Hey meeting planners, how many times have you had this conversation?
Stranger at party: What do you do?
You: I’m a meeting planner.
Stranger: Oh, cool, so you throw parties for a living?
*collective eye roll*
This misconception is of little consequence at a cocktail party; however, when executives who hold purse strings and the power to support your career development have this mistaken belief, it’s a much bigger problem. In this episode of Allie Explains It All, Allie Magyar, a 15+ year events industry veteran and founder / CEO of Hubb, spells out definitively the core tenets of what it means to be a modern meeting planner. And, contrary to what some outsiders think, it’s not bounce houses and bouquets.
Industry wide meeting planners are shifting their focus from tactical execution to strategy. Which makes sense because people in this role today oversee the most powerful marketing outlets companies use to create sales momentum: conferences, meetings and events.
These are key roles of modern meeting managers mentioned in episode six of Allie Explains It All.
Strategist: Just like any other strategist, meeting planners are starting with goals and objectives to help identify how to best bring a company’s marketing message to life through in-person experiences. They are focused not only on the “what” of an event, but also the “why” of an event. In this article, Allie goes into more detail about how to shift from being a task manger to strategic planner.
Project planner: In addition to everything else, meeting planners oversee (and are accountable for) timeline and budget. You’re a master of the RFP, site selection, vendor negotiation, exhibitor/sponsor relations and event marketing. Want a little support in this area? Check out Hubb’s timeline template and event tech budget template.
Tactical manager: Though strategy plays a bigger role in how meeting planners focus their time, all those details that make meetings and events successful still need to happen. We know how tempting it can be to get involved in every aspect of your conference or event, but effective delegation is key to the modern meeting planner. For more thoughts on this, hop over to the Event Manager blog, which goes deeper into the topic of delegation.
Event KPI analyst: Another challenge is identifying which metrics are the best indicators of success or failure at our events. For a primer on which Key Performance Indicators will help you identify whether you’re meeting your strategic initiatives, check out our blog on essential conference planning KPIs for event managers.
There you have it: The many roles of the modern meeting management. It’s only 9-10 jobs rolled into one job. That doesn’t seem unreasonable, right? (Just kidding! You are an amazing rock star! How do you do it all?!)
Luckily, event technology like Hubb enables these marketing power players to vastly decrease the amount of time spent on administrative tasks and uncover valuable metrics to hone their strategy.
Want more? Check out previous episodes of Allie Explains It All
Looking for Allie Explains It All, Episode 1? Don't waste your time; it's not online. The quality wasn’t up to snuff, so we’ve hidden it under the couch cushions with the TV remote, your pocket change and a few stale Cheetos.
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