Meeting Cards

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the latest issue of MeetingsNet to read about IBM’s success in bringing a strategic meetings management program to China. Paul Wakelin, strategic sourcing specialist with IBM’S Global Travel Council in the U.K., drove the eight-month-long process – and even traveled extensively within China to kick off the program in face-to-face events. MeetingsNet calls him a modern day Marco Polo!

I’m so happy for Paul; I had the good fortune of working with him – discussing ideas on how best to implement IBM’s SMMP in China, I shared with him some of my own experiences in global program deployment during my years at HP Global Procurement.  The Chinese marketplace is a unique one, in that all Westernized creativity and ideas for “out-of-the-box” thinking really doesn’t work in China.  The Chinese government has rules and regulations that all foreign companies must follow in order to do business in China.  That requires some research and sensitivities toward programs, supplier management, policy creation and adherence, etc.

In China and the rest of Asia Pacific, the value of a hand shake, and proper exchange of business cards and polite socialization is critical to any business-to-business relationship and development of that relationship.  While most companies today “phone in” or “Webex” program kick-offs and initiatives, that simply doesn’t work in the Asia-Pacific region.  In order to get compliance and support not only from internal stakeholders but your supplier-base, one must make a physical appearance, at least initially or at kick-off in order for program deployment to succeed.  It’s not even an option to “phone it in.”  I shared with Paul my experiences and lessons learned.  Together we approached his manager to get budget released for his trip to China to spend time reviewing his SMMP plans and launch with all his local internal stakeholders and most importantly, his local suppliers and NSOs.

His subsequent success in China speaks for itself.  I can tell you that anyone wishing to deploy their SMMP or any other initiative in China and Asia-Pacific is going to have to do it the regional way, as any other way is just not going to work.  If you want to hear Paul and I talk about SMMP Maturity, we will be doing a session at this year’s ITM Conference 2013 in the U.K., on Wednesday, April 17.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Are you expanding your SMMP regionally or globally? Tell us how you’re meeting the challenges that come with differing cultures!

Susan Dupart, Senior Director, Global Travel, Meetings, Corporate Card & Mobility for McAfee, and I, did a SMMP Case Study for the 100 or so members of the Bay Area Business Travel Association (BABTA) the other night in downtown San Francisco. 

I provided an industry and SMMP update and high level overview, and Susan generously provided her “lessons learned” on how she managed to sell establishing and funding of her company’s global SMMP, which is about to launch this month.  The audience of buyers and suppliers were all engaged in the presentation and discussion afterwards, and throughout the presentation there were a lot of nodding heads. 

The bottom line is that more and more companies realize they really do need some program and process that can provide key information and data around their meetings and events spend.  With supplier costs rapidly rising, a company can quickly fall behind the eight ball in terms of Op Ex versus their competitors who may have an established SMMP in place -- generating cost savings, risk mitigation and spend transparency at an enterprise level. 

Many thanks to BABTA President, Gary Murakami of MGM Resorts and Programs VP Mark Ziegler of NetApp for inviting Susan and me to do our SMMP Case Study.  Also, sincere thanks to Peter Gamez, VP of Global Sales for Commune Hotels & Resorts for the fantastic venue, the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco.

 

 

What a year! There were so many transitions this year, including StarCite being acquired by ACTIVE Network.  Now that the dust has settled and some of the hard integration work is starting to bear fruit, I’m especially excited by what our customers and prospective clients will experience and discover from our Business Solutions Group in 2013.  I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for the new year!

Many people seem to think I am psychic and can clearly see the future – they’ve all asked what I see forthcoming in 2013.  Let me give you my disclaimer by saying I really don’t know! All I know is what I’ve read and researched, so let me just share my thoughts (not predictions) about what I think will be on people’s radars for 2013:

1)     Watch the price of fuel – that is a clear indicator when and how prices for goods and services will go up or down
2)    Read and review all marketplace surveys and studies; it’s the best way to know where our industry is going in terms of spend, cost per attendee, average cost of destinations, locations with higher taxes and surcharges, etc.
3)    Watch what is going on in the direct distribution area, many have tried to cut their business costs by trying to bypass the traditional GDS and credit card models, but with the internet and companies’ ability to communicate and transact things directly – trust me that someone somewhere (probably in Silicon Valley) is working on a better mousetrap.  And if you don’t believe in viral adoption of new technologies, think of Pinterest.  A few years ago it wasn’t on anyone’s radar, today it’s one of the top 3 most visited web portals.
4)    Analyze and better understand your employee base!  For the first time there are four generations in the workforce!  If the average age of your employee base is younger now, you’ll need to figure out better ways to get compliance, adoption and communication of your travel & meetings programs.  Do yourself a big favor and research this area as you may be missing your goals and objectives by pandering to an audience that no longer exists!
5)    Pay attention to the rapid speed of all of the developments in social media, mobile apps and new technology.  The faster-than-the-speed-of-light way that this area is exploding will impact the way you do business, the way you manage your area of business and the speed in which you do both.  Miss it and you’ll be irrelevant.

