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How To Run A Business: 10 Steps To A Successful Meeting
How to get the most value for your business meetings
by Stacey Krizan, CEO, The WOW Factory
September 8, 2008
I
n defiance of the economic downturn, the corporate meeting industry continues to grow,
according to industry watchers such as Meeting Professionals International and trade publications.
In fact, pundits' predictions that virtual meeting alternatives would all but destroy live
face-to-face meetings have proved to be without substance, even with soaring travel costs.
Obviously, companies everywhere find real business value in meetings. Or do they?
It is startling how many national and global corporations will cite "the attendees expect
it" as a reason for holding an annual meeting. Even more surprising and illogical is the answer,
"Our competitors all have a similar meeting." In truth, the reason to have a live meeting falls
into one of three categories:
1. The knowledge imparted has a hands-on aspect that cannot be eliminated. The
same justification holds for something that that cannot be demonstrated as economically in small
groups as it can be in the entire population at a single time.
2. In-person networking, executive interaction, or sharing of best practices is
critical for participants.
3. Celebration and reward are important elements of the event.
Meetings are critical to businesses' bottom lines; however, only a small percentage of
businesses are measuring the ROI of their meeting investment. Tens and hundreds of thousands
of dollars - even millions - are spent by corporations every year for their meetings and events
without any solid measure of the return for those dollars.
The good news is that building a meeting with a demonstrable contribution to a company's
bottom line is relatively straightforward. Here are the generally accepted best practices of
planning a measurably successful meeting, listed in the order they work best:
1. Begin with the objective in mind. Oddly, this can be the most difficult step and
often is only partially executed. There may be competing agendas within the company, and there may
be multiple objectives. Clearly articulate a measurable objective. In other words, it is not enough
to say "increase sales"; instead say, "increase sales by 15 percent, of which at least 7 percent is
directly attributable to this event."
2. Engage all key meeting stakeholders. Engagement comes in many forms, including
dedication of time to developing content, co-creation of the objectives and supporting the
decisions that affect budgets, creative, and logistics.
3. Set a budget. It is no accident that this is the third step. However, most
planners and stakeholders try to do this as step 1, even though the budget is driven by the
objectives. If the stakeholders agree that the event should drive sales by an additional 7 percent
and sales are currently at $5.2 million, then what is the minimum investment that will generate
that?
4. Build a grid and a time frame. Even smaller meetings benefit from a grid that
outlines the different components of the meeting, the budget associated with each component, the
person or persons responsible for that component and any critical deadlines.
5. Select a venue. Typically a venue, along with meeting space and sleeping rooms,
represents about 33 percent of the cost of holding an event. Many companies book venues as far as
two years in advance. Although lead time is less critical for smaller meetings, nine months before
an event is considered a tight planning time frame for space.
6. Build content and agenda. This critical step is often addressed last, even
though it is the reason for meeting. Preparation is critical here as much or more so, as in any
other step listed because most companies rely heavily for budgetary reasons on internal
speakers. However, such speakers are listed as the No.1 complaint of meeting audiences because of
their lack of preparation and overly detailed content.
7. Recruit suppliers and sponsors.
8. Premarket the meeting - even to a mandatory audience. An audience that is
already primed for the theme, content and purpose of the meeting will arrive more fully engaged.
9. Hold milestone planning meetings.
10. Measure the results.
Naturally, every one of the 10 steps listed here has thousands of details. Negotiating hotel
contracts, disaster planning, effective RFP development and selecting and measuring ROI are all
extremely detailed tasks in and of themselves. Navigating them successfully takes experience, but
successfully executed live events are unsurpassed in their power to affect attitudes and business
outcomes.
