Corporate planners, indeed all meeting professionals, must be able to articulate to our senior executives the strategic value we bring to the organization.
Today in many Fortune 500 and 1000 companies, those senior stakeholders are chief financial officers and procurement departments focused on expense reductions and cost/productivity improvements. In order to succeed, we must embrace these changes and learn to partner with the new players. We must demonstrate the expertise that we add to the meeting management process, and prove the strategic value meetings bring to the organization.
As Team Lead of Event Marketing at PeopleSoft, Inc., my team of program managers and I have a positive working relationship with our procurement department. The procurement specialists are skilled in areas that the program managers may not be as highly skilled in. And the program managers possess many skills that the procurement specialists do not. We work together, blending the strengths of each to select the best vendors and negotiate the best contracts.
Case in PointAn example is the process of selecting production companies.
The decision was made to select four production companies that would be denoted as preferred vendors. Once selected, the companies would be screened by the procurement department and then be approved in the financial management system at PeopleSoft. Once a program manager was in need of a production company, all they had to do was go out to bid for the scope of services required for the specific program. The tedious task of getting a vendor background researched and approved would already be completed.
The procurement specialist and the program managers worked together to create a very detailed RFP. The program managers defined the scope of services required by all vendors and the procurement specialist provided all the specifics that would best protect PeopleSoft. The program managers provided the list of companies to whom the RFP should be sent.
The procurement specialist then sent out the RFPs and acted as a liaison between PeopleSoft and the vendors. Once proposals were received, the program managers individually reviewed the proposals prior to the entire committee meeting (procurement specialist and program managers) to evaluate and compare the proposals.
The procurement specialist guided the program managers in placing a numerical value on each of the areas defined in the scope of services. The committee gathered together in a series of meetings to evaluate and compare all the proposals. We were then able to rank the vendors and narrow down the group from about 12 companies to about six.
The procurement specialist then invited the remaining six vendors to come into our offices to make live presentations. Following the presentations, the procurement specialists researched the background and financial stability of each company. The procurement specialist maintained all tracking and comparison documentation. The program managers reviewed the strengths/weaknesses of each company and talked to references provided by the vendors.
The committee then met again to review all documentation and background checks, and to openly discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the final round of vendors. The final four were selected based on a numeric ranking, and the program managers had to believe the style of the vendors would blend well with the styles of the program managers. The decision was both objective and subjective. The procurement specialists then notified the vendors of the selections.
This relationship between the two departments has led to processes that are streamlined and result in vendor selections that are in the best interest of all parties involved. The procurement specialist spent time negotiating the terms of the contract as specified by the program managers and the program managers were then able to spend more time actually working on programs.
Sharing SynergiesI strongly encourage program managers to embrace the concept of teaming with the procurement department. If the program managers and the procurement specialist enter the process understanding that they each have unique skills and expertise, the two can share synergies and collaborate, resulting in a "win-win" for the two departments, and more importantly, the company.
Eye to the FutureMy experience is not unique. FutureWatch 2004, an industry outlook survey published in January by MPI and American Express, revealed that approximately 80 percent of planner respondents have considered standards for areas such as contract language, travel management, registration tools, and reconciliation, with more than half already employing some form of organization-wide meeting purchasing policies. Concurrently, 45 percent of suppliers indicated they conform to planner organization policies more than 50 percent of the time, but are required to be a preferred vendor less often, with just 14 percent saying they must have preferred status more than 50 percent of the time.
With more standardization in an industry founded on face-to-face relationships, and the new player of procurement involved in meetings management, it is even more important for meeting professionals to become fluent in the language of business and prove the strategic value meetings bring to an organization.
To learn how to more effectively communicate with senior decision-makers and new players such as procure-ment/CFOs, meeting professionals can look to MPI's Business Skills for Life curriculum, which focuses on teaching meeting professionals core business competencies such as financial planning, strategic thinking and leadership development. Business Skills for Life can help get them a seat at the decision-making table of the organization, or directly influence those who are already "at the table" about the return on investment for meetings.
MPI's newly formed Global Corporate Circle of Excellence, co-chaired by Luca Favetta, EMEA, global event director at SAP, and Betsy Bondurant, CMP, CMM, associate director of meeting planning and travel services for Amgen, Inc., also is going to be examining the procurement trend and providing resources and best practices for meeting professionals.
Embracing ChangeMeeting professionals should embrace the changes they see in the industry. We should be leaders in learning about the changes, contributing to the development of new processes, and adapting to working with the changes. The more we fight and resist change, the further behind we become in the industry and the less we will be perceived as forward-thinking professionals.