The Oxford Economics Study: The Return on Investment of Business Travel
(February 2010) View the presentation here

9 Great Tips for Planning a Successful Meeting

# 9. Plan Ahead. Longer lead times maximize venue availability, increase attendance, and save costs. When selecting your meeting dates, avoid holidays.

# 8. Set a Clear Objective and Know Your Agenda. Let the objective of the meeting drive everything else. Plan your agenda early and build the meeting around it.

# 7. Develop a Timeline. Critical to identify the steps in the process to ensure success.

# 6. Communicate. Get your meeting on people’s calendars early. Consider sending a “Save the Date” email to ensure availability.

# 5. Location, Location, Location. Consider geographic locations with regard to the home destinations of attendees, and consider the immediate surroundings of the meeting venue. Also consider venue construction schedules.

# 4. Invite Enough. For meetings of external attendees, consider those who will be unable or uninterested in attending. Consider inviting in “waves” to fill your audience.

# 3. Lights, Camera... Your meeting objectives may not be met if attendees cannot see and/or hear your message. Make quality Audio/Visual a priority.

# 2. Minimize Changes. Changes can be expensive. Never change the arrival and departure parameters of a meeting if possible. For example, changing flights can add significant cost and increase the chances for misinformation and travel glitches.

# 1. Partner with Gray Consulting. When you put the right players in place, the entire team wins. Maximize everyone’s performance by positioning people to do what they do best. The cost savings are remarkable. Yes, it’s cheaper to work with a Meeting Planner than to work without one!