Enterprise Spend Management

I loved the August 24th article in MeetingsNet written by Alison Hall that explains how key performance indicators (KPIs) can be applied to meetings management. And don’t feel bad if you're asking yourself right now, "What the heck is a KPI?" It's a strategic procurement term. It essentially means a way to measure how any program you're managing, including meetings, is faring at any given time.  

One of the reasons I like this article -- and I urge you to check it out -- is that it acknowledges the pioneering work done bringing procurement management strategies to travel and meetings, and it quotes my good buddy George Odom, who is now president of his own consultancy, Strategic Travel and Meetings Group, but, for 18 of 29 years at Eli Lilly and Company, led travel and meetings. In the article, George describes KPIs like this: "Way back when I tried to do this at Eli Lilly and Company someone said to me, 'If you had to call in once a month and had only five minutes to ask how things are going, what are the things you would want to know?'"

Believe me, if anyone is an expert on creating and reporting KPIs for senior management, it's George.  Another great piece to check out on this subject offers six examples of KPIs.

I knew George back when he was at Eli Lilly, and it was a special honor for me, when I was just starting at HP, to be named along with him in BTN's "Best Practitioners" issue for the year 2000. A copy of the magazine cover still hangs in my office. It was a thrill because George was such an industry veteran and visionary (even back then he was doing things like strategically managing meetings and consolidating enterprise meeting spend). And even though I was still relatively new at HP Procurement, we were both speaking the same language and foretelling the same things  --  that procurement strategies were ideal for meetings management and would grow in practice and application. Even though BTN honored me with two more Best Practitioner designations since then, that first one, in which I was honored along with George, was most memorable for me.

Of course, today, procurement and meetings management are enjoying a fruitful marriage, yet it's amazing to look back and consider what a radical concept the idea was that the two should join and benefit from each other. And not surprisingly, experiencing all of the initial push back and resistance there was. It's a wonder, too, what a little public shame, a global economic recession and meeting spend transparency can do in terms of vaulting SMM from “nice to have” to “must have”. 

Who would have ever thought that a decade later people would be referring to KPIs for meetings instead of just information on the service and experience of events.  

Just returned from ACTE Asia in Singapore, where over 400 business and meetings professionals came to learn and network. What a great conference!

The panel session that I moderated focused on the convergence of transient and meetings spend management and what kind of challenges (and rewards) that means for businesses in the Asia-Pacific region. It was a great success, largely due, I'd say, to the two featured practitioners: Meredith Smith, Travel Manager, APJ for Merck and Aileen London, Senior Manager for Global Meetings Services, APAC, for Oracle.  Both of these women are accomplished professionals, and they freely shared their experiences and knowledge about their respective programs with an audience eager to learn more about how transient and meetings management is approached by both of these companies.

Congratulations go out to Aileen London who won the prestigious 2010 President’s Award from ACTE for her work in developing collaboration and internal support for her program consolidation and cost containment and risk mitigation strategies.  Given how challenging it is to streamline, consolidate and innovate in the Asia-Pacific region, her accomplishments are remarkable and her recognition is well deserved.  To top it off, she is so wonderfully down-to-earth and always such a pleasure to deal with.

I must comment, too, about the gargantuan deluxe host hotel for the conference -- which is now the famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel.  I don't know about you, but my usual experience with large, new convention-type hotels is not very positive. But, in all honesty, given the size of the hotel (more than 2,500 rooms in three separate towers, an adjacent world-class convention and conference center, and the first-ever casino opened in Singapore), the service was terrific.  Although the hotel is massive and impressive, you could still manage to get around relatively quickly. The hotel is part of the Sands Hotel group, and is grander than the deluxe properties you see in Vegas.  My one regret is that I didn’t have time to really explore the hotel property and grounds, but I did get to attend a private reception on the top floor (57 stories high) and walk around the “cruise ship” configured roof top, where the infinity pool seems to drop off the edge of the roof (yikes) and the sights, sounds and smells of Singapore are all around you. Simply beautiful! Someone told me that, in southern Indonesia, on a clear day, you can see the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and I believe it.

I also want to give a shout-out of appreciation to Qantas Airways and express a special thanks to Vice President, North America Sales, Cathie Sych.  Here’s how I would describe Qantas – excellent world-class service.  That’s what I experienced on the ground and in the air from Melbourne to Singapore.  My only regret is that the flight wasn’t longer in order for me to get the comfy in-flight pajamas that are handed out for long-haul flights. Oh well, I have no doubt there'll be a next time - given my crazy travel schedule!
 
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the ACTE Berlin Global Education Conference from October 3-5, where I will be in a session (T204, Tuesday, Oct. 5th, from 2:45 to 3:45 pm) talking about risk mitigation in SMM. If you're going, please come to this session, as I'll be identifying the critical steps companies should employ to reduce their vulnerability to potential risks, and I'll be touching on:

    * Policy and communication
    * Sourcing and contracting
    * Tools & technologies
    * Managed payment processes
    * Crisis management planning

Hope to see you there!

You've got to be happy that demand is rising once again for corporate and meetings travel, but the effect of higher demand, of course, is higher prices. That's exactly what's going to happen next year, and this is a good time to prepare for it.

