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Today's Brainier Incentive Meetings

Monday, March 15, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

If you can, catch a story in Investor's Business Daily that perfectly narrates the migration of the mythical, luxurious business conference to today's more guarded, content-heavy gatherings that de-emphasize fun and games.

The piece talks about how many companies in the recent past -- even non-TARP recipients -- have substituted live events for teleconferences, out of fear of being criticized, and it quotes a figure from the US Travel Association that convention business in Las Vegas in 2009 tumbled by nearly half from the year earlier. (There's a paradox if there ever was one; there aren't too many places on earth you can get so much for so little.)

But what I love about this story is its redemption factor: how meetings have changed since the first great hullabaloo over events at so-called vacation destinations. For example, take incentive meetings. They're still going on, obviously, but many now include "more education components and interactive learning, more problem-solving and not the typical lectures," says Deborah Sexton, president of the Professional Convention Management Association, in the story. And I love her quote: Yes, many companies are avoiding five-star hotels in the Caribbean, but "sometimes you can't meet in a roadside motel."

Public criticism of corporate events was an alarm bell, and since then, we as an industry have moved on to value more strategic management of all types of meetings -- sales, incentive and external gatherings with clients.

"Companies had gotten complacent. These meetings are about business investments, not perks," says Maritz Travel's Chris Gaia, Vice President for Marketing, in the story.

Well said!

Meetings Will Meet CEOs' Concerns

Friday, March 12, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

I've been meaning to write about the latest Conference Board CEO Challenge survey that asks hundreds of C-level executives to rate their most pressing concerns. From the results in the CEO Challenge Top 10 report, it looks like addressing what they're most concerned about is going to require some stepped-up meetings activity.

This year, CEOs cited growth-oriented challenges such as sustained and steady top-line growth, customer loyalty/retention and profit growth as their top concerns. Compare that to the organization’s previous report, when global economic performance, business confidence, geo-financial instability, and integrity of capital markets were top of mind. This year's report noted other top concerns, such as "corporate reputation for quality products/services" and "stimulating innovation/creativity/enabling entrepreneurship."

From where I sit, a good way executives can reassure themselves is to hold more meetings to:

- solidify relationships with clients and establish promising ties with prospects
- reward top sales employees and give them greater incentive to continue doing a good job
- teach employees new ways of thinking to solve problems, build effective and productive teams and other business skills.

The Conference Board's survey shows the challenges that are weighing on top executives' minds, and it's up to meetings, travel and purchasing managers to provide the answers on how meetings can provide solutions to some of those challenges. Now is the time to step up your efforts to show executives how a well-run strategic meetings management program can achieve business objectives while saving money, creating new buying opportunities with vendors and controlling costs like never before.

Need help convincing the boss? Check out this whitepaper on Building a Business Case for an SMMP -- with Executive Support.

Meeting Cards in the Age of Moderation

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

A new report out on commercial card spending notes that 2009 is the first year since purchasing cards were introduced to see a drop in overall spending. In fact, it was a year of decline for the commercial card industry on the whole, which, for more than a decade has posted double-digit spending growth figures.

According to the report, "this explosive growth was driven mainly by the administrative cost savings that card programs were able to deliver. Throughout the decade, as complementary technologies such as program management systems improved, card programs delivered still greater costs savings by improving transparency of spend, particularly in the area of MRO and T&E related purchasing. Taken together, these benefits sparked a secular movement away from costlier paper-based purchasing to more efficient electronic purchasing."

After reading this, I can't help but think how meeting cards -- as part of a comprehensive strategic meetings management program (SMMP) -- have helped countless numbers of companies:

a) discover the scope of their meetings spend separate from T&E,
b) use the data to create policies and rules around purchasing to implement more control,
c) apply what they've learned to increase bargaining power with their meetings suppliers.

Further, meeting cards linked to SMMP technology are powerful tools to help reduce administrative processes, such as budgeting and reconciliation of supplier bills. Card data is pretty solid in the eyes of the CFO, too, and auditors also like the ability to track spend that is documented.

I'm afraid the report, published in the online publication Commercial Payments International doesn't offer too rosy a picture of recovery for spending. It says spend won't keep pace with GDP growth. Not great news for card companies.

But T&E restrictions and purchasing policies that companies have implemented and strengthened won't be abandoned, either. And as I've said many times before, that's good news. The focus -- even when good times return -- will remain on strategic management of spend, whether it's on T&E, meetings or widgets.

