Strategic Meetings Management Getting Started

Strategic Meetings Management Getting Started

Introduction and Welcome Kevin Iwamoto Vice President Enterprise Strategy, StarCite 25+ Industry Veteran 14 years as a Global Travel & Meetings Procurement Category Manager Airlines, Car Rental, Corporate Card, Ground Services, Hotel & Meetings The Walt Disney Company Hewlett Packard Managed a global travel category portfolio of $1.2B USD Former GBTA Chairman, President & Board Member Recipient of major industry media recognition, awards & designations, including Industry Icon in 2009

The Meetings Industry The Next Frontier A Huge Indirect Spend Category Corporate Meetings & Event industry was approximately $360 billion in 2010 Meetings represent an estimated 1 3 % of an organization s revenues on average or 35 60% of the amount spent separately on transient business travel Meetings represent up to 36% of hotel revenue the most profitable business segment Strategic Meetings Management of MICE, Aberdeen Group 2008 CWT Travel Management Institute 2010 PhoCusWright s Groups & Meetings: Market Opportunities Redefined 2007

Industry Pressures Data & buying fragmentation for buyers, revenue streams and distribution channel changes for suppliers Continued pressures on outsourcing travel and meetings Economy & the price of fuel Rapid advancement of social media and technology New and younger workforce and ways to transact business and communicate

StarCite Trends & Forecast For Meetings & Events RFP volume and bookings accelerating Shorter booking windows planning taking place in a tighter window Groups are starting to grow, add days, ROI is still key Suppliers market gaining ground; Suppliers are being selective and gaining more control Virtual meetings are on the rise and meetings managers are increasingly using social media tools to manage meetings

Current Trends The Challenge SMM American Express Global Business Travel Forecast GBTA Foundation Business Travel Quarterly Outlook Q1 ADR Smith Travel Reserach

Why Are Companies Focusing on SMM? Urgent Need to View Enterprise Spend Mitigate Various Risks Branding Consistency Enhance Meeting Performance Efficiencies Drive Significant Incremental Savings Managing Category Spend via Procurement Finance

Strategic Meetings Management Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) is a disciplined approach to managing enterprise wide meeting and event activities, processes, suppliers and data. policy process control people

Strategy Using the SMMP Roadmap and Developing a Business Case Define and articulate the problem or opportunity Identify and engage key stakeholders Match department goals to corporate values/objectives Use data consolidation and reports Include a change management strategy End to end SMMP annual savings range from 10 % 25%

SMMP Registration/Approval of Meeting / Event Company wide visibility via central calendar Annual savings from 1.6% 3.9% 25 Approval workflow audit trail (i.e. SOX) Annual savings from 1.2% 2.8%

SMMP Sourcing / Procurement Driving preferred supplier usage Improved leverage from total spend accuracy for negotiating rates 25 Annual savings from 8.6% 13.8%

SMMP Planning / Execution Quality of event Improved marketing of event and sessions Automation of many manual tasks 25 Annual savings from 1.1% 3.2%

SMMP Payment / Expense Reconciliation 25 Integration to financial systems Separate real time meetings and T&E spend analysis Annual savings from 0.3% 1.1%

SMMP Data Analysis / Reporting 25 Central reporting database and dashboards Real time enterprisewide accuracy Annual savings ranging from 0.5% 1.3%

SMMP Technology Technology connects all the puzzle pieces: 25 Automation Delivers efficiencies Drives common standards Sourcing Mature, consolidated marketplace Automates processes Centralizes data Visibility Improves visibility to meeting activity Reduces/eliminates paperwork Compliance Supports/enables pre approval Reporting capabilities from the meeting level to the enterprise level

Today s Meetings EcoSystem

What Key Challenges Circumvent SMM? Decentralization: Multiple touch points and fiefdoms Lack of executive sponsorship & endorsement Change management both process and culturally Lack of an internal owner and what department should own it Lack of budget and funding Lack of full understanding of SMM as a savings category Emotional sense of ownership

Reality 101: Goals at Odds How do we bridge the gap and work together toward common strategic goals?

SMMP Opportunity Analysis Creating or strengthening a centralized meetings team Implementing a meetings policy Establishing preferred supplier relationships and negotiating discounts Automated planning and payment processes Collecting meetings data Managing Risk

Analysis of Current Status Metrics Metrics provide an overall picture of meetings function Locate hidden meetings centers Uncover spending patterns and record keeping Outline planning practices, such as sourcing, contracting and attendee management. Note redundancies and process inefficiencies with estimates of time and money lost. Collect clear examples that point to weaknesses that an SMMP would address. Benchmark against current best practices

Cost/Benefit Analysis Internal Resources Your initial team should include: As implementation gets underway, Add communications help and adoption management support. Estimate the time commitment from this team and place a value on it.

Cost/Benefit Analysis External resources Understand what types of services are available and from what sources Determine which specific services your corporation might need and for how long Will your corporation need to outsource all or part of the SMMP responsibilities? What will the configuration be, and what is the cost?

Estimating Financial Returns Based on Current Meeting Spend Uncovered in Your Initial Research Reflect Industry Benchmarking Be Conservative Savings often prove more robust than initially presented in the business plan

Recommendations Get Started Seek Out Peers and Industry Colleagues with Experience Start Assembling Your Internal Team, if only informally Contact Vendors Begin Cultivating an Executive Sponsor

Strategic Meetings Management Handbook: From Theory to Practice StarCite brings together eleven meetings industry thought leaders to share their knowledge and experience in chapters about the most advanced SMM theories and best practices. a grand overview of the development of SMM, its progression today, what the most advanced industry players are thinking and doing, and where SMM is headed in the future. Available at: http://communications.starcite.com/smmhandbook.html

Questions? For more information on SMMP, please visit: StarCite s Resource Center at www.starcite.com The MPI Research Library at http://www.mpiweb.org/portal/research The GBTA Resource Center at www.gbta.org Kevin Iwamoto s Strategic Meetings Management blog at http://blog.starcite.com/blog/strategic meetings management 2 2011 Recipient of Silver Award for Best Industry Blog from TRAVEL WEEKLY 26