An ebook by Lanyon

SMM CHAMPIONS:
BEST PRACTICES FOR
DEVELOPING SMM

1
Foreword
Act II. Curtain rises.
Welcome. Im very proud to present our
book, SMM Champions: Best Practices
for Developing SMM. This book is truly
an eclectic collection of meetings industry
brains and talent. Nine authors have come
together in one place to share their stories
about the theory, practice and the mastery
of strategic meetings
JR Sherman management, or simply, SMM.
President & Chief Strategy
Officer - Lanyon In this book, youll read about a wide variety of SMM-related topics
everything from the beginnings of SMM and how some said
it would never catch on, to the latest trends affecting meetings
management, such as engaging attendees and improving
meetings ROI with games.
As second acts go, this is the best kind.
Several years ago, Lanyon published its first SMM book, Strategic
Meetings Management Handbook: From Theory to Practice. In
this edition, we continue advancing in our role as industry thought
leaderto help raise the bar of excellence for all. At Lanyon,
our priority is to work closely with our customers to continually
develop new insight and event technology tools. Our goal is to
help event professionals achieve both their meetings program and
professional goals. In essence, to be smarter at what you do.
Its my hope that you use SMM Champions: Best Practices for
Developing SMM to increase your SMM skill set and move your
programs forward whether youre just thinking about creating
centralized management of meetings or you have a global
program in place thats already delivering benefits. Think of this
book as a very smart tool to help you achieve Smart Events
meetings that help you save time and moneyengage your
attendees on a new leveland, most importantly, grow your
business.
Happy reading,

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Table of Contents

Chapter One SMM: A History of Collaboration...............................................................5 Chapter Three Financial Risk Mitigation in Meetings Management.............25
Creating and By Kevin Iwamoto, GLP, GTP, VP Industry Strategy, Lanyon Managing Risk By Debi Scholar, Global Cross-Divisional Category Leader/Director
Virtual Meetings, Div Category Congress & Events, Novartis
Fine Tuning in Regulated
Maturing Your SMMP: Getting to Where You Want to Be ............8
Your SMM By Linda J. McNairy, Former Chair, GBTA Foundation SMM Maturity Model
Industries
Task Force. Head of Business Development - Meetings North America at
American Express Meetings & Events. Strategies to Engage Attendees:
Chapter Four
The Science of Gamification..............................................................30
Audience By Tyler Altrup, Gamification Guru
Engagement
Chapter Two Power Management: Combining Meetings & in SMM Managing Social Media Compliance within
Maximizing Your Business Travel Management ...................................................................13 Financial Services Industries............................................................. 33
Meetings Spend By Carol Ann Salcito, President, Management Alternatives, Inc. By Joanna Belbey, Social Media and Compliance
Specialist, Actiance
Maximizing Supplier Relations with eRFPs:
How to Create a Win-Win When Sourcing ..........................................17
By Kari Wendel, SMMC, Senior Director, SMM Strategy + Solutions,
Carlson Wagonlit Travel Meetings & Events
Chapter Five SMM in Asia: New Opportunities & Challenges .......................37
By Herve Joseph-Antoine, Global Managing Director,
Integrating a Meeting Card Into Your SMMP.................................. 20 Global SMM Pacific World
By Betsy Bondurant, Founder, President of Bondurant Consulting

Look for the Light bulb About Learn about our SMM Champions and Lanyon ............................40
Authors highlight their top best practices for SMM SMM Champions

3
Creating and Fine
Tuning Your SMM
Chapter One

4
 by Kevin Iwamoto, VP Industry Strategy,
Lanyon

SMM: A History of
Collaboration
Getting SMM Recognized The Challenges
The decision to establish SMM disciplines and committees
within some of the major business travel organizations was
not without its roadblocks and the kind of resistance one often
encounters when trying to get a new project launched.

Strategic meetings management and me?

Way back, more than 10 years ago, I never thought Id have anything to do with SMM or any doctrine
or new process around how meetings should be managed.
There I was in 2003, winding down my two-year stint as president and CEO of GBTA (then the
National Business Travel Association) and its foundation arm. It was an extremely rewarding post but
also very challenging. Many of its members were still struggling during an economic slowdown that
began after the tragedy of September 11.

5
But during my leadership at GBTA, I noticed
that I was having more and more conversations
with travel and procurement managers who,
due to budget cuts at their organizations, had
been given the responsibility to centralize
management of travel spend categories. Their
goals were to gain the greatest possible savings
and efficiencies.
For most, that meant they suddenly had to
get some kind of idea of the organizationwide
extent of their meetings and incentive spending.
And so, travel managers were reaching out,
asking, How can GBTA help me learn about
this new category of spend that Im managing?
And where do I go to get access to information,
resources and training? They needed guidance
on issues such as:
+ Providing a single view of all meetings held
across the organization
+ Planning and managing meetings
+ Leveraging buying power with suppliers,
cutting costs, eliminating inefficiencies
+ Reducing risk and assuring compliance
There were few readily available answers. I
was no expert on meetings management. I
was, however, very experienced in overseeing
development, policy creation, strategy, and
supplier management for various global travel
spend categories at Hewlett-Packard where
I was senior global commodity manager.
But at that time, I didnt oversee meetings
management.
Because I dont believe in reinventing the
1
Says a May 2013 American Express survey of planners and meeting executives: 37% of planners fail to forward ancillary contracts
for items such as ground transportation, A/V and entertainment to a manager for review or approval. Further, just 6% of meeting
leaders say planners are allowed to sign contracts, although 23% of planners say they do.
wheel, I met with various industry groups
that offered meetings resources; I described
the changing needs of corporate buyers,
including procurement professionals who were Kevin Iwamotos
increasingly being asked to help apply their
expertise toward meetings purchasing and to
assist with contract management.
Top 3 Best Practices
I heard things like this: Meetings and events Thinking of transforming your meetings and events
are very personal areas to manage; and You by managing them strategically?
cant tell planners they have to standardize
Refer to these 3 top SMM best practices:
sourcing and contracts because its too
decentralized. I remember thinking that many
of these same things were once said about
corporate travel. It also became obvious that
1. Stakeholder Management
many meetings industry leaders considered
Connect with and recruit others in your company with responsibility
contracts nothing but a necessary evil, although
meetings contracts are probably one of the for travel and meetings to champion, strategize and support centrally
biggest risks for companies, given the millions capturing spend data. Become the go-to person for data reporting and
some companies spend yearly in cancellation analytics.
and attrition fees.1
What came from these realizations was a 2. Select Scalable Technology
resolve to createfrom scratcha group of Choose meetings management technology that is scalable and ready to
corporate travel/meeting experts who could support your SMMP growth strategies. For example, if one of your goals
put together educational materials to guide is to cut hotel penalties, pick software that automatically attaches your
travel and procurement managers in this new, companys terms and conditions to hotel contracts to protect you from
unchartered territory. onerous cancellation and attrition fees.
Establishing SMM at GBTA
I distinctly remember my meeting with the
3. Use others best practices to your advantage
Ask your meetings management company or SMM technology partner
GBTA board, presenting my case findings and
to provide client case studies that show how real companies are saving
decision to create the Groups and Meetings
money and reporting ROI to their stakeholders. You can jump start your
Committee. I thought long and hard about
qualified candidates to head up this new group, program by using lessons learned from other companies.
and I sought recommendations from
6
industry colleagues. After a long and serious
deliberation, I asked Tracy Wilt, then manager
of Global Travel and Meetings Management at
Xerox, and Madlyn Caliri, who at the time was
managing meetings for AT&T, to co-chair.
Under their leadership, the group quickly
expanded to include many talented individuals.
In 2004, the committee coined the term (SMM)
and unveiled the first-ever SMM white paper,
Building a Strategic Meetings Management
Program. Since then, a bounty of other papers
and resources has followed. My initial plan also
included creating a session on SMM for the
GBTA annual convention, where I was to step
down and hand over the responsibility of the
association to my successor.
Never did I ever think the group would go on
to create a strategic meetings management
program road map that would serve as the
guiding foundation for organizations to learn
about and develop their own SMMPs. The
overriding success of the Groups and Meetings
Committee spawned several task forces to
create specific industry tools; these included
the SMM Maturity Model and the creation of a
long-dreamed-of program of strategic meetings
management certification (SMMC), a course
of study designed for travel and procurement
professionals.
The results of these efforts to establish SMM
guidelines and resources are staggering. In
todays $357 billion global meetings market,
it is estimated that 10%25%2 savings can
2
Meetings and Events: Where Savings Meet Success, CWT Travel Management Institute, 2010
3
Active Network BSG (Starcite was purchased by Active in January 2012) was merged with Lanyon in February 2014..
be achieved through the implementation
of a robust SMMP, aided by state-of-the-art
technology. Many programs boast even bigger
returns. Success stories abound, and all the
evidence points to the compelling value
proposition of SMM.
Fast forward: Now
and the Future
Ever since joining Lanyon in 2009,3 Ive been
traveling the world evangelizing about the
merits of SMM.
And thanks to the internet and velocity of
technology development, instead of taking
years to change, SMM has quickly gone from a
concept to a globally recognized must-have
strategy.
From its birth, the SMM journey has been
incredible to witness.
What will the new normal be for SMM down
the road? I already see SMM disciplines
encroach into event and convention
management and the focus on persistent
engagement of attendees is starting to become
the new norm in this dynamic marketplace.
The next generation of SMM will include
expanded focus on event engagement and
will compartmentalize cost savings as one of
many other tangible benefits of SMM. It will be
fascinating watching the future development of
SMM play out.
Kevin Iwamoto guides the strategy for the industry
marketplace within Lanyon. As one of the pioneer
thought leaders around the creation of strategic
meetings management, he also works with key
influencers across industries to raise awareness of the
benefits of SMM.
Iwamoto is a former President & CEO of the Board of
Directors for the Global Business Travel Association
(GBTA), the leading source for education, advocacy,
networking, news and information for thousands of
corporate and government travel professionals and
suppliers.
Kevin Iwamoto Iwamoto has been honored with numerous business
GLP, GTP, VP Industry travel industry accolades, including most recently, the
Strategy, Lanyon GBTAs Industry Icon Award, the associations highest
honor, which recognizes contributions to managed
travel that are so important as to elevate an individual
to the status of an industry icon.
In 2004, Iwamoto was awarded the prestigious
GBTA Presidents Award for his numerous industry
contributions and leadership. In 2003, Business
Travel Executive named Iwamoto as one of 13
Top Visionaries in business travel. Meeting News,
Business Travel News and Successful Meetings
have all named Iwamoto one of the top 25 most
influential executives in business travel and meetings.
In 2002, BTN also named him Travel Manager of the
Year for his leadership and industry contributions.
7
 by Linda J. McNairy, Former Chair, GBTA
Foundation SMM Maturity Model Task
Force. Head of Business Development
- Meetings North America, American
Express Meetings & Events

