T&E Plus

Reduce Unmanaged Travel

2012-02-08T09:18:06-05:00

Travel and meeting managers that use preferred suppliers become frustrated when their travelers or meeting attendees bypass the policies and use non-preferreds. Case in point, when we went through our Six Sigma measure stage at PwC (2007) to identify the rogue or maverick meeting spend that was not funneling through our meetings team, we learned that our strategic meetings management program only managed 49% of the total spend in the firm. Shocking to us, because we thought we had corralled most of the costs. Travel compliance returned better percentages, yet travelers still booked outside of the policy. As a result, we developed proactive controls to stopgap rogue spenders and added numerous program enhancements. While arguments exist to reduce compliance requirements, managed travel with strong compliance is still the pot ‘o gold at the end of the rainbow in many industries. (For more information on compliance... Develop a Compliance Strategy)

A new tool has reached the industry that warrants your review. ProcureApp is a proactive approach and application that alerts travelers on how and where to book travel. Indirect purchases through non-contracted channels (e.g. going directly to hotel’s website) can result in non-compliance. ProcureApp addresses maverick spend easily so that even if travelers book your preferred properties, it will always be through the method you choose and not directly with the websites.

Because I’m a visual learner, I drew this very elementary picture of where ProcureApp fits in for some of my clients. Without any financial interest in ProcureApp, I share this information with you because after seeing the product, I thought it was an excellent proactive control to help you manage your travel and meeting programs. For more information about ProcureApp, please contact phil@procureapp.com or visit their website at: http://www.procureapp.com/

A BIG THANK YOU to all of the meetings and travel leaders who continue to support me through the T&E blog, LinkedIn groups, client engagements and most important, your friendship.

Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation plus more...

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT

•           Author, Strategic Meetings Management: The Strategy Quick Reference Guide (2011)
•          Co-Author, Strategic Meetings Management Handbook (2011)
•           Meetings Management Mover and Shaker as selected by Corporate and Incentive Travel Magazine (2010)
•           Top 20 Changemaker who influenced the meetings management industry by Corporate Meetings and Incentives (2008)
•           Best Meeting Practitioner as selected by Business Travel News (2007)

*Debi is proud to be a regular contributor to Business Travel Executive Magazine.
*Debi is proud to be one of only seven 2011 Editorial Board members for Hotel Business Review at http://www.hotelexecutive.com/ for Conferences & Meetings.
*Debi created two LinkedIn groups (GBTA SMM and T&E Plus) that now claim over 2,000 worldwide members combined.

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference

Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

February 23 - EMC Webinar
February 23-24 - GA MPI
March 1 - VA MPI
April 24 – PCMA NYC
April 26 - EMC Webinar
May 16-17 – FIMP Chairperson - Boston
May 21 - Meetings Tech Expo - Washington DC
June 21 - EMC Webinar
August 23- EMC Webinar
October 25 - EMC Webinar
December 2 - EMC Webinar

Negotiating Contracts in an SMM Environment

2012-02-04T07:31:50-05:00

Last month I presented a day-long session at the meeting industry’s thought-leadership group, the Meetings Competitive Advantage Forum (MCAF), which I used to participate in when I was the PwC Meetings Director. (See SMM History for more information about MCAF). When I brought up the topic of contracting in an SMM environment, one industry leader asked, “Is there a difference between contracting in an SMM environment vs. a non-SMM environment?” The answer is yes, there is a different.

Download SCG Meetings and Events Hotel Contracting Maturity Model©

There are varying degrees of maturity in Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) contracting and inevitably, most suppliers, most often hoteliers, want to learn how to avoid the onerous contract negotiations in these environments. Procurement may be involved and many organizations are moving to their own contracts vs. using the supplier’s paper. Even in a seller’s market, organizations want to be in the driver’s seat of racing down the road of terms and conditions. And, who can blame them? Many organizations spend millions of dollars with suppliers and procurement leaders expect to use master service agreements to reduce overall risk and cost, and improve consistency across the whole enterprise.

Whereas ad-hoc contracting for a meeting or event requires the meeting planner and property leaders to negotiate terms, strategic sourcing usually requires procurement, meeting leaders, general counsel and chain-wide leaders to negotiate terms for an entire organization’s meetings and events. Sometimes, the SMM contracting process penitentiary causes confinement for months with legal beagles shredding their opponent’s side of the contract.

Because hotel spend makes up a hefty chunk of the meeting/event costs, let’s start by understanding the maturity levels of hotel contracting. If we understand the Meetings and Events Hotel Contracting Maturity Model^© and how it affects our negotiation strategies, then buyers and suppliers can author terms that produce win/win scenarios. Organizations want to move toward contracting less, saving more, and partnering for duration in an SMM environment. Defined, Strategic Meetings Management provides direction for organizations to guide the strategy, operations, and tactical activities of meetings and events in order to improve business processes, quality, and return on investment, and reduce costs, risks, and inefficiencies.

Twenty components make up the Meetings and Events Hotel Contracting Maturity Model^©

1. Identifying suppliers to bid on meetings

2. Bidding, evaluation and selection process of suppliers

3. Preferred suppliers

4. Contract language

5. Concessions and discounts

6. Negotiation practices

7. Benchmarking

8. Automating sourcing process

9. Contract signing delegation

10. Hard and soft savings, cost avoidance and cost reduction; penalty identification

11. Reporting

12. Reputational risk

13. Service level agreements and key performance indicators

14. Contract retention practices

15. Supplier relationship management

16. Contract and compliance

17. Standard operating procedures

18. Change management

19. Professional sourcing staff

20. Strategy, policy and continuous improvement

Each of the Meetings and Events Hotel Contracting Maturity Model^©components is described in the following levels. For example, an organization may be in the “Learning” stage for one of the components but in the “Evolving” stage for another component. The progressive maturity model levels also include the activities from the less-mature, previous levels. The maturity model levels are:

Learning - Describes an organization that is aware of the SMM components and may take first steps in building a program

Developing - Describes an organization that is building an SMM program and may launch some components

Evolving - Describes an organization that has implemented one or a few of the SMM components; Program updates may be underway

Transforming - Describes an organization with proper oversight, governance and change management

Mature - Describes an organization with the highest level of maturity

Using the continuum of hotel contract maturity from the “learning” stage through “mature,” let’s explore a few of the twenty components mentioned above.

When an organization is in the “learning” stage of SMM, it may source meetings and events on an ad-hoc basis, meeting by meeting. Yet, when an organization is in the “mature” stage of SMM, it regularly selects preferred properties that may be part of a chain-wide agreement for duration such as one or two years.

When an organization is in the “learning” stage, it may negotiate contracts and concessions on an ad-hoc basis meeting by meeting. Yet, when an organization is in the “mature” stage of SMM, it regularly negotiates concessions with chains based on total volume of transient and meeting business across all business units globally to leverage buying power.

When an organization is in the “learning” stage, it may not use service level agreements. Yet, when an organization is in the “mature” stage, it regularly uses service level agreements with key performance indicators and consequences with its suppliers, including hotel chains and properties.

Using the maturity of contract language as an example, differences may result that significantly affect the outcome as shown below:

1. “Learning” Stage of SMM: The standard hotel contract language may not have any language about credits and read:

“If Group elects to cancel this Contract for any reason other than a termination for cause or pursuant to the Force Majeure clause of this contract, Group agrees to provide written notice to Hotel accompanied by payment indicated in the following scale.”

2. “Developing” Stage of SMM: The organization may add an addendum to the hotel’s contract that will protect the organization and allow for use of penalty credits.

“Should (the Buyer) cancel this contract, (the Buyer) shall have the option to rebook another meeting of same or greater size at Hotel within one (1) year from the cancelled meeting dates. Hotel shall credit XX% amount paid by (the Buyer) toward a future rebooked meeting.”

3. “Evolving” Stage of SMM: The organization may develop their own hotel contract to be used on a meeting-by-meeting basis which usually includes significant terms and conditions from the organization’s procurement or legal team. The primary difference is that the organization’s master agreement is now the foundational paper used and changes must be redlined by the Hotel vs. the Organization (the Buyer) of meeting space and/or room nights. It may include substantial business terms and conditions in addition to meeting requirements and expectations which are often Scope of Works or Exhibits at the end of the Master Agreement. Because this language may not be acceptable to the Hotel’s lawyers, negotiations are inevitable.

