Statement of Purpose

All meeting professionals ­ whether they're responsible for one meeting a year or one hundred ­ have one thing in common: they play a vital role in the success of their companies and associations.

Meetings are an investment ... a major investment ... of an organization's dollars and time. The professional meeting manager has a significant job: to return as large a gain as possible for every dollar spent.

That's the challenge of meeting planning. And it grows more important every year as the costs of meetings increase. Direct costs ­ food, rooms, transportation, visual aids, speakers ­ are ever increasing. Indirect costs ­ time away from normal duties, time executives spend preparing presentations ­ take a bigger toll each year from an organization's budget.

This puts even greater demands on today's meeting managers. Whether a planner is full-time or part-time, whatever the title and other duties, meeting managers need to continually update their professionalism: their meeting-planning skills and their comprehension of the meeting process. They need to be top-notch managers with an ability to control hundreds of meeting details and bring them to a successful conclusion.