A New Approach To Meetings:
Build Meeting Value And Meeting Planner Job Security

It's a familiar scene. Comments from those around the conference table include, "The last meeting's attendance was marginal and the next one looks even worse. What do we have to do to get attendance up?" "Reduce the registration fee?" "How about cutting expenses so we don't go in the red?" If you are asking questions like these, you are not alone.

Revenue from conventions, exhibits, and meetings, at 37.3 percent of income for a typical trade association, is almost as large as their 39.5 percent dues income. Of the meetings, conventions, and exhibits revenue, 42.8 percent is from registration and 38.4 percent is from exhibit sales, according to PCMA's 11th Meeting Market Survey. Low attendance and reducing registration fees could be disastrous.

With tight budgets and travel being very closely scrutinized, everyone, not just the trade associations, is looking for ways to boost attendance and ensure meetings are well attended. Unfortunately, the typical approaches you read in publications are only short-term fixes and don't provide a real solution.

Many organizations have tried to reduce price or provide discounts to motivate people to take action. This is not a solution. A notable example is Kmart, the retail giant of the 70's, now in bankruptcy while its competitor, Wal-Mart, which stayed tightly focused on the customer's needs and offered high value, is now the largest corporation in the world.

What must you do? As an Association Executive or Meeting Planner, you must take a new approach to meetings. No longer can a meeting be seen as an event put together by a group of volunteers hoping people will want to sign up. A meeting must be viewed as a customized product crafted to meet specific needs and compel attendance. Those who create meetings must become marketing-oriented, member-driven, and research-based to fulfill their strategic vision in meetings.

They must not only know the desires of their members, but also the buying habits of the constituency they serve and what will motivate their attendance. Several years ago, we conducted a member survey for an association to determine "perceived" needs and what would motivate more members to attend a winter management conference. We learned many members wanted the meeting location in the U.S. because of accessibility, but also uncovered their low likelihood of attending even with a change of venue. (When you ask for members' needs, you must also be very skilled in measuring potential attendance.) Armed with this information, the association planned a single meeting in the U.S. to ensure members knew they were listening, but kept future meetings at a nice island resort preferred by members in larger companies who would attend.

To build a member-focused, needs-driven meeting, you must clearly understand their needs and provide attendees with 1) the unique information that can't be fulfilled by other media such as the web, publications, etc., 2) an understanding of issues and actions affecting them and their industry or affinity groups, 3) the ability to develop relationships and bond with similar individuals, 4) affirmation and encouragement for their actions. To do this you must be able to clearly identify needs. If you would like a questionnaire to define perceived needs and attendance likelihood, e-mail wayne@outlawgroup.com and put "association meeting survey" in the subject line.

Meeting planners must learn how to build and communicate value throughout the entire process. For example, we recently received a call from the Executive Director of an association who was concerned because last spring's meeting attendance was down due to the economy and, with the events since, feared it would be even lower. Their industry, like many, was worried about price competition. To build the perceived value of their meeting and my program, "Winning the Value Battle: How to Sell Against a Cheaper Price," we created and administered a member survey to define the most difficult issues and identify their needs. We provided articles on price competition and discounting for their magazine when my program was announced, before the registration deadline (it included information learned in the research), and after the convention. The opening program was customized for their specific needs and could not be obtained anywhere else.

"Attendee-focused" and "needs-driven" must be more than buzzwords. The Association Executive and Meeting Planner must think creatively to have a uniquely and valuable product and also aggressively promote its value. No longer can they use the approach of taking last year's format, have a committee select speakers they've heard before, or expect people to clamor to attend because of networking. The Meeting Planner can dramatically increase his or her value and job security by applying good marketing and product development approaches and taking a larger role in the meeting's success.