Since the late 1800s when the Industrial Age ushered in a whole new world of commerce, nothing has had more of a dramatic impact on the global economy than the digital age. At least that was so until last year, when disturbing financial calamities threatened the way we conduct business as a nation, including meetings, conventions and incentive programs. Certainly we’re in the midst of a new age which has yet to articulate itself.

Witness the monolithic gathering of political leaders and corporate CEOs at The National Summit held June 15–17 at the Marriott Renaissance Detroit. The objective of the summit was to “define America’s future in the global economy,” as well as discuss and advance a whole new national economic agenda while in the midst of a financial crisis of historic proportions.

In addition to an address by U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gary F. Locke, a roster of impressive leaders from both the public and private sector, including Microsoft’s CEO Steven A. Ballmer, participated in the summit’s general session or took part in town hall-type panel discussions. Also represented, however, was an eclectic mix of presidents and CEOs from the insurance and financial sectors of commerce, including Citigroup’s Vikram S. Pandit, PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr., Humana’s Michael B. McCallister, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu’s James. H. Quigley, Ernst & Young’s James S. Turley and Aetna’s Ronald A. Williams, among others. The findings of this monolithic gathering, titled “America’s To Do List” by Beth Chappell, president/CEO of the Detroit Economic Club, will be announced to the public by this fall.

There is no easy solution here as the business methodologies of the past, including meetings and similar events, are being dissected and scanned in ways that few could have imagined only a year ago, and with results that still have yet to emerge.

New Rules Of The Road

What does all of this have to do with the world of meetings, conventions and incentive programs? “New rules of the road are taking shape,” as President Obama recently stated, or new rules of engagement, where everyone within an organization now counts as an integral part of the financial solution, and all corporate events are to be held accountable in terms of productivity and ROI.

Bruce Bolger, managing director of the Incentive Performance Center and member of the Enterprise Engage­ment Alliance, noted in Insurance & Financial Meetings Management (July/August 2008) how meetings and incentive programs play a significant role in furthering the company’s objective of investing employees in the company’s success: “Almost every meeting provides another occasion to help key employee audiences better understand the promises being made to customers and how their jobs and actions can contribute to the overall objective of attracting and keeping these customers. As a result,” Bolger continued, “meeting planners can increase their value to their organizations by continually looking for ways to make meetings more strategic...by using the opportunity to re-emphasize key organizational goals and to explain how employees can contribute to the goals.”

Bolger added that incentives, rewards and recognition “are a critical means of encouraging behaviors that lead to customer satisfaction and loyalty.”

While “engagement” is not a new concept, it is being tossed around a lot as the newest buzz word in the industry and is causing a little bit of confusion. Industry leaders say in order to maximize any kind of a meeting, companies have to start in the home office by learning the how and especially the why of engaging employees, customers and other stakeholders who may attend any corporate event or incentive program.

According to one study, “Incentive, Motivation & Workplace Performance,” published by the Incentive Research Foundation, “if selected, implemented and monitored correctly, incentive programs — with awards in the form of money or tangible awards — increase [employee] performance by an average of 22 percent. Team incentives [e.g., the Midwest sales office vs. the Southeast sales office] can increase performance by as much as 44 percent.”

The following industry leaders and planning professionals are particularly qualified and equipped to weigh-in on the new rules of engagement.

ADVICE FROM INDUSTRY EXPERTS

Jennifer Rosenzweig, Carlson Marketing

Jennifer Rosenzweig is senior director of engagement and events at Carlson Marketing, Minneapolis, MN, where she has worked for 20 years. Recently, she gave a timely presentation with fellow presenter Kurt Paben, vice president of engagement and events at Carlson, at last year’s IT&ME Motivation Show called “Attendance is Nice; Engagement is Better.” In it, they educated seminar participants on existing marketplace opinions on engagement, helped them understand the philosophy behind it and why it matters so much to corporate America.

