A practical guide to applying the best practice fundamentals of Strategic Meetings Management into current organizational structures that will transform theoretical conversations into customized action plans.

1. Best Practice Fundamentals of SMM:
Turn Conversations Into Action Plans

2. How can you infuse best practices of Strategic Meetings
Management Programs into your current organizational
structure?

3. Driving the implementation

4. False: Requires hundreds of thousands of dollars, complicated
re-engineering, & years of data collection

5. True: There are practical ways for any-size
organization to apply SMMP

6. ‘One SIZE does not fit all’
But
‘One STYLE does not fit all’ either

7. Action Blocks for successful
business P.O.A.
a framework for driving
SMMP into your business

8. #1 Get the ball rolling

9. Identify a business mentor whom you trust for guidance.
This person should be in a position at least one
organizational level above you.
Request calendar time with your mentor to discuss the strategic
program and inform him/her you would like insight & feedback.
Obtain a copy of current mission statement & business
objectives.

10. #2 Visibility can impact your
organization

11. Answer the following:
With visibility into the meetings spend volume & activity levels, company
leadership would be in a position to do what that they cannot do today?
What recent business situation could have been avoided, improved, or
managed differently if the company had visibility into this area of spend?

12. Which 1 or more business goals from the
previous year, that were not met, could have
been impacted (positively) if the company had
visibility into this area of spend?
Which business goals that were met could have
been exceeded if the company had visibility into
this area of spend?

13. #3 What is ‘at risk’ for your company that an
SMMP can help mitigate? (Use mission
statement & business goals from #1)

14. Identify what your company has determined are
HIGH, MEDIUM, and LOW risk priorities to its viability and ability
to achieve its goals this year.

15. Looking at each risk, evaluate the way in which a SMMP can
potentially mitigate them. Determine how that could be
articulated and validated.

16. #4 What
compliance
matters to
your company

17. List three internal company compliance expectations
placed on all employees.
ex: corporate travel policy, expense
reimbursement policy, etc.
Identify what ways SMMP can directly assist in driving
higher compliance rates.

18. Identify 3 industry regulatory
policies that your company is
required to be in compliance
with. Identify what ways SMMP
can directly assist in driving
higher compliance rates.
For past 2 tasks, understand and
be able to articulate the cost of
either non-compliance or the
opportunity loss of low
compliance.

19. #5 Positioning for leadership

20. Within the industry vertical
or competitive set that
your company
resides, your company is
considered in a leadership
position in what area of its
business?
How would an SMMP
reinforce/strengthen the
position(s) identified
above?

21. Within your own company, research and
identify up to 3 other similar spend
categories that are managed strategically
and considered exemplary.
Reach out to more than 1 of those
identified spend category leaders above to
understand how they achieved the
exemplary level of respect you’ve
identified.

22. #6 Complete each following statement
for the company’s CORE mission
statement and objectives for current
fiscal year from task #1.
It is recommended that this exercise be performed at both
company and divisional/departmental levels in which SMMP
practitioner resides.

23. Visibility into the meetings spend
category will enable the organization
to: ______________________
Which creates opportunity for:
__________________________
If we had that opportunity, it directly
supports the manner in which we
could achieve the following goal:
___________________________

24. Risk Mitigation: contract
compliance, event hazards
reduction… Define It.
A current risk we face within our
company is: ______________
An SMMP could help mitigate
that risk in the following ways:
_______________________
Without the kind of risk
mitigation an SMMP can
provide, we substantially impact
our ability to achieve this
company goal: _______________

25. The penalties for non-compliance to industry regulations we
must follow are:
_____________________________________
The missed opportunity in low compliance to internal policies
(i.e. travel) is: __________________________
Our low level compliance adversely affects our ability to
achieve the following goal: ________________________

26. My company considers itself a “leader” in the following areas:
_________________________
An SMMP directly is in alignment with what leadership
position from above: __________________________
A lack of an SMMP is in direct contradiction to which
leadership position from above: ____________________

27. #7 Building out the process illustration

28. Request the event planning
process map or illustration
from the internal meetings
department
If your organization has no
meetings
department, identify up to
3 meetings/events that are
sponsored by your
company, reach out to the
person in charge & create
their process map

29. Reach out to one of the leading
industry organizations (i.e. NBTA
or MPI) for their standard meeting
Step 1 planning process maps.
Step 2 From an SMMP technology
provider, request a process flow
Step 3 chart showing how their system
drives the process around SMMP.
Step 4
Compare & contrast each model
Step 5 for similarities and differences
making special note of any unique
internal attributes that are
currently in practice in your
organization.

