At last count, there were more than 800 positions for people planning meetings, events, conferences, exhibitions, trade shows and fairs, and incentive travel.
Sometimes these titles reflect the global nature of their role (Global Meetings Manager), their involvement in meetings strategy (Associate Director of Strategic Events), or that they also manage corporate travel (Vice President of Travel and Meetings).
Even our own industry associations use different terminology for their members. PCMA says it connects members “with a strong network of ‘Business Event Leaders,'” while MPI switches between “Planners” and “Meet the Professionals” (the term was renamed in 1987). Then there’s the umbrella term “events,” which covers all types of gatherings from roadshows to trade shows to conferences. Add the word “special” before “event” and you enter an entirely different industry – one focused on golf tournaments and events.
It’s no wonder that when you ask the average person on the street (like your next-door neighbor), they might not have a good idea of what a meeting planner does. “I think they travel to resorts a lot,” said Dave Smith, a retired English teacher at New England Preparatory School. “I know they go to events and look spectacular. It seems to me like a sweet way to make a living.
inner turmoil
Even within their own companies, planners share stories about how some of their colleagues (those not attending their planned off-site events) misperceived them, knowing only that they traveled a lot and went to some exciting places.
Planners may be located in various departments within the company (marketing, travel, purchasing), but they still come together as one entity. They receive content from industry organizations and publications that may not be relevant to their work, and receive invitations to host buyer events when they are not responsible for site selection. “Most of the emails we receive and the focus at industry events is travel-related,” said a planner at a large technology company. “But many of us have nothing to do with choosing a destination or hotel.”
There’s also an entire hierarchy of planners who aren’t directly tied to actual planning meetings, such as Kim Bladen, who originally came from the logistics department and has just started a new position as the College Board’s director of strategic procurement. She describes her responsibilities as “procurement, venue and vendor selection, and contract management activities for citywide events nationwide.”
Others approach meetings from the procurement side and focus on cost efficiency and supplier management. As Amy Harris, global director of client strategy at CWT Meetings & Events, describes: “Their responsibilities go well beyond event coordination. They manage travel and meeting spend and align those functions with procurement. This is in a meetings environment. A more advanced way to roleplay.
ad hoc planner
Another reason for this identity crisis is that many people who plan meetings at large companies do so only occasionally, such as administrative assistants or executive assistants, “whose responsibilities are overwhelming, from small department gatherings to large sales meetings,” Producer, speaker, author and educator. She said if a company’s planners were untrained, didn’t understand the contract they were signing, or had little understanding of their duty of care, the risks they faced were huge.
On the association side and in some industries (e.g. pharmaceuticals), the role of educational development is entirely different and sometimes overlaps with planning. “It’s usually two separate categories, depending on the situation,” said Peter Rosenberger, founding partner of ClusterFest Events and adjunct professor at NYU’s Tisch Graduate School of Global Sports and the Jonathan Tisch Center for Hospitality Management. “If you’re working on both at the same time, the stakes are higher. And the pressure can be higher.
Students who come to NYU often don’t know what the conference program is really about, he said. “A lot of students come in and think, ‘How hard can this be?’ They are generally overwhelmed by the myriad of details that go into any given event program, from festivals to conferences and everything in between. They are often overwhelmed.
