To strengthen the relationship, he proactively submits a monthly report to procurement detailing all the metrics his team has captured for meetings companywide. “Basically the report is a summary of trends,” he says. “If I see a sharp increase in one area [such as cost per attendee], I will do an analysis to determine the reason and include this in the report.”

Metrics Tolvé measures and reports monthly to procurement include the number of new meeting requests received, the number of meeting requests logged per department, and the number of completed meetings. For the meetings in which post-meeting data has already been submitted, Tolvé also reports back to procurement on the number of attendees per meeting, average cost per attendee, total spend for the meeting, total savings achieved, and savings as a percent of the actual cost.

Bringing in the Bucks

Achieving measurable cost savings isn't enough for, Tolvé — who has also found ways to generate revenue through his department. When Novo Nordisk uses third-party agencies to plan its meetings, the commission from the hotel is split between the third party and Novo Nordisk.

He also has negotiated preferred agreements with some smaller hotel chains, audiovisual companies, and destination management companies in various cities. “The contracts stipulate that we will get anywhere from a 3 percent to an 8 percent rebate when we use these vendors,” he says. The funds are reinvested into the meetings department to offset the cost of the online meetings tool as well as the purchase of meeting materials such as folders and badges.

Branding the Brand Teams

Tolvé has developed another revenue stream by allowing internal brand teams to sponsor certain aspects of company meetings. While this option would not be suitable for an investigator, CME, or advisory board meeting, he has offered it for internal sales meetings and speaker trainings.

“We will let a brand team sponsor the breaks or even the entire event,” says Tolvé. “Each brand team is always jockeying to get their brand seen as the top brand and make sure our sales reps understand the messaging.” This offers them a chance to reinforce that message in other areas of the event outside of the meeting room or training session. The brand team pays a certain amount to Tolvé's department for the privilege and, in turn, their brand is represented throughout the event — on napkins, ice sculptures, banners, and the like. “The money simply gets transferred from their cost center into ours.”

In addition to reinvesting the funds into his department, Tolvé uses the money to support the company's corporate social responsibility initiatives. “We have made donations to local organizations such as Cradles to Crayons, (which helps support low-income and homeless children) and are in the process of embarking on a larger scale CSR program with the funds that we will generate in 2009.”

Next Step: Small Meetings

The next step: expanding the program to include small meetings that come in below the current 50/50/50 rule. “We are looking into implementing a small meetings tool to get a tighter capture on that spend,” he says. “But it's really a question of being careful what you wish for. There are not always enough resources to take it to that level [of detail].” Based on his track record so far, it's probably safe to say he'll find a way to get it done. n

Get Strategic

Find out Tom J. Tolvé's strategies for creating a successful national sales meeting at the Fifth Annual Pharmaceutical Meeting Management Forum, organized by Medical Meetings and the Center for Business Intelligence, March 29-31, 2009, at the Baltimore Convention Center. Other sessions cover regulatory updates, managing meetings in tough economic times, planning effective incentive programs, and much more. For information, visit www.pharmameetingplanners.com.

Compliance Conundrums

To ensure meetings and events are meeting regulatory guidelines, Tom J. Tolvé, CMP, senior manager of meeting operations, Novo Nordisk, Princeton, N.J., partners with his legal and compliance departments. “In our legal department, we have one lawyer and one paralegal who are dedicated to the meetings department's needs,” says Tolvé. It's a touch point he uses regularly to ensure he is up to speed on the latest requirements for meetings as well as to iron out some of the “grayer” areas of the revised Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America's Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals.

One such area involved the code's ban on choosing resorts for meetings involving healthcare professionals. “But the code doesn't specify what a resort actually is; you can ask different companies and get different answers based on their interpretation of the guidelines.”

In an effort to get to the bottom of the “Is it a resort or not?” conundrum, Tolvé outlined a business case for what he believed was the definition of a resort property and spent three months working with his legal and compliance departments to revise it until all were in agreement.

Ultimately, Novo Nordisk defines a resort as any five-star or five-diamond property, or any property that has two or more of the following: golf, spa, beach, or casino. In addition, a property is also considered a resort if both the destination where it is located is considered the main attraction (such as Miami or Vail), and the property has less than 50 square feet of meeting space per available sleeping room.

The code also says meals provided to healthcare professionals at meetings must be modest. Tolvé is currently working with legal and compliance to determine how the company will establish food and beverage limits for its meetings. For instance, will service charges such as bartender fees and chef fees all roll up into per-person limits on F&B, or will the company include only the cost of the actual meal when calculating these charges? “We don't have an answer right now on this,” he says.

One thing Tolvé is certain of: There will be no “creative accounting” when it comes to the meal caps — food and beverage will be calculated at market value. “It has to be done honestly. I won't play games like paying $9,000 for a meeting room in order to serve lobster and caviar at a price that comes in within the per-person rates.”

It Takes a Team

The Strategic Meetings and Event Management team, as it is called at Novo Nordisk, consists of three separate divisions: convention marketing and planning (with three employees dedicated to this function), speakers bureau programs (with two dedicated employees), and meeting management (where Tom J. Tolvé, CMP, senior manager of meeting operations, resides along with one contracted meeting planner and three contracted sourcing personnel). The team is involved in planning larger promotional meetings, incentive trips, and internal meetings. And Tolvé says about one-third of his time is dedicated to managing the SMMP companywide.