Maturing Your SMMP:

Getting to Where
You Want to Be
The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as
in what direction we are moving.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

I love this quote because it so appropriately describes the strategic objective of the SMM Maturity
Model, created by the Global Business Travel Association Foundation in partnership with Lanyon.
Companies worldwide have adopted strategic meetings management programs (SMMPs) to better
manage a range of processes involved in planning their meetings and events, including:

+ Budgeting + Attendee management + Analysis of business

+ Planning + Attendee engagement intelligence
+ Sourcing + Payment

Some companies have only a few of the individual elements; some have a robust and overarching
program. But regardless of the depth and reach of the individual elements, the incorporation of
SMM provides value and opportunity and improves the organizations meetings and events activities.
But the question remains: How do I determine what is the right mix for my organization? The
SMM Maturity Model and its online Maturity Model Index enable companies to apply established
measurements to evaluate their own SMM journey. (For more information, visit gbta.org.)

The 2012 Business Travel News Strategic Meetings Management Survey, a poll of 295 corporate travel and meeting professionals, found 36%
have SMMPs in place in the U.S., while 88% have some policies in place that govern aspects of the meetings management process.

8

The model helps them determine where there
is room to grow and gain further savings and
efficiencies. It is the responsibility of the SMM
champion within an organization, whether they
reside in travel, meetings, procurement, or
elsewhere, to decide whether to adopt a single
element of SMM, embrace the entire system
on a holistic basis, or improve upon what their
organization already has in place. After all, SMM
champions know best their companies own
indirect expense management programs, as
well as their readiness to advance their program.
Why Do We Need a Model?
As thought leadership and practical application
of the concepts of SMM developed, the talk
track around SMM also grew. Unfortunately, so
did inconsistencies of definition, application,
and measurement of success.
In 2008, GBTA and Meeting Professionals
International (MPI) came together to agree
upon an industry accepted definition of SMM:
a disciplined approach to managing enterprise
wide meeting and event activities, processes,
Information source: GBTA
The Beauty of the Maturity Index
The Model and its online Maturity Model The Task Force3 that created the Maturity
Index tool, which enables companies to Model felt strongly that SMMPs should work
apply established measurements to assess for all sizes and types of companies, not
their journey along their own SMM path, is just global giants that have implemented
equally suited to organizations that are just many or all of the core elements of an SMMP
embarking on their SMMP journey as it is enterprisewide. And each SMMP should
for those with more developed SMMPs. The not be an exact duplication of all other SMMP
beauty of the model is that it helps meeting implementations. What works within one
managers regardless of what stage of SMM organization may not be the best model for
theyve developed determine if and where another.
there is room to grow in order to gain further
savings and efficiencies.
suppliers and data in order to achieve
measurable business objectives that align with
the organizations strategic goals/vision, and
which delivers value in the form of quantitative
savings, risk mitigation, and service quality. SMM Index Maturity Levels
In 2011, the GBTA Groups & Meetings
The SMM program is
Committee updated the representation of best- working well, and is
delivering value that
in-class components of an SMMP. illustrates the tie
between the SMM
While this new definition helped clarify SMM, program and
The SMM program overarching
many practitioners still faced challenges in is working and business objectives. MASTERING
delivering value;
understanding how to assess their internal compliance is
beginning to gain EXCELLING
needs, determine where to start, and how to traction.
grow an SMMP within their own organization.
The need for SMM Most SMM program OPERATIVE
A fully mature SMMP does not happen with Support processes basics are in place.
the flip of a switch, so many well-intended are recognized and
design of these
organizations found themselves stymied by the processes may be EMERGENT
SMM Support starting.
magnitude of the endeavor, and as such, lacked processes are either
non-existent or
an ability to determine both a starting point as happening in an DISCOVERY
ad-hoc fashion.
well as a path for growth and improvement.
Thus, the need for a Maturity Model was RANDOM
developed inspired by a framework for
process improvement created at Carnegie
Mellon University.
LEVEL ONE LEVEL TWO LEVEL THREE LEVEL FOUR LEVEL FIVE LEVEL SIX
3
Task Force members included co-chairs Kari Wendel, Sr. Director, Program Management & Solutions, CWT Meetings & Events; Debi
Scholar, Global Cross-Divisional Category Leader/Director Virtual Meetings, Div Category Congress & Events, Novartis; Linda J.
McNairy, Head of Business Development - Meetings North America, American Express Meetings & Events; Carolyn Pund, Senior
Manager, Global Strategic Meetings Management, Cisco; Linda Bennitt, Sr. Director, FreemanXP. Event ; Linda Bennitt, Sr. Event Director,
FreemanXP.
9
 If a small or midsize company has adopted one
or two elements, say, sourcing with eRFPs and
automated attendee management, but not a
unified system that includes a payment and
reconciliation tool or data analysis and reporting,
it doesnt mean they dont have a so-called
true SMMP. And, more important, it doesnt
mean they still cant track their progress and, if
they wish, incorporate more SMMP elements
over time and, as needed, for a fuller, more
comprehensive program as timing becomes
appropriate.
The Maturity Model Index, an online tool
residing on the GBTA Foundation website,
enables managers to assess where their
companies stand in the SMMP process and
where they can move forward to strengthen
their programs. The index lists and rates various
components that are part of SMM, including:
+ Strategy
+ Policy
+ Registration of events
+ Approval
+ Sourcing and procurement
+ Supplier relationship management
+ Payment and expense reconciliation
+ Data analysis and reporting
+ Meetings technology
+ Stakeholder management (including
training and development)
+ Communication and leadership
+ Measuring the three Rs (return on objective,
return on investment, and return on equity)
+ Resource modeling and management
Rating Your SMMP
The tool enables SMMP champions to look
at various stages of best practices for the
processes mentioned above and determine
where they are on a rating scale of 1 to 6. For Linda J. McNairys
example, under the Maturity Model component
sourcing and procurement, in measuring Top 3 Best Practices
the use and adoption of a preferred supplier
program, an organization would score 1 You should create an SMMP that is right for you unique to your
(Random Meetings Management) if preferred companys culture, employees and business goals. Here, Linda
suppliers are not in place for meetings and McNairy sums up some best practices for using the SMM Maturity
events. The score would be 2 if the company
Model and Index to help you get to where you want to be with
recognized the value of a preferred supplier
program and put the basics in place, and a 3 your SMMP:
would be earned if less than half of meetings
and events adhere to preferred supplier
programs in the business units where the SMMP
was implemented.
1. Know your organization!
Meanwhile, a score of 4 would mean that Take the temperature of your organization to determine what kind of SMMP
50%75% of meetings and events adhere to will fit your culture. Are mandates the norm at your company, such as the
preferred supplier programs in implemented requirement to use a corporate travel agency or designated meeting card?
business units, while 5 would necessitate that
If so, its more likely that meeting planners will accept required usage of
76%90% of meetings and events adhere to
event management technology and other SMMP elements.
preferred supplier programs for all meeting
types and virtual meetings in business units
implemented. At the top, mastery level 6, an 2. Get Executive support for your efforts.
organization has more than 91% of meetings And dont forget to communicate that backing to everyone with
and events adhering to preferred supplier responsibility for and involvement in meetings including travel and
programs enterprisewide, according to the meeting managers and procurement executives. Educate, educate,
index. educate...and dont forget to listen along the way and tweak your
Another important area of an SMMP is creating messaging based on your stakeholder audience.
and communicating a meetings policy
governing everything from planning procedures 3. Resist the urge to do it all at once.
to using preferred suppliers. In the area of The beauty of the SMM Maturity model is that it helps you, regardless of
communicating policy, on one end of the what stage of SMM you have developed (even if its a single component),
spectrum the index rates as 6 any organization
determine whether the time is right to expand to gain further savings and
that has set the SMM policy as the standard for
efficiencies. Maybe your best bet for now is to stick to your small, but
how meetings and events
effective, program.
10
are implemented. And all categories of
the policy can be readily referencedfor
example, via the corporate intranetby any
staff. Conversely, organizations that have not
created a policy, and therefore have no need to
communicate it, score a 1.
Easy Does It
While the SMM Maturity Model and Index
enable companies to benchmark their
progress against the mastery level of an SMMP,
practitioners should also see the tools as a way
to reassure themselves that where they are
right now in their own program may be just the
place they need to be. Rather than interpreting
the tools as a point of reference showing
where they should be on the SMMP scale (the
tendency to immediately focus on the mastery
level), it should provide SMM champions with
the information they need to decide at what
level they want to be, and how to get there.
of communication and leadership, are you at
the point where SMM communications strategy
and deployment is nonexistent? Or perhaps
your communications strategy has been
deployed across multiple stakeholder groups
and the message content is customized for the
audience.
But to advance to the mastery level, youd need
to implement a multifaceted communications
strategyacross multiple stakeholders and
business groups, and one that is woven into
your firms overall business strategyand
ongoing messaging across your entire
enterprise, including and involving preferred
suppliers. Youd also need to measure if
those communications were pushing up
levels of policy compliance. On the other
hand, there may be other components of your
SMMP program that need to be developed
before you will want to be at mastery level in
communications. The last thing you want to do
Linda J. McNairy
Former Chair GBTA Foundation
SMM Maturity Model Task Force;
Head of Business Development -
Meetings North America, American
Prior to this position, Linda was VP, Global Account
Management at ACTIVE Network | StarCite, heading
up a total team of 25 people who interface directly
with and drive success with ACTIVE Network |
StarCites largest customers, ensuring successful
technology deployments and widespread planner
adoption levels.
Linda has over 20 years of experience in the
meetings industry, including direct corporate planning
experience as well as many different roles as a
supplier to the industry. She has a passion for the
meeting industry and is driven to constantly elevate
its professionalism and make meeting strategies an
integral part of the overall organizational success. She
is Chair of the GBTA Global Meetings Task Force and
a past Vice-Chair of the GBTA Meetings Committee.
She has also served on the GBTA Strategic Meetings
Management Certification Task Force and the GBTA
Foundation SMM Maturity Model Task Force. She