This week, Carlson Wagonlit Travel released its annual forecast, and in its look ahead for 2011 sees a rise in per-attendee, per-day cost for corporate meetings between 7% and 11%. Of course, I didn't know how much, but I knew the hike in meeting costs was coming. 

According to CWT, higher meeting costs will come from:

- a 3% to 5% hike in domestic economy airfares and a 2% to 7% rise in international economy and business class tickets,
- a 6.4% to 7.4% rise in U.S. average daily rates (and as high as 12%
in the Northeast).

If you're a meetings, travel or procurement manager, now is the time to review budgets and make sure that you're covered for these expected hikes in costs. If you find the numbers are falling short, take action! One way might be to gather data, such as CWT's forecast numbers (American Express usually comes out with a forecast around this time of the year, too, and I'll keep you posted on that one!), and present them to your VP or boss as proof that you need an injection of funds.

But if there's no budging on your budget, use your e-rfp tool to easily expand the hunt for more moderately priced hotels, such as airport or lower-star properties. And, when dealing with suppliers, don't forget about the negotiating ability you already yield.

You’ve got the power; use it!

If you're working under a strict budget (and who isn't these days?), I recommend that you take a look at a new report authored by the NBTA Foundation and Concur. The report highlights the "best" and "worst" of 50 U.S. cities' travel taxes -- that is, cities with the highest to lowest taxes on rental cars, hotels and meals.

First, let me tell you about the report's overall findings: Shockingly, on average, travel-related services taxes and fees boost visitor costs by 56% over cities' general sales taxes. In the most extreme, the report found that costs rose by 144% over sales taxes.  Now as someone who travels a lot for his job, I’ve experienced these extraneous taxes over and over again. I got a great fare on a recent booking on Southwest for a personal trip, but the taxes and fees added a whopping $76 dollars to the ticket price! Consider, too, our poor friends in the car rental business who can’t raise their rates because that industry is overrun with state and federal taxes and surcharges that add so much to a car rental transaction that, if the supplier did raise rates due to economic pressures, people would just walk away...maybe take the bus.

This is a report that was clearly designed to help buyers make better choices about where to steer their meetings dollars. The data is presented in a variety of ways, for example, the top 50 markets are ranked by overall travel tax burden (including general sales tax and discriminatory or travel-specific taxes) and, separately, by discriminatory travel tax burden -- minus general sales taxes. You can also find data for central city and airport locations, as the taxes for those separate locations can be different, too.

Just to show you how those different statistics can affect choices for cost-conscious buyers, take a look at these report findings:


Cities with highest total taxes:

- Chicago, New York, Boston, Seattle, Minneapolis

Cities with the highest discriminatory travel taxes:

- Portland, OR, Boston, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, New York

Cities with the lowest overall taxes:

- Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers, FL, Portland, OR; Detroit and Honolulu

Cities with the lowest discriminatory travel taxes:

- All in California: Orange County, San Jose, Burbank, San Diego and Ontario

Why do I think that this report -- which is available to NBTA members and Concur clients -- is so valuable? For one, planners and organizers can refer to it when putting together meetings and events to avoid high-cost cities and keep within their budgets. And, on a more strategic level, meeting, procurement and travel managers can use the information to consult with their finance department folks to determine whether moving events to lower-tax cities could result in overall program cost savings.   

Bravo, NBTA Foundation and Concur for the new research! I hope this report is used by planners and managers alike as the "go to" standard for information and data on travel tax burdens -- many of them way too heavy. This should provide the ammo the industry needs to make a powerful statement about the power of meetings purse strings to local governments that impose such high taxes on business and meetings travelers! And if your blood is still boiling, get behind all of the industry lobbying efforts to get government officials and bureaucrats to stop the "taxation without representation" activities that seem to proliferate in our industry and marketplace.

Sometimes bright news for the hotel industry doesn't necessarily translate into good news for corporate buyers.

According to a recent article in BTN, the party is just about over for companies negotiating low hotel room rates (due to the recession), as hoteliers cite rising demand and a slowdown in supply growth.  Many hotel companies' second-quarter earnings have come in stronger than expected, and they're warning that buyers should be ready for requests for increases at the bargaining table.

“Buyers should prepare for the most aggressive negotiating posture in three years,” Bjorn Hanson, who is divisional dean of the New York University Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management, said in the article. “In discussions three or four months ago, the thought was there would be a small increase, if any, in rates in 2011. This increased amount of business travel has shifted the balance of power.”

Expect the largest rate increases to come from the upper-upscale and luxury tiers. But in BTN, Hanson predicted that even those higher rates will seem like a good deal to buyers -- because the rates will still be pre-recession...below 2007 levels. 

Based on the news above, this is where I want all buyers to accelerate their risk mitigation activities. It's worth repeating what the robot in the old "LOST IN SPACE" TV show said whenever danger lurked: “Danger, Will Robinson!.” Hotels will likely ramp up their cancellation and attrition clauses due to the increased demand for sleeping rooms and meeting space.  If you haven’t created a standard contract template or at least developed an addendum collaboratively with your legal, contract and procurement teams, you will be at great risk when the balance of power shifts back to the hotel suppliers.

