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Why do we fear measurement?

By Jessie States December 15, 2011

The following is a guest blog from meeting design expert John Nawn.


Since I started working on MPI’s Business Value of Meetings research with Bill Voegeli of Association Insights, I’ve been wracking my brain for an explanation as to why our industry has such an aversion to measurement. 

In 2011, The Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy study found that the U.S. meeting industry directly supports 1.7 million jobs, $263 billion in spending, a $106 billion contribution to GDP, $60 billion in labor revenue, $14.3 billion in federal tax revenue and $11.3 billion in state and local tax revenue. 

Yet hardly a single conference or meeting owner can tell us what they’re getting for their “investments.” It boggles my mind. How can this be? 

It all makes me think of Dr. Brené Brown, who delivered a keynote presentation recently at IMEX America. Her message needs to be heard. It’s the kind of message that stops you in your tracks, makes you sit up and take notice, listen. Brown talks about the role emotions play, consciously and unconsciously, in the everyday decisions we make (think: emotions such as fear, shame and vulnerability, as well as characteristics such as courage, authenticity and integrity). It’s these darker emotions—these shadow emotions—that are at the root of why we as an industry haven't embraced measurement as a means of answering the question of why meetings matter. 

It’s like we’re living in a collective state of denial that undermines our professional credibility and handicaps our abilities to drive the change and innovation that organizations are so desperate for today. 

If we really want to change our behavior and begin measuring what’s worthy of being measured, we’re going to have to acknowledge these emotional barriers. The encouraging findings from MPI’s first white paper, The Business Value of Meetings: Perception vs. Reality, were that 1) organizations are defining the business “value” of meetings broadly, not just in financial terms and 2) organizations are finding a few key metrics to focus on that actually work for them. 

The broad definition of value is worth noting because meetings have a variety of tangible and intangible outcomes. “But just because it’s hard to quantify,” notes one CFO from our study, “doesn’t mean it can’t be measured.” The fact that some organizations are successfully measuring the business value of their meetings demonstrates that it’s actually possible. 

Perception vs. Reality identifies a number of false assumptions about measurement that meeting stakeholders and professionals make. 

  • Because measurement is so complicated, we’re bound to fail at it.
  • Because we can’t define objectives for why we’re meeting, we can’t really measure success.
  • Because measurement costs too much in time and resources, we’re not going to even try. 
Now contrast these with the benefits of measurement cited by meeting professionals who have persevered under the same conditions. 

  • Because we defined our objectives, we run much more efficient meetings.
  • Because we measure meaningful outcomes, we can better defend our budgets.
  • Because we focus on results, we contribute more value to our stakeholders. 

The difference in attitude couldn’t be any clearer. The decisions we make every day, such as the decision to measure the business value of a meeting or not, are driven by our emotions. We make excuses like those above based on our underlying emotions. The challenge is to make sure the right emotions are behind our decisions. 

Here’s an exercise that might help you understand your underlying emotions regarding measuring the business value of your meetings. Ask yourself the following question. 

“Why don’t I measure the business value of my meeting?” 

Keep asking yourself why to each answer you come up with until you get to the underlying emotion behind your decision. The more honest you are with yourself, the less time this takes. Let me know what you come up with. You see, it’s time meeting stakeholders, professionals and even attendees showed real courage and leadership when it comes to measuring the business value of meetings. 

After all, courage is simply the willingness to be afraid…and act anyway. 

___

JOHN NAWN is founder of experiential design firm, www.ThePerfectMeeting.com, which is focused on optimizing the meeting attendee experience. He is a leading authority on meeting design, the future of meetings and related topics. 

                

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Conversation (7)

  • Theresa (@MPITheresa) December 15, 2011

    I think for many people the issue is two-fold. First, for some its a fear of the unknown and simply not knowing where to start when colleagues start talking ROI.  Some tenured pros haven't had to provide this type of proof that their events are successful.  Secondly, the misconception on the complexity of the efforts.  Not every meeting or event has to have a complicated BVOM measurement program.  Sure, integrated event portfolios that are part of SMM initiatives for a large corporation are probably complicated, but smaller initiatives don't have to be.

