Jeannie Griffin has re-joined BCD Meetings & Events in a new senior role at the company: vice president of product & technology solutions. Most recently, Griffin spent six years with Cvent as senior director of product management, leading the vision and execution of the product roadmap. Before that, she was with BCD as senior director for technology solutions.
MeetingsNet: What meeting technology capabilities do think are most misunderstood by corporate clients, and why?
Griffin: It’s not so much what capabilities are misunderstood, but more of a broader question of knowing how to implement technology solutions without causing unnecessary complication and burden further downstream. For some time, there was a tendency to overcomplicate and overengineer a solution. Let’s be honest, one technology solution is not going to solve everything, so taking what you need and leaving the rest can be the right path forward. And the good news is there are always niche solutions coming up in the business to solve certain pain points.
MeetingsNet: Five years from now, what meeting technology do you expect to be critical that we don’t use or hardly use today?
Griffin: Unfortunately, it takes time for meeting technology solutions to become widely adopted. As an industry, we are still struggling with moving standard processes to solutions that exist today (getting everyone to register a meeting, electronic signatures for all hotel contracts, onsite check in, API integrations, etc.). What I do see becoming more widely prevalent and at a higher level are items such as data portability and digital footprint. I feel we will continue to mature as a business to automate the more difficult parts of the planning process, and I have wishful thinking that will accelerate. However, gathering insights on what is really happening with our attendees at meetings to ensure events are providing a value to all stakeholders involved will be more front and center, as well as knowing as an organization you can easily switch to the best technology solution for your problem.
MeetingsNet: What might someone be surprised to learn about you?
Griffin: I fashion myself an amateur cowbell player—so if my latest venture doesn’t work out I’ll be available for bookings!
