Meetings Under the Microscope
The Toolkit, Meetings Under the Microscope at IMEX, Seminars, The Participant, The Meeting
Look Beyond Logistics
Whilst logistics are crucial to the success of an event, many event organisers are guilty of overlooking the heartbeat of an event – the content.
IMEX’s Meetings Under the Microscope initiative is aimed at helping planners focus on the content side of meetings to meet objectives ensuring meeting success and return on investment.
“We systematically undervalue our industry by only talking about delegate spending, whereas in fact nobody holds a meeting in order to stay in a hotel – that’s incidental. They really hold a meeting because of outcomes.” Rod Cameron, President, Criterion Communications Inc, Vancouver, Canada
“Economic recovery is bringing a shift in its definition, which is good news for the industry. Meetings were strongly associated with strategic sourcing for many years and now it’s back to the value of the meeting’s agenda. We still need to focus on strategic sourcing but also on the meeting’s effectiveness.” Didier Scaillet, Chief Development Officer, MPI
View an interview with Carina Bauer, CEO, IMEX Group on Meetings Under the Microscope
The Future of Meetings
An exclusive meeting hosted by IMEX for high level corporate meeting executives ‘Meetings for Success’ revealed that although senior management will drive an event, they want those whom they outsource tactical aspects of the meeting to, to come in as high-level thinkers to partner with company executives to drive the objectives, the business and the outcome. They expect higher creativity.
The pressure is on to be more creative in driving a meeting's goals and objectives. To do this you must be aware of the industry tools and resources available to you.
Looking ahead to the next 12 months, corporate meeting executives say measuring the outcomes is important.
“If it’s not going to drive outcomes or meet objectives, then we’re not going to do these meetings.”
The Toolkit: Find Excellent Partners Worldwide
Our toolkit contains details of suppliers offering a product or service aimed at assisting planners to realise meeting objectives in terms of learning, motivation and networking.
Our toolkit is available on the Meeting Support Institute website – 'your open source for meeting tools, meeting architecture, meeting design and meeting support’.
The Meetings Support Institute website, already committed to supporting meeting effectiveness, offers planners an advanced search function allowing you to make specific searches on your topics of interest whether this is related to pre, during or post event objectives.
"IMEX looks beyond logistics."
Maarten Vanneste CMM, President & CEO Abbit Meeting Support and author of ‘Meetings Architecture, A Manifesto’
The Meetings Under the Microscope initiative aims to assist planners in achieving the objectives of their events ensuring a positive perception of their meeting.
Give yourselves a competitive advantage by taking ownership of meeting content to drive, create and increase ROI.
By focusing on the content side of meetings, Meetings Under the Microscope encourages meeting planners to look beyond the hospitality and logistics of a meeting to the substance, and ultimately, the delegate experience which is crucial to a meeting’s success and return on investment.
Meetings Under the Microscope at IMEX
Meetings Under the Microscope Seminars
View the five Meetings Under the Microscope seminars that took place on the Professional Development and Innovation Pavilion at IMEX 2010.
The numerous Meetings Under the Microscope seminars that take place on the Professional Development and Innovation Pavilion at IMEX challenge visitors to think about the substance of an event when identifying objectives, designing, executing and assessing their meeting. Topics on this vast subject include:
The Participant
- How to help delegates get in to the most appropriate mindset prior to the event for an exceptional meetings experience
- Explore what emotional state delegates may find the most appropriate to be in
- Examine how much of an impact the meeting environment (layout, room temperature, colour, smell etc.) has on the delegate's experience
- Explore how delegate's widely varying dispositions can affect their experience and learn how to engage with the whole audience.
- Understand the influence diet has on delegates and how the breakout sustenance can be used to help delegates recharge for the sessions ahead
- Focus on the importance of catering for each of the human senses and learn how they create the perception of the event
The Meeting
- Identifying meeting objectives
- Designing the meeting based on those objectives
- Executing the meeting based on the design
- Latest facilitation techniques
- Assessing the results: ROI