Theres no rush to creating the perfect SMMP.
Indeed, it may be premature to push through a
program just for the sake of having one, since
your organization may not be properly prepared
for the changes a system-wide SMMP would
bring. However, the model enables you to get
started as your organization prepares itself to
manage a more mature program.
Use the Maturity Model Index as a checklist to
determine your pace so far and what needs to
be done to advance. For example, in the area
is communicate and set expectations if your Express Meetings & Events is also a past President of the Indiana Chapter of
Meeting Professionals International.
systems are not ready to support the usage.
The bottom line in working with the Maturity Currently, Linda is Head of Business Development
Model and its prescriptive report is to use - Meetings North America at American Express
them like an online road map. You can select Meetings & Events
the route that is right for you, or even use a
combination of several options. Use the new
models resources and information to support
your program and plot desired advancement,
rather than make it a measuring stick that will
force you into creating something that doesnt
fit your organization.

11
Maximizing Your
Meetings Spend
Chapter Two

12
 by Carol Ann Salcito, President,
Management Alternatives, Inc.

Power Management:
Combining Meetings
and Business Travel
Management
Did you ever have those dreams where you show up at high
school, enter into a classroom youve never been in before and
surprise, theres a test!
That kind of feeling where youre not as prepared as you should be is how youre likely to feel
when you sit down with hotels to negotiate discounts and all youve got to work with is intelligence
on half your companys lodging expenditures. Many companies know how much their organization
spends on day-to-day, or transient, business travel but not meetings travel spend.

13
Implementing centralized processes
for managing both business and
meetings travel not only gives
you and your organization greater
leverage to negotiate with travel
suppliers, but also empowers you
to make smarter budgeting and
forecasting decisions. You get a true
picture of total spend so you can
tackle areas of costs you havent
yet begun to control.
Where to Get the Insight
You Need
There are such great opportunities available
to corporations that want to maximize their
business travel and meetings spend for greater
savings and control.
But where should you start looking for the
data youll need to combine to improve your
negotiations and increase your overall savings?
Capturing transient business travel information
has long been a challenge. Even when travel
management companies or online tools are
suggested or mandated, people still book
outside the system. Corporate cards may
be issued, but people use personal cards or
cash instead. It is inherently difficult to capture
supplier data from expense reports.
Still, these reports represent excellent sources
of business travel information. Promoting
compliance and utilization of the tools
youve deployed improves the quality of the
information.
However, as most people realize, meetings
information goes beyond traditional business
travel sources and may be found in purchase
orders, check requests, and other sources
because services are often purchased via
alternate methods. If you have implemented
a strategic meetings management program,
then you are likely using a system like Lanyon
Smart Events Cloud to get visibility of the
meetings occurring and using the technology to
manage budgets and capture meeting expense
information for vendors. You can also then
leverage corporate charge card and meeting
card sources to pull in actual cost information.
The reconciliation process made easy with
some SMM technology via online reconciliation
of budgeted versus actual expenses helps
to ensure full accounting. Moreover, using
attendee management tools aids in getting
compliance for use of your online booking tools.
Using electronic tools is vastly superior to using
manual systems; electronic tools cut down and
eliminate potential data entry errors, making
your data even more accurate. Its critical,
too, to set up electronic systems to break
down expense data into various categories,
reflecting spend on such things as room nights,
restaurants, meeting space, and audio-visual.
Tying it All Together: What to Do
With Your New Data
Now that youve collected both meetings and
transient business travel data and can see the
overall picture of information, the next step is
about finding synergies with suppliers you use.
Clients should dissect spend information to
determine how theyre doing business with
key suppliers. Then meet with sales reps from
airlines, hotels, and other vendors to find ways
you can capitalize on your relationships. For
example, you could discover that youre only
doing one meeting per year with XYZ property,
but youre also giving them a thousand room
nights in regular business travel spend. Thats
synergy you can then build upon, and you
should be able to leverage some improved
buying power.
14
Once you can see all your information in one
place, you may want to consider going out
to bid to find new suppliers. Or, if your data
reveals youre using multiple suppliers in one
particular location, consider paring that number
in order to gain more, concentrated buying
leverage. A caveat, though: make sure youre
not eliminating vendors that are in any way
unique in providing services you require (and at
the right price), such as a certain type of audio-
visual technology.
The Voice of Authority:
Senior Management Support
Once youve analyzed your data and created
set program goals, the next step involves
change management and encouraging
employees to utilize the new preferred supplier
agreements. Enlist the backing of a senior
executive when youre embarking on a new
course to consolidate travel and meetings
management. Its a wise idea.
A signed directive by the senior executive
saying that cooperation among all parties
is expected especially to adopt and use
new meetings management software is
an effective way to override fears by travel
managers or meeting planners that essential
elements of their jobs will disappear. Often, this
fear stems from the fact that travel managers
and meeting planners dont fully understand the
benefits of new technology.
If you can get the signature of a CEO, COO,
or CFO on something that says Heres why
were doing thisand we will do it, then you dont let me know, you run the risk of losing
youre convincing people that this is the right
thing to do for your company. If it fits your
culture, you can even go as far as having
senior management pronounce that after three,
two, or even one time ignoring new policies
or technologies, individual travelers wont Carol Ann Salcitos
be reimbursed or meeting planners will face
repercussions.
Top 3 Best Practices
Communicate Well, And
Its a great idea to combine day-to-day business travel spending
Do it Often
with meetings spend in order to win better discounts with suppliers.
When it comes to centralizing transient and Here are 3 handy best practice tips offered by Management
meetings travel, its always best to tell your
travelers or meeting planners why something
Alternatives Carol Ann Salcito!
is happening as well as the details about
what is happening. If the economic climate is
challenging, emphasize that its being done to 1. Consult multiple sources to find combined
benefit the companys bottom line. Individuals
will understand, too, because they will learn that
meetings/travel data.
changes are happening to prevent layoffs.
Corporate, personal and dedicated meeting cards are good sources of
actual spend information for both transient and meetings travel. Enlist help
Use every method of communication you would
from purchasing and accounting to check out data from purchase orders
use to announce something, say, as important
and check requests. Also, rely on reporting tools from your travel and
as a change in your healthcare plan. Blast it in
meeting management companies, as well as your meetings management
every possible way; for example, through emails,
promotional messages on corporate social technology provider.
media channels, webinars and messages on
travel portals. 2. Leverage some of that new information on combined
When centralizing transient and meetings spend with suppliers.
Even if you discover that youre only doing one meeting per year with XYZ
travel, dont forget to enlist the aid of your travel
property, you can still negotiate if youre also giving them a thousand room
partners; for example, travel management
companies, technology partners and your nights in regular business travel spend. Consider paring multiple suppliers in
companys preferred hotels. Make sure they order to gain more, concentrated buying leverage.
understand theyre accountable. Say, Heres
the objective of our corporation. If someone
3. Get backing from your senior management
other than the following individuals contact you
In order to support your new buying power, senior management backing
to set up a meeting, I need to know about it. If
for directives and mandates to use designated suppliers is critical. Spell out
us as a client overall. Show them samples of repercussions if employees dont follow rules.
standard contracts and spell out who can sign.
15
Integration: A Job Never
Completed
Running a consolidated business travel and
meetings operation is quite a challenge since,
for many companies, meetings management
is still the last frontier of overall travel
management.
Strategic meetings management rewards are:
+ Improved savings (SMM best practices can
bring 10-25% savings annually on meetings
spend1) via process efficiencies (e.g.
automation of attendee registration)
and greater supplier buying power
+ New levels of cost control
+ Deeper engagement with attendees
+ Bottom line growth in your business
But travel, meetings, and procurement
managers need to continually communicate
program benefits, track their efforts, and share
program successes with senior management.
Never take it for granted that once you put
something into place, it is the end of the project.
1
The GBTA BTI Outlook United States report, July 2014
2
The Role of Business Travel in the U.S. Economic Recovery, 2013, conducted by Oxford Economics and funded by the U.S. Travel Association
3
2012 Strategic Meetings Management Survey of 295 corporate travel & meeting professionals
Meeting spend is often neglected
in supplier negotiationseven
though it is such a huge part of
overall business travel.
In 2014, U.S. businesses were projected to
spend $292 billion1 -- about half of which is
meeting spend.
According to a 2012 Business Travel News
survey3, 24 percent of all respondents
indicated their companies have centrally
consolidated all meetings purchasing
functions. Of those, more than 50% said
they have gained the benefit of leveraging
meetings and business travel volume for
negotiation purposes.
Fifty-five percent of the travel directors
responding to GBTAs 2012 Travel
Management Compensation and
Benefits Survey said they are responsible
for developing strategic meetings
management programs in their companies.
The study also revealed a significant
increase in travel managers charged with
SMMP42 percent of respondents in
2012 versus 33 percent in the 2011 survey.
Meeting planning has also been added
to the job responsibilities of a larger pool
of respondents: 43 percent of overall
respondents said they were responsible
for meeting planning in 2012 and 2011, up
from 39 percent in 2010.
Carol began her career in travel management with
United Technologies Corporation, culminating her 18
years with UTC as Director, Corporate Travel. In this
role Carol provided direction and assistance to the
subsidiary companies Travel Council. She supervised
the consolidation of UTCs worldwide travel budget.
Carol joined MAI in 1992 and has served a multitude
of clients in her 18 years with MAI. She transformed
MAI into a multinational consultancy through a legally
registered Trademark and became President and
owner of the company in 2000. Since 2000, MAI
has been a Nationally Certified Womens Business
Enterprise.
Carol Ann Salcito She is an energetic member of the Global Business
President, Management Travel Association and completed a four year stint
Alternatives, Inc. on the Associations Board of Governors. Carol has
been the Chairperson of the Education Committee
in the U.S., Shanghai and Brazil and is a past
President of the Connecticut/Westchester Chapter
of the organization. She is the recipient of the
GBTA Professional Service Award from the Chapter
Presidents Council of GBTA.
16
 by Kari Wendel, SMMC, Senior Director,
SMM Strategy + Solutions, Carlson
Wagonlit Travel Meetings & Events