“In the event that (The Buyer) cancels the Meeting, (The Buyer) shall pay Hotel according to the fees defined and timeline in Exhibit A minus allowable attrition and any rooms resold. Any meeting space, sleeping rooms, food and beverage functions resold over the contracted meeting dates will be deducted from (The Buyer)'s potential liquidated damages. After the contracted meeting dates and full reconciliation of any liquidated damages, Hotel will submit a cancellation invoice, along with an actualized occupancy report and credit card authorization form. The cancellation invoice shall be presented to (The Buyer) within 14 days after cancelled meeting dates and will be paid in 45 days after the invoice was received. Invoice must include accounts payable contact name, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address and should be submitted electronically to the (The Buyer) contact as defined in Exhibit A. Payment of the cancellation invoice will be made within 45 business days of receipt of invoice. If (The Buyer) has paid Hotel any deposit prior to (The Buyer)’s cancellation and the deposit exceed the cancellation fees of this Agreement, Hotel shall refund the excess amounts to (The Buyer) within thirty (30) days of (The Buyer)’s cancellation.

Should (The Buyer) cancel this Agreement and if (The Buyer) pays any cancellation fee, liquidated damages or penalty to Hotel, the amount paid will be credited 100% against any charges incurred by (The Buyer) and/or such party as designated by (The Buyer), and owed to Hotel for any meeting, event or banquet booked within twelve (12) months after the date of the originally scheduled meeting.

4. “Transforming” Stage of SMM: The organization may develop a master services agreement to be used across an entire chain with all properties or at least the most frequently used properties. In addition to language such as described in “Evolving” above, fundamental language defining expectations and discounts may be included.

“ABC Chain will allow for X number of credits to be used across X number of properties within the year.” Or, another example is “ABC Chain will provide a minimum of 10% discount on all food and beverage at the defined (X number of properties, e.g. fifty most frequently used) properties for all meetings and events. Additional negotiations may increase the amount of this discount at the time of sourcing. ABC Chain agrees to waive fees for small groups fewer than 20 attendees at these properties if the group under 20 requires breakfast and lunch in the same room and up to one breakout room, booked through the ABC Chain global sales organization team.”

5. “Mature” Stage of SMM: The organization may develop a master services agreement to be used that integrates both travel and meeting services. The organization’s leaders expect that the hotels will recognize the “total volume” of all spend, not just the transient, or only the group volume.

“The Hotel and (the Buyer) shall meet quarterly following the execution of this Agreement to review whether the relationship between the parties is proceeding as envisioned; whether (the Buyer’s) requirements are being fully met by the supplier for transient and group business; whether changes to the fees for Services are appropriate in light of then-current service alternatives and pricing available from Supplier and its principal competitors in the marketplace for similar services comparable to the Services being provided to (the Buyer) hereunder. To this end, the Supplier shall work on achieving cost savings on both materials and processes, for transient and group business, and as possible, such savings shall be reflected in a reduction in price of the Services. During the quarterly review, the Supplier’s global sales organization, (the Buyer’s) travel, meeting, and procurement leaders will review strategy, resources, processes, technologies and data intelligence prepared by the Supplier.”

Out-of-program suppliers may also be part of the overall SMM strategy. For example, many organizations may not include a Las Vegas property in their group preferred program; yet, Las Vegas hotels are very viable to the success of many meetings. The successful outlier properties (e.g. conference centers) may be a key component to a comprehensive SMM venue strategy, even if the conference centers are not part of a chain.

When SMM leaders and suppliers work together to produce master contracts that do not require significant edits each time a meeting occurs, then it produces a win/win environment for everyone. The Meetings and Events Hotel Contracting Maturity Model^©and the use of master contracts can also be used for other suppliers such as meeting planning companies, audio-visual/production suppliers, ground transportation suppliers, etc.

Use the Meetings and Events Hotel Contracting Maturity Model^©to identify your improvement opportunities and as always, feel free to reach out to me if you want help developing or improving your contracts, service level agreements, key performance indicators, savings guarantees, or any other component of your travel and meeting program.

Download SCG Meetings and Events Hotel Contracting Maturity Model©

A BIG THANK YOU to all of the meetings and travel leaders who continue to support me through the T&E blog, LinkedIn groups, client engagements and most important, your friendship.

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference

Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

February 23 - EMC Webinar
February 23-24 - GA MPI
March 1 - VA MPI
April 24 – PCMA NYC
April 26 - EMC Webinar
June 21 - EMC Webinar
August 23- EMC Webinar
October 25 - EMC Webinar
December 2 - EMC Webinar

Powerful Women Leaders Series – Kari (Kesler) Wendel

2012-01-27T07:25:22-05:00

Visionary, smart, and decisive women have taught me values and skills throughout my life. From my mother, who raised two girls alone while she held a full time job, and powered as a union president to my numerous mentors who guide me daily. What better way to share these authentic, powerful women leaders with you than to share their stories.

Young teenage women are so impressionable and often, it is a stage in one’s life when we lack self-confidence in peer pressure cookers. Let’s continue to encourage young women by providing role models and mentors. Share these stories with young women in your life.

The first powerful women leader of the series is a mentor to me, Kari (Kesler) Wendel. When I was new to the meetings management world, Kari taught me foundational principles. When I needed to update the PricewaterhouseCoopers meeting policy, she gave me hers. When I started to lead the Groups & Meetings Committee, she advised me. The impact that Kari has had on Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) cannot be underestimated and her name is probably in my SMM book more than my own. See SMM History.

Kari is the Senior Director – Global Program Management and SMM Solutions for Carlson Wagonlit Travel Meetings & Events. She leads a team of 3 groups within CWT M&E:
1) global strategists who drive SMM related strategy for their largest, global clients;
2) business intelligence analysts who support their accounts in driving actionable data to make sound business decisions; and
3) solutions professionals who provide consulting solutions to client and non-client companies.
She lives in Savage, MN (a suburb of Minneapolis, MN) with her husband, Bobby, 11 year old twins, Katie & Jackson, and great dane, Max.

Did you know when you were 15 that you would become as successful as you are today?

Truly, I don’t wake up each day and think “wow, I am really successful” . . . I thought at 15 that whatever I did, I should do it well. This was a common saying in my household, coming from my grandfather, in the form of a reminder that “anything worth doing is worth doing well." In fact, I would say that my career has been 80% accidental, 10% design, and 10% divine intervention at critical times. I believe that when you give your "all" to a task/job, your passion and dedication show and success will follow. I’ve been fortunate to have several people in my life that have seen in me something I’ve only recently recognized: I like to fix big messes and tough problems and I’m particularly adept if the solution is elusive. As long as I understand the safety zone in which I can work, if you give me a challenge, I am intrinsically motivated to overachieve in the finding the solution. At 15, I knew I wanted to be in charge (of something?) and happy – and I know I loved education . . . so the final combination of hard work, education and luck have resulted in my current position where I continue to drive visionary ideas in this industry that I love and can rest my head knowing I’ve done my best each day.

As the powerful woman leader that you are today, if you could talk to your younger self at age 15, what would you tell her?

Wow – I would start with learning earlier not to care too deeply about opinions of others . .. followed by focusing more on the objective of the task/work and less around who’s doing what/saying what/etc. In other words, I spent a great deal of time worrying about why folks around me didn’t see things my way, do things my way . . . and it was a fruitless effort which caused me to take my eye off the ball. I would also tell myself to take a year to explore the world and understand a non-US based view of the world and business – it’s a true detriment that most children in the U.S. see the world through a myopic U.S. lens which is very detrimental in the business world. Lastly, I would worry less about being a “feminist” and more about demonstrating my power through actions and example and grace.

What was your first job and what did it teach you that you still remember today?

While not my very first job (which was retail sales), the first job where I truly learned life lessons was my college internship my senior year. I worked for a very small design firm as the assistant national sales manager. I did a few things and said a few things out of sheer ignorance and immaturity – learning that being careful and intentional with my words would be critical to any success, regardless the field. I also learned that, like Debi, being willing and able to pitch in wherever needed and not being “above” any task is critical to prove work ethic and adaptability. This also taught me that there is always a piece of the picture/chapter in the story into which you won’t have insight – so we must be very careful in our judgment. Perspective is critical and empathy a requirement.

How do you handle the parallel divide between doing something that you know you must do and the inherent, internal belief that it may not align with your moral values?

This is a tough one for me . . . I don’t believe I have compromised my moral values for a business situation – I have declined to compromise them and, in one instance, it ultimately led me to leave that position. At the end of each day, I need to be able to rest my head and know I have been true to my values.

Looking over the horizon for the next 3-5 years, what changes do you visualize in our industry?

I believe our industry will continue to mature at a frustratingly slow rate . . . following the trajectory of the travel industry. I am interested to see what organizations and individuals will rise into leadership roles as I am sure that the strategic side of the meetings industry is still suffering from ambiguity and a lack of industry “ownership." Folks interested in learning and leading in this space currently have no real “rock” of stable, well founded education and leadership to look to. This leadership and education will continue to be managed in an ad hoc fashion and this will never work as effectively as a central, non-biased, objective group with a vision and mandate to drive best practices.

What do you think that we can learn from our global colleagues?

We can learn to be better global business citizens, broaden our perspective, and drive more inclusive global strategies that consider the important regional nuance critical to success. Take off the U.S. lens and broaden our view and understanding.