Ultimately, I think the power of cards as spend management tools will once again drive up spending levels. Yet, it's surprising that, even today, many companies ignore the benefits of using a meeting card. A new Aberdeen benchmark study due out soon says that over 60% of enterprises have integrated a corporate card into their expense management programs. Yet only 14% are using a meeting card in conjunction with strategic management of their meetings, events and conferences. For more details on that study, click here.

Commercial cards are the instruments of purchasing power that employees hold in their hands -- the first line of defense in spend control. And, when the transaction is complete, cards are the great provider of data that companies need to manage costs. And, in the case of meeting cards, companies can add extra power to the cards by integrating them into their overall SMMP.

The best news about all of this is that if you are in danger of paying a claw back to your credit card provider, due to travel freezes negatively impacting your card spend thresholds for an annual incentive pay out, then issuing meeting cards and funneling their spend volume through your card program may actually help you to meet your basis point hurdles and earn an annual incentive, or at minimum, pay less of a claw back to your card provider. Having managed a very large multinational card program prior to my new life at StarCite, this is an area that you can definitely leverage to your company’s advantage.

Making Procurement Initiatives Work

Friday, March 5, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

This week I was in Charlotte, N.C., attending ProcureCon Indirect, a conference for executives who manage procurement of indirect spend, such as travel and meetings services. It was a great opportunity to meet and network with these folks (About 100 procurement executives came from over 44 companies!) and learn what kinds of challenges they face in reaping system-wide efficiencies and savings from procurement.

I sat on a panel, "Driving Change from the Bottom Up Towards Strategic Indirect Sourcing," along with Brett Mauser, Director Sourcing Strategy & Best Practices for Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., and Jason Kwan, CPO, VP Global Strategic Sourcing, Manpower, Inc. Judging from the
questions the audience posed to the three of us, I'm certain attendees picked up some great best practices for change management -- what works, what doesn't and the landmines to avoid along the way.

At ProcureCon, I did a lot of thinking about my days at Hewlett-Packard, where as a Global Category Manager for Corporate Card, Hotels and Meetings, I worked with HP’s management across the world negotiating travel contracts and creating and implementing worldwide purchasing and supplier strategies. One of the significant best practices I could share was to be aware of the myth of the "M" word, that is, "mandate." A lot of procurement folks get a false sense of security that once they get an executive mandate that directs employees to comply with a new strategic initiative, such as using preferred suppliers only or following a designated process, then everything has fallen into place. All is and will be golden.

WRONG! In my experience, even with a mandate, people still operate like there is none. Even if you have CEO-, CPO- or CFO-level support for your project or initiative, it doesn’t guarantee that your offices overseas will comply -- and that's due to a lot of reasons. It might be due to laws or regulations in place in a particular country or region. Or, it could come down to a simple case of who's got more authority; a lot of times a country's general manager or highest level executive has more influence over employees there than a C-level
executive back in the U.S. -- home to headquarters. Bottom line is, you can’t assume everyone will fall in line and comply without any resistance or change management plan in place.

In Germany, for example, nothing can move forward without approval of employee representative bodies called Works Councils, present in nearly all companies larger than 250 employees. So, even if you're armed with the "M" word from headquarters, you're still required to get local-level sponsorship and support. Bottom line: there’s no magic and immediate panacea for change management -- with or without the "M" word supporting you. You still have to do targeted communications regularly, as well as engage and enlist support from various countries and regions around the world.

Going beyond the issue of a mandate, remember that every company, based on their own corporate culture, has varying degrees of acceptance when it comes to change management. The most successful makers of change pro-actively survey the landscape for points of pain, potential pushback areas, managers and others who may offer resistance. Successful change-makers seek critical feedback and information from stakeholders and internal customers, and then they carefully craft project plans, timelines, milestones and deliverables -- along with appropriate communication -- to ensure that all stakeholders on whatever level of authority are aware of both the benefits and progress of the project or change management process.

At the conference, someone asked if it was better to carry

a stick or carrot to drive change. Actually, the answer is both! At HP, I always positioned senior management as the stick bearers, while my team and I positioned ourselves as carrot bearers -- actually it was
more donuts, bagels and Starbucks coffee (When meeting with stakeholders, food goes a long way towards establishing a collaborative environment and an atmosphere of trust.).

