Short-Term Mtgs. Get Even Less Time

The persistent shortening of lead time for planning and purchasing corporate meetings, through economic times favorable and unfavorable, has sent buyers scrambling for ways to maximize value in the shortest amount of time.

Meeting buyers have adjusted policies, streamlined proposals and contracts and have turned to technology in efforts to get the best deal with what little time there is to work.

And though it seems that whatever trends snake their way through the corporate meeting industry serve to slice lead time further, the industry-upending combination of a lagging economy and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States have meant different consequences for lead times at different corporations, even within the same industry. At some companies, depleted budgets led to meetings held only when necessary funding is approved, leading to scrambles to stage short-term events. Others budget strictly, and if no money for a given meeting was allocated at the beginning of a fiscal year, than the meeting likely won't be held, permitting a relatively set schedule and time to plan it.

Little can be surmised conclusively about the effects of the attacks at this early date, but conventional wisdom seems to point to any hesitancy to travel leading to such alternatives as Webconferencing or videoconferencing. Or, the attacks could lead to better deals on airfares and hotel rooms, spurring a spate of short-term, cost-effective meetings.

Overall, though, lead times seem to continue to shrink, according to an exclusive study commissioned by Meetings Today. Roughly 75 percent of all meetings and 73 percent of all offsite meetings are planned with less than 90 days of lead time, numbers similar to the last such survey, published in March 1999. It also appears that the average number of short-term meetings planned held steady at 39.

However, 30 percent of those surveyed—a great majority of whom claim responsibility for negotiating with facilities and selecting meeting destinations and properties—felt they handled more short-term meetings in 2001 than they did last year. Only 15 percent felt fewer were staged, with the remainder seeing lead time as fairly constant.

It should be noted that about three-quarters of responses to this survey were answered and received before Sept. 11, leaving post-11th sample sizes too small for legitimate comparative analysis.

"Our lead time is generally less than 90 days and frequently less than 60 days, and Sept. 11 hasn't necessarily changed that," said Catherine Craglow, manager of meetings and events for Federal Way, Wash.-based Weyerhaeuser Co. "We're still cost-conscious, and we're still going to check for space to control costs. We will follow the same procedures, in terms of calling for space, dates and rates."

But though overall numbers have remained rather steady, the number of meetings with extremely little lead time has risen: About 47 percent of short-term meetings are planned within one month, significantly more than the 31 percent that were planned in the same timeframe in the 1999 survey. And 19 percent of all short-term meetings in this survey were staged with 13 days or less of lead time, a number that once was considered extraordinary but now registers as mundane.

Not many respondents—about 13 percent—foresee decreases in the number of short-term meetings next year. About 33 percent predict an increase in short-term events, while 54 percent see little change.

Many companies, though, have spent much of 2001 reducing or eliminating small, internal meetings, types of events typically staged with little lead time. Many of these companies, often technological in nature, have retooled their philosophy on meetings to focus on longer-term, customer-facing events while finding travel alternatives for what used to be short-term meetings.

"We're okay with lead time for most events, because since December most of our events involve customers, like trade shows or product launches," said Rich Del Colle, Burlington, Mass.-based meetings program manager for Hewlett-Packard Co. "We don't do much of anything in the short-term, because our customer events are usually scheduled in advance of 90 days out."

Del Colle said HP's meetings cutbacks have led the company to increase its use of audioconferencing, instead of what were small, offsite events. "We pretty much use audio for all staff meetings on all fronts," he said. Though HP has a relatively free hand in setting budgets for customer events, Del Colle said the handful of internal meetings going forward often uses limited-service properties, a significant change from early last year and before. That said, merger and acquisition activity has been known to spurt short-term events, and HP has announced its intentions to merge with Compaq. Del Colle wouldn't speculate as to the potential impact of the proposed merger on HP's meeting operations.

Along the same lines, corporations that have reduced meeting budgets often must ensure that their limited supply of funding is well spent, allowing for longer lead times to develop programs and strategies that enhance the meetings' value.

"Our lead time in some respects has increased, because we need to create marketing briefs beforehand and identify our goals, objectives and strategy," said Evelyn Laxgang, director of strategic programs and events for Schaumberg, Ill.-based Motorola Inc. "We have less money to dedicate to events, so we're spending it wisely."

Motorola currently focuses its meeting strategies on larger events and trade shows, Laxgang said. "We've already blocked and paid for hotel space for some of those meetings next year," she said.

One key to maximizing short-term meeting value is the implementation of meeting policies and procedures that drive internal meeting sponsors' behavior. Policies that require the use of meeting planners to, at minimum, review contracts, limit corporate exposure to high rates and cancellation fees sometimes charged in the short term. Such policies also aid in ensuring last-minute business is represented in the company's volume data, insiders said.

About 68 percent of respondents whose companies have meeting managers or departments require at least some short-term meetings to go through meeting personnel in some fashion. Of that total, 39 percent require every short-term meeting to do so, and three-quarters of respondents said at least half of such events are handled by planners.

Amway Corp. of Ada, Mich., has developed a strict, centralized policy that requires all meetings, short-term or otherwise, to employ the services of the corporate special events department. This helped Amway hold the line on lead time in 2001, said director of special events Craig Ardis.

"Those policies helped, because the fact that employees must come through here to book helps us manage the process," Ardis said. "Our lead time held true this year compared to the past."

Ardis said the major driver in holding lead times constant is the lack of budgetary maneuverability for its internal sponsors. Meetings can't be held if funds weren't budgeted at the beginning of Amway's fiscal year, limiting the potential pool of short-term meetings.

Often budgetary approval accompanying policy emanates from senior management, a process that can reduce the number and expenditure of unnecessary short-term meetings. The survey shows more than 62 percent of respondents' companies have instituted such a policy, with several more indicating it's on their to-do lists for 2002.

Weyerhaeuser does not have a formal policy regarding short-term meetings but encourages its internal sponsors to provide planners with at least two weeks of lead time. "We just stress that if they give us more time, we can get a better deal," Craglow said. "We'll do it within less than two weeks if it's a special case, but we handle that on a case-by-case basis, and we tell hotels we need to turn it around in 24 hours instead of 72."

Traditionally, executive board and sales meetings are considered the most likely candidates for short-term status, but respondents report that other, more complex meetings also are being planned within 90 days. Respondents reported planning nearly 1,100 sales and marketing meetings within 90 days, topping the chart and followed by management and training. They also handled 186 trade shows representing more than 22,000 attendees, as well as nearly 50 group incentive trips.