What keeps you up at night?

All of the opportunity that exists to invent new solutions that drive value and the lack of time/energy (or cloning technology) to make all of this come to fruition. And my lovely children and how I can ensure I am giving my very best to them in order that they become happy, responsible, successful adults in their own way.

Who or what motivates you?

My grandpa’s saying (see above) and success itself. I am simply excited when I fix a problem, solve a challenge, help an associate, and deliver great strategy to a client. I then need another project quickly to keep me motivated!

What advice would you give to someone who is starting his or her career?

Always give your best. Always learn. Be gracious and open to perspectives other than your own. Be perseverant in working with people you don’t see eye to eye with – you will learn more from them than from any other leadership. If you give your heart and soul to a project/job/situation, and that effort is not acknowledged, stop giving – someone else will appreciate it more. Slow down – soon you will wake up in your mid 40’s and wonder who hit the fast forward button!

Great advice, Kari! Thank you for being the FIRST person in our Powerful Women Leader Series!

You can learn more about Kari at http://www.linkedin.com/in/karikesler.

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT

Creating a Virtual Meetings and Events Strategy

2011-12-13T09:01:43-05:00

By definition, a virtual meeting or event provides for live or archived communications among small to large and local to global attendees. Virtual meetings and events, a critical component to a strategic meetings management (SMM) strategy, expand organizations’ options to communicate and offer an alternative method to deliver a meeting.

Yet, many organizations do not understand the different tiers of virtual meetings, the ROI metrics that should be captured, or the roles and responsibilities of the virtual meeting planner. The attached whitepaper may help you.

Download Creating a Virtual and Meeting Event Strategy by Debi Scholar

A BIG THANK YOU to all of the meetings and travel leaders who continue to support me through the T&E blog, LinkedIn groups, client engagements and most important, your friendship.

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT

•           Author, Strategic Meetings Management: The Strategy Quick Reference Guide (2011)
•           Meetings Management Mover and Shaker as selected by Corporate and Incentive Travel Magazine (2010)
•           Top 20 Changemaker who influenced the meetings management industry by Corporate Meetings and Incentives (2008)
•           Best Meeting Practitioner as selected by Business Travel News (2007)

*Debi is proud to be a regular contributor to Business Travel Executive Magazine.
*Debi is proud to be one of only seven 2011 Editorial Board members for Hotel Business Review athttp://www.hotelexecutive.com/ for Conferences & Meetings.
*Debi created two LinkedIn groups (GBTA SMM and T&E Plus) that now claim over 2,000 worldwide members combined.
*Debi is proud that this blog has received almost 24,000 views to date.

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference
Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET
December 15 – EMC Webinar
January 10 - PCMA
January 11, 12 – MCAF
February – EMC Webinar
February 23-24 - GA MPI
March 1 - VA MPI
March - Meetings Technology
April – EMC Webinar
June – EMC Webinar
August – EMC Webinar
October – EMC Webinar
December – EMC Webinar

Strategic Meetings Management Presentation

2011-12-05T01:26:32-05:00

In the past 3 business days, I have sent my generic Strategic Meetings Management presentation to five people. I'm posting it to my blog so that readers have easy access to it. Because I have over 500 pages from various SMM presentations, I'm attaching only a handful of my slides if you need to explain SMM to your business leaders.

Download Strategic Meetings Management Presentation - Debi Scholar

A BIG THANK YOU to all of the meetings and travel leaders who continue to support me through the T&E blog, LinkedIn groups, client engagements and most important, your friendship.

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT

*Debi is proud to be a regular contributor to Business Travel Executive Magazine.
*Debi is proud to be one of only seven 2011 Editorial Board members for Hotel Business Review athttp://www.hotelexecutive.com/ for Conferences & Meetings.
*Debi created two LinkedIn groups (GBTA SMM and T&E Plus) that now claim over 2,000 worldwide members combined.
*Debi is proud that this blog has received almost 24,000 views to date.

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference
Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

Strategic Meetings Management Business Plan

2011-11-29T16:10:19-05:00

It is that time of year again when those who are sitting for their Certificate in Meetings Management designation are looking for help with their business plans. I've been asked countless times over the last couple of years to share my generic business plan. I've given it to over a hundred people and parts of it are also incorporated into the SMMC class. In addition to coaching CMM attendees, I also provide presentations on different variations of the business plan - if you want a presentation to your organization, please contact me.

It is posted on another website by an industry publication. Now, you can download it here too. Let me know if you have any questions! Good luck to those of you who are writing your plans!

Download Generic Building an SMMP Business Plan v2

Download Business Plan - Case Financials 26 Jan 2011

A BIG THANK YOU to all of the meetings and travel leaders who continue to support me through the T&E blog, LinkedIn groups, client engagements and most important, your friendship.

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference
Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

Measuring the 7 Types of Meetings

2011-11-15T17:13:36-05:00

Meetings are defined differently by organizations yet sometimes meetings are not defined at all. Some people differentiate between meetings and events while others use the terms interchangeably. Meetings may be referred to as one or several days in length. Meetings often include numerous events that must be integrated to provide a seamless experience for the attendees. No two meetings or events are alike.

Whereas a meeting may be a workshop, project team meeting, training session, retreat, or conference, an event may be a client reception, town hall, entertainment event, a team-building activity, a fundraiser, or dinner event. Events are often a few hours to one day in length. Yet, multi-day events may often be the most challenging and offer the greatest return on investment as with the case of planning for a golf invitational that includes high profile clients. Meetings and events are further defined by the Convention Industry Council and other organizations.

What are the 7 Reasons we have meetings?

What is the meeting objective?
What is the general purpose of the meeting?
What do you hope to accomplish?
What is the expected outcome and how will it be measured?
Do you require a baseline of information before the meeting/event starts so that you can compare the information to the after-meeting/event results?

If we understand the purpose of the meeting and the expected outcome, then we can plan the meeting with an understanding of the expectations and plan for success.

Meetings or events are generally held to communicate, motivate, educate, celebrate, generate revenue or regenerate the workforce. The following table describes some meeting types, the purpose or goals of the meeting, a question to ask to develop ideas on measurement, and sample measurement ideas. Many organizations require that the meeting sponsor or budget holder be responsible for ensuring that the meeting/event expenses are valid, reasonable and necessary to achieve the desired business objectives.

You may also want to offer virtual meeting options to replace or complement meetings when the objective is to communicate, educate or generate revenue. Whereas, it is more challenging to use virtual technologies to motivate and celebrate.

Debi's 7 Reasons why we have Meetings
Meeting Type Examples	Goal or Purpose of the Meeting	Question to ask to understand how to measure the outcome of the meeting or event	Measurement Ideas (not all inclusive)
Business, committee meeting, project meetings, executive meetings, etc.	Communicate	Was the communication used and understood?	Measure the effects of the communication efforts. For example, if a business meeting was held to discuss a new project, the measurement could be the success of the project completion as evaluated by the project sponsor.
Product Launch	Motivate	Did the attendees change or improve behavior through motivation?	Measure the effects of the improved behavior such as the familiarity of the new product or service before and after the meeting. Later, more measurements could be tracked such as increased sales of the product or service.
Training session	Educate	Did the attendees learn something that would reduce cost or risk, improve productivity or quality, or generate more sales?	Measure the effects of the education, including an increase in productivity after learning the new skill, or an increase in sales after learning about the product or service.
Retreat, incentive type meeting	Celebrate	Did the attendees feel appreciated?	Measure the effects of the perceived value of the celebratory event. The measurement could be the increase in accomplishments throughout the year or the perceived feeling that the attendees had during the event.
Focus groups, Feedback meetings, Advisory councils	Evaluate	Did the attendees evaluate the service or product as expected and provide the needed feedback?	Measure the depth of the attendee feedback or the level of participation in advisory councils.
Product launches, Sales meetings	Generate revenue	Did the event help generate more revenue?	Measure the effects of the leads generated, resulting sales or revenue generated.
Recruiting activities	Regenerate the workforce through recruiting	Did the organization hire more staff?	Measure the effects of the recruiting and interviewing efforts: the number of subsequent interviews held or the number hired who attended the job fair.
Debi Scholar© 2011.

Be sure to track all of your meetings and events through your meeting management technology system. If you want any help measuring the effectiveness of your meetings and events, contact me.

A BIG THANK YOU to all of the meetings and travel leaders who continue to support me through the T&E blog, LinkedIn groups, client engagements and most important, your friendship.

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference

Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET
January 10 - PCMA
January 11, 12 - MCAF
February 23-24 - GA MPI
March 1 - VA MPI
March - Meetings Technology

GBTA Meetings Lab

2011-11-10T06:29:37-05:00

Meetings Lab – Piccardy, France

Wish I was attending the Meetings Lab by GBTA Europe! Looks like a great event!

