Game Changers in Incentive Travel - Interview

In a recent interview with Te Revesz, who runs a fantastic internet radio weekly talk show - Global Reach from VoiceAmerica, I had the opportunity to talk about how organizations are enhancing employee, customer and channel partner relationships through business events.  Take a listen...



Here's the synopsis:

It’s an exciting time in the incentive travel industry. Companies that abandoned meetings, events and incentives (ME&I) in the economic meltdown have seen those savings outweighed by eroding customer, channel partner and employee engagement. Now they are coming back, but to a new paradigm. My guest, Jim Ruszala of Maritz Travel, is a recognized thought leader and innovator in incentives, loyalty and engagement. He’ll talk about the essentials of building a better ME&I strategy. Innovations in program design that can boost the returns – tangible and intangible – for your incentive investment. How to measure the performance of that investment. Why companies need to include both stakeholders and attendees (guests) when creating ME&I programs. How including families and adding corporate social responsibility elements can both be powerful motivators without busting the budget.

Interested on learning more about Te Revesz and her Global Reach program - click here

Behavioral Sciences Applied to Business Events - Interview

While at the IMEX Frankfurt event for 2012, I had the opportunity to speak with Roger about the values of bridging behavioral science disciplines and learning into meeting, event and incentive travel strategies.  Together, related approaches can significantly help create the breakthrough in performance many of us are looking for today.

Three Simple Steps to Create Better Meeting Experiences

Reposted from Elite Meetings Blog - click here for link

Designing for a more engaging experience for your meetings can significantly improve performance from both a business and attendee vantage point. Yet, this is more difficult to do in today’s world due to a host of challenges, including budgeting constraints and increased risks for attendee distractions. From the moment an attendee walks into a general or breakout session, the need to immediately capture attention is just as important as maintaining engagement during the entire experience. So, how can a meeting planner create better engaging meeting, event or incentive experiences? Here are three areas to consider:

1.)  Deliver the Right Content
Ever run into a situation where you have a content-rich agenda but aren’t quite sure how to deliver it effectively? This happens a lot. While the core objective of your program involves communicating and connecting key messages with your audience, the challenge is to ensure you do so using the best possible approach. To be more effective, consider the audience.  For instance, a lack of engagement during a meeting can occur in situations when content is not delivered effectively or simply doesn’t strike audience interests. Testing and gaining audience member insights during the design stage of your program can prove highly valuable in creating and delivering on your key objectives in more meaningful ways for attendees.

For organizations that are on strict budgets, gaining audience insight and feedback is even more important. Lisa Marie Collins, a producer with Freeman – a Maritz Travel partner, also suggests that, “When designing your program, consider going beyond just surveying the audience to find out what topics they’re interested in. This is also an opportunity to engage attendees leading up to the event. Asking attendees to submit questions in advance, for instance, can help create buzz and excitement earlier and assist in better connecting with speakers on content and delivery.”

2.)  Set the Stage
Maritz Travel recently co-produced an event with its partner, Destinations by Design. Tami Hance, vice president for Destinations by Design, really helped create impact the instant an attendee entered the room. According to Tami, everything counts when you’re setting the stage for a truly engaging meeting. And, creating a conversational atmosphere can help spark strong, sustainable engagement from beginning to end. This requires a need for instantly capturing and retaining the audience members’ attention throughout the experience. The use of lighting, colors, and alternative seating arrangements such as lounge settings, table inlays, stage footprints that are just slightly higher than seating levels and go into the audience are examples planners can leverage to better connect with and engage attendees. It’s through these types of efforts that you’re able to instantly capture the audience members by surprise and captivate their attention throughout the experience. Attendees, in turn, experience an at-home atmosphere while being better immersed and connected to your meeting through a much more memorable engagement.

Is this something that is possible from large, general sessions to smaller breakout sessions? Of course it is. As Tami puts it, “It’s all about creating continuity through the theming and presentation of each room. There’s also the opportunity to divide larger general sessions into diverse seating options. You don’t have to be uniform throughout the room. The front, mid and back portions of the room can have diverse options, leave it up to the audience to determine where they want to participate from and engage you.”

As you can see, there are a number of options available when setting the stage, it just requires thinking differently about what you can do that best positions your program for achieving and exceeding expectations – even if it’s a breakaway from past traditional practices.

3.)  Incorporate Distractions
Audience multi-tasking during presentations can be a performance killer. While it’s a situation that’s always presented itself, it’s been amplified these past few years mainly by increased mobile device capabilities. Email, texting, social media and various apps provide audience members temptation, convenience and discretion. Attempting to limit distractions by asking attendees to “Please silence all cell phones!” really doesn’t work. So, why not embrace it instead? Consider ways by which you can incorporate mobile to further create engagement. Polling the audience, texting questions and creating a social following before, during and after presentations can create richer experiences that help further inform, excite and engage audience members.

