Meeting Planning Software

Tim Bone -- Master of Small Meetings Management

Friday, September 3, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

From time to time, I like to highlight industry leaders who raise the bar and achieve success in their meetings programs. Having said that, this blog post recognizes Tim Bone, director of union conventions, events, meetings and travel for Service Employees International Union. Tim was quoted recently in a BTN piece and, with stats that he provided, dramatized how important it is to harness small meetings volume and apply centralized planning, sourcing and other key meetings management strategies to those events. BTN was reporting on a panel discussion at NBTA, led by StarCite's own Linda McNairy, VP of Business Development and also Vice Chair of NBTA's Groups & Meetings Committee.

Tim recently began focusing on bringing order to the management of small meetings, but prior to that, SEIU dealt with them in a very typical way (I say, "typical," because I hear it all the time from meetings managers): administrative assistants would plan meetings on an ad-hoc basis. One of the major downsides to this is that assistants, while they're experts in their core competencies, are not meeting planning specialists, and are often unfamiliar with SMM issues -- from risk mitigation, to using preferred suppliers in order to maximize buying power, to standardizing contracts and addendums.

But Tim turned things around, first by collecting data on small meetings expenses from the company's purchasing cards, invoices and expense reporting tool. He then took that information to senior executives to show them the huge impact of small meetings. Impression made, Tim rewrote the company's meetings policy to mandate that all planning for those events flow through the meetings department. Tim was recently on a webinar we sponsored where he speaks openly about his outsourced program model, here’s a link for you to hear a playback. Currently, between his own internal management process improvements and help from dedicated planners, Tim is now saving SEIU an average 20-30% on meetings -- and that's just in the first year!

It's way too easy to ignore small meetings. But statistics show that meetings and events with fewer than 100 attendees represent nearly 90% of many companies' meetings and events mix. So, it's unwise to ignore the potential added purchasing power and control that a small meetings management strategy and process can give your company. Tim's work, however, demonstrates the value of capturing data even from small events and putting that information to good use for achieving real savings!

Compliance Best Practices for Medical Meetings

Tuesday, August 24, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

In a BTN article this month, reporter Michael Baker interviewed our CEO Greg Dukat, and among many revealing and interesting comments, Greg mentioned that we have many customers in vertical industries with regulations and requirements around them – for instance, pharmaceuticals – that have developed SMMPs and are successfully using our technology to keep track of data and abide by those rules.

I bring this up because I recently attended a Meetings.net webinar on compliance -- an issue that's very top-of-mind and critical to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries -- indeed any business that employs or contracts with Health Care Professionals (HCPs). The webinar was a revelation to me, because, as much as I knew about the various state (a total of 12) and federal reporting regulations around meetings (including the so-called Sunshine Act) involving HCPs, I was bowled over hearing details of the extensive burden of keeping track of and reporting on the required data.

The impact of not abiding to these data reporting rules is astonishing: the government can both pull products off store shelves and, just as damaging, stop buying the products, themselves (for the many government-run healthcare facilities).

No detail is too small to track and record for healthcare meetings. For example, the value of books, flip charts and invitations to attendees. A big spend category is honoraria that are paid to doctors and HCPs for presenting or sitting on panels. A valuable piece of advice given by panelists Angie Duncan, Vice President, Strategic Meetings and Project Management at meeting planning specialists VMS, Inc., and James Vachon, Associate Director, Millenium: The Takeda Oncology Company, was to make sure your communications strategy includes three stakeholders (attendees, vendors and venues) and includes compliance details. For example, on the subject of honoraria, doctors need to be clear on how much they’ll get paid (especially if they customize their participation and come late and leave early), travel restrictions and expense guidelines, expense reimbursement policy and any disclaimers that may apply (some states bar providing food and beverage as well as compensation). Communication should be consistent throughout the event life cycle, too. For example, in the case of attendees, aim for consistency in everything from contracts and “Save the Date” information, to on-site materials.

Other advice that made this a great session ranged from the logistical (providing sign-in sheets to prove HCPs actually attended and which sessions and meals they came to), to the more strategic (linking up with your company’s legal counsel to regularly keep abreast of state regulations for meetings involving HCPs).

There is so much great advice and wisdom from these two medical meetings specialists in this webinar (moderated by Sue Pelletier, editor of Medical Meetings magazine), and if you’re managing medical or pharma events, I urge you to see the replay.

Before I go, let me leave you with one key take-away expressed by James Vachon of Takeda: how valuable meetings management technology is in not only planning medical meetings but also tracking data. I’m proud to say that Vachon uses StarCite, and I’m glad to be part of an organization that provides sophisticated tools to make it easier for medical and pharmaceutical companies to abide by these strict state and federal reporting rules.