Maximizing Supplier
Relations with eRFPs:
How to Create a Win-Win
When Sourcing
E-RFPs are simply an electronic version of a traditional request
for proposal that enables apples-to-apples comparisons of
multiple bids. They can also bind responding suppliers to prices
and terms, and require responding suppliers to identify issues
they may have with your contracts or addendums. Theyve
also dramatically changed the meetings industry in a very short
period of time.
Hotel selection was historically a very manual process. Planners were limited to the hotels they
knew and could find in print collateral. Sourcing multiple hotel options across multiple cities could
take months. Then Starcite1 and others built online marketplaces where we could enter key meeting
parameters and receive previously unimaginable amounts of information in a short time frame.
Today, it is common to expect a 24-hour turnaround time for most bids.

1
In January 2012, Starcite was acquired and is now part of Lanyon. 17
This dramatic increase in volume and decrease
in turnaround time caused a necessary shift in
the hotel industrys RFP response and sales
practices. Prior to the proliferation of eRFPs,
the effort required to introduce properties to
meeting planners throughout the U.S. was
monumental, and limited to the scope and skill
of phone-based sales efforts. And though they
still have to work to build relationships and trust,
the meeting leads are pushed to the hoteliers
and many resources are diverted now to
responding to opportunities online.
The upsides to these changes are many
efficiency, accuracy of information, volume of
information, qualitative information (such as
reviews from peers) time savings in negotiating
and much more.
But there are downsides, as well. Anyone can
find a hotel that meets their needs, but many
would argue it takes a depth of knowledge
that cant be replicated by a computer to get
the right hotel. And, just because you can put
your eRFP out to 50 hotels, it doesnt mean
you should. The resources and energy the
hotels expend to turn those 50 bids around in
24 hours are measurable and dont result in
business for 49 of them. Those costs are being
passed on to all of us.
Future Opportunities:
Information First
Many have proposed the industry adopt
an eRFI process an electronic request for
information. If youre not ready to offer the
business yet because your meeting sponsor is
still choosing between four locations, you could
issue an RFI to ask for information, rather than
making ten hotels in four locations bid for your
business. Youd get information back which
the meeting host could use to make a more
consolidated decision. And your reputation for
issuing real offers of business as a competent
hotel sourcing expert will be protected.
Expanding the use of eRFPs outside the hotel
universe is another next practice. Today,
many companies tweak the system built for
hotel RFPs to work for production services,
ground transportation, audio visual services,
etc. It would be a huge improvement to have
purpose-built functionality for these other
areas. Just as it did with hotel booking, an eRFP
system for other commodity services would
improve efficiency, accuracy, negotiating,
speed, etc.
Kari Wendels
Top 3 Best Practices
Optimizing the use of your SMM system at the planner
level is critical if you want to reap the benefits at an
enterprise level, says Kari Wendel, SMMC, Senior Director,
SMM Strategy + Solutions at Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Meetings & Events. Here are her recommendations:
1. Manage your reputation.
With hotels getting more bids than they can possibly manage, and expectations
of turnaround at 24 hours, they often have to prioritize which bids they respond to
quickest. If you want to be at the top of their list, check your close ratio and your
average number of bids per meeting. Hotels know who is serious about offering
real business opportunities.
2. Training, training, training.
Its essential that stakeholders understand not just how to use the eRFP system,
but why. What benefits do they, and the organization, derive from it? How can it
make their lives easier? Use your outputs to continually manage the process. Note,
for instance, that someone booked a hotel in Minneapolis that isnt one of your two
preferred hotels and find out why. Explain how this can damage your reputation
with preferred suppliers. This can be another opportunity for education.
3. Keep your supplier relationships strong.
eRFPs dont take away the importance of a personal relationship with your
preferred hotels. Facilitate your bids electronically, but pick up the phone and build
those relationships. You want your hotel to feel comfortable calling you to say, We
dont have the exact dates on your eRFP, but if you could shift by one week, we
could offer a great rate.
18
Training is Critical
Stakeholder management is critical to the
success of SMM programs, and training to
drive compliance to eRFPs is central to that
cause. Engage and train your stake holders
purposefully so that they see value in the
process both to the company and to their
own work. Many companies purchase Lanyon
meeting technologies, send a link internally, and
wait for the magic to happen. But if stakeholders
arent adequately trained in their use, or dont
understand how the systems benefit them, the
magic never happens. The lack of stakeholder
management is the #1 reason SMM efforts stall
or fail.
Using the reporting tools to produce metrics on
supplier-specific results will also help manage
your supplier relationships. These systems
will finally put the power of your hotel data in
your hands, as opposed to counting on your
suppliers for quality data. When hotel reps say
they want more of your business, for instance,
you can respond with facts on the number of
times they were offered an opportunity to bid,
the percentage of non-responses, the times
the hotels rates werent competitive, etc. With
a high level of adoption to the eRFP processes,
you can have the right level of discussion with
suppliers and use the outputs to better support
the enterprise-level goals and objectives linked
to your SMMP.
Key Elements in an eRFP
The elements in your eRFP are there not
only to elicit prices from vendors, but to Kari (Kesler) Wendel has over 20 years in strategic
make them aware of your internal policies meetings, travel and sourcing, and in her role as
by which they must abide. In addition the Senior Director of SMM Strategy and Solutions,
she is responsible for leading the team of strategic
to your meeting essentials (dates, room
and operational leaders who identify and implement
blocks, F&B, etc.), your RFP should include
strategies for ongoing improvement of clients M&E
(or have attachments for): programs. In conjunction with the CWT Solutions
+ Your meeting goals Group, she also leads CWT M&Es consulting practice,
which focuses on implementing and managing
+ Your desired list of concessions strategic meetings management (SMM) programs on
+ Prohibited expenses behalf of clients.
+ Company travel rules Prior to rejoining CWT, Kari created and led her
+ A conflict of interest disclosure form own consultancy in 2009/2010, KK Strategic
+ Prohibited venues
Kari Wendel Solutions, where she supported creative strategies
SMMC, Senior Director, for companies who endeavor to drive innovative
+ A commission disclosure policy solutions in the meetings, travel, and sourcing
SMM Strategy + Solutions, space. In prior years, Kari developed and managed
+ A confidentiality statement
Carlson Wagonlit Travel strategic meetings and travel programs for Honeywell
+ The selection criteria that will be International, ING, and Xerox. In 2010, Kari was
Meetings & Events
used to award the bid named the MVP of SMM, and in 2009, Kari was
+ Any conditions of bidding named a top Changemaker in the industry. In
2006, she was elected to the Board of the Global
+ Legal compliance requirements
Business Travel Association, and in 2004 she was
+ Competitive and/or privacy requirements named Best Meetings Practitioner by Business Travel
News. She spearheaded successful development
+ Insurance requirements
of the industrys first professional certification in
+ Payment timing requirements Strategic Meetings Management and co-chaired
+ Contract templates or language the development of another industry first: the SMM
(essential clauses such as attrition, Maturity Model.
force majeure, hotel quality, price
adjustments, etc.)
+ Any special security requirements
+ Alcohol policies
+ Sustainability policies
+ Food donation policies
+ Your social media and/or brand
usage guidelines
19
 by Betsy Bondurant, Founder,
President of Bondurant Consulting

Integrating a Meeting Card

into Your SMMP
Card Benefits in Action: Meeting cards are beneficial to the
management of a strategic meetings management program
(SMMP) because they are used exclusively to pay for meeting-
and event-related expenditures. In order to keep the data on
the meeting expenses clean, these meeting cards are not to
be used for personal travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses,
nor are they to be used for purchases that would go onto a
Purchasing Card (P-card), such as office supplies.

