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Keeping it SiMMPle logo

                                                                                                           

                                                                                                       Volume 1, January 4, 2011
In this issue
Avoiding Analysis Paralysis
SiMMPle Tips
Did you know...

Greetings!

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Keeping it SiMMPle, a bi-monthly newsletter aimed at making and keeping your Strategic Meeting Management Program Practical, Light, and Effective. For Meeting Managers, this newsletter will assist you in finding practical solutions and advice on actionable steps to gain visibility and control of your organizations meeting spend.  For Suppliers, you will gain insights into the issues that your clients face, and how you can support their SMM programs. In addition, Keeping it SiMMPle will highlight key industry trends and identify tips that will make your job easier.

Each issue of Keeping it SiMMPle will address a component of the A to Z of SMM from a Practical, Light & Effective perspective. In this issue we will focus on the letter A by understanding how we can avoid Analysis Paralysis:

Analysis Paralysis needlessly affects so many of us when we are trying to extract data and information on our organization's meeting spend.  Avoid this paralysis by "eating the elephant one bite at a time".  Here are some simple steps for getting started:

1. Examine the spend that you have access to within your own group

2. Identify the following aspects of the spend:

a. Number of meetings

b. Which hotels were used for the meetings

c. Group room rate per meeting

d. Savings (calculate the original quote to the final quote for room nights x the number of rooms)

e.   Include other savings if you can easily identify it, such as value of complimentary rooms, suite upgrade, free internet

f.  Calculate the % of savings per meeting, then cumulatively for all meetings

3. Look at the results, do the numbers make sense?

4. Do you think this is the majority of your company meeting spend, or just 10% or 50% of it?

5. Are there other "power planners" in the company that you can reach out to for their data?

6. Share your findings with your team and your supervisor, what is their reaction?

7. Continue to gather data, highlighting the savings, and share the results of your proactive initiative with your leadership on a consistent (e.g. quarterly) basis.  You will be pleasantly surprised as to how quickly the volume of meetings and % of savings will increase.

This information will be an important foundation for the development of your Strategic Meetings Management Program. With some of these baseline metrics in hand, you can move beyond paralysis and into action!

SiMMPle Tips:

TIP #1:  Reach out to your hotel suppliers to see what meeting information they have for your company and compare it to what you have.  This will help you gather additional meeting volume and find out who else is planning meetings on behalf of your organization.

TIP #2:  Use one of the following formulas to "guestimate" the annual meeting spend of your company. Your meeting volume should be somewhat close to one of these calculations.

  •  .50 to 1% of annual gross sales or
  •  35 - 30% of total T&E spend or
  •  60% of Corporate Air Volume

TIP #3:  Suppliers: proactively reach out to your clients and share the meeting and event volume you have for them.  This is a perfect time to suggest a review of 2010, and get an idea of what 2011 looks like.  

TIP #4: Hoteliers: be sure to give a picture of both group and transient numbers, as there continues to an interest by clients to get a complete understanding of their total spend with you.

Did you know...
  • U.S. News and World Report has listed "Meeting Planning" as one of the top 50 jobs in 2011?
  • A recent Laynon survey of corporate travel programs indicated that 12 percent of 3000 respondents said they planned to implement a strategic meetings spend management program in 2011?
  • The Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans, founded in 1886, celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2011?
  • Betsy will be panelists on the "SMMP: Data Analysis and Reporting" Session at PCMA in Las Vegas Monday, January 10, 2011 at 1:45pm? Come and participate in this interactive session!
All the best for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2011!

 

 

Sincerely,
Betsy Bondurant, CMM, CTE
 BC logo small
Contact Information:
[email protected]
phone: 619.701.7709

 

About Bondurant Consulting
 

A well recognized industry expert in Strategic Meetings Management and Corporate Travel, Betsy Bondurant is the president of Bondurant Consulting which specializes in simplifying the development and implementation of SMMP for meeting & travel managers and successfully guiding suppliers through the relevant SMMP components, such as the RFP response process

 

Betsy is an ardent volunteer leader in our industry, who speaks at numerous industry events annually. She is currently serving on the NBTA Groups and Meetings Committee, having previously served on the MPI International Board of Directors from 2005 to 2008.

 

Industry honors include:

2010 MPI Chairwoman's Award, "25 Most Influential in the Meetings Industry", "Best Meeting Practioner of the Year"

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