Want to read about compliance in action? Check out this case study of Novartis, a pharma company that has scored sky-high compliance on meetings air travel policies.

Make Room for Rate Increases

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

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.

Aim for Disease-free Meetings

Thursday, August 12, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

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.

Starwood Meetings Go Green

Friday, June 18, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

I read recently that Starwood has developed Sustainable Meeting Practices for its North American properties, and that the hotel chain will extend the program globally next year.

Kudos to my friends at Starwood for establishing these guidelines! In my power buyer days for HP, I had the privilege of serving on Starwood’s Global Corporate Advisory Board for several years, and I've always appreciated Starwood management's drive for excellence and thought leadership.

The hotel company's SMP centers around five components:

- Paperless Meeting Planning
- Sustainable Meeting Services
- Sustainable Food & Beverage Practices
- Impact Assessment Tools
- Socially Conscious Activities

And within those core components there are 18 best practices that will become part of all on-property meetings and events, for example, replacing fresh cut flowers with potted plants, offering sustainable menu choices and using alternatives to bottled water. As part of the program, Starwood even has a new Meeting Impact Report, an online tool that produces a report showing customers the carbon footprint of their event.

I’m really pleased but not surprised (given the corporate demand for green events) that Starwood has developed these meeting guidelines, as I know that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been on Starwood’s roadmap for quite some time now. You should also know that all of the other major hotel companies have some green initiatives in place and/or their own green roadmaps, and that is all good!

With everyone doing their part no matter how small, it collectively adds up in a big win for our precious environment -- and more importantly -- for future generations!

New Whitepaper Charts Virtual Meetings Benefits

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

There's a fascinating new report out by the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, "Hospitality Business Models Confront the Future of Meetings," that discusses how companies are increasingly relying on virtual meetings such as webinars, video technology (such as Cisco's TelePresence technology) and tele-conferencing -- especially in light of the drop in demand during the Great Recession and even from recent events like the Icelandic volcano eruptions.

I should tell you upfront that both the paper's authors are from Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group; Indeed, the consulting group produced the paper. The paper contains a font of data and statistics that clearly shows that both companies and hotels are embracing meetings automation. For example, it quotes Wainhouse Research from 2009 that says 76% of corporations polled are using room and executive videoconferencing now, with another 8% set to deploy it within a year; and 50% are using webcams with PC software, with another 18% planning to use it by 2010.

Since installing its TelePresence system more than three years ago, Cisco has saved nearly half a billion dollars in travel and registered more than $150 million in productivity gains. On the eco front, the company cut greenhouse gas emissions by 225,000 metric tons. "Coupled with policy changes on internal travel, communication and collaboration technologies enabled Cisco to reduce travel expenses from $750 million in fiscal year 2008 to $240 million in fiscal year 2009," says the paper.

Interesting, too, is the discussion around hotels increasingly recognizing the value of virtual meetings, in the form of TelePresence as a Service (TPaaS). For example, Starwood, Marriott, Taj Hotels and others are installing equipment in their properties -- sometimes in partnership with corporate clients -- to be able to take advantage of current and future demand.

But if there was one overriding thing that struck out at me from the Cornell paper, it was the question: "But what if technology-based meetings are deemed enduring substitutes for business travel? It is hard to believe that companies will be willing to surrender cost savings when viable alternatives have emerged to preserve them."

As I've said before in this blog, you may see this happen for certain types of events, perhaps a company's internal training sessions. But not all. Indeed, even the Cornell paper says that "not all meetings can be held remotely, and face-to-face meetings will certainly endure."

There can be no holding back the march of time and advances in technology, including virtual meetings, but nothing replaces the experience of face-to-face meetings, especially for complex negotiations with clients, finalizing sales agreements, recruiting for executive positions and building relationships with key customers or prospects (as the paper duly notes).

Yet, I don't need a whitepaper to tell me that; that's the truth...and I've experienced it.

Amex CFO Survey Shows Meetings Renaissance

Thursday, May 13, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

Consistent with other indicators and reports, the numbers that have come out of the new American Express/CFO Research Global Business & Spending Monitor indicate that business (granted it’s the “new normal”) is rebounding. The survey of 479 senior finance executives from the U.S., Europe, Canada, Mexico, Asia, and Australia, show that they're upbeat about economic growth. And better yet, many are planning to increase spending in areas that will support revenue growth -- like meetings.

For example, a majority (57%) say they'll maintain or increase business travel spending versus 2009. And here are some more details that point to a meetings renaissance:

- 27% plan to loosen restrictions put in place on travel to meet with new clients or for business development;
- 34% of respondents reported that they'll restrict travel for staff meetings or internal business. While that's a pretty big chunk, it's actually much-improved from the
81% who indicated they'd restrict travel for such meetings in 2009;
- only 35% say they plan to limit or cut travel to conferences and events; compare that to the 79% who clamped down on conferences in 2009.

