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Meeting buyers improve strategies for the new norm. (Short-Term Corporate Meeting Strategies).

Article Excerpt
The perpetual decline in corporate meeting lead times has continued unabated during the past year, burgeoned by shaky corporate finances, fewer meeting dollars to spread around and abundant hotel availability. Several corporations, acknowledging that short-term meetings are less a trend than the core of the new meetings landscape, have implemented specific processes to streamline planning functions and maximize savings opportunities when lead time is short.

The prominence of short-term meetings is undeniable. According to a Meetings Today survey of 101 corporate meeting buyers conducted in February and March, 67 percent of respondents indicated that their average lead time for meetings of 100 attendees or less is fewer than 90 days. In addition, 29 percent said the average is 30 days or less, a percentage that more than doubled from a similar March 2002 survey. These numbers are some of the most dramatic indicators of the new short-term landscape since Meetings Today began quantitatively documenting the trend in 1999.

Many of the forces at work behind the numbers have remained constant during the past few years--including a soft economy that has led corporations to cut meeting spending and hold meetings only when corporate profits permit--and have been bolstered by new factors...

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