If more procurement professionals accepted the reality that they also have to be sales people in order to get optimum adoption and maximize change management, the process itself would be less laborious and definitely more successful.

To read about some other procurement best practices, click on this whitepaper link that covers integrating corporate travel, procurement and meetings management strategies.

SMMP Tech Benefits -- So Simple to See

Wednesday, March 3, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

There's a new story in Corporate & Incentive Travel magazine that, from the outset, gets to the heart of why automation is so important to a strategic meetings management program. The first few paragraphs highlight how a professional meeting planner used to source for hotels -- manually, that is. That meant lots of faxing, calling and emailing.

Now, however, after adopting SMMP technology, she sends RFPs "with the push of a button" and in 24 to 48 hours she receives replies in a centralized format, enabling her customers to make important decisions about meetings costs and services. "It makes it easier on our budgets and saves companies money because they get the best deal,"
says the planner in the story. More importantly, using her technology-driven process, she’s creating a side benefit of leaving a sourcing documentation trail that will stand up in any future internal and/or external audit.

When planners who actually use SMMP solutions tell their stories, it's so simple to see what it's all about: efficiency, cost savings, control!

I was also very honored that the magazine called me for a quote, and I got to speak about the increasing importance of SMMP automation in helping organizations track event costs, especially TARP recipients and pharmaceutical companies under the watch of legislative or industry oversight.

How many of you are still using spreadsheets, phones and faxes to source for and plan your meetings? "When you multiply the number of planners in a large corporation who handle hundreds of meetings a year that way, it's easy to see the large amount of inefficiency there," I noted in the article.

I’d say it’s pretty unusual If you’re not under the gun to reduce meetings budgets at your company. Perhaps it's time to think about adopting SMMP automation to help you make a dent in costs, boost efficiency and extend control.

For more information, check out a replay of a recent webinar on the connection between technology and an SMMP.

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!).

Outlook for Corporate Meetings Health

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

More signs that meetings are on the mend!

A MeetingNews story about their recent survey of 220 meetings managers has put it this way: "The findings represent the first time in more than a year that the majority of group budgets are growing or holding steady, and support a growing sense that things are improving in the meetings business shared by hoteliers, industry associations, corporate travel buyers and meetings planners."

The survey found that, while 40% of respondents decreased meetings spending in the past six months, only 19% plan to do so in the next six. More than half expect meetings spending to stay flat in the coming half-year period.

I wasn’t surprised to read, too, that 17% had actually spent more on m

eetings in the last six months -- as I've been seeing a lot of anecdotal evidence of more activity at companies I talk to. Our bookings growth in 2009 certainly testifies to that.

And a separate survey of 26 corporate travel buyers at the recent NBTA Masters Program
found that, in 2010, 35% planned to spend more on meetings than last year.

These and other encouraging statistics, such as some recent positive news by individual hotel companies, all point to an opportunity to get really focused on capturing all your meeting spend through a single solution for budgeting, sourcing, booking and other strategic tasks, such as attendee management.

Because if a turn-around is coming, there's no going back to unmanaged meetings. It's just not smart.

Wisdom from The Masters

Monday, February 22, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

Last week, our CEO Greg Dukat and I spent one-and-a-half days at NBTA's The Masters Program in Washington, D.C., with other industry leaders.

In case you aren't familiar with the Masters, it's an annual event attended by CEOs and leaders from every segment of the travel industry, a great experience to learn market insights and network. Once again, kudos to Chris White and NBTA for organizing and producing yet another quality educational event.

Before I share some take-aways that I got from the conference I’m going to do something a little unorthodox and give a shout out and hello to Nick Romano, President of SignUp4, and John Arenas, CEO of Worktopia -- two gentlemen I was able to spend some time with and share some laughs. By the way, they both confessed that they read my blog (Sorry guys, I had to put that in here!). Who said competitors have to be adversarial and can’t have a sense of humor?

At the Masters, there were so many interesting and thought-provoking discussions and interactions. But I think the best part of the event is the networking that takes place between industry leaders during the coffee breaks and reception. Strategic meetings management was discussed several times over the course of the conference, and it was clear that, after years of just talking about meetings management as a concept, it's finally going mainstream, and 2010 is its milestone year.

NBTA President Craig Banikowski shared that 53% of travel professionals planned to deploy SMMPs for their companies this year. This stat comes from NBTA's 2010 US Business Travel Buyers' Forecast, and there's an equally amazing number behind it: 67%. That's the level of increase from those who planned an SMMP in 2009.