But what I also liked about Amex's new survey was the clear evidence, that, in spite of plans to move forward on meeting spend, senior finance executives are trained on staying fiscally responsible -- even as the economy improves. In fact, a large majority, (85%), expect that over the long term their companies will focus closely on cost control.

I'm sure that CFOs who took part in Amex's survey are thinking on a much wider scale than meetings and events when they're talking about maintaining management disciplines born during the recession. But some of the same strategies that they mentioned are -- more and more -- now routinely being applied to meeting planning as part of a good strategic meetings management program (SMMP). For example, it's more important than ever that meeting managers show senior executives ROI for events. I hear this everyday from clients and prospective accounts -- especially since the NBTA study quantified that for every $1 spent on business travel the return is $15. What does the Amex poll say about measuring ROI? More than two-thirds (69%) say that, over the next two years, project and investment ROI requirements will stay in place.

Further, I know that companies are increasingly adopting SMMP automation to holistically save on expenditures across the meetings spectrum, for example, from budgeting and planning to sourcing, attendee management, registration, payment and data analysis. Similarly, in the Amex survey, senior executives are eying process improvements, such as 44% who say they'll investment more by upgrading technology systems; and 42% will invest more to improve administrative processes such as finance, accounts payable, and procurement.

The Amex survey provides new evidence that businesses recognize the power of meetings and they want to increase spend on events, but it also shows how companies globally have matured when it comes to managing their business and costs. And that's always a good thing.

Mandates are Here to Stay

Thursday, May 6, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

Mandates to use preferred hotels and other suppliers are here to stay; they're becoming less of an option in this "new normal" atmosphere of renewed -- yet fiscally sensible -- business and meetings travel levels. Many companies used the recession as an opportunity to cut costs and impose more policy compliance throughout the enterprise.

Of course, travel, meetings and procurement managers in every part of the world tell me this when we meet to discuss business or network at industry events. But a recent article in an online publication offered a couple of great examples of how some firms are re-thinking what used to be an "option" and applying tougher standards.

One company, Deltek Inc., a VA-based firm that makes enterprise management software, revamped its travel policy over the past year, adding "stronger language and mandates" and delineating which travel services provider to use, said Karoline Mayr, Deltek's Senior Manager, Global Travel Procurement, in the article. "We knew this was an opportunity to get language in while budgets were tight and allow us to achieve higher savings in this economic environment,” said Mayr. “Mandates are going to stick for us. We don’t see things changing for now and become looser as they did in the past.”

Meanwhile, health insurer Wellpoint reviewed policy language through its compliance committee and toughened it up. "We took away the grey areas and made the policy uniform throughout business,” said Cindy Heston, Manager of Strategic Sourcing for Travel, in the piece. If travelers don't follow policy, they don't get reimbursed.

Siemens Corporation, also interviewed in the article, implemented a system of reason codes for trips. That information helped it determine that a lot of its travel was for internal meetings, and as a result, many of those gatherings are now done virtually. Reason codes are something I am very familiar with, having used them for behavior analytical purposes while I was at HP. But they are most effective when you can modify policies to increase compliance.

Whether or not your company's culture fits a mandate environment, your travel and/or meetings policies could probably use a good review. Perhaps, like Wellpoint, you need to eliminate the grey, that is, firm up statements around preferred supplier usage, proper sourcing processes (e-sourcing) and other matters that travelers, meeting planners and attendees might interpret too loosely. Keeping employees constantly up to date on changes in policy is extremely important, too, and it helps to have a senior executive weigh in on the matter and give their endorsement.

Don't underestimate the support you can get from suppliers, too, by keeping them in the loop on changes. Suppliers have a vested interest in your ability to track and manage behavioral compliance, especially if it means improved market share support for their preferred program with you.

Want some guidance on how your meetings policy can help you gain more control of spend and improve your relationship with suppliers? Check out this replay of a recent StarCite webinar that spotlights risk and how to protect your organization!

Don't Miss CPO Leadership Summits

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

Being out on the road so much, meeting with corporate travel and meeting managers, and procurement executives, I never doubt what they tell me: that procurement departments are actively adding new levels of discipline to corporate meeting planning and management.

This is a trend that's long been building (Speaking from personal experience, before joining StarCite, I was a senior procurement manager with Hewlett-Packard's Global Travel & Meetings Team,where I helped negotiate worldwide purchasing and supplier strategies.). And every day I speak with more and more procurement folks who are making meetings management more strategic. Like travel and meetings managers, they're trying to adhere to corporate-wide, cost-containment directives from senior executives to get meetings in shape and within budget. They're trying to bring more transparency of meetings and event spend, and then report on it to senior leadership.