20
Here are some of the key benefits
of using a meeting card:
+ Increased visibility into total meeting spend,
since all meeting spend is aggregated on
the meeting card, versus having to pull
information from Purchase Orders, T&E
card information, and General Ledger
line items.
+ Greater insight into the total meeting
and event spend for suppliers allows
for increased leverage with hotels,
destination management companies
(DMCs), audio/visual and ground
transportation companies.
+ Improved process efficiencies because
employees have fewer touch points when
paying for services, as the invoice payment
and reconciliation process is simplified
with fewer steps required. Plus staff is not
chasing invoices with an accounts payable
department to check status if the suppliers
have been paid or not
+ Speedier payment and reconciliation
of meeting invoices, because once the
invoice is approved, payment is authorized
immediately on the meeting card.
Today, there is still a huge opportunity for
companies to adopt and benefit from
meeting cards.1
1
Fewer than 50% of nearly 300 corporate travel and meeting professionals surveyed in Business Travel News 2012 Strategic Meetings
Management Survey noted their companies use meeting cards for payment.
Case Study: Card Brings $168,000
in Savings
When I think back on all the times I have helped
companies implement meeting cards as part of
their SMMPs, one really interesting case stands
out because the client raised productivity and
reduced processing time.
At that firm, the finance department helped to
determine that the company spent an average
$112 to process each supplier purchase order
(PO) and issue a check for payment. When
using a meeting card, there is no need to
initiate a PO or issue individual checks, as
you pay all suppliers each month via a
single billing statement.
Once the company started using the card,
they totaled up how many transactions were
on each card per month. Some planners
only had 15 transactions, while others had
30 or more (the entire planning team had
on average 110 transactions). When the total
number of transactions was multiplied by that
$112 benchmark cost to process POs and
checks, the savings came out to $14,000 cost
avoidance per month, or $168,000 annually.
This was a significant savings metric to add to
the dashboard that went to senior leadership.
Additionally, the centralized meeting planning
team had been tracking time spent on various
aspects of the planning process. One of
the process categories was reconciliation
and payment, and it found that with the
Chasing unpaid supplier invoices
implementation of the meeting card, the time
spent to reconcile and pay dropped by about adds hours monthly and days annually
20%. That essentially freed up the total of one to a meeting planners time.
full-time employee for a year. Typically, planners get calls from
Yes, the planners still had to reconcile the hotels, destination management
supplier invoice, but it was a much simpler companies, or other suppliers seeking
process with the card: once the charges were information on the payment status of
authorized by the planner, the supplier applied an invoice sent or they have to make
the charges to the card. calls to vendors in the days or weeks
Everyone knew that the supplier had been following an event to get final bills.
paid, and in record time! Thus there was no
Planners must then track down the
need for time-consuming, follow-up calls from
information with their A/P department
the supplier to the planner looking for payment
or investigate internally within the
(and subsequently from the planner to Accounts
Payable to check on the status of payment). financial system.
But with a meeting card, once you
Get Leadership, Stakeholders reconcile the invoice, you can tell
on Board the supplier it is approved and it is
If you already have some of the elements of immediately processed and paid.
an SMMP in place, the benefits outlined above There is no second-guessing when
are typically enough to get the endorsement
theyll receive payment.
from senior leadership to move forward with a
meeting card. Its likely that you will work with
someone in your finance department, the
T&E card administrator and procurement to
help determine if your card should be issued
by the same company as the existing T&E or
P-card issuer.
21
There may be a compelling argument to keep
it with the existing provider.
For example, the card company may be
willing to pay a higher rebate, as it also issues
a P-card and T&E card to your company. Or
there could be just as compelling an argument
to go to another issuing company. Perhaps
another issuer has more global acceptance
levels among merchants. Also, the meeting
manager should realize that when it comes
to making the decision on which card to
use, there will likely have to be much more
input from other areas outside of the meeting
organization, such as finance.
Additionally, there very likely could be a role
for the meeting card with the technology you
use to support your SMMP. Some end-to-end
solutions help enhance the reconciliation
process and increase data visibility, so it would
be wise to keep this in mind as one of your
potential business requirements.
The bottom line is that you need to select a
meeting card that will meet all the business
requirements you have identified in order
to make your card program successful. In
recent years, there has been a need to
provide a globally accepted card as a key
business requirement, as more and more
companies are broadening the reach of their
programs outside North America. As more
card providers expand their acceptance levels
globally, the ability to work with one card has
become more of a reality.
That being said, some companies use more
than one card to cover different regions of the
globe. As long as you are doing a good job of
aggregating the data, this solution, although not
ideal, can be very workable.
A meeting card can be appropriate for just
about any SMMP. It can be especially helpful
for a centralized program where the majority of
spend is managed by a few people. In this case,
you could easily assign a card to each individual
meeting planner in the group, who would then
have the responsibility for using the card and
handling the reconciliation according to your
standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Likely there may be other power users in your
organization who would be issued a meeting
card, in addition to those in the meeting
department. There are other examples of
card deployment where a card is issued for
each meeting. This sounds as if it could be
cumbersome but, in fact, is usually a pretty
automated process, depending on the provider.
Once the meeting and related budget is
approved, the card administrator can go online
to the program management section of the
issuer and automatically request a card for the
meeting planner. The planner usually has a card
within twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
Betsy Bondurants
Top 3 Best Practices
Implementing a meeting card offers superior visibility into total
meeting spend, elevated leverage with suppliers such as hotels
and greater administrative efficiencies and savings, such as
around payment. Below, Bondurant offers three best practices
for adopting and using a dedicated meeting charge card:
1. Implementation
Recordkeeping. Work with existing card administrators within your company
to identify the best meeting card solution for your program. Develop written
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in collaboration with audit, finance, legal
and the card issuer. Conduct a beta test with a small group of users for a few
months to work out any bugs in the system before it is rolled out company-wide.
2. Communication
Provide live training and develop a training manual for everyone who will be
using the cards include Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in the manual,
for example, How do I input the account codes for expenses during the
reconciliation process? Communicate to your suppliers that you will begin using
a meeting card to pay for meeting and event purchases.
3. Monitoring
Track and report on statistics:
+ Volume of transactions (overall and by each card holder)
+ Cost avoidance of processing # of transactions via the card,
versus through traditional methods
+ Total dollar volume monthly, quarterly, and annually
+ Expenses by category hotel, DMC, etc.
+ Identify trends and maverick spending (in order to monitor compliance)
22
The amount of funds available on the card
is equal to the meeting budget, which really
helps with controlling spending. If more money
is required because of a change in scope of
the meeting, the card limit can be increased
through preexisting approval procedure. If
you have an outsourced program where your
planners are third-party professionals, you
can still implement a card program and have
it managed by the third party. Most suppliers
embrace the meeting card because it gives
them speedy payment for services, even
though they are paying a nominal service fee
to the card issuer. Many suppliers make the
strategic decision to accept the meeting card
because it is a requirement of becoming a
preferred supplier for a specific organization.
But once they integrate meeting card
acceptance into their method of operation, they
see how it improves their client relationships.
Preventing fraud
SOPs were mentioned earlier. This is one
major aspect of implementing a meeting card
that cannot be overlooked. Internal auditing
departments, in addition to the card provider
and corporate program administrator, can
develop well-thought-out SOPs that protect their
companies from fraudulent use of cards.
It is important to remember that card data is
a tremendous enhancement to the overall
Some factors to consider when
developing meeting card SOPs
Betsy offers a unique 360 perspective with over 30
+ Clearly identify what suppliers and types years industry expertise in hotel sales, meeting &
of charges are appropriate trade show management, including 12 years of direct
for the meeting card, and specify involvement in the discipline of Strategic Meetings
Management.
those that are not.
Betsy began her career in restaurants in 1977,
+ Assign monthly spend limits to transitioned into hotel sales and ultimately found her
planners based on the scope of passion in meeting and trade show management.
meetings they typically plan. During her 15 year tenure at the worlds largest
biotech company, Betsy developed and implemented
+ Develop a reconciliation review process a pioneering corporate-wide strategic meeting
to be administered by supervisors. management program. This experience also provided
her deep insight into the regulations affecting the
+ Identify cut-off dates for online
reconciliation and approval in alignment
Betsy Bondurant Life Sciences industry. In 2007, she moved from
Founder, President of the corporate meeting world to consulting, much of
with the corporate payment timeline. which has been within procurement organizations.
Bondurant Consulting In addition to her current work with Fortune 500
companies, Betsy is considered a Subject Matter
Expert in the area of Strategic Meetings Management
Programs and as such, has authored many articles,
understanding of your SMMP spend. The card developed educational content, and presented to
data reflects actual spend (versus bookings audiences in North America, Europe and Asia.
only) and supplies another layer of business Betsy holds a Bachelor of Science in Hotel
intelligence that helps to maximize your buying Administration from the University of Nevada, Las
power, provides clarity to spending patterns Vegas. She has been an active member of Meeting
of those utilizing the card, and helps to control Professionals International (MPI) since 1994; having
expenditures by placing spend limits by planner, served on many international committees, as a
meeting, or supplier type. member of the International Board of Directors and is
currently the chair of the Knowledge Advisory Council.
Data is power. Meeting cards, and the business Betsy believes in giving back, and as a result has
intelligence they provide, are truly powerful. participated in a number of industry advisory boards,
panels, and forums. In 2009, Betsy was one of the
first to achieve MPIs Accredited Trainer designation.
Betsy has been recognized as one of Business Travel
News Best Practitioners and has been honored as
one of Meeting News 25 Most Influential People in
the Meetings Industry and was awarded the 2010
MPI Chairwomans Award.
23
Managing Risk in
Regulated Industries
Chapter Three

24
 by Debi Scholar, Global Cross-
Divisional Category Leader/Director
Virtual Meetings, Div Category
Congress & Events, Novartis

Financial Risk Mitigation in

Meetings Management
Many stakeholders play a key role in financial risk mitigation in
meetings management, each with varying responsibilities.
A meeting planner, for instance, is responsible for becoming educated on the risk exposure
circumstances that could occur during an event, as well as developing appropriate mitigation plans.
A meetings leader has the responsibility for providing overarching risk mitigation plans for meetings
and events. The Travel department owns the responsibility for providing group air risk mitigation
plans, while Procurement must provide the contractual support and vendor selection risk mitigation
plans. Finally, Finance owns the responsibility for providing payment solutions for meetings and
events with the most transparency and itemization of expenses.

