MOVE OVER MEETING INDUSTRY!

First, there were party planners. Then meeting planners, followed by event planners. Now, there are experience planners – and the list goes on. The bottom line is that although there are many talented and proficient planners in the industry, many planners miss the critical point of ‘gathering’.?

The question planners, of any type of gathering, must be prepared to ask today's senior executives is, “Are your meetings and events as effective as a good print ad for your company?” In my research, most CEOs don't know the answer to that question, which means that the answer is almost certainly, "No."

I highly suggest challenging the next senior executive you meet and say:

“Think how much effort went into determining the objective and audience of the best print ad you've ever run, and synchronizing all your social media assets in support of that objective.

Think how much care, attention, and planning goes into brainstorming, creating, and fine-tuning that ad. Think how carefully you or someone in your organization compared that print ad's every element to the strategic purpose it was meant to fulfill from messaging to color to size and placement of the ad.

?Now think of the last meeting or event you authorized. Was there a clear objective? Did you choose the audience carefully, and align the Strategic Meeting Objective with that audience? Was there a clear theme? Was there a memorable slogan, or catch-phrase analogous to the headline of the ad? Did the visual dynamics, flow of people, use of technology, and event's pre-planning support your strategic goal from the event? Do you know how critical the hotel or venue of choice is to the outcome?”

Maya Angelou once wisely observed that “People may well forget what you say, but they will always remember how you made them feel.” By that standard, most experiences in corporate meetings and events are lost opportunities, because our enterprises do not utilize the concept of designing meetings and events in a creative way to convey a strategic message that appeals to the emotions of the participants which results in justifying return.

Would we accept this elsewhere? Most CEOs hold the teams responsible for their organization's advertising message to a very strict set of standards that culminate in this question: “Was our investment here justified?” Similarly, they hold the people who coordinate the enterprise's public relations efforts accountable for an equally compelling question: “Is the right message reaching the right constituency?”?

?To create a truly integrated campaign, I believe senior executives must demand the same kind of accountability from their meetings and events professionals. They must harmonize all three disciplines with the organization's strategic vision-- advertising, public relations, and meetings/events design and execution. Shouldn't sponsored gatherings support and reinforce the strategic message that drives your advertising and PR? And shouldn't your event deliver a clear return on investment?

?We must make it clear to executives that if their organization’s sponsored gatherings are unaligned with all the work they've done with advertising and PR, the enterprise will be placed at a competitive disadvantage.

We must take a strategic, rather than a solely logistical, approach to these gatherings and galvanize, motivate, and inspire key constituencies in support of the mission and the message. To do that, senior executives must work with an event designer who is as creative, demanding, and attentive to their organization's purpose as the professionals they trust most with advertising and public relations initiatives.

?After all, isn’t the core function of each of these initiatives to deliver a message??

?Get the message??