That's why I'm eager to talk about the the contributions that today's procurement executives are making at the latest Regional Chief Procurement Officer Leadership Summits -- in Chicago on May 6th and in San Francisco on May 20th. (StarCite and the Aberdeen Group are co-hosting this summit series). The keynote speaker in Chicago is Gregg Brandyberry, CEO, Wildfire Commerce (former CPO of GlaxoSmithKline) and the keynote speaker in San Francisco is Ron Carcamo, CPO at Yahoo!

What goes on at these summits? They offer:

• Leading research on operational excellence within procurement
• Best practices in supply management strategy, processes, and execution (including strategic meetings management)
• Unique opportunities for collaboration with other procurement leaders to address critical components of procurement and global supply management
• Recommendations from best-in-class procurement organizations that will immediately improve how you procure and manage meetings.

What I love about them is that they're very intimate gatherings with a small executive-level audience that encourages people to share their knowledge and experiences about procurement best practices.

If you're a procurement executive in a leadership position, I invite you to come and discuss global supply management strategies -- including for meetings and events -- and how to use them to bring more value and profitability to your organization. I hope to see you there!

The New Language of Meeting Professionals

Monday, April 26, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

Show ROI...build a business case for meetings...work with procurement departments...apply strategic meetings management best practices.

These aren't just what many corporate meeting buyers today are voluntarily doing to build and maintain good strategic meetings management programs (SMMPs). Many of them are now expected to practice these important tactics and strategies.

I see and hear about it daily with the meetings professionals I talk with at corporations and other organizations. To senior executives, these are not new concepts anymore; it's getting more and more common that higher-ups not only understand how these best practices benefit the company, but, once CEOs and others are on board, they expect these practices to be part of the "new normal."

But I did read with interest a Successful Meetings story describing how meetings professionals who gathered recently at an MPI event are adapting to this new, more professional environment we're in. For instance, Deloitte director Margaret Moynihan, who manages her firm's meetings, says her company is now training planners to become procurement specialists. Meanwhile, Angie Pfeifer, assistant vice president of corporate meetings at Investors Group Financial Services, said her firm's procurement department is helping by developing business cases for meetings and building more efficient processes.

And again, as I've said many times in this blog, good communication goes a long way in proving the worth of a meetings program -- even during the roughest times. In the Successful Meetings story, Pfeifer said her team has been able to educate senior management about how meetings contribute to the bottom line, preventing drastic cuts in events at her firm.

Bravo to these strategic-thinking meetings managers and planners. Perhaps the best of the article comes in a quote from former MPI chairwoman and independent planner Terri Breining, CMP, CMM, also a good friend of mine, about why meeting planning and management has morphed into its more strategic state. "This is business," she said, during an educational session at the MPI meeting on calculating and communicating meetings ROI. "It's not meeting-planning lingo. This is business and this is the language that we need to speak."

To Terri’s point, we ALL need to be speaking this language until it’s commonplace in corporate America and the rest of world commerce.

NBTA Toolkit on SMMPs: a New Resource

Thursday, April 8, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

Congratulations to the NBTA Groups and Meetings Committee for their new strategic meetings management in a "box" program. It's a comprehensive toolkit that aims to assist meeting managers at every size company implement SMMPs. The toolkit is now in development, but you can expect it's debut at the August 8-11 NBTA convention in Houston.

Back in 2003, when the committee coined the term "strategic meetings management" and, among other things, the first deliverable I challenged them to produce (I was NBTA President then.) was a white paper on the topic. These were huge accomplishments on their own, thanks to the hard work of very devoted committee members over the years.

But as with many things in life, people are resistant to change -- especially when they've got big tasks ahead of them, and for meeting or travel managers that, among other things, means identifying meetings spend organization-wide, persuading those who plan meetings to get on board the program and seeking executive support.

To guide those who want to create SMMPs, the toolkit will offer help by providing templates for writing a meetings policy "in sync with their corporate culture," according to a story in the Procurement.travel e-newsletter. Other areas of help the toolkit will provide:

- step-by-step instructions on setting up a system to register meetings,
- examples of "good" and "bad" hotel contracts to help meeting managers avoid excessive cancellation and attrition fees,
- instructions on the basics of meeting planning, such as sourcing and whether technology should be developed in-house or outsourced,
- links to meetings organizations that provide education,
- information on payment tools,
- guidance on how to communicate an SMMP across an organization.

I see this is an excellent resource and a complement to some fine educational tools out there now about building SMMPs and making them successful.

Even though I’ve expressed this publicly many times, it goes without saying that I'm still so proud of the numerous industry accomplishments and the resources the NBTA Groups and Meetings committee continue to pump out to help meeting professionals everywhere. Congratulations again for achieving yet another milestone!

