It seems that corporate and association meetings are being canceled right and left lately: the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority reported that 402 conventions and meetings scheduled to be held in the city were canceled from October to mid-March; Orlando has had 114 meetings canceled this year as of late March. That’s just two cities!
The ramifications of canceled meetings are far-reaching, so for our Spring issue of TSG Key Notes, we asked thought leader Keith Ferrazzi for some insights on how meeting organizers could make their programs cancel-proof. Keith’s expertise in the development of business relationships to drive sales, spark innovation, and create team cohesion makes him the perfect candidate to address this subject. Here are some highlights from our conversation:
- The key to cancel-proofing a meeting is to make it so valuable that the cost of canceling the meeting is greater than the cost of holding it.
- What is it that makes meetings so valuable? Face time. Face time is critical to building relationships, and relationships are critical to success.
- Why, then, are meetings being canceled? Event organizers don’t always maximize the total relationship potential of every aspect of their event.
- How can this be improved? Organizers must give event participants a safe structure to start making real connections that will benefit them during the event, and a structure that allows those connections to sustain throughout the year ahead.
You can read the full article in TSG Key Notes here. Not only will you learn more from Keith Ferrazzi about how to make your meeting cancel-proof, but you’ll also be given access to a special web page with helpful video messages from Keith and a free except of his soon-to-be released book, Who’s Got Your Back. The magazine also includes an article about how to maximize the ROI on your speaker bookings, and an excerpt from our most popular blog post about how meeting planners can utilize Twitter to enhance their meeting management efforts. Learn more here.
