“Truly Measuring Meeting ROI – Is it NOW or Never?”

Seems hard to believe that it has now been more than a full year since our industry first began to see meetings cancel and meeting attendance shrink -and what a year it has been!

All across our industry, we have scrambled to adapt as quickly as possible “a new normal” of fewer events, fewer attendees, slashed budgets, and a heightened level of scrutiny in regards to each and every event-related decision. And while many event stakeholders are holding firm to the premise that history will in fact, repeat itself, and the business will eventually rebound, I for one, wonder just what portion of our event business may in fact be gone forever?

Many of us believe whole heartedly, that in fact there is nothing that can truly replace the value of the face-to-face interaction and learning experiences that are core to most meetings and events. Just how well are we, as true meeting professionals, standing up to the charge of our C-level stakeholders in effectively measuring the unique return-on-investment (ROI) associated with the very meetings and events we believe so strongly in, and are fighting so dearly to protect for the future?

While there has been a substantial effort in recent years in building reasonable methodologies and a body of knowledge around the concepts of “ROI”, how are we really taking this to the street? While there has been much lip service to ROI as a “must have” capability as it pertains to expanding science of meeting and event management, I am curious as to just how deep our commitment is to accurately measure the true ROI of our event expenditures? What types of investments, both financial and intellectual, are individuals and organizations making to this effort and what are the obstacles to integrating ROI measurement into our event management process just as a consistently as we have implemented other types of best practices?

It seems to me that there has never been a more important time to truly go beyond dialogue about ROI and start putting the numbers on paper. What do YOU think?