10 Sep 09 Doing Your Part for the Economy
It’s been said–and posted on meeting planner blogs all over the internet–that the economy paired with recent government regulations for bailout companies is creating big trouble for meeting planners. Business are canceling meetings and conferences all over the world, and the ones that are not being canceled are being scaled down almost to ineffective levels. What’s a meeting planner to do?
Step One: Help Your Clients
Instead of canceling, make suggestions on how they can change or postpone the meeting. Also support them. Meetings are not going to hurt companies. They help them, and you need to be vocal about this–not only to companies but to the public. Let everyone know that meetings bring in money to local economies, and they also help the company on many different levels.
Step Two: Be Proactive
Long before your clients cancel a meeting, call them and compliment them on their decisions to continue the meeting. Send them emails with evidence of how meetings help companies. Get them charts, graphs, and testimonials on why their plans are good and you may prevent a problem down the road.
Step Three: Show Results
After a meeting, help your client measure the ROI of each meeting. Help her see the change for the better, and if the results are stellar get the press involved. Write a press release about it, which will get your name in front of the public as well.
Tags: Bailout, Big Business, Big Trouble, Cancel, Conferences, Decisions, Government Regulations, Graphs, Internet Economy, Meeting Planner, Meeting Planners, Money, Press Release, Proactive, Roi, Testimonials
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. (more…)
Tags: Business Meeting, Business Relationships, Business Today, Choices, Debris, Decisions, Flexibility, Freedom, Keynote Speaker, Medical Meeting, Medical Meetings, Meeting Planners, Money Time, Slew, Speakers
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