25
There are several key financial
risks inherent without a Strategic
Meetings Management Program.
RISK RESULT
Failure to Financial risk exists where proper visibility and transparency of costs
maintain and supplier selection criteria is missing. Organizations are required to
financial maintain financial controls, and without a managed meetings program, most
controls organizations cannot report the total meeting/event spend, savings or size
of program. This unmanaged spend can be uncovered by a spend analysis
of accounts payable data, expense data and all card products (e.g. meeting
cards, purchasing cards, ghost cards).
Return on Without a strategic meetings management program, it is challenging for
investment an organization to calculate the total value and return on investment of its
meetings. For example, a meetings program produces efficiency, savings
and risk mitigation all of which can be measured at both the individual
meeting level, as well as the overarching program level. A managed program
provides the right data to calculate gains and costs for reporting the return on
investment.
Disputes, Organizations may not be able to identify the percentage of errors and
payments disputes that occur on invoices generated from meetings and events
and expense without an SMMP. In addition, when multiple payment methods are used, it is
reconciliation challenging to even identify meeting and event spend.
Meeting and event spend is found in over 40 SIC (Standard Industrial
Classification) codes. When check requests are used instead of a card product
(e.g. meeting cards, P-cards, ghost cards), level 31 data is lost, and meeting
spend is more challenging to capture and analyze.
It is an industry best practice to use meeting cards or P-cards so all meeting
spend can be consolidated for enhanced transparency. A card product will
also allow for quicker payment to suppliers, which can result in discounts.
When the Professional Association for the Commercial Card and Payment
Industry analyzed the cost of a traditional purchase order process to that
of the purchasing card process, the estimated savings was $63.04 per
transaction, and 25 steps were eliminated in the process, thereby improving
efficiency and speeding supplier payments.
RISK RESULT
Attrition and Without a strategic meetings management program, staff that plans meetings
cancellation may incur attrition and/or cancellation penalties. And, if the right contract
penalties language is not included, significant money could be lost. Even when
contracts have the proper language, credits can expire because a planner
may not communicate the credit availability throughout the organization when
others are planning meetings.
Fragmented There is a financial risk of fragmented spend with numerous suppliers
spend without an SMMP which decreases negotiation influence. For instance, if
an organization does not strategically source hotels, ground transportation or
destination management company services, the organization may be paying
too much without leveraged buying power.
Lead Times Without a strategic meetings management program, there is often a lack
of proper forecasting for meetings and events. Rather than a consultative
approach to working with business units to understand their future meeting
needs, a meeting planner will frequently be in a reactive position of planning
meetings without the needed lead times often resulting in cost overruns.
Unclaimed Without a global SMMP there can be a financial risk exposure of unclaimed
Value Added Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds. A VAT is charged on many meetings held
Taxes (VAT) outside of the U.S. in countries where VAT is collected. It is important to put a
process in place to reclaim VAT so as not to lose that money.
Level 3 card data offers more detailed expenses. In addition to common expense data such as name, merchant, amount of transaction and
transaction authorization date, it also provides a more thorough description of the services or products purchased if the merchant uses those
fields of data.
26
A financial risk assessment often a component
of a total meetings risk exposure assessment
should be performed quarterly, to include:
+ Total meeting spend directed through the
SMMP, and rogue or maverick spend and planners rated financial and legal/
from outside the program, which may be at
risk. During this task, the method of payment
should also be analyzed.
+ A review of meeting spend reports that have
identified ROI, savings, cost avoidance and
VAT reclaimed.
+ A review of penalty credits that have been
used and are still outstanding, in addition to a
review of the meeting requesters who turned
away or refused the use of available credits.
+ Strategic sourcing missed opportunities by
a review of the suppliers used and savings
accumulated.
+ A review of the meeting program reports to
identify the lead times on meeting planning.
Do not accept the often repeated belief that
it is impossible to calculate your total meeting
spend. A spend analysis is one of the first tasks
you should complete to better understand your
financial opportunities. And if you are a planner,
do not think you cannot make a difference.
Many meetings management programs start at
the planner level.
In a 2013 American Express Meetings &
Events Risk Exposure Research study,
of the seven identified risk mitigation
categories (see Page 28), meetings leaders
regulatory as the most important risk
mitigation areas for meetings management.
Other results include:
75% of leaders expect that ROI is being
calculated for their meetings, whereas
37% of planners do not calculate ROI.
52% of planners do not receive
a budget when the meeting
planning begins.
50% of planners and leaders said
their policy does not require the use
of available credits.
36% of planners said they are neutral or
unlikely to use available credits, while
36% of leaders said they either do not
know about the use of credits or there is
no process in place to use credits at their
organization that result from penalties
incurred.
27% of leaders said their organization
cannot track meeting expenses.
32% of leaders are unable to report
all meeting expenses.
50% of planners and leaders pay for
meetings using accounts payable
and check requests rather than
using a meetings card that provides
transparency and is less costly.
Debi Scholars
Best Practices
To begin better mitigating your meeting and event financial
risks, Debi Scholar, Global Cross-Divisional Category Leader/
Director Virtual Meetings, Div Category Congress & Events,
Novartis, recommends you start with these five steps:
1. Be sure to include savings and cost avoidance
...from all the suppliers, including available credits. It is best if
meetings management technology is used and mandated to capture
all meetings data.
2. Conduct a spend analysis
...using data from Accounts Payable, expenses and card products to
get a view of your total meeting spend.
3. Take a consultative, pro-active approach
...and meet with meeting requesters on a regular basis to obtain their
upcoming meetings calendar six to 12 months in advance.
4. Use meeting management technology
...that offers budget calculators to help your meeting requesters
develop their meeting budgets in advance.
5. Update the meeting policy
...to include language that strongly encourages the use of available
credits when sourcing properties.
27
Other Meetings & Events
Risk Categories
There are seven major risk exposure categories in meetings and events without a Strategic
Meetings Management Program in place. In addition to financial risk exposure, the other six risk
exposure categories include:
Debi Scholar is Global Cross-Divisional Category
Leader/Director Virtual Meetings, Div Category
Strategy Legal/Regulatory Risk Congress & Events, at Novartis. Prior to that, she was
The risk of not meeting the strategic objectives The risk of not meeting the strategic
Director, Managed Meetings Strategies at American
of the organization arising from adverse objectives of the organization arising from Express. From 2010-2013, she was President of
business decisions or improper implementation the companys failure to comply with external Scholar Consulting Group, where she consulted
of those decisions in the SMMP. laws and regulations. with clients on strategic meetings management
and effectiveness, travel and entertainment (T&E)
Reputation Information Technology expenses and card products. Before owning her
The risk of not meeting the strategic objectives The risk of not meeting the strategic own consulting firm, she held various Director-level
of the organization which may arise from objectives of the organization arising from positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a T&E /
negative public opinion. the inability to implement efficient and Meetings Advisory Lead Consultant, Meetings and
effective information systems. Group Travel Director, and Training and Development
Business Operations Debi Scholar Director. Debi also led her own Training and
Development firm.
The risk that the organizations structure, Market Risk Global Cross-Divisional Category
processes, procedures and controls are not The risk of not meeting the strategic Debi has authored four books on meetings and
Leader/Director Virtual Meetings, events, co-authored two additional books on
designed or functioning as designed to support objectives of the organization arising from
the organizations SMM objectives. the inability to adapt to changing external Div Category Congress & Events, meetings, was named one of The 25 Most Influential
at Novartis. People in the Meetings Industry in 2013 by Successful
factors and service customers.
Meetings Magazine, was the co-chair of the GBTA
Groups & Meetings Committee, a GBTA Foundation
Most important risk mitigation areas for meetings management Board Member, named a Mover and Shaker of the
industry by Corporate & Incentive Travel Magazine,
and was named a Top 20 Changemaker by Corporate
Meetings & Incentives Magazine.
Financial Strategy
+ Maintain financial controls + Align SMMP to organizational goals With a strong commitment to continuous learning and
+ Manage penalities + Efforts in policy development improvement, Debi holds the following certifications
+ Report savings / cost avoidance and designations: Certificate in Meetings
Management, Certified Meeting Professional, Global
Legal / Regulatory Reputation Leadership Professional, Global Travel Professional,
+ Manage regulatory + Reduce exposure to negative Corporate Travel Expert, Six Sigma Green Belt,
(e.g. SOX, HCP) public opinion
+ Manage contractual + Strive for win/win negotiations Certified Technical Trainer, and a Certified B.A.N.K.
+ Document retention Sales Trainer.
+ Insurance riders
Debi is based in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.
Business Operations Information Technology
+ Efficient business processes + Enable end-to-end business process
and comtinuity and integration with other systems
+ Right resourcing + Secure data (e.g. PII)
+ Crisis Management
Market Risk
+ Customer Satisfaction
+ Branding and marketing
+ Competitive analysis

Debi Scholar 2011. Design by Lanyon. 28

Audience Engagement
in SMM
Chapter Four

29
 by Tyler Altrup,
Gamification Guru

Strategies to Engage
Attendees: The Science
of Gamification
Gamification has evolved beyond its buzzword roots and has
now become a proven and widespread engagement strategy.
People want to gamify their websites, their communities and
their internal applications. They want game-like experiences on
the show floor, during education sessions and on all their social
channels. In fact, according to Gartner Research, 70 percent of
Global 2000 companies will use gamification solutions by 2015.