30. #8 Building the People Framework

31. Create a list of those
person(s) that are involved
with the management of key
sponsored events.
Determine if any outsourced
companies are employed to
support their programs.
Develop a profile of what the
‘Product Team’ within your
company looks like today.

32. Reach out to a procurement executive to better understand
how this spend category is classified with your company (i.e.
non-core, etc.) and what is the standard in-source/out-source
policy that applies

33. What key executives (no
less than 5) have a
vested interest in this
area of spend category
management? Define
each person’s top 3
areas of interest &
assess the value their
visibility might bring to
an SMMP effort

34. As a starting point, identify 3 similar spend categories
(include Travel) and learn who is the executive sponsor for
each & evaluate their performance in that role. Use this to
create a short list of potential executive sponsors for SMMP.

35. #9 BPA Situation Assessment

36. Look at current process of meetings – what
technologies are in use right now?
Look at similar spend category processes:
what internal technologies are in use that
have cross-over benefit to meeting
process? (i.e. internal communication
tools, business travel apps, etc.)
What’s missing? Determine what tools
might be missing by looking at existing
technology tools to validate their
capabilities in providing the data support to
provide the organization with visibility, risk
mitigation and/or compliance data.

37. Educate yourself on the market offerings in the area of SMMP
technology – access whitepapers provided by NBTA, MPI, ACTE.
Request product overview information from key providers.
Review & understand the level of financial and product support
resources that would be available for an SMMP initiative.

38. #10 Finding quick win seeds

39. Reach out to owner of Corporate
Transient Travel spend category to
determine if there are any market share
commitments to suppliers that are in
jeopardy in the current year.
Reach out to an executive within Finance
division – with responsibility over
payment processing specifically, any
payment card products. Learn level of
adoption and how that compares with
desired level of usage.
If your company has a meetings
dept., learn what criteria must be met in
order for them to provide their services to
a meeting sponsor (i.e. attendee
count, spend amount, etc.). Ask how they
handle requests for support that fall
outside the criteria.

40. Speak to administrative assistants of at least 3 C-level executives to
understand how they are planning executive meetings today. Identify
areas of pain & areas that need support.
Speak to an executive in contracts/procurement department. Find out if
there are any company-standard contracting terms that exist for this
category or in general. Seek out a sampling of meetings contracts from
past 12 months to validate whether those terms are included in those
contracts.

41. #11 Confirming the Executive Sponsor
Prepare a presentation to the Sr. Level Executive whom you
would like to assume the position of corporate sponsor.

42. The SMMP Value Drivers that will directly support the company’s
objectives and that of this particular Sr. Level Exec.
A comparison of current practice to the most relevant competitor set of
organizations.
Specific near term role you need that Sr. Level Exec. to play and what
would the time and resource commitment be. List specific activities and
events you will need his/her direct participation in.
Identify at least 1 quick win that would most powerfully support his/her
own business objectives for current year.

43. #12 Complete value statements

44. The top 3 most significant benefits my company will gain as a
result of the SMMP is:
____________________________________________
Each benefit will position the company for higher levels of
success by: ___________________________________
The way I will assess whether or not any component of the
SMMP contributes to driving the benefit noted above is:
_____________________________________________

45. #13 Three benefits review

46. From task #12, review the top 3 SMMP
benefits that must be delivered to the
organization immediately.
In order to deliver those 3
benefits, what process, people & tools
must be in place?
What is the direct impact to the overall
company of not delivering each of the
3 benefits listed above?
As you look at the 3 benefits, what is
happening today organizationally that
is preventing the company from
enjoying those benefits?

47. A successful SMMP will be
how YOU define
it, implement it, and validate
its benefits.
It does not have to replicate a
graphical model, or the way
in which a Fortune 100
company has done it.

48. Design your SMMP for your own specific needs.
Keep it clear of purpose, concise of value and
consistently validated . . .
Don’t overcomplicate it!

49. ‘After you’ve done a thing the same way for two
years, look it over carefully. After five years, look
at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it
away and start all over.’
- Alfred Edward Perlman

50. For a detailed SMMP’s best practices and Plan Of Action guide
download the 23 page whitepaper:
The Pragmatist’s Guide to SMM: Moving from action to theory
(http://www.signup4.com/whitepapers/register/)
To learn more about SignUp4’s Meetings Management software:
Call: 1.877.745.5826
Email: sales@signup4.com
Visit our site: www.signup4.com
View SU4 blog: www.signup4.com/blog
Success stories: www.signup4.com/success-stories

51. Special Thanks To 19. Brett Jordan 42. Dru Bloomfield – At Home
20. Richard in Scottsdale
Mike Malinchok of S2K Consulting
and photos from: Masoner/Cycleicious 43. Tony Crider
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