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‘A Heightened Level of Confidence’


Convene asked Issa Jouaneh, vice president, Maxvantage and Global Meeting Solutions, American Express Business Travel, to draw his own conclusions from the results of this year’s Meetings Market Survey:


It is not a surprise that meeting budgets are projected to decrease in 2010, given economic conditions of the past year. This ultimately means that meeting planners will need to do more with less. That’s why it is more impor- tant than ever for companies to adopt a strategic meet- ings management program; this will help them understand what they spend their meeting budget on and how much they spend. Meetings are a critical part of business-building, brand stewardship, retaining cur- rent business, and increasing employee productivity— all of which can deliver a positive return on a company’s meetings investment. Here are four conclusions I draw from the 19th Annual Meetings Market Survey: 1.New Normal—The meetings environment contin-


ues to be a volatile one, and the advent of a “new nor- mal” is apparent. As illustrated throughout the survey, meeting volumes and spending patterns differ from what they were prior to the economic crisis. In this new nor- mal, meeting professionals are being asked to do more with less, and in doing so, need to provide clear value— return on investment or return on business objective — in the meetings they hold.We see this theme in the sur- vey results, with the majority of organizations slashing their budgets while maintaining the same number of meetings from last year. This is also visible in the focus on fewer attendees and a heightened focus on eliminating non-essential elements of meet- ings, such as holding them in less “flashy” locations. 2. Right Cost, RightWay, Right Reason—The


results show a heightened level of confidence and certainty from planners as they look forward to 2010. Organizations are clearly looking to invest in meetings to drive business results. The decision to invest also comes with a new focus to manage meetings at the right cost, implement them in the right way, and make sure they take place for the right reason—always bridging back to business results and outcomes.





DOING MORE WITH LESS: The survey results indicate, according to Issa Jouaneh, a “new normal.” Despite slashed budgets at most organizations, meeting professionals are maintaining the same number of events as last year.


44 pcmaconvene March 2010 www.pcma.org 3. Small Meetings—This category continues


to represent a significant portion of an organiza- tion’s meetings portfolio, with little change expected in terms of volume within organizations. This is traditionally a category that has been unmanaged and an area where meeting profes- sionals can deliver significant value by consolidat- ing spend across the organization. It is important to understand the overall spend first. Then organiz- ers can leverage this intelligence to implement better supplier agreements and greater consistency in how meetings are managed by using automated solutions for meeting planning and management. 4. Payments—Interestingly, the data shows roughly three-quarters of respondents are still using manual forms of payment. In order to improve efficiencies, the first step to managing payments is for planners to under- stand the risks associated with how they manage their programs, and then exert more control over the process to ensure they are delivering transparency into their meetings spend. Further, adopting a strategic approach to managing meetings is a logical next step in streamlin- ing meetings programs for a given organization. This can be done by moving to electronic payment options, such as a meetings card, which will consolidate spend, cut costs, and reduce compliance risk.


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