Meeting Planning Technology

Attention meeting managers! It looks like it’s time to update meetings travel budgets and strategies again. 

The Global Business Travel Association has just upped its prediction for where business and meetings travel spend will go in 2013. Now, the GBTA sees a 5.1% increase in spending this year versus last year. That’s higher than the 4.6% 2013 growth it forecast back in January.

For meetings travel, the GBTA sees a 6% rise in spending in 2013, up from a late 2012 forecast of 5.2%.

Why the increase? “Business confidence is up, and the need to compete in the global economy is driving companies to invest in business travel," noted GBTA executive director and COO Michael W. McCormick.

Are you increasing spend in meetings travel? Let us know!

We’re staying on top of the latest meeting trends, too. For a look at how the meeting planning landscape has changed since 2008 – including smaller and shorter meetings, as well as less lead time for planning events  – read “Event Trends: 2008-2012, ACTIVE Network’s study of eRFP patterns in five key meetings destinations across the U.S.

Additional Resources:

Article: Business Travel News

Article: Meetings & Conventions magazine

Recently, I saw an interesting blog posting from Sue Pelletier’s face2face blog (a frequent stop for me).

Sue featured some great tips and insights from Scott Steinberg, a top-ranked international event speaker, and best-selling expert on leadership and innovation, and the head of strategic consultancy TechSavvy Global. They were very useful tips to consider about effectively using technology for event planning.  Scott’s comments and advice resonated with me because I, myself, have often lectured and presented on the same things to diverse industry audiences.

I won’t steal Scott’s thunder as you can read his comments via the link above, but basically:

1. Design programs using mobile devices:  The ship has already sailed on this and the future belongs to mobile devices—Gartner predicts more than $1.2 billion in smartphone and tablet sales in 2013 alone;
2. Leverage Cloud Computing Solutions:  So many amazing cloud based solutions that can help plan efficiently – why wouldn’t you leverage this?
3. Capture and Share Content:  If you’re thinking that video filming content and traditional AV solutions are too expensive to use, think again!  With the advent of HD in smartphones, tablets, etc., you can produce high quality video clips online at little to no cost.
4. Capitalize on Inbound Marketing:  With so much availability of social media avenues out there and relevance engines, again, why wouldn’t you use them to market your event?
5. Invite More Audience Participation:  Use gamification, social media, mobile apps, and other ways to engage your audience.  The number one complaint feedback from almost every conference, meeting and event is the “Death by PowerPoint” one-way presentations…time for an industry-wide change and today’s technology and new generation workforce is forcing this rapid change!

What kind of event management solutions are you using that incorporate the above technology into meeting planning? Please share here.

Take a look at this free whitepaper from ACTIVE Network: 5 Ways Mobile Technology is Re-shaping Events

With tax time just around the corner, we’ve got deadlines and compliance on our minds. Speaking of compliance, are you still trying to make sense out of the “Sunshine Act” and what it means to you and your medical meetings program? To help, ACTIVE Network presents a new tip sheet on 5 ways you can successfully incorporate new controls and processes in order to comply with the federal legislation. In this blog, I’ll spotlight each of the tips in a series of five monthly posts.

Tip #1: Know the details of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act.

First some quick facts:

• THE WHAT -- The Physician Payments Sunshine Act, Section 6002 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, requires drug, medical device, biologics and medical supply manufacturers operating in the U.S. or its territories, possessions and commonwealths whose products are covered by federally-backed medical insurance, to track and publicly report what they spend on health care providers (HCPs) at their events.
• THE WHY – The Sunshine Act was passed to make the relationships between physicians and pharmaceutical and medical device companies more transparent.
• THE WHEN -- Beginning on Aug. 1, 2013, you will be required to collect information on all payments or transfers of value of more than $10 to physicians and teaching hospitals. On March 31, 2014, you must report the data to the government.

Knowing the what, why and when of the Sunshine Act sets you on firm ground for beginning to set in place programs and procedures for collecting and reporting data … in short, staying compliant.

Surprisingly, there’s still a lot of mystery surrounding the Sunshine Act out there. More than half of the 1,025 physicians surveyed in January by global communications technology company MMIS Inc. and healthcare information services company Health Data Solutions didn’t know that the Sunshine Act requires pharmaceutical and medical device companies to track any payments or “transfers of value” to physicians and teaching hospitals as of August 1^st.

