A Convention Meeting Planners & Exhibitors Blog

Business Meetings - Get the most out of your meeting investment

Delivering Measurable Business Results From Meetings and Events
 
A comment on a presentation done by Richard D. Flanagan Ph.D that took place in Ottawa as a part of a joint venture with PCMA and Ottawa Tourism
 
Recently a group of meeting planners, suppliers and colleagues met in downtown Ottawa to talk about Delivering Measurable Business Results from Meetings and Events.
 
The talk/discussion began with a very true statement that a “Meeting is an investment”
 
You have inputs which are the preparation, the meeting itself, an application or action and the outputs/results or returns.
 
So how do you make meetings more of a productive event?

the answer is not in the act of having a meeting it is in the PROCESS. 
 
Dr. Flanagan said a few things that really resonated with me  
 
"objectives are dreams if they do not become actions."
 
“ The primary purpose of a meeting or event is to improve business and personal results for all stakeholders”
 
So how do we achieve /increase results from meetings, more specifically create measurable results?
 
A great model he introduced is called “Pathway to results”
 
It involves the following;
 
Strategic Meeting Objectives: What is the stated overall business purpose of the meeting or event.

A tip - Begin with the end in mind

1. Define the purpose of the meeting.  I think the idea here is to define what you want to get out of this meeting, or what purpose or "business need" as defined by Dr. Flanagan will be met.
2. Design the meeting.  What steps are needed to acquire the end result needed.  An example in marketing would be setting up a mind mapping exercise...what would it be for you?
3. Deliver - make this actionable - what action do we need to take to make this a reality and who will be responsible for what?
4.  Drive and Deploy - actions to assure there is a follow through and the requirements to support.                                       To assure follow through happens you could create a calendar of activities with actions to take, time lines, names of those accountable for actions and a summarization column. Generally people and resources would be the means to support actions.
5. Document - summarize what happened, the end result and debrief with the team involved.  Ask the imperative question...what action need to take place now.

 What are your suggestions for maximizing ROI on meetings...any agenda secrets you want to share?

Business Meetings- the value of the process

Recently a group of meeting planners, suppliers and colleaugues met in downtown Ottawa, Canada to talk about Delivering Measurable Business Results from Meetings and Events.
 
The discussion began with results from a recent poll that had been conducted by Dr. Richard Flanagan -  author of The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning  - that asked people about the outcomes of meetings and events in which they had participated.

The results were encouraging with 60-80% of participants reporting they tried what they learned and 20% of respondents reporting they had used what they learned and achieved clearly demonstrable results. 

Meetings are a worthwhile process as they can lead to significant change in activities or a reinforcement of positive activity.

I did a survey throughout our office on the value of the meeting process and here are the results;

• It is a sharing of ideas
• Sharing of knowledge
• Networking opportunities
• Can be a lot of fun
• Location can provide insight and inspiration
• Meetings are a great setting for people to break out of their silos and allows an opportunity to communicate ideas
• Provides opportunities to work as teams achieving positive results - meetings are a great setting for this
• Keeping updated on work matters
• Keeping track of individual and team progress
• Helps in team decision making
• Relay specific information regarding target, subject or trend
• Strengthen bonds and networks
• Provides team members with a sense of unity
• Face to face interaction is more successful than virtual meetings or interaction as it allows for the important non- verbal communication component
  

"Meetings are an investment"... you have inputs which are the preparation, the meeting itself, an application or action and the outputs/results or returns. Meetings are essential for productive progression in organizations, companies, governments etc... it is a necessary element for collaboration, innovation and the sharing of ideas. The question that needs to be asked is not the importance of meetings but how to make meetings even more productive.  The answer is the PROCESS.

 Stay tuned, the next posting will look at ways to make meetings more productive through processes.

What are your thoughts on the value or importance of meetings to the success of an organization?

The New OCC Vision

I have traveled and worked all over the world, and I have come back to Ottawa because it is truly a magnificent city that encompasses everything that is Canada, from its diverse culture to the breathtaking sights and exciting nightlife.  It is a fusion of culinary culture and the perfect balance of big city and small town.  But  something was missing.  It was missing that key factor that would bring people from all over the world to visit our city, and that was a world class meeting place.  Well that missing key is now a reality and we will be opening the new Ottawa Convention Centre in April 2011.

With the construction of the new Ottawa Convention Centre it became apparent that we needed to develop a more interactive and exciting website to better promote our new facility and the inspired people behind it. As the construction of the new OCC continues, so will the construction of this site to reflect the milestones and advancement in our organization.  It is my hope that you agree that the new Ottawa Convention Centre website is just that, a refreshing interactive and transparent view of our future facility and our organization. 

With the implementation of a new website, we wanted to create areas where our clients, stakeholders, community and colleagues could interact with the OCC and feel that connection with an organization that is here to provide the best in services, facilities and products that will create memorable and effective meetings… for our clients and our community at the same time.

I have created this Blog site with the intention of sharing with you my thoughts on various articles, debates and subjects that will affect our industry, our community and the OCC.  My plan is to make it a blog that encourages interaction and insight from you.  I believe that to be Canada’s Meeting Place, we need to be considered a place where people come together to share ideas, opinions and knowledge, and leave feeling they have gained something from the experience.  

The new OCC Vision is “Inspired People Creating Extraordinary Events”. We hope you’ll be inspired, through our website, to explore the new OCC and share your thoughts with us.