So my friends and readers, I wish you all the happiest and safest New Year!  and I look forward to reconnecting with all of you in 2013!
 

G’day mates!  I recently returned from Sydney, Australia, where I conducted a SMMP Workshop session at the first-ever ACTE Australasia Conference.  The conference very successfully drew over 220+ attendees from, not just Australia and New Zealand, but other APAC countries, too. 

The audience was keen to hear best practices and updates on the state of the industry, which I gladly provided, but the interest level surged when I got into the building stages for an enterprise SMMP.  The audience was definitely paying attention, as evidenced by the excellent questions I received and responded to, especially when it came to discussing how rapidly the meetings and events industry is changing. As I've discussed before in this blog, social media, mobile apps and the internet -- coupled with cloud-based technology like ours -- is driving the change. 

If you combine that with the yearly increase of Millennials entering our workforce (remember this is the first time when we have four generations in the workforce), you not only get change, you get accelerated change!  

By the way, for companies who have offices or do business in Australia, the country has a very strict anti-money laundering law. So, if you are using a credit card for expenses, your company and your card supplier have to be complicit with the law.  In addition, just using a credit card will also incur extra costs because, in Australia, the merchant is allowed to pass on surcharges to the consumer.  If you don’t believe me, check out the hotel invoice after you depart from an Australian hotel. Not only are you going to pay for the convenience of using a credit card, but you will also pay a hefty foreign exchange fee for each transaction on the card. And let’s not forget that if you decide you want to be smart and avoid some of that by using cash, the ATM’s have a hefty ATM usage surcharge.

Bottom line is that sometimes you have to balance convenience and expense accountability -- even if it means paying these fees and surcharges.  Australia is only one example of how you should never take a cookie-cutter approach to creating a SMMP. A true SMM champion managing a global SMMP has to understand where the differences are and be sensitive to the needs of local stakeholders.

It's a pleasure to feature this guest post by JR Sherman, ACTIVE Network SVP of Business Solutions:

2012 has been a very exciting year for us here at ACTIVE Network, especially welcoming StarCite as part of our Business Solutions group. One of the great things about my role is hearing how our customers are leveraging technology to make their meetings and events programs smarter.

One of these customers is SEIU, a 2 million-member-strong labor organization active in the Western Hemisphere that had no controls around its meetings. To gain more visibility into meetings activity organization-wide and identify cost savings, SEIU implemented our StarCite Strategic Meetings Management solution and leveraged an experienced planning team for sourcing and contracting.  This included:

•    Managed Hotel Sourcing through the StarCite Supplier Marketplace and Professional Services
•    Attendee management and online tools that have streamlined meeting planning and helped planners better track attrition and cancelations – avoiding fees.
•    Meetings360 -- helping the organization keep track of all meetings costs through meeting cards and integrated expense reconciliation.

According to SEIU’s Tim Bone, Director, Union Conventions, Events, Meetings & Travel, “the meetings group’s service and reporting capabilities have reached a whole new level.” This increased visibility allowed Tim to identify new areas of savings, such as back-to-back meetings that can use the same location. Through these efforts, SEIU achieved a $7.3 million savings in 2012, which is a decrease of 48% from the previous year!

What’s next for SEIU? They are rolling out Meeting Locator to further help SEIU compare and select the best destination to hold a meeting based on where attendees’ travel is originating.

At ACTIVE Network, our goal is to provide our customers with the intelligence and data they need to experience the tangible and intangible benefits of leveraging smart technology for their events. I’d like to close with this quote from Tim, which is truly a great compliment for us:

“I needed a partner who could take us from a manual world into the world of modern data management technology.”

Download the case study here!

New figures out by American Express have me wondering if we're slowly turning back to a buyer's market -- even in the face of higher air and hotel prices.  If so, it may be time to start planning tougher negotiating strategies as part of your company's strategic meetings management program (SMMP).

What's got me thinking this? An article in The Beat reports that Amex cardmembers, while continuing to spend during the second quarter, pulled their cards from their wallets at a slower pace than in previous quarters. At the same time, global corporate travel sales fell 4% in 2012 second quarter from a year earlier. That followed a 2% decline in the first quarter -- which was the first quarterly reduction since late 2009. This is big news for the largest travel management company out there.  

