Best Practices in Meeting Management

1
ACTE Conference
Best Practices in Meeting Management
May 26, 2005
2
American Express Study Objectives

• Understand the drivers of meetings and events
  spend
  
• Assess current end-to-end meeting and event
  management practices
  
• Define best practices for meetings and event
  management
  
• Identify effective means for exercising improved
  control over spend
  

3
The study surveyed 105 companies through in-depth
interviews and closed-question survey
Geography
Industry
Company Size
( of locations)
( of companies/ revenues)
( of companies)
50.0 bn.
Other
Prof./Financial Services
11
10
20
26
Europe
Automotive/ Aerospace
17
36
7
10.0 bn. 50.0 bn.
28
USA
64
10
22
Pharma/ Healthcare
32
15
Telecoms/ Technology
1.0 bn 10.0 bn.
0.1 bn. 1.0 bn.
Consumer Goods/Retail
The study also explored the merchant approach and
perspectives
Source American Express Meetings Events Best
Practice Study
4
The methodology was based on examination of the
End-to-End meeting and events process
Policy and Governance
Organisational Resources
Approval
Annual Budgeting Master Scheduling
Supplier Selection Negotiation
Attendee Booking Management
Organising Planning
Payment Reimbursement
Reconciliation Allocation
Post-Event Evaluation
Event
Source American Express Meetings Events Best
Practice Study
5
While the importance of meetings / events
management is widely recognized, common barriers
often get in the way
Importance of Meetings and Event Management Over
The Next 2 Years
Common Barriers

• High fragmentation
• Non-standard, highly-variable transactions
• Dispersed spend data
• High sensitivities over ownership

82
Source American Express Meetings Events Best
Practice Study
6
Policy is the single most vital element to an
effective meetings management program
A policy should

• Facilitate appropriate central control
• Ensure a desired level of consistency
• Increase efficiency of the end-to-end
  Meetings/Events management process
  
• Enhance effectiveness, both of the events
  themselves, and of specific processes such as
  sourcing

Percentage Of Companies Reported To Have
Nascent Stage
Best Practice
100
No formal policy but informal guidelines exist
No formal policy and there are no informal
guidelines
Meetings/ Events policy as part of the TE
policy
A discrete Meetings/ Events policy
Source American Express Meetings Events Best
Practice Study
7
To develop a policy one should start with a clear
definition of meetings and events
A gathering of people at one location and
requiring at least one service by at least one
external supplier
An Event is a gathering that takes place outside
of our office
Ten or more attendees requiring offsite meeting
space and requiring a contract
Over ten attendees with travel
Anything from industry wide conference to a
dinner engagement
Ten or more people in either an internal or
external meeting

Source American Express Meetings Events Best
Practice Study
8
By developing a proper and common definition,
companies can create differentiated meeting
policies
Size-Impact Matrix
Large
Size (number of attendees)
Small
High
Low
Impact(on business performance or strategy)
Source American Express Meetings Events Best
Practice Study
9
Best practice policy is all encompassing

• It covers the end to end Meeting and Event
  Process
  
• It addresses all meeting types and applies to the
  entire organization
  
• It contains clear rules to drive compliance
• Its sponsored and owned by senior management
• Its actively communicated

Source American Express Meetings Events Best
Practice Study
10
The study revealed that best practice companies
adhere to three key principles

• Coordination of meeting planners
• Procurement of meeting/event vendors
• Interactive calendar
• Payment mechanism

Centralise

• Core planning framework
• Registration and enrolment
• Post-event evaluation practices
• Capture of lessons learned, supplier info, etc.

Standardise

• Updates/revisions to policy
• Preferred vendors
• Grievances against policy
• Success, e.g. savings

Communicate
Source American Express Meetings Events Best
Practice Study
11
Key Success Factors

• Treat the Meetings and Events Program as a change
  management program
  
• Obtain the active support of senior leadership
• Recognize legitimate business purpose to meetings
  and events dont over-commoditize
  
• Start small and gain momentum with success
• Let there be no sacred cows

Source American Express Meetings Events Best
Practice Study