Piccardy, France : The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) holds their Meetings Lab, their new event dedicated to the meetings and event sector being held just outside Paris on November 10-11, 2011 at the Principal Hayley Château Saint-Just.

The event is to be moderated by Chris Elmitt, managing director of Chrystal Interactive with key speakers Torbjörn Erling, Meeting & Travel Manager from Ikea Group and Rob Leslie Jr, global technical architect from Cisco Events being interviewed in the first session on the approach to effective meetings architecture and design. Subsequent sessions will see speakers Carole Poillerat, Global Category Leader for Meetings & Events from AstraZeneca and Kevin Iwamoto, Vice President for Enterprise Strategy at Starcite kick-start interactive sessions with unusual and innovative formats.

Sessions include The Collaborative Distraction, where delegates will work collaboratively on the creation of a model made from packaging waste whilst discussing the building blocks of a successful meetings programme. The Freudian Walk will have delegates divided into small groups to walk in the grounds of the Château to discuss contentious issues such as remuneration and transparency. The final session of the day, Pass the Problem will see delegates pass written issues on measuring the success of meetings programmes to other participants for them to contribute potential solutions, all to the sound of inspiring music.

The organisers have announced that a number of high level meetings and event professionals from companies such as Accenture, American Express, Coca-Cola, Lanyon, LEO Pharma, Logica, Philips and PwC have already committed to the event, which is being supported by Starcite, Chrystal Interactive and Principal Hayley.

Paul Tilstone, managing director of GBTA Europe, said, ”This experimental event is attracting individuals who have a real passion for innovation and enjoy the opportunity to try something new in the Meetings & Events space. This type of event is at the heart of GBTA’s approach to the sector, challenging and exploring the issues and methods of management we use.”

Full event details and registration can be found at http://www.gbtaeurope.org/go/events/meetings_lab.html

Capture Regulatory Compliance Data in Meetings and Events

2011-10-29T08:12:54-04:00

We discussed the importance of developing a compliance strategy ( Develop a Compliance Strategy ) in the last article; now let's list the data elements that you may need to report to verify your meeting/event compliance requirements.

If you are using a Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) technology that has all of the functionality listed in this article ( SMM Technology Functionality), then there is a good chance your data element fields will be available to capture the information needed. If, however, you are not using an SMM technology, you should be capturing your meetings data using this spreadsheet (download below) or a database that includes the headings in this linked document. I do not support manual data entry such as using an Excel spreadsheet for thorough meetings management data intelligence, but we've all been there at one point and many of my clients still use databases and spreadsheets. Yet, it is important to find a full-functionality meeting management technology that is well-suited to track and report many, if not all, of your reporting requirements.

Download The MASTER spreadsheet of meetings

In addition to what is listed in your SMM technology or the Excel spreadsheet, more data should be captured for pharmaceutical, medical device, and financial services industries; the most rigorous data collection being in pharmaceutical and medical devices.

Whereas pharmaceutical and medical device companies may capture more thorough data for meetings that include Healthcare Providers (HCP), financial companies may capture more thorough data from government officials, representatives of a government entity or fund, and media representatives. Even though I have used the list of data collection elements below for clients, I encountered some gaps and appreciate StarCite's input and guidance that I received last week.

Debi's list of PhRMA (and Financial Services) compliance data gathering requirements

Pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other organizations may be required to comply with a variety of reporting requirements. Often, multiple systems are used to collect data in order to produce reports. Each HCP is uniquely identified to aggregate all payments and transfers of value to a single individual for reporting purposes. Below is a sampling of data requirements that may be expected as a standard functionality of meeting management technologies.

Meeting Information
Unique identifier of the meeting/event
Name of the meeting/event
Description of the meeting/event
Start date
End date
Meeting type (may be one or two levels of types, e.g. business unit, type of meeting, customer event, promotional programs, etc)
Total number of attendees
Number of Heathcare Provider (HCP) attendees (or government officials, representatives of funds, etc.)
Number of non-HCP (or non-government officials) attendees
Number of (organization’s) employee attendees

Meeting Location Information
Unique identifier of the meeting/event location
Name of the meeting location
Fields for the meeting location (address, city, state, region, postal codes, country, etc.)

Attendee Information – Note that every place it says "HCP" for Healthcare Provider, you could replace it with the language government officials for the financial services market)
Unique identifier of the HCP
Last name of the HCP
First name of the HCP
Middle name or initial of the HCP
Suffix of the HCP
Professional designation of the HCP (may be a drop down for consistency purposes)
State of Licensure
State License Number
National Provider Identifier
Medical Education Number
Additional custom field(s)
Type of address supplied
Unique identifier of the address supplied
Address line 1 of the HCP
Address line 2 of the HCP
City of the HCP
State of the HCP
Postal code of the HCP

Health Care Organization Information
Unique identifier of the HCO
Tax ID of the HCO
Hospital identification number
HCO type
Name of the HCO
Alternate name of the HCO
Unique identifier of the address of the HCO
Type of address supplied (may be a drop down)
Address line 1 of the HCO
Address line 2 of the HCO
City of the HCO
State of the HCO
Postal code of the HCO
Country of the HCO

Product Information
Unique identifier of the product
Product group name or product name
The percentage of spend to allocate to this product
Product indication

Expense Information
Unique identifier of the transaction
Type code of the spend (expense category)
Secondary purpose of the spend used to further clarify the purpose of the spend
Date of payment or date returned funds were received
Amount of payment (in U.S. Dollars)

Education item / Give Away Information
Unique identifier for non-product item
Name or description of the non-product item
Type code of the non-product item
Retail value of the non-product item
Quantity of the item given

Source of Spend
Unique identifier of the source
Identification of the type of spend data
Global ID of the (organization) employee who entered the data for this transaction
Unique identifier of the vendor

If you need help selecting a technology, collecting your data, or developing your compliance strategy, please contact me.

A BIG THANK YOU to all of the meetings and travel leaders who continue to support me through the T&E blog, LinkedIn groups, client engagements and most important, your friendship.

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference

Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

November 9 – NJBTA and ISM joint meeting
December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET
January – PCMA
March 1 – VA MPI
March – Meetings Technology Expo

Develop a Compliance Strategy

2011-10-21T09:37:41-04:00

Travel, meeting and expense policies that are well-defined and frequently communicated provide a robust foundation for adherence to legal and regulatory compliance requirements. Compliance in travel, meetings and expense management is primarily itemized into a) policy compliance and b) legal and regulatory compliance. Before an organization can monitor and manage compliance, it must identity the proactive behaviors and processes, and communicate the expectations preemptively before the behavior or process occurs.

Consider these conundrums:

A client wants to ensure that senior vice presidents or leaders with titles above that level sign all contracts. Yet, the reluctant procurement leaders prefer not to mandate their meeting policy nor communicate it thoroughly because these activities may deter employee morale.
A client needs to monitor travel costs and identify traveler whereabouts. Yet, the leaders allow unrestrained travel bookings through unmonitored processes because the leaders do not want to dissuade creativity through imaginary boundaries.

Dichotomy set aside of these true stories, some organizations do not believe that travel and meetings should be compliance-driven as part of its responsibility to maintain financial controls and manage risks. Curiously, leaders of cash cow organizations tend to abolish the proper management of indirect spend categories that seem to operate fine "as is."

For those leaders and organizations that recognize that T&E spend and meetings requires policies and compliance to maintain financial controls, consider the use of the SCG C6-step© process to develop your compliance strategy:

1. Identify and Categorize compliance requirements: What behavior, process, or risk do you want to monitor and manage compliance to? Are there risks that could be exposed without the compliance? Brainstorm the risk exposure to non-compliance in the SCG© seven risk categories of strategy, reputation, operations, regulatory/legal, information technology, market position, and financial impact.

2. Chart and rank compliance requirements: What level of risk is estimated for each of the identified risks? Is the compliance requirement a high risk with a high likelihood of occurrence? Medium or low risk? Create a risk impact graph to map and rank the risk exposure which will provide you with the roadmap to risk mitigation and compliance plans. For example, an organization may recognize that there is a high risk and high likelihood that unmanaged meeting contracts do not include the organization's required business terms. Legally, this could affect the outcome of litigation should an incident occur.

3. Create proactive Controls: What can be put in place to proactively mitigate risks so that compliance will be achieved? What policies need to be developed or improved? For example, if standard contracts or addendums include the organization's business terms, put policies and processes in place so that sourcing and contracting activities use the standard contracts or addendums without allowing for misdirected contracts.

4. Use Change management to drive adoption to policies and processes: What types of change management, education and communication activities are required to bring awareness to the compliance requirements? For example, use numerous communications mediums to educate everyone on using the standard contracts or addendums.