In my meetings with customers and prospects, I continue to see cautious spending and stepped-up application of SMMPs. No surprise there -- as the nasty recession we've lived through has taught us all that uncontrolled spending wins you no allies with senior executives ... or, if you're a government agency like the GSA, the public, for that matter.

But this new data from Amex shows that a slower rate of spend is building over time.  That means more leverage for buyers, as suppliers step up their efforts to win over new business. More evidence: Carlson Wagonlit Travel's new pricing forecast for 2013. It calls for slightly higher prices next year in most regions of the world (due to demand outpacing supply). But, according to an article in BTN, those increases will pale in comparison to price hikes in 2012 -- with Asia/Pacific economies normalizing and European uncertainty a big issue.

It’s so easy in our daily lives and work to ignore or miss signs of a reversal in the economy or in business in general, but a smart and savvy travel and meetings manager knows what indicators to look for in order to gauge their sourcing strategies and leverage a marketplace advantage.  

Are you following business intelligence from sources like Amex, CWT and other travel industry indicators? If you’re not, then you may be missing your opportunity to negotiate to your company’s advantage. Remember, a well-informed buyer is an effective one that produces results.   Watch for the signs!

Need help negotiating and sourcing for meetings? Read this free ACTIVEBusiness whitepaper!

I’m 38,000 feet in the air and on my last flight segment from GBTA 2012 to home in Silicon Valley. What a super busy, exciting, challenging and great week for our industry.  

This year, GBTA had the largest numbers to ever attend any of their conventions. The conference general session speakers were definitely diversified from Seth Meyers of "Saturday Night Live" to former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The trade show floor this year was massive, and for once, I didn’t even get to see almost any of it, other than from the ACTIVE Network|StarCite booth.  There was new marketing materials and endless demos of our new Meeting Locator product that customers and prospects were able to view.  Then there’s the constant opportunity to network (which can be overwhelming for anyone who has never attended GBTA before).  

For me, my first day was Sunday when I and 225 other industry professionals gathered together to take the first Global Travel Professional (GTP) exam.  I managed to finish the test which was comprised of 125 questions in about 43 minutes, so now comes the agony of waiting until September for the results.  

On Monday, the 23rd, my good friend, Susan Dupart, Sr. Director Global Travel, Meetings, Corporate Card and Mobility at McAfee, and I, did a case study approach to SMM Fundamentals.  Susan has recently gone through a whole business case development and approval to launch the first SMMP at McAfee.  We used her experience and knowledge of going through that process and related that to the SMMP roadmap that has become the industry standard.  There was a full audience of travel buyers and
suppliers who asked excellent questions and got a lot from the case study.  

Then on Tuesday, ACTIVE Network, Business Solutions VP of Strategy Anthony Miller presented in a panel session on "Global Meetings Management – The Next Frontier." He was joined by an impressive group of industry experts -- led by Cindy D'Aoust, new COO of MPI International. Anthony held the audience's attention talking about the hot topic in events these days: persistent communities and audience engagement.

As a former President and CEO of GBTA, it made me proud to see the growth and success of the association.  But it also makes me incredibly sad to see the dissension and conflicts that are also taking place.  As a volunteer association, I wish, hope and pray that people would all work together for the common good and advancement of our industry.  It’s so easy to succumb to personal agendas and motivation.  The true success of any organization is the strength of the numbers, in this case the membership.  With membership and leadership comes great responsibility; so as everyone goes home and starts planning for next year’s GBTA, my advice is to think of ways that you can contribute to positively impact GBTA and our industry.  

United we stand; divided we fall: Truer words were never spoken.

What were your impressions of GBTA? Please share your thoughts!

 

Wow, I can't believe GBTA is coming up again ... official kick-off day this SUNDAY at the Boston Convention & Exhibit Center! I can't wait to see all my old (and new) friends and educate myself on what's happening and what's ahead in our industry!

As usual, I'll be busy taking part in educational sessions and receptions ... and, if you're looking for me, you can be sure to find me at the ACTIVE Network|StarCite booth: #2331. We're open for business Monday and Tuesday from 2:45 to 6:15 pm, and then again on Wednesday, from 9:30 am to noon. So, please stop by and say hello.

Have you picked your sessions yet? Here's a few SMM-related that promise to be stimulating:

-- SMM 101: Building the Framework, Monday, July 23 -- 9am-10am, Room 157C
Yours truly and Susan Dupart, Sr. Director Global Travel, Meetings, Corporate Card and Mobility with McAfee will present in this session. We'll give you some guidance on laying the right foundation for your SMM program. During this session, Susan and I will also point out ways to identify opportunities and risks, build a business case and implement an SMMP step-by-step through case study examples from McAfee.

