Meeting Planning Innovation

A Meeting Planner's Value Statement

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 by
Planners in a CrowdNot too long ago, I conducted an informal poll, asking a couple dozen event management professionals one simple question:

What do you do?

Most responses went something like this:

"I plan meetings for a large association in the telecom industry."

"I'm responsible for registration for three national trade shows."

"I work on marketing and promotions for our annual user conference."

"I coordinate travel arrangements for our company meetings."

Then, I heard something quite different:

"I help bring people together to drive new business opportunities."

While other responses were transactional, this one was strategic, powerful, and went right to the heart of why we hold meetings in the first place. Interesting to note, this answer came from someone in a front-line, coordinator role.

We are what we think. If we could lift our thoughts just a bit higher and adopt more of a business driver mindset, just imagine how that might impact our actions and our perceived value for the organizations we represent, the people who attend our events, and the meetings industry as a whole.

How about you? When you're with a group of people and someone asks, "What do you do?" -- how do you respond? Can you share more examples of power value statements for meeting planning professionals?


Comments for A Meeting Planner's Value Statement

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Sunday, February 28, 2010 by Dave Lutz:
Very thought provoking post. I think the power gets even greater when a planner is more directly impacting the individual's meeting outcomes. Outcomes are delivered through learning and growing professional relationships. A planner that is moving from tactical to strategic will look for ways to help positively impact the learning and/or help attendees accelerate or increase their networking.
Monday, March 1, 2010 by Arlene Post:
I broker people and possibilities toward the potential of mutually beneficial opportunities.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 by Danielle:
I co-ordinate training across our different business units within our company to promote success and consistency across all of our team members.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 by Donna Kastner:
Thanks for the great feedback... @Dave Lutz: "Accelerate learning and increase networking" - two powerful business drivers! @Arlene Post: "Broker people and possibilities" - love that! @ Danielle: "promote success and consistency" - nice!
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