IN IT TOGETHER: A Strategic Meetings Management Program’s success depends on how well the meetings team is able to create “an alliance” with other departments, such as finance, said Christine Gorham, meeting manager at Booz Allen Hamilton.
Putting Together an SMM Program The group discussed that initially they thought their Strategic Meetings Management Program (SMMP) implementation efforts would be a three- to six-month project, but most par- ticipants agreed that they underestimated the time it takes to develop a mature program. There was consensus that an SMMP could take three to five years for many corporations. One participant started to draft an SMMP in 2005, and it
was not implemented until 2009. Be patient but focused, she advised. The group agreed on the extreme importance of having
executive-level support inorder to be successful. As the project leader, one of the biggest areas of focus
should be on consensus-building, to ensure that all key stake- holders are committed to the progam’s success, said Theresa Tamer, manager, logistics and event services, strategic events, at The Coca-Cola Company. “If you do not constantly assess where you are with consensus, you could end up with a pro- gram that is not utilized,” she said. “It is important to use sharp facilitationskills to make this happenand remainopen for stakeholder input and feedback. Mandates do not work effectively, especially at the beginning.” She suggested using focus groups to turn stakeholders into advocates. Christine Gorham, meeting manager at Booz Allen Hamil-
ton, stressed the importance of creating “an alliance with other departments, such as finance, to achieve success with an SMMP.” At Booz Allen Hamilton, she said, “we disseminate finance’s invoice requirements to our national sales represen- tatives and ensure these requirements accompany all hotel/ venue contracts. By doing this, we’re able to create efficien- cies, help streamline the process, and capture important data for reporting purposes.” In addition, someone in the group pointed out that it is
becoming more common to see executives responsible for improving spend withina specific category. Whenthe execu- tive is tied to results, planners can use this to their advantage. This means he or she has skininthe game.
Meetings Policy The group discussed the challenges of writing their meet- ings policy and getting it approved and implemented. A
few recommendations: Consider forming a group that includes people from other corporations who are working on the same task, and share the work, advised U.K.-based Kerrie Henshaw-Cox, procurement manager, global hotels and meetings indirect procurement, for BP. Henshaw-Cox said that she would be willing to share her thoughts on policy writing so others could model it, “understanding that each organization is different from a cultural basis.” Some participants reported having drafts that are as many as 16 pages long; others felt that 16 pages is too long. One participant’s meetings policy is three pages long because, she said, no one in their organization is going to read 16 pages, much less comply with it. Simpler is better in order to keep the process moving. One participant indicated that she successfully attached the meetings policy to her company’s updated travel pol- icy, which resulted in the policy getting approved more quickly than if it had been sent out separately. Once a meetings policy is in place, conduct audits and make this a measurement of job performance. Make it transparent, so it’s clear which planners are good at saving money. Use the data for twice-annual performance meas- urements. Use your hotel partners to help police rogue employees booking hotels outside of the policies. Inform the hotels which staff members are authorized signatories.
Tracking Data and Your Meetings Spend The group universally reported the challenge of tracking meetings spend. Several participants who have more