Cvent

As corporate budgets tighten, organizations are taking a closer look at meetings and events. Though meetings spend often accounts for a significant portion of an organization's budget, often times there's little to no formal oversight or policy as to how meetings are determined, organized, carried out, etc.—a major detriment to an organization's budget and success.

Much like a travel policy, a corporate meetings policy sets up the policies and procedures for how meetings will be run. Meeting policies define what a company considers to be a meeting, commonly based on a definition such as "any gathering of more than X number of people."

The policy also generally describes what types of procedures need to be followed according to the type of meeting, how many people are involved, any travel or hotel stays booked, etc. Essentially, it's a comprehensive road map of how meetings will be handled.

Not only will a meetings policy achieve cost savings and mitigate risk, it will also provide visibility to senior management and other parties previously out of the loop on some, or all, aspects of meeting planning. Occasional planners in your company, for example, will have a set of standard procedures to follow, while finance may assist in data collection and payments. Travel, procurement, and legal departments are among the various other stakeholders that will benefit from having a centralized meetings policy in place.

Setting up your meetings policy is the first step in developing a Strategic Meetings Management program. Learn more about creating a meetings policy and SMM solutions from Cvent.