Good Luck! Debi Scholar

Monday, March 1, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

When I think of Debi Scholar, two things come to mind. One is waiting for her in an airport-bound overheated black sedan in Dallas. But another, more significant thought is about her long, distinguished career in the business travel and meetings industry, and how much she's helped corporate and meetings managers build best practices.

Debi, who for 13 years was PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) Lead for Travel and Entertainment Expenses strategic management and cost reduction, late last week se

nt me and others in the industry a note to say she's decided to go solo and open her own consulting practice. Debi is someone that I have tremendous respect for and admiration. At PwC, Debi became a sought-after industry expert on both SMM and virtual meetings, and she emphasized the difference between SMM and meeting planning management (SMM takes an enterprise-wide approach to managing meetings). Many of you know her as an industry thought leader, and she was recently recognized by Corporate Meetings and Incentives magazine as one of the founding thought leaders for SMMP.

Now, Debi's embarking on a new phase of her career, launching her own independent consulting practice, and I want to wish her the best of luck, not that she will need it, as she is so well respected in this industry and is known for her in-depth knowledge of the travel industry and suppliers. She consults with Fortune 1000 companies on expense management categories such as airlines, hotels, meetings, ground transportation, corporate card programs, travel management companies, and entertainment assets such as country club memberships, venue suites, boxes and tickets. Debi is a pioneer in the face-to face and virtual meetings industry; she began using virtual tech a dozen years ago to connect distant participants. She was the first Meeting Director to have included virtual meetings under her direction back in 2002, and since, has become a leading expert in how to effectively drive virtual meeting adoption to reduce travel costs and complement or reduce face-to-face meetings.

There’s so many great things about Debi that I could share -- but I'm sure that many of you already know her well, as she's rarely out of the public spotlight. So what I will share is this: there’s no one with more passion about SMM than Debi. She’s a master educator and presenter, and her depth of knowledge is tremendous. I know she will do well in her new career endeavor because her name immediately comes to mind for people who seek the best consultation.

Oh, and by the way, I won't leave you hanging about the overheated limo story. Here it is: I first met Debi while impatiently waiting for her in a sedan waiting to embark for Dallas Fort Worth airport. We had both been on the speaker’s agenda for the annual Texas BTA Education Day, and I had presented earlier. The chapter organizers had efficiently booked Debi and I into a single sedan bound for the airport, and she was scheduled to leave directly after her panel. Of course her panel ran late, and my airport security clearance time was diminishing minute by minute. The sedan was hot, and I was getting cranky and impatient. The driver finally turned on the air conditioning because I threatened to start stripping to stay cool and dry. Finally, we both saw a petite blond woman with her roll-aboard baggage exiting the hotel looking like she was running late and looking for a ride, and sure enough, it was Debi. Long story short, she settled in the car; we introduced ourselves, became instant friends and managed to make our flights home.

Congratulations, Debi, and I look forward to seeing you in New York on March 15-16 at the upcoming NBTA Strategic Travel Symposium (I'll be moderating a session on Building a More Strategic Meetings Management Program, and Debi will participate, along with Tamara Gordon, formerly with Boston Scientific and United Healthcare, as well as Jami Stapelmann of Estee Lauder. You’ll get a chance to hear some SMMP wisdom firsthand; so see you all there!).

Strategic Meetings Management: Aim for the Whole Package

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

Because Technology sits in the middle of the NBTA's SMMP Model, I think some people in the business travel and meetings industry confuse it with the term "strategic meetings management." Often, in conversations with folks at conferences or even meeting with some prospective clients, I find myself explaining that SMM is way more than just the technology that allows companies to streamline meeting planning and budgeting, search competitively for suppliers, take care of attendees, enforce policy, analyze spend data and other important meeting management tasks.

To build a true, comprehensive end-to-end SMMP, you need to construct a meetings management strategy that reflects your company's values and ethics and lays out goals for areas as varied as cost-savings and preferred supplier relationships. And of course, you want to make sure that you have a policy in place that supports and enforces your meetings management program and is endorsed by senior executives.

My point in mentioning this is that it disturbs me to see very well-intentioned corporate meetings and procurement executives -- especially those just getting started centralizing meetings procurement and planning -- place so much emphasis on putting automation in place that they forget about the very challenging strategic tasks involved in building an SMMP.

That's why when considering implementing a meetings technology platform, it makes sense to expand the breadth of your efforts and make sure that you have the knowledge and know-how to implement a true SMMP:

- Do you need help implementing best-practices, such as strategies for optimal sourcing?
- What are the best policies, processes, usage goals, communication plans to get the word out about the SMMP to employees and elicit participation?
- How do you track and monitor spending?