Some good news for meetings buyers, though: rate negotiations will still be more fruitful for buyers in convention cities, such as Las Vegas and Orlando, because meetings demand recovery is still taking shape (although the U.S. Travel Association sees a 7% jump in meeting spend this year, versus a 15% decline last year). The same could be said for Europe's tepid recovery.

This is positive news for hoteliers, who in 2011 will get their first crack at raising rates in a long while. But, as we enter negotiation season, this is also a good time for meetings managers, many of whom are still bound by restrictive budgets, to think more creatively and explore lodging strategies that provide more value for less. For example, it's a good idea to approach new hotels that, under a recent supply streak, have opened in major cities and are eager for business.

This is a key time, too, to rely on meeting planning technology to source for hotels, for example, to broaden search criteria in order to find new, more affordable properties and build up a history of buying leverage with those hotels -- for future negotiations.  In this period of change, ensuring planners are complying to your policies and procedures and making sure that your SMMP is truly centralized and being adhered to is another winning way to keep your buying power at its strongest. 

Scary! I read a story recently that originally appeared in USA Today that international travelers are failing to protect themselves from dangerous, infectious diseases. Ever since then I've been traveling with bottles of hand sanitizer and anti-bacterial wipes bulging out of my jacket pockets. That's a slight exaggeration, but the article really hit home, especially with the H1N1 and SARs emergencies fresh in my mind.

According to the report, based on recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, airlines, cruise ships, immigration officials and local health departments reported significant growth in sick travelers last year, partly due to the H1N1 outbreak. Top illnesses are the flu and gastro problems, but diseases like tuberculosis, chicken pox and shingles and typhoid fever have been widely reported. All told last year, 3,000 cases of potentially infectious diseases were reported.

More significantly, the USA Today story quoted figures that said only 36% of travelers sought medical advice before traveling to areas prevalent with exotic diseases, and less than half traveled to areas with malaria with pills to prevent the disease.

All this raises a few serious points to consider. To protect your business and meetings travelers, you should have policies and procedures in place to:

- Review destinations for information on public health issues and the prevalence of infectious diseases;
- Ensure attendees going to international destinations get vaccinations or, as mentioned above, carry pills to prevent diseases.

Like so many other meetings management best practices, requirements for vaccinations and other rules for traveling to destinations with health hazards need to be well communicated, for instance via emails and your intranet. You should also make sure the rules are incorporated into your meeting planning automation. Perhaps, too, you can find an ally within HR at your company or organization to lend the communication some added authority. 

As our global village gets smaller and smaller, it's in your best interest to help protect your meetings attendees from communicable diseases and from the already seriously sick travelers out there -- whether knowingly or unknowingly -- that are flying the skies and milling about hotels.   

I found a couple of really interesting findings from a broad, new study by Egencia and the NBTA Foundation on the importance of travel policy to good business travel management -- and a few of the results touch on groups and meetings, specifically. I thought I'd share because I'm always trying to spread the word about how setting and enforcing strong policies will transform your meetings management program.

The study is called The Corporate Travel Policy: Benchmarking and Insight Study, and it includes responses from 689 organizations (with a range of those spending less than $1 million on travel to those with tabs of $50 million or higher) from the U.S. and Canada.

As I often hear in my conversations with companies, the survey confirms that few today (although I feel that the number is still growing) address meetings in their travel policy. The survey found that 54% don't include meetings in policy, while 6% said they don't know. Four in 10 define groups and meetings by size or cost, and/or have requirements to register or review such events.

The new NBTA-Egencia study also found that only 22% require that groups and meetings be registered centrally. That makes it challenging to negotiate with hotels and other suppliers when you don’t have complete spend information and breakout of the spend -- in terms of transient versus meetings. And if you don't know that a trip is actually for a meeting, how can you collect data and analyze reports about meetings to ensure preferred suppliers are being used or cost-control methods are being enforced? Also, by not registering meetings centrally, you're missing out on the chance to apply workflow rules that promote cost-consciousness, for example, routing meeting requests to approvers (those guardians of policy), as well as attaching a standard pre-approved and vetted contract addendum to safeguard your organization from hotel cancellation and attrition fees. (By the way, the survey found only 28% require that meeting and event contracts be vetted through an attorney!  Really? That may be worse odds than gambling!.

There have been other recent studies that have reported some discouraging numbers on the meetings management front. But as I've said before, I am confident that the adoption of best practices by companies is continuing, as the benefits of SMMP receive more attention in the media and the marketplace, the emphasis on SMM education grows (e.g. the creation and advance of the SMMC program) and our struggling economy continues to put pressure on companies to find additional ways of reducing costs while bringing in new revenue.   

Thanks to Egencia and the NBTA Foundation for this valuable new view of the state of North American meetings management!

Want to learn more about the link between strong policy and saving meetings dollars. Check out this replay of a recent StarCite webinar!

I've been meaning to congratulate CWT Travel Management Institute, the research arm of Carlson Wagonlit Travel, for its study on the state of meetings management -- Meetings and Events: Where Savings Meet Success. StarCite collaborated extensively with CWT on the research, which substantiated what we already know, that companies can save an average 10% to 25% of their Meetings and Events (M&E) spend when they apply best practices to such areas as policy and compliance, sourcing, and processes. 