Do you know why it’s so important to comply?

If you don’t, the penalties can be brisk (If you knowingly fail to report, you could be fined up to $1 million). Familiarizing yourself with the fine print can also save you a lot of unnecessary work. For example, the rule exempts buffet meals, snacks, soft drinks, coffee, or other refreshments available to everyone (non-healthcare providers) at an event. Individually plated meals must still be reported. Also, continuing medical education providers (CMEs) are exempt from reporting on accredited or certified speakers.

Up next month: Step #2: Find out how much of your meeting spend is related to health care providers.

Are you ready for the Sunshine Act? Tell us about steps you’ve implemented to comply.

We’ve created a quick tip sheet, titled Five Ways to Comply with The Sunshine Act for Medical Meetings, for your reference and can easily be shared with others.

Other Resources:

Text of Legislation: S.301 — Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2009

I found it interesting that according to a recent article in Fox Business News, The job of Meeting, Convention and Event Planner is listed as one of the top "Eight Secure Jobs" to land this spring and beyond. 

The profession is expected to grow 44% from now until 2020.  You need a Bachelor’s degree, and salaries average around $45K -- although we all know that professionals with medium- to senior-level experience can earn some serious dollars. Check out the article here.

My nephew who recently graduated from college is experiencing some challenges in finding his first job.  I’m forwarding him this article link and am going to “encourage” him to pursue a meeting planning job to gain valuable experience while he decides what he wants to do with the rest of his life.

I was fortunate to attend Macworld/iWorld this year, and imagine my delight in registering our group when we encountered no lines and literally had badges in a minute.  Enjoy reading the account below of the smooth experience at Macworld/iWorld!

How annoying is it to be stuck on a conference registration line that’s so long you miss the first session you'd planned to attend?

For years, long snake-like lines were an issue for Macworld/iWorld, the ultimate annual iFAN event. But, in February 2013, attendees, speakers and exhibitors checked in five times faster than in previous years. How’d that happen? Event organizers IDG World Expo used ACTIVE Network’s Conference^TM onsite Scan and Go technology and expert advice from ACTIVE’s a Professional Services team.

First Impressions: Event Registration Experience

Why is improving the registration experience so important? Because that’s what the event industry wants: 88% of event producers, exhibitors and event marketers interviewed in a study, The Connected Event: Insight into 2012 Event Technology Trends, said improving the attendee experience was “important or very important. “

Look at other ways Macworld/iWorld benefited:

• Dashboards and timed reports enabled each stakeholder – from marketing, to registration to general management – to quickly access the info they needed to optimize the show;
• One online self-serve portal and iOS lead retrieval made life easier for exhibitors. The Exhibitor Resource Center replaced four separate exhibitor solutions allowing exhibitors to sign-up, manage their orders and staff and access leads.
• Centralized content and data management reduced headaches for staff. Speaker submissions and exhibitor information were easily collected online and flowed directly into the online event agenda and Mobile App.

Read more about how ACTIVE Network improved the attendee experience and boosted efficiency for Macworld/iWorld show management and exhibitors.

Resources: *The Connected Event: Insight Into 2012 Event Technology Trends,” a study by ACTIVE Network and the Event Marketing Institute.

We’ve got some really exciting technology product updates to share with you!  I encourage all of you to review what’s the latest and greatest below!

Kudos to journalist Sue Pelletier for her super-thorough review of The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services long-awaited final rule on the Sunshine Act provisions of the Affordable Care Act on February 1, 2013.  In MeetingsNet, she breaks down the final rules about the Sunshine Act and what ensued when the CME received an exemption.

My favorite piece, however, is in her blog, where her opinion weighs in on several areas of this regulation and its impact not just to the life sciences industry, but as a “canary in a coal mine” warning to the rest of the meetings/events industry.  I happen to agree with all of Sue’s commentary, especially towards the end in her face2face blog  when she and others have challenged meeting planners to stop being planners and be more focused on the experience of the engagement. 

I too, have challenged meeting planners to become event architects and engineers and focus on enhancing the engagement experience.  Use technology to handle logistics and focus more on creating unique experiences that surprise and delight the attendee. 

Like I’ve said to many professional planners, if you focus on the tactical you can be outsourced.  If you focus on the strategy and experience, you will be golden.