Appropriately, Rosenzweig’s main point is that engagement begins in the office cubicle long before the meeting or incentive takes place: “They are the face of the new business philosophy known as engagement,” she said. “That connection is an emotional one and the stronger the employee feels about his or her ‘brand,’ the more he or she can convey that message to the customer or be a productive meeting attendee. Employees are best equipped to do that when they feel proud to be associated with their organization; and that all gets translated into how they service a potential or existing client which, in turn, affects corporate profits.”

As to how one markets that brand, Rosenzweig observed that, in recent years, the general move has been from traditional mass marketing methodology to more technology-driven solutions, “whereby key groups who share a common interest, or individuals who share a unique interest, are identified and appropriately targeted,” she said. “Technology helps us do that.”

Once the corporate culture has developed that employee, it’s imperative to take them to the next level of engagement and that’s at meetings and through incentive rewards, recognition or trips to exciting destinations.

“While companies may be cutting back on these right now, they are doing so mostly in terms of the length of their events. After all, it’s really hard for employees to remain engaged if they are not interacting with their colleagues and leaders in the way that only meetings allow for that to happen,” she added.

“You can’t just rely on flat and passive e-mails all day long to get things done. Even President Obama uses meetings to set the stage for things to come. Meetings are a part of what makes government run, and it’s the same for business. Employees need conversation and leadership, and they get it at meetings.”

Don Peppers, Peppers & Rogers Group

As founding partner of Peppers & Rogers Group, Norwalk, CT, a leading consulting firm on customer-based strategies, Don Peppers and co-founder, Martha Rogers, Ph.D., started operations on the premise that “different types of customers need to be treated differently in order to drive corporate profits,” and then expanded that concept accordingly.

Peppers & Rogers is also a founding member of the new Enterprise Engagement Alliance (EEA), along with co-founders the Human Capital Institute and 1to1 Media (a division of Peppers & Rogers Group) and Selling Communications Inc. EEA is a coalition of companies and associations dedicated to promoting the importance of engagement.

As Don Peppers, an Air Force Academy graduate and Princeton-educated strategist, tells it, “There’s hardly an instance where one employee isn’t doing more than two jobs. Any unwritten rules of how a company should operate have been automated, outsourced or computerized. But, what you can’t automate are certain human traits like judgment, creativity, emotion and empathy.”

Peppers advises clients that before a company can expand and develop its customer base, they have to first look at the key variables of the corporate culture and ask what are its unwritten rules and customs, and how engaged are its employees.

“We have a chapter in our book Rules To Break and Laws To Follow (Wiley, 2008) called “Engaged and Enabled.” In it, we spell out that an employee must want to connect with a company’s mission, and that is

The exhibit floor at the recent Enterprise Engagement Expo, which featured two days of education, exhibits and events designed to help corporate professionals better understand the role of engagement in business success. Photo courtesy of Enterprise Engagement Expo & Conference

to feel emotionally invested.”

For Peppers, engagement encompasses the whole person. “There has to be established an atmosphere of trust first. The employee has to feel his or her career is in good hands. They have to be engaged in order to be expected to go above and beyond the call of duty.

“‘Enabled’ is another matter. Here, the employer has to provide the employee with the information, skills and authority to carry out the job. If you have employees who are engaged and enabled, you have what behavioral psychologists call ‘a self-organized force,’ which should be the goal of all companies. That means, if a problem arises with a customer and the employee knows how to fix it, they should not have to first seek permission from a superior but have the authority to go right ahead and do it.”

Likewise, Peppers advised, planners should think about engaging meeting and incentive attendees by asking them for their feedback on past events. What was better at this year’s meeting than last year’s? Or, what area of the meeting or incentive was better last year? Brainstorm with them; they’re your greatest resource of information, he said.

“Take an idea that worked well in one place and put it in another.”

Rodger Stotz, Incentive Research Foundation

While Peppers concluded by saying that if a company has steadily developed that self-organizing force he speaks of, then planners will achieve a productive conference whereby goals and financial ambitions are more readily achieved, Rodger Stotz reminds us this is no simple task. Stotz, who is chief research officer for the Incentive Research Foundation, claimed the real trick is how to engage employees, meeting attendees and incentive participants, as well as other stakeholders, without disengaging the whole corporate process.