The report's top savings mark is in line with benchmarking statistics that StarCite has been finding among our customer base, that is, using meetings management automation to make budgeting, planning, sourcing, attendee management and other key meetings tasks more efficient can save you up to 25% of meetings spend.  

The new study says that savings and ROI from meetings come from three key areas:

- Creating or fine-tuning an organization-wide meetings policy and enforcing compliance,
- Sourcing best practices, for example, selecting a limited number of preferred suppliers for accommodations and venues, enforcing usage of preferred suppliers and defining standard contract terms and conditions to help maximize purchasing power and protect an organization from onerous cancellation and attrition fees.
- Technology that optimizes processes such as online registration and aids in strategic meetings management.

I have spent a lot of my time evangelizing around the world via industry panels, conferences and with customer round tables highlighting these very same recommendations. On the issue of policy alone, I've repeatedly offered advice about the importance of at least establishing or updating and mandating policy since this blog started. Remember, you can’t expect people to do what’s right for your company in absence of a policy; so take the guesswork out and give employees M&E policies and/or guidelines or they'll make decisions based on their interpretation of “doing the right thing,” and that may not be what’s good for your company.

What I really like about the new CWT-StarCite survey are the practical steps it offers for maximizing meetings management, including:

- Analyzing spend company-wide to allow firms to estimate total spend and begin taking the reins to set up a centralized meeting management organization,
- Designing a well-defined policy that spells out precise rules, standard contract terms and specific processes,
- Selecting and negotiating with preferred suppliers and meetings services and technology partners -- allowing companies to save and benefit from outside expertise,
- Establishing a formal planning process that defines business objectives and sets a formal approval process -- for consistency and compliance and getting the ultimate ROI,
- Replacing manual processes with automated meetings management tools to perform tasks such as attendee registration and sourcing -- which saves time and labor, improves data quality  and spend management overall,
- Consolidating to a single payment solution, such as a meetings charge card, enabling companies to better analyze data, improve compliance and boost leverage with meetings vendors
- Evaluating the ROI of meetings, including attendee satisfaction, savings, compliance and other metrics.

Oh, one other thing. I must say that I'm a bit discouraged by another finding of the study -- that two-thirds of the more than 200 meeting planners surveyed manage their events in a decentralized way. I say that I'm discouraged, but I still have faith that more and more firms are seeing the need to centralize management of their meetings, especially in today's economic climate -- where every expense is being scrutinized.  The real winner in this common decentralized environment is one company, Microsoft, because that means there’s a ton of Excel spreadsheets that are being manually maintained and utilized often times simultaneously with little to no time to verify accuracy.  Sound frightening and inefficient?  I assure you this is what’s happening globally every day in decentralized programs at companies who conduct meetings and events as part of their business.

Seems like more and more surveys, as well as individual companies, are reporting positive news in terms of a comeback in business travel and meetings. And it makes me happy to read about each and every one.

This time, according to a BTN article, American Express reported that its earnings from corporate travel sales ballooned year over year by 28% during the second quarter, and that corporate travel growth outpaced leisure travel sales slightly. In the same issue, David Kong, CEO of Best Western International, predicted stronger demand from corporate travel buyers who are now readying their RFPs to send out. He said that Best Western's reservations in the past 90 days have picked up by double digit percentages -- compared to where they were a year ago.     

Things are looking up here at StarCite, too. As I recently reported, corporate client RFPs for meetings services in our marketplace have grown 82% from January to May 2010, compared to the same period in 2009.

But I keep thinking that amidst all this good news, there's even better news: I'm more sure than ever that the state of business travel and meetings management has changed for the good and will continue to evolve. Travel, purchasing and meetings managers are buying smarter and adopting intelligent techniques and best practices to watch over their companies' budgets. This is the silver lining in the proverbial dark cloud of the recession and travel pullback.

And one milestone sign of the "new normal" is that the first students of this year's inaugural Strategic Meetings Management Certificate (SMMC) program will officially graduate at this year's NBTA in Houston -- just around the corner August 8-11. Personally, I can't wait to witness that event, having created and launched the NBTA's Groups & Meetings Committee and helped to spark the idea of a meetings management certification.

I hope you plan on attending NBTA, too. And if you bump into me, please say "hi" and tell me about any meetings management progress you may be making at your organization.

There's a new and very telling survey out about senior meeting managers, their strategies, average salaries and other important data. The story about it is definitely worth checking out on Meetingsnet.com because some of the numbers are eye-openers (at least they were for me).

Take salaries. Nearly one-third of senior meeting managers made $75,000 to $99,999 in 2009, while another 26% earned between $100,000 and $124,999. And as terrible as 2009 was in terms of the fall-off in business travel and meetings, most senior managers were still rewarded for keeping costs in line or finding new ways to strategically manage meetings expenditures: last year more than 61% polled got a salary increase and 83% got a bonus.

But as far as salaries go, what pleasantly surprised me was the finding that, while 37% are responsible for corporate travel and meetings, there was little difference in their compensation and that of those responsible only for meetings (only a difference of about $5,500). I guess this is a classic case of being asked to do more with shrinking budgets -- something that's pretty common place these days across all industries.

