1. Meeting Planners Association
Our Positioning Statement How we will win: the direction and focus for the organization
We believe that budget cuts and staff reductions have resulted in an environment in which planners will invest their time and money only if they can see an immediate, tangible return. Therefore we must focus our programs on maximizing ROI and invest in marketing that promotes the benefit of our association to our target audience.
Meeting Planners Association
Our Vision Our preferred picture of the future.
To be the place where meeting planners meet.
Shouldn’t your plan be this clear?
Who
Our Priority Strategies
Deliverables
Assessment chair A1
Hold annual member needs assessment to identify professional development needs and program topics.
Needs assessment report.
Recommendations.
Certification chair A2
Convene quarterly study groups with mentors to prepare for CMP.
Study group sessions.
Assigned mentors.
Education VP A3
Hold four single or multi-day education programs per quarter with topics aligned to address the results of the needs assessment.
Education programs.
Attendance and satisfaction report (“Sat.” report).
Marketing VP
A4 B1 E1
Implement awareness strategy with member testimonials to increase awareness of the benefits of programs, certification, networking events, and community events.
Awareness plan executed.
Member testimonials.
Networking chair B2
Hold quarterly networking events, adjusted to take into account information gained from annual member needs assessment, to provide networking opportunities.
Networking events.
Attendance and Sat. report.
Meeting chair C1 C2
Hold monthly membership meetings to provide education and networking opportunities based on the use of assessment survey and industry referrals to select quality speakers and topics.
Recommended topics.
Monthly meetings. C5
Implement PR program to report activities to the local media to increase awareness of the association.
PR strategy and report.
Nominations chair D3
Implement leadership development committee to develop and implement a program to recruit and formally develop members for leadership positions.
Leadership development plan.
Executed program.
List of qualified candidates.
Community chair E2
Hold quarterly community outreach events to provide association members with an opportunity to serve the community while networking with others in the industry.
Quarterly events.
Our Mission What we do, for whom, and the benefit.
To provide a forum for furthering the growth and professionalism of the meetings industry.
Our Guiding Principles General guidelines which set the foundation for how an organization will operate.
We believe that education is our fundamental focus. Therefore, we offer programs that improve the industry skills of our members.
We believe it is our responsibility to help improve our local community. Therefore, we actively invest time and resources into the community.
We believe we must remain a comfortable forum for meeting planners. Therefore, we will implement policies to ensure a suitable membership balance between planners and suppliers.
Our Goals Broad aims that define accomplishment of the mission.
Education
Provide opportunities for our members to enhance professionalism and to stay abreast of industry trends.
B. Networking
Provide an atmosphere for the sharing of ideas with peers.
C. Membership
Maximize membership growth, retention, and involvement.
D. Organization
Maintain sufficient financial and organizational resources to support programs.
E. Community
Provide funds and services to support the local community and provide a vehicle for organization recognition.
When
Our Monitoring Plan
Monthly
Are we doing what we said we were going to do?
Strategy leaders will update status of action plans to ensure we are doing what we said we were going to do. The plan coordinator will distribute a report of performance to all members of the planning team.
Quarterly
Are we getting the results we want to get?
The planning team will meet to review status of strategies and progress on objectives. The planning team will decide which current strategies to stop or continue and what new strategies to start. The planning team will adjust objectives as warranted based on issues and priorities.
Annually
What adjustments do we need to make to our targets and our priorities?
The planning team will meet to review progress for the year, identify new barriers and critical success factors, change objectives and re-establish priorities and action plans.
Our Strategy Partner
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Strategic Plan 20XX-20XX
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2. Our Goals Our Objectives
Our CSFs & Barriers (Critical Success Factors)
Our Strategies
Our Goals
Our Objectives
Baseline
First Year
Third Year 1
Increase the number of certified meeting professionals who are members of the chapter. 43 55 90 2
Achieve target total number of attendees in full-day and multi-day education programs.
192
220
300 3
Have target percentage of respondents indicate satisfaction or high satisfaction with the opportunities the association offers members to enhance professionalism and stay abreast of the industry as measured by survey. NA
60%
80% A1
Hold annual member needs assessment to identify professional development needs and program topics. A2
Convene quarterly study groups with mentors to prepare for CMP. A3
Hold four single or multi-day education programs per quarter with topics aligned to address the results of the needs assessment. A4
Implement awareness strategy with member testimonials to increase awareness of the benefits of programs and certification.
Wide understanding of the benefits of a CMP.
High perceived value of education programs.
Lack of understanding of the professional development needs of our members.
A. Education
Barriers | CSFs
High perceived value of association’s networking events and monthly meetings.
Frequency of events at a rate aligned with member needs.
Lack of awareness by all committee chairs on how to maximize networking in our events. 1
Achieve target average number of attendees in quarterly networking events. 76 90
120 2
Achieve target average number of attendees in monthly meetings.
175
200
250 3
Have target percentage of respondents indicate satisfaction or high satisfaction with the opportunities members have to network and share ideas with peers as measured by survey. NA
60%
80% B1
Implement awareness strategy with member testimonials to increase attendance at networking events. B2
Hold quarterly networking events, adjusted to take into account information gained from annual member needs assessment, to provide networking opportunities. B3
Provide recommendations to education and membership committees on how to maximize member networking at events.
B. Networking
Barriers | CSFs
Dynamic presenters with timely, substantive topics to increase meeting attendance.
High awareness by meeting planners of the association and its benefits to attract members.
Inadequate process for getting new members involved results in burnout of a few and low retention. C1
Use assessment surveys and industry referrals to select quality speakers and topics. C2
Hold monthly membership meetings to provide education and networking opportunities. C3
Revise new member registration process to ask desired committee. C4
Hold quarterly committee fairs after meetings to increase involvement. C5
Implement PR program to report activities to the local media to increase awareness of the association. 1
Increase net membership.
500
550
650 2
Annually retain target percentage of members from prior year.
61%
65%
75% 3
Increase average attendance at monthly meetings.
175
200
250 4
Achieve target percentage of members actively involved in committees as measured by attendance at 50 percent or more of the official committee meetings/functions. 5% 7%
10%
C. Membership
Barriers | CSFs
Commitment from board to building reserves and exercising financial prudence.
Large number of members desiring to serve as officers.
Lack of understanding by officers of budgeting processes. D1
Create and implement reserve reporting as part of the monthly budget report to raise awareness of the state of reserves. D2
Provide mandatory half-day budget training for all new officers. D3
Implement leadership development committee to develop and implement a program to recruit and formally develop members for leadership positions. 1
Achieve target financial reserves as measured by lowest daily bank balance during the last quarter of each year.
15% of annual budget
22% of annual budget
40% of annual budget 2
Maintain staff and contractor fees within target range as a percent of annual budget. 9%
8-10% 3
Have an average number of qualified candidates running per open office annually.
1.3
1.5
2.0
D. Organization
Barriers | CSFs
High perceived value of association’s community outreach events.
Low awareness by our members of the charitable need and impact we can have. E1
Implement awareness strategy with member testimonials to increase attendance at community outreach events. E2
Hold quarterly community outreach events to provide association members with an opportunity to serve the community while networking with others in the industry. 1
Achieve target funds raised for charities.
$105K
$115K
$140K 2
Achieve target number of members who participate in at least one community activity. 72 90
120
E. Community
Barriers | CSFs
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NA – Not available
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