-- Global Meetings Management – The Next Frontier, Tuesday, July 24 -- 10:30am - 11:40am, Room 159
Don't miss ACTIVE Network, Business Solutions VP of Strategy Anthony Miller in this panel session to be led by Cindy D'Aoust, new COO of MPI International. Anthony will talk about the hot topic in events these days: persistent communities and audience engagement. Joining Anthony will be Amanda Cecile, Assistant Professor of Tourism, Conventions and Event Management Department at IU School of Physical Education & Tourism Management; Mike Malinchok, President of S2K Consulting, LLC; and Roger Rickard, Founder of Voices in Advocacy®.

We're also co-sponsoring a very special night with our business partner Carlson Wagonlit Travel on Tuesday, the 24th, from 7:30-9:30 ... a night of of cocktails and music by the Boston Pops Swing Orchestra at Boston Symphony Hall. Maybe I'll bump into you there!

See you in Bean Town!

I've been extremely busy over the past several weeks -- traveling and presenting at industry events and shows. So, I thought I'd update you on my life on the road:

- San Antonio, TX -- I was at the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) Education Conference here June 10-13, where I gave a meetings industry update and a high-level overview of SMM. Liz Lathan of Dell presented on her recent SMMP launch. You can get more detail on this session in Eric Olson's Active Network blog (why reinvent the wheel?), but, to sum up the case study, let's just say that Dell, after four previous attempts to launch SMMP across its enterprise, finally persevered -- succeeding on the fifth attempt. I commend Liz and her team for their passionate belief and resolute attempts to do what they felt was right for Dell. No doubt, that passion and belief will drive success at
Dell.  One more thing: I was really honored when Liz said that she considered me to be the “Father of SMMP,” and thank God she didn’t say Grandfather!

- San Jose, CA -- On the 14th, I spoke at the Silicon Valley Business Travel Association (SVBTA) here. It sure was great to be in front of the hometown crowd. It's ironic; I speak all over the world -- but rarely in my hometown. I’m proud to be a Silicon Valley-er, and proud to represent the heartland of technology wherever I go. So this engagement was especially meaningful for me.  I gave an update on the industry including trends and stats, then brought in how procurement is increasingly getting involved in policy creation, compliance tracking and cost-savings reporting for more companies, especially now in Europe.  The reception to the presentation was very satisfying on many levels, and I made a mental note to not let years go by without speaking locally again.  This is indeed a tougher crowd of very knowledgeable and seasoned industry veterans. But, hey, isn't that what keeps you on your game?  Thanks to SVBTA President, Rick Wakida of Atmel, and Program Director Barbara Arena of Oracle,
for inviting me.
 
- Baltimore, MD -- Back to the East Coast for the Americas Meetings & Events Exhibition, which ran from the 19th to the 21st. I took part in a joint session by ACTE, Randall Insights and Active Network -- where we unveiled our eROI study. Lynn Randall did a great job of hosting the session, and we took a “gamification” approach by having three audience members compete for valuable prizes (my SMMP book and a Starbucks gift card) by linking key emotions to certain movies.  ACTE Executive Director Ron DiLeo then spoke about why we’re doing this important study and how everyone can participate.  I spoke about this study as the “Holy Grail” and missing piece of quantification, in terms of event effectiveness evaluation.  The audience was very receptive and we asked for volunteers for the study. We got at least a dozen inquiries from various associations, corporations and independent planners to use their upcoming meetings and events and measure their attendees’ emotional engagement.  I'll have more to say on this study -- but I'm gratified over the interest and support this project is getting.  It’s also great to see how Active Network is once again taking a thought leadership role in something that will benefit the whole industry and marketplace!

I have been particularly reflective lately. It may have something to do with it being my birthday month (no, not the big "Four-O," but almost) and that, next month, I celebrate 10 years with the same company.

But what really hit me was when I updated my "elevator pitch" to state I have been into technology for 30 years! At the tender age of 9 years old, I got my hands on the wonderfully whacky ZX Spectrum, an 8-bit personal home computer, which had just launched in the UK. Yes, I was one of those kids who cut their teeth on BASIC and spent many hours playing simple and infuriating games such as Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy!

Fast-forward to the present day. This month, I sat with my 15 year old son attempting to be one of the first to order the brand new Raspberry Pi - the $30 bare bones credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard (that's its size on the left!) . The Raspberry is attempting to get a new generation enthused about computing. And what will we do with it? Learn some LINUX and play Angry Birds, probably!!

In the last 30 years, technology has advanced massively, but has its use changed that much?

Rewind 15 years when I first started working in the events industry as an IT Manager for an events agency. A typical and much loathed job prior to going on-site for an event or conference was the mail merging and printing of delegate packs. And guess what, in this day and age of numerous mobile devices, have we managed to phase out this timely and costly process? A resounding "no."