The survey, created by Corporate Meetings & Incentives magazine, along with the NBTA Foundation and Financial & Insurance Conference Planners magazine, revealed that just about two-thirds outsource sourcing for hotels and other suppliers, as well as contracting, and more than half farm out both registration and on-site logistics.  I was struck reading those stats because I just got finished swinging through Asia-Pacific, meeting with companies at a series of round table discussions on the value of an SMMP combined with automation (like e-sourcing) that's designed to reduce costs and labor associated with sourcing processes. (Don't take my word for it alone; check out this replay of a webinar on SMMP and technology! It’s just a matter of time before this trend hits the other geographic regions as companies look for new ways to reduce costs to better compete worldwide.  Cultural differences are one thing, but the bottom line is a major change management driver.

Most encouraging about this survey is the finding showing that just over two-thirds either have an SMMP in place now or plan to implement one within the next two years. And the largest percentage, 44%, implemented their SMMPs over three years ago, with the next biggest group, about 21%, saying that they've taken the plunge about a year ago. That shows growing momentum, a hopeful sign. Meanwhile, nearly one-quarter have gone global with their SMMP, and another quarter or so plan to.

I encourage you to check out this survey. If you're a meeting planner and/or travel manager, it could be a great way to benchmark your salary against others (Of course if you’re one of the lucky few whose compensation is above the norm, you may want to just keep that information to yourself!), and the findings also dramatize the incredible progress companies are making in strategically managing their events. 

With businesses continuing their march to 'globalness,' I stole an hour from my hectic border-hopping schedule to listen in last week on a Meetings.net webinar for international meeting planners: "The Basics & Beyond." I thought it would be enlightening to hear what some of the major issues international meeting planners are facing -- some for associations with growing and global memberships -- and how planners are strategically managing them.

I found the content extremely insightful, and, in my former procurement role, I’ve dealt with many of these issues myself, although much is always changing. It struck me, too, that many of the issues raised are worth addressing in a good risk management strategy. Indeed, the tactics of meeting planners are in line with cost-control strategies set in place by meetings managers at many organizations today. For example, there was a great deal of discussion around site selection. Leigh Wintz, who is Executive Director of Soroptimist International, a worldwide organization for women managers and professionals that works to advance human rights and the status of women, talked about the very savvy strategy of holding events in locations where large numbers of members reside. It's a great cost-cutting strategy, and often makes attending a whole lot easier for members. In 2008, as companies and associations were experiencing declining attendance at events, Wintz planned a major event in Taipei that drew a record number of attendees for her organization, and she attributed the milestone to the fact that 40% of members to her organization live in Asia.

International planners should also always pay a great deal of attention to changing rules around visa and passport requirements -- not just by the U.S., but also other countries. Eli Garin, CMP, and president of gmeetings, Inc., an independent meeting planner, stressed the importance of research on such matters before choosing destinations and managing events. "Every country has its own requirements," he said, citing one example of a client that required attendees to get Yellow Fever vaccinations before being admitted into the country. Among great information sources cited: the U.S. Department of State website and Destination Management Companies from each country. This reminded me of how important it is for meetings managers themselves to keep up with the changes, set policy and regularly communicate updates to planners. 

There was so much great information in this webinar, yet I'm limited by space in what I can talk about here. Here's a few more points, however, that I thought were great advice for both planners and meetings managers to consider:

- When it comes to negotiating contracts with international hotels, work with your organization's legal department to learn arbitration rules and to develop contract addendums that will protect you against cancellation and attrition fees (a strategy I've long advocated as a way to mitigate meetings risk);
- Familiarize yourself with cultural differences to get the most out of your experience dealing with foreign suppliers and partners (Hallelujiah! I totally agree.) Speaking about Asia, Wintz says the biggest cultural difference is that "realtionships still rule" and "face-to-face meetings are really important." She said that "while it can be difficult to build up relationships, the pay-off is great" and you get superior service. This has been my experience, too, as I’ve traveled around this region extensively and, without a doubt the service levels in Asia-Pacific are at the highest levels.
- Another gem: both Wintz and Koleen Roach, Director of Meetings & Conference Management at Securian Financial Group, who plans incentive trips, urged international planners to join industry groups (such as MPI) as a way to continue to learn and hone skills, and they gave great importance to attending events like IMEX, where hundreds  of suppliers representing myriad global destinations gather in one place. 

International meetings are complex and require a great deal of extra care and knowledge for both planning and managing.  And growing your SMMP globally to centralize planning, budgeting, attendee management, data analysis, payment and other functions is a great way to make the process easier for planners.

To learn more, here's a great replay of a webinar on integrating your SMMP throughout your enterprise!

This week StarCite's conducting a series of round-table discussions on meetings management with corporations and industry suppliers in the Asia-Pacific region, specifically Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne. I find the round tables (a concept we developed over the past year or so since I joined StarCite and have been conducting in the U.S. as well as the EMEA region) extremely stimulating and a great way to learn about companies' meetings management needs. While firms have much in common in terms of what they're looking for in an SMMP, they're all different, especially given the diverse geography and cultures of the places I've been visiting.

