A Tepid Turnaround

All indications are that the economy will begin to recover in 2010.We asked respondents what that meant in terms of their meetings.

Budget cuts? Respondents said that they’ve been asked to cut a variety of expenses for their 2010 meetings, the most frequent ones being food-and-beverage (45 percent), rooms/housing (29 percent), and/or audiovisual (27 percent). Also on the chopping block: shuttle service (17 percent), speakers/programming (16 percent), and meeting rooms (11 percent).

Number of meetings stabilizing? Close to two-thirds of respondents (64 percent) expected their total number of meetings in 2010 to remain the same. The remainder were slightly more likely to expect a decrease (19 percent) than an increase (12 percent).

Cutting number of days of multiday meetings? A large majority (73 percent) of respondents did not cut back on the number of days of any multiday meeting in 2009, compared to 2008. Twenty-one percent cut the meeting by one day, and 5 percent by more than one day. For 2010, 78 percent did not have plans to cut back

on the number of days of any multiday meeting, compared to 2009. Eighteen percent expected to cut the meeting by one day, and 3 percent by more than one day.

Canceling meetings? More than one-third (38 percent, compared to 2008’s 27 percent) canceled one or more meetings in 2009 (20 percent canceled more than one meeting, and 18 percent canceled just one meeting); 61 percent did not cancel any meetings. Fewer than one-fifth (17 percent) expected to cancel

one or more meetings in 2010 —down slightly from the 21 percent in 2008 who anticipated canceling meetings in 2009. Ten percent expected to cancel only one meeting; 7 percent anticipateed canceling more than one meeting, and 82 percent said there would be no cancellations.

By Any Measure

Another open-ended question in this year’s survey was, “How do you measure your meeting’s ROI?”

Here are some responses: A combination of things, including budget, historical data, savings over spending. Some areas are out of my control and I can only react to them, not manage them.

As an association, the ROI is measured by attendance increase/decrease from previous years, membership increase/decrease and membership involve- ment/activity.

Benefit to our membership, positive survey results from both attendees and exhibitors—and making a profit.

By the feedback and dollars spent on exhibits and sponsorship programs.

Financial success, level of attendance, level of scientific presentations, attendee feedback, board reaction.

Essentially, you need to find a way to quantify the goals of the meeting, even if they are not financial. Then evaluate how well the goals were met.

The value that everyone perceives. They need to have immediate take-aways to implement in the office and connect with others that will allow them to extend their networking and mentoring throughout the year.

We are a break-even proposition and measure ROE [return on experience].

Were we able to meet our projected attendance numbers, stay within budget and control the costs and still deliver a successful event that brings the attendee back the next year? Repeat attendance is a key factor.

A number of ways— how has it moved business forward, exceeded meeting objectives (training, retention, motivation, etc).

Increased participation by new professionals. Visibility of our association as a leader in this profession.

50 pcma convene March 2010 www.pcma.org