Q & A

 

Cindy Bell
Executive Vice President, Meeting Services

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What are the biggest challenges facing meeting planners today?

It has never been harder to be a Meeting Planner than it is today! Even though some companies have cut budget and staff, they still expect their planners to find outstanding venues, exceptional facilities and unprecedented entertainment.

There is also a "perception" issue that companies are trying to manage regarding events. This perception issue is causing meeting planners to look into virtual and regional meetings as alternates.

What changes do you expect to see this year?

We expect smart companies will continue to hold large-scale national meetings, but those numbers will be lower than last year. We expect to see an increase in smaller regional meetings, which is challenging for a planner due to the simultaneous nature of planning for these concurrent events.

To reduce overall budgets, meetings will be shorter. There will also be more of an interest in virtual meetings, and planners will not only need find the right technology, but they’ll need to totally overhaul the content to make the virtual meeting tool effective.

Other changes will be less leisure entertainment and more scrutiny on high-end, luxury hotels and a reliance on industry concessions for better negotiated pricing.

Why is it more important than ever for a company to hold a meeting?

In a downturn like this, meetings keep employee morale and productivity high and builds confidence in a company’s future. Studies have shown that in the Great Depression, companies who kept focused came out much better than their competition, and meetings are an important way to do that.

Why go outside for meeting planning assistance and what should companies expect out of their meeting services provider?

With the huge expectations placed on meeting planners and the lack of budget and staff to do all the work, it is almost impossible to accomplish these goals without outside help!

Outsourced meeting planning services should provide both relief and value to the planner. They should act as an extension of the in-house team, and provide affordable, knowledgeable staff resources. An outside meeting planning team should have broader industry relationships and negotiating power and access to the most current meeting technology tools.

And this might go without saying, but an outside group should show strategic meeting solutions and they must manage their client’s money as if it were their own.

How does TBA Global prove its value?

We have built our whole methodology to stay focused on value. All our planners are ISO 9001 certified with tools in place to measure ROI. Probably the best way to measure our value is our hundreds of satisfied clients – they know we’re here to help them for the long haul.

Contact Cindy Bell