Global Market Outlook on Strategic Meeting Management Programme

GBTA defines SMMP as “The strategic management of enterprise-wide meeting-related processes, spend, volume, standards, and suppliers to achieve quantitative cost savings, risk mitigation, and superior service.”

SMMP – An Overview

Cost savings still seem to be the major driver for SMMP, along with ROI, while attendee registration is the most implemented SMM tool, due to its ease of implementation and wide utilization.

Top Drivers of SMMP

  • Reduced costs/improved cost savings
  • Return of investment
  • Need to integrate all elements of meetings management
  • Improve visibility into all aspects of meetings spend

Top Technology Capabilities

  • Measurement of quality/effectiveness/ROI of corporate meetings
  • Real-time visibility into enterprise-wide events calendar and SMM spend data
  • Real-time visibility into SMM spend against event budgets
  • To track revenue, contributed by meetings/events

Cost Saving Opportunities

  • Site selection
  • Standardized approval process
  • Internal review process of contracts/agreements for meeting suppliers
  • Structured governance
  • Consistent sourcing processes for procurement of meetings related spend

Technology Enablers

  • End-to-end SMM solutions
  • Meetings card
  • Virtual meeting/conference solution
  • Supplier network for meeting/event suppliers (e-RFP process)
  • E-procurement system

Benefits of SMMP

Overall Visibility : A well-designed SMMP enables greater visibility on information, such as the venue and timing of meeting, spend and attendees. It helps measure the meeting’s success.

Data Analysis and Reporting : SMM tools allow easy data analysis, thereby providing the management with vital business intelligence.

Policy Compliance : The use of a SMMP tool can significantly enhance policy compliance across the organization. In addition, integrating an organization’s compliance policy into the tool can ensure 100% compliance with respect to M&E.

Reduced Time : A meeting planner that typically sends RFPs to suppliers using Microsoft Excel or Word would spend hours organizing the data received and evaluating pros and cons of each supplier. However, using the eRFP component of the tool would hasten the process, thus reducing time and effort.

Process Consolidation : End-to-end meeting management eliminates redundancies and improves consistency and quality of meetings. SMMP tools greatly augment process efficiency in the M&E process.

Return on Investment : The SMMP tool allows the evaluation of ROI by measuring the progress of the company’s M&E goals compared to its M&E cost.