Elevate the impact of boardroom- to theater-sized in-house events, accelerate staff satisfaction and ROI with embedded experts, tech that optimize staff and system performance.
SCHILLER PARK, Illinois ‒ Internal event planners are bracing for a business boom. Building on the demonstrated success of enterprise-level training, events and boardroom discussions in driving staff development, satisfaction and retention, they are fueling some of the most significant increases in overall group meetings in 2024, according to a recent American Express forecast.
In fact, that outlook shows 42% of meeting and event professionals expect to have more internal meetings in 2024, 48% more attendees (the highest gain of any meeting type), and, for 67% of respondents, bigger budgets.
Internal events aren’t just scaling; they’re also becoming ever more complex and sophisticated.
Internal event planners are looking to deliver the same level of experience their coworkers would get at off-site meetings ‒ both in terms of “wow” production values and seamless technology. As nearly three-quarters of the respondents noted, that’s getting harder to do at a time when lead times are contracting and costs are going up.
Think “in-sourcing”
That’s the challenge global event production company Encore tasked itself to solve. In 2022, the company began conducting focus groups with its clients and to identify customer pain points and wish-list priorities. They not only found a number of gaps; they also saw the opportunity to develop a new client-focused business model for shared expertise.
“Our customers may have over 300 meetings in their facility on a given day. The problem is that there's a fair amount of attrition among the tech staff that's supporting them,” said Jason Younce, Encore’s vice president – campus partnerships. Overall economic conditions, along with the brain drain stemming from recent declines in average tech salaries and limited opportunities for upward mobility, continue to cloud the outlook, he added.
Traditional solutions such as hiring workers on contract as needed or full-on outsourcing were falling short of bridging that gap at a time when events are integral to enterprise-level business strategy.
“Our research showed that hiring contract workers was costing stakeholders time, money and lost productivity,” said Younce. Without assured continuity in the workers being assigned to the company, internal teams had to make time to onboard each new contractor, familiarize them with the organization’s systems and standards and integrate them into the on-campus team’s workflow. And the organization’s team still had managerial responsibilities for the contractors.
“With this model, organizations lost the potential of incorporating their collaborators’ skill set into their long-term goals,” Younce added.
Outsourcing solved the labor management issue ‒ but at the expense of taking away control of a critical support tool for long-term team and culture development.
Encore at Work was developed to solve staffing issues alongside underlying concerns with maximizing system life and keeping in-house staff and technology ahead of the demand curve. By adding expertise and resources this team-expanding approach leverages the strengths of the people who know the organization best to create a proactive and actionable ongoing tech strategy.
Launched earlier this summer, the Encore model enhances rather than replaces the capabilities of in-house teams. Having dedicated experts available addresses other key issues that often fall through the IT cracks, especially when teams are overstretched across areas from security and maintenance to hardware.
The same team works with the client throughout the lifecycle of the contract, ensuring maximized long-term outcomes and proactive system maintenance and ahead-of-the-curve innovation.
Client-customized service menu
Encore at Work also embeds technology resources that power up technology customized to client needs. Younce pointed out that customers have options ranging from improving or enhancing their existing installations to consulting with Encore’s design and installation team to create a turnkey solution. Clients can arrange for technical support to augment their existing teams and support existing equipment or give Encore oversight as part of their work with the combined team of their experts and their customers.
“We maneuver the program based on what fits best with the customer’s needs,” he said.
Encore at Work addresses both big- and small-picture solutions. “Some of Encore’s largest clients have 100 meeting rooms on one campus, ranging from small boardrooms to a large ballroom. Each of those spaces has equipment built in. Each has an individual stakeholder, and that stakeholder wants a unique experience,” said Younce.
“If we can extend the life cycle of a piece of equipment just by taking care of it...our customer may not have to buy that piece of equipment in three years. They may be able to wait five years, nearly saving the cost of having to buy two pieces of equipment.
Jason Younce
“With some campuses running up to 350 to 400 meetings a day, handing off administrative responsibility for hardware infrastructure and optimizing both hardware and software implementations can be vital not only or event quality but protecting infrastructure investments,” he added.
The Encore process starts with an evaluation of the organization’s products and current workflows. Younce takes a strictly “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” approach to assessing clients’ existing hardware and tech stack
“Oftentimes their technology is fine, but maybe people aren't interfacing with it in the correct way. Maybe there are zero-cost modifications that can improve system functionality,” said Younce. “If it is broken, we could certainly offer solutions whether equipment upgrades, enhancements or modifications.
Tapping into its extensive tool kit, Encore at Work can tailor tech plans for organizations with more than 100,000 square feet of meeting space, high-level government security offices or a non-profit entity with one “larger” auditorium and a series of smaller boardrooms.
The former may require coordination with multiple locations via satellite, hybrid virtual and in-person formats, simulcasts with training facilities around the world or just platforms that can support hundreds of intraday meetings and events. For the latter, it may mean bringing in hand-held microphones, presentation technology or timers to implement flawless small meetings with boards of directors or major clients.
“In our first conversation with customers, the goal is to get on the same page,” Younce said. “Then, it’s our job to design the steps to achieving the kind of integrated team and resource package to maximize the outcome they want.”
Technology stewardship
Oversight is a critical function in the Encore at Work services suite, according to Younce. ”With fewer team members, in-house tech staff has to be very focused on tasks. Oftentimes, that doesn’t leave time for oversight,” said Younce. “There's not really anybody who owns the asset and takes charge of maintaining it, of quality control and so on. Whose responsibility is it to repair or replace equipment when it fails, not only from a budgetary perspective but the heavy lifting to find replacement or repair options?”
Encore at Work is both the short- and long-term answer to that question. As part of its service program, the company is committed to responding to emergencies or system failures should they arise. “We can bring in additional equipment, call on our vast team member and technology network to address problems remotely or help coordinate moving the meeting to another location if necessary,” Younce said. “The point is to act quickly and interrupt the experience as little as possible.”
Over the longer term, Encore can use its technical expertise to ensure ongoing maintenance to optimize the life of the equipment and its business experience to help guide decisions from CapEx planning to inventory management and quality control.
“Assets are being depreciated continually,” said Younce. “If we can extend the life cycle of a piece of equipment just by taking care of it and doing preventative maintenance, maybe changing lamps on a projector as an example, our customer may not have to buy that piece of equipment in three years. They may be able to wait five years, nearly saving the cost of having to buy two pieces of equipment over that timeframe.”
Bottom-line benefits
Younce said that tech management at this level offers P+L plusses immediately and over time. “If a company’s systems need a lot of fixes, they’ll see that come off their balance sheet right away,” said Younce. “But they’ll also realize the upside of longer system life, enhanced rather than replaced systems and evolving upgrades to keep pace with their needs.”
The same holds true on the staffing side.
“Most organizations see the financial benefits almost immediately,” he said. “If you have a team of five people that support your meetings, you're paying them, paying their salaries and benefits and paying all the costs associated with that. By reducing the need to add staff, those costs come off the books almost immediately.”
In Younce’s view, the point of Encore at Work is not to solve today’s problems but turn tomorrow’s challenges into opportunities. “However, we can help clients define this initiative,” he said.
Mary Scoviak is custom and design content director, Hotel Investment Today by Northstar.
The views and opinions expressed in this content do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel Investment Today by Northstar or Northstar Travel Group and its affiliated companies.