31 Aug 09 How Regulations Help Your Business

Meeting planners today are faced with a changing environment, and these changes are not always friendly. Regardless of who is to blame, perhaps you should be thinking about who to thank. Here’s why.

Let’s take the medical meeting regulations. These guidelines change often and sometimes without ceremony or warning. They squeeze a little tighter every time, and give you less freedom to make decisions and offer variety. However, this can be a good thing–when you and your client are pressed for money, time, or both, who needs to be worrying about choices?

For example, let’s say that the regulations now include how much you can spend on a keynote speaker. You have a slew of them that you often use for your medical meetings, but now three of them no longer qualify because of their level of pay. This may leave you two. Now you only have two people to call.

The rub comes when you can’t fill the position. Let’s say that neither of those two speakers is available. You can offer less money to the other three–quoting the new regulation–or you will have to find another way.

Often the decisions you will have to make are not so cut and dried, but any new regulations can make it either easier or more difficult. Often the way this goes depends on your client’s flexibility and the relationships you have developed as a planner. Regulations will help keep your business relationships clear of debris and remove extraneous choices; you will always have good alternatives in the event of new restrictions.

Tags: Business Meeting, Business Relationships, Business Today, Choices, Debris, Decisions, Flexibility, Freedom, Keynote Speaker, Medical Meeting, Medical Meetings, Meeting Planners, Money Time, Slew, Speakers