1 Gartner press release, 2011

30
So what is gamification? Quite simply, its the
process of using game, social and reputation
mechanics to drive desired behaviors. Members
not posting enough in your community? Offer
points for each post that can recognize them
as key influencers. Buyers not visiting enough
booths? Create a scavenger hunt on the show
floor that drives them to specific booths for
relevant information. Virtual event attendees
not participating during sessions? Create a
leaderboard online that designates various titles
for various levels of involvement.
Events are unique in that they have many
technology touch points mobile apps, the
show website, maybe a community, multiple
social media fronts, check-ins and other digital
activities. Gamification can help to:
+ Unify: Tie all pieces of the event experience,
including online and offline behaviors,
together into a single program
+ Motivate and Recognize: Engage attendees
more fully in the event and recognize them
for that
+ Optimize: Analyze behavior data to constantly
improve programs
Case Study
Starting in 2012, a Fortune 100 technology
company which hosts an annual user
conference, attended by as many as 15,000 Tyler Altrups
customers, wanted to increase the engagement
level of its online user community. It had more Top 3 Best Practices
than 250,000 community members, but faced a
challenge in motivating them to post messages, Engaging attendees through gamified experiences has many
complete profiles, answer questions, etc. The benefits, including improved booth traffic and lead gen; connecting
firm needed to encourage members to do more
all the technology touch points of your event into a single
to stay actively engaged within the community
recognition program; and motivating the behaviors you want while
and to increase the communitys utility and
value to all members. delivering a more meaningful experience for attendees. If you want
to get started with your own gamification program, here are three
To do so this company worked with a vendor to
create a system that awarded points for various tips from Tyler Altrup.
activities 180 points for posting a blog, 160
points for starting a discussion, 200 points for
answering a question, and so on. The annual
user conference was tied into the program as 1. Design first for simplicity.
well, with activities such as checking in with Identify the four or five key event behaviors you want to influence.
your badge at a designated location earning
community points. 2. Define a specific mission
...that captures all your event technology touch points for those attending.
(And use social technology so those who couldnt attend can follow along.)
3. Focus on your rewards.
What will motivate your attendees? Status? Recognition? Access? Privilege?
31
 Next, a series of missions were created.
Online it might be 50 comments to unlock a
Master Commentator badge, or 100 visits to the
community to earn the Frequent Visitor badge.
At the show, groups of relevant booths were
tied together into tracks.
As a members point total rises, they earn
rewards. Rewards provide virtual recognition on
a community profile, but also leveraged various
social media platforms to give social recognition.
Beyond that, however, the company wanted to
offer access and privilege. Anyone unlocking
a certain badge, for instance, might be entered
into a raffle for a personal meeting with the
companys senior executives or subject matter
experts. You can certainly give away iPads or
other prizes, but we see that virtual rewards,
social recognition and special privileges can be
even more impactful.
Its also crucial that the badges are framed as
a component of their expertise. We didnt call it
the booth adventure badge. We called it the
Product Expert reward. The system of rewards
and missions must be relevant and meaningful
for all participants.
On the show floor, several relevant parts of the
experience were tied together. Exhibitors saw
more booth traffic and contacts, and the firm
was able to understand more about those in Tyler Altrup is a Gamification Guru & Former Solutions
their community and their interactions with the Architect at Badgeville, The Behavior Platform. He
company. has a background in solution architecture, marketing
program development, sales, and brand management.
The experience can also work to extend the Currently, Tyler is a Senior Sales Consultant at
events life cycle to motivate behaviors before, Oracle Marketing Cloud. He is a frequent blogger on
during and after. TylerAltrup.com.
Twitter: @TylerAltrup
You can even look at rewarding cross-event
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tyleraltrup
behaviors at partner or affiliate events. This
company awarded activities at its own show as
well as partner and affiliate events.
Delivering Business Outcomes
Tyler Altrup
Gamification platforms and design strategies
Gamification Guru
can drive substantial value for event programs.
First, they provide event managers with a
toolkit to connect the many attendee behaviors
into a single system. They also motivate
and recognize attendees to drive increased
engagement, including scanning and lead
generation. Most importantly, technologies like
Badgeville working with event management
technology enable event managers with the
data to understand their audiences and the
tools to influence them.
32
 by Joanna Belbey, Social Media and
Compliance Specialist, Actiance

Managing Social
Media Compliance
within Financial
Services Industries
Could tagging photos on Facebook of clients at a company
event be considered a testimonial by the Securities
& Exchange Commission? Are the 2011 annual meeting
LinkedIn posts from an ex-employee e-discoverable?
Will your event live-tweeting policy prevent a Gene Morphis-type incident? (Youll recall,
Morphis is the ex-CFO of clothing retailer Francescas, who was fired for improperly
communicating company information through social media after he tweeted Board Meeting.
Good Numbers=Happy Board six days before earnings information from the first quarter was
scheduled to be released.)
The fact is, social media compliance is still new, and many regulations have yet to be tested.
Frankly, theres still question as to whether the rules applied to registered persons even have
to be followed by those in other departments. It all really depends on your corporate culture.
Every compliance department has its own way of interpreting the rules into daily operations. The
guidelines issued by regulators are not prescriptive. Theyre meant to be interpreted.
In January, 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued its first guidance on
social media. Regulatory Notice 10-06: Guidance on Blogs and Social Networking Websites,
breaks down the regulations into four main categories. And while each type of financial services
firm (institutional, insurance, retail banking, securities) has its own set of rules, and its own
regulators, most follow these same general concepts.

33
Social Media:
Blurring Event Lines

It should be noted, as well, that most of these regulations were put in place Joanna Belbeys
to protect investors and the general public. Whether they apply to company The Risks of Using Social Media
meetings where only employees are present is open to some debate. Social Top 3 Social
+ Data Leakage. Inadvertent or malicious
networks, however, by their very nature, can often blur the line between in-house
and outside communication. And again, the corporate culture at individual firms leaks of intellectual property, trade Media Compliance
will vary, and whether regulated or not, some firms tend to use these guidelines secrets, client information, etc.
Best Practices
as best practices to be applied company-wide. + Incoming Threats. Employees know not
to click on suspicious links, but within
Using social media at financial
services events requires great
1. Recordkeeping. 3. Advertising. social media we relax and share, inviting
All written communications for business Ensuring that ads are truthful, and not malware, spyware, inappropriate content care. Strict guidelines need to
as such must be captured, archived and misleading, static ads (think print and and more. be followed.
made e-discoverable. If litigation arises, web banners) must be pre-approved by
+ Rules and Regulations. There are over
regulators want to see who said what, to a principal of the firm, while interactive
whom and when. So you can imagine how communications (LinkedIn or Facebook
10,000 rules to wade through from
this might affect a live-tweeting policy at posts, for instance) can be supervised after various regulatory bodies that impact 1. Recordkeeping.
an event. Youre either going to need a the fact. What percentage the compliance social media and its growing daily. Once you decide which social
software program to capture the tweets, department wants to see is set by each + Employee Behavior. Everyone employee media platforms youre going to
or youre going to have to print out each company. is now the face of the business good use, devise a plan for capturing,
tweet, have it initialed and filed. Its been archiving and making your posts
Testimonials fall under the advertising or bad.
easier for some firms to simply ban the e-discoverable.
use of Twitter at events. category, as well. Theyre prohibited by the
SEC, and the bar is set so high by FINRA that
most firms simply dont use them.
2. Supervision.
2. Suitability. Have a plan and a process in
Financial advisors must make
4. Supervision. place to look at all social media
recommendations suitable for each
This is probably the most important one. You communications and make sure
individual customer. Since you cant
are required to have a plan and a process in theres evidence youve followed
possibly make the same recommendation
to all who are following you, most place to look at all written communications. the plan.
companies prohibit recommendations on But its not enough to have the plan there
social media as well as recommendation must be evidence youve followed it. I know 3. Compliance.
firms that literally take screen shots of their
engines such as on LinkedIn. Work with your compliance
Facebook page daily and have it signed off
department. Explain the positive
on and filed.
effects social media could have
on your events. Will it drive more
attendees? Enhance learning?
Be specific.

