The Four Elements of Strategic Value

Mary Boone kicked off PCMA’s Leaders ofThought Summit inToronto in June by presentingwhat she calls“The Four Elements of StrategicValue”formeeting professionals.As planners’ roles shift fromlogistical to strategic, she said, these are the four fundamen- tal elements to building strategic value: Portfolio Management, Measurement,Meeting Design, and Advanced Logistics. Here she explains howshe came upwith this construct andwhat each ele- mentmeans: In response to what went on with themeetings industry crisis

[related to the financial crisis and the AIG Effect], I put together this framework because I felt thatwe really didn’t have a very good vocabulary for describingwhatwemeant by strategic valuewhen it came tomeetings and events. This framework can be used in a number of differentways. It can be used to explain to a senior exec- utive howtomaximize the value ofmeetings, it can be used to struc- ture ameetings and events department, or it can give you insight into how youmay want to build your career as ameeting profes- sional. The first element, PortfolioManagement, refers to howwe

look atmeetings and events in the aggregate across an organiza- tion…and think about themin terms of investments.Dowewant to invest in this particular event or invest more in that particular event — and why? How does that align to the high-level objec- tives of our organization? The most important thing to remember about Portfolio Man-

agement is that you need to consider both efficiency and effec- tiveness.There are a number of initiatives right nowgoing on around SMMor SMMP—StrategicMeetingsManagement. Tome, classic

the questions, a volunteer in each one captured the ideas that crystalized around their answers. These “ahas” were written on flipcharts. Change up theway that each table reports back to

the group. After each 35-minute round of table conversa- tions, Boone facilitated a five- to seven-minute debrief in a variety of formats. In the “talk show” format, for example, representatives fromeach table came up “on stage” and

[ 82

StrategicMeetingsManagement programs are an important part of Portfolio Management, but they often only focus on efficiency— driving out costs.But ifwe reallywant to be strategic,we also need to be thinking about the effectiveness side of this equation. How is this [event] helping achieve themission of the association? How is it helping achieve the organization’s objectives? The next element isMeasurement. Ifwe’re going to do effec-

tivePortfolioManagement,we need tomeasure our individualmeet- ings in order to be able to tell howvaluable they are, and howwell we are delivering onwhat it is thatwe’re trying to get accomplished. Sowemeasure individualmeetings in order to be able to determine both the value of thatmeeting alone as well as in the aggregate. MeetingDesignaddresses the formand content of individual

meetings.There’s a difference betweenmeeting planning andmeet- ing creative andmeeting design.Meeting Design is about howyou design the human interaction, the form and flow of the meeting, and the content objectives of themeeting.All of those are related to the design.We want to be able to connect, inform, and engage people at ameeting, and its design is essential to that objective. Finally, there’s Advanced Logistics.And the reason I called

it [that] is because I thinkwe really have to up our game in this area. If we’re going to have innovativemeetings and innovative design that incorporates new methods and new technologies, then we have to have the execution armtomake that happen, [such as] peo- ple in the logistics area who understand why we need tables a certainway,whywe need a certain roomsetup,whywe need a cer- tain site, in order to accommodate these innovative approaches. Design without execution is only a dream.

Boone interviewed themto find out what they had learned in their conversations. Get participants up out of their chairs. In the final

The Future of Trade Shows

debrief, all of the groups’ “aha” sheets were posted on the wall. Boone called it an “Idea Gallery”—not unlike walking around in an art gallery, but with ideas rather than art on dis- play. Participants walked around the roomwith a small pad of paper and jotted down questions and comments in response to the posted ideas. After the entire group had a chance to peruse the Idea Gallery, Boone then facilitated a discussion of their questions and comments. The timing of the Idea Gallery

Towatch a video ofMary Boone discussing The Four Elements of Strategic Value, visit http://vimeo.com/24724342. That page features links to video interviews of 16 Leaders of Thought Summit participants, conducted by Bryan Campen, director of newmedia atManifest Digital, as part of an initiative exploring the future of trade shows, funded by the PCMA Education Foundation, the Exhibition Industry Foundation, the ASAE Foundation, Freeman, and Gaylord Entertainment.Manifest Digital facilitates a LinkedIn group, FutureMeet, as well as a sister site (http://wheredoesthefuturemeet.com) to discuss high-level top- ics relating to the future ofmeetings and trade shows. Join the LinkedIn Future- Meet group and participate in the conversation on both forums.

pcma convene September 2011 ]

format was intentional. “It was used towards the end of the ses- sion,” Boone said, “so that people were up and out of their seats and on their feet at a point in time when they would likely be starting to get fatigued frombeing seated formost of themorning.”

Michelle Russell is editor in chief of Convene.

www.pcma.org