In my travels, I've met with many executives that have rolled out failed technology initiatives without doing due diligence on how to roll them out effectively. There is always some degree of regret, and often those companies have to go through more change management by changing suppliers mid-contract. A technology provider has an obligation to their customers to provide consultative expertise, best practices, and a range of services. If you are just buying technology focusing only on price, you’re missing the bigger picture and sacrificing enterprise adoption -- your proverbial penny-wise and pound foolish scenario. Your technology supplier needs to partner with you and understand your business objectives, challenges and work hand-in-hand with you to ensure that training, adoption, risk mitigation, data reporting and all of those other important functions and processes are properly in place and operating efficiently.

If you're considering strategic meetings management technology, the best advice I can give is be thorough and consider the back-end support and guidance you'll need as well as the front-end of how the online solution will work. It'll make all the difference in creating a comprehensive end-to-end program, or what I call a true SMMP.

StarCite Annual Meeting News: Bookings Soar in 2009

Monday, February 8, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

Last week was StarCite's annual associate meeting in Philadelphia. It was my second associate meeting, and what a difference a year makes. Who knew that 2009 would be such a horrible year for so many people and companies. Although it was a very tough year, it was a great year for strategic meetings management and meetings management technology.

Meetings management came out of the shadows and stepped on to center stage and into the spotlight due to the scrutiny of meetings spend and ROI by the public and senior executives. 2009 was a very good year for StarCite, but it was also great for companies that wanted to get their meetings spend under control, implement efficient sourcing, planning, budgeting and attendee management automation and create purchasing leverage

with hotels and other suppliers. Our CEO Greg Dukat kicked off the meeting by sharing that StarCite had a record number of customer renewals and expansions (many with multi-year contracts). And we signed on a dozen or so new enterprise accounts, the names of which I can't reveal. One of them, however, is among the largest global companies on the planet.

Second, I don't usually reveal information like this in my posts, but the demand was so great among cash-strapped companies last year for new ways to actually hold important sales and corporate events (despite misguided public criticism of events as wasteful) that there was a mass embrace of strategic tools, for example, e-sourcing. As a result, StarCite far outpaced its operational objectives for meetings bookings in 2009 (The rate of increase from 2008 was in the triple digits, and that's all the detail I can share without getting in trouble.).

Aside from higher demand, what drove this growth? The company also made a number of strategic partnerships to bring new functionality and enhancements to our technology during 2009. For example, buyers can now take virtual tours of many of the 93,00-plus properties in StarCite's Marketplace through our deal with VFM Leonardo. That means companies are saving money by skipping in-person site inspections. Another example: to bring the benefits of automated meeting planning and management technology to independent meeting planners and travel agents, we aligned with the meetings marketing organization Acclaim Meetings. And Experient, one of the world’s largest meeting planning firms, last year agreed to use our platform for meetings management, international sourcing and attendee management.

Again, I can't reveal specifics, but expect more key agreements with business partners in 2010 – all with one thing in mind: to bring new value and functionality to our platform. And that'll give customers yet more control of meetings costs and buying power.

At the end of the day, the secret to any company’s success is its people. Greg Dukat believes in that, and as he and I have discussed over many a meal, if we celebrate the successes of our people, success will also result for the company. At the meeting, we gave recognition to our top performers, and I was so happy watching them get their dues in front of their peers and management. It was exciting seeing the progress all the talented StarCite people around the world made possible, especially given the trough the industry was in in 2009.

Despite the challenges, our company was fortunate and managed to pull out a great year -- thanks to our associates, our partners and most importantly, our customers. We have, and I’m not exaggerating, the best quality customers in the world.

So a big congratulations to all of our top performers, and you can bet I will keep you updated on our progress during 2010, too!

Even Hotel Execs Adopt Spartan Meetings

Monday, February 1, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

USA Today has provided a unique look at what went on at the recent annual Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), a very insider-type hotel industry meeting attended by hotel CEOs, developers, owners, investors, analysts and others. I found the story really interesting because, for one, it gave a glimpse of how lodging leaders really expect 2010 and 2011 to progress, and also, it provided a first-hand account of how these executives are still hurting from public criticism of meetings.

Reporter Barbara De Lollis interviewed Choice Hotels CEO Steve Joyce, who said that, given the dramatic falloff in rates and revenue last year, the mood of the conference was "guardedly optimistic" because stronger growth is expected this year -- but not as robust as what's hoped for in 2011.

But what really caught my attention in the interview was the pervasiveness of the sense of a new "appropriateness" at corporate meetings. Even among these folks, "there were parties but they were scaled back and a little less boisterous than years past," said Joyce. "I would say there was a sense of appropriateness - a kind of speed regulator on the fun part of it. It was very business-oriented. At a lot of dinner receptions, a lot of the discussion was on return on investment for their travel in going to this meeting."