5. Collect data before and after the meeting for thorough reporting: What types of data intelligence do you have? From what systems or processes? How can data be collected before non-compliance occurs? For example, is it possible to obtain forecasts of upcoming meetings and ensure that the standard contract or addendum is used which would reduce risk exposure? How can data be collected after the meeting occurs? For example, is it possible to poll suppliers and/or budget holders for meetings that have been held that did not use the standard contract? Is it possible to use this data to report non-compliance to business leaders? Data intelligence, through metrics, provides reactive policy monitoring such as highlighting the employees who failed to use the online booking tool, spent more than what is deemed "normal" in restaurant expenses, or ignored the lowest airfare.

6. Determine Consequences for non-compliance: What will be the consequences for non-compliance? Are fees imposed for regulatory non-compliance? For example, if a meeting budget holder does not use the standard contract or addendum, will the issue be escalated? Are there tiered consequences for repeat offenders? Consequences for non-compliance may include warnings, non-payment of expenses, or termination.

For example, if an organization wants to:

Ensure that employees use the preferred travel booking method, then it could communicate these expectations, enforce the travel policy, audit expenses, and impose consequences for non-compliance; and/or
Limit its spend per day, per person, per meeting, then it could communicate these expectations, enforce the meeting policy, audit meeting spend, impose consequences for non-compliance, and add controls to its meeting management technology to alert meeting planners when the costs exceed a predefined amount.

Codes, Codes, Codes…

Selecting suppliers fairly through the use of request for proposals and evaluation scorecards fulfills some of the Sarbanes-Oxley guidelines. In the pharmaceutical and medical devices industry, additional requirements are necessary so that the organizations abide by the PhRMA or AdvaMed code or other codes based on country requirements. The Physician Payments Sunshine Act reporting requirements will begin soon.

In the financial and insurance industry, additional requirements may be necessary based on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform report and the Consumer Protection Act. The report came out and recommended that uniform fiduciary standards are appropriate for the industry but they have not been passed yet. However, organizations are preparing by getting their meeting/event strategy, processes, and technology in order now.

If you and your organization need to create, update or audit your compliance strategy, contact me. Look for the upcoming BTE November article on compliance, with interviews with key leaders, at Business Travel Executive. For other BTE articles on Strategic Meetings Management, search for "Scholar" in the site-wide search box.

A BIG THANK YOU to all of the meetings and travel leaders who continue to support me through the T&E blog, LinkedIn groups, client engagements and most important, your friendship.

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference

Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

November 9 – NJBTA and ISM joint meeting
December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET
January – PCMA
March – Meetings Technology Expo

GBTA announces new Global Meetings Taskforce

2011-10-12T16:39:40-04:00

Thank you to the Global Business Travel Association for starting the new Global Meetings Taskforce. Even though many in the industry still have lingering questions, the task force will be a wonderful new endeavor that deserves applause, especially considering that non-U.S. members may be added which will give the new team a broader perspective.
GBTA announces new Global Meetings Taskforce

A new Global Meetings Taskforce communications followed the announcement last week of the elimination of the Groups & Meetings committee. Unless there is transparency and strategic communications, these types of situations pose challenges. For example, questions arise such as how is the task force different than the committee? Will the previous committee members be included in the new task force? If not, why not? Is the task force a temporary or permanent solution? How were the leaders/members chosen--using what criteria? Why did the announcement come out without the former committee members' knowledge? Is it just a changing of the guards to reorganize and lose dead weight? Will people from other technology companies be allowed to participate? Many people still have questions that will be answered in the coming days and weeks.

If you are going through changes at your organization, consider change management initiatives and a thorough communications plan so that your colleagues, clients, and staff are all on the same page. If you make changes without key stakeholder involvement and without thorough communications to all the right audiences, it feels like deception and lacks transparency.

For example, the following table can be used as a simple method to begin planning your communications plan.

In addition, here is a link to the SCG Change Management information:

Download SCG Change Management Matrix

Last year, I provided 4 webinars to M&C Magazine; attached is an excerpt on communications plans if you would like more information:

Download Communications Plan - extracted from M&C webinar

If you are interested in understanding how to calculate the cost of change, please visit this link:

Cost of Change

Great move GBTA; keep the communications coming.

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT

*Debi is proud to be a regular contributor to Business Travel Executive Magazine.
*Debi is proud to be one of only seven 2011 Editorial Board members for Hotel Business Review at www.hotelexecutive.com for Conferences & Meetings.

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference. Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

November 9 – NJBTA and ISM joint meeting
December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET
January – PCMA
March – Meetings Technology Expo

The Scholar Consulting Group LLC
Trusted Advisors and Superior Solutions for the Travel and Meetings Market
Debi@DebiScholar.com
908-304-4954

Benchmark your Strategic Meetings Management Program: http://www.smmbenchmark.com
Purchase the SMM Quick Reference Guide: http://amzn.to/qoM4dw

Debi has the following designations:

•           Wharton Aresty Executive Education/National Business Travel Association (NBTA) Global Leadership Professional (GLP)
•           Meeting Professionals International Certificate in Meetings Management (CMM)
•           Convention Industry Council Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)
•           NBTA Corporate Travel Expert (CTE)
•           Six Sigma Green Belt (SSGB)
•           Chauncey Certified Technical Trainer (CTT)

Strategic Meetings Management: The History by Debi Scholar

2011-10-07T10:15:15-04:00

With the GBTA announcement this week that the innovative, thought-leadership Groups & Meetings Committee has dissolved, I had quite a few people ask me if I would consider excerpting the Strategic Meetings Management History chapter of my book which is now available on Amazon and iTunes. Honored to be a co-chair and participant of that genius group of leaders, I present the SMM History chapter in its entirety in the attached document.

Download Strategic Meetings Management-The History by Debi Scholar

One paragraph excerpted follows:

Kevin Iwamoto, who worked for Hewlett-Packard as Senior Global Commodity Manager and was finishing up his two-year term as President and CEO of the National Business Travel Association, noticed that travel and procurement managers had begun asking him advice on how to reduce the costs of all travel spend categories, including meetings and events. These curious leaders were becoming responsible for centralizing the travel and meeting expenses yet knew nothing about these indirect spend categories. Kevin could easily provide them with travel expertise, yet he could not find anything about meetings management. Sure, plenty of education existed on how to manage and plan meetings, but nothing about the business of meetings management. As if there were a darkened veil over far-fetched ideas during this era, he too was turned away by industry groups and associations claiming that he was delusional to even think that procurement could ever get involved in meetings management…”It’s too complicated and personal,” they claimed. With that rejection, he vowed to create a group of corporate travel and meeting experts who would create educational materials to guide travel and procurement managers in this new, unchartered territory. Approaching the NBTA Board seemed like an odd choice as NBTA was primarily devoted to business travel, yet why not expand the association’s business travel thought-leadership to include meetings management? After Kevin received support from his NBTA Board, he sought recommendations from industry friends and colleagues as to who should lead the new NBTA Committee. After much deliberation, he asked Tracey Wilt (Manager of Global Travel and Meetings Management at Xerox) and Maddy Caliri (AT&T Travel and Meetings Procurement Leader) to co-chair the new committee titled the NBTA Groups & Meetings (G&M) Committee.

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT

*Debi is proud to be a regular contributor to Business Travel Executive Magazine.

*Debi is proud to be one of only seven 2011 Editorial Board members for Hotel Business Review at www.hotelexecutive.com for Conferences & Meetings.

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference; Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET
January – PCMA
March – Meetings Technology Expo

The Scholar Consulting Group LLC
Trusted Advisors and Superior Solutions for the Travel and Meetings Market
Debi@DebiScholar.com
908-304-4954

Benchmark your Strategic Meetings Management Program: http://www.smmbenchmark.com

Purchase the SMM Quick Reference Guide: http://amzn.to/qoM4dw

Debi has the following designations:
•           Wharton Aresty Executive Education/National Business Travel Association (NBTA) Global Leadership Professional (GLP)
•           Meeting Professionals International Certificate in Meetings Management (CMM)
•           Convention Industry Council Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)
•           NBTA Corporate Travel Expert (CTE)
•           Six Sigma Green Belt (SSGB)
•           Chauncey Certified Technical Trainer (CTT)

Getting a Baseline for your Current State Meetings Analysis

2011-09-06T08:18:09-04:00

I am hopeful that you do not need this information and these tools. Instead, I am optimistic and hopeful that you use an automated meeting management technology. If you are in the latter group and capture all of your meeting and event data, produce metrics and continuously improve your meetings program, please stop reading this post and enjoy your day.

If you are in the first group of not capturing your meetings data, please keep reading.

If you do not capture your baseline meetings data, it may be difficult for you to sell strategic meetings management to your leadership. No one wants to manually enter data into Excel or any other database, but you have to start somewhere. If you capture your data for one month, one quarter or one year, the information will provide you with baseline data to begin process improvement.

For example, if you do not know the average cost per person per day, by meeting type, how will you improve it? If you do not know the percentage of your food and beverage expenses compared to your sleeping room charges, how will you compare your data to industry benchmarks?

