Meaningful Meetings—5 Veterans in Event Planning Share Insights and Recommendations скачать в хорошем качестве

Meaningful Meetings—5 Veterans in Event Planning Share Insights and Recommendations

This recent Enterprise Engagement Alliance RRN show on meaningful meetings brings together veteran executive meeting planners and an industry journalist, a legendary Las Vegas talent agent, and an individual incentive travel pioneer to discuss the state of motivational events and incentive travel in a climate of: economic uncertainty, a generational change in travel preferences, and the ability for people to access on demand the world’s greatest keynote speakers, panel discussions and other content on almost any topic on Youtube and other sources. This summary cannot do justice to the degree of insights about motivational event design covered in this show about where the field is and where it's going. In the 18 months since the Enterprise Engagement Alliance and its RRN media property began the Meaningful Meetings series, the early forecasts are gradually being fulfilled. The world of motivational events and incentive travel are headed for fundamental change, according to Jaki Baskow, Principal of Las Vegas Speakers Bureau; Greg Bogue, Vice President of Experience at Maritz; Andrea Doyle, Executive Editor of Skift; Marc Matthews, Founder of Pulse Experiential Travel, Melissa Van Dyke, Senior Vice President at Creative Group Inc. All agree that there is much room for innovation and better measurement, and that only momentum stands in the way of more rapid change; yet, all are optimistic that the motivational event and incentive travel business is poised for meaningful innovation and enhanced impact measurement. The fundamental drivers of change? Time, money, greater ability to measure, and personal ROI. As Doyle of Skift put it, people simply don’t want to leave their families or friends or pile on to their workloads unless the event has meaning. Bogue says bluntly: we cannot waste peoples' time bringing them somewhere to do what they can do back home. Van Dyke stresses: motivational events are a unique opportunity for people to feel "their place in the tribe." Based on the insights from this show: *Expect motivational events to get shorter, with more emphasis on collaboration and innovation than on keynote speakers and panel discussions. *Never before has it been more important to not waste peoples' time. *The best speakers will spend less time on stage and more time mingling with the audience or facilitating collaboration. People want to get to know the expert speakers. *Look for a greater emphasis on the “f” word, feelings and storytelling. The best events leave people emotionally moved. *Watch corporate sustainability expand into the form of short escapes from hotels and convention centers to authentic experiences in the surrounding communities that help reinforce the story and give back in terms of increased local commerce. *Anticipate more desire for “bleisure,” the ability to add a day or two to an event with a loved one or close friends or colleagues to further explore. *All expect a greater emphasis on measurement, not only in terms of budget and attendee satisfaction, but impact measured against the purpose, goals, objectives, and values of the event or organization--and over time. *All agree that motivational events create a unique opportunity to build culture at a time when that is more challenging than ever in this highly mobile and multi-cultural and multi-generational world. *Another challenge: the desire of many organizations to reduce organizational carbon footprints makes them ever more mindful of which meetings to attend. *Facing increasing reluctance of people to attend all but critical events, associations are particularly challenged to transform their events from passive to active collaborative programs at which people work together to address industry risks and opportunities rather than simply listening to speakers and panelists for 80% of the time and talking at breaks, meals, and events for the remaining 20%. As for the overall event economy, they agree that federal government meetings have effectively cratered for now and association meetings face increasing attendance challenges, especially those US firms that depend on international attendees. On the other hand, motivational corporate meetings and incentive travel are holding their own, with the exception of those US events that involve international travelers, particularly from Canada or Latin countries. Individual incentive travel appears to be on the uptick as some companies hold back on planning big motivational events, because of the desire to maintain the morale of the top performers who hit their goals. All of this adds up to an environment in which the motivational events field has the opportunity to exercise its creativity to choreograph truly meaningful events that uplift the attendees and harmonize their interests to measurably support the organization's purpose, goals, objectives, and values.