Last week I talked through some of the reasons your company might be looking at implementing a meetings management program. The next step is to outline your meetings policy.
I’m still surprised by how many organizations still do not have a meetings policy in place, even something informal. The true value of a meetings policy is to level-set and ensure everyone is on the same page. There are so many definitions of events and meetings that it’s essential to define what it means to your organization, and in essence, the scope of your meetings program.
The three goals of a successful meeting policy are to:
- Lay the foundation of your meetings program
- Define key terms for your organization
- Outline the process for success
When writing your policy some items that you might consider including in your meetings policy include:
- Size of meetings/events. Some meetings policies cover events 50+ attendees, while others start as low at 10 attendees.
- Meeting/Event budget. Policies may also focus on a budget size as the baseline
- Process for which meetings/events are submitted into the program for review.
- Who/if needs to approve the meeting. Approval could also be on a sliding scale based on budget, size, geographic location, or even attendee profile.
- How meetings should be paid for – corporate card, meetings card, etc.
A number of meeting policy templates can be found throughout industry resources, including one we developed by taking the best practices seen across our hundreds of clients. You can check it out here!
