Meeting & events (M&E) professionals are looking for growth and need to upskill. Overall, they feel positive about their professional outlook and are poised to invest in their careers. According to the Amex 2024 Global Meetings and Events Forecast, 80% of respondents feel the industry is on an upward trajectory and 70% are unlikely to leave their job in the next 12 months. In fact, just over half of the respondents to this year’s UFI Global Barometer actually expect their teams to grow.
So, what can M&E professionals do to capitalize on these opportunities? This article provides guidance on how they can use data to advance meetings and events within their organizations, elevating their roles in the process.
Identify the most valuable problems to solve
To truly leverage data, M&E professionals must start by identifying the most pressing problems the team and company are facing. These will often center around increasing efficiency, reducing costs, increasing revenue, and improving satisfaction.
Consider the following questions:
- What recurring challenges does your team encounter?
- What bottlenecks in your processes slow down productivity?
- Where are costs consistently higher than anticipated?
- What feedback have you received from clients, partners and internal stakeholders about needed improvements?
By understanding these pain points, M&E professionals can prioritize where to focus their efforts. Look for problems that, when solved, would yield the most significant value to the team and company. Once identified, begin to analyze the available data to uncover insights and solutions that address these challenges directly.
Partner with Operations
When it comes to data-driven decision making, many meeting professionals neglect their business’s back-of-house operations, but Operations should be considered a key partner in this work. They know the processes and have access to the data; now it’s time to take their valuable, on-the-ground experience and use it to tell a compelling story that drives understanding and action.
Developing an understanding of operations from the back of the house to the front of the house leads to a higher appreciation of the pain points – not only in the event space but throughout the organization – and how they connect to one another.
Use existing, available data
Many M&E professionals underestimate the amount of data at their disposal. Even if they don’t have access to sophisticated analytics tools, they likely have valuable information stored in spreadsheets, databases, or even email, including:
- Sales and revenue reports
- Operational metrics: event attendance, registration numbers, vendor performance, etc.
- Customer feedback and satisfaction surveys
- Financial data like budgets, expenses, and profit margins
- Communication records, including emails, meeting minutes, and project updates
Assess the quality and reliability of this information. What gaps or inconsistencies need to be addressed, and what additional data is needed to address them? Next, consider how this data can be leveraged to address the most valuable problems to solve. What patterns or trends emerged from the data that can help? Remember, data doesn’t have to be perfect to be valuable – the insights gleaned from imperfect data can often still inform impactful solutions.
Engage partners
One of the biggest hurdles for an M&E professional seeking ways to demonstrate more strategic value is cultivating and interpreting data from their systems. In fact, a 2023 survey from Aberdeen Strategy and Research reported that 33% of companies “struggle with the time spent tracking and interpreting data,” and up to 12% of employee time is spent searching for it. An organization’s tech resources and partners can play a critical role here. By consolidating data across multiple areas, technology partners like Onyx CenterSource can shed light on new and deeper insights and reduce the competency burden for M&E professionals who want to use this data to support their organizations at a higher level. M&E professionals should collaborate with their partners to ensure they are securely receiving data insights on a regular cadence.
Now is the time for M&E professionals to level up their careers. Find ways to tell stories with available data, beginning with back-of-house information that is readily available. While uncovering what is internally accessible and continuing to develop those skills, leverage partners like Onyx, which can automate data visualization, provide actionable insights, and help deliver value. M&E professionals can be the heroes who bring a data-driven approach to the table, elevating themselves in the process.
