Planners have to help senior management in the public and private sectors understand the power of meetings and events as it applies to business goals and economic value. By Susan Radojevic,
In today’s business environment, “status quo” is a safety net that at best affords an excuse for inaction and at worst perpetuates unsubstantiated theories and practices. And meetings and events are directly in the sightlines of this latter extreme thinking. Examples include the recent run on the cancellations of meetings, and the distorted viewpoints of certain U.S. media channels (demoting our business to mere junkets and boondoggles).
These actions perpetuate the misconception that meetings and events are a drain on corporate budgets that hinder economic recovery. I vehemently disagree. I don’t understand how a proven and worthy business solution (that employs hundreds of thousands of people and has an economic impact of $32.2-billion CAD in Canada alone) in normal economic circumstances can be a hindrance in an economic downturn.
Two websites, meetingsindustrycrisiscenter.org and Keepamericameeting.org, offer valuable information you can use to effectively convey the economic impact of meetings and events. The opportunity has never been greater for our industry to change the perception of the role of meetings and events.
Our focus should be on the medium- and long-term business cycles, not on the short term. The short term is here — it’s now. I can’t think of anyone more experienced to ignite the flame of change to the status quo of the business of meetings than the professional planner.
To help you get started, here are a few suggestions:
Rethink and re-design your role. Today, intellectual capital is more valuable to an organization than any other intangible. To raise your intellectual capital net worth, ask yourself a few questions: Am I learning? Try and summarize in a 15-second elevator speech what you’ve learned in the past six months or are planning to learn. Do you know what you contribute to your company? If you are unable to explain to a total stranger what you do and why it matters, chances are your c-suite probably can’t, either.
Rethink and re-design the role of meetings and events within your organization. Properly aligned and carefully designed meetings and events deliver effective and efficient business goals. Start by looking at your business unit or event-management department and create a plan on how to improve efficiencies and productivity. Leverage best practices and mitigate risk by implementing a meetings and events resource centre and standard operating procedures. The next time you are asked to plan an event, ask a few strategic questions. What would you like to achieve with this event? What corporate business goal is this event supporting? What would you like the participants to do after the event? What does success look like?
Champion a meeting re-design. Find a meeting that you think can be delivered more effectively and champion a business case to present to the meeting sponsor/owner. The case should outline why a change is being proposed, what the new meeting design will look like, the tactics that will be used to deliver the new design, what business goals the re-designed meeting will support and what success will look like.
By positioning professional planners as business solution providers and using meetings and events as a communication tool to demonstrate to corporate executives and government officials the strategic value meetings and events represent, the next time there is economic and financial uncertainty, the business of meetings is less likely to be a casualty of corporate belt-tightening and a target for new government legislation.
The channel is open…
— Susan Radojevic, president of Toronto-based The Peregrine Agency Ltd., is a leading authority on strategic event alignment. Weigh in by sending Susan a message: susan.radojevic@theperegrineagency.ca or visit Susan’s blog at www.theperegrineagency.ca
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