Francis Hayes tells us about the potential of government meetings
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We bring you here the key messages of this great, lively, and extremely useful presentation.
What are they?
Government meetings consist of many levels: local, regional, national, European, intergovernmental organizations, and NGOs. It is important to define clearly what market you are aiming at.
Who decides?
It is public servants, not the politicians (in general), who manage the conference activities of these entities. So it is important to understand them. Who are they?
– They tend to have relatively secure jobs.
– They can be reluctant to take risks (they are dealing with public money, which should not be wasted).
– They are very committed to procedures (so you had better follow their guidelines!).
– They have ambivalent feelings towards outsourcing: they need external help for big events, but they tend to see themselves as more professional than the private sector.
– Finally, in their desire to do well, they are willing to talk to their providers to ensure a good quality of work.
How are they organised?
It depends… Large ministries have conference departments which could include up to 50 or 100 people. Some even have their own conference venue. By contrast, small organizations have very limited resources for conferences – the WMO conference department comprises just 5 people – which makes outsourcing necessary in many cases. Specific questions are:
– How are conferences organised (centrally or not)? For international organisations, sometimes a member state will be the host, and can decide the venue, and even organize the event itself.
– Procurement department: they are not your direct client and you do not usually talk directly to them, but they decide or validate the decision, and are therefore essential. It is important to take into account that they are not impressed with glamour: their job is to secure value for money! And you should also resist the seduction of high-technology – however impressive, it may not be right for the client.
– Public servants are used to working with budget accounting, rather than wil P&L.. Budget accounting does not deal well with spending against future earnings, which can easily be done in the private sector, and this can be viewed as risky in the public sector.
What can you bring them?
– You can bring them financial simplification and flexibility (for instance managing for them the fact that you have to spend today, but the conference revenues will only come later).
– You help them manage the sourcing of bought-in services.
– Providing a one-stop shop is a value: there is only ONE procurement validation.
– You can bring a strong knowledge of the local specifics, language, customs, for international meetings.
– You can also be an extension of their meeting workforce during the contract: their workforce tends to be shrinking and they welcome help.
Is there a market?
Yes, but… it is complex, rather a multitude of niche markets, each with different requirements.
Francis advises professionals to start with the national market before getting into the international one. In any case, it is very important to understand the specific requirements of each client, their decision-making process, their procurement rules. So the fundamental rule is: GO AND T ALK TO THEM FIRST. And aim for the needs that are NOT met.
How does procurement work?
Before sending a bid, the procurement department defines requirements and tangible measurement criteria. The offers are then evaluated:
– first technically, and those who do not meet the technical criteria are taken out
– then financially: among those technically good, the cheapest bid usually gets the contract. There can be exceptions,but they would be ad-hoc and it should be possible then to defend it clearly, argue the quality in a very clear way. You have to give your direct client clear arguments to defend your project to the procurement department.