  • thom singer December 16, 2011

    I am a believer that most things can and should be tracked, studied, and quantified.  However, the problem we have here is that we can swing the pendulum too far and forget that being human, and having feelings, is a real part of an experience.  

    Some things in our lives cannot be tracked and measured by the scientific method, but this does not make them any less true.  Look at "love".  Can I measure how much you love your kids?  If not, does it mean it is not important to you or them?  

    Some of the most value at a conference comes from the networking.... but that is not measured by how many people you talked to or how many cards you exchanged. Humans are experiential beings, and not every emotion that is touched in an experience can be measured.  Sometimes things that look good on a graph are just not that exciting (even if we check the right boxes), and other times things that seem to be bad on paper are at the same time the best events.

    This does not mean that we should not be measuring everything that can be quantified.  This is not a "tug of war", but one where we have to keep our eyes on both sides.... measure, measure, measure..... and then look for the human feelings that exited too!  

  • Bill Voegeli December 16, 2011

    Establishing a process to measure objectives guarantees better meetings. The risk is low, and the return is high.



    The people who take the risk tell us they are glad they did. As John says in his article, the difference in attitude couldn’t be any clearer.



    Our research indicates it is much, much harder to make the desicion to consider a measurement program than it is to actually implement and manage a measurement program. The barriers are mostly imaginary. The successes are very real.

  • John Nawn December 16, 2011

    thanks for your comment, thom. i agree w/ your call to 'measure, measure, and then measure some more.' i guess i'm just not ready to concede that some things like 'experiences' can't - or perhaps shouldn't - be measured. like the cfo i cite in the post, nobody said it was going to be easy. in the meantime, there's certainly plenty to be done measuring what can - and should already - be measured...

  • Ginger Phillips, EDD, CMM December 21, 2011

    Measuring the business value of meetings is a concept that makes clear sense - to businesses. Meetings tend to proliferate and this is a very useful means to conduct what is essentially a program evaluation, with clear financial reports tied to the meeting objectives. Educational programs have been doing this for years. Educators know how to do this and are trained in this type of research, even tying it to investment. However, it seems that when MPI focuses on this topic it is limited to corporate planners. While I realize I am overly simplifying a very complex process from a corporate perspective, more and more the articles in MPI leave out the association planner who will approach SMM and ROI from somewhat different perspectives. 

  • Marvin McTaw, Sched.org January 15, 2012

    Jessie this was such an incredible post and really taps into a core problem that I see in the industry. Before this report, you had people saying the industry was a couple billion dollars. It turns out it's literally hundreds of billions of dollars. Not to mention, this report's analysis reviewed what is generally thought to be a significantly down year in the industry. Clearly, measuring would have helped to prove the significance and importance of the industry to the US economy.

    I echo Theresa's comments that it is my belief that the fear of measuring comes from the fear that our meetings do not deliver the value we thought they did. Something Traci Browne always says is to make sure you understand your strategy and directly related, is setting your goals.

    Each organization should determine the goal of their meetings and figure out the easiest way to determine whether or not their meeting is actually helping them achieve their goal. It could be as simple as an online survey asking attendees whether or not they felt they were better off for attending the meeting. 

    That being said, I completely second Bill's comments about measuring and the value of measuring. It also leads me to criticize Thom's comments above as a little weird. Thom's argument that, "...we can swing the pendulum too far and forget that being human, and having feelings, is a real part of an experience," is a bit comical. The problem is not that meeting planners are measuring too much, the problem is that they are measuring too little.

    Meeting planners that work within (and with) larger organizations have a duty to explain things in terms their non-meeting planner colleagues can understand: performance metrics. Everything doesn't have to be an ROI but you should have some form of quantitative analysis to back up the "touchy-feely" assertions. Furthermore, measuring and proving your worth can at a minimum silence your biggest critics and potentially turn them into your biggest advocates.

    Know your purpose. Choose a metric to show your meeting is helping to achieve your meeting's purpose. Rinse and repeat.

  • Jessie States January 16, 2012

    Ginger,

    Interesting comment. We'll remember this in the future to address the association more. Though, I would proffer that, while associations are traditionally nonprofit organizations, they must still be run like a business, to which strategic metrics and measures must be applied to ensure success.

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