For instance, he said, “Meeting planners just can’t say we want increased sales or improved productivity without first being aware of what’s going on in the corporate pipeline.”

He added that planners need to perform two tasks first: One, include that group of engaged employees in the overall design process of the meeting or incentive program; which then leads to the second task, looking at the program strategically rather than tactically.

“For instance, recent studies by our foundation cover this very thing from a business perspective. We looked at a particular organization that was introducing sales incentive programs and, while it was being designed, someone said ‘Hey, let’s look at how the success of this incentive program will work with the rest of the organization.’ When they did, they found increased sales (in this case, the issuance of a certain number of new credit card members) would actually produce some rather negative results simply because the production department was not equipped nor staffed to handle the barrage of additional applications.

“So, you have a meeting on how to improve sales but, when the attendees are successful at accomplishing this, the company is not prepared to handle it. The bottom line is, yes, you need to take a look at the impact of meetings and incentive programs with the other stakeholders in mind, before designing that very program.”

Based on Stotz’s business philosophy, meeting and incentive planners need to consider how the various aspects of the meeting are being communicated. “Planners need to create the feeling for their attendees that they are not only being physically taken care of at the meeting property but that they are also cared about at personal and emotional levels too.”

Accordingly, meeting professionals who are able to get their supplier stakeholders involved are those who reach out to them and ask for help. Stotz said they should ask vendors and suppliers to participate rather than just give orders to them. Although planners have their own ideas and budget constraints to consider, they should set the tone of the event early in the process.

“As for suppliers, what I hear is ‘give us an opportunity to respond to your requests, but also give us an opportunity to suggest alternatives,’?” Stotz said. “Once they know what you’re trying to do, even with limited resources, they might come back with some helpful ideas. Begin the engagement with vendors and suppliers by communicating your corporate brand to them and ask them for ideas to help make it come alive, maybe for less.”

Meeting planners, Stotz concluded, need to look at the overall value of the investment. He says it’s more about VOI than ROI. “Look through a new lens and consider the value of the meeting rather than just the budget.”

ADVICE FROM MEETING PROFESSIONALS

Among other experts who also subscribe to varied and diverse methods to engage people are a select group of meeting professionals from all walks of life and business experience. They are: Marshall Lipson, CLU, managing director of professional development for the Society of Financial Service Professionals; Harris Schanhaut, CME, president of Effective Events; and Rodney Ballance Jr., president and founder of Abundant Life Inc. We provide their profiles and what engagement means to them in their organizations:

Marshall Lipson, CLU, Society of Financial Service Professionals

Background: Lipson gathered many years of experience at Sun Life of Canada and Manufacturer’s Life before becoming managing director of professional development for the Newton Square, PA-based Society of Financial Service Professionals in 1987. Currently, he produces educational programs that satisfy both the required state government and professional continuing education requirements of each respective profession and designation.

Engagement: “Engaging attendees starts in the workplace first,” said Lipson. “Get them involved early in the planning process, mentally and physically, and be sure they identify with the topics for which the educational content is developed. Our meetings keep people totally engaged because we have totally paperless events. That almost forces attendees to get involved with the meeting from the check-in point. Instead, we provide free Wi-Fi service to all attendees who bring their own laptops, which they prefer to do anyway.”

Last meeting: “Our last meeting was a Financial Services Forum held at the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa in Summerlin, NV, last October,” Lipson said. “There were about 750 attendees at the three-day event. Our purpose was to educate our members about sophisticated estate, business and retirement planning techniques, and investment management. We discussed these planning techniques with respect to new tax and planning laws. To engage attendees and get desired results, we review many situational case studies that put a face and personality to what would otherwise be facts on paper. One of our goals was to increase attendance, and we achieved that by engaging and partnering with a major company who used our programming in conjunction with one of their regularly scheduled educational events. This model was so successful at increasing attendance, it is being followed this coming year as well.”

Lipson’s engaging rules to live by: 1. Be current. Do what is new, emphasize what has changed from last year. If they are professionals, they’re already familiar with what was done in previous years, so concentrate on the here and now. 2. Be relevant. Use situations that attendees face regularly, don’t be academic. 3. Be practical. Use situational case studies to teach beyond the technical.

