Fusion Productions - Integrating Meetings, Learning & Technology

Perhaps at no time in association management history has it been more important to have an effective marketing and communication strategy for meetings and events.

Today, through general sessions; interactive, face-to-face meetings; and the Internet, you need to deliver custom marketing, communication, and learning solutions that help your audience find what it needs to be productive and inspired to innovate. To make your association the place where this happens, collaboration between marketing and meetings managers is critical.

A case study in two parts, this article will demonstrate the importance of an integrated strategy when attempting to maximize your marketing and communication messages at meetings. Fusion Productions was tasked to develop the event strategy and meeting design process as well as produce general sessions and special events for HQ Global Workplaces, a world leader in office outsourcing.

Although this case study is based on an international corporate meeting, it illustrates how association marketing professionals can work with their meeting manager counterparts to develop strong marketing and communication strategies for face-to-face events.

Many associations use their annual meetings to launch important programs and initiatives--brand promotion, membership campaigns, grassroots initiatives, fundraising drives, and educational programs--to the entire membership. Each initiative uses the annual meeting as a platform to reach their audience. And you--the marketing manager--can enhance the success of your fellow staff’s program launches via your meetings.

Case study background

Organization. Through a global network of 469 locations, HQ Global Workplaces provides flexible and complete office solutions to clients in need of occasional access to office space and business services, and to home-based customers. Customers have immediate, cost-effective access to essential business services, including state-of-the-art communications and highly functional workspaces and meeting rooms, all in attractive environments designed to encourage efficiency, productivity, and comfort.

Situation analysis. You are given only 60 days to design and produce the first worldwide meeting for your rapidly growing global company, an event that will bring together 450 executives from 14 countries. Imagine further that you are tasked with ensuring this event not only meets but also exceeds the expectations of all key stakeholders.

HQ Global Workplaces was growing at a frenzied pace as more and more clients--for example, Charles Schwab and 3Com--were selecting it as their primary global office outsourcing provider. Simultaneously, it was adding new staff, integrating a growing list of international franchisees from four continents, adding new products and facilities, and completing a set of global operational standards that would become a recipe for producing world-class quality throughout its global network.

Event. The HQ Global Workplaces Leadership Conference had to achieve some very tough goals and objectives, including closing deals with new franchisees, building alliances with partners in the Pacific Rim, integrating several new teams, and creating market buzz to reach current and prospective investors and clients. This meeting had to raise the bar in positioning HQ Global Workplaces as the market leader in temporary workplace solutions worldwide.

Obstacles. The following significant hurdles had to be overcome:

• Sixty days to plan and produce--from the CEO’s request to an opening reception in Montreal.
• Franchise-owned and company-owned staff from six continents and 14 countries had never met as one company under an HQ Global Workplaces banner.
• Tasked with rigorous global travel schedules and building the headquarters team, senior leadership team members were essentially unavailable for planning.

Return-on-investment (ROI) event business planning was critical to achieving our meeting outcomes.

Stakeholder profile analysis

We typically approach such a challenge by defining the meeting value proposition in relation to its audience, identifying strategies that bring the value proposition to life for meeting attendees, and examining the structure of meeting delivery to determine how the strategy can best be executed.

The foundation of our meeting strategy for this event was based on having our audience act in the following ways:

• raise awareness on building a great company,
• desire to share the vision of HQ Global Workplaces,
• support the new brand-strategy initiatives,
• focus on the opportunities and challenges to unleash the power of the HQ Global Workplaces organization and their role in this process,
• share or seek best-practice knowledge from peers to succeed more quickly, and
• contribute by preparing personal action plans to reach the goal.

Ultimately, we wanted HQ’s target audience, as well as team members around the globe who could not attend the meeting, to embrace the vision and strategy of the meeting. We knew our real ROI would come in the 30 to 45 days following our meeting. We needed something to help our managers and directors communicate the vision to the field.

Facilitated analysis and research

With different players coming from different organizations with their own cultures, expectations, and needs, it was critical to craft a message that spoke to every professional in a uniquely personal way. We needed to understand each key stakeholder group in order to design and position information delivery to maximize their understanding and commitment. The message: As one company with one powerful vision, HQ Global Workplaces can change the way people do business anywhere in the world.

