Providing increasingly immersive
experiences in corporate meetings and events is an ongoing industry trend, as
is using alternative venues, such as a religious temple, as one buyer noted in
the audience for the session "Talking about a meetings revolution: Event
formats are changing - how must procurement change too?" on Wednesday at
the Business Travel Show.
But going to a temple, or more likely a
library or coffee shop, to have a meeting leaves the field wide open for value
interpretation. "As a procurement person, how do I calculate that cost? Do
I get any savings from it?" asked Dentsply Sirona's global category
manager for global procurement Bobbi Djordjevic, who moderated the discussion.
"How do I compare it to anything I've paid for before, because it's not
the same product."
It requires a different approach. Whereas a
procurement manager might say to go with a chain hotel because the pricing is
known, it's a predicable scenario, planners are turning to alternative venues
because they are more flexible, and they have to "juggle the request of
impact and experience and it lends itself to having to look at a variety of
options," said presenter SOS Venue Finding's commercial director Rebecca
Carter. "To satisfy client needs, you need to understand the why of the
meeting, what are they trying to achieve. We're getting deeper and high touch
to help us understand why and what is the objective. It might be a hotel brand
chain is OK, but it might be that a bookstore works better."
That leaves the door open for seemingly
limitless options, adding to the time spent on securing a venue and the more
pressure that is placed on the planner, one audience member noted. Djordjevic said
that is why she advocates for planners to use an agency. "They have
scanned the market, they have contacts and can do it faster," she said.
Another concern voiced was related to experiential
events. Some people have called "festivalisation," the incorporating
of festival elements into events, as the future of meetings, although the term
has been around for at least two to three years. But these types of high-impact
meetings also tend to come with higher costs. Calculating the return on
investment for them requires putting a value on less tangible outcomes, such as
how much fun did the attendees have, how memorable was the event as an example
for retaining employees or satisfying clients.
The key is to look at the total cost of
ownership for events, Djordjevic said. There are the tangible costs of
transportation, hotels, venues, food and beverage, production costs, but there
is more to be considered and used as leverage. With the move toward creating
new experiences, and more activities and "keeping people active and
focused and curious for the whole time, we can either buy more services to get
that on top of what we are already buying, but that is not an option," she
said, implying that budgets won't get increased for these additional needs.
Then there are costs for marketing services, public relations, social media
campaigns. Add in the entertainment, the keynote, the participants. "What
we are hearing is that the demand is shifting from the cost on this side for
tangible products to content. 'If we can spend less here, then we can spend
more there.' It's a matter of seeing the whole picture and finding our own cost
drivers."
And knowing what is wanted and needed. Then
meeting managers can start thinking like a procurement person. "Can we
negotiate more? Maybe we can use closer venues so not so much is spent on
travel and transport and shipping. Then we can put money into the social media
campaign," or a more enticing guest speaker, Djordjevic said.
Finally, ROI
has to be identified, and it doesn't always have to be monetary. It could be a
gain in the percentage of the market, or changing behaviour. Survey the target
audience and find out, for example, "how much more do you know about this
project today than last week?" That's how a manager or planner can know
the relevant target audience objective was met.
"Only then can the total cost of ownership
come to the other side of the scale once you compare one with the other and
find some kind of ROI," she said.