An extensive study by Meeting Professionals International (MPI) has found that organizations rarely make the effort to measure the value of their meetings.
MPI’s Business Value of Meetings study showed that fewer than 10 percent of meetings are currently measured for business value. The study was based on interviews with 261 corporations in 27 countries.
Those somewhat surprising results, unveiled in June, convinced MPI that it should develop a resource toolbox to help meeting planners measure the effectiveness of any meeting. MPI plans to roll out its suite of tools in September.
MPI’s study found that in most cases, organizations tend to measure the value of only those meetings that have financial objectives or return on investment, such as trade shows or sales meetings. When there are no monetary goals, organizations tend to look at the value of a meeting as immeasurable.
But the study found that the value of any meeting can be measured as long as post-meeting surveys are in line with the meeting’s objectives and results of surveys are thoroughly evaluated.
MPI’s tools will help meeting planners learn how to address an organization’s low perception of meeting ROI; get stakeholders to buy in on surveys to measure meeting value; define the objectives of events; develop meaningful ways to measure value; and learn the proper methods for analyzing and reporting the results of their surveys.
For more information about the MPI study, visit mpiweb.org/bvom.