A "current state analysis" is easy to obtain so don't let any company tell you that it is not. You CAN capture your current meeting spend without a meeting management technology in place.

In addition to using meeting management tools, I use two automated solutions to produce meeting analytics:

1. Spend Radar©
2. SCG Procurement and Operations Analyzer©

The Big 4 Professional Services firms (PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and E&Y) use Spend Radar or similar tools to extract data from systems so that all meeting spend can be captured and reported. Unlike tools used only for meeting spend and analytics, Spend Radar is a comprehensive SAAS tool that provides for data collection from any purchasing and financial data (AP, PO, Vendor, PCard, Expense, Contract, Budget, etc.) to identify spend and suppliers.

SCG Procurement and Operations Analyzer^© is also used to collect, normalize and report the spend and operations data. The difference between using Spend Radar and the SCG Procurement and Operations Analyzer^© is that Spend Radar takes extracted data from expense management and AP systems and imports the data directly into their tool whereas SCG Procurement and Operations Analyzer^© inputs information provided from client/supplier data and then the tool is used to analyze the data. Spend Radar will always provide a more accurate accounting of spend and suppliers because it does not rely on user- or supplier- provided data but rather a direct export of system-provided data.

Scholar Consulting Group ("SCG") provides the attached Meeting Registration worksheet as a method to obtain a baseline of your meeting spend and behaviors if you do not have a meeting management technology in place. Hopefully, the data collected will help you substantiate the need to GET a meeting management technology.

Note that these forms in this workbook may be used to capture meetings data; however, an automated meeting management solution is recommended. Additional columns and/or formulas may be desirable by your organization and this workbook is meant to be a guideline only. It is designed to be simple so that you can begin collecting your data easily.

When you have some data captured, contact Debi Scholar for a free example of how the SCG Procurement and Operations Analyzer© can provide your organization with sample metrics to improve the management of your meetings and events. All columns in the Meeting Registration are not necessary but the more data you have, the more information SCG can provide to you.

Download Meeting Analysis Baseline Forms to obtain Current State

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference. Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©.

Sept 7 – HSMAI Affordable Meetings
Sept 20 – NYC for Benchmark Hospitality
December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET
January - PCMA

The Scholar Consulting Group LLC
Trusted Advisors and Superior Solutions for the Travel and Meetings Market

Debi@DebiScholar.com
908-304-4954

Benchmark your Strategic Meetings Management Program: http://www.smmbenchmark.com
Purchase the SMM Quick Reference Guide: http://amzn.to/qoM4dw

Debi has the following designations:

For Hoteliers: Gain More Business with SMM Services

2011-08-01T09:14:06-04:00

FutureWatch 2011, the Meeting Professionals International’s State of the Industry report, stated that Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) is the #1 trend in the meetings industry this year. And rightly so, as thousands of organizations have benefitted from creating a Strategic Meetings Management Program (SMMP). Initiating an SMMP enables an organization to save millions of dollars, comply with regulatory requirements, gain productivity through efficiency, and reduce contractual risks.

Hoteliers who support their clients’ SMM initiatives win more group business and build stronger relationships, which may be the catalyst to be awarded preferred supplier status, the pedestal title that most hotels strive for. Not only do your SMM group clients want dates, rates, and space, but also data, service, and compliance. Organizations will move their meetings market share to your chains and properties as part of their SMM supply chain strategy if you offer these SMM services. Hotels that do not support their clients’ SMMP may lose group business. Yet, many hoteliers do not know what SMM is or what is expected of them.

Defined, Strategic Meetings Management provides direction for organizations to guide the strategy, operations, and tactical activities of meetings and events in order to improve business processes, quality, and return on investment, and reduce costs, risks, and inefficiencies. Simply, SMM is to meetings what Disney is to theme parks. SMM leaders expect hotels to offer high quality, consistent, flawless meetings for all business units in a controlled, compliance-driven environment with personalized attention that appears seamless to attendees, driven by the undercurrent of data consolidation.

When a hotelier asks an SMM leader, “What can I do to help you improve your SMMP?” the top 25 answers provided by your clients might sound challenging—and yet positive responses will increase your chances of being selected as a preferred group hotel:

1. Provide monthly or quarterly data and metrics for all of the organization’s meetings/events across all of your chains, brands, properties, and management companies;

2. Consider the organization’s transient volume when quoting meeting prices; use transient rates for group business when applicable;

Read the remainder of the 25 answers, the data, service and compliance requirements here: http://hotelexecutive.com/subscribe/2659/

Debi is proud to be one of only seven 2011 Editorial Board members for Hotel Business Review at www.HotelExecutive.com for Conferences & Meetings.

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference. Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

August 2 – Georgia BTA

August 25 – EMC Webinar
Sept 7 – HSMAI Affordable Meetings
Sept 20 – NYC (forthcoming)
December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET

The Scholar Consulting Group LLC
Trusted Advisors and Superior Solutions for the Travel and Meetings Market

Debi@DebiScholar.com
908-304-4954

Benchmark your Strategic Meetings Management Program: http://www.smmbenchmark.com
Purchase the SMM Quick Reference Guide at Amazon: http://amzn.to/p9fEMF (soon to be released on iTunes)

Debi has the following designations:

What is the Cost of Change?

2011-07-17T23:48:56-04:00

John Kennedy said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

On my first trip to New York City in 1981, I said I would never return because I wasn’t so fond of The City; then I married a New Yorker and moved to Staten Island. The first time that I tried to use a Microsoft mouse when Windows was introduced, I said I could type using the keyboard (thank you very much) and didn’t need the mouse; then I started teaching Windows as a technology trainer. I shrugged off my high school algebra C because I didn’t think I needed numbers; then, I envied my kid’s knowledge of math. Our world, our environment, and our jobs change daily, whether we like it or not. But, how much does it cost us to change?

In the last two years, I have had four clients ask, “What is the cost of change if I do what you recommend?” A thoughtful question that many organizations fail to ask, and may get blind sighted as they head into implementation. Even though only four asked, I always help inform all of my clients! ;-) To get to the cost / benefit analysis development stage, I start our journey by brainstorming with my clients on everything that needs to change: the resources, processes, and technology. Organizations are making big changes such as moving toward a new global travel management company, changing meeting management suppliers, switching meeting management technologies, etc. and this brainstorming exercise will help you prepare for that change.

Together with your stakeholders, answer these questions:

Who is affected?
What is affected?
Why is it (or are they) affected?
How is it (or are they) affected?
When is it (or are they) affected?
How many are affected?
How long is it (or are they) affected?
How much money, time, quality and morale are impacted?

Then, rate the above answers as Favorable, Neutral, or Unfavorable to an organization in the following categories:

Cost
Effort/Time
Quality
Morale

Document all of the benefits and risks of moving toward the change. Then, the answers are plotted on a chart, the intangibles are duly noted, the costs are calculated, and the cost/benefit analysis is created. Attached is a sample brainstorming document for you in Excel and my high level change management matrix. Note that more detail on both of these items will be in an upcoming book. Good luck and if you need help, please call!

Download Typepad - What is the cost of change

Download SCG Change Management Matrix

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT, Six Sigma Green Belt

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference
Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

August 2 – Georgia BTA
August 25 – EMC Webinar
Sept 7 – HSMAI Affordable Meetings
Sept 20 – NYC (forthcoming)
December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET

The Scholar Consulting Group LLC
Trusted Advisors and Superior Solutions for the Travel and Meetings Market

Debi@DebiScholar.com
908-304-4954

Benchmark your Strategic Meetings Management Program: http://www.smmbenchmark.com
Purchase the SMM Quick Reference Guide: http://amzn.to/qoM4dw

Debi has the following designations:

•           Wharton Aresty Executive Education/National Business Travel Association (NBTA) Global Leadership Professional (GLP)
•           Meeting Professionals International Certificate in Meetings Management (CMM)
•           Convention Industry Council Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)
•           NBTA Corporate Travel Expert (CTE)
•           Six Sigma Green Belt
•           Chauncey Certified Technical Trainer (CTT)

The Frugal Leader’s Travel and Meeting Policy

2011-07-15T07:41:36-04:00

Sometimes fun is in order. An updated T&E Plus rerun and some fun as we move into the summer travel season .... enjoy the weekend.

New Travel, Entertainment, and Meeting Policy

1. All travel must be approved by your manager, the manager’s director, the managing director, the operations leader, the shared services vice president, the chief financial officer and the chief executive officer. Please submit all travel requests four months in advance.

2. All large and small meetings, events, conferences or other gatherings of 2 or more people must be registered on the portal which is located at the home page. Click on the link called meetings/events, then click on “register meeting,” then click on “why I want to have this meeting,” then click on “the return on investment” link to ensure your meeting returns value to the company, then click on “provide business case” as to why your meeting is important, then click on the link called, “why Las Vegas cannot be your destination for your meeting,” then click on the link called “how to save money on your meeting,” then fill out the registration page. If you have any more questions on meetings, please read numbers 9 and 10 below.

