The Meetings Report: Five Game-changing Tactics Redefining

Education Strategy & Success

Georgia Society of Association Executives

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013

@AaronWolowiec

AaronWolowiec.com

• Elevate the quality and sophistication of your programs

• Build the reputation of your meetings department

• Improve your organization’s bottom line

Learning Road Map

• Background• Recommendations• Aha moments• Final thoughts• Resources• Wrap-up• Contact information

1. Association best practices

2. Benchmarking data/metrics

3. Annual education strategy

Alex Kontras

Kristen Parker

Aaron Wolowiec

Cheryl Ronk

1. Senior education/professional development staff

2. Association meetings

3. Professional speaker hiring practices

4. Industry speaker preparation and compensation

5. Meeting evaluation practices

Survey

Analysis

Report

1. Instructive, actionable and universal tactics

2. Redefines how success is measured

3. Valuable to both associations/industry partners

1. Office of the Governor

2. Michigan Economic Development Corporation

3. ASAE Legislative Fly-in

Tactic 1:Diversify Revenue

Diversify Revenue

• Percentage of annual revenue attributable to conventions, exhibits and meetings

• Type and number of meetings• Exhibitions and sponsorships• Credentialing programs• Major meeting/annual income ratio

Tactic 2:RewardDifference

Reward Difference

• Unique identity, culture and experience• Greater variation, creativity and innovation• Diversity of thought• Function leaders/staff• Speaker bureau and CVB services• Methods used to identify prospective speakers • Decisions about professional speakers/venues

Tactic 3:Value

Context

Value Context

• Your members, organization and industry• Position titles/salaries• Total number of concurrent sessions• Percentage of members attending major

meeting • Industry speaker compensation packages• Form and content of formal evaluations

Tactic 4:Maximize

Opportunities

Maximize Opportunities

• Relevant, competitive and sustainable

• Change and experimentation

• Industry standards, practices and networks

• Internship programs

• Blended learning• Digital meetings• Outsourcing meeting

planning activities• Optimizing speakers• Collecting evaluations• Live video streaming

Tactic 5:PrioritizeLearning

Prioritize Learning

• Logistics vs. learning/networking• Utilize professional/ industry speakers• Schedule intentional speaker follow-up • Call for presentations • Speaker preparation• Measure learning• Verify expanded speaker submissions

1. Diversify revenue

2. Reward difference

3. Value context

4. Maximize opportunities

5. Prioritize learning

Final Thoughts

• Business as usual is not an option• Evaluate current education strategies• Operationalize each of the five key

recommendations • Develop actionable next steps• Implement new strategies within this

calendar year

• Purchase The Meetings Report at msae.org

• Attend the follow-on workshop

• Consider one-on-one consultation

Leave a business card…

I’ll email the slide deck.

Monday, Aug. 5, 2013

3:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Building Financial Momentum Through Meetings & Membership Collaboration

Aaron D. WolowiecMSA, CAE, CMP, CTA

(616) 710-1891aaron@eventgarde.comwww.eventgarde.com