Joyce said hotel executives are still very much aware of the "AIG effect," and he noted that he got healthy applause when he said the government was wrong in its criticism of TARP recipients holding meetings in luxury hotels.

Frankly, I think the new buttoned-down behavior at meetings -- all business, little or no play -- is what's needed for a while, if we're to get beyond this criticism. Incentive meetings are a different story; those are meant to reward top-performing employees and, naturally, some serious fun (a round of golf, special dinners, glamorous outings) is expected for the event to be successful.

But for most corporate events, like it or not, our industry is under a microscope, and the media, government, stockholders and the public are watching. This is not just me talking, either. Meetings industry polls confirm this trend! If your company is a TARP recipient (or just under C-level orders to cut meeting spend), here's a question you should be asking yourself: Does my current meetings policy reflect this new Spartan atmosphere? Do you need to do some fine-tuning to set spending limits and delineate the types of parties or events that should be allowed for various types of meetings? Don't forget, too, to communicate your changes to company planners and their supervisors. And if you're using meeting planning and budgeting automation, make sure you put those tools to work to automatically snag maverick spenders, rein in those with visions of grandeur and, via attendee management, communicate policy changes to attendees!

Remember: you're in control, and control is what's needed to make today's meetings workable -- and acceptable. Here's more guidance on how to build strong meetings policies and other best practices for an SMMP.

Congrats to the VIP's of SMM

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 by Jessie Berry

Strategic Meetings Management has finally come of age within the meetings and events industry, partly due to the economic pressures of the recession which encouraged companies to gain visibility and control of their meetings and meetings spend. Luckily, SMM was right there to guide them and ensure that their meetings process was streamlined, efficient, and able to achieve maximum cost savings. In addition to the economy, strategic meetings management has emerged thanks to several industry pioneers. Corporate & Incentive Travel magazine has recognized the success of SMM and highlighted these four key players in its rise from luxury to necessity.

The magazine touted Kari Kesler, Debi Scholar, Tracy Wilt, and StarCite’s own Kevin Iwamoto as SMM’s “Movers and Shakers” in the wake of the first ever Strategic Meetings Management Certification course, completed this November by 20 industry professionals. A bit about each “VIP” of SMM:

• Kari Kesler was involved in the birth of SMM and saw the certification course come to fruition through the efforts of NBTA. She was honored to actually teach the course and encourages meeting professionals to get certified, as SMM is the future of the industry.
• Debi Scholar is a sought-after industry expert on both SMM and virtual meetings and emphasizes the difference between strategic meetings management and meeting planning management, the main difference being that SMM takes an enterprise-wide approach to managing meetings.
• Tracy Wilt, manager of global travel & meetings management for Xerox Corporation, is a leading force in the meetings industry and suggests building a strong business case for SMM to guarantee its success within your company.
• Kevin Iwamoto, VP of Enterprise Strategy for StarCite, was a pioneer in the SMMP evolution and helped create the SMMC program alongside NTBA. He strives to raise awareness about the benefits of SMM and help companies realize the disadvantage they’re putting themselves in if they don’t adopt and implement a strategic meetings management program. Iwamoto is dedicated to evangelizing the concept of SMMP and to helping companies deploy the program globally.

These four industry leaders have paved the way for SMM to take hold within the industry and really begin to make an impression on companies’ bottom lines. Between their dedication to the program as well as the economic constraints companies have been facing, the industry is now enjoying the maturity of strategic meetings management. Congratulations to the VIPs of SMM; you have truly shaped and changed our industry for the better!

If you would like to know more about strategic meetings management, check out this webinar or this whitepaper on building a business case for SMMP, or click here for an overview of SMM.

FutureWatch: Slugging it Out with Fewer Dollars, Staff

Friday, January 15, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

Doing more with fewer dollars and less support staff is a common theme in the meetings management industry these days (Actually, this is pretty common among most industries -- at least judging from complaints I hear from friends in other lines of business.). So I wasn't surprised to read a new FutureWatch study that found one in five corporate planners polled are doing more with less, and 14% are concerned about a lack of staff and too much responsibility.

FutureWatch, an annual study by Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and American Express, says that these issues have replaced last year's worries over the economy and falling attendance. So the realities have sunk in, and we're dealing with them, says a summary of FutureWatch, which I read about on management.travel.

But the good news for our industry overall is that the 356 corporate planners polled are expecting nearly 4% more meetings and and 11.7% more participants at their events this year versus last (although, ironically, that'll mean even more work for the already over-stretched). And a good amount of both suppliers (41%) and planners (28%) interviewed expect industry conditions to improve gradually this year.