More “rock your world” stats, this time from Joel Secondy, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Services, International Trade Administration, at the U.S. Department of Commerce. He said that travel and meetings:

- Contribute $1.3T (yes, trillion) to the economy
- Represent 2.7% of Gross Domestic Product
- Employ 8.2 million Americans

I think the best statement made by anyone at the conference was that the travel and meetings sector is the linchpin for supply chain, financing, employment and other factors necessary for an economic recovery. And I have more faith than ever that managing meetings with best practices that promote cost-control and ROI will not only erase the guilt over having meetings, but also stimulate the economy.

Strategic Meetings Management: Full Steam Ahead

Friday, February 19, 2010 by Jessie Berry

Our previous post covered the VIPs of SMM who have championed the advantages of implementing a strategic meetings management program and have been involved since the very conception of SMM. While we’re on the topic, it would be pertinent to share some surprising research gathered by Meetings&Conventions magazine regarding SMM and organizations’ use (or lack thereof!) of such a program.

The article, ‘Wanted—A Policy for Meetings’ featured in the February 2010 issue of M&C, reported that only 29% of organizations have formal meeting management programs in place, and, of those, only 11% reported that those meetings comply with all their guidelines. 40% weren’t even familiar with the term “SMMP.” When asked about their company’s SMM “Work in Progress,” 33% said that they did not have an SMMP in place and were not planning on adopting one, which doesn’t seem that significant until you compare it to the other responses under that category: 14% have an SMMP, 25% aren’t familiar with the term, 20% do not have one but have discussed it, and only 8% are currently working toward implementing one. That means that organizations who do not have an SMMP and are not planning on implementing one are in the clear majority; however there are many of us in the industry who would like to see those numbers reversed.

SMM has taken hold within the meetings and events industry, and it’s now more important than ever to be educated on what the program is and what it can do for an organization, especially within an economically unstable environment. If you’re one of the organizations that has yet to delve into SMM or is at least considering it within your company, you may be wondering where to even begin.

Because SMM requires a significant change in the way a meetings department operates, it’s essential to start off with firm footing or the program will be impossible to launch. A poorly planned program will, at best, fail to gain enough support to get off the ground, and at worst will disrupt existing operations and leave the department in worse shape than it was before the program was adopted. How do you avoid a disastrous implementation attempt at an SMMP? Build a solid business plan.

StarCite can show you how with our “7 Step Guide to Initiating a Strategic Meetings Management Program” and “Garnering Executive Support: Building Your Business Plan for Strategic Meetings Management” whitepapers, which will provide you with the guidelines and practical steps you need to take in order to not only get started with your SMMP but also gain the support of your executive team to make it happen.

As the previous post illustrates, strategic meetings management is now considered a necessity rather than a luxury for organizations, and the fact that SMM now has its own certification course speaks volumes of the impact it has had within the industry. As SMM starts to gain more steam, now is a great on time to get on board and realize the benefits it can bring your organization.

Social Media Needs Strategic Management, Too

Friday, February 19, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

When I first wrote about using social media tools, such as Twitter at meetings, attendees were using the technology to tweet back and forth during event sessions about how the presentation was going, exchanging opinions and then collaborating to propose questions to the panelists or presenter. How industrious and efficient!

Now, social media tools are taking on greater importance in overall strategic meetings management, according to an article in MeetingNews. While planners have been busy using social media to do things l

ike integrate the tools into their online registration and conference sites and send out speaker and logistical information, organizations are making broader decisions about how and why to use the tools in their meetings programs.

That's a smart move because you'll want to make sure planners and their attendees are using social media to support your SMMP goals and increase your program value -- as well as adhere to corporate guidelines and policies around internal and external communications.

The article quoted a meetings tech consultant who said that companies are formulating policies on who will be responsible for the technology, which tools to implement and how to attract users. I work with some of our customers to accomplish the same thing, encouraging them to own this space as part of their travel and meetings programs; it’s all about enterprise mobility remember?

Understandably, there's a certain degree of cautiousness out there to implement an organization-wide tool. In the story, one association executive which used Twitter to satisfy members' needs to communicate in real-time and distribute conference material, acknowledged that "there is a fear of lack of control, and you don't have control over social media. It is an open forum, people can say what they want to say, and that makes people nervous. Our strategy is definitely cautious, but we are getting there."

