Measuring What Matters to Improve Meetings

"If you can't measure it, you can't improve it."
    - Peter Drucker, the Father of Modern Management

Measurement is the first step in improving meeting and event outcomes. Measurement is also critical to professional respect and credibility. Our lack of insight and understanding of metrics and measurement is a barrier to greater recognition (and compensation).

Historically, meetings and events have been perceived as the cost of doing business. Our primary focus on logistics meant that there was no need to consider inputs and outputs or otherwise determine the business value of our meetings and events.

The practice of measuring what matters begins with a single, simple question, “What are your goals and objectives?”

But instead, most meeting professionals begin their planning process by asking a variety of logistical questions. When? Where? How many?

While logistical questions are important, none of them will help you determine the business value of your meeting or event.

You have to translate the business goals and meeting objectives into qualitative or quantitative metrics you can actually collect, analyze, interpret, and act on.

The “right” metrics are going to vary from business to business and meeting to meeting. The important thing to do is start somewhere, determine if a particular metric provides more actionable information, and keep adding new metrics until you have a definitive understanding of the business value of your meeting or event.

Next, you have to capture this data in a system that allows you to check, verify, clean, and otherwise organize the information before you can begin analyzing and interpreting it. Some of these systems may already exist; otherwise, you have to create a new system. The ultimate goal is to have one, singular system or database where all relevant meeting or event data can be stored.

Then, you’re going to need analytical and interpretive capabilities you more than likely don’t have, in order to find the most meaningful trends and patterns. The level of analysis that’s required is often beyond what you’ve ever done before. If you don’t have these capabilities - and most organizations don’t - you’ll need to outsource this.

Finally, you’re going to have to report your findings to your stakeholders. There are a variety of formats and presentation styles to choose from. Keep in mind your target audience and their preferred format. In the end, making process improvements to your meeting or event can and must be an objective process – or at least a more objective than subjective process. Because after all, without clear goals and objectives about where you’re headed and what you want to accomplish, any meeting or event will get you there.

At some point, you or your boss are going to want to be able to definitively answer the question, “What is the business value of our meeting or event?” The only way to answer that question is if you have a system in place that helps you collect, analyze and interpret data; a system that measures what matters. In that sense, measurement holds the key to being more strategic.