So, has technology actually changed anything? As a technologist I often get frustrated with product releases that focus on the specifications rather than solution benefits. Each laptop I have owned has claimed more memory, faster processor, more disk space - but after a few months of using it, it still feels sluggish and takes 10 minutes to reboot! Similarly, as I meet with event planners from different companies, I hear the same complaints that I heard when I first started in this industry - their daily jobs involve so much manual cross-checking processes, reams of paper, multi-coloured hilighter pens and sticky notes!

I recently invested in a popular tablet device that allows me to be more productive on the move (like writing this blog whilst on a packed commuter train into London). It is often written that people are finding new ways of working with such devices that were not even thought about when purchasing them.

I say, this should be the mantra of event planners and technology providers. Surely, now we have the tools and opportunities to really change the way events are administered - using the freedom modern technology provides and no longer being a slave to outdated manual, time-consuming processes. By the way, are you waiting for your IT department to invent and deliver your miracle time saving process? The only way they can, and will, is if you demand it of them.

So, have a think about how you use your own "personal" technology, and start to consider how those same "freedoms" could be applied to your event management processes. You will be surprised what you come up with. Then, work with IT to drive change. Many will welcome the suggestions. Also, look at your events technology, and ask yourself: Does it allow you to work the way you now need to work? It is time to demand more!

For a great read on how meetings management technology can transform your work processes and benefit your organisation, click here.

Now, time to go and play Angry Birds before I arrive in London!

On Supplymanagement.com, a UK procurement magazine, I recently read about a global study of purchasing executives, and the results seem to scream out the need for payment cards to replace old-fashioned purchasing methods.

In the study, "The Cost of Control – Disrupted Networks," 550 chief financial officers (CFOs) and finance directors were polled. While 38% acknowledged that paying suppliers late was likely to negatively impact the performance of both parties, around 15% of their invoices are nonetheless settled later than the agreed date.

In the corporate meetings world, one of the biggest potential areas for improvement when it comes to
strategic meetings management (SMM) is simplifying payments and reconciliation -- in other words making purchasing and paying for services more efficient, less costly and more timely.  There are many savvy meeting managers who opt to channel all purchases of air, hotel meeting and sleeping
rooms, food and beverage and other meeting costs through a single meeting charge card. A meeting charge card eliminates the need to obtain purchase orders at the time of purchase for meeting supplies or services, and it allows meeting managers to conveniently pay a single card bill (and on time), rather than cut checks to pay multiple suppliers.

Esa Thila, CEO of Basware, which published the study, said, in the story: “Supply chains have become a complex web of commercial interactions and each organisation that is part of the network has a role to play in minimising commercial risk.  Finance executives are aware that late payments or erroneous payments will create problems for their suppliers, yet late payments still exist.”

Some meeting charge cards also help to improve control over spend -- using preset spend and time limits on individual cards. Further, advanced SMM technology allows meeting planners to go online to reconcile purchases against what was actually budgeted. The benefits? Greater visibility into actual spend, maximum process efficiency and higher control.

For a checklist of features -- including meeting card integration -- that will manage your meetings smoothly, click here.

It has been my experience that the most successful companies who have pushed change through or achieved goals in strategic meetings management have had policies that:
 
a - Spelled out processes and procedures that travel and meeting managers could follow

b - Were backed up with senior executive endorsement

c - Were strongly worded and had consequences for noncompliance
 
Now, a new survey by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and, sponsored by a major card company, which polled 115 managers with responsibility for charge card expenditures, shows that those maxims hold true for good charge card management, too.  In the survey, among those that captured 75% or more spending on the card, nearly 60% had a centralized, standardized global policy implemented across their entire organization, according to a BTN story about the survey.
 
What's more, at firms that captured the highest spending on their cards, about half of respondents said noncompliance is reported to line managers, and more than 30% said noncompliance results in revoked card privileges. Meanwhile, 20% or so don't reimburse expenses outside policy. On the other side of the coin, the survey said that among companies who captured less of their business travel spending on their cards, about one-third said there were no consequences for not complying with policy.
 
Clearly the winners in this survey were those who captured the most data, and that data is the prize for tackling wasteful T&E and meetings spend and negotiating better prices with hotels and other suppliers.
 
Some great tips on how to boost spend capture included in the article:
 

• Continuously communicate the benefits the T&E program brings to all stakeholders. The article said that a travel director from a "global 500 company" emphasizes the enhanced safety and security aspect that T&E card usage brings in cases of crisis management, as well as the savings accrued to the company and travelers; (Card spend data is an important part of a Duty of Care program because the data can be used to quickly find employees stuck in an emergency or disaster -- and bring them home.)
• Get influential senior management to back the program and to help in communicating policy;
• Integrate T&E cards with other travel tools to increase seamlessness for travelers (For example, integrate a meetings card with strategic meetings management technology -- for payment and reconciliation ease.).