In the meantime, social media continues to revolutionize how people and organizations communicate. Consider some of these statistics I found on the blog Socialnomics:

- 96% of "Generation Y" members have joined a social network;
- It took 38 years for radio to reach 50 million listeners, but Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months;
- 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations, but only 14% trust advertising.

Yes, social media is cool, and it can streamline planning processes, enrich content, facilitate instant feedback to help you measure ROI -- and even attract new event sponsorship opportunities. But be careful to choose tools that match your SMMP goals and company policies, and make it a priority to appoint a watchdog who monitors how your employees or association members use -- or abuse -- the tools.

I'd call it exercising "enthusiastic caution."

As Meetings Business Improves, Source Aggressively

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

I'm heartened to see some evidence that the meetings business is picking up among some hoteliers, yet there's still some time for aggressive sourcing for bargains.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts earlier this month said that it is seeing higher weekday occupancies and revenue per available room -- partly due to more business bookings and "pent-up" demand for meetings and conventions bookings, according to a story in The Beat.

Starwood CFO Vasant Prabhu said RevPar rebounded at company-operated hotels (from a 12% drop in November to a 3% slip in January). The pace of the improvement was driven by growing occupancies in transient travel, but the company also indicated that booked group events next year are higher than for 2010. The Beat quoted Prabhu as saying, "lead volume" in the fourth quarter jumped 15% --"the first increase since the financial crisis broke." Meanwhile, cancellations declined by 50%. And December group bookings for the first half of 2010 "were up over 100 percent."

This is indeed good news for Starwood and the industry at large, and, if you're wondering if it's going to immediately push up rates, you can relax. There's still a window of opportunity open for buyers. Even though Starwood said that the growth in occupancy emboldens it to think more aggressively about rates going forward, the company expects that an upward move in average daily rates will lag the recovery, just as a drop off in business didn't immediately follow the economic bust.

Timing is everything sometimes, and it seems like it's time to start sourcing more aggressively and efficiently before bargain lodging opportunities evaporate. No one knows what the future holds, but the signs are pointing to higher demand...and an inevitable rise in rates.

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!

Evangelizing About Strategic Meetings Management -- Anytime, Anywhere

Thursday, February 4, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

Some people are media s

hy. I guess they don't like the idea that whatever they say has the potential to be published. And so they go to great pains to set up interviews at ideal times of the day, with lots of quiet around them and a prepared script in front of them.

That's definitely not the case with me. Tuesday, I was quoted in The New York Times article "New Meetings Industry Emerges After a Boom and Bust," and I was most happy to talk about how important strategic meetings management is in today's environment. The story talks about the falloff in meetings demand, the change from lavish to toned-down entertainment and the move toward virtual meetings.

“We try to help companies understand that they have to be more strategic about their travel and meetings spending, and that there has to be a lot more transparency on that spending communicated to senior executives,” I told reporter Joe Sharkey.

I was happy to contribute my views about how the meetings business has changed from the pre-Great Recession heydays to today's more moderate events -- where the emphasis is on savvy meetings procurement processes, controlled spend and measuring return on investment.

But, let me tell you, you would have laughed had you seen the actual interview. Joe contacted me on my mobile phone as I was boarding a flight, carry-on in one hand, boarding pass in another, PA announcements blaring above me and a line of people ahead and behind me. It was definitely not a controlled setting. But, despite the sounds of crying babies and flight boarding instructions and the jostling of the crowd, I did my best to field his questions. Whoever said that multi-tasking is not a valuable skill would’ve changed their views watching me in action!

Thanks for calling, Joe! Read the entire article and catch more quotes on how strategic meetings management is changing corporate meetings for the better.

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.

Resorts 'Resorting' to Name Change

Friday, January 29, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

Has your company created an outright ban on holding events at hotels with the word "resort" in their name? If so, you might want to re-think such a sweeping gesture, especially if you're e-sourcing and resorts are responding with competitive rates and services.

I mention this because of a front page Wall Street Journal article I read this week that profiles the desperate fortunes of many resorts. Th

e piece says that some are (pardon the pun) resorting to dropping the word "Resort" from their names. For example, Charlotte, N.C.-based Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge last summer ditched "Resort" from its name, "after several corporate clients indicated it would have a better chance of landing their business if it weren't called a resort," said the Journal. Likewise, Loews Lake Las Vegas--with a white sand beach in the middle of the desert and a master sushi chef--dropped its "Resort" naming too.