Harris Schanhaut, CME, Effective Events

Background: Schanhaut has been managing trade shows and events for more than 20 years. He started his meeting career at American Express where he oversaw all facets of events including trade shows, conferences and related meetings for the Commercial Cards business division. Currently, he is president of Effective Events, where he contracts with a variety of firms including financial institutions.

Engagement: Schanhaut said that “engaging attendees” means making the content of the meeting, seminar or workshop relevant enough to the attendees so that they are excited to participate in the program before the event. For instance, for a particular trade show for American Express, Schanhaut went through a year’s worth of corporate publications to learn what its members considered the hot topics of the day. From that exercise, he distilled three key words: savings, compliance and control. He said that by putting those three words on a large, eye-level sign, despite a 10 percent reduction in overall expo attendance, he captured 50 percent more leads than the prior year.

Last meeting: “Let me go back to a meeting I did at American Express,” Schanhaut said. “I held a private offsite event during one of this country’s largest financial conferences. While I did not have a deep-pockets budget for this particular gathering, I engaged my sales staff by having them hand pick from a pre-registered attendee list of 5,000 people, 100 candidates of whom they felt were the most desirable; and then they were asked to that scale down further to a goal of 24 prime attendees. For this high-profile group, I ordered a very upscale printed invitation for dinner and entertainment at a private club where each guest received a special gift custom-made to their tastes and specifications. I received thank-you letters from most of the attendees, and one of the attending CEOs had his meeting planner call me to help her replicate the event.

“My goal was to get these people to commit to a time slot in our private conference area. It turned out the space was completely booked well before the conference, so much so, we had to arrange offsite dinners to accommodate the overflow. We reached about 150 percent of goal.”

Schanhaut’s engaging rules to live by: 1. Lose the product-speak, as only your closest staff members will understand what you’re talking about. 2. Keep all messages short and sweet, and geared to the audience at all times. 3. Showcase only things that are relevant to the program.

Rodney Ballance Jr., FIC, The Abundant Life Institute

Background: In 1993, Ballance started his insurance/financial career as an agent for a Fraternal Benefit Society called Woodmen of the World. After several years, Balance said that he moved “out of the captive environment and into an independent situation where I financially advise others at live meetings and events throughout the U.S.” As a licensed agent and a registered principal with FINRA, Ballance is now president and founder of a financial ministry called The Abundant Life Institute Inc., Williamston, NC, which he said was modeled after “the good works of Doctors Without Borders.” Abundant Life provides attendees of its Financial Empowerment Workshops with Money Coaches who then advise and guide them in adjusting their individual financial situations.

Engagement: “Engaging seminar participants means that you start developing the relationship with your attendees and earning their trust as early in the event as possible,” said Ballance. “I’m of the old-school thought that “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Once they know that, they almost automatically become engaged. I try to personally meet and greet every person who enters the room as is humanly possible, even though there can be several hundred.”

Last meeting: “Most recently, I conducted a Financial Empowerment Workshop (FEW) in Raleigh, NC. Our slogan was. ‘Come join the FEW because many are called, but only a FEW will choose to follow.’ We typically have anywhere from 100 to 300 people in our live events, depending on the number of Money Coaches we have available to follow up with the attendees. I will cut seminar attendance off at 30 for every coach because I don’t believe he or she can effectively work with more than that. Since we are able to offer this type of personalized attention to our participants, they easily become relaxed and engaged early in the program. I never ask why they are here, but try to let them know some of the topics we will be discussing and take it from there. These folks almost always volunteer their own information once they learn I am the main speaker of the program. During breaks, I work the room and ask attendees for their opinion of what they’ve heard, thereby engaging them further in conversation and making them a part of the process, because they are.

Ballance’s engaging rules to live by: 1. Make sure you are approachable. Don’t come across as some know-it-all celebrity that people are lucky to be able to hear. None of us is that special. 2. Be sincere in wanting to know more about each attendee. This will give you an idea of how your meeting or program can help them. 3. Don’t try to fix everyone’s problem at the event. Listen to their concerns, of course, and give them hope.    I&FMM