All of us at ACTIVE Network, especially yours truly, welcome Rick Binford to our leadership team.  Rick has just joined the Business Solutions Group as VP of Strategic Marketplace Development.  Rick will further ACTIVE Network’s commitment to deliver solutions and programs that help drive growth for suppliers and intermediaries. And he’ll foster strategic partnerships with industry innovators to enable smart events for customers globally. As many of you know, Rick was most recently with Experient as President, and was instrumental in the recent sale of Experient to Maritz.  We feel honored that of all the paths Rick could have chosen post-Experient, he chose to join ACTIVE Network, where, no doubt, he will provide key leadership and marketplace development that will positively impact our industry in years to come.  Please join us in welcoming Rick Binford to our ACTIVE Network family. Below, he answers a few questions from one of our content writers. -- Kevin  



Q: In your new role at ACTIVE Network, what’s your vision for the global Supplier Marketplace?
A: It is the place to build and leverage true value-added relationships between buyers and sellers in our industry. I believe that we will lead our industry in terms of ease of use, operating efficiency, and intelligent or “smart” commerce for everyone participating in our platform. Additionally we will seamlessly integrate the purchasing process (and all related reporting) directly into our complete end-to-end event management technology suite.

Q: Why do you think it’s important for the Supplier Marketplace to keep growing?
A: One of the most daunting and time consuming aspects of event management is identifying, evaluating and conducting business with multiple suppliers. It’s logistically difficult, but at the same time essential to driving an overall event management strategy that maximizes and grows companies’ businesses. Our mission is to continue to find new ways to leverage the power and intelligence of technology to simplify the process. And that will enable both buyers and sellers to focus on the things that will really help them grow their business. Also, by elevating the business impact of events, we are solidifying the role that events play in overall business strategy for all parties. Consider how important this becomes as we see more and more customers creating and expanding global strategic meetings management programs (SMMPs). Building, extending, and aligning a global Supplier Marketplace system to support these customer trends will be critical to supporting our customers’ objectives.

Q: You’ve been in the events industry for 20+ years. What is it about this industry that fascinates you?
A: Yes, I have had the privilege of working in this business for many years and in several different roles, and so I have had a chance to see our business from many different perspectives. There are many things about it that fascinate me! First of all, to be successful – either as a supplier or buyer – this business involves so many different players from so many different disciplines.  Finding and driving a common sense of purpose among all of the contributing players in the process is both challenging but also exciting. And when it does all come together as planned, the results are incredible and very powerful – both to the individuals who participate in these events, but also to the organizations who are behind them. Second, events provide a very unique opportunity for individuals to share in common experiences. Events have been the basis of huge personal growth for me and they've helped me form extraordinary personal relationships. To be part of an industry that is focused on creating experiences that change peoples’ lives in these ways is both rewarding and daunting – but one that continues to get me excited each and every day. Last, I find change very exciting. So, I’m continually impressed by the rapid pace of change that molds how we go about our business, and technology continues to be such a powerful engine to driving much of that change.

Read the news about Rick Binford joining ACTIVE Network, Business Solutions here!

In a way, the Great Recession of 2008 was like a big storm that whipped through the meetings and events industry. It left a lot of changes in its wake – many of them permanent.

Now, a new ACTIVE Network study of eRFP activity from 2008 to 2012 reveals how the recession changed the way organizations source and plan events. ACTIVE Network’s Event Trends: 2008-2012, which looked at eRFP patterns in five key meetings destinations across the U.S. – Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and Orlando – found that companies are:

•    Meeting smaller – by paring the amount of people attending events, often to under 50,
•    Meeting shorter – by reducing the length of their events, from multiple-day to same- or one-day meetings,
•    Planning on the fly – by sourcing for meeting services with less lead time in order to accommodate fluctuating event budgets.

Event Trends: 2008-2012 also confirms that meetings recovery is in full swing – after a period of corporate travel cutbacks and reductions.  Average monthly unique eRFPs across the five cities during the first 10 months of 2012 surpassed 2008 levels –by 6%. More significantly, 2012’s average for the five cities stood 46% higher than the recessionary low-mark in 2009.

What’s important about this data is that, like it or not, it reflects the current world of the meetings/events industry.  With current global economic conditions and the rapidly escalating costs for meetings/events, companies and organizations have to make radical changes in order to manage shrinking budgets and reduced resources and headcount.   By understanding these changes and limitations, it will help you to better manage and navigate your way through this new reality.