If performance expectations must continue being met, if not exceeded, meeting professionals need to think more about the experience they’re creating for the audience. Whether a meeting or event attendee, or an incentive travel participant, creating a more aligned, engaging and interactive experience can greatly benefit from these approaches. If you’re looking for even better impact, consider integrating all three into your next program for outcomes that are more meaningful and memorable for your business and your audience.

Should Meetings be a Part of the Incentive Travel Mix?

Reposted from Meetings & Incentive Travel - click here for link

True or False?  The Integration of meeting elements into group incentive travel experiences is a new trend?

Answer: False.  The inclusion of formal meeting elements into group incentive travel programs has been a mainstay since its inception.

According to a SITE International Foundation 2010 survey, the trend of including business meetings in incentive travel programs will continue to grow over the next three years. So, why add meeting elements to an incentive travel program?

• Recognition - Calling out and recognizing an individual, in a formal meeting setting, with their peers, leadership team and guest(s) represents the gratifying highlight of the motivational experience for incentive travel earners.
• Communicating Future Business Direction - With top performers all in one place at the same time, this affords a great opportunity to provide a preview into future business direction to inform, excite and motivate earners.
• Networking Opportunities - Formal meeting time where program earners can network and interact with managers, leaders and other top performers to share and discuss best practices or market trends helps prepare for and align individual performance with future business objectives.
• Tax Laws - Participants on an incentive travel program maybe issued 1099’s or have the fair market value reported as income. Adding business meetings can reduce or eliminate this tax burden on your participants.
• Helping to Avoid Reputational Risk - Some organizations are concerned and want to minimize any potential risk that can damage their business brand by including more business meeting related content.

While this trend is anticipated to increase, it’s also met with a growing concern from incentive travel stakeholders. The potential impact on the participants’ viewpoint of what creates the type of experience that will inspire people to achieve the aggressive goals established for the program is a legitimate cause for concern. A careful and thoughtful approach is required to “strike the right balance” and avoid diluting the motivational value participants perceive in the incentive travel program’s design.

In the end, presenting a program that hits the mark for the “Wow” factor is key in getting the attention and active engagement of your participants.
What do you think?

The Evolution of Meeting and Event Communications through New Technologies

Reposted from Elite Meetings Blog - click here for link

Successful meeting and event programs are built on the foundations of effective communication efforts with audience members. Communicating well and communicating often is a proven way to keep your audience engaged, informed and motivated. Today, companies have more communication options to choose from based upon their meeting or event needs, as well as the preferences of their audience. But, this wasn’t always the case.

Historically, meeting and event planners were limited in terms of what communication options they had available. Creating and supporting levels of engagement during a program period was one thing, but leading up to and creating an afterglow experience post program involved a number of challenges that required new, more interactive tools and approaches. Through the course of the last several years, communication options have vastly evolved, leading towards much broader opportunities to further excite, engage and extend the overall attendee experience.

Think of it this way, today’s communications have shifted from just supporting one-way informational exchanges to helping better create more engaging, two-way dialogues between hosts, speakers, sponsors and attendees. Consider the following periods of meeting and event communications, from where we were to where we are now:

• Event Communications 1.0 - In the early years, meeting and event communications mainly involved traditional hard copy mailings, outbound calling and fax transmissions. These one-way communication exchanges may have helped logistically, but were highly limiting when it came to one-to-one promotional relevance or communicating real-time shifts, changes or program updates.
• Event Communications 2.0 - The dawn and mass market adoption of the Internet brought an immense improvement to meeting and event communications. Websites were created as a central linking point for program attendees to reference and register. In addition, emailing was integrated into communication strategies, providing a new and more effective mix for marketing efforts; it also could be used to provide ongoing announcements leading up to and following meeting and event programs. We’d have to wait just a bit longer for technologies to evolve and enable us to create more effective, two-way and interactive communication experiences.
• Event Communications 3.0 - New technologies and new uses of existing technologies have impacted and created significant shifts in how people manage, operate and socially interact with one another. Face-to-face meeting and event interactions now are more informed and greatly influenced by social networking, virtual engagements and the use of mobile applications.

