Successful Meetings - February 2009 - (Page 21)

ner has done a prior ROI assessment of the expected value of the meeting. Then it is much easier to explain why they shouldn’t cancel. According to Dr. Jack Phillips, chairman of ROI Institute, “Some meeting planners are preventing cancellation by showing data accumulated from the last meeting which illustrate the value and, in some cases, the ROI of the meeting. In lieu of last year’s results, it is also possible to forecast ROI, and this might be very convincing data to prevent an executive from canceling the meeting.” Whether or not you have access to such data, as a planner, you need to be ready to offer alternatives to cancellation. Here are some questions to ask when a meeting may be canceled: 2 Could we break the meeting into a series of smaller regional meetings that could be held on the same day? A combination of interactive videoconferencing and face-toface interaction at the regional level might be an alternative. These meetings might even be held on site at the company’s own facilities. 3 Could we change the meeting design? 1 Can we cut the number of face-to-face attendees without canceling? Is it possible to scale back on some production elements (e.g. expensive entertainment) and instead come up with inexpensive ways for people to interact or work collaboratively at the meeting (e.g. host an unconference)? When I design meetings, people are often surprised at how energetic, engaging, and inexpensive some of the interactive activities are. This is one way of reducing costs and still saving the meeting. Some of the people planning to attend face-to-face could attend via virtual means such as webcasts, threaded discussions, podcasts, or even simple conference calls. You might even use social network analysis software to determine who the best candidates are for the smaller face-to-face meeting. 4 Could participants join the meeting from their desks? Interactive desktop tools have become increasingly useful and easily accessible. Second Life might provide an alternative mechanism for holding both a trade show and interactive THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS. foxwoods.com | 1-800-FOXWOODS mgmatfoxwoods.com | 1-866-MGM-0050 Visit meetings.foxwoods.com or call our Resort Sales Office at 1-800-488-7777 http://www.foxwoods.com http://www.mgmatfoxwoods.com http://www.mgmatfoxwoods.com http://www.foxwoods.com http://meetings.foxwoods.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - February 2009

Successful Meetings - February 2009 Contents Editor's Letter News Update: Meetings Associations Band Together Education Planner Spotlight Technology Talk Food & Beverage Making Cents of It All Meanwhile, Back at Headquarters Seal of Approval Come Sail Away Making Tracks Places & Spaces Florida’s East Coast Aruba Maui 3 Days in Philadelphia

Successful Meetings - February 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.