Know When to Call in Experts: 5 Things to Remember about Meeting Professionals
When it comes to planning meetings or events, a common tactic is to assign this task to someone on the sales, marketing, or administrative team because it just involves making some calls and getting a few details in order, right?
Sure. In some cases.
If you are planning a small event with a low strategic value to your organization, someone on your existing team is likely more than capable of handling this assignment and performing beautifully.
But, if an event has a high strategic value to your business plan or organization, it generally proves extremely valuable to engage with an expert. This is no different than many other functions in an organization – for example, your accounting team is surely capable of handling day-to-day operations, but are they qualified handle complex tax returns in multiple states? Or, is your in-house legal team (who flawlessly handles the daily details of transactions, contracts, and generally making sure everything you do is on the right side of the law) qualified to represent your interests in legal proceedings in a court of law?
Meeting professionals are meeting experts. Each day is spent understanding industry trends, building and strengthening key supplier relationships, understanding applicable government regulations, negotiating win-win contracts, planning the tiniest event details, focusing on big picture goals, designing event strategies to accomplish goals and deliver ROI and ROO, and much more. Meeting professionals can either be an integral team member in your organization or an outsourced expert that you call upon as-needed.
The top 5 things to remember about meeting professionals:
- Meeting professionals don’t just respond to needs – they anticipate needs.
- Meeting professionals (whether they work for an organization or are an independent planner on whom you rely) understand that you are a client and are always service-driven.
- Meeting professional aptly organize every devilish detail so that your attention can focus on content, messaging, and accomplishing the business goals you need.
- Meeting professionals ensure that the big picture vision is translated to the smallest details necessary to execute. They easily avoid the dreaded outcome of not accomplishing goals simply because we couldn’t “pull it off.”
- Meeting professionals will bring you solid professional relationships with key suppliers that you need. They have the kind of relationships that can make the impossible possible.
Does every single event require an expert meeting professional? No. The ones that do are those that have a strategic business function, need to accomplish key organizational goals, are vital to growth or expansion, or need to convey critical message to key stakeholders. If something is vital to organization success, give yourself every possible advantage – get the expert.
Image courtesy of eustatiub
