Jul
26
Written by:
IML
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 2:33 PM
courtesy of One+ Magazine
The business value of meetings: You want to prove it, but that’s problematic given the diversity of its definitions. Some claim “BVOM” is synonymous with ROI (return on investment); others contend it is ROO (return on objective). Maybe it’s both, or neither, or simply a degree of achievement.
Witnessing this utter lack of agreement and realizing its responsibility to the meetings community, MPI engaged research firm Association Insights and launched the first international study into just what BVOM means to professional meeting planners and how it is measured, reported and used.
Association Insights interviewed executives at 215 companies worldwide from a bevy of industries including health care, technology, marketing, engineering, manufacturing, finance, pharmaceutical, education, energy, consulting, congress management and legal.
The results: BVOM varies widely by meeting types, as do its measures and their uses. While BVOM is always considered in terms of contribution to company success, that contribution is seldom expressed as ROI, with the exception of meetings that exist exclusively to generate sales leads or revenue.
The definition also varies by industry and region. Some sectors, such as medical and pharmaceutical, have legal and professional requirements that often define BVOM. The business value of trade shows diverges sharply from that of incentive events, which in turn differs from motivational events and sales training. In Europe, where third-party planners are a significant provider of planning and execution services, BVOM measurement and reporting is often used as a competitive differentiator.
As meeting professionals face demands to justify cost, many are asking for help in communicating the value of meetings and events to senior management. They don’t fully understand the techniques for capturing BVOM and communicating it in terms of value. And perceived complexity and cost cause many planners to avoid the practice.
The diversity of opinion on the business value of meetings and the merits of its measurement has led MPI to conclude the necessity of a toolkit that helps meeting professionals a) address the assumption that measuring BVOM provides little ROI, b) attain senior management stakeholder buy-in, c) define objectives and realistic expectations, d) devise meaningful ways to measure the business value of meetings and e) analyze and report BVOM data.
Get the Full Report
Download The Business Value of Meetings to learn how your organization’s measurements compare to those of others at http://www.mpiweb.org/Education/BVOM.
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