Find out more about these and other current eRFP trends, and learn what these trends mean for both planners and suppliers by downloading the full Event Trends: 2008-2012 report here.
 

Now that 2013 has gotten off to a roaring start with Congress and President Obama reaching a deal on the Fiscal Cliff (barely), corporations, especially those involved in the Life Sciences industry can look forward to checking their readiness for the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, Section 6002 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The "Sunshine Act" which will require pharmaceutical companies to track and publicly report what they spend on healthcare providers.  

The million dollar question remains: Is everyone who this applies to ready for it?  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services completed the final rule and submitted it to the Office of Management and Budget for review in late November. Once the review is complete, it could be sent back for more tweaks, or it could become a final rule within 90 days.

MeetingsNet had a great article about this in its recent December issue. In that piece, according to Janna Sipes, president of BioPharma Consulting, this means that the law, which in its latest iteration has a January 1 deadline for companies to begin tracking physician spend data, likely won’t actually be implemented until February 25 -- which is at the tail end of the 90-day window. 

This means that, regardless if companies have their ducks in a row using technology for expense tracking, your accountability to track and report expenses in order to comply with the Sunshine Act starts now!

To read about how the Sunshine Act affects you, download this free whitepaper!

I recently had a great conversation with a new industry friend.  Her name is Susan. She's been a meetings industry professional for several years now, and we were introduced by my dear friend, Debi Scholar, who is a leading SMMP and industry expert.  Susan and I talked about many things, but one of the more passionate conversations we had was around the rapid changes in our industry where meeting planners and professionals are looking for more legitimacy and cooperative partnerships with their stakeholders.  

This got me thinking about how travel managers successfully made that transition. That extends to procurement professionals, too. They moved from a tactical and thankless role into a more strategic role.  How did they accomplish this?

While there are several factors involved, at a high level here’s what I believe meeting professionals need to do in order to get more respect and appreciation for all of the valuable and thankless work they do to make each meeting, conference and event successful and flawlessly executed:

1)     Invest in continued education.  With all of the association scholarships that are available as well as any continued education programs your company may have, it is foolish for you to not seek and get more education accreditation.  You may not think those credentials matter, but talk to any hiring manager or HR person and it could be the one variable that makes you more attractive as a job candidate vs. the other candidates.  Remember, you may leave your company, but if they paid for your continued education and accreditation, you get to take that with you and share your knowledge and benefits with your new employer!

2)    Read, read, read and stay on top of what’s happening not just with things happening in our industry, but OUTSIDE of the industry, your job and employer.  I've blogged about this before: The more you know,  the better your ability to prognosticate what may be lying ahead for you and your company.  Don’t be tactical and reactive, be proactive and strategic as an employee and individual contributor.  If you want to be perceived as a professional, then it’s up to you to demonstrate your knowledge and contribute to future strategies -- for all of your company, not just your department!  I always advise my friends that companies will always seek to reduce their overhead costs by outsourcing whatever is tactical. But they can't outsource strategy.  Bottom line--if you want to retain your job, be more strategic and visible in your work contributions.

3)    Learn new skills and master technology.  I can’t believe how many people have their heads in the sand with regards to improving and mastering new skills and technologies.  Think back to when you first learned PowerPoint, Word and Excel.  If you haven’t mastered those PC tools, you probably won’t get hired in this day and age.  The same thing will apply to all of the new technologies and products that are taking root in day-to-day corporate America and elsewhere around the world.  

Thank you, Susan, for giving me this idea for this blog posting.  Call me anytime -- as I can always use new ideas to blog about!  Happy New Year to all of you and have a successful 2013!

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!

I’m so proud of our Business Solutions leader, JR Sherman, Senior Vice President, for being named one of BTN’s Top 25 Most Influential Executives for 2012.  Having been named to this prestigious list myself in 2002, I’m fully aware of its significance and validation of accomplishments.

Each year Business Travel News selects men and women leaders in our industry that have significantly impacted the business travel industry -- either in a very positive or sometimes negative way.  Most of the winners are cited with positive contributions and in JR’s case, it was for leading the acquisition of StarCite which added to ACTIVE Network, Business Solutions technology portfolio, creating for the first time the potential and ability to capture spend and logistics data from an end-to-end perspective from small meetings all the way up to the largest conferences.  

