Since small and midsize businesses generally have fewer resources than larger corporations, they typically manage their meetings a little differently. While some bigger companies have at least some elements of a centralized strategic meetings management program in place, most smaller enterprises do not. Many smaller companies don't have a dedicated meetings management team and still rely on basic technology to plan events. However, many are beginning to see a need for centralized management, and some are starting to plant the seeds of SMM initiatives.
Lodging technology and meetings management company Lanyon last year released a report that found most small and midsize businesses manage meetings internally, with about 11 percent using third parties and 27 percent using professional sourcing tools. Most SMEs manage every step of the meetings process—from sourcing to managing contractual deadlines—on their own.
"If you look at the average spend per meeting, medium-sized companies show to be the least efficient," said Lanyon senior vice president of strategy and product management Anthony Miller, citing a 2010 PhoCusWright report that revealed the average per-meeting spend for midsize companies was about 10 percent to 15 percent higher than companies of other sizes.
"There are so many opportunities for saving money and improving efficiencies," Miller added. Lanyon plans to announce this year an SMM platform geared specifically to midsize organizations, he said.
At Rotary International, a midsize humanitarian organization, the meetings team is responsible for the sourcing and logistics of many company events, while content is left up to individual departments. "We're in the process of developing [an SMM program]," said director of meetings and events L.J. Williams. "We certainly see a need."
In order to track spend, Rotary employees currently check in with the budget manager, reporting on their individual line items in order to create monthly spend forecast reports. Williams' team collaborates with four departments, including registration and housing, operation services, the stage department—which is responsible for speakers and entertainment—and meetings logistics, comprised of two meeting specialists who manage transportation, food and beverage and volunteers.
SMEs without dedicated meetings departments, such as Goodman Networks and Hexagon Metrology, manage events within the company's travel department, leaving most of the logistics up to the budget holders and handling only certain aspects of meetings, such as sourcing and contracts. Karen Hatch, Goodman Networks' director of corporate travel, implemented a meetings policy last year. "We have a meetings team within my department, and we definitely have gotten our arms around a lot of the spend with meetings," she said. Beginning in the second quarter this year, Adelman Travel Group will handle meetings sourcing and negotiations for Goodman.
Hexagon Metrology strategic projects manager for North America Bridget Benedetti, who handles all transient travel and expense reporting for that segment, keeps track of the meetings schedule with a Microsoft Outlook calendar shared among senior management. "We also have a rule that mid- or senior-level managers or vice presidents have to let the CEO and myself know in advance when 10 employees or more are gathering for a meeting," she said.
While midsize companies spend more, smaller companies with tighter budgets focus more on the value of each meeting, often opting for "more value-based packages, like prenegotiated deals that hotels offer," according to Hervé Sedky, owner of Klio Travel Ventures and formerly senior vice president of American Express Global Business Travel, which included Amex's meetings and events division. Sedky has observed that smaller companies generally consider service and flexibility of greatest value, while "larger companies value savings and risk mitigation the most," he said.
Since many small and midsize organizations don't implement SMM plans, they often don't invest in events management technology, but Sedky sees this changing "as technology evolves and is more adapted to the middle market," he said. "A lot of solutions are targeted to large companies, and not built from the ground up for small companies, and I think that's going to change."
This report originally appeared in the April 14, 2014 edition of Business Travel News.