Parallel to an overall cultural shift towards buying local and taking local vacations, many companies are also shifting towards planning meetings closer to their headquarters and forgoing high profile resorts and hotels. There are multiple reasons for meeting locally, as well as a number of benefits that may not be immediately recognizable, but can serve your client companies well. As a meeting planner, you need to be aware of this shift and anticipate the needs of your clients as they take steps to save money and time by moving their meeting locations closer to home.

Opting for more affordable options that offer a good value for their money, including well-equipped meeting facilities, necessary amenities and lower transportation costs, allows companies to hold meetings, complete trainings and achieve their goals while spending less time and money doing so. The time saved by hosting a meeting at a drive-to location allows more time for completing tasks and doing business, and assists companies to stay within their budget during difficult economic times. By selecting smaller, nearby cities that are within driving distance, companies can also significantly lower their travel expenses, making their meetings more cost-effective.

Meeting locally can also offer excellent image management opportunities by showing that the company is supporting local businesses and vendors, particularly if you make it a point to ensure local catering and other services are used whenever possible.

Today everyone is pinching pennies, and for good reason; the economic crisis has been frightening. Anyone who isn’t at least a little worried isn’t paying attention. That said, it seems that it is possible to be too careful. One of those ways most meeting planners have already seen–companies are canceling meetings by the score, and others are going to teleconferencing and web meetings. While VoIP technology has made it possible to hold meetings more cheaply overall, it also costs in the long run. The values of “face time” are numerous.

The Risk of Impersonal Contact

Although email and other automated communications can save time and money, it also creates a barrier to more humanistic contact. Everyone has known someone who was misunderstood because of an email and created tension and disagreements–what a waste of company time! Meeting the people you email with keeps the humanity in conversations, and helps keep civility in them as well. People are a little less quick on their hot button when they can put a face with an email handle. Read the rest of this entry »