CHAPTER 2

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Strategic Meetings:

Aligning with the Organization

 

LEARNER OUTCOMES

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A. Define the term “strategic planning” and describe the basic steps in a strategic planning process

B. Explain how and why meeting professionals are involved in strategic planning.

C. Explain how meetings create strategic value.

D. Define the four elements of strategic value for meetings and events.

E. Describe the meeting design process.

F. Explain why the strategic impact of meetings should be measured and how that is accomplished.

 

Chapter Summary:

 

Strategic Planning in organizations is a very specific type of planning, that addresses the organizations long term aspiration, and affects the meeting design. A focus on supporting the organization’s message, feedback, information giving, information gathering, and motivation efforts is key.

 

Strategic Planning terminology is helpful for the meeting professional in understanding the strategic planning concept and vocabulary is useful. The following terminology provides an introductory base of terms:

 

1. Mission—describes the purpose for the organization’s existence; most organizations have a mission statement that remains relatively stable over a long period of time.

2. Goals—statements about general aims or purposes that are tied to achieving a strategy.

3. Objectives—brief clear statements that describe desired results.

4. Outcomes—are intended results or consequences of goals

5. Tactics—activity undertaken to achieve a larger objective. Tactics help you answer the question, “How are we going to accomplish our aspirations?”

6. Strategies—a broadly defined direction and use of an organization’s resources which achieve a unique and differentiated advantage for the organization. Strategies advance the organization by aligning the organization resources.

The first step in the strategic planning process is to access the environment or context in which an overall organization is operation. One very popular planning exercise for understanding context is called a SWOT analysis:

 

1. S-Strengths

2. W-Weaknesses

3. O-Opportunities

4. T-Threats

Another planning exercise is STEEPLED,

 

1. S—social

2. T—technological

3. E—economic

4. E—environmental

5. P—Political

6. L—legal

7. E—ethical

8. D—demographic

It should be noted; that while these approaches were originally developed for organizational level strategic planning, meeting professionals could use these concepts when they develop a plan for an individual meeting or event. Strategic plans also require that the organization has sufficient people, software, time, money, and knowledge.

 

A strategic planning process should include a consideration of business continuity. It ensures that an organization’s critical business functions are note compromised. A focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a necessary core element of an organization strategy and is now seen as a triple bottom line. This focus on CSR or the Triple Bottom Line is also known as People, Planet, and Profit.

 

When going through the strategic planning process, a meeting professional can complete an environmental scan and stakeholder analysis. The following should also be done:

 

1. Identify strategies at the organization level

2. Incorporate business unit goals

3. Set priorities

4. Encourage the development of aligned activities and resource deployment, and

5. Communication and communicate again

There are four key elements that will provide a meeting professional with a framework to deliver strategic value to their organization. These four elements are: portfolio management, measurement, meeting design, and advanced logistics. Portfolio management is an approach to understanding how all of the meetings and events are performing in total. Measurement uses a variety of methods to determine the value of an individual meeting or group of related meetings. Meeting design is the purposeful shaping of the form and content of a meeting to deliver on crucial organizational objectives. Advanced logistics addresses the hospitality and environmental aspects of a meeting, e.g. venues, contracting, sourcing, travel, etc.

 

Stages of the design of a meeting include:

 

1. Discovery stage

2. Development stage

3. Delivery stage

4. Ongoing Impact stage

 

In order to measure strategic impact, you must focus on results of the meeting throughout the design process. A method of measuring ROI is the Phillips ROI Methodology:

 

1. Evaluation Planning

2. Data Collection

3. Data Analysis

4. Reporting

Strategic Value and Change Management requires innovation and change. They help discover barriers that need to be changed. Meeting professionals should adopt a more step-wise approach to introducing new ideas and new ways of working. The culture of the organization must be taken into account. If it is more risk-adverse, it may be prudent to introduce innovation more slowly.

 

 

 

每章的测试放在第二周的第一节课，成绩计入平时成绩。