground Up: How Meetings Can Lead Sustainable Thinking »
Drive Branding, Align Meetings with Business Needs
By Adam Hardiman | July 26, 2010
Like advertisers, meeting professionals should learn showmanship to drive branding and help sell the value of meetings, said Kate Lastinger, founding partner of Metaphrasis Group, during a Monday morning session at MPI’s 2010 World Education Congress.
Teresa Bria, managing partner of Phase to Phase Strategy, said, “People aren’t considering meeting planners on that strategic corporate level, even though that’s a value we can provide.” Instead of aligning with hospitality and tourism, meetings should align with marketing and education, “so procurement sees that we bring value to the organization.”
Panelists agreed that meetings must play a strategic role in business development. Lastinger stressed the need to align meetings with the organization’s overall goals and direction. “Some meetings aren’t necessarily worth having in a face-to-face environment.”
Lastinger noted the trend toward “commodification” of meetings. While it can be helpful to discuss meetings as commodities when speaking with procurement, Bria said, “the true essence of what meetings are is not a commodity.”
“Some realities of meetings are not so pretty,” she added. Attendees retain about 15% of meeting content and, on average, 90% of a meeting budget is spent on logistics. “No wonder public perception is so tarnished.”
In the briefing paper, The Case for Meetings and Events: Four Elements of Strategic Value, Mary Boone, president of Mary Boone & Associates, identified portfolio management, ROI measurement, meeting design and advanced logistics as critical elements.
Meeting design involves “focusing on the overall objective of the program,” including respecting the attendee, Bria said. Policies should ensure that for a meeting of a certain budget, a minimum number of hours are spent in meeting design consultation.
Topics: Business Issues, Meeting Design, Meetings ROI, News Capsules, Strategic Meetings Management |