Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | B | Business Travel News

Shrinking lead times prompt corps. to take action.

Article Excerpt
Nearly half of all corporations in the past two years either have instituted specific policies or procedures to address the effects of consistently dwindling lead times for small corporate meetings or plan to so do this year, new research reveals.

The reported activity by corporations regarding such meetings comes at a time when average lead time is shorter than it has been at any point in the past five years, according to an exclusive Meetings Monitor survey of 195 corporate meeting buyers. Respondents said that 83 percent of corporate meetings with less than 100 attendees were planned with 90 days or less lead time, compared with 67 percent in the six months prior to March 2003 and 53 percent in the six months following Sept. 11, 2001. Additionally, 72 percent of small meetings were staged with 60 days lead time within the past six months, dwarfing percentages from prior surveys.

The perpetually shrinking lead times have caused many corporations to take action, with many respondents reporting specific strategies to mitigate the effects of short-term meetings. Typically, these moves can include requiring meeting registration with a meetings department, the implementation of technology to speed the meeting planning process or expanded hotel deals to pre-negotiate contracts for future small meetings.

About 26 percent of responding corporations indicated that some internal procedures have been implemented to expedite the...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!