 Are you capturing travel and meetings spend data with your card program? And how is that benefiting your SMMP? Please share here.

Credit card surcharges levied by Europe's airlines are becoming a fact of life: £6 per person, per leg "administration fee" charged by Ryanair for all cards except one – a pre-loaded debit card; 2.5% of fare by Easyjet; a £4.50 per booking credit card fee from British Airways, and a charge of up to 17 euros (£14.16) per person by Air Berlin.

In the U.K. the government has announced that it will ban all "excessive" card surcharges by airlines and others by the end of 2012. The UK regulator, the Office of Fair Trading, has calculated that travellers in Britain spent £300m on card surcharges for the airline industry alone in 2010, according to an article on BBC. Whichever way this is viewed, it means an increase on the cost of holding international meetings involving air travel!

I should  be clear here and say that generally there are no charges applied on corporate rates and higher classes (Premium Economy and Business), but charges do apply mainly to lower, economy classes. Still, this remains a problem for corporate travel, as more and more seek to save by booking in economy class or on low-cost airlines. So, whilst the base fare may be attractive, once all the fees are added in, is it still a “low cost” ticket?

My take on all this is that it is key for corporate travellers to comply with their internal travel
programmes, where one is in place. Why? Simply because where a corporate rate has been negotiated with an airline, the organisation is able reduce exposure to additional surcharges, as well as provide additional cover that a corporate programme affords.

So, if you are a meetings manager, take extra care to communicate to planners and attendees the importance of booking approved meetings air rates. Also, be aware of how your meetings budget is affected by these surcharges.

In the meantime, we can hope that the initiative taken by the UK government to protect consumers and business travellers from excessive card surcharges spreads across the EU.

Uncertain about other areas of meetings spend? Click here to read a StarCite whitepaper on how to uncover hidden expenditures and incorporate them into your strategic meetings management program.

My friend and industry consultant, Betsy Bondurant, CMP, CMM and President of Bondurant Consulting, offers some great, simple tips on managing the nuances of communication in a strategic meetings management program (SMMP) in her latest newsletter. I liked them so much that I thought I’d share with all of you:
 
Tip #1: Don't assume that those you work with inside of your company understand the nuances of the meeting and event industry. Before starting a conversation, ask if you can take timeout to explain some of the processes and define terminology.
 
Tip #2: If meeting rates are coming in much higher than a previous meeting at the same hotel, be sure to proactively share some of the reasons with your client (peak season versus shoulder season, sellers market, or pattern implications).
 
Tip #3: If you are sending out a report or slide deck that you will not have the luxury of presenting in person, be sure that all acronyms and terminology unique to our industry are defined and explained in the beginning or in footnotes.  
 
Betsy offers a lot of great SMMP advice in the Knowledge Center on her website; so go check it out.  In addition, Betsy generously contributed a wonderfully informative chapter ("Integrating a Meeting Card Into Your SMMP") for our book, Strategic Meetings Management Handbook, From Theory to Practice, which you can purchase online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and Target.com, or by clicking here!

Now, you can find the first true guidebook for developing strategic meetings management programs (SMMPs) on bookstore shelves. The book is called "Strategic Meetings Management Handbook: From Theory to Practice," published by Easton Studio Press and produced and edited by StarCite.

The new book, edited by Kevin Iwamoto, Global Leadership Professional (GLP) and VP of Enterprise Strategy at StarCite, is a revealing, in-depth look at the business dynamics and real-world practice of meetings management.  It features contributions from 11 meetings industry luminaries sharing decades of firsthand knowledge on how to build and execute effective and powerful strategic meetings management programs (SMMPs).

The book's 12 Chapters focus on:

- The origins of SMM
- Maturing your SMMP
- Coaching your way to full adoption of an SMMP
- Continuing improvement of your SMMP
- Globalizing your SMMP
- Making your SMMP a success -- even without a mandate
- Risk management from the EMEA perspective
- Integrating a meeting card into your SMMP
- The importance of technology in an SMMP
- The strategic advantage of combining management of transient and meetings travel
- Crafting a virtual meeting and event strategy
- Creating and leveraging a corporate travel department (CTD) to benefit your SMMP

“As companies increasingly aim to get a strategic handle on their investment in meetings and events, our sincere hope is that this book will be an indispensable resource that will help them every step along the way,” said Iwamoto. "The profession of meetings management has come a long way since its early days as a new area of travel management.  Today it is a thriving practice that is essential to business success.  To that end, this book is focused on the ‘art of the possible’ – how to create an effective meetings management program whether it’s in day one, year ten or beyond.”