Clearly the Asia-Pacific region has a completely unique set of challenges and requirements.  Many of you know that over the years in my career, I’ve spent a lot of time in this region as a global category manager. So I’m acutely aware of the challenges and, yes, also the benefits of deploying corporate programs in the region. 

We had our first Asia/Pacific round-table in Singapore yesterday. And it's a miracle my motor skills were working for it (after a grueling 10-hour flight to Narita in Tokyo, then a seven-hour connecting flight to Singapore, and an almost sleepless night at the lovely Meritus Mandarin Hotel due to my body clock kicking in at an unwelcome time!). But no matter, because Singapore has always been one of my most favorite places to visit. In my opinion, it’s the cleanest, safest, most modern city in Asia-Pacific...with great service and excellent food!

Monday's round table in Singapore sparked a lot of interesting dialog and feedback on the challenges of deploying an SMMP in this diverse geographic region. For starters, there are the language differences, vast distances between countries (Think the flight from L.A. to N.Y. is tough, ha!) and the diverse cultural rules around conducting business. They all conspire to make it a daunting challenge for any company willing to take it on.  Fortunate for StarCite, we do have companies in the region that have deployed some elements of SMMP, but you can count on one hand how many have started down this road.  We've learned, along with our customers, however, what needs to be done in order to get a program off the ground and running.

The biggest challenge that companies have to consider when deploying any program in the region is cultural.  Quite frankly, more so in this region than any other part of the world. Specifically, one challenge is the unique power and decision-making capacity that administrative assistants have and control over meetings. If you don't get them engaged and supporting your SMMP initiative, you probably won’t succeed. Also, translation services and SMMP automation that supports different languages is not a nice thing to have -- it's an absolute must! Think about it: would any program you launch be successful in Japan if it’s in English and not Japanese?  The same applies for China.

I could go on and on with what I’ve learned over the years in the region, but that’s not what this post is about. What's fascinating to me is that, despite the tough road ahead for any company willing to take on the Asia-Pacific region, the results, if successful, would be stunning and highly visible to any senior corporate leadership group.

But the best thing of all is that countries like China and India, which both have the largest population base in the world, WANT strategic meetings management, as well as a better handle over skyrocketing costs of hosting events! They see the value and wisdom of policy, best-practice processes and consolidation. But all of that has to be customized to reflect their cultural values and ways of doing business. Otherwise, it won't be successful.  I’m encouraged to see the interest in SMMP and the willingness to support it, as long as it’s a culturally sensitive and inclusive proposition.

Next stop the magical land of Oz, by far one of my most favorite countries in the world.  Melbourne here I come!

Watch out "Jersey Shores," today I'm starring in my first-ever "reality" show at StarCite's 2010 Global Leadership Forum at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, FL and I’m not going to show my abs like "The Situation" always does, either (lucky you).

Actually, we're calling it the "StarCite Reality Show," and it's a panel discussion on meetings management that I'm sharing with some very seasoned and knowledgeable industry experts, including Tim Bone, Director of Conventions, Events, and Corporate Travel at Washington, D.C.-based Service Employees International Union and Lisa Kermode, CEO of strategic management consulting firm, Kerm Consulting.

Aside from getting a chance to discuss industry issues and the challenges of implementing meetings management in a corporation, it's going to be great fun, I'm sure, because we've actually got a couple of comedians from the famed Second City comedy team in Chicago to moderate. I'm sure there'll be laughs all around to bring a lighter touch to the very serious subject matter of how companies can add new levels of control and savings to their meetings spend with SMMP best practices.

By the way, our Global Leadership Symposium is a three-day event that draws senior meetings executives from clients all over the world, our supplier partners, as well as top industry officials. For example, this morning, NBTA Executive Director Michael McCormick gave us his perspective on the growing importance of SMMP and how important a cost-control discipline it has become to companies -- right alongside corporate travel management. According to a recent NBTA survey, meetings management experienced the biggest increase (67%) among corporate travel management trends. More evidence: the wildly successful Strategic Meetings Management Certification (SMMC) program, officially launched by NBTA last year, and which I was happy to have helped make a reality.

And, on the supplier side, we also heard some interesting trends from Julius Robinson, Vice President of Global Sales Intermediaries & Chairman, Innovention Network, at Marriott, for example, the integration of meetings with videoconferencing, as well as the rise of green meetings.

Tomorrow, I'll be up at bat again in the morning, this time talking about strategies to mitigate meetings risk -- which these days has really become a hot priority for companies, whether it's because they're sending employees to meetings all over the world (sometimes to some very scary places) or because they want to take the utmost care in protecting their investment by implementing strict purchasing rules or developing contract addendums that protect them from onerous cancellation fees. 

Sounds like a full schedule, I know, but being in Boca during the longest days of the year, being with customers, friends and colleagues, while enjoying spectacular
sunsets isn't bad either.

More tomorrow!

Different companies have different priorities when it comes to being good corporate citizens. Your firm may be focused on feeding the hungry, while another may be into cleaning up the environment (or at least committed to preventing it from becoming more polluted). Or maybe you're lucky enough to work for a company with a wide target list of how to help out humanity.

Regardless of the particular program, there are great ways that you can build a more socially responsible strategic meetings management program (SMMP).

