The world of complex spend management can often frustrate the typical procurement executive, as each category that encompasses this area has its own distinct set of capabilities, competencies, solutions, and yes, even performance metrics. Contingent workforce management (CWM) includes metrics that revolve around independent contractor compliance and talent quality; business travel and expense management requires performance indicators such as corporate travel policy compliance and the cost to process expense reports; and marketing materials / services management includes measurement of branding consistency and adherence to procurement-led budgets.
Events management is an arena that has evolved tremendously over the past few years, with organizations treating corporate events (in all of its forms, such an incentive, customer / client, revenue-generating, etc.) more as “engagements” than one-shot live meetings. This focus on engagement management has not only spurred a new, collaborative approach to this category (entailing hand-in-hand coordination between procurement and marketing), but it’s also caused events management leaders to rethink their approach to performance measurement beyond simple cost and revenue targets.
With this evolution in mind, there are a series of “metrics that matter” in the world of events management that every business leader should consider managing as part of their greater meetings management programs:
- Emotional ROI. The attendee experience is now a prime focal area for organizations that conduct regular events. While this metric has been part of the program for a couple of years now, it has unfortunately been buried a bit behind more traditional events management metrics, such as cost savings or policy compliance. The emotional return-on-investment of events is a fantastic indicator of the overall success of a meeting: did attendees gain knowledge from speakers and presentations? Were breakout sessions engaging and informative? Did sponsors or underwriters play a pivotal role in how attendees “connected the dots” between a specific business aspect and the solutions that can help enhance that function?
- Events spend under management. Taking a cue from the procurement group, events spend under management is a simple cross-metric that borrows a foundation from the purchasing unit (controllable spend actually managed) and applies it to the events management arena (events management spending that is specifically tracked and accounted for in corporate forecasting). This procurement-founded metric can help business leaders understand the financial ramifications of corporate meetings and events, and help bring any strategic meetings management program from a hidden corner out into the limelight.
- Events management quality scoring. With the focus on the attendee experience and engagement management, corporate meetings and events cannot simply ride on adherence to budgets and revenue alone. Enterprises must find a means of capturing the true quality of an event, whether it’s via a post-event survey (an attribute that has been in place for a few years) or integration of events management technology with social media (to discover Twitter chatter, retweets, positive discussions, etc.). Events are often conducted with a specific goal in mind, and as this space continues to evolve into a direction where spend management takes a backseat, it becomes critical for enterprises to gauge the quality of their events to ensure that these meetings are “connecting” with attendees and improving their overall experience.
RELATED ARTICLES
2014: The Year Ahead in Travel and Expense Management
Mobility and Complex Category Management (Part I)
2014: The Year Ahead in Meetings and Events Management
Procurement’s Evolution, Part III: Convergence With Marketing
Instant Analysis: ACTIVE Network and Lanyon Merge to Deliver New Offering