• Social Networking  - Whether you like it or not, social networking is occurring already with regards to your meeting and event efforts. Ignoring it would place your program and organizational objectives at a disadvantage. Embracing social networking involves a number of considerations and can range in its level of adoption, but its inclusion can greatly enhance your ability to inform, motivate and extend your program’s communication reach.
• Virtual Engagements - The term “virtual” is often defined differently based upon who you ask. There are a number of technology advancements that have created different engagement options. For instance, the use of virtual worlds or Virtual Engagement Platforms (VEP), regional satellite broadcasting, web casting and collaboration as well as telepresence are all primary industry formats available and in use today. However, each type has its strengths and weaknesses, but the right combination with specific face-to-face meeting and event types and audiences can substantially improve levels of reach, engagement and program performance.
• Mobile Applications - A growing number of attendees are demanding more integration of mobile applications into the meeting and event programs they participate. Mobile platforms have become today’s intersection point of the physical meeting or event, virtual experiences and social networking interests. Put simply, program attendees want experiences that are more convenient, interactive and integrated with their mobile devices. Making appointments, noting calendar commitments, sharing contact details and having access to interact with other attendees, sponsors and speakers 24/7 are among a variety or inclusions they’re looking for in today’s meeting and event programs.

These types of communication options can be deployed as tools to extend the overall attendee reach and experience throughout the lifecycle of a program – before, during and after your meeting or event.

Organizations have greater opportunities today, over programs of the past, to create better business outcomes with the right integration of two-way, interactive communication options thanks to new technology advancements. Such opportunities enhance the value of meetings and events by further engaging an organization’s people – employees, channel partners and customers. While situations vary, so should the strategy. Otherwise, organizations run the risk of an ineffective, one-size-fits-all approach. Planners need to consider what the right mix of communication options can best help extend their program’s content, expand the audience reach and create enhanced ways for program attendees to interact and engage others.

The future of meeting and event communications isn’t coming, it’s here. What have you found that works better for your program, organization and attendees?

New Era of Risk Management for Meeting, Event and Incentive Travel

Reposted from Elite Meetings Blog - click here for link

It’s been a rough ride these past few years for the meeting, event and incentive travel industry. As a result, we can’t presume that it will ever be “business as usual”. We’ve learned quite a bit from these events and much has changed. These changes require us to operate differently today, especially when it comes to the areas of contracts, liabilities and bankruptcies.

The series of massive program cancellations over the past few years not only impacted business performance of buyer organizations, but the supplier industry as well. Destination management companies (DMCs), hotel properties, ground transportation providers, airlines and others were faced with some of the most challenging financial times in their history. As our industry begins to rebound, one significant shift in business operations for both buyer and supplier surrounds risk management.

Now, more than ever, buyers and suppliers need to work not just harder, but together to better manage their respective risks. Good, solid best practices need to be incorporated that equally protect one another’s interests. The most significant risk management areas and practices to be aware of, consider and avoid include:

• Attrition and Cancellation - Expect stricter provisions regarding attrition and cancellation clauses as well as higher deposit requirements. These are common practices in today’s market and are not solely based upon situations of “buyer” versus “seller” market conditions, or “peak” versus “off-peak” seasonality. 
• Underbooking - Avoid situations of underbooking space because you don’t have a clear view on the total number of participants that will attend a program. This is a tremendous gamble as supplier capacity to scale may not exist and put your programs performance at risk.
• Financial Stability of Suppliers – Understand the financial health of direct suppliers throughout the lifecycle of a program, not just at the beginning. Protection from a worse-case-scenario such as a bankruptcy or foreclosure is something that should be incorporated within your contract’s terms and conditions. In addition, consider the following:
• Properties going through financial trouble may change flags or branding. If this occurs, you need to ensure your contract provisions provide options. In some cases, this might include the right to exercise a cancellation based upon ownership changes.
• For suppliers who you may not have a history with, consider securing language within your contract that identifies what deposits are purposed towards. Depending upon the size of your event, a letter of credit wouldn’t necessarily be out of the question.
• Choosing to stay with a hotel, DMC or convention center through financial challenges isn’t necessarily a bad choice, but you do need to ensure there are no service barriers that could impact program logistics or participant experiences. Be sure to ask a lot of questions, especially surrounding such areas as staffing levels, property upkeep and maintenance. In addition, establish service level agreements (SLAs) and keep tabs on supplier issues through hotel ratings, websites and social media posts. 
• In DMC relationships, ensure your supplier possesses the appropriate levels of umbrella insurance coverage for all third-party relationships. 
• Service Levels – Some properties responded to the increased financial stress of the past two years by decreasing service levels and deferring property reinvestments. Protect yourself by conducting thorough site inspections and talk with others that have operated programs at the properties you are considering, to make sure the property can deliver the service experience you expect.

