David or Goliath?
Independent planners offer advantages over the large third-party organizations as well. While the larger organizations have more staff on hand to see to it that an event goes off without a hitch, independent planners maintain that they offer start-to-finish personal involvement.
"It's kind of like when an expecting mother is choosing between a group practice or a sole practitioner," says Laura Stegmann, director of business development for MMA. "For a sole practitioner, the same person is going to be there from your first consultation through the birth -- for a group practice, you don't know who will be there."
Stegmann adds that the larger planners tend to assign the staffers closest to the destination to oversee the event itself, while a smaller house provides a more hands-on planning approach on every detail.
"It's not like the design department is doing one thing, and the marketing department does another -- we do it all," says Stegmann.
That does mean that MMA does fewer events a year, so clients must select their planners carefully. John Koon, president of JEK Consulting, had worked for Hospitality Performance Network for nearly two years and enjoyed the work, but admits that "you can get more personal with clients" by going independent. He finds the independent planner approach means he is involved in almost every aspect of the meeting, while working with a large third-party planner was more specialized.
"If you're working for one of the large planners, you are part of the pecking order," says Koon. "You have a specific focus or area. I like the freedom I have now to make my own decisions -- if I want to take the day off, that's my call." It's also his call whether he takes on additional roles in the industry. Besides his meeting planning, Koon also does consulting work with hotels.
This past April saw the launch of the new Independent Planners Education Conference (IPEC). The three-day program was aimed at the specific needs of independent planners who are not working in-house for a specific company and who are unaffiliated with one of the big three third-party planning organizations in the meetings industry. Hosted by Successful Meetings and our sister publication Meetings & Conventions, the event focused on providing insights that speak to the particular educational concerns of these planners, focusing on creating a business plan, budgeting, negotiating, marketing, and other best practices for these small business owners.
"The education offered for independent planners was great -- they're making steps in the right direction," says Joe Smith, president of Stage One Events and an IPEC attendee. He added that he has found a thirst among independent planners for educational offerings that speak to their needs in particular, which are often overlooked in the broader meetings market.
The launch of IPEC is just the latest reminder that independent planners are a force to be reckoned with in the meetings industry, and for good reason. These smaller shops offer a number of advantages to clients seeking a more personalized, experienced approach to their events that works well as a contrast or in addition to what in-house planners can provide.
Turning the Tables
Norma McGrody, president of Meeting Management Associates (MMA), has seen the difference between in-house and independent planners first-hand -- she worked for years as an in-house planner for major organizations like Prudential Real Estate and Coldwell Banker. She admits that in these roles, she was not always eager to reach out to an independent planner, preferring to create the meeting herself using her internal staff. But as her staff at Prudential was cut back, McGrody had no choice.
"They would have me outsource, in part, because then they didn't have to pay the medical benefits and other costs associated with a full-time staff member," says McGrody. "Prudential also knew what we tell our prospects about us now: An outside planner can always get a lower rate and added concessions from hoteliers and destinations than a planner within the organization."
But even as independent planners took on a greater role in Prudential's events, their responsibilities rarely went beyond site selection and contract negotiation. Now, these independent planners (including McGrody's firm) are taking on an ever-greater list of duties. She believes the reason for this is simply that independent planners have more business they can leverage with potential destinations.
"If we're booking a hotel in Cabo, we can assure the hotel or destination that we will bring additional meetings there in the future," McGrody says. "For an in-house person, since the chances of that specific company coming back to the same destination are so slim, it's harder for them to negotiate."
That can be especially challenging for organizations perceived as having too little experience with contract negotiation to get a good price, or which are viewed as so flush that price doesn't matter. This latter scenario was the case for Laura Stegmann, director of business development for MMA, who had previously worked as an in-house meeting planner for high-end cosmetics and fragrance firm Estée Lauder.
"The minute they heard 'Estée Lauder' they would see dollar signs," Stegmann says of hotel and destination partners she would encounter. "They would think they could ask for whatever they wanted and get it -- and if the planners weren't experienced enough, they probably would."
But more than a stronger negotiating position, experience is what sets these independent planners apart from many internal planners. Especially in this post-recession climate, in which many staffers have taken on multiple roles, the employee planning a meeting often juggles many other duties. They may be administrative assistants or human resource coordinators with a deep knowledge of the company's inner workings, but they are less likely to understand the nuances of room tax or potential concessions.
