The recent health and economic crisis have made the outside consultant and meeting planning professionals (also known as third-party meeting planners) an even more valuable resource for organizations. With the layoffs of our hotel partners, many customers are struggling to find who they can speak with at the hotel about their upcoming event. Your consultant is still working and available to help you navigate through these challenging times.
WHY do you need to engage these outside consultants and meeting planning professionals? As we begin to move to the ‘new normal’, meeting planners have less time, less money and less room for error. Outsourcing various components of a function can allow the organization’s meeting planner to focus on the most important aspects of the event. It also allows for time to focus on the priorities of their organization by placing the best people in critical strategic positions while conserving valuable management time in the office.
Organizations will need to take a closer look at the value and cost of their meetings, and meeting professionals are broadening their skills to meet these new needs. More planners assist with development of meeting objectives, design and production, special projects, and adult learning techniques in addition to stepping into other consultative roles. Their role is more strategic and focused on the ROI of the meeting as compared to a task-oriented role. In addition, they balance the importance of holding face-to-face meetings along with hybrid and virtual meetings.
These are some of the reasons WHY more organizations are making outsourcing a part of their overall meetings and events strategy. Remember, site selection and contract negotiations are only a small part of the overall service. HOW can an outside consultant and meeting planning professional help you? Below are 5 ways in which they can be an invaluable asset to you, their clients.
- Trusted Advisor
- Experience and Industry Relationships
- Expertise in Contracting, Risk Mitigation, Planning and Executing Successful Events
- Fresh Ideas
- Educational Content and Adult Learning Techniques Assistance
- Save the Organization Time and Money
- Guide You Through the Booking Process
A meeting management consultant helps provide these parameters and guide the customer through the bid process using state-of-the-art sourcing tools while also effectively communicating with all the respondents about next steps. Effectively guiding both sides through the process is an invaluable time and money saver for everyone.
- Contract Negotiation
Your consultant is pivotal in supporting the client to ensure protection with not only rates, but contract language; particularly clauses addressing Force Majeure, resale mitigation and other clauses that protect clients from further damages. Experienced consultants with vast relationships and experience in negotiating hotel contracts are at a major advantage in all these transactions. Your consultant will ensure that sound financial decisions are made along with minimizing risk exposure.
- Save the Organization Time and Money
Consultants can free up time for everybody involved in a transaction.Your consultant will guide both the hotel and client toward a transparent negotiation and booking process.A good negotiation sets the stage for a long and beneficial partnership and pairs great meetings with great hotels that are ideal for that event. Finally, the report card for the customer is the ROI.
- Manage All the Details
We recommend you work with a full-service meeting management company that can assist with managing the many details through the entire process from inception to reality. They should be able to provide you with any of these services: conference management, registration, housing, mobile applications, virtual meetings, strategic meeting management, sponsorships, marketing/social media, and cruise services.
The current crisis has highlighted for some organizations that they may not be with the right partner. If you are in this situation, please keep in mind WHAT you should be getting as spelled out in the 5 points above. A valuable outsourcing partner will represent your company with the same integrity as your own associates. Just as it is recommended that you do not buy a home without bringing in a professional real estate agent or defend yourself in court without a lawyer, in our industry to ensure you are getting the best results and managing your risk, you want to engage an outside consultant and meeting planning professional.
You now know WHY organizations engage an outside meeting management company, HOW value will be added and WHAT the outcome will be for you and your organization. If you want to learn more on this subject, please reach out to me.
Doug Baarman
doug.baarman@conferencedirect.com
301-605-7011