I was very pleased to read an article in Procurement.travel's June issue focusing on this very subject, and it gave a lot of great examples of how you can build CSR practices into each and every meeting. The piece gives proper due to the NBTA's 62-page toolkit, developed last year by the group's Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, that outlines many areas of responsible travel procurement. And it also gave some great tips on being more proactive in building socially responsible meetings, including some super advice for dealing with vendors, including:

- Sharing your CSR objectives with hotels and other vendors in your RFPs, and including questions that will allow you to measure eco-impact; also, asking vendors to share their CSR policies in responses;
- Requiring all invoices be delivered electronically;
- Requesting vendors estimate their carbon footprint on the services they're providing;
- Establishing SLAs for green components in contracts -- with penalties for failure to meet conditions and incentives for hitting goals

NBTA's toolkit also recommends strong communication to employees about your company's CSR initiatives, for example, via attendee registration automation. Share details such as :

- Amount of carbon emissions to be reduced over a specific time period
- Amount of internal meetings intended to be reduced
- Tips on how attendees can reduce their carbon footprint at meetings

Overall, its crucial to strategically build CSR-responsible meetings practices and policies that planners should follow, for example:

- Creating a CSR policy where at least a minimum of components can be applied at all events
- Educating planners on green policies and how to incorporate them into eco-friendly events
- Budgeting for green policies and requirements
- Sharing reporting on green meetings outcomes with senior executives
- Establishing goals for meetings alternatives (where it's suitable), such as virtual meetings   

Even in this financially focused age of ours, when every meetings nickel is being counted, meetings managers can continue to push for incorporating social responsibility (both tactics and strategies) into their meetings program. We can save and be better citizens at the same time!   

At New York University's recent International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, it was interesting to see hotel executives gathered round in one session discussing business trends -- especially group business. The good news is that there is growth, and the surprising (and positive) news is that the kind of growth some are seeing is coming from a different place than their traditional bread and butter customers.
 
According to Hilton Worldwide president and CEO Christopher Nassetta, group business has grown recently -- and more quickly than was expected. As reported on BTNonline, group business for the hotel was up year-over-year by 7% at the end of April, versus a decline of 15% last November and December. But Nassetta said something quite intriguing along with those statistics --that the greatest growth momentum that Marriott is seeing is coming from small and medium-sized groups.
 
This comes as no surprise to me, as I've seen this growing demand for strategic meetings management solutions from small and mid-sized companies gaining steam for years. Just like larger companies, small firms want greater visibility into their meetings spend, better control over that spend via strong policies and the ability to harness leverage from spend information to help them negotiate discounts with hotels, airlines and other meetings suppliers. This is not an uncommon request among large companies, too, which have many small meetings that often fall under the radar screen of an overall meetings management programs.
 
The face of the future of the meetings business will look different becaue it will increasingly be comprised of smaller groups; and that's not only because senior executives at small companies are pressing for greater cost control around meetings, but also because larger firms, too, want to corrall smaller events into their SMMPs.
 
Both want more systematic methods of budgeting, planning, attendee management and -- increasingly so these days -- measuring the ROI of their meetings regardless of size.   

Every time I see those TV images of undersea oil pumping out into the Gulf of Mexico, I cringe. I get a bit crazy and frustrated because of the environmental damage I see that it's doing to the sea life and all those beautiful beaches throughout that whole area. But I also fear what the disaster is doing to meetings business at hotels along the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Florida and Louisiana (as if New Orleans needed another disaster) and Mexico.

I've heard anecdotes of hotels being affected, but now my fears have been confirmed about a more systematic loss of meetings -- now and for the future.

BTN last week reported that a majority of hotels on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico are now reporting meeting cancellations due to the oil spill. A survey of about 50 properties showed that 60% had group cancellations as a result of the disaster. That compares to May, when 42% reported cancellations.

What seems worse to me is that almost two-thirds said meetings for the next six months out are being cancelled, and another 21% are experiencing cancellations for events more than six months down the road.   

Our industry, especially the hotel sector, certainly doesn't need another setback like this, just as a recovery of sorts is mounting.

But every crisis has a lesson, and this one, at least for meeting managers, spotlights the importance of setting up best practices for a "Plan B" while sourcing. When your planners are setting up events, they should be guided by procurement best practices that encourage or mandate that they scout out a second choice that can be utilized quickly should such emergencies as the oil spill occur.  This should be written down somewhere, as in a procurement policy.

Of course, too, cancellation policies should include buffers against penalties by so-called "acts of God," in other words, something that can't be controlled by a hotel or the buyer. And, to communicate easily with employees who may already be attending a meeting in a danger zone, automated solutions such as attendee management systems can help via emails or texts.

I'm heartsick at what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico, but it just reinforces that we should be prepared strategically for all things that life and the meetings industry throws our way.

Even though stock markets are see-sawing around the world due to worries about debt levels, you'd have never doubted that the economy is roaring back if you saw what I saw at the IMEX show in Frankfurt, Germany, the trade show for the international meetings, events and incentive travel industry. Based on the size, scope and the record number of attendees at this year’s show, we're on the mend. (According to IMEX, 3,800 hosted trade buyers were expected this year, plus an estimated 5,000 trade visitors and 3,500 exhibitors from across the globe.) The booths and showcases were magnificent and impressive, especially those of the Destination Management Organizations.