John Koon, president of San Francisco based JEK Consulting, gives the example of a client he began to work with that had already been locked into a contract with a property in which they were getting a poor deal. While the client believed there was little it could do now that the paperwork was signed, Koon leveraged the other business he brought to the destination to create a mutually beneficial result.
"Through my energy and efforts -- with the promise of another piece of business -- I was able to pull that client's business," says Koon. It didn't hurt that Koon had previously worked in the hotel business, so he also approached the negotiation with an intuitive understanding of "what the pluses and minuses are."
Understanding Client Culture
Of course, going with an outside planner does have some disadvantages. Since a third-party planner is not a member of the organization, he or she may not have the deep understanding of the client the way that a long-time employee would. This begins with researching the prospect -- reading about how its business is doing, and speaking directly with its leadership if possible.
Part of this is understanding the company leadership, and getting a sense of how involved the executives might be willing to get with participating in the event. It also includes understanding the internal event team -- and where the external event planner fits into it.
"You need to make sure you aren't stepping on any toes," says Koon. "I was hired as a third-party planner by a client because of my industry knowledge and to help them expedite the logistics, but I could not forget that my job was to make their job easier."
Stage One Events' Smith agrees, adding that, "a lot of times the internal planners are concerned about their job. We have to sell them on the fact that our job is to make them look like a rock star to their boss."
But beyond just having the facts about a client, successful independent planners must also attempt to tap into the sensibility of the organization. Debi Tracy, president of Hicksville, NY-based Anytime, Anywhere, Anyhow Meetings & Events, had worked for years coordinating meetings for pharmaceutical companies, moving between working as an independent planner to serving as an internal staffer. But with the passage of the Sunshine Act, the pharma company she had been working for at the time opted to lay off much of its event-planning staff. Tracy returned to work as an independent planner just in time to land business with a client that specializes in yoga and natural birth -- a subject of personal interest to Tracy, a long-time yoga enthusiast.
"I've had clients joke that my office is like a spa -- I've got the water fountain and relaxing music playing -- and I also have a background as a hypnotherapist," says Tracy. "So, I bring these tools and experiences from my life into my work.
For example, when visiting the San Francisco hotel where the meeting was to take place, Tracy brought up ideas such as creating a staging area for a yoga workshop. She also describes "almost speaking a different language" with the yoga client than she would with the pharma client ("they don't have the same stress levels as the corporate world would normally have") and shaping the meetings in a different way because of these different organizational philosophies.
"These are childbirth educators, midwifes, and nurses who aren't making high six-figure salaries -- they have to be willing to put the money on the line for the event and really know they are going to get something out of it," says Tracy. "It's not just about getting knowledge, they also get the community, and have different standards of success."
At the same time, her experience working with diverse meeting groups allowed her to spot opportunities that a planner who had, say, only worked internally with one company, would have overlooked. This was the first time the client had done this type of an event, and the organization had initially planned to hold its meeting in June of this year.
"I said, 'That's the end of the school year for us here in the northeast, so it crosses out a lot of people who can't come because of that,'" says Tracy. "But even more important, there was a convention of obstetricians and gynecologists -- the sort of professionals who might have an interest in this event -- who were meeting in San Francisco in May 2015.
So Tracy was able convince the organization to push back their calendar.
Personal Touch
Personalization is key for independent planners. McGrody points to a recent incentive event for 100 people in Florence, Italy, in which MMA found an Italian calligrapher to create personal menu cards for each individual in the final dinner.
"Laura [Stegmann] researched packaging, gifts, every detail," says McGrody. "We are the antithesis of cookie cutter. We want to make the top producers and their guests feel they are exceptional."
McGrody and Stegmann note that there is often a big difference in how the client views the relationship between an independent and an in-house planners. When one works for an organization, she is more likely to receive appreciation from the company leaders when a meeting succeeds, but when it's a third-party planner, a successful meeting is just part of her job.