Today’s planners need to make decisions that go beyond just low rates. It’s a new era for meeting, event and incentive travel; especially when it comes to risk management positioning. These past few years created a significant shift, calling for a more balanced and shared set of risks between buyer and supplier. How has this changed your approach?

The New Normal for CMO's

Avi Dan authored an article featured in AdAge titled, The New Normal for CMO's - click here. Based upon the blog comments he received, there were mixed sentiments on what people thought. Regardless, customer engagement is a key takeaway from this article.

Ideal customer engagement today would be best defined as the appropriate timing of relevant messages that are unique to each individual consumer - an aspirational tone from past and current CRM efforts. Beyond that though, there are various ways to engage today. From social media marketing, traditional advertisements to other engagement strategies such as meetings and events, the one thing we know based upon past experiences is that everyone is wired differently. Such is the case, having a one-size-fits-all strategy is a thing of the past, now is the time to truly adopt integrated strategies that better connect organizations with their customers (past, present and future) for more effective outcomes that better support and align to business objectives.

There's an obvious shift in the media mix more so now than ever; and that will continue to further evolve moving forward. We've moved on and evolved our preferences, as consumers (whether B2B or B2C), from an engagement standpoint. Digital tactics, both web 1.0 and 2.0, are increasing in their roles as traditional media plays less of a dominant one; although still critical to varying degrees depending on a variety of variables such as markets and customer types. However, the first-level of engagement evolution, specifically websites and email marketing, have saturated and overwhelmed many customers. For the most part, we've managed these new media platforms with a traditional approach. Analytics needs to and will be key way in how these and other contemporary channels integrate with traditional formats to increase relevance, conversion rates, advocacy and other key performance indicators included in a robust lifetime value model.

The CMO's main responsibility has always been to focus on market needs and identifying how the organization best addresses these through product and service offerings. However, to remain effective in a rapidly changing set of markets, CMO's have to work in a more latitudinal way. Latitudinal from the sense that while identifying effective strategies that support business objectives remain a core function, they also need to better ground their evaluations and expectations of their business plans and priorities based upon sensible tactical executions. Considering the many changes and shifts in the market, identifying best-practices and keeping a keen eye on their customers needs and preferences (at the individual level) will better ensure the continued level of competitive differentiation, customer demand and market presence required to be successful.

Achieving Greater Value from Meetings, Events and Incentive Travel Investments

Making an investment in a meeting, event or incentive travel program is a good idea when you want to reward performance, improve customer service, encourage innovation through enhanced collaboration, or improve customer, employee and channel partner engagement. Based upon a recent study by Oxford Economics USA, the outcomes on such investments can range from a 4:1 to nearly a 20:1 return.

If you fall anywhere within this performance range, you’re likely pleased with the returns your programs achieve. Yet, this study also identifies a broad performance disparity among organizations. While some might realize high-end performance outcomes, others are not. Where does your company fall? More importantly, how can you further improve performance?

To achieve better business performance and effectiveness breakthroughs, organizations are adopting a model built upon transparency, which includes and connects three key principles:

1. Program and Spending View: Gaining stronger visibility into overall meeting, event and incentive travel spend. Doing so creates greater value in two very distinct ways. First, broader and deeper transparency helps ensure investments are consistently aligning with business objectives. Second, organizations can tap into a much richer purchasing power position to better negotiate on more favorable costs and contract terms as well as reduce financial and legal risk exposure. Strategic Meetings Management programs can optimize this key principle, providing a centralized practice for all meeting, event and incentive travel sourcing and contracting.

2. Participant Engagement: Organizations are cutting down on overall spend and doing more with less. The face of business today continues to grow more diverse and global. A one-size-fits-all approach simply will not deliver effective performance outcomes. Engaging participants more fully in the co-creation of the meeting, event or incentive experience provides for significantly stronger appeal, attendance, participation and, most importantly, program outcomes.

3. Value Creation: Owners of meeting, event and incentive travel investments not only have accountability for every dollar that they spend, but also on identifying how each program connects with established business objectives. In the absence of either point, the value of any program cannot be effectively measured, evaluated or improved. Case in point, attracting, developing and retaining talent and customers might be a key objective of your program, as such, you’ll want to connect with and measure performance in accordance with the related business objective of your organization.

As organizations consider increasing and decreasing investments, decision outcomes will hinge on how much meeting, event and incentive travel assets support and demonstrate value. Does it always have to follow a formal or conforming ROI model? The short answer is, not necessarily – we all know how ambiguous that can be. However, there do need to be relevant, agreed upon metrics that align with overarching business objectives in order to demonstrate the value created.