Volume 4 Issue 4 April 2012

1. C Gazette
Volume , Issue 201
Smart Meetings The Importance of Meetings
Strategic Meetings Management Program and Incentive Programs in a
Down Economy
Understanding Smart Meetings
Last Month’s Article Comments
Charisma Productions Network
What is a Strategic Meetings Management Program? A From our LinkedIn Friends
Strategic Meetings Management Program (SMMP) is the Charisma Productions Network
strategic management of enterprise-wide meeting related
processes, spend, volumes, standards and suppliers to “This is an excellent commentary. Quoting "Contented Cows
achieve quantitative cost-savings, risk mitigation and superior Give Better Milk" is the key factor in your thesis. Managers
service. SMMP can help your company reduce meeting and the financial officers of the companies that give a "go" or
costs, reduce contractual risks and improve service. no "go" to meetings and incentives want quantitative analysis
It's not a glamorous process. And it doesn't happen for their decision making process Sure smiling faces tell a lot,
overnight. In fact, rolling out a strategic meetings but management wants hard numbers as shown in the book.
management program is a pretty labor-intensive job that's Thank you for quoting from the book. I am going to buy
often met with some tough resistance. The primary purpose several copies for clients and potential clients! “PA
of the SMMP is to ensure that everyone is working within the
same guidelines for sourcing and working with correct “As a speaker and event planner I find it interesting that they
suppliers of services. fail to see that this is when they need us the most. We are the
shot in the arm, the people who can keep employees and
To be successful, an effective SMM program begins by companies on track.
investigating literally every In the 80's we experience a similar hick-up in the economy as
aspect of meetings spend. Companies need to know what well as a drastic reduction in jobs here in Michigan. But back
they are spending on meetings and events, where that them my business was going gang busters. CEO's and
spending comes from, how the various costs are Managers would say to me "THIS IS WHEN I NEED YOU
accumulated, what steps are involved in the numerous THE MOST!" They would say they are tire of all the crying
approval cycles, etc. This first step is primarily a data and now it is time to get motivated and see the light at the
collection process, and companies need to identify and end of the tunnel.
collect as much meetings and event related data as possible. In fact one of my clients is putting on an event for his
The question is – which data needs to be collected and how? employees as he has for the last twenty years. She said
The ultimate goal of SMM systems is to provide increased "even though we had to layoff some people and restructure
visibility and control to the corporate meetings management we would be fools not to thank the employees remaining
because without them we have not company." I believe this
continued on page 2 company will be around a long time because they see what
they need to and that is to take care of their employees who
in some cases will someday be their customers”RP
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
“An excellent discussion and of course, I completely agree.
We need to bring the discussion beyond this group of
1 Smart Meetings
corporate meeting and event planners ot the rest of corporate
America, to the marketing departments, human resources,
1 Comments From Our LinkedIn Friends and especially to the accounting departments! “PA
2 Smart Meetings Continued
3 From Our IT Department
4 Recipe of the Month Thank You for All of Your Comments and
Suggestions
5 Strategic Partner – Airstage – A Must See
6 Monthly Linked In Polls
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2. continued from page 1 be accrued in addition to automating many of the
management tasks and improving client service.
Smart Meetings
process, and to extend this visibility, oversight and control
4. Reconciliation of Expenses
across the entire corporate enterprise.
When the meeting is over, the bills will need to be paid.
Tracking these payments is a crucial component of SMMP.
This widespread perception has significant implications on
The payment process should be consistent throughout the
the roles and responsibilities
company and in compliance with standard procurement
of meetings and events planning professionals, both inside
policies. Meeting expense cards (such as a credit card) can
the corporate enterprise and
simplify and streamline this process making it easier to
throughout the independent meetings/event planner and
assign specific event costs to specific budget codes.
corporate travel agency industries. As program cutbacks and
personnel reductions take center stage in responding to
5. Measure and Evaluation
stalled revenue streams and plunging profits, internal
The data tallied and tracked throughout the meeting life
planners and outside agencies alike are faced with growing
cycle, should be easily accessible for analysis. What was the
demand for cutting costs. At the same time, these, already-
average meeting cost per person? How much is the
strapped meetings and travel professionals are being
company spending annually with a specific hotel chain
charged with delivering a higher level of value-added
across all meetings? What are the meeting cost trends from
services and measurable returns on new investments of
year to year? What were the negotiated saving for a specific
limited corporate resources.
meeting? How close are the actual to budget? These are
among the hundreds of analytic questions answered through
There are many elements to an SMMP and all do not apply
a successful SMMP. If you do not know how much you are
to every case (one size does not fit all!). In general, SMMP
spending on your meetings, you are likely spending too
should provide a formal meetings management policy
much.
extending to all departments and division of an organization.
Among the key elements usually included in SMMP are the
In addition to measuring meeting spend, there is a strong
following:
need to measure meeting effectiveness – or return on
investment (ROI). It is not just about the money spent, it is
1. Meeting Design:
about how much “bang for each buck” spent that counts.
This involves the pre-event planning of the meeting
including:
This requires a systematic way to convey the specific,
Meeting scope specification: the purpose of the measureable goals and objectives from the meeting owner to
meeting, the agenda, size, and cost elements. all meeting stakeholders. The progress toward these goals
Budget planning tools are commonly involved with (learning, new customers, increase sales, etc.) should be
meetings design including the ability to track measured before, during and after the event usually by a
budgeted, actual and negotiated savings for specific series of carefully worded, consistent surveys. At meeting’s
meeting spend elements. end, the value of this progress divided by the meeting cost
will give you the ROI measurement.