"When we were in-house, we would get flowers after the event; when you take on this role as independent, you relinquish all the 'attagirls' you may have gotten," says McGrody. "They aren't going to say 'Meeting Management Associates came up with this' -- you are there to create and save the company money, and only every now and then do you get a company that's going to really express appreciation."
But it does happen. For the recent Florence trip, the client gave MMA an especially enthusiastic thanks.
"One of the emails we just got from a participant mentioned so many things that we did," says McGrody. "She noticed everything."
Understanding Client Culture
Of course, going with an outside planner does have some disadvantages. Since a third-party planner is not a member of the organization, he or she may not have the deep understanding of the client the way that a long-time employee would. This begins with researching the prospect -- reading about how its business is doing, and speaking directly with its leadership if possible.
Part of this is understanding the company leadership, and getting a sense of how involved the executives might be willing to get with participating in the event. It also includes understanding the internal event team -- and where the external event planner fits into it.
"You need to make sure you aren't stepping on any toes," says Koon. "I was hired as a third-party planner by a client because of my industry knowledge and to help them expedite the logistics, but I could not forget that my job was to make their job easier."
Stage One Events' Smith agrees, adding that, "a lot of times the internal planners are concerned about their job. We have to sell them on the fact that our job is to make them look like a rock star to their boss."
But beyond just having the facts about a client, successful independent planners must also attempt to tap into the sensibility of the organization. Debi Tracy, president of Hicksville, NY-based Anytime, Anywhere, Anyhow Meetings & Events, had worked for years coordinating meetings for pharmaceutical companies, moving between working as an independent planner to serving as an internal staffer. But with the passage of the Sunshine Act, the pharma company she had been working for at the time opted to lay off much of its event-planning staff. Tracy returned to work as an independent planner just in time to land business with a client that specializes in yoga and natural birth -- a subject of personal interest to Tracy, a long-time yoga enthusiast.
"I've had clients joke that my office is like a spa -- I've got the water fountain and relaxing music playing -- and I also have a background as a hypnotherapist," says Tracy. "So, I bring these tools and experiences from my life into my work.
For example, when visiting the San Francisco hotel where the meeting was to take place, Tracy brought up ideas such as creating a staging area for a yoga workshop. She also describes "almost speaking a different language" with the yoga client than she would with the pharma client ("they don't have the same stress levels as the corporate world would normally have") and shaping the meetings in a different way because of these different organizational philosophies.
"These are childbirth educators, midwifes, and nurses who aren't making high six-figure salaries -- they have to be willing to put the money on the line for the event and really know they are going to get something out of it," says Tracy. "It's not just about getting knowledge, they also get the community, and have different standards of success."
At the same time, her experience working with diverse meeting groups allowed her to spot opportunities that a planner who had, say, only worked internally with one company, would have overlooked. This was the first time the client had done this type of an event, and the organization had initially planned to hold its meeting in June of this year.
"I said, 'That's the end of the school year for us here in the northeast, so it crosses out a lot of people who can't come because of that,'" says Tracy. "But even more important, there was a convention of obstetricians and gynecologists -- the sort of professionals who might have an interest in this event -- who were meeting in San Francisco in May 2015.
So Tracy was able convince the organization to push back their calendar.
Personal Touch
Personalization is key for independent planners. McGrody points to a recent incentive event for 100 people in Florence, Italy, in which MMA found an Italian calligrapher to create personal menu cards for each individual in the final dinner.
"Laura [Stegmann] researched packaging, gifts, every detail," says McGrody. "We are the antithesis of cookie cutter. We want to make the top producers and their guests feel they are exceptional."
McGrody and Stegmann note that there is often a big difference in how the client views the relationship between an independent and an in-house planners. When one works for an organization, she is more likely to receive appreciation from the company leaders when a meeting succeeds, but when it's a third-party planner, a successful meeting is just part of her job.
"When we were in-house, we would get flowers after the event; when you take on this role as independent, you relinquish all the 'attagirls' you may have gotten," says McGrody. "They aren't going to say 'Meeting Management Associates came up with this' -- you are there to create and save the company money, and only every now and then do you get a company that's going to really express appreciation."
But it does happen. For the recent Florence trip, the client gave MMA an especially enthusiastic thanks.
"One of the emails we just got from a participant mentioned so many things that we did," says McGrody. "She noticed everything."