LEARNING FROM AIG…YOU Need a Strategic Meeting Plan!

After news of AIG’s excessive meeting budget broke in October 2008, the meeting industry was thrust into a bit of a tailspin. It came under scrutiny whether or not companies should be allocating money to corporate outings, meetings or events during these difficult economic times. However, the reality exists that business gets done at meetings – internally and externally, face-to-face – ultimately contributing to strengthening and growing the bottomline!  Thus, you shouldn’t be afraid to continue to host meetings, but it is imperative that your company have a Strategic Meeting Plan (SMP) in place.

An SMP directs your team in appropriately planning and executing well-thought out events that achieve significant corporate results. While you may be required to cut costs and replace a monthly meeting with a conference call, there are times when you need all of the appropriate players around one table to fully buy into new corporate goals or fully understand a new product launch. Conference calls just don’t have the same bonding effect that helps develop a cohesive team or build camaraderie between you and your clients. If you host meetings or events, regardless of size, it is prudent to have an SMP in place.

A Basic SMP Includes the Following Components:

• Policy
  Establish a meeting and event policy for your company. Just as you have a vacation policy or a sexual discrimination policy, you should have an official meeting policy. What types of events are allowed and how frequently? Who will approve the events and who will be responsible for these types of projects? What is the time frame allowed for planning a meeting? Are specific types of meetings supported or encouraged by the organization? This sets the parameters for a level, well-defined playing field while demonstrating a company’s fiscal accountability.
• Processes
  Once the parameters for the policy have been defined, it is important to establish systems to support your policy. This will include defining a meeting’s purpose and identifying clear, concise and measurable outcomes which the organization hopes to accomplish as a result of the event.

  Initial budgeting should be submitted, reviewed and approved early in the planning phase to accurately track expenses and adequately evaluate a return on investment. . Some companies lump the occasional employee lunches, meetings, client dinners, etc., into one large category that can add up quickly without showing whether they are receiving any benefits from these expenditures. The goal is to identify how much is spent on each event and track the resulting benefit from those dollars. This is crucial to event evaluation.

  Documentation can be kept simple, but it is important that forms exist and that each event is provided a unique identifying number to track attendees and the budget within your organization. To adequately evaluate the success and determine the necessity of the finances spent on meetings, you must be able to efficiently track the details of each event to maintain corporate responsibility.  Your SMP roadmap provides direction, budgeting, record-keeping and a transparent paper trail for assessment and evaluation.

• Communication
  Once your policy and processes are instituted, it is important to communicate the details of the SMP to the appropriate staff. To be effective, people need to be aware of the plan and understand the details. This will be simple for some organizations, but in larger companies with several assistants planning meetings for a variety of staff or divisions, clear communication is imperative. The players must understand the reason for a sudden change in corporate policy, so be sure to communicate openly and effectively to guarantee the success of your SMP.
• Evaluation
  At least annually, the team should review the policy and processes associated with your SMP to evaluate the strengths and successes of the system while identifying how the system could be improved.

 The SMP is a useful tool that will not only navigate you through the meeting planning process but it can also help determine if you should proceed.  For example, Texas Roadhouse continued forward with their decision to spend more than $2 million on an annual incentive program for 1,000 employees and spouses to participate in a five-day recognition event at posh hotels like the Fairmont and the Ritz-Carlton. CEO G.J. Hart defended the decision explaining that this event was crucial to the success of their restaurants as these are the staff members driving their business, and it is important for the employees to be shown value and recognition for their contributions to the restaurant’s success.

Your organization may not be a global insurance conglomerate or a large restaurant chain, but it shouldn’t stop you from investing in an SMP that will allow you to strategically and responsibly educate your staff, reward key contributors of your team or reach out to new and existing clients in an effort to grow your bottom line.