I was privileged to root him on and witness his induction.  JR is in great company with the likes of President Barack Obama, Roger Dow, Jeff Smisek, and other industry luminaries including corporate buyers, Kevin Maguire of University of Texas at Austin, Michelle Hunt of DHL and Mary Bastrentaz of Accenture.   See the complete list here!

Congratulations JR, we’re all so proud of you and for being the only meetings/events industry representative on this prestigious list!

I recently read the final column posting  from Mitchell Beer, whose viewpoints and comments I've always been keen on following. 

Mitchell, who is president of The Conference Publishers, is moving on to a really exciting opportunity that aims to map an 80 percent reduction in Canada’s energy-related greenhouse gases by 2050.  Talk about making a huge impact in the efforts to slow down global warming and help Mother Earth heal from all the damage we human beings inflict daily.  Good for you Mitchell, and for Canada!

In Mitchell’s last goodbye column he makes three key points which I totally agree with and embrace. Consider these words of wisdom: 

• Get Out of the Bubble:  Totally agree with Mitchell! Getting other perspectives and views of the world you live and work in can produce new and more innovative ideas and solutions.  Remember, there’s no growth nor out-of-the-box ideas if you are insulated in your own professional world.  

• Read Widely:  I’ve always been a voracious reader and love to read trade publications and blogs that are about our marketplace and industry, but I also read a lot of material that is NOT connected to our industry.  I’ve always advised travel and meeting managers to monitor the price of fuel -- just as I did while at HP.  Why?  It’s a solid indicator of travel/meeting costs rising in the near term.  Remember, a spike in fuel impacts all sectors of our economy by prices going up to offset the increase of fuel.  As long as oil is king, our global economies will always be subject to the rise and fall of the price of a barrel of oil!

• Look for Unexpected Connections:  As a beneficiary of this point, I can say with total conviction that the network of friends and contacts I’ve built over the course of my career is a solid testament to this last bullet point.  It also is a microcosm statement about SMMP too.  A large global life sciences company that I am privileged to be an executive sponsor for found an unexpected internal champion for their Global SMMP in the course of resolving some safety/security concerns.  Their executive for global security is a now an avid champion for their global SMMP because, for the first time, he now has immediate access to meeting and event attendee information via their registration process and technology.  

To quote Mitchell directly:  “The world is interdisciplinary, and our most interesting and pressing problems are complex.”  I couldn’t have articulated that better.  Good luck Mitchell in your new endeavor; no doubt you’ll do well especially if you apply the same passion towards your new role like you did in our industry!
 

Recently I’ve been doing a lot of public speaking about how our industry is rapidly changing in terms of planning and execution.  The data-gathering elements are improving due to enterprise meetings/events technology, and that should make a lot of procurement and finance folks happy.  But what trends and developments should a meeting/event planner be cognizant of in order to stay ahead of the game?  

Check out a great list of 7 Tech Trends from Jessie States’ blog that was posted by MPI! What made me feel validated is that our eROI study that ACTIVE Network is supporting via ACTE was sort of called out in bullet 7:   “Neural technology will obtain delegate emotional feedback during your meetings, providing immediate mood feedback.”  I’m not sure what neural technology is out there today (if anyone can enlighten me on this please drop me a note); but it shows that organizers and companies want real time information and engagement.

Speaking of engagement, I’ve been telling folks to incorporate “Persistent Engagement” throughout their meetings and events.  As the Millenials infiltrate our workforce, this will become the norm sooner than later.

Lastly, I read a press release that stated that, on November 26th, LinkedIn will discontinue its LinkedIn Events Application.  It’s fascinating that while popular social media companies such as LinkedIn, Facebook and others have the audience reach, they don’t necessarily have the meetings data management tools for effective media planning – (nor the ability to consolidate your data for an SMMP). 

Perhaps this is a good reminder that planners should look to them as an extension of meetings management tools versus a day-to-day solution.  
 

Buon giorno Roma! 

It was great to be back in Italy, one of my most favorite places in the world to visit.  Talk about pressure though, I landed in the morning (fresh from IMEX in Vegas!) and my best-made plans of showering and changing from travel clothes to a suit in time for the afternoon opening general session of ACTE's Global Education Conference didn’t exactly work out the way I planned it.  

