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