3. All travel must be booked by finding the lowest fare such as using the online booking tool, the airline webfares, the travel agency, your sister’s travel agency, the newspapers ads, or the online travel aggregator sites. We recognize that this may take you three or more hours, but if you can find a fare that is cheaper, you must take the time to search in order to save money.

4. Please stay with relatives or friends to reduce your expenses. While you’re there, please raid their refrigerator to eliminate meal expenses. If you are traveling to a location without relatives or friends, please make new friends online using Twitter. If that fails, please retrieve the reusable tentage from the local office.

5. Ancillary charges are not reimbursable. We expect you to sit in the middle seat, use carry on luggage and bring your own food onboard. We expect you to bring your own extension cords and flip charts to meetings. We refuse to reimburse for the airline’s or hotel’s ancillary fees. Laundry expenses are not reimbursable. Please use your relative’s or friend’s washer and dryer.

6. Ground transportation must be provided by your favorite shoe manufacturer and your feet. If your journey is more than five miles, please be sure to carry maps of the local bus or subway route with you. You will not be reimbursed for these expenses because you should be willing to walk as our Health Benefit costs are increasing and you need to lose weight.

7. Allowable client entertainment includes volunteering, going to the park or taking advantage of free events.

8. The T&E corporate card must be used for all reimbursable expenses. Our company has no reimbursable expenses. Any accrued points must be turned over to your manager, the manager’s director, the managing director or the chief financial officer so that they may use to buy valuable products, such as soap and toilet paper for our company bathrooms because we have cut all janitorial supplies from our budget.

9. Internal meetings and events can only be conducted by virtual mediums. The approved virtual mediums include your personal cell phones, your personal computer and webcams.

10. External business development meetings and events can be held at the local park. In the case of inclement weather, please use parks with gazebos, canopies or buildings. If you require client entertainment, please bring a deck of cards. No gambling is allowed. If you require bug spray, please purchase at your own expense.

11. All audiovisual and production requirements must be supplied by using flashlights, hand shadows and drawings on the back of the napkin.

12. All travelers and meeting attendees must bring travel sleep sacks, pillows, blankets and energy bars on all trips because you never know when a volcano will erupt, a storm will ensue, or a crisis will occur. Dealing with the unexpected increases your tolerance for adverse situations so that you can adapt to our working environment.

13. All travelers should go to the local grocery store and eat from their "sample platters" to reduce food expenses. Meeting planners should plan to have meetings in hotels that host weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs so that meeting attendees can snitch food from other guests in order to reduce food and beverage expenses.

Any violations or noncompliance to this policy will be reported by our data metrics, from the ERP, the OBT, the TMC, the EMS, and the SMM technology, that we build, analyze, preview, revise, reproduce, report and validate a few times each day.

Debi Scholar, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT
Author of the SMM: The Strategy Quick Reference Guide http://www.amazon.com/Strategic-Meetings-Management-Strategy-Reference/dp/0983439729/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310729887&sr=8-1

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements:
Topics vary per conference
Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

August 2 – Georgia BTA
August 25 – EMC Webinar
Sept 7 – HSMAI Affordable Meetings
Sept 20 – NYC (forthcoming)
December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT, Six Sigma Green Belt

The Scholar Consulting Group LLC
debi@debischolar.com
908-304-4954

Benchmark your Strategic Meetings Management Program: http://www.smmbenchmark.com
Debi has the following designations:

•           Wharton Aresty Executive Education/National Business Travel Association (NBTA) Global Leadership Professional (GLP)
•           Meeting Professionals International Certificate in Meetings Management (CMM)
•           Convention Industry Council Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)
•           NBTA Corporate Travel Expert (CTE)
•           Six Sigma Green Belt
•           Chauncey Certified Technical Trainer (CTT)

Congratulations to the 2011 Changemakers!

2011-07-12T00:05:49-04:00

Every industry has rising stars that teach us and support their organizations with innovative meetings management initiatives. This year, I honor and congratulate those people who have earned the 2011 Changemakers title, as identified by Corporate Meetings and Incentives.

Leanne Acton, Brett Barrowman, Michael Burke, Carrie Chamberlain, Amy Harris, Susan Katz, Gigi McGrath, Lisa Meehan, Dan Meier, Karin Milliman, Rachel Pearson, Carolyn Pund, Kathleen Ramsay, Patty Reger, Sandra Schall, Lisa Schelle, Lynne Schueler, Jana Stern, Jean-Paul Vanherf and Chris Wall.

Of course, I am grateful to those who helped me tremendously in my career. Specifically, Carolyn Pund, Karin Milliman and Chris Wall. Carolyn helped me understand the importance of the Marketing Team stakeholders when I participated in the Meetings Competitive Advantage Forum with her. Chris helped me understand the complexity of pharmaceutical meetings and how integrated technologies can be used to support compliance requirements. Karin taught me meetings management and the importance of the senior leadership involvement in SMM Programs. In fact, Karin helped me daily throughout the time we worked together at PwC. Karin is also mentioned in the Acknowledgement section of my new book, Strategic Meetings Management: The Strategy Quick Reference Guide.

Thank you to those who have helped me in my career and CONGRATULATIONS to all of you!

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements:
Topics vary per conference
Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

August 2 – Georgia BTA
Sept 7 – HSMAI Affordable Meetings
Sept 20 – NYC (forthcoming)
December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET

SMM: The Strategy Quick Reference Guide: http://www.amazon.com/Strategic-Meetings-Management-Strategy-Reference/dp/0983439729/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310443301&sr=8-1

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT, Six Sigma Green Belt

The Scholar Consulting Group LLC
debi@debischolar.com
908-304-4954
Benchmark your Strategic Meetings Management Program: http://www.smmbenchmark.com

Debi has the following designations:
•           Wharton Aresty Executive Education/National Business Travel Association (NBTA) Global Leadership Professional (GLP)
•           Meeting Professionals International Certificate in Meetings Management (CMM)
•           Convention Industry Council Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)
•           NBTA Corporate Travel Expert (CTE)
•           Six Sigma Green Belt
•           Chauncey Certified Technical Trainer (CTT)

Strategic Meetings Management: The Strategy Quick Reference Guide

2011-06-18T16:41:34-04:00

Before you can get it on Kindle, iBook, Amazon or B&N, it is available here:

http://store.payloadz.com/go?id=950102

Building the Business Case for SMM template:

Download Building a Business Case for Strategic Meetings Management 5 Jan 2011

Building the Business Case for SMM Technology template:

Download Generic Building an Business Case for technology 5 Jan 2011

Meeting Technology: Is it designed for meeting planners or meeting directors?

2011-05-13T09:26:04-04:00

With a large 3,000-attendee conference only weeks away, a wise meeting planner saved time and her sanity by using meeting management technology to automate many of her tasks. This wasn’t the first time she used the tool but it was the biggest meeting she ever planned.

In the same company but in a different division, another meeting planner contracted with a different meeting management technology so that she too could automate many of the tasks such as sending invitations to attendees, tracking their responses, managing the budget and evaluating the hotel RFP responses.

Recently, a new meetings director was appointed to oversee all meetings and events for this organization. When the director asked to view historic reports for all meetings, she was surprised to find that the organization used three different meeting management technologies, all with different capabilities and reporting functionality. Imagine her frustration when she had to search for the data that resided in numerous technologies.

Is there a difference between a) meeting planners wanting to use technology to automate their tasks and b) meeting directors wanting to use a technology to automate the meeting tasks AND manage their strategic meetings management program?

ABSOLUTELY. Unfortunately, without governance and oversight, an organization may be using multiple technologies because meeting planners may satisfy their automation needs without consideration for the whole organization’s requirements.

Few meeting management technology companies offer end-to-end strategic meetings management functionality as well as meeting planning functionality. A meeting management technology should offer the functionality that a planner needs as well as what the director wants to oversee the whole program.

Does your technology provide an end-to-end solution for strategic meetings management? Does your technology provide ALL of the functionality needed or does it partner with suppliers to perform these tasks? If one technology company partners with another company, is it a seamless integration for you, the director or planner? Does the technology offer these services?

a. Forecast meetings
b. Resource management
c. Contract/document management
d. Meeting registration
e. Enterprise-wide meetings calendar
f. Approval routing
g. Database of suppliers
h. Sourcing / evaluation functionality
i. Attendee management including all communications, rooming lists, etc.
j. Survey / return on investment
k. Payment and reconciliation (payment to suppliers; accept payments from attendees; payment to speakers, etc.)
l. Enterprise wide data reporting (across all meetings, all sourcing, all attendees, all surveys, etc.)
m. Small meeting solution
n. Virtual meeting management
o. Compliance tracking if applicable
p. Multiple language capabilities
q. Ability to pull reports from ancillary meetings into one consolidated report
r. Determine if the tool has an integrated or linkage to business intelligence reporting tool (e.g. Crystal reporting, Cognos, etc.)
s. Ability to integrate seamlessly with CRM, OBT, ERP, ECM, LMS, BI tools, compliance databases, etc.