2. Strategic Sourcing: Fortunately, the company-wide communication lines and
Once the meeting is approved, the next step is sourcing. discipline required for setting up a successful SMMP lend
This involves choosing the meeting site(s) and negotiating well for the two-way communication and tracking ROI data
the contracts for sleeping rooms, meeting space, travel and as well.
other event services. Contract experts.
Reduced regulatory risks and better legal
3. Meetings and Attendee Management
compliance to regulations such a Sarbanes-Oxley
A significant component of tracking total meeting spend is
(SOX) through policy guidelines and compliance
managing the attendee registration, travel and housing
tracking
expenses. Automated, web-based attendee management
Increased efficiencies and productivity through
tools will not only track these expenses, they can
standard operating procedures and technology
substantially improve staff efficiency and customer service
automation.
as well. Specific components often include:
Greater meeting value and quality through ROI
The ability for attendee and their guest to register
management and meeting consistency.
for a variety of program tracks and more.
The ability for the attendee to arrange all travel
As we grow as an industry and with the maturation and
matters online including air and ground
proliferation of SMMP technologies and increased industry
transportation automatically funneling to preferred
awareness, corporations are increasingly moving toward
vendors.
SMMP. Additionally, regulatory laws, such as Sarbanes-
The ability for planners to create arrival and Oxley requiring public corporations to have more auditable
departure manifests drawing real-time date directly meetings processes, have spurred companies to move in
from the travel bookings. this direction as well. Today there are a variety of SMMP
Full hotel and flight confirmation number tracking technology providers as the range and scope of what
Ability for attendees to make changes to the travel constitutes a strategic meetings management program
records online. continues to evolve.
When procurement principles are applied to travel
arrangements through these tools, substantial savings can
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under the text box, choose the Jump To style, and

3. From Out IT Department
Save it First
One of the most important things you can do before making registry changes is to make a backup of the
keys you change BEFORE you make the changes. The best way to handle this is to export the affected
key for later recovery. For example, in the last tip we showed you a REG file designed to remove the
Shortcut to prefix from shortcut names. To do this, we modified the Registry key
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorer.
To save this key prior to running the REG file, click Start, Run. Type
regedit
And press Enter. Now, navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorer
and select the key. Choose Registry, Export Registry File. When the Export Registry File dialog box
opens, make sure the Selected Branch radio button is deselected. Type a name for the file and click
Save. Now close RegEdit by choosing Registry, Exit.
If you have a problem with the changes the new REG file made, you can always run the exported file to
put the Registry key back to its default settings.
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4. From Our Executive Chef
Chili-Rubbed White Fish with Asparagus and Lemon
Prep Time – 20 Min
Serves - 4
Ingredients
2 pounds asparagus, tough ends trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1 pound tilapia, Pacific sole or other firm white fish fillets
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil box if you don’t want to save the art with the
newsletter.
3 tablespoons lemon juice
change line properties and crop the image. For more
Directions detailed editing, double-click on the graphic to activate
the drawing layer. 
Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Put asparagus in a steamer basket, place in the pan, cover and
steam until tender-crisp, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a large plate, spreading out to cool.
Combine chili powder, garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt on a plate. Dredge fillets in the spice mixture to coat. Heat
oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the fish and cook until just opaque in the center, gently
turning halfway, 5 to 7 minutes total. Divide among 4 plates. Immediately add lemon juice, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon
salt and asparagus to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until the asparagus is coated and heated through, about 2
minutes. Serve the asparagus with the fish.
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5. Strategic Partner
Airstage
The impression of seeing a seemingly heavyweight object flying gracefully through the air is both magical
and uncanny.
We construct and operate radio controlled custom-made objects that look like the real thing, but magically
fly without the need for any further technical support.
Each flying object is precision-made in our own production facility from special ultra-light expanded
polystyrene foam that surrounds a helium filled inner casting. Using mini motors, plasma or ion as
propulsion and high tech radio controlled systems, the object flies freely in the air.
The complex shape of each object is reproduced using the original computer-aided-design data, thus
ensuring its shape will match the original in every detail. It is also possible to build-in special features such
as functioning lighting, moving parts, miniature video cameras, etc.
We are to-date the only company in the world that provides such spectacular show productions with free
flying objects combining “made in Germany” precision engineering, uniqueness and superior customer
service.
www.airstage.biz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WYjlOzZxqM
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6. Recent Results of Surveys Taken by
Charisma Productions Network on LinkedIn
Informative, Inspiring and Empowering
Let Charisma Productions Network become your one-stop solution for all
your corporate meeting, events and conference needs.
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7. Thank You for Your Support
We wish to thank our readers and our clients for their support and feedback helping to continually grow the Charisma
Productions Network. We look forward to another successful year in 201 as we continue to grow and provide you
with successful stress-free events.
We appreciate hearing from all of you and strive to improve our articles and hope to have something for everyone at
one point or another. Please send us suggestions for topics you would like to read about or if you have an article that
you would like to share we’ll be happy to post it.:
Please send all comments to:
comments@cpnevents.com
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