A few highlights of the show, at least for me, were: 

- Attending a session on Global SMMPs, featuring Deutsche Bank’s Shawn Radek and StarCite's Tim Bull. Shawn, Global Category Manager, Meetings and Events, led a team to consolidate and automate the bank's business and meetings travel processes worldwide. A major component of the program was re-engineering meetings globally -- not an easy task, speaking from experience creating a standardized global program at Hewlett-Packard. The bank, automated budgeting, requests for proposals (RFPs), reporting, reconciliation and data modules.

- My friend Martin Sirk, CEO of the International Congress and Convention Association, moderated an interesting session on the impact of Icelandic volcano ash on global meetings, and he revealed results of a survey of ICCA members that showed 60% had been impacted significantly by the closure of European airports. In the wake of the disaster, Martin urged organizations to boost preparedness by reassessing areas such as risk management, financial reserves policies, communication strategy, and contracts and insurance. I totally agree!

- Chatting and catching up with John Pino, founder of StarCite, who regaled us all with his wonderful stories including how he came up with the name StarCite for our company (He tells the story best, so ask him whenever you see him.).  Many of you know that John is no longer with StarCite, though he is still on the Board of Directors.  He is now the founder of i-Meet! a social networking company with which we’ve just announced a partnership. The synergies between our two companies, as well as the customer benefits, will be great to watch unfold.

“Auf Wiedersehen,” Frankfurt and the 2010 IMEX show!

I've been traveling so much lately that I haven't been able to write about a recent Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Business Barometer survey that I saw that indicates good, steady growth in meetings. So, here goes:
 
In the survey, an MPI poll of its Industry Advisory Panel, a group of senior-level meetings professionals, found in April that 58% of respondents (about two-thirds of which were meeting planners) saw business conditions more favorable than the same time in 2009, with 25% calling them worse. Looking down the road a few months (which should be right about now), 65% foresaw favorable conditions, and only 17% saw negative conditions.
 
Meanwhile, two months before the last survey, in February, 43% saw conditions as favorable and 31% perceived them as negative.  A story that I read about the survey said that that was the first time since June 2009 that favorable responses outweighed negative reactions.
 
So, it looks like April's numbers are even better, and when I see June's numbers I'll report on them, too, here.
 
But the latest MPI survey also points out a rather strange phenomenon happening in corporate meetings that's still plaguing the industry. First the good news: The poll noted that more than four in 10 (43%) say domestic corporate meetings had seen the greatest growth over the past year. Now the bad: The same number noted that domestic corporate meetings took the greatest dive year-over-year, too. (This may sound odd, but unfortunately, I hear this alot from meetings managers.)
 
On a positive track, 27% said they've had an increase in domestic association meeting business, 11% said the same about international corporate meeting business and 8% and 6%, respectively, reported more international association and government meetings versus a year ago.
 
Overall, I'm encouraged by MPI's poll; it's good news for our industry, and I'm glad to see that there's been an increase in meetings activity. I'm looking forward to seeing if the advance continues.

But with a slowly filling cup, comes more responsibility to design and execute a good strategic meetings management program, to make sure you're keeping within budgets, staying on track with cost-control goals, eliciting senior executive support, addressing risk and other key strategic goals.
 
Now is the time, as we recover, to remain vigilant with our strategic goals! 

I was pleased to read in The Wall Street Journal that Congress took some action to reform or tighten its existing rules on overseas travel for government business. The new rules -- the first significant changes in more than 30 years -- were proposed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and they're a lot stricter than current guidelines.

For one, lawmakers will now be required to provide receipts for some (read on) of their travel expenses, and they will no longer be permitted to book business class for flights on commercial airlines under 14 hours. They're also now prohibited from taking aides along on overseas trips. These toughened rules are a welcome sign that good travel and strategic meetings management are not just expected of the private sector -- especially companies receiving government TARP financial assistance. Best practices like these establish greater accountability and visibility over spend and benefit your organization, whether you're a Congressman or a CFO.  

But just as travel, meetings and procurement executives are continually challenged to improve management of expenditures and reduce costs, so, too, should government policymakers continue to examine practices and strengthen T&E and meetings policies. According to Ms. Pelosi's new rules, lawmakers are still not required to disclose how much it costs to fly on business-class planes operated by the Air Force. The Wall Street Journal says that totaled at least $120 million in 2008 and 2009. Now we all understand that the security and confidentiality of certain government officials circumvent them from taking commercial aircraft, but where are the guidelines and policies that outline who qualifies for military transport and who doesn’t?  Better yet, is someone conducting random audits on all of these travel expenses and tracking policy compliance?

While strong rules and policy are crucial to travel and meetings management, so is enforcement and the measurement of compliance. Countless private-sector companies have discovered the power of tracking and reporting on compliance -- not just for controlling costs and spotting maverick spenders, but also because it helps them plan strategies to prevent future misspending.  

Congratulations to Congress for embracing tighter travel policies and cost-control -- a decision that positively affects all U.S. taxpayers! If you want to find, eliminate, track and prevent wasteful spending in your organization, take a look at this StarCite whitepaper on best practices for uncovering your hidden meetings spend.