One thing I’ve learned first-hand with all the travel that I do for a living is that you have to be resourceful and flexible.  Having said that, I still let out an audible groan when the hotel front desk told me my room wouldn’t be ready until 3 pm.  Normally I could deal with that, but I had to be at the Waldorf Rome Cavalieri hotel by 2:45 pm for a stage rehearsal, and then stay for the Opening General Session at 4:30 pm -- where I presented an update and solicitation to attendees to participate in the ground breaking Emotional Engagement ROI (eROI) study that ACTIVE Network is sponsoring in partnership with ACTE.  There was a record 800 attendees of high-level industry buyers and suppliers, and I didn’t want to disappoint.  Thank God there was a hotel lobby washroom that I was able to use (resourceful) and I was able to freshen up using a lot of paper towels and a large sink (flexible) and change to my professional clothes in time to make my rehearsal and work my time slot in the General Session.

It was great to witness and see that SMMP -- as defined by the GBTA and MPI -- has been more widely accepted in Europe as the strategic roadmap for corporate consolidation of meeting and event spend.  Our sales execs and I spoke to many clients and prospects and even suppliers who are dealing with multinational SMMPs, and they had interesting comments and feedback about their own SMMP experiences with their respective companies and clients.  

While that’s great that SMMP has become more mainstream, the mis-information about it has become troublesome.  There are too many examples of managers who tried to create and establish a SMMP and failed or are struggling because they didn’t truly understand that SMMP is not a turnkey business proposition.  You have internal and external stakeholders to educate, train, and communicate. You have to have technology that is there for you in every step of the SMMP development and implementation journey. And it has to be scalable and ready when you are. They didn’t plan for years 2,3,and 4 in their adoption plan. Or they didn’t seek stakeholder alignment. 

Most egregious of all, is that many still don’t have policies developed. Or if they do have them, they're not communicating them to their employees, and they didn’t think about their change management strategies.  I think my good pal Carolyn Pund of Cisco described it best, when we were co-presenting the Cisco SMMP case study in Bangkok, at CTW this year. She said succinctly: “SMMP is not for wimps!”

So the best advice I can give you is this: If any supplier(s) tell you that SMMP isn’t complicated or can be done as a turnkey solution, RUN for the hills, as clearly they don’t know what they are talking about and have never truly deployed a successful SMMP, especially globally where you have to customize for different geographies.  Don’t be afraid to ask your suppliers for their experience and client references. And by all means, call the references they provide!  By making the time to do that, you will save yourself a lot of pain and aggravation down the road when you get to the actual implementation phase of your SMMP.  

Until the next time – Ciao!
 

A sure sign of fall is IMEX America! and it's right around the corner (Oct. 9-11 in Las Vegas). I'm pleased to say that ACTIVE Network will be, well, active, at the Sands Expo & Convention Center and at concurrent events around town. 

I'm participating in "Smart Monday," happening on the 8th, a day of educational sessions powered by MPI to benefit both buyers and suppliers. I'll be hosting and speaking about a case study on global SMMP deployment. While this will be a high level discussion about global SMMPs and the benefits, challenges and lessons learned, I'll also get into detail about an actual company that took its SMMP across borders: IBM.  On hand will be Paul Wakelin, Strategic Sourcing Specialist, Services Bureau Project Manager. Paul drove his SMMP through a pilot and full rollout in the US, the UK, 37 countries in the EMEA and now India and China. In fact, Paul was named one of MeetingsNet Changemakers this year for this very feat! I hope you can attend this session. It'll be fascinating, and you'll walk away with:

- A greater understanding of the benefits of taking an SMM program global

- New knowledge of how to prepare for the pitfalls and nuances of operating an SMM across various cultures and markets

- An understanding of the steps you need to take to get started with a global roll-out of an SMMP.

On Thursday, the 11th, the last day of IMEX, Linda McNairy, VP of Strategic Partnerships at ACTIVE Network, Business Solutions, will be at PCMA's booth (#3048) at the Sands, from 11:00-11:30, and then again from 1:00-1:30 pm, speaking on a couple of different topics:

- 15 SMM Basics in 15 Minutes

- SMM Metrics: What's Important. What's Not.

Linda's session is a great chance to reinforce your knowledge of key SMM concepts and strategies.

Of course, I invite you to stop by ACTIVE Network's booth (#2626) on the trade show floor, where you can see demos of our suite of event management technology, and some new, innovative bells and whistles that we've recently rolled out, such as Meeting Locator and Mobile. 

See you at IMEX!