And if you don't already know this from your own experience, meetings will not return to the way it was before the Great Recession, says the survey. The majority of planners (967 overall meeting planners were polled) expect this year to concentrate on more stringent budget controls, improved operating efficiencies and closer attention to value and ROI of meetings, among other things.

Those are good developments and reflect increasing awareness of strategic meetings management and the planning, budgeting and meetings management software behind it that drives results. Another bonus from technology is that it actually cuts planners’ and managers’ workloads – as it automates routine sourcing, budget-making, attendee management and other tasks.

So, from my perspective, the main message of this year's FutureWatch is that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And even though we've got our hands full, we as an industry have come to a healthier respect for doing meetings right – the managed way!

Check out this whitepaper on how meetings technology can reduce your work load and help you better manage meetings, too.

Cloud Meetings Deserve Management, Too

Friday, December 18, 2009 by Kevin Iwamoto

Ever see yourself conducting business meetings on a cloud, yes, a cloud?

The growing trend of cloud computing, which enables companies to stop pouring resources into internal servers and instead run applications and databases on the web (accessible virtually from any computer), is helping organizations cut down on the need to travel. According to a recent article I came across, 34,000 municipal employees of the city of Los Angeles will now be using cloud-based Google Apps (e.g., Gmail, Google Docs and other collaborative programs) in place of software previously loaded on their internal servers.

If this sounds like it's getting too techie for a strategic meetings management post, let me quickly make the link to how this is going to affect the city's need for meetings. In the story, Randi Levin, Chief Technology Officer for the city, said that, by going with Google's suite, she "expects L.A. employees to benefit from instant messaging, video conferencing, and simultaneous review and editing of documents by multiple people."

Let's face it; the money tap is still twisted tight in this recession, and companies are looking every which way to avoid expenditures on "unnecessary" meetings, while still spending for critical face-to-face time with potential and current customers. So, now, in addition to virtual technology such as video conferencing, teleconferencing and TelePresence, organizations are turning to cloud-based apps, such as Google's, to help cut down on the need to travel for meetings.

OK, so now you can meet on the cloud, but regardless of the technology you use, meetings managers need to make sure they're incorporating these types of events into policy, for instance, addressing the circumstances for which they're appropriate. And, as I've said before here, like all events, it would be wise to have the strategy in place to measure a cloud conference's ROI.

Technology + Meeting Planners + Hotels= Success

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 by Administrator

Do the math: by now, it is well understood that technology is an integral part of the meeting planning process. For any company to be more efficient, cost effective, and ultimately successful, technology must be employed to ensure productivity and results. In fact, nearly one third of meeting planners surveyed in 2008 reported that technology is crucial for them to perform their jobs more effectively.

The one area where technology has been especially beneficial for meeting planners is RFP’s, particularly when it comes to a standardized RFP that can save countless hours of the time and energy spent rekeying data in different hotel websites. Not only are planners able to do their jobs more efficiently, but hotels are able to conduct better business with complete, informative RFP’s because no critical data is lost in the process.

The bottom line: for the meetings, events, incentives, and hotel industries, technology is not being used to replace human interaction or eradicate the relationship between planners and hotels. On the contrary, technology is simply being applied to enable these entities to do their jobs more seamlessly, effectively, and efficiently (not to mention the resulting savings and boost in profits as a result.) As we progress into 2010, we can look positively to the growth and success of the meetings, events, and hotel industries. Happy new year!

Everybody Wins When Firms Centralize Meetings Management

Monday, October 26, 2009 by Kevin Iwamoto

I saw a story recently in Meeting News that summarized findings of a new survey. The magazine polled 225 event planners and found that a majority (55%) have either already bolstered their negotiating position with hotels by consolidating their meetings expenditures -- or plan to do so within the year. The survey also found that a significant number of planners (just more than one-third) are "lumping in transient and incentive spending to add negotiating leverage."

These are top-notch meetings management best practices, and I believe it's the result of more companies today centralizing the management of meetings expenditures.

Such a strategy often requires meeting managers to collaborate internally among different departments, as well as adopt system-wide strategic meetings management technology that sets up central and automated sourcing, attendee management and other functions.

As an example, Meeting News cited Deutsche Bank's two-year effort to globalize its meetings program, noting that it has linked its formerly fragmented meeting planning and procurement operations and adopted StarCite technology to handle centralized sourcing, among other things.

While these survey findings may seem like good news only for buyers, it's a positive for suppliers, too, because hotels that previously only made deals for a company's transient business now find themselves increasingly being considered for group commitments, too.
Everybody wins when companies practice good meetings management.

Often, though, putting together an organization-wide holistic meetings management program is fraught with challenges, including drumming up senior executive support, addressing resistance to change and choosing the right technology. But I'm happy to see that more and more firms are recognizing the pay-off and forging ahead.