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Monday, September 13, 2010

Why should America Keep Meeting

As a disclaimer, this was written earlier this year, however its still a timely topic for all event planners whose pockets have been hit hard due to the reduced number of events that are being hosted this year, especially for large corporations. Also, I apologize to my FB followers, had some technical difficulties with the blog posting. :)

The following article has been adopted from the website for Keep America Meeting (www.keepamericameeting.com). It is a third party petition site created by meeting and event professionals working to gain support from U.S. legislators to keep the meeting an events industry going in order to help the U.S. recover from economic disaster. The article explains the importance of businesses utilizing meeting planners and keeping America meeting.

The Value of Meetings

Why Have Meetings?

Meetings that are well executed and designed to meet specific goals greatly contribute to company profits. Meeting benefits include:

  1. Development of engaged employees

Engaged employees form an emotional connection that comes from being involved in their work, their company, and its brand. This results in both an emotional and functional commitment, which in turn leads to a more dedicated workforce.

Studies have shown that companies with engaged employees are more profitable.

  1. Improved company culture, which is especially important in rough times

When employees know their company values them, they are able to focus on their work instead of worrying about keeping their jobs, resulting in greater commitment to stay with the company. When employees know the challenges their company is facing- and what they can do about them- they are able to pay an active role in meeting those challenges.

Eighty percent of workers said that clear communications motivated their performance and made them more productive.

  1. More satisfied employees

The three aspects of work that employees consider most important, in descending order, are:

a. Exciting, challenging work

b. A change to learn and grow

c. Great People with whom to work with

Meetings address all three aspects:

a. Meetings are a means to communicate company and brand message, and to bring challenges to the table. By keeping them informed, employees are able to play a role in finding and creating solutions.

b. Meetings that include seminars, round tables and other educational sessions address the employees’ desire to learn and grow.

c. Bringing coworkers together in a less formal setting away from the workplace allows them to learn more about each other, which translates into more trust and better collaboration.

Companies with satisfied employees generate better overall returns in the stock market, with firms on the list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” generating up to five times as much return as their competitors.

  1. Increased Employee Retention

Employee development is a key retention driver, and meetings facilitate development in many different ways. Meetings:

1. Allow for direct communication from executives to employees

2. Provide skill and career development opportunities with seminars and tutorials

3. Offer opportunities for employees to share knowledge with each other.

What’s more, higher retention rates are directly linked to increased profits. A 5 percent increase in employee retention can generate a 25 to 85 percent increase in profitability.

  1. Compensation more cost-effective than bonuses

When budgets are tight, meetings touch many employees and improve their job satisfaction can increase company profitability more cost-effectively than raises and bonuses, because companies with satisfied employees are more profitable.

For more tips, stay tuned next week (see I did return as promised) as we provide other tips on how to save your event and your sanity. If you are looking for an event planner to assist you in creating an awesome event, please visit our website at http://www.nov8iveevents.com/. Please stay tuned, I am regaining my will to be focused and plan on re-launching our website in an effort to create a stronger brand!!

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