"Strategic Meetings Management Handbook: From Theory to Practice" is available for purchase in hardcover and e-reader format on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Books A Million and from StarCite.

I’m officially celebrating the release of “Strategic Meetings Management Handbook:  From Theory To Practice.” Now I get to cross off this achievement from my personal bucket list!

On Monday at the GBTA convention at the StarCite booth, we formalized a dream by celebrating the unwrapping of our new book, a collaborative effort of 11 industry thought leaders. The chapters cover a wide variety of strategic subjects, including:

- maturing your SMMP program
- coaching your way to full adoption of an SMMP
- continuing improvement of your SMMP
- globalizing your SMMP (written by yours truly)
- making your SMMP a success -- even without a mandate
- risk management from the EMEA perspective
- integrating a meeting card into your SMMP
- the importance of technology in an SMMP
- the strategic advantage of combining management of transient and meetings travel
- crafting a virtual meeting and event strategy
- creating and leveraging a corporate travel department (CTD) to benefit your SMMP 

On hand to help celebrate were most of the authors, and we all joined in a refreshing champagne toast (see the pictures attached!). The new book is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Books A Million), and I want to thank everyone for giving me super-positive feedback.

In the meantime, I'd recommend checking out "Strategic Meetings Management Handbook: From Theory to Practice" because it's sure to become a popular go-to resource for everyone that buys, sells and manages meetings services.

Wall Street may be gyrating wildly from economic jitters, but it seems that, for the time being anyway, travel and entertainment spending is climbing, according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal.

In its article, WSJ cited an analysis of 8.3 million expense reports from about one-fifth of Concur Technologies' clients. The analysis found that during the second quarter of 2011, the average airfare worldwide rose 9.3% from the year-earlier period to $447, and, over the same time frame, the average hotel room rate grew 5.6% to $103 per night.

I found interesting, too, numbers on airline ancillary fees. Concur's data shows that the average entry for baggage fees was about $29 in the second quarter and the average upgrade was about $66. When employees put in for reimbursement for airport clubs, the average fee was $145, and that number reflects a mix of $400 annual memberships and single day passes at $50 each.
   
These numbers don't surprise me. After all, business and meetings travel are finally on their way up after a long period of decline, but what hasn't changed (and can't be found in the WSJ article) is the very prevalent attitude in our industry about extracting the most value from every dollar. You have to be on the trade show floor of GBTA's convention in Denver, where I am now, to see that. Or you have to be in the audience at one of the many educational sessions focusing on smart, savvy travel and meetings management strategies.  

And from where I stand, watching developments in the industry, new services are being generated daily to meet this need. Two that come to mind right off the bat: new clarity around tracking airline fees with a card-based solution by AirPlus and an efficiency-enhancing tool called Mobile Attendee StarCite introduced this month that delivers agendas, logistics, maps, news alerts and other conference data to attendees via their smartphones (in the process making meeting planners' jobs easier and saving on resources).

As an industry, we may be recovering, but we're definitely not reverting back to the bad, old days of misspending.   

Stay tuned for updates from Denver this week.

I'm so proud of StarCite's new book -- debuting at the GBTA annual convention next week in Denver. The book is called "Strategic Meetings Management Handbook: From Theory to Practice," and it features chapters from 11 of the industry's thought leaders. The talent and wisdom that's shown on the pages of this book is just amazing.

When first approached by our VP of marketing, Mary McDaniel, about this book project idea, my mind immediately went to the concept of a collaborative book of experts, and thankfully Mary agreed!  Based on that idea, I’m proud and pleased that the following sterling group of experts graciously agreed to be part of this labor of love. Our sincere thanks to all of them for generously giving their time and expertise to this book: 


- Linda J. McNairy, VP of Business Development at StarCite, who wrote about maturing your SMMP program
- Mike Malinchok, President of S2K Consulting, LLC, on coaching your way to full adoption of an SMMP
- George Odom, President of Strategic Travel & Meetings Group, on continuing improvement of your SMMP
- Louann Cashill, Manager of Strategic Projects at StarCite, who wrote about making your SMMP a success -- even without a mandate
- Amon Cohen, the UK-based specialist business travel writer, on risk management from the EMEA perspective
- Betsy Bondurant, Founder and President of Bondurant Consulting, writing about integrating a meeting card into your SMMP
- John Pino, Chairman, CEO and Founder of i-Meet, who wrote about the importance of technology in an SMMP
- Carol Salcito, President of Management Alternatives, Inc., on the strategic advantage of combining management of transient and meetings travel
- Debi Scholar, President of Scholar Consulting Group, on crafting a virtual meeting and event strategy
- Andrew Menkes, CEO and Chairman, Partnership Travel Consulting, LLC, on creating and leveraging a corporate travel department (CTD) to benefit your SMMP

I was delighted that I could contribute two chapters myself, one on how I became involved in developing the study and science of SMMP (when I was President of GBTA and direct travel manager members were beginning to search in earnest for solutions to better manage meetings travel), and another on taking your SMMP program global (with all the challenges and rewards involved in that endeavor).