We will be discussing how Meeting Management Technology can improve your Return on Investment at the upcoming Meetings Technology Expo in New York City at 8:00 a.m. on May 25. For more information, see the website: http://www.meetingstechexpo.com/. If you would like to use my template to calculate your technology ROI potential, please see the attached document for 30 KEY ROI Opportunities and if you have any questions, please ask me.

Download 30 KEY ROI Opportunities when using Meeting Management Technology

VERY FEW technologies offer all of the functionality mentioned above. One such company that offers end-to-end functionality is StarCite who just reported 52% growth in corporate meeting requests flowing through its Global Online Marketplace for the first quarter of the year. One of my favorite features of StarCite is their ability to manage insourced and outsourced resource hours through their Productivity and Workload Tracking component. When I was at PwC, I asked all of the meeting sourcers and planners to track their time in a Lotus Notes database. This information was valuable to forecast and request more resources as needed.

I love that StarCite has the resource management functionality incorporated into their end-to-end SMM technology. This allows for managing the volume, spend, risk, processes and resources in a seamless technology environment. Never should a Meetings Director have to search through two or more technologies in the middle of a crisis to search for a meeting location, a crisis plan, attendee names and emergency contact information, or assigned meeting planners’ contact information.

Recently, StarCite announced that its platform is moving to Nexus, which will allow for ease of use and improved flexibility. This means that customers can use the services they need. What is nice about this model is that it mirrors my SMM Maturity Model. At the beginning of an SMM, an organization can use minimal technology and as the program matures, the technology can be used for all of the functionality needed without ever compromising its enterprise-wide reporting requirements.

For information on StarCite’s growth, see this article:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/12/idUS175140+12-May-2011+BW20110512

For information on StarCite’s new platform, see this article:
http://www2.starcite.com/starcite/newsandevents/pressrelease/starcite-launches-nexus-groundbreaking-smmp-platform

If you want help with your meeting management technology needs, please contact me.

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements:
Topics vary per conference
Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp^© and/or SMM Challenge^©

May 25 – Meetings Technology Expo (early morning, 8:00 a.m.)
May 25 – Financial and Insurance Meeting Planners Conference (late morning)
June 21 - Americas Meetings & Events Exhibition
June 30 – EMC Venue’s MEET
August 2 – Georgia BTA
August 21 - 24 - GBTA Convention
Sept 7 – HSMAI Affordable Meetings
December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT, Six Sigma Green Belt

Meetings Management Mover and Shaker as selected by Corporate and Incentive Travel Magazine (2010)
Top 20 Changemaker who influenced the meetings management industry by Corporate Meetings and Incentives (2008)
Best Meeting Practitioner as selected by Business Travel News (2007)

The Scholar Consulting Group LLC
debi@debischolar.com
908-304-4954
Benchmark your Strategic Meetings Management Program: http://www.smmbenchmark.com

Debi has the following designations:

Wharton Aresty Executive Education/National Business Travel Association (NBTA) Global Leadership Professional (GLP)
Meeting Professionals International Certificate in Meetings Management (CMM)
Convention Industry Council Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)
NBTA Corporate Travel Expert (CTE)
Six Sigma Green Belt
Chauncey Certified Technical Trainer (CTT)

Travel Managers: Don't forget Group Travel

2011-04-23T10:56:11-04:00

“What information did I forget to include?” the travel consultant said to me as we discussed a request for proposal for travel management services.

“I don’t see any requirements for group travel. You need to add all of the meeting and event group travel service expectations to your request for proposal.” I replied.

“But I’ve never added group travel requirements to any other travel management request for proposal” the consultant said hesitantly. Of course, I knew better than to verbalize what was ready to spew out of my mouth. Thank goodness for the brain’s ability to affix a filter. At first, it was "WHAT?" then I realized that the travel consultant did not know the requirements for group travel. In fact, many travel consultants and travel managers are not familiar with group travel needs.

“Would you like me to do it for you?” I asked.

Group travel for meetings and events should be managed through the organization’s Travel Management Company (TMC) directly and not through the TMC of the meeting management company, the destination management company or any other 3rd party. As such, travel managers should request group travel needs from their TMC. Yet, many travel managers don’t partner with meeting managers and so the group travel service expectations may be disregarded.

One mid-sized client knew that they were using two travel management companies for business travel. After I conducted a thorough spend analysis and uncovered some hefty payments to meeting management companies, I found that two additional travel management companies were used for group travel and the airline tickets were funneled through the meeting management companies. As a result, the company used four travel management companies in the U.S. which decreased transparency into their total air volume, reduced their airline discounts, and diminished their ability to track employees during times of crisis. They did not use any online booking tools. They also used one travel management company outside of the U.S. Worse yet, they had unused tickets and credits with all four U.S. travel management companies that had expired because employees would use one TMC for business travel and another TMC for group travel so the staff lost track of what tickets may have been available for use. (Sharing the story approved as long as the company remained anonymous)

It is imperative for an organization to gain transparency into their total air costs, use their airline discounts and use one TMC in order to track staff during crises. For these reasons, it is never a wise practice to use multiple TMCs for business travel or to manage group travel for meetings/events. Business leaders want one supplier that can manage all of their travel requirements, preferably at the global level. However, global requirements may result in the use of multiple TMCs and different global distribution systems.

An organization’s meeting management technology should be integrated with an online booking tool that allows for group bookings. Of course, there are times when agent-assisted tasks will be necessary. I was lucky to have the best group travel manager at PwC who taught me so much about the group travel requirements. If you are writing a request for proposal for travel management services, add the following requirements for group travel:

• Manage group air, rail or other method of transportation;

• Provide group travel bookings through the preferred online booking tool (may be through the TMC or online booking tool contract)

• Determine the most cost effective and the best “lift” availability (quantity of airlines and flights in and out of a location) per location via an air analysis;

• Provide arrival and departure (A&D) manifests to meeting planners as frequently as needed;

• Search and offer the lowest applicable airfare available at the time of booking in the GDS and through designated content tools and aggregators; evaluate negotiated rates, publicly available fares and group specific fares such as zone fares or block space to determine the best approach for group and meeting related bookings based on the parameters provided;

• Negotiate group specific air contracts with airlines (or may be managed through the organization);

• Design a flight movement plan;

• Block group space;

• Negotiate and manage airline contracts for all blocked seating;

• Monitor attrition/cancellation/deadlines for penalties of unused seats;

• Obtain refunds from deposits as applicable;

• Collect meeting parameters and recommend appropriate air booking method based on the size and scope of the program;

• Flag and notify company when more than the allowable company travelers are on one aircraft;

• Obtain out-of-parameter group travel approvals when applicable;

• Collect data that may be needed for regulatory purposes;

• Track and report on incidents; manage crisis situations; and,

• Prepare reports; Post air reports should include passenger name, air routing, departure date, return date, layovers, multi-routing information, date of charge, billing date, debit/credit indicators, billing amounts and service fees, charge description, ticket number, air ticket issuer, air class of service, air carrier code, lost savings and other data that may be required.

Of course, pricing for the above items is negotiable as are the fees for pulling passenger name records. If you need any help with your travel management company request for proposal or any other travel or meeting service, please reach out to me.

Visit Debi at one of her upcoming speaking engagements:
Topics vary per conference
Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

May 3-5 - Collaborate Marketplace
May 20 – MPI Orange County’s 6th Annual Education Conference and Expo
May 25 – Meetings Technology Expo (early morning)
May 25 – Financial and Insurance Meeting Planners Conference (late morning)
June 21 - Americas Meetings & Events Exhibition
June 30 – EMC Venue’s MEET
August 2 – Georgia BTA
August 21 - 24 - GBTA Convention
Sept 7 – HSMAI Affordable Meetings
December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT, Six Sigma Green Belt

•           Meetings Management Mover and Shaker as selected by Corporate and Incentive Travel Magazine (2010)
•           Top 20 Changemaker who influenced the meetings management industry by Corporate Meetings and Incentives (2008)
•           Best Meeting Practitioner as selected by Business Travel News (2007)

The Scholar Consulting Group LLC
debi@debischolar.com
908-304-4954

Benchmark your Strategic Meetings Management Program: http://www.smmbenchmark.com

Debi has the following designations:
•           Wharton Aresty Executive Education/National Business Travel Association (NBTA) Global Leadership Professional (GLP)
•           Meeting Professionals International Certificate in Meetings Management (CMM)
•           Convention Industry Council Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)
•           NBTA Corporate Travel Expert (CTE)
•           Six Sigma Green Belt
•           Chauncey Certified Technical Trainer (CTT)