No, this isn't a newsletter on how to improve your eating habits or exercise routine! This issue is devoted to helping you embed Healthy Strategic Meetings Management Habits into your program. By developing helpful routines you will be able to keep the goals and outcomes of your SMMP top of mind with all of the people involved in the supporting or defeating your program. Engaging stakeholders and gaining compliance is an ongoing campaign that really never ends. Mainly because of the high number of occasional planners who infrequently use the SMM process need to be reminded that there is indeed a process for procuring meeting and event contracts. Also, in most organizations, there is a constant flow of new employees or employees in new positions that need to know how plan meetings in compliance with existing guidelines.

Therefore, create some helpful SMMP habits! For example, it is important to talk about the benefits of SMM in your daily routine. Don't assume everyone in the organization knows the significance of Strategic Meetings Management Program to your company. Be consistent with the good news about the benefits of cost savings, risk mitigation, increased efficiency & productivity, and reuse of cancelled space. Be sure to impress that it is not always about procuring the least expensive option, but it is about securing the best value for your organization.

Know your "year to date" statistics! Analyze your monthly SMMP reports and memorize some of the key data points such as:

• Number of meetings have been registered, sourced and contracted
• Overall program savings via contract negotiation process
• Extra savings earned during the operation of the meeting
• Overall program savings compared to previous year
• Departments or business units with the highest volume of meetings

Review your Communication plan the first Monday of each month to be sure you are on track with publishing your communications. Your monthly communications can be targeting a number of your SMM stakeholders:

• Occasional planners via  lunch and learn sessions to share current savings successes, and to ask for process improvement suggestions
• Core team members to update them on achievement of project milestones
• Senior leadership to provide dashboard reports on predetermined success metrics

Practice continuous process improvement by formally asking those who use the sourcing process and tools to provide feedback via a brief online survey twice per year. Be sure to share the results of the survey and any changes you will be making back to those who participated in so they see that the time they spent to provide you information was worth their effort.