Not long ago, only the most sophisticated and informed corporate travel, meetings, and procurement managers knew anything about strategic meetings
management (SMM), the science of centralized meetings planning and management.
Today, however, more and more companies see adopting SMM as a necessity in order to gain greater visibility into all meetings spend, boost control over
expenditures, improve relationships with preferred hotels and other suppliers, and mitigate the everyday financial and security risks that come with holding
events around the world.
In Strategic Meetings Management Handbook: From Theory to Practice, eleven meetings industry thought leaders have come together to share their knowledge and experience in chapters about the most advanced SMM theories and best practices. In this book you’ll find chapters on:
• The origins and history of SMM
• Maturing an SMM program at your own pace
• Coaching holdouts in your company toward full
adoption
• Knowing when you’ve achieved success
• Making SMM work even without a mandate from
senior management
• Managing the risks of meetings and events
• How a meeting charge card benefits your SMM
program
• Expanding your program globally across your company’s
operating regions
• The payoff from meetings management technology
• Combining business and meetings travel for maximum
savings and efficiencies
• Crafting a management strategy for the growing
phenomenon of virtual meetings and events
• Funding your meetings program with commission
from a Corporate Travel Department
This is not a how-to book. Rather, Strategic Meetings Management Handbook: From Theory to Practice gives readers a grand overview of the development of SMM, its progression today, what the most advanced industry players are thinking and doing, and where SMM is headed in the future.
Kevin Iwamoto: Kevin Iwamoto, global leadership professional (GLP), is vice president of Enterprise Strategy at Philadelphia-based StarCite, Inc., an industry-leading meetings management technology company. Iwamoto is a widely recognized business travel industry leader.
Iwamoto was awarded the GBTA Industry Icon Award in 2009, an award rarely given and based on lifetime career and industry achievements. He has been recognized numerous times over the years by Business Travel News, including Travel Manager
of the Year and Top 25 Most Influential Executives; and by Meeting News as one of the Top 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry. Iwamoto writes about meetings industry issues and his firsthand experiences in SMM in a popular industry blog.
