Meeting...No meeting? Speaker...No speaker? What's a planner to do? By Gail Davis | Tuesday, March 10, 2009
I spent 20 years on the corporate side. I understand the drill. I know the questions and I’ve lived the stress.
Even in the best of times, it was not uncommon for me to be summoned to the top floor about one month out from our large corporate incentive event. Some executive looking to be the hero would ask to run the numbers to see the financial impact of cancelling our event.
The reality of most speaker and venue contracts is that you are committed within 60-90 days of the event. I would live through the drill and, in the end, we had the event.
But that was just the math.
What message does it send to your top performers (or your association members) if you cancel an annual event? You can’t put a number on it.
I agree that companies receiving a huge bailout from the government cannot afford the perception of spending money on an incentive trip. But for all others, the decision to not have a meeting is a grave option.
Now more than ever, employees need inspiration and incentive. They need to gather in a form of community, hear from their leadership and listen to knowledgeable information from an outside source.
Outside speakers bring perspective. They often share experience and research that is not available within the corporation. The right speaker can make an employee feel special and, more importantly, loyal to his company. Loyalty is not cheap, especially in an era of minimal pay increases and absent bonuses.
I started my business 10 years ago. Before that, I managed the sales incentive program for EDS. The chairman of our company understood the true importance of this event. He often said, “Without sales, we have no company.”
He knew that the purpose of an incentive trip was to reward the top performer and their spouses/partners. As the organizer, I knew there was an opportunity at these events to give the winners exposure to our executives which is always part of the real incentive.
In 1996, Nando Parrado was the keynote speaker at the event. It was a colossal success.
I am reminded today, during these tough economic times, why his message never tires. Nando shares with his audience an extreme story about surviving a plane crash at cruising altitude, trekking out into the Andes for 10 days in rugby shoes and overcoming insurmountable odds.
When I book him for an event, I know that there will be no one else in the audience with this shared experience, yet he always connects. Why? Because we all have our own Andes. Sometime it takes the extreme example to give us the perspective we need.
Yes, the economy is in bad shape. Sadly, our friends and colleagues are losing their jobs. Things are not easy. Yet after sitting in Nando’s audience, you realize that at the end of the day, if you have your life, your health and your family, what you are experiencing is only temporary toughness.
I have 2,400 speakers in my database. Each has a unique story to tell. They range in price from $5,000 to more than $100k. Don’t miss the chance to impact the lives of your attendees. Find the right story, the right speaker and have an appropriate meeting. Be sensitive to cost but don’t leave out the most long lasting ingredient, the message.
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