This has all been prompted by the lingering "AIG effect," specifically, the public outcry that arose when the bailed out insurer canceled a 2008 sales retreat at the St. Regis Monarch Beach resort in Dana Point, CA. (By the way, that hotel is now in foreclosure.) The perception was that AIG and other TARP recipients were spending public tax money on so-called frivilous, lavish events. Even some non-TARP companies have been canceling corporate events over misperceptions about meetings.

Honestly, much of this is avoidable and unnecessary -- and a real shame. The problem is not in a resort's facilities (spas, gourmet restaurants and the like), but when companies book them in an unmanaged way -- that is, without efficiently soliciting bids from competing properties and negotiating meeting and room rates. In fact, it's been my experience that resorts, depending on their bookings demand and seasonal rates, will respond to an e-RFP with bids that are at par or lower than non-resorts. Resorts tend to have all-inclusive fees, too, which if broken down by value, can come out to be a better deal for each participant. And the icing on the cake at resorts is that your attendees can indulge themselves in amenities on their off hours and on their own dime. Bottom line is this, if you have a well documented sourcing process, you can easily push back and justify your venue choices whether or not they have the word “Resort” in their branding.

Canceling meetings at resorts to avoid criticism may not be the wisest decision, either. Unless you have created and use as standard practice, contract addendums that limit your exposure to cancellation and attrition fees, you'll wind up losing a lot of money by switching venues just to avoid the “negative perception.” Companies that cancel resort events would be better off negotiating with the resort to apply the cancellation fee toward a future event -- once the critical spotlight has dimmed.

Corporate events at resorts are not evil. In fact, they're good when they're strategically sourced, documented and managed as part of an overall SMMP. They're often great value for the purchasing dollar, and they reward hard-working employees or business partners.

It's not the name of a hotel that counts, it's the value, services and return on investment you get from holding a corporate meeting there. If you can’t justify your venue selections with solid sourcing data to your bosses much less the general public, then the negative perceptions of meetings will continue to be front page news.

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.

Be Better Communicators of Meetings Value

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

At the recent Professional Convention Management Association's 2010 annual meeting in Dallas, the message from top industry leaders (to over 3,000 meetings professionals in attendance) was to beef up your communication skills -- particularly when it comes to telling the story of the value of meetings.

What's behind the push to speak out? It’s because industry leaders are still trying to fight perceptions that meetings are frivolous. This despite the massive public relations efforts undertaken last year by the U.S. Travel Association, the NBTA and other industry groups, lobbying before Congress and the White House and the commissioning of several successful studies showing the ROI of meetings.

It should be clear to everyone that speaking out on behalf of the business value of meetings is going to be an ongoing job. Attendance at some types of large meetings continue to falter (9-15% down, says the American Society of Association Executives and the Center for Association Leadership). Plus, perceptions linger that some meetings in particular, such as incentive gatherings, are negative. In a recent article, Brenda Anderson, CEO of Site, the incentive professionals association, predicted that, as a result of stubborn negative perceptions; meetings and incentives in 2010 will focus less on luxury and more on adding a service or sustainability component.

I think those are pretty good ideas and strategies to add to any meeting.

So how can you speak up for meetings this year? My experience in global program management has taught me that communication to a multi-layered audience is a requirement for any SMMP to be successful. You can’t just communicate generically to the masses a single time and feel confident that your program benefits and processes are now
mainstream within your company.

Keep in mind, you have a large audience with varying WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) factors at play. For example, the messaging to the C level will be different than communication to planners and administrative assistants. Meanwhile, you'll want to de-emphasize the cost savings and compliance messaging to Marketing and Sales (they don’t care, and will run the other way). The methodology and timeliness of your layered communications should also vary to ensure that your SMMP is not forgotten or ignored. Also keep in mind that, if your company is growing by mergers and acquisitions, you will also have a lot of new employees that need to learn about your SMMP -- and possibly get training.

It is a best practice to make it a regular practice to remind everyone from meeting planners to CEOs of the effectiveness of your SMMP -- in meetings policies, email blasts, company newsletters, executive dashboards with metrics, conference calls, training road shows...whatever forum applies. If you've measured ROI for past meetings, remind your audience of those findings, and by all means, continue to measure and internally publicize your meetings ROI figures.