Using an analysis tool for profiling the audience, we determined the following (and recommend you do the same for your meetings):

• Who were the stakeholders in this event? By separating the unique subgroups from the audience, you can focus on understanding each group more carefully.
• What needs and challenges did they face in their local markets leading up to the meeting? Your task is to understand participants’ concerns, fears, and problems so you can design a response during the meeting.
• Did they have any specific expectations? You need to understand thought bias in order to craft a response that corrects them.
• What actions does senior management want each stakeholder to perform following the event? These will correspond to many initiatives across your association, from lobbying a certain bill to selling books and education programs.

Although much of this analysis was performed as an interactive discussion with the event management team and corporate management, we also used other measurement tools, including a premeeting survey. More than 50 percent of our attendees responded to the survey, helping us understand their needs, expectations, and concerns in advance of the meeting.

The stakeholder analysis document, which became the foundation for designing strategy, helped us mass customize content, organize presentation delivery, build and focus emotional commitment, and accelerate postmeeting action. This top-level analysis also presented unique opportunities to leverage meeting expenses. For example, we repurposed the videotaped program content to create a powerful postmeeting communication tool (with group facilitator-led exercises) that attendee-managers could present to their direct reports around the world, effectively bringing the content and the emotional payoff of the meeting to every HQ Global employee worldwide.

We further leveraged the stakeholder knowledge we gained by creating a one-page brand profile to help communicate the core principles of the HQ Global Workplaces brand to every team member worldwide. Together with HQ’s senior meeting managers, we reached beyond our role as operational architects of the meeting to craft the future growth of the company.

Meeting goals and objectives

Meetings without specific and quantifiable goals can never measure return on investment. Therefore, we crafted and presented the following goals and objectives:

1. To embrace the HQ Global Workplaces vision and brand, attendees should be able to answer the following questions:
   • What do our clients gain by workplace outsourcing at HQ Global Workplaces?
   • What is the difference between supplying the client what they need versus what you have?
   • Why are you so important to the process of acquiring and retaining our clients?
   • What is the brand experience we want to project at every HQ Global Workplaces center?
2. To gain commitment to the goal of being one world . . . one company . . . one vision, attendees should understand
   • the strategic intent of the HQ Global Workplaces vision,
   • the new HQ Global Workplaces global operations structure, and
   • the value and importance of the Global Operational Standards Manual.
3. To be able to immediately work with clients using the four major HQ Global Workplaces office outsourcing tools for client retention and acquisition.
   • Physical facilities. Convenient locations, Steelcase furnishings, private office space and conference and team rooms.
   • Technology. High-speed Internet access, state-of-the-art networking, videoconferencing, voice mail systems, modem and data ports, high-speed copiers, color printers, broadcast fax machines.
   • Operational standards. Easy and convenient contracting, professional and experienced office staff, standard office practices, local city knowledge.
   • Product packaging and pricing standards. Identify three products you believe will have the biggest impact on the occupancy rates and customer satisfaction of each of your clients.
4. To embrace how HQ Global Workplaces should manage its global operational standards, attendees should:
   • understand how standards define who we are as a company,
   • realize who benefits from our “Standards of Success,” and
   • iterate the goals behind Standards 2000.
5. To create more familiarity among corporate and field directors and managers, attendees will participate in teams or use the following smart networking tools and activities:
   • Tools. Attendees wear colored lanyards referencing a unique stakeholder group, allowing others to easily identify peers. Attached to the lanyards are badges that identify a specific expertise (for example, technology aptitude).
   • Social/team-building events. Organized social interactions include the Where Worlds Meet opening reception, District Dinners, and the Prototype Development Contest.
6. Attendees will understand how HQ Global Workplaces is using its supply chain to create the ultimate workplace for its global clients.
   • They will understand how each meeting sponsor (supplier) fits into the HQ Global product mix.
   • They will be able to identify at least one service from each supplier that would fit into each of their accounts.
7. Alliance and franchisee prospects will recognize HQ Global Workplaces as an exciting, industry-leading company, giving it some confirmation for moving forward with each prospect.
   • Each HQ Global Strategic Leadership Team member will be assigned a group of alliance and franchisee prospects to host.
   • Special meetings will be held as necessary to manage relationship opportunities.

The stakeholder analysis was instrumental to this process, helping to uncover approaches we would have never discovered. These goals and objectives became the foundation for the design and development of the tools used to deliver the message and learning experiences.

Editor’s note: Part 2 of this case study will cover designing and delivering the message, defining moments of truth, and overall meeting results.