The Future Of Meetings In A Post-AIG World

Not a day goes by without more negative news about the state of our economy. While economic losses mount and layoffs multiply, a number of companies have garnered headlines focusing on corporate extravagance, namely the infamous AIG company retreat at the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach. The company gathering at the high-end hotel coincided with their federal bailout in the amount of 85 billion dollars.
Event and meeting business professionals immediately knew that while the Los Angeles Times Business section scolded AIG (David Lazarus - October 8, 2008 -“When the going gets tough, the tough get pedicures.”) that this event must have been planned months, or even a year, in advance, that most of the event had to be guaranteed with upfront payments and that a short notice cancellation would not have saved much of the cost.

However, obviously, in the current business climate, the event and meeting industry undergoes major changes. Meetings and events serve purposes beyond pampering and executive indulgences but the American taxpayers are rightfully outraged when corporations splurge on parties while laying off employees or requesting federal help.

Times they are a-changing and the event and meeting industry has to refocus its strategies and concepts. But is this the end of events and meetings for now? Or should it be?
The experts speak.


1) Lorraine Aguilar, President of Working Harmony, Inc. The company designs and runs collaborative leadership programs for large corporate clients such as The United Nations Agency Programs and Southern California Edison.

Why do companies need to have meetings or events now?

“ Given the changes in the economic climate, the need for corporate events has become imperative, critical for a company’s survival. Now more than ever in recent times, corporate leadership needs to regroup, re-strategize, collaborate and plan for the worst case scenario as well as new opportunities. It’s time to put our heads together for the worst and the best-case scenarios because everything becomes magnified with this uncertainty.
The biggest misconception around corporate events is that the money goes to excuses for parties or golf. I can honestly say that in the 10 years that I’ve been running corporate events that most of them have been focused on getting out of a painful situation by creating strategies for survival and success.

What changes should be implemented? What should meetings achieve?

“All companies, but especially publicly traded or regulated companies have an obligation to be financially responsible and not extravagant with other people’s money. Having said that, it is still important for people to get away from the work place and day-to-day urgencies to really focus on the big picture. At a minimum they need to develop a contingency plan for worst and best case scenarios. Hard core analysis of all business and financial data to find out how far they can draw down their business line of credit. How can they keep their money safe? Analyze! And look for opportunities. Keep a close eye on competitors. What are they doing? This all requires people to come together to plan. This does not happen in day-to-day business stuff. Remember the California Gold Rush? Who really made the money? It was not the miners. It was Levi’s! They saw an opportunity in a time of major change.”



2) David Logan, Associate Dean and Executive Director of Executive Development, and Associate Professor of Clinical, at USC’s Marshall School of Business.

Are meetings still important at this time and can a company justify the expense?

“Some meetings, and I would go as far as to say 60 to 70 per cent of them, are pointless.
In the old days, business consultants created the meeting content and hospitality experts created entertainment. Frankly, it serves no purpose for companies to send their employees and consultants off on golf games. We want to see the hospitality industry take greater ownership of meeting content and bring that to the site to enhance the value of the meeting.”

USC’s Business School hosts many corporate meetings themselves and they provide outside services. The school has been getting an increasing amount of phone calls from hotels.
“The hotels that host meetings call us to come in with programs that add value to the meeting. USC organizes meetings for executive organizations.”

What is your advice to hospitality companies?

“Create synergy between the meeting room and the outside events. Focus on why the organization is having the off-site event. Why are they coming here? How does the meeting benefit the company? How can we partner?”

What do you tell companies at this point regarding meetings and events?

“There are two reasons only to have outside events and meetings, strategic planning is one, building a culture in a group is the other. There is no reason to meet off-site if it can happen in a boardroom. But off-site something new happens. When we have meetings at USC, the mentality changes and learning sets in. The venue lends itself to a different sort of conversation”.

3) Janet Elkins, President of EventWorks, Inc, a Los Angeles area based Special Events company with nearly 30 years in the business

EventWorks experiences economic changes in the industry immediately. How does your company adapt?

“We understand that our clients are more cost-conscious on various levels. They are concerned about the appearance of spending money as well as actually spending it on events. As a whole we are recommending cost-savings to our clients that still allow the creation of an effective meeting. EventWorks tries to incorporate cost and ecological consciousness. We use recyclable items for many decorations; it saves money and reduces waste by reusing decoration elements, We are able to change their appearance and give them a fresh look each time with lighting effects. And there are many more examples of what we can do.”

How do you deal with the image problem of corporate events during the recession?

“Events are necessary to business. At the core they are business meetings camouflaged as events. There is a tangible need for them. At events people learn; from each other; they learn more about the corporation’s goals. They learn about and from competitors. Events and meetings are still vital for the business world.
There is a lot we as the event producer can do to help with the image issues.
To give you an example, we use potted plants for decorations instead of cut flowers. These plants then get donated to schools or senior citizen homes. We connect the event with a charity. Guests get involved by making a donation, maybe a toy or a financial contribution. We create a dual purpose for the event. Besides fulfilling the business need the attendees do something to enhance the community as a whole.
Currently we see the cultural mores changing in front of our eyes. Lavish spending went the way of deep tans and smoking. However, companies still need to get their employees excited about selling their products. EventWorks still needs to create that momentum, that element of surprise and excitement. We evolve with the times and change our strategies accordingly.”



Interviewee Dave Logan, meanwhile, has a new best-selling book on the market that is extremely interesting to the travel and meeting industry.

Three Laws of Performance

Here the information from USC's Marshall School of Business:

Dave Logan, former Associate Dean of Executive Programs who teaches OB in the EMBA Programs for MOR, has been getting a lot of kudos (and sales) for his latest book (with Steve Zaffron): Three Laws of Performance, Jossey-Bass, 2009. It has been ranked #1 on Amazon twice and currently appears as #3 On WSJ’s Business Best Sellers and #2 on USA Today’s Money Best Sellers. Here is blurb describing the book:

How did companies, both large and small, in different countries and industries, all achieve breakthrough performance when the odds were stacked against them?

How did an engineer turned CEO transform his New Zealand steelmaking company around in one year and become a leader in the industry? How did a 600-person team, within the largest petroleum company in Brazil, overcome skepticism and dysfunctional dynamics to achieve the biggest process integration success in history? How did a major Japanese housing manufacturer thrive despite the worst economy in a generation? How did a South African platinum mine improve its safety performance by 57 percent in one year?

All of these results were possible because people applied The Three Laws of Performance and rewrote their futures. This book will show you how to do the same in your organization and your life.

Although most of us aren't aware of it, we have a future that's already been written. Our future is written by hopes, fears, dreams, expectations, and decisions made about life. In the same way, organizations have futures written by history, circumstances, culture, aspirations, successes, and failures. These already-written futures determine and shape the level of performance that's possible for individuals and organizations.

In The Three Laws of Performance, Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan crack the code on rewriting the future for people and organizations, elevating performance to unprecedented levels.

As Warren Bennis wrote in his editor's note: "I believe this book may be one of the most important written in many years. The ideas aren't tips, tools, or steps, but are in fact laws that govern individual, group, and organizational behavior. This book can be a resource for generations to come."

I am ordering now!