For my part, whenever I meet with existing or prospective clients, I make it a practice to convey the strong role that meetings play in helping to grow businesses, educating employees and building strong business relationships. Whenever I can, I try to relay the key statistic that for every $1 dollar spent on meetings, $15 is returned.

Communicating meetings value is a never-ending job, but it is requisite for any SMMP to be successful. As I always advise all of our customers and prospective clients, never underestimate the time requirements for change management. Effective on-going communications can be a huge asset and catalyst to shortening the change management timeline and getting compliance on track.

Meetings Media Profiles SMMC Attendees

Monday, January 25, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

The November-December issue of Insurance & Financial Meetings Management ran a story about the new Strategic Meetings Management Certification (SMMC) program, and how it will "change the meetings industry forever." I'm pleased to share the link to the story with you, and I hope you get a few minutes to read it because it also profiles some of the participants of the first core week of instruction, which took place back in November.

Some of the comments from the first SMMC students are just so impressive. For example, there's Lasse Haugaard, who works for the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. He came all the way to Atlanta because he's been charged with implementing an SMMP, and he said: “Obviously, it takes a lot of work to get an overview of the meetings activities in a company with more than 25,000 employees worldwide. I’ve been finding it difficult to find people who are at the same stage as me. And this is my primary reason (for coming): to seek inspiration from NBTA.”

Lasse attended my first European SMMP Roundtable in London last spring. He was very eager to learn what he could about SMMP, and when I shared that there would be a SMMP certification from NBTA he was very interested in finding out more. Looks like he followed up!

Another participant, Amy Harris, who's VP of SMM for SunTrust Banks, noted: “I’m charged with managing a successful program that grows and changes with the needs of my company. “With the knowledge I gained from the course, along with the perspective I gained from speaking with so many other leaders in our industry, I’ve gained a lot of confidence in my ability to face the challenges ahead.”

Insurance & Financial Meetings also ra

n a picture (below) of the student body of the first core week, including StarCite's own Senior Director of Product Development Jane Wolfe (second row, second from right). The story also quoted Kari Kesler Knoll, who is a key principal in developing the curriculum and teaching SMMC, as well as a dear friend. She's President and Chief Strategist at KK Strategic Solutions (She's center, back row.) “We’re laying the groundwork for future experts to enable every business to be best-in-class," Kari said. "And we’re seeing that the industry and the people in it really want improved structure."

I was also very humbled when the magazine graciously quoted me and mentioned my history with NBTA. I told them that "companies that place a high value on managing meeting spend have a better chance of establishing effective programs than companies that don’t place as much value on procurement." I added: "It’s about discipline and fiscal responsibility. And it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach. To be effective, a strategic meetings program has to be structured to meet the needs of each particular company, and it should be structured with the participation of those involved in meetings in that company.”

Thanks to Insurance & Financial Meetings for giving a big-picture view of the importance of SMMPs and the new SMMC designation, as well as for some great testimony from the first group of industry professionals! Nice to see such a big turnout, too!

Meetings Don't Have to Produce a Ton of Carbon

Friday, January 22, 2010 by Kevin Iwamoto

I'm a big believer and advocate of green meetings, so when I came across this figure below, it startled me and motivated me to share some thoughts.

Seems that very large events held in a central location can produce over a ton of carbon per attendee, according to a whitepaper from ClimatePath, an organization that provides industry solutions to help event planners, consumer brands, travel providers, and other businesses measure and reduce the climate impact of their business activities. As you can guess, the major carbon produced from an in-person meeting, such as a conference or convention, comes from airline miles. But ClimatePath also figures in emissions from airport transfers, driving and hotel stays.

Now the good news. ClimatePath says that more regional events can produce up to 70% less emissions. And by going virtual, for example, via technologies such as TelePresence or Webex, an event can reduce its carbon footprint by 90%.

The point is here that meeting organizers and planners have options. Meeting managers and planners hold the key to creating earth-friendly events. For example, you can use e-sourcing to research and RFP green hotels. And you can create policies that mandate or encourage analysis of when virtual or face-to-face events would be suitable over a large, central event. Heck, even if your company must go with a large event, you can pick a central location with good public transportation to cut down on your carbon footprint.

Bottom line: just because your organization needs to hold meetings, it doesn't mean that carbon emission contribution is inevitable. We still have choices in making events as green as possible.

Check out this free webinar for more information on creating green meetings while achieving your cost-control goals.