I truly believe this book will raise the knowledge and expertise of meeting managers and planners throughout the industry. I really want to acknowledge and thank StarCite’s superstar marketing team (VP Mary McDaniel, Director Christine Ottow and freelance writer Don Munro) as well as our CTO Connor Gray. Without their tireless work and dedication, this book truly wouldn’t have been possible.  

By the way, if you're going to the GBTA convention, please feel free to stop by StarCite's booth (#1205) on Monday, August 22nd, at 5:30 MDT, to meet the authors and ask them questions about their chapters. And if you want to purchase the book, it is available on-line at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Books A Million.  Please check it out!

I just got an interesting survey report from my friend Rana Walker at AirPlus International, Inc.  It looks like those pesky airline ancillary fees imposed on everything from blankets to extra leg room are gaining acceptance among travel managers. So says a new poll of 101 corporate travel buyers in North America and Europe taken this summer by AirPlus. At the same time, the fees remain difficult for buyers to track, and that hinders their ability to better budget for them, as well as try to use some leverage in negotiations for perks like free access to airline clubs.

AirPlus found that more than 44% of buyers are not tracking ancillary fees at all, and another 37% or so are relying on travelers to manually list them on expense reports (as a means of keeping track of them). Meanwhile, only about 15% use technology that does the job automatically. 

But there's good news on at least one front when it comes to fees. Just under one-third (32.2%) say the fees have "eroded value propositions," a decrease of 5.5 percentage points from last year, and 31% said there has been no effect, a drop from 16.7% in 2010. Further, only about 24% said buyer-supplier relationships are more difficult to manage as a result of fees, down from nearly 38% last year.

In the travel and meetings management game, one of the keys to achieving better management is maintaining a comprehensive view of all expenditures. And whether it's tracking ancillary fees that you pay or those that you reimburse travelers for, tracking them will lead to better control and savings. Speaking from a technology point of view, the best solutions for tracking are automated. So, make it your job to investigate automated tracking options on the market now -- including card-based solutions and those that are part of expense-reporting solutions.  By the way, in case you are wondering, AirPlus remains the only card supplier that can report on airline ancillary fees and provide rich data and details so you can better plan and budget for this ever increasing revenue generation tool that the airlines have discovered.

Solid data and strategic moves that boosts savings and control will bring positive results to your organization and get you some extra attention from the ranks of senior executives.

I recently read an article on possible changes in Value-added tax or VAT, as the European Commission is proposing a comprehensive reform and simplification of the system. It got me thinking about what meeting managers should do to stay on top of the processes involved in VAT reclamation for meeting spend. 

For meeting managers who include international destinations in their meeting programs, the term VAT or GST (goods and services tax) should be familiar, as most countries charge VAT on travel services. But for the expert as well as the uninitiated, getting refunds on the taxes (U.S. travelers are entitled to full refunds for travel and meeting services) is incredibly complicated because each country has its own rules and procedures to get back funds.

That's why meeting managers should include some specific best practices in their strategic meetings management programs (SMMPs) when it comes to VAT, including:

- Hiring VAT reclaim experts who know all the details (for example, some countries require that your company register first for VAT reclaim before you can collect) and varying regulations of
different countries (for example, most disallow VAT reclaim on incentive trips) and who can do the grunt work in collecting taxes paid
- Meeting with key stakeholders in your organization from Legal, Compliance, Finance and other departments to collaborate on what policy -- if any -- should address VAT spending, receipt housekeeping and refunding
- Enlisting the cooperation of your credit card company to supply original receipts to VAT collectors
- Analyzing VAT spend to determine the countries with the lowest rates and whether that presents any negotiating opportunities

When it comes to VAT reclamation, be proactive rather than reactive. It's so complicated that hiring third-party help and seeking advice from other invested department colleagues will help you avoid costly mistakes and recapture taxes paid that would normally go unclaimed; those amounts (depending on the size of your company and travel/meeting expenses) could be quite significant. 

Doing due diligence in the area of VAT will not only demonstrate your commitment to your company's cost-savings initiatives, but it will also show your domain expertise and value to your company. Simply translated, it adds to your job security!