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How to transform your event from a “cost-centre” to a “profit centre!” Let's face it - putting on a decent corporate
conference costs a fortune and all too often the meager return
on investment makes
the cost awfully hard to justify. One CEO eloquently described their
yearly event as nothing more than "an annual piss-up!" Frankly,
I don't know many corporations that can afford this luxury – not
even once a year! Typically, conference organizers spend a huge whack of the budget on one or two top celebrity speakers and spread the crumbs as best they can over concurrent session speakers, panel members and so on. Marquee speakers may be good, but they are certainly not going to align their messages – heck they’re not likely to even listen to each other! You know that. They speak and they’re gone. On top of that, many presentations are pretty generic, loaded with general examples that may or may not be relevant to the situation! Once the speaker’s limo disappears, the client is left alone to figure out what to do with what they said. You will need to enlist a faculty who actually
know how to do things, not just talk about them. Ideally, you want
consultants who speak.
And having the faculty integrated and aligned is more important than
one can imagine. For example, it is vital that what the sales people
hear during the conference relates to what the distribution folks
hear. Likewise, finance people need to understand their role in developing
an e-business strategy and so need to connect with the IT team. Of
course, everyone has to understand how working in silos is undermining
every worthwhile initiative. If the pieces aren’t linked, it’s
like launching a wooden boat where all the planks don’t fit
tightly together – you are going to sink faster than the Titanic.
This is what happens in most conferences – everyone picks up
their own plank and goes home. Then we wonder why the event had little
ongoing and measurable impact. Alignment and integration – those
are the keys to a profitable event. Here’s the reason for this. Whether the big concerns and opportunities in the organization relate to technology, leadership, sales revenue, product development, cost reduction, managing change, e-business strategies, customer relations, branding or even collaborative teamwork – it’s really all about achieving and sustaining profitable competitive leadership. In today’s brutal marketplace, nothing is more important! All themes lead to competitive strategy. For example, why else would you want to talk about the role of technology if it wasn’t to find ways to use it for greater profitability and efficiency? Same goes for a topic like customer relations – the moment relationships begin to slip is the moment the company loses market share and competitive advantage. And why else would you talk about change, marketing or branding if it wasn’t to strengthen your competitive position? In fact, most business is so difficult right now that if a topic doesn’t directly strengthen the company’s competitive position, you probably shouldn’t even be talking about it. You haven’t got the time and you shouldn’t waste the money. The conference process… I’ve been speaking and consulting for a very long time in the areas of leadership, culture, spirit, teamwork and so on – the softer, people areas, if you will. Recently I’ve co-founded a consulting company (www.VisionaryOasis.com) with partners who know about manufacturing, e-business, supply chain, distribution systems – usually regarded as the hard stuff. We all came together because there is a desperate need for someone to put all these dimensions into one integrated whole. I’ve introduced ABC to my team using the following scenario. A group of us meets with the client executive team at their site for a pre-event planning session. This allows the “chemistry” to develop and also helps hone in on specific areas in which the client is losing competitive advantage. They are given a menu with items like: technology/e-business; supply chain/distribution; competitive intelligence; business process alignment; project management; corporate vision; team alignment; manufacturing, etc. With our help, the client selects three to five areas (depending on their interests as well as their budget) in which they need help. As you’d expect, we have a world-class expert in each area on this menu. Let’s say they select: 1) the application of technology, 2) distribution, and 3) competitive intelligence as the three areas on which they want to focus. Our respective expert then goes to work researching the client’s current situation, how that compares to their key competitors – and most importantly – what they need to do immediately to gain higher profitability and competitive advantage through that factor. This is done in a collaborative way with our IT guy working with their IT person, our supply chain expert with their supply chain people and so on. In other words, this is a focused consulting engagement that could involve two or three weeks of rock-solid research and analysis. If you keep in mind that all this work is leading up to the event or conference itself, you soon begin to see why you can expect such remarkable return on investment. Fast forward to the corporate event... Each presentation during the conference, be
it a plenary or concurrent session, is built around the competitive
analysis that’s been
done. Every example, every bit of data, is real – no generalities,
no contrived case study. This is customization unlike anything you’ve
seen before. It’s Analysis Based Conferencing. Using the conference format is a new idea, though in our consultations we have shown companies how they can save almost a million dollars by changing how they ship products; why they don’t have to spend $3 million on new software because what they have is perfect if they’d use it properly; and how to save untold grief and expense by aligning their business processes. In one case, we showed a client that they could fulfill a huge new manufacturing contract without building the $40 million plant they had already started to plan. We also analyzed the financials of one client and compared them to two of their key competitors. We discovered that one major competitor had a distinct competitive advantage because of 9% higher operating profit margins – but also lagged in asset management keeping its Return On Assets lower. It was clear that our client’s goal, therefore, should be to strive for an ROA of 25% by turning assets over 2X per year and making 10% operating profit margins. When you have a session with that kind of detailed analysis combined with a tactical ‘how to’ strategy – you can’t help but win! This is not a theoretical discussion. This is real money! One discovery
like that might pretty well pay for your entire conference! The conclusion
of the event involves the assembling of all the findings and recommendations
into a comprehensive competitive strategy. If you are a meeting planner, you know all too well how difficult it is to translate your vision and intention into a memorable and productive reality. Especially when your budget for doing so is whittled down to almost nothing! This innovative concept will enable you to put on a conference that will have more positive impact than you can imagine, and more than pay for itself at the same time. As much as I hate to say it, you don’t need to use an established group like Visionary Oasis. Just be sure that you select a faculty team who know how to do comprehensive analysis, are prepared to truly work together and who do a decent job at presenting their information. Getting true experts is more important than hiring slick presenters with good jokes. Every effort should be aimed at one thing: to mobilize the people to act on decisions that will lead to profitable competitive leadership for their company. It really is about the ROI! Ian Percy is an international speaker and consultant and can be reached at www.ianpercy.com The following quotation must
be printed at the conclusion of each reprinted article: |
Confession: the Latest in Corporate Strategies 3 Most Important Performance Questions 7 Signs That Your Company is Selling Its Soul It's Not the Place, It's the Purpose 360° Evaluations Will Take You In Circles It's All About the Customer, Stupid I Once Was Blind But Now I See Organizing A Conference, 3 Principles Might Help Balancing Your Spiritual Center Three Guidelines For A life-Changing Conference Looking for the "Best Practice" May Not Be The Best Practice Get
a Life! Principles For Making The Most Out of Long Drawn-Out and Difficult Experiences If You Don't Quit Re-Engineering, You'll Go Blind What's All This Stuff About Spirituality in the Workplace? Does Your Company Have a Soul? Does Your Corporate Vision Make You Tremble? Get Irritated and Change the World On the Issue of Change
- Get a Grip!
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