34
To Tweet or Not to Tweet at
The Event
As social media grows in importance as a
tool for event planners to excite and engage
attendees before, during and after an event,
outright bans on the use of it can limit the
experiential value of the event, and soften the
effectiveness the planner can have on event
outcomes.
Two to three years ago, use policies tended to
prohibit all social media. But the majority now
allows at least business card-type information
on LinkedIn. But still no posting. The next step
is usually a controlled corporate presence, with
maybe a dozen people allowed to post.
If youre feeling restricted by social media
prohibitions in your organization, the first step is
the compliance department. Explain the positive
effects social media could have on your events
with specific examples of how it will improve
the effectiveness of your events. Will it drive
more attendees? Enhance learning? Be specific.
If, like a surprising number of firms, you still have
no social media use policy, offer to draft one for
at least the event department.
In addition to helping prepare the event use
policy, plan to work further ahead than normal.
Think through as many of your Facebook and
LinkedIn posts and tweets in advance and have
them pre-approved.
The important thing to remember is that pretty
much everything is possible if you have a
compliance policy for it.
What to include in a social
media use policy for events
+ Which networks youll use and how.
+ Which social networks will not
be used.
+ Who will be allowed to post on the
approved networks and how often.
+ The rules and guidelines the posters
must abide by.
+ The types of content that will be
allowed educational, motivational,
marketing, etc.
+ What percentage of communications
youll have pre-approved, by whom and
Social Media and Compliance
when.
+ The training youll set up for posters.
+ The use (or non-use) of photos in
social media.
+ The use (or non-use) of clients in
social media.
+ The specific guidelines on the use
of social media live, on-site.
+ What guidelines will employees at
company events be held to? No photos?
No tweets? Will Facebook check-ins
be allowed?
+ What is the plan for capturing text-
polling or other written communications
designed to increase engagement
on-site?
+ Prepare a risk-based approach for
the frequency of event social media
monitoring and review.
Joanna is a Social Media and Compliance Specialist
for Actiance. She helps regulated firms (such as
securities and insurance firms) use social media
effectively, while complying with rules and regulations.
Joanna is an enthusiastic user of social media (follow
her on Twitter @belbey) and provides strategic
counsel and support on best practices for digital
marketing and content strategies.
At the intersection of social media and compliance,
Joanna speaks and live tweets at events such as:
LinkedIns FinanceConnect 2013, CEFLI, LIMRA /
LOMA, Social Media Week, SIFMA Social Media
Seminar, SIFMA Tech Leaders Forum 2012, Net.
Joanna Belbey Finance, OpenText, Social Media World Forum, Utilities
+ Energy Compliance, JD Power Financial Services
Social Media Roundtable, Annual Digital Marketing
Specialist, Actiance Services Summit and several Business Development
Institute webinars and in-person events.
Joanna joined Actiance after running a financial
services compliance training firm for several years.
Prior to that, she led content development, marketing
strategy (digital and traditional) and delivery for as
many as 350 financial services compliance education
programs per year at FINRA (Financial Industry
Regulatory Authority) for six years.
Joanna came to FINRA with 15 years of experience
consulting with C-Level executives to develop
marketing and digital strategies for products
designed for the financial services industry. She is a
member of the Financial Womens Association (FWA)
Communications and Digital Media Committee, is
pursuing a Film and Video Production Certificate at
New York University, and graduated from the School
of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
35
Global SMM
Chapter Five

36
 by Herve Joseph-Antoine,
Global Managing Director, Pacific World

SMM in Asia: New

Opportunities and
Challenges
Though the implementation of strategic meetings management
programs is just underway in Asia, my prediction is that well
see adoption move more quickly than it did through the EMEA
countries [Europe, Middle East, Africa]. We can take advantage
of the lessons learned, and, in general, the Asian business
community moves quickly.
There are challenges, certainly, but I believe that in 12 months, the Asia Pacific region will be fully
market ready for SMMPs. Interest is high and meetings for multinational corporations are growing
significantly much more than in North America and Europe. There are probably five to 10 SMMPs
currently launching in the Asia Pacific region. At Pacific World, weve just been awarded an SMMP
role with a global organization, and have begun implementation of processes, technology and
planning our first meetings under that umbrella.

37
Challenges
Challenge #1: A Multi-Country
Setting
The first challenge will be familiar to anyone
whos worked in the EMEA countries. Asia,
too, is a multi-country setting. There are about
15 countries considered in the Asia Pacific
region, with huge differences in languages,
work habits, supplier bases, booking cultures,
etc. Managing any kind of program in the Asia
Pacific region requires a strong knowledge
of, and perspective on, each and every one of
those countries.
Challenge #2: Agency
Fragmentation
The landscape of meeting and events
companies is far different than in North America
or EMEA countries. The agencies are more
fragmented here. There are very few regional
players. So you end up with individual agencies
in each country. Procurement involvement in
meetings is limited, and very few companies
have referenced agencies, even at a country
level. In general, corporations probably work
with 200 agencies across Asia. Thats a lot of
entities that will need to adopt SMM procedures.
If Im a multinational corporation working in the
Asian countries, and I want to efficiently manage
my spend across the region, thats too many
agencies to work with.
Challenge #3: Hotel Chain
Penetration
Fragmentation on the supplier side is another
challenge. The penetration of hotel chains, for
instance, is lower in Asia than in North America
or EMEA. So the coverage and standardization
from a product perspective, and from a
procurement perspective, has been lacking.
Challenge #4: Rapid Growth
Growth in meeting spend in Asia is currently
10 to 20 percent annually, with the number
and size of meetings up dramtiacally, as well. Herve Joseph-Antoines
Top 3 Best Practices
Regional conferences are on the rise, as are
incentive meetings. Implementing SMMPs amid
such changes is difficult since were dealing
with moving targets. There are both great challenges and great opportunities for
SMMPs in Asia. Herve Joseph-Antoine, Global Managing Director
Challenge #5: Lack of Technology at Singapore-based Pacific World, recommends the following steps
Were also still waiting on the SMM technology to get started.
providers to make greater inroads into Asia.
Probably 80 percent of their presence is in
North America, with the rest of their business in
EMEA and quite a limited presence in Asia. 1. Get buy-in from senior management in the region.
They will be the ones who must communicate the plan through roadshows,
training programs, etc.
Having said all that, however, we in Asia are
used to these challenges. This is the nature of
our region. And in terms of market readiness,
2. Involve each country.
things are changing quickly. On the hotel side, Laws and regulations related to travel and meetings vary greatly from
country to country. Input from each country will be critical to the success of
the proportion of chain properties is booming.
a regional SMMP.
On the technology side, Lanyon and other
companies are moving into Asia, recruiting
teams and building a presence in the region. 3. Get started immediately.
Things are going to move quickly in the next 12 months, and if youre not
working on the implementation of an SMMP, you may get left behind.
38
Opportunities
Opportunity #1: Control of Growth
and Meeting Spend
For multinational corporations headquartered
here or in North America or Europe adding
SMMPs to their Asia meetings is high on the
agenda because these companies need to
design a strategy for the region. Should they
be holding more national or more regional
meetings? Where is the wisest investment? Also,
in many cases, the growth in meeting spend
is outpacing the growth of the company. An
SMMP will give companies the visibility needed
across a multi-country environment to manage
this growth phase. And, when companies are
deciding on meetings locations in Asia it also
gives them an opportunity to understand the
business culture of new countries for future
sales strategies.
Opportunity #2: Improved
Regulatory Compliance
Compliance and corporate governance is
becoming a key topic, as well. We need
to work with our customers according to
their compliance regulations in terms of
anti-corruption policies, supplier interaction
policies, social responsibility issues and
safety and security measures. This, in turn,
enables us to incorporate good practices and
processes across the region. Practices vary
widely between China, Thailand, Malaysia and
Indonesia, for instance. We need practices that
are more visible and regionally aligned.
Opportunity #3: Strategic Sourcing
There is also great opportunity in terms of
procurement. Hotels in Asia are booming. Herve Joseph-Antoine is the Global Managing
Implementing SMMPs will enable increased Director of Pacific World, a 30-year-old meetings
levels of standards in terms of booking and events services company, DMC and PCO,
processes, meeting space and costs. Being headquartered in Asia, with 31 offices in Asia, Europe,
able to bring strategic sourcing into the picture, the Middle East and Africa. He is based in Singapore.
with A/V companies and ground transportation, Prior to joining Pacific World, Herve managed CWT
is another bonus. Meetings & Events Europe, Middle East and Africa, a
division of Carlson Wagonlit Travel, based in Paris.
Herve has a background in consulting, sales, account
Implementation of SMMPs in the Asia Pacific
management and marketing. He began his career in
region will give multinational organizations
the airline industry. A French and Indian citizen, Herve
a fully holistic view of their entire meeting
holds engineering and finance degrees.
program including areas where meeting
spend is growing significantly. There is great Herve
global strategic value in driving the Asia Pacific
region to SMM programs.
Joseph-Antoine
Global Managing Director,
The first step is related to senior management
Pacific World
in the region. They must buy in to the program
and communicate the plan. But I cant stress
enough the importance of country-level
involvement for SMM programs in the Asia
Pacific region. Successful programs cannot be
driven centrally. It requires strong involvement
from each country in the region. Environments
here are even more diverse than in Europe.
In Europe, you have language differences
and divergent national practices in meetings
management. But in Asia, there are more laws
and regulations related to travel and meetings.
And they vary from country to country. The input
from each country will be crucial.
39
SMM Champions Nine authors have come together in one place to share
their stories about the theory, practice and the mastery
Authors of strategic meetings management, or simply, SMM.
JR Sherman
President and Chief Strategy Officer, Lanyon

Tyler Altrup Joanna Belbey Betsy Bondurant Kevin Iwamoto Herve Joseph-Antoine Linda McNairy
Gamification Guru Social Media and Founder, President of VP Industry Strategy, Global Managing Director, Former Chair GBTA
Compliance Specialist, Bondurant Consulting Lanyon Pacific World Foundation Maturity
Actiance Model Task Force; Head
of Business Development
- Meetings North America
at American Express
Meetings & Events

About Lanyon
Lanyon believes that when people come together amazing things happen, relation-
ships are built and business gets done. This is why we have created the industrys
leading cloud-based software for managing corporate meetings, events and travel
programs.

From a one-to-one sales meeting, employee training or a large flagship customer

conference, Lanyons unmatched software and the data it provides helps thousands
of organizations and hotels around the world to better engage their customers,
reduce costs and grow revenue.

Carol Ann Salcito
President, Management
Alternatives, Inc.
Copyright 2013, 2014, 2015 - 3rd Edition
Debi Scholar Kari Wendel The proof of the results that we deliver is demonstrated by the customers that
Global Cross-Divisional SMMC, Senior Director, choose us, including over 80 percent of the Fortune 100, more than 10,000 small
Category Leader/Director SMM Strategy + Solutions, and medium businesses and over 100,000 hotels.
Virtual Meetings, Div Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Category Congress & Meetings & Events
Events, Novartis For more information, please visit:
www.lanyon.com
US: +1 800 473 6748
info@Lanyon.com / @Lanyon
40